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
- Chinese Conglomerate HNA Says Creditors Filed Petition for Its Bankruptcy — Development adds to woes of what was once one of China’s most acquisitive companies.
- China’s Top Bottled-Water Group Swells to an $85 Billion Valuation — Nongfu Spring’s profit margins and growth potential have impressed investors and analysts. Exuberance and a shortage of tradable shares have helped, too.
- China Targets U.K.’s Hong Kong Passports Over Citizenship Plan — Country will no longer consider the British National Overseas passport a valid travel document, a move with limited impact.
- Ship Operators Seek Calmer U.S. Trade Waters Under Biden — Carrier executives say sanctions, trade turmoil under Trump undercut planning and fueled uncertainty in maritime operations.
The Financial Times
- Creditors of Chinese conglomerate HNA begin bankruptcy proceedings — Company has struggled with increasingly unmanageable debt levels following high-profile investments.
- Davos highlights: Singapore’s prime minister urges US and China to defuse tensions — Lee Hsien Loong cautions of ‘generational twilight struggle’.
- China rejects UK passports for Hong Kong residents as valid identification — Largely symbolic move reinforces Beijing’s threat to take further action over London’s visa offer to territory.
- Chinese warplanes simulated attacking US carrier near Taiwan — Revelation underscores Joe Biden’s difficulties in easing tensions with Beijing.
- Covid travel restraints disrupt China’s new year festival — Billions of trips normally made home to celebrate holiday but Beijing worried about outbreaks.
- Thousands of Hong Kongers granted UK residence ahead of visa scheme — Families from territory have been allowed to settle in Britain since July.
- China car sales recovery helps Daimler defy pandemic — Maker of Mercedes is third German carmaker to show signs of better than expected performance.
The New York Times
- China to Stop Recognizing Special U.K. Passports for Hong Kongers — The move was in retaliation for Britain’s offer to grant potentially millions of Hong Kong residents a path to citizenship, amid Beijing’s crackdown on the city.
- China Frees Tashi Wangchuk, Tibetan Who Fought for Language Rights — Tashi Wangchuk was sentenced to five years in prison after telling The New York Times that Tibetan language education was being repressed.
Caixin
- German Insurance Giant Allianz to Set Up China’s First Wholly Foreign-Owned Insurance Asset Management Firm — Insurer gets the greenlight after China lifted controls on foreign ownership as part of its financial sector opening
- China’s Government Debt-to-GDP Ratio Soars as Spending Booms, Revenue Shrinks — The ratio rose to 45.8% in 2020 from 38.5% the previous year, official data show, increasing for the third year in a row
- In Depth: Rush to Expand China’s Oil Refining Capacity Raises Specter of Supply Glut — Domestic demand can’t keep up and the nation’s traditional export markets are growing more competitive
- U.S. Investors Won’t Be Able to Trade China Telcos From March 9 — American investors will be barred from buying shares of China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom after March 9, 60 days after their names appeared on a U.S. blacklist
South China Morning Post
- Hong Kong economy suffers biggest annual contraction on record, shrinking 6.1 per cent as coronavirus hammers tourism, local spending — Hong Kong’s economy shrank by 6.1 per cent last year – the biggest annual contraction on record – as the coronavirus pandemic hammered key drivers of growth such as tourism and consumption.
- China aims to strengthen its semiconductor supply chain with new standards group that includes Huawei, SMIC — China is mobilising experts from academia and private industry, including telecoms champion Huawei Technologies Co and its chip design unit HiSilicon, to push forward with standardisation of the domestic semiconductor industry in a bid to better protect supply-chain integrity amid ongoing US sanctions that restrict China’s access to advanced foreign technologies and products.
Bloomberg
- U.S. to Press Taiwan, TSMC to Resolve Auto Chip Crunch — Biden administration officials have called an ad-hoc meeting next week with Taiwan government and industry officials, during which they’re expected to pressure Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and its peers to ramp up the supply of vital chips to American automakers.
- China’s XPeng to Recall Majority of G3 SUVs on Power Issue — XPeng Inc. will recall 13,399 G3 electric sports utility vehicles due to an inverter issue that may cause loss of power and pose a safety risk, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said Friday.
- Farmers Down Under Face ‘Watershed Year’ as China Risks Stack Up — 2021 will probably mark a “watershed year” where Australia starts to reduce its reliance on China for agricultural exports as diplomatic tensions look set to persist, according to Rabobank Group.
- Alibaba Faces Investors After Crackdown on Jack Ma’s Empire — Jack Ma’s minute-long video appearance last week gave Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. a much-needed reprieve after months of speculation over the extent to which Beijing will go after China’s largest online retailer. But that tonic didn’t last long as investors returned to grappling with the same questions that wiped $150 billion off its market value.
- GameStop Frenzy Pays Off in AMC Bet by Chinese Billionaire — Deeply indebted Dalian Wanda couldn’t get approval to list in China but its subsidiary has been swept up in the U.S. meme market madness.
Reuters
- Xi says China should make contingency plans for “black swan” and “grey rhino” events — President Xi Jinping has said China should foresee various risks and challenges, and make contingency plans for “black swan” and “gray rhino” events, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.
- China’s regulator drafts rules on corporate governance of banks and insurers — China’s banking and insurance regulator issued draft rules on Friday on corporate governance of banks and insurers, the latest regulatory move to contain management risks of financial institutions.
- Huawei smartphone shipments plummet amid U.S. sanctions — China smartphone shipments slipped 4% in the December quarter, data showed, as shipments at Huawei Technologies Co Ltd plunged due to U.S. sanctions on the Chinese firm’s chip and component suppliers.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China builds Digital Silk Road in Pakistan to Africa and Europe — China is set to lay the final leg of a cross-border fiber optic cable in Pakistan, linking to a cable in the Arabian Sea.
- Economist: Starbucks bets on China, suburbia and cyberspace — The world’s biggest caffeine-peddler has its best quarter of the pandemic. It could be better.
- CNN: China’s army of small investors want in on the GameStop mania — The frenzy over GameStop has inspired amateurs everywhere to shake up stock markets. Now China’s massive army of retail investors wants to get in on the action.
