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
- AliExpress Fined $629 Million by EU Over Product-Safety Concerns — Alibaba’s AliExpress received the largest penalty EU officials have handed a company so far under the bloc’s Digital Services Act.
- China State-Owned Funds Buy Nearly $9 Billion in Shares to Support Market — The show of support and pledges come amid a deepening selloff in chip and tech stocks globally.
- Alibaba Says New AI Model Is Just Second to Anthropic’s Fable 5 — Alibaba Group previewed its new artificial-intelligence model in the latest sign that China is fast closing the gap with the U.S. for global technological dominance.
- China’s Campaign to Suffocate Taiwan Is Hitting Children’s Choirs and Baristas — Beijing has got creative in its continuing efforts to undermine the island’s international standing.
- The Key to Solar and Wind Power Is Battery Storage, and China Is Dominating — Chinese suppliers have 90% of the U.S. energy-storage market, generating concern in Washington about overreliance on its rival.
- The CIA Operative Who Spied on the U.A.E.—and Played a Role in Its AI Win — While conducting espionage against sheikh’s tech company, Jonny Gannon helped Gulf country quash U.S. suspicions about China ties.
- Iran Rushed Out $6 Billion of Oil During Brief Truce With U.S. — About 20 Iranian tankers carrying millions of barrels of oil set sail for Asia—likely for sale to China—after the U.S. lifted its blockade.
- What to Know About the Chinese AI Models Rattling U.S. Stocks — The rise of products such as Moonshot’s Kimi K3 raises concern about the tech boom’s staying power.
- China’s Moonshot AI Adds More Fuel to Wall Street’s Chip Selloff — Friday’s selloff capped a brutal week for what were once the market’s favorite stocks.
- AI’s Wider Availability Is Good for China, Not Great for OpenAI and Anthropic — Intelligence ‘too cheap to meter’ could threaten the leading AI labs, while creating opportunity for their competitors.
- Opinion: Chinese Election Interference? What About TikTok? — Trump flip-flopped from trying to ban the site in 2020 to giving it a reprieve from the law last year. By Allysia Finley.
The Financial Times
- EU fines AliExpress €550mn for failing to prevent sale of illegal goods — Record penalty under bloc’s Digital Services Act comes amid broader crackdown on Chinese ecommerce platforms.
- China’s ‘national team’ buys shares worth $9bn to prop up market — State-owned funds announce stock purchases after sharp AI tech sell-off last week.
- Chinese helium ban threatens supplies to Europe — Beijing’s export controls cut off a route for Russian flows, adding to pressures after disruption to Qatari production.
- China’s Jingye demands payout over British Steel nationalisation — UK government accused of disregarding group’s investment and offering ‘almost zero compensation’.
- Chinese leaders zero in on need for stimulus for economy — Policymakers expected to prioritise spurring high-tech rather than ‘big bang’ for consumption, analysts say.
- Xpeng says China close to building ‘killer’ rival to Tesla Model Y — Elon Musk’s SUV remains top-selling electric vehicle in many parts of the world as well as second most popular in China.
- In one-child China, she thrived. The unravelling came later — The story of a life shaped by a radical social policy.
- Paris and Berlin vow to align on tougher trade measures against China — French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to push for EU ‘safeguard’ trade measures.
- Chinese AI models narrow cyber gap with U.S. rivals — UK agency warns cheaper open models could leave companies less time to patch critical vulnerabilities.
The New York Times
- Why Silicon Valley Can’t Stop Looking Over Its Shoulder at China — Chinese companies are offering artificial intelligence that is nearly as good as the leading U.S. technologies, but it’s still America’s race to lose.
- Trump Pursues a Deeper Bond With China’s Leader, Despite Hostile Speech — Chinese officials appear to think that President Trump’s accusations that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. elections were driven by domestic politics, not foreign policy.
- Lam Wing-Kee, Hong Kong Bookseller Who Defied Authorities, Dies at 70 — One of five booksellers kidnapped by Chinese officials in 2015, Mr. Lam spoke out after his release and became an international cause célèbre.
- China’s Latest A.I. Breakthrough Threatens America’s Lead — China’s Moonshot AI unveiled a freely available artificial intelligence model that seemed to narrow the gap with cutting-edge offerings from U.S. tech companies.
- Opinion: China’s A.I. Play Is Different From America’s — When great powers disagree about the nature of A.I. By Ross Douthat.
Caixin
- Europe Fortifies Against China’s New Export Juggernaut — As the EU grapples with economic stagnation and a shrinking industrial base, Brussels is rapidly deploying a barrage of tariffs, subsidy probes and stringent regulations aimed at stemming the tide.
- China’s First Homegrown 9-Valent HPV Vaccine Challenges Merck’s Retreat — Late-stage trial data showed Cecolin 9 delivered near-perfect protection against key HPV infections, giving Wantai a major opening after Merck suspended supplies to China.
- Top Chinese Cancer Doctor Accused of Academic Fraud in ‘Paper Mill’ Scandal — A recently elected member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, faces allegations of severe misconduct after a whistleblower exposed pixel-perfect image duplications.
South China Morning Post
- Bridging the divide: how AI scientists unite despite growing geopolitical rifts — As U.S.-China differences deepen, a global cohort of innovators seeks to forge a collaborative, borderless future.
- Fewer opportunities, less passion, no clue? How the U.S.’ China expertise is fading — Geopolitical friction and a lack of career paths are hollowing out the pipeline of U.S. specialists who truly understand China.
- From Bruce Lee craze to regional hub: how China’s kung fu captured Ivory Coast — Films of the 1970s have offered a model of discipline that resonates with working-class youth in Abidjan, sending ripples across West Africa.
Nikkei Asia
- State-owned Hongqi’s ultra-luxury sedan beats Rolls-Royce in China — Xi Jinping’s limousine brand catches eye of patriotic super rich.
- Last German bike helmet maker moves production to China — Germany struggles to keep manufacturing of bicycles and parts local.
- China’s share of global wind turbine market reaches nearly 80% — Manufacturers tap demand at home, Africa and Southeast Asia.
Bloomberg
- Moonshot Is Creating New Winners and Losers in the AI Trade — The Chinese startup’s surprise release of a new AI model has sent a jolt through markets.
- China Joins Rush to Rethink the Smartphone for the AI Era — ZTE Corp. showcased for the first time a lineup of co-designed smartphones with built-in AI services, joining a growing number of Chinese firms trying to reimagine mobile devices with AI at the core.
- Opinion: Why China’s Youth Want to Go Back in Time — When people lose faith in the future, they begin looking for answers in the past. By Karishma Vaswani.
Reuters
- Chinese car sales in Mexico surge despite new tariffs — Chinese brands accounted for 17% of new vehicle sales in Mexico during the first half of the year, up from 14% a year earlier, with sales climbing to 137,525 from 107,712.
Other Publications
- The Economist: China’s mysterious new billionaires are conquering the world — And refusing to talk to the press.
- The Atlantic: China’s Questionable Tech Strategy — Keeping out the world’s best tools promises to stymie innovation.
