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 Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It — Beijing is enforcing tough rules to ensure chatbots don’t misbehave, while hoping to stay competitive with the U.S.
- Opinion: Trump Isn’t That Serious About Defeating Xi — The NSS might talk a good game, but the administration has scored own goals on TikTok and Nvidia chips. By Liza Tobin and Addis Goldman.
The Financial Times
- Carmakers copy China to get new models on the road faster — Western groups embark on cultural shifts to slash development times and costs as competition mounts.
- One of the world’s hottest IPO markets shows signs of weakness — Series of disappointing debuts in Hong Kong has come in the last quarter of a record year.
- Panama Canal ports deal at risk after China’s Cosco demands majority stake — BlackRock and shipping group MSC consider walking away from talks.
- Trump administration accuses China of unfair chip trade practices — U.S. trade representative holds off increasing tariffs until 2027.
The New York Times
- China Is Shifting Its Nuclear Forces to Swifter Footing, Pentagon Says — The country’s production of nuclear warheads has slowed, but its missiles may be poised to strike back fast in case of an attack, an annual assessment found.
- Trump Administration Delays Tariffs on Chinese Semiconductors — An investigation ruled that China’s inroads into the chip industry had hurt the United States. The administration delayed tariffs until 2027 amid a fragile truce between the countries.
- Opinion: You Should Be Skeptical of the TikTok Deal — Mr. Trump’s deal preserves many of the ties to China that the law was designed to sever. By Jim Secreto and Brett Freedman.
Caixin
- Falling Enrollment Puts China’s Vocational Education in Crisis — The number of secondary vocational schools has fallen 6% in five years, sparking fears of a skills shortage for small businesses as the country prioritizes academic high schools.
- Shanghai Advances Risk Resolution for Troubled Insurer — State-backed partnership is expected to set up a company to take over Shanghai Life’s assets and liabilities, sources say.
- Kuaishou Halts Livestreams After Moderation Failure Floods Platform With Explicit Content — Company says automated attack exploited review loopholes; livestream access later restored.
South China Morning Post
- Will US-led ‘Pax Silica’ shore up minerals supply chains and counter China’s dominance? — Trump administration aims for deeper technology cooperation on new AI infrastructure with allies.
- Can Beijing count on Taiwan’s KMT to advance reunification plans? — The party’s new chairwoman Cheng Li-wun has adopted a mainland-friendly tone but it remains to be seen if she can live up to Beijing’s hopes.
- China vows city-specific fixes to clear housing glut, stabilise property sector — Housing minister pledges to empower local governments to buy unsold inventory and shift towards selling only finished homes with a ‘what you see is what you get’ model.
- Pentagon says China’s ‘historic’ military build-up has made US ‘increasingly vulnerable’ — America does ‘not seek to strangle, dominate, or humiliate China’ but PLA’s growing arsenal is a direct security threat, report states.
- Opinion: US and China must get serious about AI risk — It would be irresponsible for Washington and Beijing to race ahead without engaging each other on the dangers – or the immense opportunities – AI presents. By Jake Sullivan.
Nikkei Asia
- Chinese suppliers set to gain from global AI boom despite trade tensions — Data center rush is fueling massive demand for power equipment and cooling systems.
- China sees quantum tech as key to future warfare — Beijing readies for Taiwan war by 2027; plans to triple aircraft carriers by 2035.
- Chinese military purges give air force officers room to advance — Branch outside corruption campaign’s crosshairs increasingly tapped for key posts.
Bloomberg
- China’s EV Battery Giant Is Trying to Find a New Road — CATL flooded the domestic market with inexpensive, efficient batteries. It wants to do the same overseas, but European politicians — and Donald Trump — stand in its way.
- China’s Infrastructure Bond Drought Weighs on Investment — One measure of borrowing for infrastructure is on pace to hit a six-year low, as Beijing clamps down on risks in a shift that calls into question its promise to stop an investment slump.
- Why Ford Is Expanding a Partnership With Top Chinese Battery Maker — An existing deal with CATL will allow the US automaker to tap into the growing demand for utility-grade batteries.
- Opinion: What the West Keeps Getting Wrong About China — Western democracies are ill-equipped to interact with China’s one-party state and that the assumption that China is a divisible entity composed of divergent interests is false. By Matthew Brooker.
- Opinion: Repeat After Me: Never, Ever Underestimate China — The country, left for dead at the onset of 2025, turns out to be the only other economic superpower that matters. By Shuli Ren.
Reuters
- China implies U.S. hypocrisy over nuclear disarmament — “The most urgent task for the U.S. is to earnestly fulfil the special and priority responsibility for nuclear disarmament,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.
- Chinese tariffs on EU dairy to help ‘bleeding’ domestic industry, send message abroad — The higher duties on imports of unsweetened milk and cream and cheeses from the EU range from 21.9% to 42.7%, were the latest move in a series of tit-for-tat measures.
- Opinion: China overtakes OPEC+ as the main oil price maker — What China does in 2026 is now the biggest known unknown in crude markets. Other participants are likely to set their strategies in response to Beijing. By Clyde Russell.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: With Great Power Comes Great Insecurity — China’s surge to superpower status over the past half century does not seem to have solved Beijing’s fundamental security concerns.
- The Guardian: Opinion: The second China shock is coming – and the UK’s response is too timid — Beijing’s push to dominate technology through state-backed industrial policy is reshaping global trade and could devastate European industry. By George Magnus.
