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
- For Covid-19 Vaccines, Latin America Turns to China and Russia — Western-made shots are scarce, and Beijing and Moscow are stepping in to fill the vacuum.
- Squeezed by China’s Tariffs, Australian Farmers Cultivate New Markets — Barley exports are forecast to rise as the industry adapts, showing the limits of Beijing’s trade pressure.
- Vanguard Charts a Narrow Path in China, Staking Its Future on a Fledgling Venture — The asset manager is betting that its partnership with China’s Ant will give it some reach over the roughly one billion users of its Alipay.
- CIA Nominee Burns Promises Spying Focus on China, Seeing ‘Adversarial, Predatory’ Regime — Veteran diplomat pledges to deliver bad news to policy makers, after senators note tumult of Trump years.
The Financial Times
- Suning plans $1.5bn stake sale in bid to strengthen finances — Chinese retailer and owner of Inter Milan aims to offload up to a quarter of Suning.com as debt obligations loom.
- European Parliament ponders the price of principle on China — EU faces credibility problem over labour concerns in its investment treaty with Beijing.
- Xi asserts success of China’s anti-poverty drive to cement his status — President extols personal role in effort to burnish his credentials as epoch-defining leader.
- Look out Tesla, SAIC’s $4,500 electric car takes China by storm — Marketed as ‘commuting tool’, Hong Guang Mini has won over drivers and outsells Model 3.
The New York Times
- In China, an Electric Car Maker Loses Money but Thinks Big — Nio can tap an extensive supply chain that Beijing has built to achieve its dream of dominating the manufacture of electric cars.
- Biden’s C.I.A. Pick Warns of China and Russia at Amicable Confirmation Hearing — The nominee, William J. Burns, appears likely to win bipartisan support from senators.
Caixin
- China’s Coal Hub Tries to Tackle Issues Unresolved in Earlier Consolidation — Shanxi province has kicked off a four-month safety inspection of state-subsumed mines in the wake of a series of fatal incidents.
- China Outspends Rest of the World on 5G Infrastructure By 2-to-1 — When Beijing sets its mind to building new infrastructure, there’s very little that can stop it.
- Video Streamer Bilibili’s Revenue Nearly Doubles, Shares Rise — Nasdaq-listed Chinese video streaming firm Bilibili Inc. beat expectations with 91% revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, boosted by strong gains for its mobile game, advertising and e-commerce businesses.
South China Morning Post
- China to push ahead with Hambantota port project amid reports of Sri Lanka having second thoughts — Beijing will push forward with a plan to develop Hambantota port, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone call with his Sri Lankan counterpart amid reports that Colombo was seeking to renegotiate the agreement.
- China-Australia relations: more than 23,000 litres of wine stopped at Chinese ports as trade spat continues — More than 3,000 litres of wine from Penfolds and nearly 20,000 litres from a second Australian winery, Badger’s Brook Estate, were detained at Chinese ports last month as an import ban continues to hit Australian products, the latest Chinese customs data shows.
Bloomberg
- China’s Traders Are Hoarding Scrap Copper as Rally Powers On — The supply tightness that has helped fuel copper’s epic rally is showing signs of spilling over to the Chinese scrap market, with traders hoarding the metal on bets on further price gains.
- Biden Trade Nominee Says China Is Both a Rival and a Partner — President Joe Biden’s nominee for trade chief is pledging to work with allies to take on China while also embarking on a pragmatic approach to the Asian nation, saying it’s both a rival and partner whose cooperation the U.S. needs to address global challenges.
- WeDoctor Valuation Nears $7 Billion Ahead of Hong Kong IPO — WeDoctor is planning to file for an initial public offering in Hong Kong as soon as next month after fetching a valuation of $6.8 billion in its latest funding round, according to people familiar with the matter.
- India Is a Flashpoint in the China-U.S. Cold War — The threat posed by Beijing has the Modi government slowly shedding the nation’s history of nonalignment.
Reuters
- Exclusive: Sports retailer Fanatics enters China via venture with Hillhouse Capital — Fanatics Inc, the world’s biggest licensed sports merchandise retailer, said on Thursday it was expanding into China via a venture with private equity firm Hillhouse Capital Group, as the e-commerce platform considers a possible public listing.
- China’s Xiaomi adds manufacturing muscle in India to boost phone production — China’s Xiaomi Corp is enlisting more contract manufacturers to make its phones in India, adding heft in a country where it is already one of the biggest smartphone brands.
- ByteDance names head of China news unit as global TikTok R&D chief: sources — Beijing-based ByteDance plans to move the chief of its Chinese news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, Zhu Wenjia, to Singapore to head global research and development for its hit short video app TikTok, two people familiar with the matter said.
- China confirms Xie Zhenhua appointed as new special climate envoy — Xie Zhenhua, who served as China’s chief negotiator during key climate meetings in Copenhagen and Paris, has been appointed the country’s new special climate envoy, the environment ministry confirmed on Thursday.
Other Publications
- Nikkei Asian Review: China tells steelmakers to cut output again to stem price fall — Beijing takes lead in capacity reduction through corporate consolidation.
- Economist: In no region is China’s influence felt more strongly than in South-East Asia — The region has a complex relationship with its giant neighbour.
- Economist: Why Brexit has left British pig-farmers mired — Britain and Europe are Jack Sprat and his wife.
- Defense News: Pentagon’s dated budget process too slow to beat China, new report says — A new report argues for a sweeping overhaul of the Pentagon’s 60-year-old defense budgeting and appropriations process, so it can match the fast-moving commercial sector and outpace China’s technological development.
- The Diplomat: Why Isn’t China’s COVID-19 Stimulus Going Directly to Workers? — The rationale (and danger) of China’s lack of direct financial support to the people during the pandemic.
- MERICS: Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy bears fruit in Central and Eastern Europe — Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy bears fruit in Central and Eastern Europe; Portugal plans to use its EU Council Presidency to diversify the EU’s ties with Asia.
