Cover Story Archives - The Wire China

Gaining Currency

Rachel Cheung — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Can a central bank digital currency work? China was the first major economy to launch one and, despite several setbacks, is starting to see the digital yuan take off.

The post Gaining Currency appeared first on The Wire China.

China Policy: What Comes Next?

The Wire — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Is it time for the U.S. to temper its policies towards China? Or is the U.S. just hitting its stride? With the election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris just around the corner, we asked more than a dozen experts and policy makers: Where should the next U.S. president go from here?

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WuXi Waylaid

Eliot Chen — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 23:00:00 +0000

When Congress resumes next month, the BioSecure Act will be one of its top priorities. The bill, which could dramatically reorder the global pharmaceutical supply chain, is the latest example of the U.S. trying to exorcize China from its supply chains, and it will have a profound effect on WuXi Apptec, the most important drugmaker American patients have never heard of.

The post WuXi Waylaid appeared first on The Wire China.

The Green Leap

Brent Crane — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 23:00:00 +0000

From solar panels to electric vehicles, China dominates several of the technologies needed for the green energy transition. But can the U.S. find a way to leapfrog China and win the next generation of clean tech?

The post The Green Leap appeared first on The Wire China.

China’s Ozempic Test

Rachel Cheung — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, has enjoyed a China boom in recent years, commanding 77 percent of the market. But that kind of dominance isn’t likely to last, and Novo Nordisk’s challengers in China — both domestic and foreign — represent significant shifts in China’s pharmaceutical scene. Rachel Cheung reports on the tipping scales.

The post China’s Ozempic Test appeared first on The Wire China.

Libel Lawfare

Bethany Allen — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 23:00:00 +0000

In recent years, several large Chinese companies have filed defamation suits against small organizations or individual researchers, leading to a strange reality: Even as the general rhetoric against China has become more hawkish, many in the West have grown increasingly reluctant to publicly criticize China and top Chinese companies.

The post Libel Lawfare appeared first on The Wire China.

The Billionaire Criminal Who Secretly Profited Off Jack Ma’s Deals

Michael Forsythe — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Confidential documents show that Xiao Jianhua, a corrupt investor tied to China’s political elite, backed the country’s most successful and revered entrepreneur.

The post The Billionaire Criminal Who Secretly Profited Off Jack Ma’s Deals appeared first on The Wire China.

Broken Engagement

Bob Davis — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Our series of interviews with top U.S. policy makers of the last 30 years has revealed how and why the American approach towards China has morphed from seeking closer ties to a desire for estrangement.

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A Son of Two Empires

Edward Wong — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 23:00:00 +0000

In his new book, Edward Wong reflects on the nature of the American dream and the Chinese dream — and how he and his father have experienced both.

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Physicist in Exile

Katrina Northrop — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Yangyang Cheng came to the U.S. to study the mysteries of the universe. She ended up staying in order to study the role of science in geopolitics.

The post Physicist in Exile appeared first on The Wire China.

The Case for Deterrence

Matt Pottinger — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Xi Jinping has made his desire to subjugate Taiwan known. The U.S. and its allies should take him at his word and take several urgent steps to convince him that such an action would be a grave miscalculation.

The post The Case for Deterrence appeared first on The Wire China.

Teacher’s Pet

Matthew J. Dagher-Margosian — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 23:00:00 +0000

The story of Beijing's crackdown on the private tutoring industry has been dominated by the spectacular fall of once lucrative companies like New Oriental. But less appreciated is the companies that have prospered in the policy's wake — like iFlytek, the artificial intelligence company. Beijing, it turns out, didn't just ban private tutoring, it replaced it with AI. Matt Dagher-Margosian and Eliot Chen report on the radical reimagining of China's education system.

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The Clash of Constellations

Rachel Cheung — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 23:00:00 +0000

In 2021, Beijing announced Guowang, its answer to SpaceX’s Starlink. But with very few updates about the project — apart from disciplinary inspections — it seems Guowang could be stalling. China’s space industry, however, is still racing ahead thanks to the surprising flood of private sector companies.

The post The Clash of Constellations appeared first on The Wire China.

Access Denied

Brent Crane — Sun, 26 May 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Jen Easterly, the eccentric director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has huge support when it comes to her number one priority: fighting back against Chinese cyber attacks. But to actually solve the China hacking problem, she'll have to figure out how to line up both the private sector and the politicians who are skeptical of CISA.

The post Access Denied appeared first on The Wire China.

The Great EV Glut

Luke Patey — Sun, 19 May 2024 23:00:00 +0000

The new U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made EVs are both unprecedented and largely performative since Chinese EVs haven't yet penetrated the U.S. market. The European Union, by contrast, is facing a more critical and nuanced challenge from the influx of Chinese-made EVS and is currently debating what to do about it. Can the E.U. save its auto industry and still keep its green transition going?

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China Goes Global — Again

Yi Liu — Sun, 12 May 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Chinese companies have decided that the best place to make money right now is outside of China. The phenomenon known as chu hai (出海), which translates to “go global,” has taken hold, marking a kind of second 'go out' initiative. This time, however, Chinese companies are being met with scrutiny and suspicion.

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Mining’s Malaise

Eliot Chen — Sun, 05 May 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Washington’s $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act was seen as a generational opportunity for miners in the U.S. as well as mineral rich trading partners. But almost two years later, the North American mining industry is in crisis and no closer to chipping away at China's dominance. What went wrong?

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The Divine Disruptor

Grady McGregor — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Bob Fu's relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he's been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on.

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The Chip Comeback

Luke Patey — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 23:00:00 +0000

What is so hard about making chips in America? And can the U.S. do anything about it? As part of his series, 'Remaking the Chain,' Luke Patey went searching for answers from America's past and from the last country to threaten its mantle as the world’s leading economy.

The post The Chip Comeback appeared first on The Wire China.

Status Symbol

Rachel Cheung — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 23:00:00 +0000

For much of the past two decades, Europe's luxury market has counted on the ferocious appetite of Chinese consumers to bolster its bottom line. But foreign luxury brands are facing a reckoning in China. Not only is China’s economy entering a more uncertain phase, giving consumers pause, but homegrown designers and labels are also gaining ground. The questions now are which European brands can still rely on China, and how China's domestic designers can capture a share of the pie.

The post Status Symbol appeared first on The Wire China.

The China Whisperer

Katrina Northrop — Sun, 07 Apr 2024 23:00:00 +0000

John Garnaut is one of the men most responsible for the global shift in China policy. As a journalist and then Australian government official, he was early to argue that the West was misunderstanding China's ideological underpinning. Now, with Garnaut Global, a consultancy for financial firms, he has teamed up with U.S. China hawk Matthew Pottinger to guide the private sector's relationship with China. But can Garnaut continue to get China right?

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The Czars Aligned

Brent Crane — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 23:00:00 +0000

When Joe Biden took office, many of his supporters thought the first order of business would be unwinding Donald Trump's trade war with China. But his trade czar, Katherine Tai, has been largely MIA, a stark contrast to her predecessor, the fiery and ubiquitous Robert Lighthizer. So what has Tai been up to?

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Printer Problems

Eduardo Jaramillo — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) wants to be 'China's ASML' and produce the engineering marvels that help 'print' semiconductor chips. But it seems to be woefully behind that mission, imperiling China’s effort to domesticate chipmaking at a critical time. With a vast network of suppliers and all of China rallying for it to succeed, can it finally catch up?

The post Printer Problems appeared first on The Wire China.

Going for Gold

Sean Williams — Sun, 10 Mar 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Thanks to economic turbulence and geopolitics, China is buying up gold like never before — and it's looking to places like Papua New Guinea to supply it. But with aggressive tactics and irresponsible mining practices, China's 'gold rush' diplomacy is alarming locals and sparking concern in the West.

The post Going for Gold appeared first on The Wire China.

The Grand Illusion

Anne Stevenson-Yang — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As the head of the U.S.-China Business Council in Beijing, Anne Stevenson-Yang was one of the first Westerners to advocate for China's inclusion in the global trading system, and she personally benefited from China's opening and courtship of foreign investment. But, as she recounts in her new book, after watching China's reaction to the global financial crisis, she was also one of the first Westerners to call out China's transformational change for being a facade.

The post The Grand Illusion appeared first on The Wire China.

Tone Deaf

Rachel Cheung — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Sixth Tone, a state-owned media outlet, has long been celebrated for carving out a unique space in China to tell stories about ordinary people. But over the past year, Beijing has tightened Sixth Tone's leash, illustrating how fearful censors have grown and marking the end of Xi Jinping's effort to "tell China's story well."

The post Tone Deaf appeared first on The Wire China.

Seoul’s Big Switch

Eliot Chen — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

South Korea dominates the world's production of memory chips, but its semiconductor firms have long depended on Chinese manufacturing. With the U.S. now trying to “decouple” the semiconductor industry from China, South Korea faces a significant challenge to reinvent itself.

The post Seoul’s Big Switch appeared first on The Wire China.

The New Great Game

Dale C. Copeland — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this age of great power struggle, an all-out Cold War, let alone a regional hot war, is not inevitable. And that’s largely because of the unique challenges facing China. Dale Copeland lays out why the issue of peace or war in East Asia is very much in the hands of U.S. policy makers.

The post The New Great Game appeared first on The Wire China.

The DNA Distortion

Katrina Northrop — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

ANDE, a U.S. biotechnology company, promised a "faster way to a safer world" with its revolutionary rapid DNA testing machine. But by selling its innovation to China's police force and public security apparatus, it has instead invited questions about the role of U.S. technologies in China's brutal surveillance state.

The post The DNA Distortion appeared first on The Wire China.

Can Alibaba Deliver?

Eliot Chen — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Eclipsed overseas by younger e-commerce rivals, Alibaba is relying on a little-known part of its business for its comeback. Cainiao, which focuses on the nitty-gritty of getting packages to customers, is the world’s largest cross-border delivery firm, surpassing both DHL and FedEx by freight volume. Now it has filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, and as Eliot Chen reports, it might just help Alibaba to take on Shein and Temu.

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Temu’s Take-off

Rachel Cheung — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Pinduoduo’s meteoric rise has taken other Chinese e-commerce titans by surprise. Now, with Temu, it is coming for the U.S. market. Can it continue to soar?

The post Temu’s Take-off appeared first on The Wire China.

Back on Track?

Bob Davis — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Could a recent flurry of "track-two" activity be a sign that relations between Beijing and Washington are stabilizing? Informal meetings on critical topics like AI arms control and military-to-military communications have picked up recently, and both U.S. officials and the track-two participants say the impact was obvious at November's summit between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. Bob Davis reports.

The post Back on Track? appeared first on The Wire China.

Chairman Mike

Brent Crane — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Rep. Mike Gallagher is both a rising political star and Capitol Hill’s loudest China hawk. As chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, he is also — for better or worse — driving America's China policy.

The post Chairman Mike appeared first on The Wire China.

Washington’s Xinjiang Fix

Eliot Chen — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which is now two years old, is one of the most ambitious pieces of human rights legislation ever passed in the United States. But, by banning the import of goods made in Xinjiang, it is also a signifiant trade law — one that promises to remake supply chains and transform trade between the world’s two largest economies. As the Biden administration ramps up enforcement in the coming year, it will test the UFLPA's effectiveness — or lack thereof.

The post Washington’s Xinjiang Fix appeared first on The Wire China.

The Grand Experiment

Rachel Cheung — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Two decades after the social credit system was conceived, China is hardly any closer to creating an honest society or one where, as the government motto puts it, “the untrustworthy are unable to move a single step.” And yet, ironically, with the system now fizzling out, the post-social credit era might finally deliver what social credit's originators set out to do: improve market regulation and corporate governance.

The post The Grand Experiment appeared first on The Wire China.

Caging the Tech Capitalists

Ya-Wen Lei — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Jack Ma's provocative speech in October 2020 gave China the justification it needed to tame its unruly tech giants. But Beijing was already pretty far along in the process of building the bureaucratic tools it would need to initiate a crackdown — meaning when the order was given, the fallout was swift.

The post Caging the Tech Capitalists appeared first on The Wire China.

The Lost Art

Tom Seymour — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A decade ago, China arrived on the global art scene with deep pockets and an abundance of swagger. Recently, however, China's economic downturn has caused a spate of museums to close and once prominent collectors to sell their collections. Can China ever achieve its dreams of "cultural self-confidence"?

The post The Lost Art appeared first on The Wire China.

Tomorrowland

Luke Patey — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A long line of multinationals are now knocking on India's door. But if there's any chance of them successfully diversifying away from China's highly skilled workforce and well-oiled logistical machine, they'll need to learn from the industries that came before them.

The post Tomorrowland appeared first on The Wire China.

The IP Odyssey

Grady McGregor — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For over a decade, China's film industry has passed around and fought over the IP rights for "The Three-Body Problem" for ever-increasing sums of money — a saga that is nearly as complex and drama-filled as one of Liu Cixin's novels.

The post The IP Odyssey appeared first on The Wire China.

Flying High

James Fallows — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For the past dozen years, America's favorite small plane company, Cirrus Aircraft, has thrived under the quiet ownership of AVIC, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate known for supplying the PLA. But with Cirrus now planning to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange, can it continue to soar?

The post Flying High appeared first on The Wire China.

The Race to Regulate

Rachel Cheung — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Beijing is eager for international collaboration on artificial intelligence, arguing that AI is a Pandora’s Box that poses existential threats to humanity if not properly controlled. But as China races ahead with regulating its own AI industry, can it win support for international governance as well?

The post The Race to Regulate appeared first on The Wire China.

Aging Opportunity

Sean Williams — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Beijing and Western financial giants have a mutual interest: Fixing China's pensions system. But can they figure out how to do it?

The post Aging Opportunity appeared first on The Wire China.

Leveling Up

Lu-Hai Liang — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000

For the past decade, Tencent's mammoth success in the gaming industry has helped propel the company to new heights: It is China's most valuable company by market capitalization. But with Beijing's recent crackdown on gaming affecting the environment at home, and industry trends shifting Tencent's investment strategy abroad, the gaming giant needs a new strategy in order to keep winning.

The post Leveling Up appeared first on The Wire China.

Mao to Now

Perry Link — Sun, 08 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Communist China, once all but impenetrable, opened up only to tighten politically again. Has Xi circled back to the Mao era? And what can we learn from six decades of China writings?

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Out of Bounds

Luke Patey — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 23:00:00 +0000

With its new outbound investment rule, the U.S. is hoping to stop American capital from facilitating China's technological rise. But will the restrictions undermine the global competitiveness of American industry in the process?

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Tricks of the Trade

Robert Lighthizer — Sun, 24 Sep 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative under Donald Trump, reflects on his decision to launch the trade war with China and begin the process of "strategic decoupling" — a process he says the U.S. must see through to the end.

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Italy’s BRI Detour

Eliot Chen — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 23:00:00 +0000

As the Belt and Road Initiative gets ready to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Italy is looking for the off-ramp. Beijing's response, plus Italy's ability to negotiate a new deal for itself, will speak volumes about both China's standing in Europe and what the BRI, once seen as a colossus, has left to offer.

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Software and Tear

Brent Crane — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has a substantial and long-standing footprint in China, succeeding where many of its tech peers did not. But now the company, which is a leading contractor for the U.S. government, has found itself in the middle of China's increased cyber subterfuge. After a string of devastating attacks, many are questioning the company's reliability as well as drawing attention to its cozy relationships in China.

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Steering Capital

Zongyuan Zoe Liu — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 23:00:00 +0000

Several countries have sovereign wealth funds, but none can compare to the China's funds in scale or scope. Collectively, China’s sovereign funds managed more than $2 trillion in assets at the end of 2019. But China’s state-owned capital is filling the cash coffers of Western firms while advancing its national interest, and the West should be paying closer attention.

The post Steering Capital appeared first on The Wire China.

The Science Split?

Eliot Chen — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 23:00:00 +0000

With a landmark, 44-year-old agreement set to expire at the end of this month, the U.S. is facing one of its biggest China tests: Can the two countries overcome their respective techno-nationalisms and cooperate on the most basic science?

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