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’s Own Elon Musks Are Racing to Catch Up to SpaceX — Private sector takes bigger role in building reusable rockets, advancing Beijing’s goal of independence from Western technology.
- China Is Ready to Blockade Taiwan. Here’s How. — Beijing’s armed forces have bulked up and practiced isolating the island.
- Trump Ally Visits Beijing to Pave Way for Xi Summit — Diplomacy signals potential offramp from trade fight as China pitches message of stability to executives.
- China Explores Limiting Its Own Exports to Mollify Trump — Chinese officials weigh Japan’s 1980s strategy — restraining exports while charging more — for products such as electric vehicles or batteries.
- Xi Targets Petty Corruption on a Giant Scale to Soothe China’s Masses — Campaign snares over 500,000 low-level state personnel — known as ‘flies and ants’ — for graft affecting ordinary citizens.
- Trump Has a China Trade War Weapon He Hasn’t Picked Up — The administration hasn’t tipped its hand as to what its anti-forced-labor enforcement agenda will be.
- Farmers, Dockhands and Shipowners Fight Against U.S. Fees on Chinese Ships — A swath of companies and trade groups warn of higher costs for importers and consumers and risk of job losses.
The Financial Times
- China says it is ready for ‘shocks’ as fresh Trump tariffs loom — Premier Li tells business leaders Beijing chooses to pursue globalisation and multilateralism.
- Malaysia to crack down on Nvidia chip flows under U.S. pressure — Trade minister says Washington suspects high-end semiconductors are making it to China despite trade controls.
- China’s ‘red circle’ law firms snap up partners from U.S. rivals — Western firms scale back presence in Hong Kong and China as financial activity slows.
- China spends big on its ageing pets — Demographic shift underlines emerging opportunities in country’s vast consumer market.
- Wang Chuanfu, the BYD founder with a battery obsession — Chinese EV maker’s five-minute charge puts the disrupter one step closer to conquering global markets.
- U.S. to probe Chinese telecom groups it suspects of posing security risk — Huawei, ZTE and China Telecom among companies targeted by new FCC investigation.
- U.S. investors in ByteDance explore TikTok deal to appease Trump — General Atlantic, Susquehanna, KKR and Coatue discuss acquiring more stakes in viral app’s US operations alongside Oracle.
The New York Times
- Taiwan President Takes Tougher Stance Toward China — Lai Ching-te, the president of Taiwan, may be betting that China’s appetite for retaliation will be limited by Beijing’s interest in containing tensions with the Trump administration.
- A Montana Senator Seeks to Be Trump’s Voice in Beijing — Senator Steve Daines said in an interview that in meetings with Chinese officials, he called for talks between President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
- How Elon Musk’s DOGE Cuts Leave a Vacuum That China Can Fill — The Department of Government Efficiency is shuttering organizations that Beijing worried about most, or actively sought to subvert.
- Trump Rejects Idea That Musk Should Have Access to Top-Secret China War Plans — The president also denied a report that such a briefing had been planned to be held at the Pentagon on Friday.
Caixin
- Humanoid Robots Are Poised to March into the Real World — Unitree’s folk-dancing robots has triggered a surge of investment in China’s robotics industry.
- AI Boom Puts Pressure on China’s Power Grid as Data Centers Eat Up Electricity — China’s energy infrastructure needs to keep pace with data centers’ growth.
- China’s Finance Minister Vows to Speed Up Fiscal Stimulus — The country will expedite government spending and bond issuances to get consumers to open their wallets, Lan Fo’an says.
- Who Will Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Tariffs? — Opinions are divided over who will be hurt the most by the levies — Chinese suppliers, U.S. importers, or consumers.
South China Morning Post
- AI entrepreneur Lee Kai-fu bets his start-up’s future on DeepSeek and open source — In an interview with the Post, Lee discusses China’s ‘ChatGPT moment’ and 01.
- Economist Michael Pettis on China’s consumption paradox and the pitfalls of a trade war — The professor of finance and author talks China’s economy and argues the U.S. dollar’s monopoly role in trade is an ‘unsustainable’ anomaly.
- AI expert Guo-Jun Qi leaves U.S. for China — After a decade in America, a leading computer scientist has returned to China to head a top artificial intelligence lab.
- Nigeria courts Chinese investment as interest booms in oil, gas and bigger opportunities — Abuja pushes for shift towards value-added exports amid increasing concern about trade imbalance that favours Beijing.
Nikkei Asia
- China promises CEOs stability ahead of Trump’s tariff moment of truth — Premier vows to counter ‘unexpected shocks’ in speech to Apple, Boeing, other execs.
- China’s SiCarrier emerges as challenger to ASML, other chip tool titans — Huawei-linked machine maker aims to overcome key bottleneck from U.S. export curbs.
- Trump’s threat to free trade brings China, Japan, South Korea closer — Beijing sees opportunity to drive wedge into Washington-led alliance.
- Hong Kong’s ‘business as usual’ tune resonates despite CK Hutchison saga — One year after Article 23 security law, many ignore risks of pressure and arrests.
Bloomberg
- Jack Ma-Backed Ant Touts AI Breakthrough Built on Chinese Chips — The models mark Ant’s entry into a race between Chinese and U.S. companies.
Reuters
- China Cosco may be shipping war’s first casualty — Cosco has the largest Chinese fleet as a percentage of its total compared to rivals, so the company is the most exposed.
- China equity issuance doubles as tech race draws back global investors — Bankers said easing government scrutiny of technology majors and the emergence of disruptive AI software developer DeepSeek are big enough draws even for overseas investors.
- China touts business potential to U.S. companies despite ‘rising instability’ — Beijing is keen to stabilise foreign investment and attract new capital as policymakers try to boost domestic consumption to offset the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Other Publications
- The Washington Post: Trump wants to build more ships in the United States. It’s not so simple. — The administration aims to counter China’s dominance of commercial shipbuilding.
- Associated Press: Thai officials secretly planned to deport Uyghurs while making repeated public denials — The decision is at the heart of Thai parliamentary inquiries and a diplomatic rift between Thailand and its biggest military ally.
- CFR: The Evolution of Global Trade in 2024 — A rebound in U.S. consumer imports fueled global trade, while Chinese import growth diverged from China’s export growth, Brad Setser writes.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: Funding for R&D isn’t a gift to academia. It’s vital to U.S. security. — China’s strategy for tech dominance hinges on investment in R&D. Ours should, too. By Todd Young and Matt Pottinger.
