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 Challenge for Made-in-America Bikes? Made-in-China Parts — Two and a half years after Guardian Bikes opened a factory in Indiana, it is trying to find components manufactured in the U.S..
- China Services Activity Gauge Signals Pickup in Growth — A private gauge of China’s service activity expanded at a faster clip at the end of 2024 as Beijing moved to boost domestic demand.
- How Chinese Hackers Graduated From Clumsy Corporate Thieves to Military Weapons — Massive “Typhoon” cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and telecoms sought to lay the groundwork for potential conflict with Beijing, as intruders gathered data and got in position to impede response and sow chaos.
- He’s a Factory Owner and Friends With Trump. That Makes Tariffs Personal. — Casino billionaire Phil Ruffin also owns a small Kansas factory that relies on some parts from China.
- China Must Heed Lessons of Japan’s Lost Decades — With China facing a deflationary spiral and uncertain economic prospects, lower interest rates alone wouldn’t be enough to kick the economy back into high gear.
- Opinion: Why Would China Undermine Global Shipping? — Its vessels are suspected of involvement in the sabotage of undersea cables. By Elisabeth Braw.
The Financial Times
- China rushes to reassure investors as equities and renminbi fall — CSI 300 down 4.2% this year and currency slides to 15-month low as Donald Trump’s return weighs on markets.
- Chinese venture capitalists force failed founders on to debtor blacklist — Pursuit of entrepreneurs threatens start-up ecosystem as investors target personal assets to claw back funding.
- China’s drive to give Taiwanese visitors local IDs alarms Taipei — Officials fear jurisdiction will be compromised and push could open door for Beijing to intervene in its domestic affairs.
- Antony Blinken: ‘China has been trying to have it both ways’ — The outgoing US secretary of state on putting pressure on Beijing over Ukraine, the ‘road map’ for Syria — and why America must co-operate in order to lead.
- Taiwan asks South Korea for help over Chinese ship after subsea cable damaged — Shunxing39 cargo vessel is heading for Busan after Taipei suggests anchor-dragging was ‘sabotage’.
- China’s box office takings drop by a quarter as viewers turn to streaming — Lack of blockbusters, pandemic aftereffects and hard economic times blamed for 2024 slump.
- The contradictions of Xi Jinping — Two incisive studies of the Chinese president reveal a complex figure who is all too aware of the capricious nature of power.
- Magic monkey tale inspires China’s gaming industry to seek blockbuster success — As Beijing eases regulations, developers are tooling up to produce big-budget titles with international appeal.
- Opinion: A new Monroe doctrine is unlikely to work for the US in South America — Washington’s leverage over countries in the region is waning as China’s influence grows. By Will Freeman.
- Opinion: Xi has a plan for retaliating against Trump’s gamesmanship — China is marshalling its forces for long-term competition against an America that it believes is divided and in decline. By Evan Medeiros.
The New York Times
- TikTok and Government Clash in Last Round of Supreme Court Briefs — The briefs, filed a week before oral arguments, offered sharply differing accounts of China’s influence over the site and the role of the First Amendment.
- U.S. Hits Chinese Cybersecurity Company With Sanctions After Breach — The agency imposed penalties on a company it blamed for supporting the Chinese hacking group Flax Typhoon in a 2022-23 infiltration.
Caixin
- Chinese AI Startups Make Gains in Challenge to U.S.-based OpenAI — Investors bet China’s Zhipu AI and MiniMax can overcome U.S. limits on advanced chips.
- The Challenges Infertile Couples Face in China — Since its founding in 1980, the Reproductive & Genetic Hospital of Citic-Xiangya has helped bring more than 230,000 “test-tube babies” into the world.
- China to Restrict Exports of Lithium Battery Technologies — Beijing also intends to add gallium extraction technology, vital for chip production, to controlled export list.
- China Imposes Trade Ban on 28 U.S. Defense Contractors — China says the export controls on dual-use items is aimed at guarding national security.
- Opinion: Taking the Lead in Pension Reform — Over the past three decades, China’s pension system has undergone numerous reforms, gradually evolving into a three-pillar structure. By Caixin.
South China Morning Post
- China risks catastrophic errors if anti-corruption crackdown eases, Xi Jinping warns — More tenacity needed in fighting the biggest threat to the Communist Party, Xi tells disciplinary body.
- China approves new airport in Guangdong to ease congestion woes — New facility in country’s largest province slated to process 30 million annual trips by 2035, 2.2 million tonnes of cargo per year by 2050.
- A bleak 2025 awaits China’s 30,000 car dealers as price war piles on US$24 billion losses — Despite a 4.7 per cent rise in nationwide car sales, some 4,000 dealerships have closed due to a financial squeeze.
- China’s tech giants vow to fix algorithm issues amid government crackdown — ByteDance’s Douyin, PDD’s Pinduoduo, and Xiaohongshu have promised to address issues related to the misuse of algorithms.
- China’s film industry fights for relevance in changing media landscape — With lower ticket sales and fierce competition from online entertainment, China’s film industry faces demotion in cultural status.
Nikkei Asia
- U.S.-China trade spat to dull investor sentiment on soybeans — Futures are hovering around $10, higher than where they were before the pandemic.
- What’s in store for China’s economy in 2025: 5 things to watch — Analysts say growth hinges on interplay between U.S. tariffs, Beijing’s stimulus.
- Opinion: Did China finally kick its coal addiction in 2024? — Beijing’s promises to fully phase out the fuel seem little more than rhetoric. By Tim Daiss.
Bloomberg
- China’s PBOC Vows More Support for Innovation and Consumption — China’s central bank said it will step up financial support for technology innovation and consumption stimulation as part of a continued effort to revive economic growth.
- China Enticing Taiwanese to Live There Stirs Concern in Taipei — Efforts to entice more Taiwanese people to get permits to live on the mainland is prompting concern that Beijing could be laying the groundwork to justify intervention in the self-governing island’s affairs.
- Xi Says China Must Win ‘Tough, Protracted’ Fight Against Graft — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said his country must prevail in the fight against graft, signaling that he’ll remain focused on rooting out dirty officials in 2025.
Reuters
- Chinese exchanges ask big fund managers to restrict stock selling — At least four large mutual funds received calls from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 and 3, asking them to buy more stocks than they sold each day.
- China’s top diplomat heads to Africa as West’s attention dwindles — Foreign Minister Wang Yi being in Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria highlights the consistency of China’s engagement with Africa, analysts say.
Other Publications
- BBC: China’s overqualified youth taking jobs as drivers, labourers and film extras — “My dream job was to work in investment banking,” says Sun Zhan as he prepares to start his shift as a waiter in a hot pot restaurant in the southern city of Nanjing.
- The Washington Post: Carter took pride in warming U.S.-China ties — in a very different D.C. — Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, a move that remains a point of tension, though it moved China away from the Soviet Union.
- The Economist: Does made in Mexico mean made by China? — Donald Trump believes Mexico is a trojan horse for Chinese mercantilism.
