China

Chinese hackers have stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. COVID relief benefits since 2020, the Secret Service said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Secret Service declined to provide any additional details but confirmed a report by NBC News that said that the Chinese hacking team that is reportedly responsible is known within the security research community as APT41 or Winnti. APT41 is a prolific cybercriminal group that had conducted a mix of government-backed cyber intrusions and financially motivated data breaches, according to experts.

The swelling protests against severe pandemic restrictions in China — the world’s second-largest economy — are injecting a new element of uncertainty and instability into the global economy when nations are already struggling to manage the fallout from a war in Ukraine, an energy crisis and painful inflation, the New York Times reported. For years, China has served as the world’s factory and a vital engine of global growth, and turmoil there cannot help but ripple elsewhere.

China Evergrande Group said on Monday its unit has entered into a deal to sell a piece of commercial land in Shenzhen for 7.54 billion yuan ($1.05 billion), as the embattled property developer looks to shave off its massive debt, Reuters reported. Evergrande, which has about $300 billion in liabilities, has been at the centre of a deepening property debt crisis in China that has seen multiple developers defaulting on their offshore debt obligations over the past year, prompting many to consider debt restructuring.

Protests are erupting in major cities in China over President Xi Jinping’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19, an unusual show of defiance in the country as the economic and social costs from snap lockdowns and other strict restrictions escalate, the Wall Street Journal reported. Demonstrations occurred throughout the weekend in both Beijing and Shanghai. According to eyewitness accounts, there were also protests in the eastern city of Nanjing and in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic.

China has agreed to restructure Cuban debt and provide new trade and investment credits to the beleaguered Caribbean Island nation after a meeting in Peking between the two Communist countries’ leaders, Reuters reported. Cuba Economy Minister Alejandro Gil said the latter had also donated $100 million to help the country cope with basic goods shortages and an energy crisis worsened by Hurricane Ian, which decimated western Pinar del Rio province in late September.

Chinese consumer spending is buckling under the country’s dual campaigns against rising property prices and Covid-19 outbreaks, flashing a warning for global companies that have pinned their hopes on a more free-spending Chinese customer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Retail sales unexpectedly dropped last month and are expected to continue to struggle as Chinese authorities launch wide-ranging lockdowns to contain the latest fastest-spreading Covid outbreaks, and as easing measures do little to reverse a worsening property market meltdown.

The rejection of grinding factory work by Chinese in their 20s and 30s is contributing to a deepening labour shortage that is frustrating manufacturers in China, which produces a third of the goods consumed globally, Reuters reported. Factory bosses say they would produce more, and faster, with younger blood replacing their ageing workforce. But offering the higher wages and better working conditions that younger Chinese want would risk eroding their competitive advantage.

Western countries must be careful not to create new dependencies on China as they are weaning themselves off Russian energy supplies amid Moscow's war on Kyiv, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday, Reuters reported. "We see growing Chinese efforts to control our critical infrastructure, supply chains and key industrial sectors," he said on a visit to Spain. Stoltenberg urged allies to increase the resilience of their societies and infrastructure. "Chinese rare earth minerals are present everywhere, including in our phones, our cars, and our military equipment," he said.

Germany's foreign ministry plans to tighten the rules for companies deeply exposed to China, making them disclose more information and possibly conduct stress tests for geopolitical risks, a confidential draft document seen by Reuters said. The proposed measures are part of a new business strategy towards China being drawn up by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government as it seeks to reduce its dependency on Asia's economic superpower.