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
- Trump’s AI Strategy Against China Gets Its First Big Test — Administration to make its pitch for U.S. chips and software at APEC meeting in South Korea.
- China Is Choking Supply of Critical Minerals to Western Defense Companies — Beijing’s tightened controls are a sign of the leverage it has over the U.S. military supply chain.
The Financial Times
- Starbucks takes aim at Chinese rival Luckin in Manhattan coffee showdown — U.S. chain upgrades stores and offers customers a different approach to revive sales.
- The remote Australian port caught in the middle of a U.S.-China tussle — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to reclaim strategic Darwin port amid security concerns.
- Germany’s biggest sports retailer considers moving production to China — Intersport eyes spare Chinese manufacturing capacity as Nike and Adidas back away from country amid trade war.
- Chinese manufacturers rethink south-east Asia pivot after Trump tariffs — Narrow difference between duties on China and alternative hubs make costs of relocating less appealing, producers say.
The New York Times
- No Passports, No Study Abroad: China Limits Public Employees’ Travel — Even low-level government employees like elementary school teachers and nurses have been ordered to hand in their passports, to enforce “discipline.”
- Some Chinese Weigh Painful Question: Stay or Flee Under Trump? — Over the past two years, Chinese immigrants have comprised one of the largest groups entering the United States. Some fear fines or even imprisonment if they are sent home.
- What’s It Like to Deal With Brutal U.S. Tariffs? Ask Malaysia. — Once a cog in the Malaysian economy, the solar industry profited from Chinese investment. Now it’s becoming a case study of what happens when the United States closes its markets.
Caixin
- Stablecoins Face Reality Check as Tech Gaps and Policy Firewalls Mount — Global policymakers reassess crypto’s promises amid tech, security and compliance concerns.
- Google Denies Rumors It Is Resuming Full Services on Chinese Mainland — Screenshot purporting to be an official announcement is a fake, says Google.
- German Luxury Carmakers’ China Sales Slump Accelerates — Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW suffered double-digit declines in the first half as they struggled to keep up with fierce competition.
- Opinion: Hainan Can Be China’s New Benchmark for Global Openness — By moving beyond tariffs to align its rules and regulations with international standards, the island’s free-trade port is set to become a test bed for the country’s next economic chapter. By Caixin.
South China Morning Post
- ‘Absolutely impossible’: how China created super steel for nuclear fusion — Chinese scientists detail how they created high-strength, low-temperature steel for world’s first fusion nuclear power reactor in action.
- Passion, pride and live pigs: inside China’s booming local basketball league — Zhejiang’s new league — dubbed the ‘ZheBA’ — is part of a wave of Chinese sports leagues going viral by tapping into local pride and culture.
- From nose to tail, how China is reshaping the aviation supply chain — Recent achievements show Beijing’s efforts to localise the components of its planes have not abated in the wake of the C919’s success.
- Ex-Huawei employees sentenced to jail for stealing semiconductor-related secrets — Shanghai court sentences 14 former Huawei employees to jail for stealing chip-related business secrets from the company.
Nikkei Asia
- Cheap and sleek Chinese EVs turn European heads — Growing market share shows popularity of BYD, Xpeng brands despite EU resistance.
- Toyota expands procurement of Chinese parts in Thailand — Japanese automaker plans budget electrified model in 2028 as China rivals make inroads.
- EV slump isn’t stopping CATL’s battery production buildup — Industry leader spends billions of dollars on new plants in Indonesia, Europe.
- China’s new parents lean on postpartum carers despite $2,000 price tag — Live-in helpers take care of childcare, cooking and housework while women recover.
Bloomberg
- Tariffs Will Make Outfitting College Dorm Rooms More Expensive This Year — Back-to-college items like microwaves, table fans, bedding and some school supplies have been hit with big tariff increases.
- China to Tax Bond Interest Income After Decades of Exemption — The new rule is likely to push up the cost of borrowing new debt.
Reuters
- China’s independent oil firms elbow into Iraq’s majors-dominated market — The overseas push mirrors a pattern by Chinese firms in other heavy industries to find new markets for productive capacity and expertise.
- China’s solar giants quietly shed a third of their workforces last year — The job cuts illustrate the pain from the vicious price wars being fought across Chinese industries.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Savvy staff are moving from China’s nurseries to its care homes — Last year there were 12m fewer pre-school pupils than in 2021.
- Foreign Affairs: After Xi — The Succession Question Obscuring China’s Future — and Unsettling Its Present.
- The Guardian: UK academics studying topics sensitive to China face harassment, survey finds — University staff report facing pressure to change teaching and are told that Chinese surveillance is rife.
- The Washington Post: Opinion: China is winning the trade war Trump started — On many fronts, Trump is inadvertently aiding China’s anti-American dictatorship. By Max Boot.
