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
- Anthropic Claims Alibaba Ran ‘Brazen’ Campaign to Access Its Claude AI Model — U.S. artificial-intelligence lab Anthropic has accused Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba of “illicitly” accessing its frontier model Claude to harvest its capabilities.
- China’s Assertions of Authority Over Foreign Ships Near Taiwan Draw U.S. Rebuke — China’s coast guard this month began issuing commands to foreign vessels on Taiwan’s Pacific side, an action that the U.S. decried as “destabilizing.”
- Chinese Supercomputer Overtakes U.S. as World’s Fastest — Shenzhen’s LineShine system uses locally made chips to advance in battle between superpowers.
The Financial Times
- Anthropic accuses Alibaba of obtaining illicit access to Claude — AI company says Chinese ecommerce group used fake accounts to ‘extract’ chatbot’s capabilities.
- Robot nation: China’s bid to beat its demographic decline — The country’s workforce is set to fall to 300mn by the end of the century. Beijing wants humanoids to narrow the labour gap.
The New York Times
- As More Chinese Own Pets, Young People Stand Up for Animal Welfare — After a man was filmed torturing dogs, hundreds gathered in a rare demonstration that the police tried to break up. For many, the sit-in was their first civic action.
Caixin
- China Proposes New Rules for Booming Micro-Drama Industry — The draft regulations mark a significant step toward standardizing a booming entertainment sector that has attracted heavy investment and increasing use of AI-generated content.
- Ex-Mainland Official’s Son Convicted of Money-Laundering in Hong Kong — Xiao Rui, whose father was a top anti-corruption investigator in Wuhan, was found guilty of funneling illicit funds and bribes from the Chinese mainland to the Asian financial hub.
- China’s Anti-Corruption Drive Sweeps Up Senior Defense and Space Official — China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign has ensnared another senior figure in the country’s defense-industrial complex.
South China Morning Post
- Is Prabowo’s Trump moment a sign that China is losing its favourite partner? — The Indonesian leader’s unusual approach to the ‘America first’ president is testing Jakarta’s non-alignment policy, observers said.
- Inside China’s ideological training camp where PLA top brass study Xi’s speeches — According to state media, Xi personally decided to launch the exercise, which lasted 10 weeks and involved hundreds of officers.
- Could China’s photonic chips help it leapfrog U.S. on AI? — Light-based chips could take over AI model training and inference from U.S.-made GPUs – and launch next-generation optical computing.
Nikkei Asia
- Canada calls for ‘discipline’ with China as it beefs up Japan defense ties — Recalling ‘two Michaels,’ minister says case of detained Japanese requires ‘patience’.
- China Evergrande unit shares plunge over 20% after sale talks collapse — Liquidators face setback in effort to recover funds from bankrupt developer.
- Chinese door-to-door logistics networks grow in U.S. to counter trade war — Strategy helps merchants boost efficiency and minimize tariffs, sidelining Western services.
- Japan defense forces used USB drives with China-linked virus — Counterfeit memory sticks infected computers that had access to classified information.
- China’s pressure revives ancient Japanese sense of crisis — Nearly 14 centuries after the Battle of Baekgang, strained ties lead neighbors into an abyss.
Bloomberg
- Sea Drones Emerge as Crucial Weapon to Counter China’s Power — Militaries from the U.S. to China are racing to build sea drones, reshaping warfare across the Indo-Pacific’s vast waters.
- Six Charts That Explain China’s Weakening Economy — China’s breakneck economic growth – which lifted incomes at home and reshaped markets abroad – once seemed as inevitable as a law of nature.
- A $30 Billion Cancer Breakthrough Is Under Threat From Global Conflicts — The Russia-Ukraine war, China’s rare earth controls and the Iran turmoil risk hurting a promising corner of the $280 billion cancer-treatment market.
Reuters
- China’s carmakers rush to Canada as a ‘practice run’ for U.S. sales — China’s national champion BYD, now the world’s largest EV maker, is already planning to open six dealerships in Canada, said an advisory firm scouting locations for BYD.
- U.S. says China trying to discourage states, businesses from engaging with Taiwan — China has been trying to discourage engagement with Taiwan and mischaracterising U.S. policy, but links with Taiwan should be expanded, government departments said.
- China angered, Taiwan cheered by Western allies’ alarm over Chinese Coast Guard activities — China sent Coast Guard ships earlier in June into the waters off Taiwan’s east coast for what it called a “special maritime traffic law-enforcement operation.”
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: China’s De-Dollarization Drive Has Hit a Wall — Beijing can create financial instruments, but it cannot decree demand.
- Rest of World: What happened to China’s overseas EV factory boom? — Three charts show China’s promised overseas production hasn’t materialized — yet.
- The Guardian: What is China’s SpaceSail, and could it rival Elon Musk’s Starlink? — The company has just a few hundred satellites in low Earth orbit but has state backing and is already reportedly negotiating with dozens of countries.
