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
- The Hottest Dating App in China Is a Park — Retirees roam ’marriage markets’ armed with paper profiles listing their unwed children’s physical traits, finances and requirements; ‘not too chubby’.
- Opinion: Beijing’s Minerals Brinkmanship May Backfire — The Communist Party’s anxiety reflects how quickly investor confidence and allied coordination hardened after the announcement. By Craig Singleton.
The Financial Times
- BHP sees ‘resilient’ commodity demand despite slowdown in China — World’s biggest miner by market capitalisation locked in negotiations over iron ore with Beijing-controlled buyer.
- Opinion: China is well positioned for a trade showdown with Trump — Rare earths are not the only Chinese product that America would struggle to replace. By Gideon Rachman.
The New York Times
- Can a U.S.-Australia Deal on Rare Earths Counter China’s Dominance? — Australia’s got reserves and mining expertise, and the United States is eager to invest in alternatives to China. But building mines, refineries and factories could take years.
- China Has Another Lever to Pull in Showdown With Trump: Factory Lines — In Washington, China hawks say its economy is too weak to withstand a tariff shock. In the city of Yiwu, factories are showing why, for now, that may be a miscalculation.
- Tariffs Are Reshaping China’s Trade. This Tanzanian Sees an Opportunity. — An interview with a 26-year-old entrepreneur, who has taken seven trips to China to buy handbags, clothes and jewelry. “China is the center of everything,” she said.
- To Counter China’s Hold on Rare Minerals, Trump Turns to Australia — The United States hopes to become less dependent on China by increasing access to mineral-rich countries. Rare earth metals are vital to an array of modern industries.
Caixin
- Beijing Fast-Tracks $36 Billion Through Policy Banks to Revive Growth — Three banks fast-track infrastructure funding to counter property slump and sluggish economy.
- Desperate for Smart Driving Tech, State Carmakers Turn to Huawei — China’s state-owned auto majors such as Dongfeng and SAIC are overcoming their reluctance to cede control over core vehicle functions as they fall further behind privately owned rivals.
- Cambricon Raises $560 Million in Fresh Capital for AI Chip Development — The chipmaker faces mounting pressure to scale up as U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports make it a key player in China’s drive for AI self-sufficiency.
- China’s Property Market Splinters From Stocks as Buyers Hold Out for Bargains — Housing transactions surge in big cities on local policies, but nationwide prices fall as sellers cut deals.
- China’s Film Industry Faces Reckoning as Holiday Hits Fall Flat — Once a reliable profit engine, the National Day movie season faltered under soft demand and lackluster titles.
South China Morning Post
- China’s AI plan offers citizens ‘infinite hope’ with robot companions and kids by 2035 — But a Chinese expert warns it could lead to mass unemployment, polarisation, reduction in marriage rates and ‘erosion of family ethics’.
- A ‘Pacific eyes’ intelligence body would offset China’s growing presence in region — Think tank proposes a dedicated alliance – initially with Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji – to avoid being ‘blindsided’.
- What is ‘winology’, the theory about unfair Western views of China, sweeping social media? — Supporters of the theory say that China’s successes are not being recognised because of a racialised, hierarchical view of the world.
- At China’s Canton Fair, exporters sense a warming trend in yuan settlements — Chinese traders report a rising number of overseas clients opting to pay using the yuan, signalling a quiet shift away from the US dollar.
- Opinion: Can Scott Bessent see China’s trade counterstrike with clear eyes? — China’s export control regime on rare earths isn’t retaliation for recent US restrictions – it’s a response to overall US policy. By Winston Mok.
Nikkei Asia
- Texas crackdown on China casts shadow over immigrants and descendants — Efforts to curb Beijing’s influence rattle residents, academics and investors.
- China’s Deep Robotics debuts ‘all-weather’ humanoid robot — Rain, dust, wind and summer heat pose no problem for DR02, manufacturer says.
- BYD, Chinese rivals rise in Uzbekistan but can’t outrun price war — As Central Asian nation embraces EVs, unofficial dealers undercut brands.
- Chinese gourmet restaurant resorts to 80% discount to fill seats — Weak consumer consumption spurs price competition among eateries, hotels.
- Opinion: The ‘Turnberry System’: Trump’s new world order of tariffs and rivalry — Washington’s levy blitz and Beijing’s resource controls rewrite global trade rules. By Naoko Munakata.
Bloomberg
- A Troubled $140 Billion Bet on China Property Gets Even Worse — Many foreign investors are stuck with real estate assets that are increasingly difficult to sell.
- Ethiopia in Talks With China to Convert Dollar Loans to Yuan — Ethiopia started talks with China to convert part of what it owes Beijing into yuan-denominated loans, following an example set by Kenya that bolsters China’s efforts to internationalize its currency.
- Trump Official Warns China Against Penalizing Companies Investing in US — The Trump administration warned China not to retaliate against foreign companies helping the US develop critical industries, after Beijing sanctioned the US units of a South Korean shipping giant.
- How Trump Is Targeting China’s Shipbuilding Dominance — The US hasn’t made ocean-going commercial vessels in significant numbers since the 1970s, and such is the scale of China’s competitive advantage today, even major shipbuilding countries such as South Korea are struggling to keep up.
- Opinion: China Is Testing American Resolve in the Trade War — China’s trade war tacticsare a way to test what Washington values most in negotiations, and where Beijing can gain an upper hand. By Karishma Vaswani.
Reuters
- China’s consumer subsidy scheme needs a rethink — These subsidies were the most significant move that policymakers took this year to spur household demand – China’s decades-old structural weakness.
- Trump downplays Taiwan risk in China talks, expects fair trade deal — The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties. Beijing regularly denounces any shows of support for Taipei from Washington.
- Concerned carmakers race to beat China’s rare earths deadline — While a U.S.-China deal diverted a supply threat, stockpiles were depleted by similar restrictions earlier this year, while Beijing has also made it harder to get export licenses.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: China Against China — Xi Jinping Confronts the Downsides of Success.
- Foreign Affairs: The China Model’s Fatal Flaw — Why Beijing Can’t Overcome Overcapacity.
- The Washington Post: How China weaponized soybeans to squeeze U.S. farmers — and spite Trump — China, the world’s biggest importer of soybeans, has stopped buying U.S. crops to put pressure on Trump ahead of his trade-focused meeting with Xi Jinping.
- The Economist: Donald Trump is copying the wrong things from China, writes Dan Wang — America is getting authoritarianism without the good stuff.
- The Economist: The toxic tragedy of US-China trade talks — The sides lack seasoned interlocutors and it shows.
- Brookings: Stabilizer or spoiler? The China factor in the North Korea nuclear dilemma — Beijing and Washington are working in their own ways to restore connectivity with North Korea’s leadership. What issues in their relationship with North Korea will they prioritize?
