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
- Shein Targets Over $40 Billion Valuation After China Nod for IPO — The fast-fashion retailer could list in Hong Kong as early as the third quarter of this year.
- U.S. Biotechs Are Keeping More Secrets to Beat Copycats in China — Western biotechs get new playbook with tighter controls to stay ahead of ultraefficient pharmaceutical pipeline overseas.
- China Successfully Launches Reusable Rocket in a Win for Space Program — A decade after Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Beijing shows it can recover booster upon descent.
The Financial Times
- Cutting China reliance would cost the west $23tn, research suggests — Study highlights challenge facing US and EU as they try to reduce Beijing’s dominance over strategic supply chains.
- Companies turn to Chinese AI models to cut costs — DoorDash, Siemens and Airbnb are among those seeking to curb ballooning bills and reduce reliance on US technology.
- Australians ‘going gangbusters’ on Chinese batteries in renewable energy shift — Clean energy, backed by storage, now makes up about half of the country’s energy supply.
- China’s ‘temple economy’ thrives on the power of youthful prayer — After decades of economic transformation and social change, a new generation is seeking answers in religion.
- Opinion: AI is not enough to arrest China’s decline — There are other, more powerful forces weighing on the country’s economy. By Ruchir Sharma.
- Opinion: Why China still believes in the power of rote memorisation — The art of learning ancient texts by heart has persisted through decades of cultural transformation. By Thomas Hale.
The New York Times
- Storm Causes Mass Evacuations, Floods and Flight Disruptions in China — Typhoon Bavi made landfall in China after killing 17 in the Philippines, skirting Japan and hitting Taiwan.
- ‘They Don’t Need People’: The Workers Left Behind by China’s Robot Drive — For out-of-work factory workers in Kunshan, a region made rich by electronics manufacturing, a park is the only place to go.
- Nobel-Winning U.S. Chemist Will Move to China to Lead A.I. Institute — Omar Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, will head an initiative to apply artificial intelligence to the discovery of new materials.
- Opinion: We Returned From China. We Realized Our Century’s Biggest Challenge. — A.I. demands a populist approach that treats the technology as a public project. By Eric Schmidt and Selina Xu.
Caixin
- How China Took the Lead in Lithium Batteries — On July 8, Chen Liquan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics received the 2025 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award.
- China Moves to Shore Up Struggling Brick-and-Mortar Retailers — China has unveiled 20 measures to support its struggling brick-and-mortar retail sector.
- China Tech Giants Battle to Build the Ultimate AI Concierge — WeChat’s long-awaited artificial intelligence (AI) agent has arrived with little fanfare but sweeping implications for China’s consumer internet.
- China Vanke’s Board Overhaul Cements Shenzhen State Control as Losses Widen — China Vanke Co. Ltd. has nominated a new board entirely controlled by Shenzhen’s state-owned sector.
South China Morning Post
- China to make car connectivity mandatory as US moves to tighten ban — New vehicles with smart driver assistance systems will have to support continuous safety monitoring, data recording and remote management.
- Japan wants 60 million tourists, but China isn’t sending them — Tokyo is banking on a massive visitor boom to do what its factories and financiers increasingly cannot: carry the economy forward.
- Why factories in southern China are feeling the squeeze despite pickup in orders — Manufacturers hoping for stimulus measures turn attention to coming Politburo meeting as costs eat into profits and investment.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s property developers face fresh liquidity crunch — Previous debt restructuring fails to ease cash flow pressures.
- 14 nations reaffirm South China Sea ruling against China — Joint statement says Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims have ‘no legal basis’.
- China hit by heavy flooding in Typhoon Bavi’s wake — Cars swept away while people paddle-board in streets, videos show.
- Rule of law looks shakier 10 years after South China Sea ruling — China keeps ramping up pressure on Philippines over disputed territory.
Bloomberg
- China EVs on Road Have Average Age of 1.8 Years, Newspaper Says — Chinese electric vehicles on the road are on average just 1.8 years old, compared with 8.2 years for gasoline-powered cars, 21st Century Business Herald reported.
- Xi to Debut at China’s Flagship AI Summit as US Rivalry Heats Up — Chinese President Xi Jinping will make his first appearance at the country’s flagship AI conference, signaling the growing importance Beijing attaches to the technology.
- China Expands Strategic Mineral Toolkit With New Investment Firm — A new Beijing-backed mining investment vehicle, Guangyan International Investment Co, aims to bolster China’s grip on overseas resources.
- China is Supercharging a Rooftop Solar Boom in the Philippines — Soaring electricity bills are pushing Filipino households and businesses to embrace solar energy, and China is cashing in.
Reuters
- China’s GDP growth set to slow, raising expectations for more stimulus — China’s economy likely slowed in the second quarter after a solid start to the year.
- South China Sea joint statement says China’s maritime claims have no basis — China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis, Japan, the Philippines, the United States and 11 other countries said in a joint statement.
- Iran oil stuck at sea surges as China’s teapots turn to rival Middle East supplies, traders say — The return of U.S. sanctions this week risks leaving Tehran with more cargoes searching for buyers just as shipments arrive in Asia.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Why We Know More About China’s Next-Generation Fighters Than America’s — As internet sleuthing replaces traditional intelligence collection, one big mystery about the PLA remains.
- AP: China’s ‘Green Great Wall’ tames desert growth, but scientists warn the fight is not over — For half a century, millions of workers have repeated a task across the deserts in northern China.
- The Guardian: China’s graduate glut: millions enter a job market with little use for them — Record numbers find there is little demand for their skills, as entry-level tech roles are hit by AI and automation.
