Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- The U.S. Raised Tariffs on China. Now It Wants Europe’s Support. — Washington is trying to wrangle its European allies into a united front against a surge in Chinese exports.
- Political Dissident or $1 Billion Fraudster? A Chinese Tycoon Heads to Trial — Jurors to weigh the fate of high-living developer and Beijing critic Guo Wengui, who linked up with Steve Bannon.
- Chinese Activist Who Posted Videos From Covid-Hit Wuhan Has Left Prison — Confirmation of Zhang Zhan’s release comes after international attention on her situation.
- Chinese Business Group Warns of Tariff Increases on Car Imports in Response to U.S., EU Moves — The group cited insiders as saying that Beijing is considering temporary extra tariffs on imported cars with large-displacement engines.
The Financial Times
- China’s latest answer to OpenAI is ‘Chat Xi PT’ — Internet regulator uses Chinese leader’s political philosophy to help answer questions posed to latest large language model.
- UK accuses China of providing ‘lethal aid’ to Russia for Ukraine war — Defence secretary Grant Shapps says intelligence reveals Beijing ‘collaborating on combat equipment’ with Moscow.
- PwC faces crisis in China over audit of failed property giant Evergrande — Role in approving accounts has led to infighting at Big Four firm as clients reconsider relationship.
- China has finally unveiled its property rescue plan. Will it be enough? — Beijing unlocks funding to buy up unsold housing but much more is needed to right stricken sector, analysts say.
- Former UK soldier charged with spying for Hong Kong found dead — Matthew Trickett was accused of assisting intelligence services in the Chinese territory.
- EU trade deficit with China shrinks to lowest level since 2021 — Weak domestic demand and US tariffs on China provide boost to Europe’s transatlantic exports.
- AstraZeneca to build Chinese supply chain as US-Sino tensions increase — Anglo-Swedish drugmaker targets $80bn in revenue by 2030.
- Opinion: China has a point about Taiwan’s new leader — Lai Ching-te’s language on sovereignty has already strayed from the path taken by his more cautious predecessor. By Kathrin Hille
The New York Times
- House Panel Seeks F.B.I. Investigation Into Doping by Chinese Swimmers — The bipartisan request for a criminal inquiry relies on a law that gives the Justice Department the power to prosecute doping offenses that do not occur in the United States.
- U.K. Man Charged With Aiding Hong Kong’s Intelligence Service Is Found Dead — Matthew Trickett, one of three men accused of gathering information for the special administrative region of China, died in a park outside London, the police said.
- Fraud Trial to Begin for Chinese Billionaire Who Allied Himself With America’s Right — Charged with defrauding thousands of investors in the U.S. and overseas of more than $1 billion, Guo Wengui could face decades in prison.

Caixin
- In Depth: China’s Securities Firms Rein In Pay Packets as Pressures Mount — Although Chinese securities firms’ pay packets are still among the highest in the country, they are now in the shadow of an industrywide pay cut, under pressure from the government to rein in excessive remuneration.
- China Targets ‘Political Swindlers’ in Anti-Graft Campaign — At least 16 former government officials and state-owned company executives probed by central or local graft busters in the past decade have been taken in by “political swindlers,” with at least four more cases cropping up this year alone.
- Minsheng Securities in Management Shakeup Before Guolian Buyout — Shanghai-based investment bank Minsheng Securities Co. Ltd. is in the process of reorganizing its senior management team as it prepares to be bought out by larger rival Guolian Securities Co. Ltd.
South China Morning Post
- China’s 618 shopping festival: Alibaba touts early sales after withholding data last year, a sign of brighter outlook — Alibaba and others have released encouraging early sales data from China’s biggest shopping season after Singles’ Day, an indicator of consumer sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy.
- China property: too soon to call Beijing’s rescue package a ‘game changer’, JPMorgan says — Investors will need to see more positive signals from the market before calling a stabilisation, US bank says, as expectations of declining prices and shrinking incomes, plus jitters about home delivery will continue to keep homebuyers at bay.
- China’s Zhipu AI joins 15 tech firms including Google, Microsoft in committing to develop tech safely at Seoul summit — Along with Meta, OpenAI and Samsung, the companies committed to publishing safety frameworks for measuring risks.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s special long-term bonds rise in exchange debut — Investors flock to relative safety amid property crunch.
- Alibaba-controlled Chinese supermarkets drowning in red — Sign of weak consumption but new CEO admits uncompetitive pricing.
- China’s EV industry, led by BYD, drives job growth — Private companies account for 80% of new employment since 2019.
Bloomberg
- ‘Are You Better Off?’ Asking Reagan’s Question in Xi’s China — Unlike his reform-era predecessors, Xi Jinping can’t count on rapid gains in prosperity to underpin support for Communist Party rule.
- China Hints at 25% Car Tariff as Deadline for EU Probe Looms — China signaled it’s ready to unleash tariffs as high as 25% on imported cars with large engines, as trade tensions escalate with the US and European Union.
- China’s $10,000 EV Is Coming for Europe’s Carmakers — Cheap electric vehicles from China are already pushing into Europe, undercutting one of the region’s biggest industries. BYD Co., which overtook Tesla Inc. late last year as the biggest global EV maker, is about to raise the stakes.
Reuters
- Vatican wants to upgrade relations with China, top cardinal says — The Vatican would like to establish a permanent office in China in what would be a major upgrade of diplomatic relations with Beijing, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said on Tuesday.
- China’s blistering solar power growth runs into grid blocks — China’s breakneck build-out of solar power, fuelled by rock-bottom equipment prices and policy support, is slowing as grid bottlenecks pile up, market reforms increase uncertainty for generators, and the best rooftop space runs short.
- iFlytek enters China’s AI language model price war — Artificial intelligence (AI) firm iFlytek on Wednesday entered a brewing price war between some of China’s biggest tech companies, after it made some versions of its “Spark” large-language model (LLM) free or five times cheaper than similar products from competitors.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China’s version of levelling up is not going well — Will its vast hinterland ever catch up with its wealthy coast?
- Associated Press: China is accelerating the forced urbanization of rural Tibetans, rights group says — China is accelerating the forced urbanization of Tibetan villagers and herders, Human Rights Watch said, in an extensive report that adds to state government and independent reports of efforts to assimilate rural Tibetans through control over their language and traditional Buddhist culture.
- Washington Post: Opinion: American students have soured on China. That’s bad for the U.S. — As fewer American students study in China, the U.S. will suffer a shortage of China experts. By Keith Richburg
- Council on Foreign Relations: Analyzing Lai Ching-te’s Inaugural Address: More Continuity Than Difference — In his inaugural address, Taiwan’s new president Lai Ching-te signaled broad continuity on cross-strait issues. China, however, is likely to respond with increased pressure. By Rush Doshi and David Sacks
- MIT Technology Review: OpenAI’s latest blunder shows the challenges facing Chinese AI models — Finding high-quality data sets is tricky because of the way China’s internet functions.
- The Guardian: China warns of reprisals against Taiwan after president’s inauguration speech — Lai Ching-te’s inauguration speech has been panned by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which labelled the new president a “dangerous separatist”.