Brent Crane - The Wire China

Articles

The Semiconductor Madman

When Zhao Weiguo was named CEO of Tsinghua Unigroup, he was just the kind of hard-charging and daring businessman needed to rescue the state-backed company. But with China's big chip ambitions now stalling — and Zhao now in jail — the path forward for one...

Joseph Torigian on Making Sense of Chinese Politics

The academic talks about the changing understanding of Leninist regimes; common misperceptions of the post-Mao era; and what the collapse of the Soviet Union means for China today.

Hal Brands On Navigating America’s “Danger Zone” With China

The scholar talks about his new book; why China's best days are behind it, both strategically and economically; how that could lead to China lashing out; and why he fears U.S. strategy isn't coming together quickly enough.

Insuring Engagement

At age 97, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the former CEO of AIG, has advocated for deeper U.S. engagement with China for longer than perhaps any living American businessman. While his positioning as a private sector statesman seems out of touch given the current state of U.S.-China...

China’s Sea Change

The Chinese State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is the world's largest shipbuilder, supplying everything from container ships to cruise ships to companies in the U.S., Taiwan and elsewhere. But CSSC also builds warships for China's navy, which is modernizing rapidly and just recently surpassed the U.S....

Hard Knocks

Last summer, when Beijing effectively banned private tutoring companies, an entire industry was wiped out in a single day. Yu Minhong, the CEO of New Oriental and a former model entrepreneur in China, saw his company's market value fall 90 percent. While Beijing blamed the...

Flagged For Security

Beijing-based Nuctech has swelled into one of the largest security screening manufacturers in the world, with their scanners servicing airports, embassies and ports in some 160 countries. Their tagline is, “Creating a safer world.” The question the U.S. government has been trying to raise for...

The China Bull

Beijing's recent regulatory actions have erased over $1 trillion of market value from Chinese equities — a disruption that hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio refers to as mere "wiggles" in an otherwise strong economy. Indeed, for Dalio, who has spent 40 years nurturing his Beijing...

Special Delivery

The “super app” Meituan boasts a valuation of $180 billion, trailing only Alibaba and Tencent in the Chinese tech space. But with success and size has come scrutiny.

Tesla’s China Endgame

For the past few years, observers have watched the China-Tesla love affair with a certain sense of foreboding: how much longer will Beijing allow Tesla to reign supreme? The answer, experts say, has less to do with EV sales — which Tesla is still dominating...

Jolly Gene Giant

Last April, as the world fell to Covid-19, one Chinese company was there to offer a helping hand: BGI. But the line between the biotech giant and Beijing is blurry, and experts say the importance of protecting one’s genetic data, which has been called “the...

The SMIC Smackdown

The U.S. just announced new sanctions on the Chinese semiconductor company, upping the ante on the ongoing tech battle between the two countries. Will China’s best hope for homegrown chips crack under the pressure?