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.

China dialed down its short-term cash injections to the banking system, as the government bond market steadied following this week’s steep losses, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China added a net 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) of seven-day liquidity via its open-market operations, compared with 123 billion yuan on Thursday, after a rare selloff in the onshore bond market spooked fixed-income investors. The yield on 10-year bonds climbed two basis points to 2.82% as of 9:33 a.m. local time. It fell four basis points Thursday.

Chinese consumer spending contracted in October and factory activity weakened as anti-virus controls following a rise in infections weighed on the economy, the Associated Press reported. Retail sales sank 0.5% compared with a year ago, down from September’s 2.5% expansion, as millions of people were confined to their homes, government data showed Tuesday. Growth in factory output decelerated to 5% from the previous month’s 6.3%. The performance was even weaker than expected by forecasters who said activity would cool as Chinese anti-virus controls and interest rate hikes by the U.S.

China gave embattled real-estate developers a boost Monday by allowing them access to more money held in pre-sale accounts, the biggest source of funds for the cash-strapped builders, Bloomberg News reported. China will give “quality” property developers access to as much as 30% of the pre-sale funds with letters of guarantee from banks, according to a statement posted on the banking and insurance regulator’s website. The funds are money that home buyers have paid to developers in advance of their property being built, and are generally held in an escrow account.