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
- Alibaba Posts Fastest Revenue Growth Since 2023 — The e-commerce giant posted a better-than-expected 7.6% rise in revenue as it worked to put growth back on track amid fierce domestic competition and a slowing Chinese economy.
- Xi Is Trying to Secure the Devotion of China’s Military — Chinese leader deploys soldiers on a campaign of films, quizzes and political study.
- Lenovo Sees DeepSeek Breakthrough as Fuel for PC Sales — The PC maker’s chief executive said Chinese startup DeepSeek’s breakthrough is “very positive” for the industry and in particular for Lenovo.
- NetEase Resumes Profit Growth but Revenue Slips — The company’s revenue fell 1.4% but was slightly better than analysts’ expectations.
- Trump’s FBI Pick Stands to Make Millions From Fashion Brand Shein — Kash Patel is in line for Senate confirmation Thursday. Critics question potential conflicts of interest in owning shares of foreign firm with China ties.
The Financial Times
- Alibaba boosted by China’s AI spending boom — Tech giant’s share price has risen over 50 per cent since start of year on DeepSeek-led AI rally.
- Struggling Chinese builder Vanke turns to state managers to ‘stop the decline’ — Default of property developer so closely linked to government would be blow to economic confidence.
- US congressional committee warns on new Chinese embassy in London — Plans raise ‘significant’ security concerns for financial services industry, says Washington.
- Opinion: The Chinese market’s second wind — A tech rebound from DeepSeek and the reappearance of Jack Ma. By Aiden Reiter.
The New York Times
- Australia, New Zealand Alarmed by Chinese Warships in Tasman Sea — Sailing in Australia’s exclusive economic zone, the three vessels were not breaking international law, but they were unusually far south on an undeclared mission.
- In Giant Chinese Embassy in London, Opponents See Long Arm of Beijing — Britain appears ready to approve what would be the largest diplomatic outpost in Europe, but neighbors and activists fear tapped phone lines and suppressed protests.
- China Uses Public Shaming to Motivate State Workers — Local governments are handing out “snail awards” to underperforming employees. But, for many, doing as little as possible seems like the safest bet.
- Trump Eyes a Bigger, Better Trade Deal With China — U.S. officials are considering whether they can strike a deal with China that would ramp up its purchases of American goods and investments in the United States.
- Opinion: How Trump Could Get Us Into a Debt Crisis — A blowup will be sparked not by government spending but from political malpractice. By Wendy Edelberg and Ben Harris.
- Opinion: An Opening for China, Made in America — Trump’s long and growing list of shortsighted actions in Latin America has created an opening there for America’s adversaries, most notably China. By Eric Jacobstein.
- Opinion: Tom Friedman on Just How Far Trump Could Push the World — The president wants to create a revolution abroad. This Opinion columnist would love to see a plan. By Thomas L. Friedman and Patrick Healy.
Caixin
- Rule Change Leaves Some Chinese Charities Starving for Funding — Some charities in China are struggling to pay their rent and staff following recent changes to fundraising rules.
- Chinese Carmakers Expand Into Growing Central Asian Markets — Once known as grey markets to re-export vehicles to Russia, automakers are boosting exports and localizing manufacturing in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.
- Meituan to Provide Social Security Benefits for Delivery Riders — China’s food delivery giant leads the way with pilot programs to improve the lives of its drivers.
South China Morning Post
- Race for AI supremacy: Chinese-born scientists in Musk’s Grok squad line up against China — Media in China is taking notice of the large number of key developers, researchers and scientists born and educated in China at work in US.
- China issues new plan to boost consumption by creating a healthier market environment — Beijing plans to encourage consumers to open their wallets by eliminating scams, price gouging and shoddy goods.
- China’s bold new agricultural plan puts AI, biotech and seeds behind self-sufficiency push — Calling scientific and technological innovation the ‘main battlefield of international strategic competition’, agriculture official says the race for dominance is on.
- Double down or get out: the options for foreign carmakers in China amid shrinking share — The share of foreign carmakers on the mainland could shrink to as low as 32 per cent this year from 35 per cent in 2024.
- Who is Yu Renrong, China’s only chip industry representative at Xi Jinping’s symposium? — Yu founded Will Semiconductor in 2007 and has made a name as a successful deal maker in China’s chip industry.
Nikkei Asia
- Xi seeks to join Trump and Putin for Yalta 2.0 — China eyes Ukraine peacekeeping role as a stepping stone toward a new world order.
- U.S. State Department stops calling China ‘PRC’ in country fact sheet — Focus of relations shifts to ‘reciprocity and fairness’ from alliances.
- Chinese officials vow to stop decline in foreign investment — Action plan released as FDI fell further in January.
- Beijing extends antitrust scrutiny of food delivery leader Meituan — E-commerce giant JD.com’s foray into industry set to heat up competition.
- Opinion: To tackle China, Trump must hit the reset button on Southeast Asia — The U.S. is currently not providing the economic engagement that ASEAN needs. By Lucas Myers.
Bloomberg
- China Flies Home First Nationals From Myanmar ‘Scam Centers’ — China began repatriating its citizens who worked in cyber fraud operations in Myanmar following a multi-national crackdown on the centers dubbed by international groups as a nexus of human rights abuses and criminal activity.
- Trump Says New China Trade Deal ‘Possible’ Despite Tensions — US President Donald Trump said it would be possible to reach a fresh trade deal with China, signaling he is open to heading off a brewing trade fight between Washington and Beijing.
- Xi Risks Becoming Top US Threat If Trump Cuts Deal With Putin — For President Xi Jinping, an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine brings many opportunities and one major threat: China would suddenly become the main focus of the US military.
Reuters
- Chinese premier promises targeted measures to boost consumption — Li Qiang’s comments come as the world’s second-largest economy faces a property crisis and the possibility of more U.S. tariff hikes, weighing on household spending.
Other Publications
- CFR: Trump’s Abrupt Turn to Russia—and Whether a U.S.-Russia Team Could Gain Any Sway in South and Southeast Asia — President Trump’s new geopolitical strategy of aligning with Russia to counter China is highly controversial and raises questions about its effectiveness and impact on U.S. interests and global politics.
- Foreign Policy: Jack Ma Is Back, but Beijing Is in Control — Alibaba is trying to reshape itself to match Xi Jinping’s ambitions.
- Foreign Affairs: The Real China Trump Card — The Hawk’s Case Against Decoupling.
- AP: Trump’s freeze on foreign aid could give China an opening on the world stage — From the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development to quitting international groups, Trump’s drastic “America First” moves have raised concerns among some lawmakers and experts.
- The Atlantic: Trump Hands the World to China — Xi Jinping could only have dreamed of such rapid destruction of American power.
- The Economist: Behind DeepSeek lies a dazzling Chinese university — It models itself on Stanford, and is in the tech hotspot of Hangzhou.
- The Economist: China’s leaders look to have blinked in their property face-off — They did not want to bail out indebted firms. Now they are on the verge of doing so.
- The Information: DeepSeek Weighs Raising Outside Money For First Time — DeepSeek’s sudden rise to artificial intelligence stardom has created a dilemma for the Chinese startup: whether to raise money.
