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☆ The Cost of Doing Business With China? A $40,000 Dinner With Xi Jinping Might Be Just the Start
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Lingling Wei | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

China’s President Xi Jinping met with the heads of American businesses in San Francisco earlier this month. Photo: Jeff Chiu/Associated PressBroadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan shelled out $40,000 to sit at Xi Jinping ’s table for the Chinese leader’s recent dinner in San Francisco with the heads of American businesses. Tan had a lot more at stake—a $69 billion deal he was waiting on China to approve. For months, Chinese regulators wouldn’t clear the U.S. chipmaker’s bid to buy enterprise software developer VMware, leading Broadcom to put off its date for completion of the deal—first announced in May 2022—three times. Intel’s planned acquisition of Israeli firm Tower Semiconductor , for more than $5 billion, was scuttled in August after Chinese regulators failed to approve it.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Jeff Chiu, Hock Tan, Jinping, Tan, — Organizations: Associated Press Broadcom, VMware, Broadcom, Tower Semiconductor Locations: San Francisco, China, Beijing

Meta plans to use lenses in the headset that are cheaper than those in its most recent model, the Quest 3, pictured above. Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated PressSINGAPORE— Meta Platforms has struck a preliminary deal to sell a new, lower-priced version of its virtual-reality headset in China, regaining a foothold among consumers in the country 14 years after Facebook was shut out. The agreement with Tencent Holdings will make the world’s largest videogame company the exclusive seller of Meta’s headsets in China, people familiar with the matter said, offering the U.S. technology giant a major new market as it looks to boost tepid global demand for its niche gear. Tencent will start selling the headset beginning late 2024, with the two companies reaching a deal after about a year of negotiations.

Organizations: Associated Press, Facebook, Tencent Holdings Locations: Associated Press SINGAPORE, China

Organizations: Associated Press, Facebook, Tencent Holdings Locations: Associated Press SINGAPORE, China

An office of TikTok, whose move could double or triple the number of subpar grades given this year, some managers say. Photo: how hwee young/ShutterstockSINGAPORE—TikTok is asking managers across the world to give more employees lower ratings in performance reviews, a move that staff fear could reduce bonuses and lead to layoffs, people familiar with the matter said. In mid-October, managers were told by senior management and staff in human resources that they needed to assign more performance reviews at the lower end of the company’s bell-curve rating system, employees managing teams in the U.S., Singapore and China told The Wall Street Journal. This could double or triple the number of subpar grades given on some teams this year, the people said.

Organizations: SINGAPORE, Wall Street Locations: U.S, Singapore, China

Organizations: SINGAPORE, Wall Street Locations: U.S, Singapore, China

Organizations: SINGAPORE, Wall Street Locations: U.S, Singapore, China

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn’s headquarters. Photo: sam yeh/AFP/Getty ImagesFor decades, Apple has navigated an escalating series of challenges in China, from fake stores and factory protests to tightening censorship and app rules. Now, the iPhone maker risks getting dragged into the most volatile issue in U.S.-China relations: the future of Taiwan. On Sunday, Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology—one of Apple’s largest suppliers—said it is cooperating with Chinese authorities after state media reported China had opened tax and land-use probes into the company. The investigations come as Foxconn’s billionaire founder Terry Gou pursues a bid for the Taiwan presidency.

Persons: —, Terry Gou Organizations: Foxconn’s, Getty, Apple, Foxconn Technology Locations: AFP, China, Taiwan

Updated Oct. 20, 2023 12:00 am ETiPhone 15 sales have been weak in China. Photo: Cfoto/Zuma PressApple Chief Executive Tim Cook is crisscrossing China, one of the company’s largest markets, where challenges are mounting amid weak iPhone 15 sales and heightened government scrutiny. The whirlwind trip, which wasn’t announced ahead of time, has involved drop-ins at Apple stores, a visit to a key supplier and meetings with senior officials, including Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao .

Persons: Tim Cook, wasn’t, Wang Wentao Organizations: Zuma Press Apple, Apple, Chinese Commerce Locations: China

☆ Facing Exclusion From U.S., Chinese EV Suppliers Map a Circuitous Route Back In
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Rachel Liang | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

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Persons: Dow Jones

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/world/china/raimondos-china-tour-offers-glimmer-of-hope-to-battered-u-s-businesses-bd4c03d5

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ China’s Options for Retaliation Are Few After U.S. Investment Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Liza Lin | Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ China Drafts Rules for Facial-Recognition Use
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Karen Hao | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-drafts-rules-for-facial-recognition-use-4953506e

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ China Set to Impose Mobile Device Limits for Minors
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ China Pleases Parents With Plan to Limit Kids’ Smartphone Use
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Volkswagen Seeks to Reclaim China Crown in Deal With EV-Maker XPeng
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Clarence Leong | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones Organizations: volkswagen

☆ Latest China Test for Western Firms: Consumers Switching to Homegrown Labels
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ TikTok’s Talks With U.S. Have an Unofficial Player: China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Liza Lin | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—As TikTok pushes for an agreement with U.S. officials over its operations, an unofficial force at the negotiating table is the Chinese government. TikTok has been negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., an interagency government panel, for more than two years on a way to wall off the company’s data and operations from the Chinese government.

The U.S. is considering new sanctions on Chinese surveillance companies over sales to Iran’s security forces, officials familiar with the deliberations said, as Iranian authorities increasingly rely on the technology to crack down on protests. U.S. authorities are in advanced discussions on the sanctions, according to the officials, and have zeroed in on Tiandy Technologies Co., a surveillance-equipment maker based in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin whose products have been sold to units of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a hard-line paramilitary group.

☆ China’s Top Nuclear-Weapons Lab Used American Computer Chips Decades After Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Liza Lin | Dan Strumpf | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card. Nvidia said the semiconductors used in the Chinese institute’s research were general-purpose graphics chips. SINGAPORE—China’s top nuclear-weapons research institute has bought sophisticated U.S. computer chips at least a dozen times in the past two and half years, circumventing decades-old American export restrictions meant to curb such sales. A Wall Street Journal review of procurement documents found that the state-run China Academy of Engineering Physics has managed to obtain the semiconductors made by U.S. companies such as Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. since 2020 despite its placement on a U.S. export blacklist in 1997.

For most of the past two years, foreign officials and business executives grappled with paramount leader Xi Jinping ’s unflinching insistence on a zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19. Now they are struggling to make sense of Beijing’s decision to scrap those pandemic controls virtually without warning. The whiplash from China’s about-face on its zero-Covid strategy exemplifies the uncertainties that businesses, foreign governments and academics face in dealing with a black-box political system that has become increasingly impenetrable as Mr. Xi has accumulated more power.

Liza LinLiza Lin covers Asia technology news for The Wall Street Journal from Singapore, focusing mostly on China, the internet, supply chains and surveillance. In 2021, Liza was part of a team at the Journal that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, for their coverage of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Liza, alongside other Journal reporters, won the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting in 2018 for a series of stories on China's surveillance state. Liza is the co-author with Journal colleague Josh Chin of the book "Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control." A Fulbright scholar, she has also worked for Bloomberg News in Singapore and China.

Persons: Liza Lin Liza Lin, Liza, Xi Jinping, Gerald Loeb, Josh Chin Organizations: Wall, New York Press Club, Society of Publishers, Social Control, Bloomberg News Locations: Asia, Singapore, China, Shanghai

☆ Chinese Factories, Restaurants Adjust to Life Without Zero-Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Dan Strumpf | Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some restaurants in China reported a decrease in customers after Covid-19 restrictions were eased. After three years of “zero-Covid” economic disruption, many Chinese businesses awoke to a happy new reality in December: No more restrictions. But before they can take advantage, business owners in the world’s second-largest economy say, they have to get their supply chains in order after a topsy-turvy time capped by this abrupt reversal—and withstand a wave of Covid-19 cases sweeping through employee ranks.

☆ China’s Chip Equipment Imports Plunge in November as U.S. Export Controls Bite
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Liza Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—Chinese imports of semiconductor-making equipment plunged in November, as U.S. export controls aimed at slowing Beijing’s technological advancement took a bite. Chinese customers bought $2.3 billion worth of chip-making equipment in November, a drop of 40% from a year earlier, according to the country’s customs bureau.

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