📊 Chart of the Week: China and Europe used to be neck and neck in global car production. But as China surged ahead, Europe's share has collapsed. Why Europe's relationship with China has reached a tipping point: buff.ly/r241neR
The Wire China
@thewirechina.bsky.social
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90 percent of fast fashion giant Shein's revenue is from products shipped from China — which it primarily sells to the U.S. and Europe. But access to both those markets is at risk due to tariffs. Get the big picture on Shein's inner workings as it prepares to go public:
Unboxing Shein’s Hong Kong IPO - The Wire China
The online fashion retailer’s slowing growth and narrowing margins could dent its hopes of a big stock market listing.
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🎧 Nvidia has over 100 partners in China. Some of these firms, according to a Wire China investigation, have close ties to China's military. What does this mean for the future of U.S. chip restrictions? Dive deep in our latest episode: buff.ly/zprSrY3
The Wire China Podcast
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"When [China] began its turn toward the environment some 20 years ago it did not move first through law." Brent Crane interviews @greenlawchina.bsky.social ( @law.ucla.edu) on whether China's experience represents ‘good environmental authoritarianism’: buff.ly/zzfbNwR
This week's cover story: How did Xi Jinping seize personal control of China’s foreign policy apparatus? Read the excerpt from a forthcoming book by Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung:
From “Hide and Bide” to “Loud and Proud” - The Wire China
In an excerpt from their new book 'China's Global Strategy under Xi Jinping', Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung examine how Xi seized personal control of China’s foreign policy apparatuses.
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Washington's restrictions on dronemaker DJI opened a window for its rival, Insta360, to snap up American consumers. Now both companies are taking their conflict to court. Peiyue Wu reports on the legal battle between two Chinese tech companies:
DJI Gets into a Fight in the U.S. — With Another Chinese Dronemaker - The Wire China
As U.S. restrictions complicate DJI’s expansion beyond drones, its camera rival Insta360 has gained an unexpected advantage.
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🎧 Nvidia has over 100 partners in China. Some of these firms, according to a Wire China investigation, have close ties to China's military. What does this mean for the future of U.S. chip restrictions? Dive deep in our latest episode: pod.link/1873741567
The Wire China Podcast
Listen to The Wire China Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
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My Op-Ed for @thewirechina.bsky.social: " #China’s #Tech Stocks Are Falling Despite Their Own Breakthroughs". A trio of apparent ‘good news’ stories for the Chinese tech industry have had the opposite effect on investor sentiment. www.thewirechina.com/2026/07/30/c...
China's Tech Stocks Are Falling Despite Their Own Breakthroughs - The Wire China
A trio of apparent ‘good news’ stories for the Chinese tech industry have had the opposite effect on investor sentiment.
thewirechina.com
China's military-civil fusion policy has made it difficult to identify how universities and companies that serve both commercial and defense interests plan to use a given product. Nvidia's network of China partners illustrates the challenge. The Wire China investigates:
Nvidia’s China Partners and the PLA - The Wire China
Around a fifth of the Chinese companies that Nvidia lists as partners have also won bids to supply China’s defense industry, including the People’s Liberation Army itself, according to procurement…
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📊 Chart of the week: Even though Chinese solar firms are reducing their shares in U.S.-held factories, making way for made-in-America solar, knocking China from the position it earned through decades of investment in solar won’t be easy. Read the story: buff.ly/MiLYeN3
"I eventually started referring to my experience as being one with the “other China”: a world that is irrepressible, vocal, creative, and despite everything, somewhat upbeat, always optimistic." Brent Crane interviews noted sinologist Geremie Barmé on his lifetime studying China: buff.ly/oVbn6ig
Op-Ed: "For most of the past decade, the incentives facing Chinese AI companies and Beijing have reinforced one another. As Chinese labs approach the frontier, that alignment has begun to break down." Ruby Scanlon writes this week in The Wire China:
Can China Keep Its AI Open? - The Wire China
An emphasis on open-weight AI models has suited both China’s AI industry and Beijing to date, but limits may now be necessary.
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Fashion retailer Shein, which conquered western markets with its ultra-cheap clothing shipped from Chinese warehouses, was approved to go public in Hong Kong. But is the company past its prime? The Wire China digs in to the big numbers revealed in Shein's prospectus:
Unboxing Shein’s Hong Kong IPO - The Wire China
The online fashion retailer’s slowing growth and narrowing margins could dent its hopes of a big stock market listing.
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This week's cover story: Around a fifth of the Chinese companies that Nvidia lists as partners have also won bids to supply China’s defense industry, including the People’s Liberation Army itself, according to procurement records. Read more: buff.ly/IiUIrbF
CXMT, the most valuable Chinese chipmaker, just went public. It's benefitting from a global chip shortage: operating revenue grew by over 700 percent in the first quarter of this year. Get the big picture on CXMT's network:
Company in the News: CXMT - The Wire China
China’s homegrown chip champion CXMT goes public this week in the face of a global chip shortage.
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Op-Ed: "For years, Americans told ourselves a comforting story about China: We invent, they copy us. That story is badly out of date." Anja Manuel (Aspen Strategy Group) discusses how the U.S. should update its approach to China's tech industry for The Wire China:
China’s New Technology Trap - The Wire China
The U.S.’s main rival is not only moving ahead in several advanced industries, it is taking steps to keep more of its tech at home.
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🎧 The Chinese consumer story seems to have two sides: while consumption stagnates, brands like Pop Mart and Anta Group are conquering global markets. What's really going on? @andypeaps.bsky.social speaks with market expert Sandrine Zerbib from Asia Society France: pod.link/1873741567
The Wire China Podcast
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Op-Ed: While Beijing seeks to reduce the salience of treaty alliances and liberal ideology, it does not want to shoulder the responsibilities of being a global power. Ali Wyne and @jessicacweiss.bsky.social explore how the U.S. and China are leaving a gap in global leadership:
The United States and China Are Leaving a Dangerous Vacuum in Global Leadership - The Wire China
The reluctance of the world’s two foremost powers to uphold the international order risks a repetition of past traumas.
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"The Party doesn’t have to do anything. Somebody is actually doing their job, writing those stories, trying to popularize them, and connecting the Party to the people..." Savannah Billman interviews Rongbin Han ( @ugaintl.bsky.social ) on the authors rewriting China's history: buff.ly/pojlTb2
Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, and a host of other leading AI firms can trace their roots back to one university. Get the Big Picture on how Tsinghua University's classroom-to-startup pipeline created a generation of AI talent:
Tsinghua’s Central Role in China’s AI Revolution - The Wire China
Tsinghua University, the institution behind Zhipu AI and a host of other startups, is one of the main engines fueling China’s AI talent boom.
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A wave of Chinese brain computer interface startups has emerged thanks to government-led support. Can they challenge Elon Musk’s Neuralink? @rachelcheung.bsky.social reports on the Chinese companies catching up for this week’s issue of The Wire China:
China Applies its Industrial Playbook to Brain Chips - The Wire China
A wave of Chinese brain computer interface startups has emerged thanks to government-led support. Can they challenge Elon Musk’s Neuralink?
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This week’s cover story: the U.S. is now importing more from Taiwan than it does from China. Is this a new phase in U.S.-Taiwan relations? @heguisen.bsky.social analyzes the return of Taiwan's “tiger” economy:
The Return of the Taiwan Tiger - The Wire China
Taiwan’s “tiger” economy is back and burning bright. Driven by U.S. demand for Taiwan tech products, the island’s economy grew almost 15 percent in the first quarter of this year and it now exports…
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Who is Moonshot AI, the company whose models are challenging the dominance of the world's AI giants? Revisit our profile of the company and its founder: www.thewirechina.com/2025/09/28/w...
Who Is Moonshot AI? - The Wire China
Moonshot AI — the Chinese tech company behind the popular chatbot Kimi — has some surprising links to 1970s rock music.
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"These [trade] confrontations are not going to be quashed by an institution. They’re going to continue to be managed through both sides using offensive weapons." Read the rest of our Q&A with @bennsteil.bsky.social (@cfr.org) on how the U.S. and China are reshaping world trade: buff.ly/BB9RroJ
📊 Chart of the Week: Reusable rockets, pioneered by SpaceX, give the U.S. a huge lead on the world's rocket launch leaderboard. China wants in — and last week successfully recovered a reusable rocket booster for the first time. Read more: buff.ly/wwhxp9g
China's dominance in industries once led by the west is nothing new. Why is Europe just now facing up to its China shock? Step back and get the big picture on what is driving the sea change in EU-China relations this week:
Why Europe is Facing Up to the China Shock Now - The Wire China
Europe's relationship with China has reached a tipping point as economic and political pressures grow.
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While the U.S. has been badly served by policy inconsistency on clean tech, Xiaomi attempts to take on Apple and Tesla. Joshua Busby, former senior climate advisor to the U.S. Department of Defense, evaluates China's EV industry from the Xiaomi factory floor.
America’s EV Reckoning - The Wire China
Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy sealed China off from the outside world for almost three years. Joshua Busby, a Biden-era climate advisor to the Pentagon and professor at the University of Texas at…
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This week’s cover story: With a home-field advantage, can U.S. firms compete against Chinese solar? Savannah Billman analyzes whether the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce China's presence in domestic manufacturing will result in the solar supply chain moving to the U.S.:
The Sun Sets for Chinese Solar in the U.S. - The Wire China
Major Chinese solar companies are in a rush to reverse big investments as American firms look to build homegrown supply chains.
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New essay in @thewirechina.bsky.social by our 3rd cohort fellow Josh Busby 👇
Josh Busby@busbyj2.bsky.social · 3w agoI've got a new essay for The Wire China on the electric vehicles Xiaomi is making from a recent tour of their EV factory in Beijing. American automakers should be afraid. www.thewirechina.com/2026/07/12/a...
Op-Ed: The second part of the finance section of China's 15th Five-Year-Plan betrays a defensive, anxious leadership deeply worried about financial failure. Ann Listerud writes for this week’s issue of The Wire China:
China’s Planners Are Preparing for a Major Financial Crash - The Wire China
The country’s latest five-year plan includes measures to build up bailout funds in case of a financial crash, but it is unclear where the funding will come from.
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