Welcome to the 218th edition of Trade War.
Common Prosperity takes aim at Chinese banks as caps on managers’ salaries imposed. Top investment bank CICC becoming a poster child for Xi’s preferred, party-comes-first financial firm. And the possible suicide of a 30-year of banker in Shanghai goes viral on China’s internet.
Western banks cut staff on mainland as deals languish. Another US law firm shuts its China operations. And former Evergrande auditor PwC struggles to keep its China business and employees.
In the latest in the global competition to dominate electric cars, Tesla wins purchase approval for its vehicles from local government in China and state enterprises buy its Model Y. And mainland EV giant BYD gets flack over pricing in Thailand as CEO Wang Chuanfu visits his company’s top overseas market.
Notable/In depth ~
China’s tightly-censored internet rife with hate speech towards Japanese, Americans, Jews and Africans
Nvidia AI chips smuggled into China on well-established routes
“Our corporate power has always looked to Chinese labor as a solution” - says New York Times reporter and author Peter Goodman
Common Prosperity slaps bankers with salary caps
Common Prosperity, Xi Jinping’s campaign launched in 2021 to make a more equitable economy, is once again taking aim at China’s $66 trillion financial industry.
A 3 million yuan (US$412,723) salary limit is being set for managers at state-owned financial firms including brokerages, mutual funds and banks.
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