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.
Paid subscribers automatically have this list emailed directly to their inboxes every day by 10 a.m. EST. Subscribe here.
The Wall Street Journal
- China’s Communist Party Replaces Top Diplomat — Liu Jianchao is latest to be caught up in leader Xi Jinping’s disciplinary purges.
- Germany Jails Chinese Spy, Marking New Low in China-Europe Relations — Europeans are growing skeptical about Beijing’s interest in solving a series of economic and political disputes between the two blocs.
- Nike Sales Rise But Warns of Continued Weakness in China — The company’s recent quarterly results were helped by improving trends in North America, its biggest market.
The Financial Times
- China probes quant trader Tower Research over chip imports — Customs authorities examine use of advance trading hardware.
- Europe will lose out to China in e-trucks without EU action, warns industry — Heavy vehicle makers have struggled with slow uptake of electric lorries due to lack of infrastructure investment.
- How long can Nvidia stay ahead of Chinese competition? — The country has been a critical market for the AI chipmaker but the company is entangled in geopolitical tensions and is watching the rise of new rivals.
- Opinion: A world with two predatory superpowers — Nations must work out how to contend with Trump’s America and China. By Martin Wolf.
The New York Times
- China Displays Its Gizmos and Ambition, but Fewer Answers on Trade — The vast Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou stood as a rebuke to U.S. efforts to hem in China’s technology. But the real competition is internal, and profits are hard to find.
Caixin
- Beijing Warns S&P Global’s China Unit Amid Push to Curb Inflated Credit Ratings — The agency must strengthen quality control in its rating operations and improve the standardization of information disclosure, the regulator says.
- China’s External Financial Assets Top $11 Trillion for First Time — The country’s net asset position grew to $3.8 trillion, as it strengthens its position as a global creditor.
- Tianan Property Insurance Defaults on $730 Million Bond in First for China’s Insurance Sector — The former Tomorrow Holding unit says it lacks solvency to repay, exposing deep cracks in the industry.
- Abu Dhabi Courts Chinese Investors in Bid to Rival Dubai’s Economic Rise — From EVs and smart factories to theme parks and free zones, the UAE capital is rolling out billions in incentives to lure Chinese businesses.
South China Morning Post
- China’s ‘super golden week’ forecast to spark travel boom at home and abroad — Tourists say they plan to visit The Peak, hike MacLehose Trail and take junk boat trips in Sai Kung.
- China’s Z.ai targets U.S. AI leaders with new flagship model as coding wars heat up — Other Chinese AI players such as DeepSeek, Alibaba Cloud and Moonshot AI are also developing the coding abilities of their models.
Nikkei Asia
- Are AI glasses the next smartphone race between the U.S. and China? — Meta Ray-Ban Display and rival devices may make personal AI agents a reality soon.
- China restaurant scandal prompts new rules for what counts as fresh — Influencer says popular chain’s menu items came straight out of central kitchen.
- Australian miner BHP stock drops after report of China sales ban — Government leaders, including Albanese, call reports concerning and urge swift resolution.
Bloomberg
- U.S. Lawmakers Give Up on China Resuming Crop Purchases for Now — Republican lawmakers said that China won’t begin purchasing U.S. agricultural products anytime soon after a closed-door briefing from David Perdue.
Reuters
- Exclusive: Pirelli stake sale among options for Sinochem in governance dispute — Pirelli and its investor Camfin have complained that having a Chinese group as its main shareholder was hindering the tyre maker’s U.S. expansion plans.
- Sanctions fears stymie Russian companies’ panda bond sales push in China — The conundrum shows the challenges Russian companies face to raise capital even in a country that has stood by it as an ally.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: The Chinese Public Is Obsessing Over a Perceived Celebrity Cover-Up — The death of actor Yu Menglong has started a cycle of censorship and rumor.
- Rest of World: AI is reshaping childhood in China — Government support and tech companies’ drive for profit fuel a rush to integrate AI tools, from robot tutors to chatbots, in education and caretaking.
- WIRED: A Journey Into the Heart of Labubu — I made an epic trek across four countries to answer one question: Why is the world going mad for a plushie monster?
