FirstFT: Joe Biden says Chinese ‘connected’ vehicles pose US security threat

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Good morning. Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into whether Chinese smart cars pose a security risk to Americans.

The US president directed his commerce department to determine what measures his administration should take to prevent China from undermining national security through the export of “connected” vehicles, including electric cars.

US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said “connected” cars were able to collect huge amounts of sensitive data, from driving routes to biometric information.

“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out how a foreign adversary like China with access to this sort of information at scale could pose a serious risk for national security and the privacy of US citizens,” she said.

While the officials stressed the security implications, Washington is also concerned about China’s industrial overcapacity and the possibility that Chinese groups could dump products such as electric vehicles on international markets. Here’s more on the Biden administration’s concerns about Chinese vehicles.

• Can European carmakers stop BYD?: Chinese electric vehicle behemoth BYD began selling on the continent a little over a year ago and is already making inroads. But European carmakers are determined to fight back.

And here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data will be released.

• Iran: The Islamic republic holds tightly-controlled elections to choose members of parliament and the assembly that will appoint a successor to the 84-year-old Supreme Leader when he dies.

• Russia: Alexei Navalny will be buried in Moscow, with a memorial service set to take place for the Russian dissident.

• South Korea: Financial markets closed are for Independence Movement Day.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. Dozens of Palestinians were killed yesterday during a chaotic attempt to get humanitarian aid into northern Gaza, during which Israeli forces opened fire on civilians. The circumstances of the killings were unclear as Israeli and Palestinian officials gave conflicting accounts. Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces fired on crowds rushing to secure food, killing 104 and injuring dozens. But the Israel Defense Forces said dozens of people were killed in a “stampede” as they rushed towards aid trucks. Here are more details.

2. Vladimir Putin has made his most explicit threat to use nuclear weapons since the invasion of Ukraine. In his state of the nation speech yesterday, the Russian president told the country’s political elite that claims his country intended to attack Europe were “nonsense”. But he said any increase in western support for Ukraine “really risks a conflict using nuclear weapons, which means the destruction of all of civilisation”. Read the full story.

3. Indian farmers marching on New Delhi have been stopped at a state border more than 200km away by barricades and police armed with smoke bombs and drones dropping tear gas. The tough government measures come ahead of a general election in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party is the strong favourite to win. But the farmers’ protests have thrust their complaints back to the centre of national debate.

• Interview: India’s commerce minister told the FT that trade policy has no role in fighting climate change, dealing a blow to hopes of tackling global warming through trade deals.

4. A political row has erupted in Australia after the country’s intelligence agency said that an unnamed former politician “sold out” the country to a foreign regime. The report from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has led to calls for the target to be unmasked as the country grapples with the latest incident of foreign interference in its politics.

5. US inflation fell to 2.4 per cent in the year to January, according to the metric most closely watched by the Federal Reserve. Yesterday’s data supports expectations of rate cuts later this year and are in line with economists’ expectations.

FT Investigations

Russian military documents leaked to the FT offer an extraordinary window on Moscow’s long-standing fears about Beijing’s real intentions. They recount years of exercises rehearsing a possible Chinese invasion, even as leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping began forging a “no limits” partnership. The scenarios give granular insight into how Moscow’s military thought about threats from China — as well as the tactics it deployed to wage war in Ukraine.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

• Chinese economy: Beijing has the tools at its disposal to overturn the current downturn. It’s time to use them, writes Tao Wang of UBS Investment Research.

• 🎧 Rachman Review podcast: Europe is sounding the alarm about the threat from Russia. But how do things seem viewed from Delhi or Sydney?

• Asics: The Japanese shoe company’s pickleball-fuelled turnaround looks destined to become a business school case study, writes Leo Lewis.

Chart of the day

Nicolas Aguzin’s term as chief executive of Hong Kong’s stock exchange ended on a downbeat note yesterday as HKEX reported a sharp fall in fourth-quarter profits. Aguzin will be replaced today by Bonnie Chan, the exchange’s co-chief operating officer, months ahead of the scheduled end of his three-year term. The company’s stock has fallen about 43 per cent under Aguzin, reflecting a loss of more than $38bn in market capitalisation.

Take a break from the news

The FT’s Scott Whitehead recounts his terrifying experience of being swept up in an avalanche while skiing in Switzerland — and how he survived. The advice they give you is not so easy to follow when you’re tumbling in a wave of freezing snow.

Additional contributions from Gary Jones and Alexander James