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
- China Hints at Possible Retaliation Against EU Probes — China’s trade frictions with the U.S. and the EU have escalated in recent months.
- U.S. Fears Undersea Cables Are Vulnerable to Espionage From Chinese Repair Ships — Google, Meta Platforms and others partially own many cables, but they rely on maintenance specialists, including some with foreign ownership.
- The U.S. Finally Has a Strategy to Compete With China. Will It Work? — The strategy is a three-legged stool consisting of tariffs, security restrictions and tech subsidies.
- She Devoted Herself to Teaching About the Tiananmen Massacre. Hong Kong Shunned Her. — The story of Rowena He, a scholar of China’s bloody 1989 crackdown, reflects narrowing space for academic freedom.
- Too Big or Not Enough? China Housing Bailout Treads a Fine Line — Beijing will try to provide enough support to absorb unsold apartments while not sparking a new bubble.
- New Taiwan President Swings at China—but Pulls Punches—in First Speech — Lai Ching-te insisted on the self-ruled island’s sovereignty while staying open to dialogue with Beijing in a nod to U.S.-China tensions
- Putin Showcases His Ambitions in a Chinese City Built by Czarist Russia — The Russian leader’s visit to Harbin includes stop at an Orthodox church and a university with ties to China’s military.
The Financial Times
- Didi co-founder steps down as president — Jean Liu had lowered her profile after Beijing crackdown.
- Protectionism will ‘haunt’ renewable energy industry, says China solar executive — Chinese companies and officials hit back against US and European trade barriers.
- The battlegrounds that could decide a US-China war over Taiwan — Five key military contests are likely to determine the outcome of a conflict.
- China retaliates against the US and EU with anti-dumping probe — Tit-for-tat investigation into thermoplastics follows a pattern established during the Trump presidency.
- AfD lead candidate in EU election attacks western ‘paranoia’ on China — German far-right politician Maximilian Krah defends support for Beijing and criticises arrest of aide suspected of spying.
- Are the US and Chinese economies really about to start ‘decoupling’? — Experts say Biden’s tariffs on Chinese clean tech goods are not the trade-war move some fear.
- China’s ‘AI-in-a-box’ products threaten Big Tech’s cloud growth strategies — Huawei leads trend of providing companies with means to power their own artificial intelligence apps rather than through public cloud.
- Inside Britain’s Chinese student boom — Universities are increasingly reliant on a growing cohort. What does it mean on campus and off?
The New York Times
- In China, Deepfakes of ‘Russian’ Women Point to ‘Nationalistic Sexism’ — A.I.-manipulated videos on Chinese sites use young, supposedly Russian women to promote China-Russia ties, stoke patriotism — and make money.
- Chinese Firms Face Authoritarianism at Home and Hostility Abroad — The experience of TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, in Beijing and Washington shows how much the ground has shifted for China’s entrepreneurs.
- Taiwan’s President Vows to Keep Island Safe Amid Chinese Pressure — President Lai Ching-te has pledged to stay on his predecessor’s narrow path of resisting Beijing without provoking it. It won’t be easy.
- Xi Jinping Embracing Vladimir Putin in Defiance of the West — Western leaders looking for signs that the Chinese leader used his influence on President Vladimir V. Putin to end the war in Ukraine are likely to be disappointed.
- Biden’s China Tariffs Are the End of an Era for Cheap Chinese Goods — The president’s move to protect strategic manufacturing sectors from low-cost competition aims to increase jobs, but consumers might not like the costs.
Caixin
- Cover Story: China Set to Ease Controls on Genetic Resources to Plug Biotech Innovation Gap — China is poised to relax its stringent decade-long regulations on human genetic resources in response to complaints from industry and academia that overly tough restrictions are choking innovation.
- GAC’s EV Brand Teams Up With CATL on Battery-Swapping Business — Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd.’s (GAC) electric-vehicle (EV) brand Aion is partnering with battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) to expand into the battery-swapping business amid slumping sales.
- China’s Minister of Agriculture Investigated For Corruption — Tang Renjian, China’s minister of agriculture and rural affairs, has been placed under investigation, the country’s top anti-graft agency announced on Saturday.
South China Morning Post
- Will China’s fleet of policies to buoy housing sales stem slack tides in the property market? — By allowing local governments and state-owned enterprises to buy unsold land and housing from distressed developers, China is betting a property slump weighing down the economy can be stopped once and for all.
- Apple slashes prices of iPhone 15 models to new low in China amid heated competition in world’s largest smartphone market — Mainland online retailers JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall on Monday started offering deeper discounts on iPhone 15 models.
- Taiwanese leader William Lai sends ‘dangerous signals’ with pro-independence speech: Beijing — Taiwan Affairs Office says the address stubbornly adhered to an independence stance, which will ‘never be tolerated’.
Nikkei Asia
- Lai Ching-te urges China to accept Taiwan’s existence in inaugural speech — Beijing slams ‘dangerous signals’ as miner’s son completes rise to presidency.
- Philippines calls on China to open Scarborough Shoal to scrutiny — Manila’s ‘challenge’ follows accusations of environmental destruction by Beijing.
- China hotel chain H World begins foray into Thailand — Operator eyes moving into other Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam.
Bloomberg
- China’s Housing Rescue Too Small to End Crisis, Analysts Say — China’s latest housing initiative is aimed at vacant properties, a major pain point in a crisis that’s dragged on for almost three years. But analysts say the package of measures is still too small to end the rout.
- China’s Capital Outflow Surges to Highest Since 2016 in April — China’s capital outflows worsened in April, underscoring headwinds for the yuan amid a weak domestic economy and uncertainties over the Federal Reserve’s rate trajectory.
- China’s EV Makers Taking Longer to Pay Bills Amid Rising Stress — The time it’s taking for some of China’s electric-car makers to pay suppliers is ballooning — a further sign of stress in the nation’s increasingly cutthroat auto market.
Reuters
- Philippines urges China to allow scrutiny of disputed South China Sea shoal — The Philippines challenged China on Monday to open Scarborough Shoal to international scrutiny after it accused Beijing of destroying the shoal’s marine environment.
- Apple slashes iPhone prices in China amid fierce Huawei competition — Apple has launched an aggressive discounting campaign on its official Tmall site in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318) on select iPhone models.
- China commerce ministry bans some US firms from import, export activities — China’s Commerce Ministry said on Monday that it will prohibit some U.S. firms from importing and exporting activities related to China, including one selling arms to Taiwan, and forbid them from making new investments in China.
Other Publications
- Associated Press: China sanctions Boeing, two U.S. defense contractors for Taiwan arms sales — China’s Ministry of Commerce announced sanctions against Boeing and two other defense companies Monday for arms sales to Taiwan, on the day of Taiwan’s presidential inauguration.
- Foreign Policy: When Will Washington Get Serious About Taiwan? — Its long-standing attitude toward the island is based on a set of military and political foundations that no longer exist.
- BBC News: ‘Stop threatening Taiwan’, its new president William Lai tells China — Taiwan’s newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.
- The Sunday Times (UK): China’s BYD closes in on deal to build all-electric London buses — Electric vehicle giant set to beat British competitors and seal contract to build more than 100 double-deckers for £400,000 each.
- ABC News (Australia): Chinese nationals are trying to get from Indonesia to Australia by boat. This is why they’re risking their lives — The ABC can confirm at least three groups of Chinese nationals have travelled or planned to travel to Australia by boat via Indonesia this year.
