Good evening. Bob Fu, a Chinese pastor and dissident, says there’s been a “spiritual” shift in Washington’s approach to China — and as our cover story this week shows, it could have profound effects on the U.S.-China rivalry. Elsewhere, we have amazing infographics and word clouds on the last four years of China news stories; an interview with Angela Huyue Zhang on why Beijing took on the tech giants; a reported piece on U.S. chipmaker Micron playing the long game in China; and an op-ed from Andrew Cainey on how to bridge the transatlantic gap on China. If you’re not already a paid subscriber to The Wire, please sign up here.
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The Divine Disruptor
Bob Fu’s relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he’s been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on. Grady McGregor reports.
The Big Picture: The Quadrennial Roundup
To celebrate The Wire China‘s 4th anniversary, we decided to take stock of just how much has changed since April 2020. Using our daily news roundup of China stories from across English-language publications — one of our most loved offerings among subscribers — we’ve created word cloud infographics from thousands of headlines. The result is a series of simple snapshots showing just how wild a ride the past four years have been.
A Q&A with Angela Huyue Zhang
Angela Huyue Zhang is an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, and a leading expert on Chinese tech regulation. She is the author of High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, a highly acclaimed book that absorbs all that happened during China’s 2020-2022 tech crackdown to explain how the government there regulates its tech sector. In this week’s interview with Eliot Chen, she spoke about when and why Beijing’s attitude towards China’s big tech darlings changed, how the relationship between regulators and companies has developed in the aftermath of the crackdown, and what all this means for China’s artificial intelligence industry.
Angela Huyue Zhang
Illustration by Kate Copeland
Micron Plays the Long Game in China
Opening a new assembly plant in Xi’an is part of a delicate balancing act Micron is performing both commercially and politically. As Rachel Cheung reports, while the company has a $602-million investment plan in China, it is also shifting its focus elsewhere.
How to Bridge the Transatlantic Gap on China
The U.S. and Europe need to work together better on China-related issues. Step one, argues Andrew Cainey in this week’s op-ed, is to work out the differences in where each side is coming from.
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