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 Warns Mexico Against Tariffs That Could Harm Chinese Goods — Beijing has warned Mexico to think twice before moving ahead with a plan to raise tariffs that could hurt Chinese automakers, saying it would retaliate against the measure.
- Alibaba Shares Surge on Increased AI Efforts — Alibaba’s shares surged as investors cheered the Chinese tech giant’s recent series of moves to boost AI development and stay ahead of the race.
The Financial Times
- China poised to benefit as blackout risk rises from Iberia to Siberia — Grid operators face billions of dollars in investment and need to work with Beijing.
- UK trade minister urges China to let Britain revamp Beijing embassy — Stalling over renovation follows planning delays for China’s planned ‘mega’ embassy in London.
The New York Times
- Opinion: Trump Is Copying China. That’s a Terrible Idea. — Trump is steering the U.S. model of capitalism closer to the Chinese one, swapping innovation and competition for state control and cronyism. By Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride.
Caixin
- How a Scrapped Tax Exemption Will Change China’s Bond Market — The reform will spur trading, reduce price distortions and discourage investors from parking too much capital in the multitrillion-dollar market.
- China Weighs Expanding Wealth Management Connect Beyond Greater Bay Area — Banks and brokerages see surging demand from Shanghai and Beijing as regulators weigh upgrades to landmark program.
- Returning to Its Roots Pushes China’s Agricultural Bank Up the Ranks — Rural lending is now a driver of the bank’s growth, and its strong performance is prompting market leader ICBC to respond.
- China’s NEV Sales on Track to Surpass Gasoline Cars in 2025 — Sales in the first eight months of the year reached 9.6 million units, accounting for a 48% share of the domestic market.
- Cambricon’s Meteoric Rise Collides With Harsh Reality Check — Cambricon briefly claimed the title of the most expensive stock on the Chinese mainland, capping a stunning rally fueled by fervor around Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
South China Morning Post
- EU wins Trump’s focus on China, but can it deliver on ‘impossible’ demand? — Bloc finds itself in a jam after US president presses European Union to impose 100% tariffs on India and China to pressure Putin.
- Why did Harvard top mathematician Liu Jun leave the US for China? — Professor’s decision to return to Tsinghua University amid rising tensions and US funding cuts had ‘nothing to do with Trump’.
- Chinese navy barge fleet now in service as hull numbers on 3 confirm deployment: analyst — Advanced island-landing vessels built to ‘enable faster amphibious force deployment’, analyst says, as PLA steps up Taiwan pressure.
- Intel chip architect Su Fei returns to China after 20 years in the US — The award-winning engineer with a reputation for mentorship has taken up an endowed chair professorship at Tsinghua University.
- Opinion: Here’s why post-industrial America can’t do industrial policy — Washington’s attempt to contain China and reindustrialise will hurt US and its allies more, while disrupting globalisation and world trade. By Alex Lo.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s UBtech wins $35m order for industrial humanoid robots — Walker S2 model can change its batteries autonomously.
- China Evergrande liquidators seek buyers for property services unit — Move follows dramatic fall of real estate giant.
- Chinese auto parts makers and tech suppliers gain European foothold — At Munich expo, companies tout EU expansion plans, in part to avoid bloc’s tariffs.
Bloomberg
- Cheap Yuan Funding Is Tempting More Borrowers Outside of China — As Hungary embarks on building railways that link car factories to new markets in western Europe, the country is turning to financing in China.
- China’s Summer of Economic Weakness Likely Stretched Into August — China’s economy likely endured another month of weakness in August, with a slowdown in industrial output and investment offsetting a slight improvement in retail sales.
- Gas Markets Brace for Glut With No Sign of China Demand Rebound — The country’s LNG imports have declined for ten straight months, and its new pipeline deal with Russia is seen further squeezing LNG purchases.
Reuters
- Bessent, Chinese vice premier to meet in Madrid next week on trade, TikTok — The Bessent-He discussion in Spain will be the fourth major in-person meeting between the two top economic officials this year as they seek to maintain a trade truce.
- China has a new overcapacity fix: stern lectures — Various reform campaigns at state-owned companies predate Xi’s latest push, but the rush of meetings since July suggests officials feel the need to be seen responding to Beijing’s new line.
- Malaysia reins in data centre growth, complicating China’s AI chip access — Malaysia, China’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, announced in July it was requiring permits for exports, trans-shipments and transits of U.S.-made high-performance chips.
- ‘Claims of surrender are false’: Taiwan updates security handbook wary of China threat — China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and has blamed Taiwan President Lai Ching-te for raising tensions, saying he is a “separatist”.
- Trump withdraws nomination of China hawk for key post in US-Sino tech battle — Heid was previously on the staff of the Select Committee on China, which supported global restrictions on AI chips introduced by the administration of former President Biden.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: China and Russia Are Winning the Hypersonic Missile Race — But the United States is catching up, with new weapons set to come online soon.
- Foreign Affairs: The Greatest Danger in the Taiwan Strait — Even If China Avoids a War of Choice, a Miscalculation Could Spark a War of Chance.
- The Economist: Director Fang is laughing all the way to the bank — Women in China love the new stand-up star. Sticklers less so.
- Brookings: Between Washington and Beijing: How Europe fits into US-China strategic competition — Will transatlantic divisions and differing threat perceptions of China push America and Europe in different directions on China?
- Rest of World: The myth of sovereign AI: Countries rely on U.S. and Chinese tech — As countries pursue self-sufficiency in AI, they risk depending on foreign companies, undermining their independence and their goals.
- The Information: Alibaba and Baidu Adopt Their Own AI Chips in Major Shift for Chinese Tech — Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group and Baidu have begun using their own AI chips to train AI models, partly replacing Nvidia chips, in a major shift.
- BBC: Zambia presses China for more compensation over toxic mine spill — The spill of highly acidic mine-waste laden with toxic heavy metals happened in February when a dam that held waste from the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia copper mine collapsed.
