Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- Enforcement of China Forced-Labor Import Ban Needs to Be Much Tougher, Say U.S. Lawmakers — The leaders of a bipartisan committee said the Biden administration should consider using criminal prosecutions and closing a trade loophole.
- Investors Fleeing China Are Going Big in Japan — When Japanese stocks are some of the hottest assets in Chinese markets, you know the fortunes of the two markets have sharply diverged.
- A Lamborghini-Style EV: BYD Goes Upmarket to Outmaneuver Tesla — Chinese automaker expands its electric-vehicle lineup to more than 20 models in its push overseas and into higher price brackets.
- China Benchmark Lending Rates Held Steady — The one-year loan prime rate stayed at 3.45% while the five-year rate was left at 4.2%.
- How the U.S. Is Derailing China’s Influence in Africa — A U.S.-backed railway project is helping to challenge Beijing’s dominance in an unlikely country.
The Financial Times
- China shifts Latin America investment to compete with west — Beijing pivots away from costly infrastructure to focus on technology, renewables and critical minerals.
- Steel and GDP figures fuel scepticism over China’s data — Surprising statistics deepen doubts about official measures of activity in the world’s second-largest economy.
- US hedge funds far outperformed local rivals in China in 2023 — Chinese assets of Bridgewater and Two Sigma surged despite economic downturn and geopolitical tensions.
- Germany treads a delicate path on China — Extensive trade and investment ties complicate a firmer approach on national security.
The New York Times
- Landslide in Southern China Buries Dozens and Sends Hundreds Fleeing — At least eight people died, and another 39 were under the rubble, state media reported.
- Taiwan’s Doubts About America Are Growing. That Could Be Dangerous. — Will deepening skepticism about the United States as a trustworthy nation diminish Taiwan’s belief that it could fend off China?
- Dormitory Fire Kills 13 in Central China — The private school is for kindergarten and elementary school pupils. Though many details of the disaster remained unclear, it drew widespread attention on China’s internet.
Caixin
- Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund CIC to Promote New President, Sources Say — Executive Vice President Liu Haoling is set to replace Ju Weimin, people with knowledge of the matter tell Caixin.
- Cover Story: Can China Pull Its Economy Out of a Deflationary Nosedive? — While no one wants to talk about the ‘r’ word just yet, China may already be on course for big trouble — depending on whose economic definitions you believe and the effectiveness of policy measures implemented so far.
- Huawei Plans Nokia JV Buyout With Local Consortium — The tech giant is teaming up with two SOEs and a Chinese private equity investor to give the Finnish firm its exit.
- Why North China Tourism Is Having a Moment — The capital of Heilongjiang province has benefited from a wave of popularity from internet users, who have humorously dubbed travelers from the further south as “little southern potatoes.”
South China Morning Post
- Rabbit, the US$200 AI-powered handheld from Chinese entrepreneur, becomes unexpected hit after CES 2024 launch — Rabbit Inc, started by Xian native Jesse Lyu Cheng, has sold out of five rounds of pre-orders for its R1 device since launching in Las Vegas this month.
- Alibaba’s online flea market Xianyu launches bricks-and-mortar store in China in latest innovation — Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming in November named Xianyu one of four ‘strategic-level innovation businesses’ to undergo transformation.
- Saudi Arabia’s Sabic gives its go-ahead for building US$6.4 billion ethylene plant in Fujian — First proposed in 2018, the joint venture marks the latest in a series of tie-ups between Saudi firms and Chinese refiners.
- Nvidia chief visits China for the first time in 4 years as mainland market headwinds mount — Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang Jen-hsun visited China for the first time in four years to attend annual company meetings, as mainland Chinese market challenges mount for the US chip giant.
Nikkei Asia
- Global South on the rise but likely to make world order unpredictable — The pole of the world is shifting, though swingingly, from north to south, but this does not translate to a better, more stable world.
- EV powerhouse China to set own standards for automotive semiconductors — Home of Tesla rival BYD remains dependent on imports from Europe, Japan.
- Philippine-China spat over Taiwan risks putting ASEAN in crossfire — Southeast Asia has most to lose in clash over self-ruled island, analysts say.
- China mobilizes public against ‘spying,’ from maps to finance — Security ministry touts crackdown on Taiwan activists as new law broadens reach.
- U.S. checks on Chinese farmland purchases are flawed, watchdog warns — GAO says Pentagon and CFIUS frustrated with Agriculture Department.
Bloomberg
- China Is Outpacing the EU in Clean-Energy Research, Study Finds — China has overtaken the European Union in research related to clean-energy technologies, according to a study done for the bloc’s executive arm, creating a challenge for its green-tech ambitions.
- Gloom Over China Assets Is Spreading Beyond Battered Stocks — Skepticism over Chinese assets is spreading beyond stocks, with investors expecting the yuan and government bonds to underperform in a year when the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot is set to buoy emerging markets.
- China Buys Near-Record $40 Billion of Chip Gear to Beat US Curbs — China’s imports of chipmaking machines jumped last year as firms ramped up investment in an attempt to get around US-led efforts to hobble the nation’s semiconductor industry.
- EU to Upgrade Economic Security to Shield Key Tech From China — The European Union will take the next step this week in its effort to recreate itself into a global power that can leverage its massive single market to rebuff coercive actions from the likes of Beijing, Moscow and even Washington.
- Congo and China Talking $7 Billion in Finance, Tshisekedi Says — China and Democratic Republic of Congo are discussing $7 billion in financing as part of a renegotiated minerals-for-infrastructure deal, President Felix Tshisekedi said Saturday at his second inaugural address in the capital, Kinshasa.
Reuters
- Exclusive: China lobbies countries to praise its rights record ahead of UN review – diplomats — Four diplomats told Reuters that China’s mission at the United Nations in Geneva had been sending memos to envoys in the build-up to the review of Beijing’s record by the U.N. Human Rights Council scheduled for Tuesday.
- China, in comic strip, warns of ‘overseas’ threats to its rare earths — The comic strip showed security officers uncovering “suspicious” exploration and mapping activities by a group of people supposedly doing survey work for real estate development.
- China vows judicial disclosure after outcry over plan to curb access to rulings — China’s top court has pledged to “deepen judicial disclosure” after its plan to curtail access to court decisions faced unusual public criticism from lawyers and legal experts.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: The Red Sea Crisis Proves China Was Ahead of the Curve — The Belt and Road Initiative wasn’t a sinister plot. It was a blueprint for what every nation needs in an age of uncertainty and disruption.
- The Economist: Why America’s controls on sales of AI tech to China are so leaky — For increasingly hawkish lawmakers, that’s a problem.
- CSIS: Surveying the Experts: U.S. and Taiwan Views on China’s Approach to Taiwan — What approach should Taiwan, the United States, and its allies pursue? How do certain geopolitical developments change Beijing’s calculus?
