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 Propping Up the World Economy by Importing a Lot Less Oil — Clues are emerging in the mystery of the missing three million barrels — the oil that China would normally be importing but isn’t now.
The Financial Times
- Beijing online shopping warning hits shares in Chinese tech groups — Alibaba and JD.com admonished by regulator for misleading sales tactics during ‘6.18’ event.
- China cancels high-level meetings with EU — Abrupt scrapping of two sets of planned talks in Beijing comes as tensions grow between trade superpowers.
- Opinion: Trump’s Iran war has propelled China’s cleantech industry — Disruption to global energy supplies sparks surge in demand for alternatives. By Edward White.
The New York Times
- Why It’s Nearly Impossible to Build a Robot Without China — Building on the country’s electric vehicle industry, Chinese companies are making robot parts at a scale and price point others can’t match.
Caixin
- From Cram Schools to Smart Tablets: AI Fuels China’s New EdTech Boom — Following a crackdown on after-school tutoring, families are pivoting to smart hardware and non-academic activities, widening the divide between rich and middle-class households.
- China Starts $11 Billion Three Gorges Channel Project to Ease Yangtze Bottleneck — The massive nine-year construction project aims to resolve severe shipping congestion on China’s main river artery.
- Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Yujian Placed Under Investigation — Chen’s investigation follows years of controversy over his tenure in Songjiang, where a major P2P lending platform collapsed with billions of yuan in losses.
- Chinese Tech Giants Turn College Admissions Into Latest AI Battleground — Chinese tech giants including Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu are rolling out artificial intelligence agents to help millions of high school graduates apply for universities.
- Top Provincial Emergency Official Targeted in Probe Over Fatal Coal Mine Disaster — The probe into a senior Shanxi emergency official follows a massive gas explosion at a mine that operated hidden shafts to evade regulatory inspections.
South China Morning Post
- As de-dollarisation trends persist, can the yuan take the euro’s place? — The U.S. dollar is still dominant, but a slump in Europe may see China’s currency gain strength and reach the No 2 spot in global settlements.
- FBI disables 13 Chinese suspected spying websites targeting U.S. officials — Chinese intelligence allegedly used internet domains to blackmail Americans with security clearances into divulging sensitive information.
- As Japanese and Korean giants move upmarket, China’s MLCC firms see their chance — The AI server boom is driving demand for advanced multilayer ceramic capacitors, leaving Chinese manufacturers room to expand.
Nikkei Asia
- Turkey halts BYD tax break, warns of clawback if it misses $1bn plan — Construction yet to start on plant meant to be operational this year.
- Chinese firefighting equipment makers target untapped EU market — Big China presence at Hanover fair but lack of certification hampers expansion.
- Rare protest over animal abuse spotlights China’s ‘mass-movement’ fears — Police disperse crowd in Chongqing as censors take down sensitive posts.
- Kim Jong Un emerges as winner in summit with Xi Jinping — North Korean leader’s diplomatic balancing act results in no mention of denuclearization.
- U.S. firms see China as essential despite rising economic and political risks — Profits recovering but tariffs remain a burden, business council survey finds.
Bloomberg
- China Lures Foreign Patients With Cutting-Edge, Cheap Medical Care — Stuart Lye, 58, was told he had three months to live in 2018 and had run out of options. But following seven weeks undergoing a clinical trial in China, his cancer was brought under control.
- OpenAI Says China-Linked Accounts Aim to Fuel U.S. Data Center Pushback — A group of ChatGPT accounts with ties to China have sought to stir up local opposition to data centers in the U.S. in a potential bid to hinder the country’s competitiveness in AI.
- AI Sparks Alarm in China With Call to Protect Worker Rights — The Workers’ Daily editorial said the benefits of technological advancement should be shared by society as a whole, rather than becoming a tool for employers to undermine workers’ rights.
Reuters
- China’s control over indium phosphide exports threatens AI data centre rollout — The U.S. urgency to resolve China’s export controls on the compound highlights how indium phosphide (InP) has emerged as a powerful trade weapon for Beijing.
Other Publications
- Rest of World: China builds a rival satellite constellation as SpaceX goes public — A Chinese state-backed satellite company is signing the partners and governments Starlink has pushed aside, days before SpaceX’s record listing.
- MIT Technology Review: Why China is betting on big nuclear reactors — While companies in the U.S. chase smaller footprints, there are a lot of new large reactors going up in China.
