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’s BYD Outsells Tesla in Europe for First Time — Tesla’s battery-electric vehicle registrations fell by almost half in Europe last month as BYD’s registrations more than doubled.
- Taiwan’s Military Plans New Drone Units in Preparation for Potential China Invasion — Building up new capabilities is intended to make China think twice before launching invasion.
- Chinese Drugmaker’s Shares Jump in Strong Hong Kong Debut — The city’s IPO market has gained momentum in recent months, largely driven by Chinese firms seeking second listings in the financial hub.
- A Crypto Billionaire Who Feared Arrest in the U.S. Returns for Dinner With Trump — Justin Sun, whose digital-currency network is popular with the crypto industry’s criminal underbelly, is a top investor in Trump’s memecoin.
The Financial Times
- JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to ‘deepen engagement’ with China — State media reports meeting between US investment bank chief and senior officials.
- U.S.-China trade war is pushing Asian nations to pick sides, ministers warn — Malaysia and Singapore find harder to maintain neutrality as geopolitical tensions grow
- U.S. hands victory to China in gutting green energy tax breaks, IRA architect says — Former Biden top adviser predicts jobs and projects in Republican states will suffer.
- China vies for lead in the race to self-driving vehicles — Chinese car manufacturers are pushing to replicate their success with EVs.
- The Chinese elite’s boomtime love of horseriding is about to be tested — Cooling economy and cultural decoupling spark doubts over the sustainability of western-influenced lifestyles.
- Opinion: Solar market shifts in Europe could give the industry a break — An increased focus on ethics and local procurement may dent the allure of cheap Chinese panels. By Lex.
The New York Times
- In Trump Era, Taiwan Defense Chief Says U.S. Still Is a Check on China — Wellington Koo says the Trump administration has a shared interest in security in the region, but Taiwan must also ready its own forces for asymmetric warfare.
- In Attacks on Harvard, Chinese See Yet Another Reason to Write Off the U.S. — Beyond the shock for students, President Trump’s moves against higher education are being seen in China as a blow to one of the last admirable American institutions.
- China’s BYD Outsells Tesla in Europe for First Time — Despite steep tariffs, the Chinese carmaker leapfrogged Tesla in April, in what an analyst called a “watershed moment” for the continent’s auto market.
Caixin
- $500 Million Pledge Makes China Top WHO Donor After U.S. Withdrawal — U.S. withdrawal forces health agency to cut staff and reduce 2026-27 spending by 20%.
- Alibaba Cloud Goes Global With $52 Billion Bet on AI and Infrastructure — Initiative seeks to establish Alibaba Cloud as digital backbone for China’s next generation of global companies.
- How China’s Ivy League Hopefuls Fall for Fraudsters — As acceptance rates at prestigious U.S. schools decline, parents are increasingly hiring professional agencies for help, some falling victim to scams that charge as much as $200,000 and employ illicit methods such as proxy test-takers and fake academic transcripts.
- China Clamps Downs Harder on Local Government Shakedowns of Private Businesses — Central government outlines measures to curb irregular fees, fines and inspections on companies, citing early results from new oversight system.
South China Morning Post
- ‘It’s unsafe’: why Trump’s ‘gold card’ visa is failing to lure wealthy Chinese — Chinese investors are unfazed by the visa’s $5 million price tag, but have concerns about taxes, crime and the policy’s legality.
- UK signs ‘essential’ Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius, says China sought its ‘collapse’ — Multibillion-dollar agreement for 99 years sees Britain keep control of military base on Diego Garcia jointly run with the U.S.
- U.S. approves China-invented painkiller that could reduce fentanyl overdoses — Qamzova is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that provides 24-hour pain relief in a single shot, reducing post-surgery opioid reliance.
Nikkei Asia
- Huawei’s AI servers show tech advancing despite U.S. curbs — Cluster with homegrown Ascend chips seen as competitive with Nvidia on performance.
- BYD’s Brazil expansion hits roadblocks as other carmakers call for tariffs — Chinese company has stockpiled thousands of vehicles, with more on the way.
- Xiaomi aims to take on Apple with first in-house smartphone chip — Development marks a potential milestone for China’s device industry.
Bloomberg
- China’s Lithium City Is a Front Line of the Battery Trade War — Beijing wants a high-tech economy built on domestic supply, even if it comes at a cost.
- Taiwan Struggles to Build a Drone Defense Without Its Tech Giants — Military’s stockpile of about 1,000 drones seen as inadequate in the case of conflict with China.
- Island Resorts Near Singapore Under Threat From China Smelter — The project is putting a fresh spotlight on the aggressive expansion of Chinese raw-materials companies in Indonesia.
Reuters
- Trump trade war costs U.S. farmers lucrative Chinese export market for breeding pigs, cattle semen — U.S. farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop.
- U.S. agency votes to bar Chinese labs deemed security risks from testing U.S. electronics — All electronics used in the United States must go through the FCC’s equipment authorization process before they can be imported.
- ‘Harvard refugee’: Chinese students hunker down as U.S. blocks foreign enrollment — Chinese nationals made up a fifth of Harvard’s foreign student intake in 2024.
- Australia’s new haul of Chinese online goods helps tame inflation — The expected flood of cheap goods from China, on top of a recent slowdown in inflation, is among several reasons the central bank felt confident enough to cut interest rates this week.
- Exclusive: Taliban in talks with Russia, China for trade transactions in local currencies — Rivalry with China and fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine have put the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant currency under fresh scrutiny.
Other Publications
- The New Yorker: The Chinese Adoptees Who Were Stolen — As thousands of Chinese families take DNA tests, the results are upending what adoptees abroad thought they knew about their origins.
- The Washington Post: Cyberdefense cuts could sap U.S. response to China hacks, insiders say — Some Trump administration officials want to hit back at China for its hacks on U.S. infrastructure, a risky strategy, experts say, in light of personnel and budget reductions.
- The Economist: Can China jam your GPS? — Its huge investment in the rival BeiDou system may give it an edge.
- Foreign Policy: China’s Yuan Ambitions Are an Uphill Struggle — New Latin American lending raises more questions than answers.
