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
- China Says It Has ‘Ample’ Policy Tools to Spur Growth — China’s central bank governor Pan Gongsheng said the PBOC will cut interest rates and banks’ reserve requirement ratio at an appropriate time this year.
- China Is Secretly Worried Trump Will Win on Trade — In seeking an accord with U.S., Beijing wants to avoid becoming isolated like the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The Financial Times
- US charges 12 Chinese nationals with hacking American agencies for Beijing — Justice department said suspects were involved in extensive ‘hacker-for-hire ecosystem’.
The New York Times
- Many Chinese See a Cultural Revolution in America — People in China are expressing alarm at what seems to be an authoritarian turn in the United States, long their role model of democracy, that feels familiar.
- Justice Dept. Indicts 12 Chinese in Hacking Plot Against U.S. Targets — The suspects were charged as part of what U.S. officials called a “hackers for hire” system whose primary customer was the Chinese government.
- A Viral Video of a Chained Woman in China and the Secret Campaign to Save Her — The accidental discovery of the woman led to a video that went viral, spurring public outrage. The Communist Party quashed the discussion, but the anger never went away.
Caixin
- China Expands AIC Equity Investment Pilot, Letting More Banks and Insurers Join — Move aims to strengthen equity investment in tech innovation and private enterprises.
- China’s New Economy Industries Suffer as Technology Inputs Decline — The Caixin BBD New Economy Index came in at 33.4 in February, with the new information technology sector remaining the largest contributor.
- Beijing to Curb Private Company Shakedowns — Beijing will launch initiatives to address “arbitrary charges, fines, inspections and seizures” and take steps to prevent “unauthorized cross-jurisdictional and profit-driven law enforcement,” Premier Li Qiang announced.
South China Morning Post
- China facing growing campaign to make it compulsory to label AI-generated content — Beijing has already taken a series of measures but the rise of new models such as DeepSeek has prompted a debate about the next step.
- Shenzhen boosts role as China’s humanoid robotics base with Unitree local venture — Unitree, based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, has established a wholly-owned venture called Shenzhen Tianyi Technology.
- 9 takeaways from the economic briefing at China’s ‘two sessions’ — The heads of China’s top economic, commerce and financial bodies laid out their plans for 2025 at a joint press conference in Beijing.
- As China’s ‘employment problems’ mount, Premier Li vows to create jobs, ward off poverty — With migrant workers in mind, leadership is looking to ‘ensure there’s no large-scale relapse into poverty’.
- Open-source models and fresh funding: China’s AI start-ups scramble to respond to DeepSeek — Hangzhou-based DeepSeek has dominated the spotlight in China’s AI arena at the expense of local peers such as Moonshot and MiniMax.
Nikkei Asia
- Xi Jinping prioritizes ‘regime security’ over fighting economic turmoil — As annual session of NPC opens, leader eyes extending reign beyond 2027.
- U.S. lawmakers urge probes into alleged Chinese tariff dodging — House members seek stronger enforcement as Trump hikes duties.
- Elon Musk and China chase humanoid dreams with echoes of EV buildup — Tesla boss reprises role as industry ‘spiritual leader’ as Trump factor adds questions.
Bloomberg
- China’s New AI Tools Ignite Stock Market Frenzy as Alibaba Soars — While questions remain over the long-term profit potential for AI models, investors show few signs of holding back.
- Walmart Asks Chinese Suppliers for Major Price Cuts on Trump Tariffs — Walmart Inc. has asked some Chinese suppliers for major price reductions, with the US retail giant’s efforts to shift the burden of President Donald Trump’s tariffs facing strong pushback from firms in the Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Alibaba Leads Competitors Playing Catchup With China’s DeepSeek — The next DeepSeek to disrupt the global artificial intelligence industry could also come from China.
- China Touts Policy Space in Shielding Economy From Trade War — China’s top economic officials said they have carved out plenty of room to act in the face of uncertainty and risks, after their country set an ambitious growth target for 2025 despite higher US tariffs.
- Opinion: China’s Inflation Problem Isn’t Just Going Away — The drama around Trump and tariffs has pushed one of Beijing’s challenges to the sidelines. By Daniel Moss.
Reuters
- China’s modest stimulus is no big bang for commodities — The parliament meeting this week also fell well short of the sort of stimulus announcements that would have given confidence to commodity markets that China, the world’s biggest buyer of natural resources, is going to see meaningful growth in imports in 2025.
- Shipping firms pull back from Hong Kong to skirt US-China risks — Behind these low-profile moves, six shipping executives said, lie concerns that their ships could be commandeered by Chinese authorities or hit with U.S. sanctions in a conflict between Beijing and Washington.
- More words than deeds from China on consumption keep deflation in play — The shift in tone was clear, but the immediate steps that Li unveiled to boost household demand underwhelmed economists who have been calling for bold structural reforms.
Other Publications
- CFR: China-Russia Relations: February 2025 — This month, China and Russia reaffirmed their partnership, while China navigated the shifting political landscape around the war in Ukraine.
- CFR: Trump’s Investment Policy: Clarifying and Confounding — The Trump administration’s America First Investment Policy has the virtue of conceptual clarity but provides little hope of effective implementation.
- POLITICO: DOJ announces charges, sanctions against 12 Chinese hackers for Treasury breaches — The moves by the Justice Department come more than two months after Treasury Department officials told members of Congress that the agency’s networks had been compromised by Chinese hackers.
- AP: China’s premier and the American president: Two leaders, two speeches, two differing world visions — From setting to speaking style, the speeches were an ocean apart. Yet they struck a similar tone — that of a desire for greatness at a moment when the reigning superpower and its biggest challenger are seeing their interests increasingly at odds.
- The Guardian: EU ambassador to China urges Beijing to stop building coal-fired power plants — Jorge Toledo’s comments come after approvals for coal power projects increased in second half of 2024.
- BBC: Can Trump’s tariffs break China’s grip on manufacturing? — It has long been the world’s factory – it has thrived because of cheap labour and state investment in infrastructure ever since it opened its economy to global business in the late 1970s.
