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 Stocks Rally on Strong Alibaba Earnings, DeepSeek Optimism — Upbeat earnings by big tech companies have added to a recent rally driven by Xi Jinping’s meeting with top corporate executives and the AI hype around DeepSeek.
- CATL, Volkswagen to Collaborate on EV Batteries Amid Intensifying Competition — The Chinese battery giant will collaborate with Volkswagen on electric vehicle batteries, new materials and other auto parts.
- China’s Power Elite: A Guide to the Tech Kingpins Who Met Xi Jinping — A rare Beijing powwow brought together CEOs and entrepreneurs with growing global influence.
The Financial Times
- Australia warns airlines over Chinese live-fire exercises — Canberra calls for transparency over naval drills after commercial flights rerouted from Tasman Sea.
- Japan warns over threat from China’s chip material export controls — Officials and executives say gallium rules will upset supply chains for chips and vehicle batteries.
- China’s record-breaking blockbuster buoyed by patriotic viewers — ‘Ne Zha 2’ rakes in $1.7bn with help from companies organising group outings and repeat viewings.
The New York Times
- Chinese Navy Drills in Tasman Sea Unnerve Australia and New Zealand — The vessels were sailing in the Tasman Sea, and their announced intent to perform exercises prompted a call for commercial flights to divert course.
- World Anti-Doping Agency Drops Defamation and Ethics Cases Against U.S. Officials — The World Anti-Doping Agency withdrew a defamation lawsuit and an ethics case against American officials critical of its handling of failed tests by members of China’s Olympic swimming squad.
- Chinese Hospital Bankruptcies Soar Amid Financial Strains — Still recovering from heavy spending during the pandemic, hospitals are squeezed by a slumping economy and government efforts to curb health care spending.
Caixin
- Are Sky Gardens the Answer to China’s Property Market Woes? — Regulators and developers are pinning their hopes on upgraded housing developments to reignite demand.
- Green Light for Chinese Mainland Branches of Hong Kong, Macau Banks to Issue Bank Cards — China allows existing mainland customers to apply for debit cards from March.
- Trump Ends an Era for Shein and Temu — For China’s cross-border e-commerce giants, the era of rapid expansion in the U.S. may be drawing to a close.
- Former ICBC Banker Gets Suspended Death Sentence for Graft — Zhang Hongli admits taking more than $24 million in bribes.
- Opinion: How the High-Speed Race to Harness AI Will Reshape the Future — The start of this year marked a pivotal moment in artificial intelligence, business and geopolitics with Donald Trump’s return to the White House. By Rong Ke, Gao Hao and Theodoros Evgeniou.
South China Morning Post
- China solves GaN chip defect puzzle, boosting edge in US tech war — Minimising semiconductor flaws will expand China’s price gap with US for advanced chips used in electronic warfare, aerospace.
- Panama and China hit back at US ‘lies’ about Beijing’s influence over canal — Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has told his cabinet not to discuss ‘lies’ while Beijing hit back at Donald Trump’s takeover threats.
- Lenovo reshuffles leadership amid AI-driven growth and DeepSeek adoption — The world’s largest PC maker named a new CFO and board members after months of double-digit growth and aggressive AI adoption.
- Signs of relief for AstraZeneca as China courts foreign investors — Beijing appears to be extending an olive branch to the previously under-fire drug maker as it tries to shore up private sector confidence.
- China facing more challenges than rest of Asia in reaching Trump tariff deal, analysts say — Morgan Stanley analysts say America’s sizeable bilateral trade deficit is a difficult hurdle to overcome.
Nikkei Asia
- Thai government walks tightrope between China and U.S. — Prime Minister Paetongtarn seeks to balance conflicting demands over Uyghurs and arms.
- Sanctioned Belarus company procuring chip parts via China — Paper trail of Chinese companies selling products from Japan, U.S., Europe.
- Hong Kong’s oldest pro-democratic force set to disband — End of Democratic Party signals loss of space for moderate voices.
- China’s biggest bubble tea chain Mixue to raise $443m in Hong Kong IPO — Peers’ listings faced tough investor reactions amid consumer market woes.
- Taiwan doubles down on defense buildup, eyes Trump-Ukraine row ‘carefully’ — Security chief tells forum Taipei ‘did not steal anything,’ after White House chip criticism.
Bloomberg
- Chinese Warning of Live-Fire Drills Leads to Flight Diversions Off Australia — Chinese warships warned they planned live-fire exercises in international waters off Australia’s eastern coast, an unexpected escalation of tensions between the two countries that diverted commercial airlines flying across the Tasman Sea.
- China’s EV Price War Leaves Behind a Trail of Zombie Cars — The bruising price war in China’s auto industry has seen dozens of smaller carmakers quit the sector, leaving their customers with a problem: What do you do when your high-tech electric vehicle becomes obsolete?
- How Trump’s First Trade War With China Gave Rise to New Targets — The prime target of Trump’s 2018-19 trade war, China has dramatically cut its trade reliance on the US as it beefed up sales to Southeast Asian neighbors and Russia.
Reuters
- China’s hopes to be Ukraine peacemaker collide with its goals on Trump, trade — China’s priorities are clear: it is focused on repairing its economy and trying to hammer out a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to avoid another damaging trade war.
- China backs Trump’s Ukraine peace bid at G20 as US allies rally behind Zelenskiy — Wang Yi did not reiterate the point he made at the Munich Security Conference that all stakeholders in the Russia-Ukraine conflict should participate in any peace talks.
- UK lines up new ambassador to help rebuild China ties — The new appointment comes at a time when Britain’s Labour government continues to step up its diplomatic engagement with China after years of tensions under successive Conservative governments.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Trump’s Europe Shock Creates an Opening for China — Beijing could provide an economic lifeline as EU countries increase defense spending and weather tariffs.
- Foreign Affairs: China’s Self-Defeating Strategy — Power Projection Once Made Empires—Now It Can Undo Them.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Trump is helping Russia and China take America’s place in the world — The president’s approach to foreign policy is a loser’s bet. By Rahm Emanuel.
- The Economist: Only Asia can help America counter China’s shipbuilding prowess — But will Donald Trump let it?
- Los Angeles Times: Why Chinese students still want to attend U.S. universities — Chinese families may debate whether to send their kids to American universities — but many still believe a U.S. degree is a pathway to a better life.
- ChinaFile: In Taiwan, a Growing Cohort of ‘Preppers’ Readies Itself for an Uncertain Future — At the root of their urgency is Xi Jinping’s promise to develop the capacity to make the island part of the People’s Republic of China by 2027—by force if necessary.
- CNAS: China’s Role in the Axis of Autocracy — A transcript of a testimony from Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and the director of the Transatlantic Security Program, who spoke before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
