The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, episode 72

Welcome to the 72nd installment of the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, a weekly podcast that brings you the most important business stories of the week from China’s top source for business and financial news. Produced by Kaiser Kuo of our Sinica Podcast, it features a business news roundup, plus conversations with Caixin reporters and editors.

This week:

• We analyze a new report that shows China’s economy is facing mounting downward pressure in November, adding to concerns that the world’s second-largest economy is further slowing.
• We note that China’s yuan hit a 10-year low against the U.S. dollar in October and there is little expectation the yuan will strengthen significantly.
• We hear that Canadian embassy officials in Beijing were allowed access to two Canadians who were detained last week. Their arrests came just after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) was arrested in Vancouver at the request of the United States, which says she was involved in financial transactions that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.
• We learn that former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman has been hired by beleaguered Chinese tech giant ZTE to conduct what the company says will be an “independent” national security assessment of its products.
• We discuss the fall of Zhang Shaochun (张少春), former vice minister at the Ministry of Finance, who pleaded guilty to accepting $10 million in bribes this week. Zhang was dismissed from public office and expelled from the Party in September.
• We report that the Shanghai Sharks, the city’s basketball team, apologized after fans allegedly yelled, “Why didn’t your team get murdered during the Nanjing Massacre?” during a match against Nanjing Monkey King, a team that comes from the city that saw mass killings of civilians by invading Japanese troops in 1937.

In addition, we talk with Charlotte Yang, reporter at Caixin Global, about what’s happening with the Made in China 2025 initiative amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. We also chat with Doug Young, managing editor of Caixin Global, about Apple in China.