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
- U.S. Hardens Allegation That China Conducted a Secret Nuclear Test — Seismic data points to a detonation in northwest China, U.S. says.
The Financial Times
- U.S. copper problem is processing, not supply, study finds — New data highlights the U.S. advantage over China in self-reliance.
The New York Times
- Opinion: President Trump Is a Wrecking Ball. And He’s Only Getting Started. — As we lose our alliances and instability spreads, America is headed for more, not fewer, international entanglements. By Massimo Calabresi.
Caixin
- At China’s Spring Festival Gala, Robotics Becomes Big Business — As firms bid hundreds of millions of yuan for airtime, the televised spectacle underscores a fierce race to win consumers and industrial clients.
- ByteDance’s Doubao Dominates Spring Festival Gala With 1.9 Billion AI Interactions — Aggressive holiday push underscores intensifying rivalry with Tencent and Alibaba as tech giants race to embed generative AI into daily life.
South China Morning Post
- Budweiser and Heineken face polar opposite fates in China as punters favour home comforts — Beer drinkers in China are veering away from bars and high-end restaurants, instead opting for cheaper stay-at-home options, analysts say.
- White cars, cheaper insurance: how AI is changing automotive services in China — Car color, driving habits and location influence insurance premiums, according to a digital solutions provider using ByteDance’s AI model.
Nikkei Asia
- U.S. faces ‘decadelong’ road to loosening China’s grip on rare earths — Washington deploys billions and builds Asian partnerships, but refining remains key hurdle.
- Thailand lures Chinese Lunar New Year tourists shunning Japan — Vietnam also emerges as rival destination for holiday travelers.
Bloomberg
- Gen Alpha Is Helping Revive China’s Struggling Malls — Shopping centers grappling with the shift to e-commerce increasingly focus on kids, hoping their parents will tag along.
- Electric Vehicle Sales Boom as Ethiopia Bans Fossil-Fuel Car Imports — The East African country is making use of cheap hydropower and Chinese electric vehicles to ditch the internal combustion engine.
Reuters
- China isn’t importing any U.S. LNG, but it’s still in the game — Instead of delivering the super-chilled fuel home, Chinese buyers have often diverted it to Europe.
- Texas sues TP-Link alleging Chinese government access to its devices — TP-Link said the Chinese government has no form of ownership or control over the company, its products or user data.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Beware China’s shrinking car market — The resulting flood of exports will be good news for consumers. Less so for the world’s carmakers.
- Rest of World: China’s rare-earth dominance is hard for EV makers to escape — Western automakers are chasing rare earth-free motors but China’s cost advantage remains difficult to crack.
