Good evening. The aviation industry has long been one of the most idiosyncratic areas in the U.S.-China business relationship. Our cover story this week — by James Fallows, who knows this particular relationship better than anyone — looks at the latest twist: the surprising success of AVIC’s ownership of Cirrus, as well as its mystifying decision to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Elsewhere, we have infographics on the rise of Cotti Coffee, which has major links to Luckin Coffee; an interview with Shibani Mahtani & Tim McLaughlin on the evolution of Hong Kong’s identity; a reported piece on China’s tourism industry; and an op-ed on China’s potential role mediating the Israel-Hamas conflict. If you’re not already a paid subscriber to The Wire, please sign up here.
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Flying High
For the past dozen years, America’s favorite small plane company, Cirrus Aircraft, has thrived under the quiet ownership of AVIC, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate known for supplying the PLA. But with Cirrus now planning to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange, can it continue to soar?
The Big Picture: Caffeinating the Nation
China and coffee chains will always bring to mind the financial scandal around Luckin Coffee, but now Cotti Coffee, which has major links to Luckin, is the new kid on the cafe block. This week’s infographics by Ella Apostoaie look at how Cotti Coffee got started in the industry, what it is offering to compete with the current coffee chain champions, and where it could go from here.
A Q&A with Shibani Mahtani and Tim McLaughlin
Shibani Mahtani is an international investigative correspondent for The Washington Post. Tim McLaughlin is a contributing writer to The Atlantic. They are the authors of Among the Braves: Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battle for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy, a new book that follows the lives of four pro-democracy Hong Kongers, tracing how their upbringing shapes their identities and political beliefs, their role in the 2019 protests, and their fates in its aftermath. In this week’s Q&A with Eliot Chen, they talk about the book, the evolution of U.S. foreign policy on Hong Kong, and how reporting on the city has changed since the enactment of the 2020 National Security Law.
Tim McLaughlin and Shibani Mahtani
Illustrations by Kate Copeland
Chinese Tourists Aren’t Coming Back Yet
Domestic tourism has recovered since the end of the pandemic as Chinese people prefer to holiday at home. Rachel Cheung reports.
Will China Mediate the Israel-Hamas Conflict?
Given China’s success earlier this year brokering the peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, there has been a hope that China might magically pull a rabbit out of the hat. But as Yun Sun argues in this week’s op-ed, in the foreseeable future, it’s not likely.
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