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
- How Charging Chinese Ships Could Ripple Through the Economy — Carriers warn of higher shipping prices from proposed fees on Chinese-built or -flagged ships that call at U.S. ports, which could boost consumer prices.
- U.S. Foreign-Aid Halt Is Making Scrutiny of China Even Harder — Funding freeze rocks nonprofits that collected increasingly scarce information in a country that Trump has deemed a competitor.
- Look to ‘Two Sessions’ for Signals From Beijing — A key figure to watch is Beijing’s economic growth target.
- Microsoft Urges Trump to Overhaul Curbs on AI Chip Exports — Request highlights the president’s challenging task of trying to boost U.S. businesses and limit China’s advances in artificial intelligence.
The Financial Times
- DeepSeek spreads across China with Beijing’s backing — The AI start-up’s models are being rapidly adopted by state-owned enterprises, hospitals and local governments.
- Hong Kong stock exchange posts record profits after China stimulus — Listings and trading fees jumped in 2024 after Beijing’s moves to boost markets.
- What Trump’s closer ties to Russia mean for China — Rapprochement with Moscow over war in Ukraine serves Beijing’s aim of multipolar world order.
- China puts brakes on U.S. stock listings for homegrown companies — Beijing’s securities regulator concerned about IPOs of companies with small capitalization and weak fundamentals.
The New York Times
- How Trump and Biden’s Focus on Minerals Became Core to U.S. Foreign Policy — China dominates in critical minerals, and President Trump has turned to high-pressure tactics to acquire them.
- Thailand Deports Dozens of Uyghurs to China, Activists Say — Rights groups criticized the Thai government for sending the Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority, back to China, where they face the risk of torture and imprisonment.
- Why Scam Centers in Southeast Asia Keep Flourishing — A China-led crackdown on online fraud rescued thousands from Myanmar this month. But this massive business of grift keeps growing.
- Electric Shocks and Tied Crucifixion-Style: The Life of a Scam-Mill Worker — Tens of thousands of people from dozens of nations have been trafficked to cyberfraud hubs in Myanmar, where they must con victims or endure brutal punishment.
Caixin
- Chinese Local Governments Foresee Heightened Fiscal Pressure — Nearly half of provincial-level authorities have set lower general public budget revenue growth targets this year in the face of persistent economic hurdles.
- Hong Kong Considers Regulating Basketball Betting to Boost Revenue — Legalizing basketball betting could generate up to $257 million, says Hong Kong politician.
- As Hong Kong Stocks Surge, Foreign Investors Stay on Sidelines — The benchmark Hang Seng Index is up more than 20% this year, but investors with longer time horizons have been reluctant to get in on the rally.
- Scandal-Plagued Production Company’s Ex-Chairman Gets Prison Time — Song Ge was convicted of breaking information disclosure rules for his role in a scheme to inflate Jingxi Culture & Tourism’s 2018 profit.
- EHang Seals ‘Flying Car’ Factory Deal as Orders Spike — The passenger-drone maker has seen demand skyrocket as local governments make ‘low-altitude economy’ push.
South China Morning Post
- DeepSeek focuses on AGI breakthroughs over quick profits a month after shocking the world — DeepSeek is in no rush to conduct further fundraising or engage in new commercial activities, according to a source, instead focusing on achieving AGI.
- Would a Ukraine-U.S. deal on rare earths provide a workaround to China’s curbs? — A U.S. accord on critical minerals to broker an end to the Ukraine war could blunt Chinese export controls, analysts said, but not counteract them.
- Mainland China launches latest incentive drive to tempt Taiwanese to work, invest — Preferential policies target tech, medical and media sectors in bid to entice Taiwanese workers and business to Fujian in cross-strait exchanges.
- Huawei, Vivo, Xiaomi lead China’s smartphone sales surge fuelled by government subsidies — A government subsidy scheme for electronics purchases has boosted sales in the world’s largest smartphone market.
Nikkei Asia
- Jack Ma appears as Xi Jinping seeks to adjust course — China’s president also nods to Deng Xiaoping as he signals new economic direction.
- Budweiser APAC’s China revenue sinks 20% amid weak consumption — Brewer announces ‘surprising’ departure of top exec Jan Craps.
- Asia funds, Wall Street’s fast money power China’s tech rally — Future earnings multiple suggests the rally has more room to run: BNP Paribas.
- Xiaomi unveils $112,250 electric sedan in challenge to Porsche — Chinese smartphone maker aims to turn EVs into key growth pillar.
Bloomberg
- China Quant Says Funds Must Adopt AI to Survive After DeepSeek — China’s financial and asset management industries are already rushing to leverage DeepSeek’s R1.
- Unisplendour Is Said to Tap Banks for $1 Billion Hong Kong Listing — IPO proceeds in the city may double to more than $22 billion this year.
- Rubio Says U.S. Can’t Let Russia Become China’s ‘Junior Partner’ — Donald Trump’s recent embrace of Russia has been seen by some analysts as an attempt to split Moscow from Beijing.
Reuters
- Tencent releases new AI model, says replies faster than DeepSeek-R1 — It’s the latest sign the startup’s domestic and overseas success is putting pressure on its larger competitors in China.
- China’s Baidu to launch upgraded AI Ernie model in mid-March, source says — Baidu has struggled to gain widespread adoption for its Ernie LLM.
- HSBC cutting staff numbers by 900 at China Pinnacle unit, sources say — The reversal underscores the challenges the Asia-focused bank faces to boost growth and profitability in China at a time when it is slashing costs to boost returns.
- Hedge funds bet on turnaround in unloved China property sector — Investors said recent positive signs suggest this year will be the turning point for the real estate market.
Other Publications
- The Economist: Could there be Chinese troops in Europe? — China’s leaders now talk of “a window of opportunity for peace.”
- The Economist: Who works where doing what in China — A surprising new census shows a workforce being transformed.
- New Statesman: Xi and Putin vie to exploit the second Trump age — By voting for Russia and against Ukraine at the UN, the U.S. president has shown which side of the war he’s on.
- CFR: U.S. Soft Power Is Spiraling in Asia, With China Filling the Void — The Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. foreign aid apparatus has created a vacuum that China is rapidly filling, argues Josh Kurlantzick.
