Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit eight countries in the Pacific. A Davos photo used by a U.S. Congressman to criticize China didn’t show anyone Chinese. Plus, Tencent fires swathes of people from its gaming and fintech departments. If you haven’t already, click here to sign up for this briefing. By Kevin Guo   TOP STORIES Funds / In Depth: China’s plan to overhaul its $3.7 trillion mutual fund industry China’s securities regulator is plowing ahead with plans to shake up the country’s vast 25 trillion yuan ($3.7 trillion) mutual fund management business, reshaping industry incentives and throwing the doors wider for more companies to get into the sector. Piggybacking on the growth of the country’s middle class, China’s mutual fund market has expanded rapidly. As of March, 152 licensed companies managed 9,669 mutual funds with 25.1 trillion yuan of assets under management, almost double the amount three years earlier, data from the Asset Management Association of China show.   Davos / Exclusive: Davos photo used by U.S. Congressman to criticize China didn’t show anyone Chinese The individuals in a photo criticized by a U.S. Congressman for not standing up during an ovation for the Ukrainian president’s speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) were not Chinese, but Vietnamese, Caixin learned. In a livestreamed interview with CNN, Congressman Michael McCaul referred to the photo to accuse the Chinese delegation of walking out of the room while others applauded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s virtual speech at the opening of the WEF annual meeting late Monday morning in Davos, Switzerland. Exclusive: China’s climate envoy meets with IEA chief in Davos   FINANCE & ECONOMY A tax officer explains the tax reduction policy in Qujing, Yunnan Province, May 18, 2022. Tax / China pours on billions of dollars more in tax relief China will increase tax relief to businesses and subsidies to grain farmers, postpone social security payments, and extend loan repayments by small companies and consumers as part of the government’s latest push to offset the impact of Covid lockdowns on the economy. Beijing will offer more than 140 billion yuan ($21.1 billion) of additional tax relief to businesses, increasing the total of tax refunds and tax cuts this year to 2.64 trillion yuan ($394.1 billion), state broadcaster CCTV reported Sunday, citing a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.   South Pacific / China’s foreign minister to visit South Pacific island nations after security pact with Solomon Islands Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit eight countries in the Pacific starting this week as Beijing seeks to boost security ties in the region. Wang’s trip will last from Thursday to June 4, during which he plans to visit the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and East Timor, according to a ministry statement (link in Chinese).   Covid-19 / Beijing vows to stamp out Covid, transfers nearly 2,000 people to neighboring city for isolation Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan urged authorities in Beijing to take more “thorough” measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the community, moving faster to transfer and isolate infected people and their close contacts as an outbreak has dragged on for a month. She also reiterated the country’s adherence to the “zero-Covid” policy Monday when she visited some places in the capital that recently reported clusters of infections, state media reported. The places included several in Haidian district, home to some of China’s top universities. China suspends overseas tours, discourages citizens from going abroad   Quick hits / UBS, JPMorgan cut China 2022 growth forecasts on Covid zero BUSINESS & TECH Tencent's office in Beijing on April 3. Photo: VCG Tencent / Tencent fires gaming, fintech staff in wake of miserable first quarter Tencent Holdings Ltd. is firing swathes of people from its gaming and fintech departments, continuing massive layoffs that started in March, as the tech titan reports weak performance amid a regulatory crackdown and the Covid-19 pandemic. The Shenzhen-headquartered giant is ditching employees at its Interactive Entertainment Group (IEG), which includes the lucrative gaming department, Caixin learned.   Job cuts / Q&A site Zhihu fires up to 30% of staff, sources say Chinese online Q&A platform Zhihu Inc. sacked as much as 30% of its workforce, including many in senior roles, Caixin learned. The mass firing comes after the Quora-like website failed to break even after a decade in the red. Employees estimated that between 20% and 30% of Zhihu’s workforce was cut in the latest round, with reductions to departments in IT, commercialization, education and community operation.   Quick hits / Didi shareholders vote to delist from NYSE in wake of China tech crackdown   Airbnb to stop China bookings to focus on outbound Asia travel Tech Insider / Layoffs at Tencent and Zhihu, Airbnb shutters China business Long Read / China still needs supply-side structural reform, but needs to get it right GALLERY Caixin at Davos 2022 Recommended newsletter for you / Caixin Must-Read Newsletter brings you the best of our coverage and stories you can’t miss.  You can opt-in now and get hand-picked news coverage delivered to your inbox each week for free. Thanks for reading. If you haven’t already, click here to subscribe.  Today’s CX Daily was compiled and edited by Kevin Guo (xinguo@caixin.com). We would love your feedback for this briefing. Click to send us your thoughts or hit ‘reply.’

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