China News - 4 April 2023

International

China stages military drills in the East China Sea ahead of President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the US. The Taiwanese President is set to meet with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday as she returns from visits to remaining allies in Central America. China has repeatedly warned against any official contact between the US and Taiwanese authorities. Amber Wang. South China Morning Post, 3 April

‘Not about the highest bidder’: The countries defying China to stick with Taiwan. Helen Davidson. The Guardian. 4 April

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive military sites in the US. The US defence department has reiterated that any electronic signals gathered from weapons systems or base communications had “limited additive value”. Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee. NBC News. 3 April

Macron to discuss war in Ukraine during talks with Xi. Macron’s three-day trip to Beijing will start on Wednesday, with the Ukraine War, French business in China and tensions in the Indo-Pacific on the agenda. Zhao Ziwen and Jack Lau. South China Morning Post. 3 April

Chinese foreign minister urges Japanese counterpart to abandon semiconductor export restrictions. Qin Gang warned against Japan’s plans to impose export restrictions under a three-way agreement with the US and Netherlands. Thomas Hale and Leo Lewis. Financial Times. 2 April

Malaysia and China to discuss forming Asian Monetary Fund. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim proposed the idea at the Boao Forum in Hainan last week as a means to reduce dollar dependency. Anisah Shukry. Bloomberg. 4 April

Shipping hubs in South East Asia lack capacity to compete with China. Recent analysis of freight data suggests that Western businesses will struggle to distance themselves from China without significant investment in port infrastructure across South East Asia. Oliver Telling, Martin Stabe, Chan Ho-him and Andrew Edgecliffe Johnson. Financial Times. 3 April

Chinese Football Association facing corruption crackdown. Eight former and current CFA officials are under investigation. The General Administration of Sport of China announced this week that it has set up a working group to assume operational control of the CFA. Cyril Ip. South China Morning Post. 3 April

Economy & tech

Australian Government bans TikTok. Australia follows the lead of the US and UK with a decision to ban the app on government devices. Josh Taylor. The Guardian. 4 April

Beijing retaliates with national security investigation into US chip maker Micron Technology Inc. The Cyber Administration of China will review Micron’s products in the Chinese market, citing the need to safeguard critical information infrastructure. Chang Che and John Liu. The New York Times. 4 April

HSBC forced to defend “risky” SVB deal in Hong Kong. HSBC has denied claims that it was acting on the orders of the UK Government after agreeing to purchase Silicon Valley Bank’s UK business. Kaye Wiggins. Financial Times. 3 April

Ford-CATL Group EV deal attracts scrutiny in the US. Ford announced plans to license CATL’s technology to use in a $3.5bn Michigan factory. Chinese battery manufacturer CATL Group is also reportedly in talks with Tesla. Edward White, Cheng Leng and Claire Bushey. Financial Times. 4 April

China extends state influence in the steel sector. State-owned conglomerate CITIC has outbid private sector rivals for a controlling stake in top steel producer Nanjing Iron & Steel Group. Financial Times. 3 April

Huawei struggles to navigate the EV industry. The company’s pivot towards the auto sector has been hindered by US sanctions, domestic competition and a lack of brand identity. Che Pan. South China Morning Post. 3 April

Opinion & Long reads

How China is winning the race for Africa’s lithium. Harry Dempsey and Joseph Cotterill. Financial Times. 3 April

Xi Jinping’s idea of world order. Mark Leonard. ASPI. 4 April

The Sanctions Sieve: The U.S. government is trying to stop China from selling chips to Russia that aid its war effort. It’s failing. Katrina Northrop. The Wire. 2 April

Temu’s big haul. A look at the story behind Temu, the Boston-based sister company of Pinduoduo. Ella Apostoaie. The Wire. 2 April