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. and China Pursue Guardrails to Stop AI Rivalry From Spiraling Into Crisis — Washington and Beijing recognize that powerful AI models could trigger crises neither side is prepared to manage.
- Trial Begins for Man Accused of Operating Secret Chinese Police Station in New York — Prosecutors allege the defendant, a U.S. citizen, cooperated with Beijing to harass dissidents.
- Samsung Pulling TVs, Home Appliances From China — The company will continue to sell smartphones and computer chips in China.
The Financial Times
- ‘Plastic shock’ hits Asia as Iran oil crisis strangles supplies — Shortage of petrochemical inputs drives up prices of packaging for food and medical products.
The New York Times
- War and Energy Shortages Boost China’s Influence in Asia — The war in Iran has left China’s neighbors appealing for help, handing Beijing the kind of sway it has long sought.
- Voters Exposed the Limits of China’s Cozy Ties to Orban — Beijing depended on Hungary’s outgoing leader, Viktor Orban, to gain a toehold in Europe. A giant battery factory proved a step too far.
- China Sentences 2 Former Defense Ministers on Bribery Charges — Gen. Wei Fenghe and Gen. Li Shangfu are likely to spend the rest of their lives in prison after receiving suspended death sentences.
Caixin
- First Chinese Oil Tanker Attacked in Strait of Hormuz as Iran-U.S. Conflict Escalates — Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have escalated sharply following U.S. attempts to escort commercial vessels.
- China Leans on Younger Seniors to Solve Rural Elder-Care Crisis — Facing a rapidly aging population and the hollowing out of rural households, China is formalizing a novel solution for elderly care.
South China Morning Post
- China-EU investment pact belongs in ‘deep freezer’: outgoing trade chief — Sabine Weyand says the 2020 agreement with China is obsolete as Brussels weighs action on ‘macroeconomic imbalances’.
- 2 former Chinese defence ministers handed suspended death sentences — Sentences for Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu most severe of senior military officers since Xi Jinping started anti-corruption campaign in 2012.
- China’s EV battery giants thrive while carmakers’ profits shrink amid price wars — Carmakers’ profit margin stood at 3.2 per cent in the first quarter, versus 6 per cent for downstream industrial firms, according to CPCA.
Nikkei Asia
- China corporate earnings down for 3rd straight year — 1 in 4 listed companies bleed red ink in 2025 amid weak domestic demand.
- Opinion: China’s role in enabling Iran’s Shahed drone supply lines — Beijing’s intermediaries, tech transfers and networks sustain Tehran’s effective low-cost weapon. By Anushka Saxena.
Bloomberg
- China Asks Banks to Pause New Loans to US-Sanctioned Refiners — China’s financial regulator advised the country’s largest banks to temporarily suspend new loans to five refiners recently sanctioned by the US.
- JPMorgan, Citi Sued for Frozen Payments to Sanctioned China Firm — JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. were sued by a Chinese energy company for freezing payments meant for a firm that later came under US sanctions.
- Pentagon’s Botched Blacklist Highlights Frail Trump-Xi Truce — A mishandled blacklisting of tech giants Alibaba and Baidu gives a rare window into an administration often at odds with itself on how to approach Beijing.
Reuters
- Tesla’s China-made EV sales jump 36% in April, extending rebound — Tesla ‘s China-made EV sales jumped 36% on the year in April, a sixth month of gains, as the U.S. automaker fights to hold ground.
- U.S. President Trump’s renewed trade war with China — U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in May on his first visit to China in eight years.
- What’s at stake at the Trump-Xi summit — U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing next week, as both countries seek to stabilise a relationship strained by tensions over trade, Taiwan and the Iran war.
Other Publications
- Time: Why Trump’s China Trip Is Set Up to Fail — What is much more certain is that nothing substantive will materialize from the summit.
- The Economist: The pact that could help America and China repair relations — A bilateral investment treaty is a way to find middle ground on sensitive sectors, write Max Baucus and Stephen Roach.
- The Economist: DeepSeek and Alibaba rescue China’s office landlords — Technology firms are reviving (a few) Chinese commercial-property markets.
- Foreign Policy: How China Is Winning the Global AI Race — Cutting-edge U.S. models are too expensive for much of the world.
- Dialogue Earth: China’s new hydrogen push could be a step towards cleaner steel — The new five-year plan and a pilot scheme signal China is getting serious about green hydrogen, with steelmaking among the sectors that may benefit.
- Brookings: Beijing’s approach to the conflict in Iran and its implications for China — What has China’s response to the conflict taught us about China’s foreign policy objectives and strategy for achieving them?
