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
- Opinion: India’s Military Makes Strides but Lags Behind China — Beijing’s air force enjoys a 3-to-1 advantage over New Delhi’s in fighters and bombers. By Sadanand Dhume.
The Financial Times
- US arrests former air force pilot over collaborating with China — Justice department alleges retired officer went to China to train military pilots.
- China targets ‘happy fat water’ soft drinks for economic sugar fix — One of the last major economies without a tax on sweetened beverages may change tack.
- Opinion: Let Chinese mainland tourists return to Taiwan — Restoring cross-strait travel is the most immediate way to lower the temperature — and Washington can help. By Zichen Wang.
The New York Times
- China Wants Germany in Its Corner. It’s Not That Easy. — China’s play for U.S. allies has a problem: As Germany’s leader showed, Europe’s grievances with Beijing may run deeper than its frustration with Trump.
- A.I. Dating Apps Complicate China’s Efforts to Boost Birthrate — As China grapples with a shrinking population and historically low birthrate, people are finding romance with chatbots instead.
- Germany’s Leader Delivers a Blunt Warning to China on Trade — Chancellor Friedrich Merz laid out his complaints in a frank message to his hosts on a trip to Beijing that China had designed to showcase their relationship.
- Opinion: Sanae Takaichi’s Rise Changes the Game for China — Caught between a more aggressive China and a less predictable United States, the realization has dawned in Japan that caution is no longer enough to guarantee its security. By Joshua Walker.
Caixin
- In Profile: The Chinese Shipping Magnate Who Unlocked Simandou — Sun Xiushun’s role in unlocking Simandou — a project so complex and capital-intensive that the Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) once dubbed it the “Mount Everest of mining development” — has earned him a reputation as a disruptor.
- Robotics Startup X Square Secures Fresh Funding Amid Valuation Surge — X Square Robot said Wednesday that it has raised several hundred million yuan in a new funding round.
- ByteDance, Tencent Join Industry Pledge to Curb Labor Abuses in China’s Micro-Drama Boom — The initiative represents the latest effort to impose professional standards on China’s short-drama market, a multi-billion-dollar industry characterized by low-budget productions and breakneck filming schedules.
South China Morning Post
- China’s tech surge leaves Japan and South Korea trailing in global rankings — Propelled by strategic R&D, China’s tech prowess is now the third highest, with key sectors such as batteries and biotech showing big gains over rivals.
- China affirms ‘no nukes’ position amid claims of European plan to arm Ukraine — While Moscow accuses London and Paris of preparing to give nuclear weapons to Kyiv, Beijing doubles down.
- China’s Huawei joins US giants OpenAI, Google in AI standards alliance — In a rare instance of collaboration, the Chinese tech titan will partner with US and European firms to improve standards in the field.
Nikkei Asia
- OpenAI flags China-linked influence ops targeting Japan’s Takaichi — Attempt went ahead with DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen after ChatGPT denied request.
- Analysis: Rumors abound over Xi’s next purge target ahead of NPC — A scandal more serious than Zhang Youxia’s case could boil over.
- CK Hutchison group to sell UK utility for $14bn amid Panama woes — Li Ka-shing family conglomerate ‘monetizes’ UK Power Networks as it reels from port loss.
Bloomberg
- OpenAI Says ChatGPT Refused to Help Chinese Influence Operations — The plan targeted Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, and sought to amplify negative comments about her and accuse her of far-right leanings.
- US, China Challenge Modi’s ‘Make in India’ Factory Incentives — The US imposed preliminary duties of 126% on solar imports from India, after determining India unfairly subsidized manufacturing.
- Nvidia Gets US License for Small Amount of H200 Exports to China — It’s still unclear whether Beijing will allow imports of H200 chips into China, and Nvidia isn’t including any China data-center revenue in its first-quarter sales outlook.
- Opinion: Want to Counter China? Stop Tariffing Your Friends — Countering China’s economic coercion will take a unified front, with countries working together to provide collective resilience and raise the cost of intimidation. By Karishma Vaswani.
Reuters
- How China is masking drone flights in potential Taiwan rehearsal — A large Chinese military drone has conducted regular flights over the South China Sea in recent months while transmitting false transponder signals that made it appear to be other aircraft.
- Hong Kong court overturns China critic Jimmy Lai’s fraud conviction in rare legal victory — Decision comes soon after Lai jailed 20 years in separate national security case.
- China’s lithium price soars after Zimbabwe suspends export — Zimbabwe on Wednesday suspended exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates with immediate effect.
- Opinion: To win Europe’s embrace, China needs to uncap the yuan — With Washington raising barriers, China’s push to shift trade toward Europe is running into one big demand: let the yuan rise against the euro and level the playing field. By Mike Dolan.
Other Publications
- War on the Rocks: Xi Has Made China’s Currency Ambition Explicit — The language, drawn from a speech Xi delivered to senior regional officials in 2024, was published only recently.
- The Economist: Why Chinese people spend so much on food — A 21st-century test of a 19th-century observation.
- The Economist: Anthropic says China’s AI tigers are copycats — DeepSeek’s new model has American officials and firms on edge.
- Foreign Policy: Opinion: Thanks to Trump, Xi Has Time on His Side With Taiwan — Beijing is less likely to risk an invasion while Trump is facilitating its pressure campaign against Taipei. By Ali Wyne.
