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
- U.S.-China Rivalry Sparks a Submarine Arms Race — Beijing’s fleet is getting quieter and more lethal, while Washington leads in tech but lags in production.
The Financial Times
- China detains banker son of ex-regulator facing corruption probe — Xi Jinping’s anti-graft crackdown is increasingly broadening to detentions of officials’ family members.
- BYD predicts car brand clearout in China as Beijing cracks down on discounting — About 100 automakers need to be ‘pushed out’, says world’s largest electric-vehicle producer.
- Hong Kong: a comeback with Chinese characteristics — After a stagnant few years, the territory’s financial sector is regaining its global standing with a push from Beijing.
- Russia’s Rosatom prepares sale of renminbi bonds in China — Confirmation of state-owned nuclear monopoly’s move comes as Beijing opens way for first Russian ‘panda bond’ sales since 2017.
- Opinion: Beijing deals with a gathering of strongmen — A military parade to honour China’s second world war victory over Japan made a spectacle of both nationalism and security. By Joe Leahy.
The New York Times
- A Man From China Pursued U.S. Asylum. Deportation Sent Him Home Again — A Chinese man crossed dangerous jungles to enter the United States, in a failed bid for asylum. After being deported home in 2023, he faced a choice: stay or try to leave again?
- China’s Renewable Energy Investment Helping Stem Fossil Fuel Growth, Report Says — Its vast investment in solar, wind and batteries is on track to end an era of global growth in the use of coal, oil and gas, the researchers said.
- DJI’s Chinese Drones Face U.S. Ban — Farmers, builders and police officers use drones made by DJI, a Chinese company. President Trump and his allies want to stop all imports.
- Nvidia Assails Critics as A.I. ‘Doomers’ in Fight Over China Chip Sales — Rankling national security experts, the chipmaker has stepped up attacks on lawmakers who are pushing restrictions.
- China’s Exports to Africa Are Soaring as Trade to U.S. Plunges — Already this year, China’s trade surplus with Africa is nearly as big as all of 2024, a sign of how President Trump’s tariffs are reshaping the flow of goods.
Caixin
- Sinopec and Saudi Aramco Launch $10 Billion Petrochemical Venture in Fujian — Joint venture to build and operate massive refinery and chemical complex, deepening energy ties between China and Saudi Arabia.
- Alibaba Cloud Leads $140 Million Round for X Square in Embodied AI Push — The cloud unit of Alibaba Group joins a fast-growing race to develop general-purpose humanoid robots.
- Opinion: Why China’s Export Remains Strong Despite the Trade War — This year, the world has witnessed the most extensive and highest-tariff trade war since the 1930s. Even so, China’s exports have remained resilient. By Zhou Junzhi.
South China Morning Post
- More factories but less pollution: how China’s green tech revolution works — From EVs to solar panels and lithium batteries, sustainable and clean innovations are fuelling China’s growing economy.
- Will China’s new visa targeting STEM talents give it an edge over the world? — K visa meant to help young foreigners find their professional footing can only succeed with effective policy support, analysts say.
- China’s Xi Jinping makes rallying call against protectionism, hegemonism in Brics speech — Brics nations must ‘jointly defend multilateralism’, uphold the Brics spirit of openness, Chinese leader says in virtual address.
- Why the West’s post-WWII order is being challenged and how China could reshape it — As China challenges the US, the sole superpower of the last century, debate continues over whether the post-war order is crumbling.
- Dior fined in China for sending data overseas without security screening — Cyber police found multiple violations of personal information protection law, Xinhua report says, in first major case since law took effect.
Nikkei Asia
- US adjusts its China tone from conflict to dealmaking under Trump — President and officials see benefits in moving away from hegemonic struggle.
- Corporate China ekes out earnings rebound on Asian exports, stimulus — January-June profits grow for first time in three years.
- Opinion: Parades, patriotism and the peril of no succession plan in Beijing — Memory of conflicts is used by today’s leadership to fuel legitimacy. By Henny Sender.
Bloomberg
- How a New Russia-China Gas Pipeline Could Reshape Global LNG Trade — For China, the pipeline offers a hedge against supply risks in the liquefied natural gas market, where its geopolitical rival the US has become the world’s biggest exporter of the fuel.
- Ant Digital Arm Puts $8 Billion Energy Assets on Its Blockchain — Ant Digital is exploring options for future expansion, including putting tokens on decentralized exchanges offshore to create more liquidity for the assets, pending regulatory approval.
- China AC Exports to Europe Surge Amid Trade Wars, Heat Waves — Europe’s rapidly warming climate is giving Chinese air conditioner manufacturers a new growth market, helping offset lost sales to the US amid trade disputes.
- Hackers Impersonated Republican Lawmaker, Panel Says — The committee believes the activity to be CCP state-backed cyber-espionage aimed at influencing US policy deliberations and negotiation strategies to gain an advantage in trade and foreign policy.
- Opinion: China’s Pipeline Diplomacy Is a Nightmare for US Gas — The revival of a project that would transport Russian gas to China has the potential to upend Trump’s plans for energy dominance. By Liam Denning.
Reuters
- Chinese robotics firm Unitree eyeing $7 billion IPO valuation, sources say — It would be one of the biggest onshore tech listings in years, and would come as Beijing steps up efforts to support its tech champions in tapping capital markets for their funding needs.
- China, Russia, Mongolia step up security ties with border exercise — The live drills aimed to “enhance strategic cooperation among the three sides, strengthen the ability to deal with border security threats, and further consolidate strategic mutual trust.”
- Opinion: Trump-China deal rests on the art of the possible — As one senior think tanker puts it, the State Department no longer has a real China desk because “Trump is his own China desk officer”. By Hudson Lockett.
Other Publications
- AP: US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China — Classified and internal documents show how U.S. companies designed and marketed systems that became the foundation for China’s digital cage.
- CFR: Trump’s Energy Innovation Retreat Is a Win for China, Loss for Climate — The United States is pulling back from large-scale demonstration projects for renewable energy, even as China steps up.
- CSIS: Parading China’s Nuclear Arsenal Out of the Shadows — China’s Victory Day parade unveiled a full nuclear triad, challenging U.S. strategic superiority and signaling a new era of deterrence aimed at preventing intervention in a Taiwan conflict.
