If There’s a U.S.-China Trade War, China May Have Some ‘Unconventional Weapons’

Neil Irwin
New York Times
There are ways to make life harder for American companies in China that need not be formal, or widely publicized.

Ex-Google Executive Opens a School for AI, with China's Help

Tom Simonite
Wired
Onetime head of Google's operations in China launches a new project to train Chinese AI talents.

Anti-China Tilt in Australia Is Shortsighted

Daniel Moss
Bloomberg
In Australia, Chinese investment is small, but feels large.

Xiaomi Ceo Calls China’s Plan to Lure Tech Listings ‘Excellent’

Bloomberg News
Bloomberg
China’s trial program for encouraging technology giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to list their shares at home is drawing positive early reviews, a sign their stocks may soon be available in the world’s most populous country.

China Strikes Back at the U.S. With Plans for Its Own Tariffs

Keith Bradsher and Steven Lee Myers
New York Times
China hit back at the United States on Wednesday with proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of American soybeans, cars, chemicals and other goods, in a move likely to stoke fears that the countries’ escalating confrontation could become an all-out...

China Strikes Back at the U.S. With Plans for Its Own Tariffs

Keith Bradsher and Steven Lee Myers
New York Times
China hit back at the United States on Wednesday with proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of American soybeans, cars, chemicals and other goods, in a move likely to stoke fears that the countries’ escalating confrontation could become an all-out...

China’s Financial Opening Isn't Quite What It Seems

Andrew Polk
Bloomberg
Although trade tensions between the U.S. and China show no signs of abating, there are some reasons for cautious optimism.

It’s Not Just Facebook: China’s Biggest Tech Company Is Getting Crushed

Daniel Shane
CNN
Tencent (TCEHY) -- the company often referred to as China's Facebook -- has lost more than $70 billion in market value over the past week.

How Clean Indoor Air Is Becoming China's Latest Luxury Must-Have

Helen Roxburgh
Guardian
One luxury hotel in Shanghai is attracting guests with clean filtered air.

‘Black Panther’ Sparks Debate over Anti-Black Racism in China

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
The seemingly sharp fall in attendance prompted Western media outlets to write a series of articles that suggested Chinese moviegoers objected to Black Panther because of its all-black leading cast. “A torture for the eyes: Chinese moviegoers think...

China’s Attempts to Supplant Dollar Face Historic Difficulties

Mike Bird
Wall Street Journal
The world’s first yuan-denominated oil contracts launched Monday, as part of China’s drive to turn its currency into a global force in markets.

Alibaba Opens Car Vending Machine in China That Gives Free Test Drives for People with Good Social Credit

Thuy Ong
Verge
Alibaba and Ford signed a deal to form a partnership last year that would see both companies working together on new technological opportunities.

The US and China Are in Talks to Try to Avoid a Trade War

Jethro Mullen
CNN
The United States and China are acting tough over trade, but they’re also busy talking to try to stop the situation spiraling out of control.

How China’s Government Has Changed after the NPC

BBC
BBC
A stronger military and more power to fight corruption are among the major changes revealed at China’s National People's Congress (NPC) this year.

China Vows to Open Its Markets Further in Response to Trump’s Tariff Threats

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
China responded to the threat of a massive package of tariffs from the United States by vowing Tuesday to further open its own markets to foreign trade and investment, while warning that a trade war between the two nations would hurt both sides.

The Battle for Digital Supremacy

The Economist
Economist
“DESIGNED by Apple in California. Assembled in China”. For the past decade the words embossed on the back of iPhones have served as shorthand for the technological bargain between the world’s two biggest economies: America supplies the brains and...

Hong Kong’s Judges Voice Fears over China Influence in Judiciary

Greg Torode, James Pomfret
Reuters
As Hong Kong’s judges and senior lawyers paraded in ceremonial wigs and gowns on Jan 8 to mark the start of the legal year, anxieties over China’s growing reach into the city’s vaunted legal system swirled with the wintry winds.

Hard-Charging Chinese Energy Tycoon Falls from Xi Government’s Graces

Alexandra Stevenson
New York Times
A mysterious Chinese buyer surprised the financial world last year when it swooped in to buy a $9 billion chunk of Russia’s state oil company.

China Tech Titan Alibaba Plans Stock-Market Homecoming

Julie Steinberg and Liza Lin
Wall Street Journal
Technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is working on a plan to list on a stock exchange in its home market, China, according to people familiar with the matter, more than three years after its blockbuster initial public offering in New York.

Facebook, Amazon Handicapped as They Follow China Playbook

Louise Lucas
Financial Times
Amazon and Facebook grabbed headlines with groundbreaking moves last week: segueing into bank accounts and music, respectively. Groundbreaking, that is, for the west—such moves are business as normal in China.

China Levies Record $870 Million Fine for Stock Manipulation

Bloomberg News
Bloomberg
China slapped a logistics company with fines totaling 5.5 billion yuan ($870 million) for manipulating the stock market, the biggest ever punishment for such an infringement.

Trump Demands Aides Pump up Anti-China Tariffs

Adam Behsudi and Andrew Restuccia
Politico
President Donald Trump is getting ready to crack down on China. Trump told Cabinet secretaries and top advisers during a meeting at the White House last week that he wanted to soon hit China with steep tariffs and investment restrictions in response...

Honeywell, Other U.S. Companies Look to Benefit from China's Gigantic 'Belt and Road' Initiative

Evelyn Cheng
CNBC
Over 15 U.S. companies called the program an opportunity for business growth.

Trump’s China Whisperer: How Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman Has Sought to Keep the President Close to Beijing

Michael Kranish
Washington Post
This American investor has one of the closest relationships to Beijing.

US’s Tillerson Warns African Nations Not to ‘Forfeit Their Sovereignty’ by Taking Chinese Loans

Justina Crabtree
CNBC
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned against African nations accepting Chinese cash in agreements which could “forfeit their sovereignty.”

China, Europe Slam Trump’s Tariffs as U.S. Metalworkers Cheer

Wayne Ma, Emre Peker, and Doug Cameron
Wall Street Journal
China and Europe lashed out against new U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, while officials and executives from several American allies caught in the crossfire reacted more cautiously, embracing what the White House promised would be some flexibility...

Trump Takes the Bait from Musk, Attacks China Auto Import Duties

Dana Hull and Justin Sink
Bloomberg
President Donald Trump may not follow Elon Musk on Twitter, but the Tesla Inc. chief’s posts decrying China’s automotive trade practices managed to catch his attention.

China Protectionism Creates Tech Billionaires Who Protect Xi

Shelly Banjo
Bloomberg
China’s tech giants will add star power to the country’s political festivities this week, paying homage to President Xi Jinping and endorsing constitutional changes for him to remain president indefinitely.

China and the Philippines Will Work Together to Tap the South China Sea’s Vast Oil Deposits

Ralph Jennings
Forbes
China needs fuel to grow the world’s second-largest economy by 6.5% this year as established this week at annual legislative sessions.

The West Is Doing Its Best to Help China

Edward Luce
Financial Times
Most of it is unintentional. Yet the west could not be helping China more if it tried.

Blockchain Is a Surprisingly Hot Topic at China’s Annual Political Gathering

Josh Horwitz
Quartz
Thousands of China’s elites are currently gathered in Beijing for the “two sessions,” the annual meetings for members the National People’s Congress (or NPC, China’s rubber-stamp legislative branch) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative...

Box Office: Will ‘Black Panther’ Conquer China?

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
At nearly $900 million worldwide and counting, Marvel’s latest is a certified historic hit, but Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster faces a final challenge to “conventional wisdom” in the world's second-largest film market.

Conversation

03.02.18

How Will Trump’s Tariffs Affect U.S.-China Relations?

Derek Scissors, Donald Clarke & more
Arguing that America is harmed by other countries’ trade practices, President Donald Trump said on March 1 that the U.S. will impose a new 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum. “People have no idea how badly...

The Brands That Kowtow to China

Richard Bernstein from New York Review of Books
There’s been no joking as the apologies to China have come thick and fast in recent weeks, issued not by teenage singers but by some of the largest and richest multinational corporations in the world—the German luxury car manufacturer Daimler, the...

As Xi Tightens His Grip on China, U.S. Sees Conflict Ahead

Mark Landler
New York Times
A few weeks after Stephen K. Bannon left the White House in August, he was invited to a dinner at the Council on Foreign Relations to discuss American policy toward China.

Why Chinese State Media Love Elon Musk’s Latest Tweets

Jethro Mullen
CNN
The Tesla CEO tweeted out a link to a video about a Chinese rail station that was built in less than 9 hours.

China Box Office Surges 39 Percent in First Two Months of 2018

Patrick Brzeski
Hollywood Reporter
China is once again rapidly closing the gap with North America, still narrowly the world’s largest film market.

A Social Media Tycoon Is Now China’s Richest Man

Daniel Shane
CNN
Tencent CEO Ma Huateng is the country’s highest-ranked person on the Global Rich List published Wednesday by Shanghai-based wealth research firm Hurun Report.

An Anbang-Linked Revolutionary Heir Dies in China. Speculation Begins.

Josh Chin and Eva Dou
Wall Street Journal
The sudden death of a revolutionary scion linked to troubled Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group Co. is reverberating through China’s battered private business community.

China Energy Group Bonds Crash after Detention Report

Lucy Hornby and Archie Zhang
Financial Times
Bonds of mysterious Chinese energy firm CEFC crashed on Thursday amid reports that its chairman Ye Jianming had been detained, complicating its deal to buy a $9bn stake in Russian oil company Rosneft.

China Spends $279 bln on R&D in 2017: Science Minister

Reuters Staff
Reuters
China’s total spending on research and development is estimated to have hit 1.76 trillion yuan ($279 billion) last year, China’s science minister said on Monday, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent.

Chinese Capital Dangles Carrots to Lure Foreign Talent to Its Silicon Valley

Reuters Staff
Reuters
Beijing, a major hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors in China, is touting a new list of incentives to try and bait foreign talent for its equivalent of Silicon Valley in the Chinese capital.

Hong Kong Millionaire’s Arrest Exposes Chinese Corruption in Africa

Eric Olander, Cobus van Staden & more
Former Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping pleaded not guilty last month to corruption charges brought by a U.S. federal court in New York after he was accused of offering bribes worth a total of U.S.$2.9 million to prominent...

Viewpoint

02.15.18

A Clash of Cyber Civilizations

Geoffrey Hoffman
There has been little need for the term “cyber sovereignty” among democratic states: the Internet, by its nature, operates under an aegis of freedom and cooperation. However, as the international system slips away from American unipolarity, a...

Chinese New Year Means a Spending Spree across East Asia

Xin En Lee
CNBC
The Lunar New Year, which kicks off on Feb. 16, is East Asia’s most important holiday season.

In China, Flashy Logos Are Making a Comeback as a Status Symbol

Yiling Pan
Quartz
Over the past few seasons, logos have made a return to the runway. Even in China, where the industry consensus was that countless fakes and shallow status projection had created serious logo fatigue, people are no longer ashamed to flash luxury...

Tesla’s China Dream Threatened by Standoff over Shanghai Factory

Bruce Einhorn, Yan Zhang, Keith Zhai,...
Bloomberg
Tesla Inc., the biggest-selling electric carmaker in the U.S., is in danger of being relegated to an expensive niche in China because Elon Musk can't clinch a deal to open a factory there.

Alibaba's ‘Digital Free Trade Zone’ Has Some Worried about China Links to Malaysia

Nyshka Chandran
CNBC
Alibaba e-commerce platform in Malaysia raises concerns over impact on local firms.

Disney Can Stream Its Movies in China Again, Thanks to Alibaba

Alanna Petroff
CNN
Disney is trying again to get its movies and TV programs into China.

This Week in China Tech: Xiaomi’s 460 Investments, Tencent’s Gamble and a New ‘Blockchain Academy’

Bay McLaughlin
Forbes
China’s technology scene is always shifting, and this week we’ve seen big news coming from Xiaomi, Tencent, Wanda, Baidu, among others. Here are the some of the most interesting tech stories out of China you might not have heard about.

Life Drains from Little Africa as China Dream Fades for Its Fortune Seekers

Tom Phillips
Guardian
Kalifa Feika swapped Sierra Leone for southern China four years ago, determined to manufacture his fortune in the factory of the world.

Germany’s Daimler Issues ‘Full Apology’ to China over Dalai Lama

BBC
Daimler has issued a second emphatic apology to China after its subsidiary, Mercedes Benz, quoted the Dalai Lama in an Instagram post on Monday.

China Tries to Charm Tech-Savvy Taiwanese Youth as Political Ties Fray

Brenda Goh and Jess Macy Yu
Reuters
A start-up incubator on the outskirts of Shanghai is laying out sweeteners for budding entrepreneurs: Free office space, subsidized housing rent, tax breaks and in some cases, cash of up to 200,000 yuan ($31,211.47).

The Upside for China in the US Stock Market Plunge – from the Chinese Economist Who Tipped a Big Fall

Frank Tang
South China Morning Post
A record points plunge in the US stock market this week could be good news for China’s exporters, according to a Chinese government economist who predicted a big correction in American shares four weeks ago.

China Is Rapidly Closing the US’s Lead in AI Research

Dan Kopf
Quartz
Every year, hundreds of researchers gather at the annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) to hear presentations on the latest developments in AI. Increasingly, that means learning about the work of...

China Smartphone Sales down for First Time since 2009

Louise Lucas and Edward White
Financial Times
Sales of smartphones in China — the world’s biggest market, responsible for roughly one in every three shipments — declined last year for the first time since 2009, slumping 4.9 per cent year on year according to preliminary data from research group...

Chinese Capital Controls Hit Silicon Valley Tech Investors

Leslie Hook
Financial Times
Chinese technology investors in Silicon Valley are being thwarted by the country’s capital controls, in a sign of the unintended consequences of Beijing’s move last year to curb cash outflows.

China Wants to Enter the U.S. Car Market, But a Rough Road Lies Ahead

Russ Mitchell
Los Angeles Times
State-controlled Chinese automaker GAC Motor plans to enter the U.S. car market.

Conversation

02.05.18

Is the Belt and Road Anti-Democratic?

Nadège Rolland, Tim Summers & more
During her visit to Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan January 31-February 2, Prime Minister Theresa May attempted to improve her country’s trade relations with China—an increasingly important partner for the post-Brexit United Kingdom. And yet, May was...

China Considers Legal Gambling on Hainan Island

Keith Zhai and Daniela Wei
Bloomberg
China is drafting a proposal to allow gambling on Hainan Island, people familiar with the talks said, in what would be an unprecedented move that could reshape gaming in China’s territories and transform the economy of a strategic southern province.