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
- Chinese Battery Giant CATL Applies for Hong Kong Listing — A growing number of prominent Chinese companies have been looking to Hong Kong for secondary listings.
- Alibaba Shares Surge After Progress in Apple Partnership — Apple recently submitted Apple Intelligence features for China for approval by the country’s cyberspace regulator.
- How a Chinese Animated Movie Reaped $1.2 Billion and Beat Hollywood Giants — ‘Ne Zha 2’ offers Chinese audience its Marvel-like hero in dark times.
- Baidu in Talks to Operate Robotaxis in U.A.E. — Tests of Apollo Go robotaxis could start in Dubai as early as the first half of this year.
- Taiwan Worries About Its Future Under Trump 2.0 — Critical comments by president and members of his circle leave island less confident about U.S. support.
The Financial Times
- World’s largest EV battery maker CATL files for Hong Kong listing — Several Chinese companies expected to list in the territory this year as market activity revives.
- Ex-Google chief warns west to focus on open-source AI in competition with China — Eric Schmidt’s caution comes following Chinese start-up DeepSeek’s breakthrough.
- China’s tech stocks enter bull market after DeepSeek breakthrough — Budget AI model triggers global reappraisal of Chinese technology companies.
- Opinion: Tariffs won’t bring back America’s unipolar moment — Trade is wrongly blamed for the relative decline of the U.S. By Janan Ganesh.
- Opinion: China’s carmakers shift up a gear — Beijing could step in to consolidate fragmented industry, reshaping its future. By Lex.
The New York Times
- Chinese Companies Use Legal Threats to Halt Foreign Research — Think tanks and universities have helped expose problematic Chinese business practices. Now, those businesses are accusing them of defamation.
- When Will China’s Leader Talk to Trump? — Xi Jinping seems to be in no rush to engage with President Trump, who has sent mixed signals about when a call might happen (or whether it already has).
- Who Pays for Tariffs — Understanding who will end up paying for the higher costs means understanding how manufacturing, trade and supply chains function — and how costs build along each step of the complex process. Take shoes, for example.
Caixin
- Falling Yields Pile Pressure on China’s Insurers — Although bonds are still the investment mainstay, yields are too low to match insurers’ obligations and the stock market lacks enough high-quality, dividend-paying companies.
- Boost Inference to Follow in DeepSeek’s Footsteps, AI Veteran Tells Chinese Firms — The strong reasoning, coding and language comprehension performance of DeepSeek’s models are key to how it overcame resource limitations, says SiliconFlow founder.
- Discrepancies Persist in Generic Drug Approval Data Despite Regulator’s Efforts — Statistical errors remain after the Center for Drug Evaluation temporarily cut off public access to the information earlier this year.
- CATL Launches Hong Kong Secondary Listing to Fund European Expansion — Chinese battery giant aims to raise $5 billion to pay for the building of its factory in Hungary.
South China Morning Post
- China’s richest cities say medical costs are bleeding dry health insurance funds — What happens when China’s ageing population meets a rising reluctance among healthy people to pay for voluntary insurance?
- China’s rust-belt regions at risk of being left behind as coastal economies surge — Local-level debt, an imbalanced industrial structure and population outflows continue to take a hefty toll on efforts to revitalise China’s poorer regions.
Nikkei Asia
- Top China chipmaker SMIC says tariff war sparking ‘rush orders’ —Stockpiling in first half could lead to softer prices later, co-CEO warns.
- BYD takes lead in China auto market once driven by state-backed players — Volkswagen, GM and state-owned partners struggle amid rapid EV transition.
Bloomberg
- Canada’s 13 Premiers Descend on Washington to Play the China Card on Trade — For the first time ever, they’re all in Washington together, trying to bend the ears of the most influential American policymakers they can find.
- China’s Property Crisis Enters a Dangerous New Phase — Risks grow as authorities are forced into a first mainland rescue and iconic Hong Kong developer New World’s bonds sink into distress.
- China Mulls $6.8 Billion Funding to Help Vanke Repay Debt — The proposed financial backing is a further sign that Beijing is drawing a line in the sand for Vanke so that the state-backed developer doesn’t suffer the same fate as China Evergrande Group.
- China Hedge Funds Tempt Investors Who Pulled Cash for Years — Investment consultants are likely leading the way back into the world’s second-largest economy.
Reuters
- Exclusive: China’s record mergers in $8 trillion small banking sector raise future risks — The scale underscores the depth of the problem in a crucial corner of China’s financial sector.
- Is China ending its stint as major global grain importer? — China’s predicted grain hauls will still be historically large, though some global grain exporters may need to block out the memories of what used to be and focus on a newer normal.
- Is China’s state-funded stock revival plan pie in the sky? — China is in a vicious chicken-and-egg cycle where the stock market and weak economy feed off each other.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: U.S.-China trade war hits small and midsize businesses especially hard — Many smaller businesses can’t afford to move manufacturing out of China while remaining competitive, experts say.
- The Information: Apple Partners With Alibaba to Develop AI Features for iPhone Users in China — The stakes are high for Apple to find a suitable AI partner in China to stem market share losses in the country.
- Associated Press: Her parents were injured in a Tesla crash. She ended up having to pay Tesla damages — Tesla has sued its own customers and journalists in China for defamation and won just about every time.
- Japan Times: Opinion: Trump’s Initial Moves Will Benefit China — President Trump has followed through on his campaign promises so far, to China’s benefit. By Josh Kurlantzick.
