Wall Street Journal (July 23)
“In AI software, China is giving the U.S. an unexpected run for its money. Last week, Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI unveiled a new model, Kimi K3, that closely trails the performance of top models from American AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic. Xi delivered a speech positioning China as the global champion of open, accessible AI. Shares in U.S. chip makers fell.”
Tags: Accessible, AI, Anthropic, Beijing, China, Global champion, Kimi K3, Moonshot AI, Open, OpenAI, Performance, Shares, Startup, Top models, U.S., Unexpected, Xi
McKinsey (June 30)
“As its 250th birthday approaches, the United States holds its place as the world’s most competitive economy. But safeguarding this economic edge means continuing to evolve.” The U.S. had, for example, been “the world’s leading manufacturer just before the 20th century and held the top position for decades. In the past 25 years, however, mainland China’s share has grown exponentially.”
Tags: 20th century, 250th birthday, China, Competitive, Economic edge, Economy, Evolve, Exponentially, Manufacturer, Safeguarding, Top position, U.S., World’s leading
The Guardian (June 26)
“Xi Jinping has hosted more than a dozen leaders this year, as ‘middle powers’ look beyond the US. China’s leader wants to promote his alternative to the current world order, and his efforts are being assisted by a capricious US.”
Tags: Alternative, Assisted, Capricious, China, Dozen leaders, Efforts, Hosted, Middle powers, U.S., World order, Xi
South China Morning Post (June 21)
“China’s rapid transition to electric vehicles (EVs) has been widely hailed as an economic success story. But it is also creating a serious headache for the country’s local governments, which are tasked with maintaining one of the world’s largest road networks.” EVs accounted for fully 60% of last month’s new car sales, but the EV boom “is creating a growing fiscal black hole, as heavier electric cars send roadwork costs spiralling while simultaneously undercutting the tax revenues used to fund repairs.”
Tags: $60, China, Economic success story, EVs, Fiscal black hole, Fund, Governments, Headache, Heavier, Maintaining, New car sales, Rapid transition, Repairs, Road networks, Roadwork costs, Spiralling, Tax revenues, Undercut
Wall Street Journal (June 10)
“A sharp fall in China’s crude oil imports during the Iran war has been instrumental in holding down oil prices and keeping the global economy humming.” China has essentially been “propping up the world economy” by reducing its oil imports by roughly three million barrels a day, “but analysts aren’t sure how long it can keep going.”
Tags: 3 MM bbl, China, Crude oil, Fall, Global economy, Imports, Instrumental, Iran war, Prices, Propping up, Reducing
Seoul Economic Daily (June 1)
“Chinese imported cars overtook Japanese vehicles in Korea’s import market for the first time in April…. The result is striking, considering that all Chinese imports came from a single brand, BYD.” The “Red Tech threat” extends beyond EVs and looks poised “to engulf the AI and advanced manufacturing ecosystem. Before it is too late, the public and private sectors must mobilize all their capabilities to drive structural reform of mainstay industries such as steel and petrochemicals, where competitiveness is weakening, and to nurture new industries. If we fail to confront the reality of the crisis and respond complacently, we will surrender not only future growth engines but also industrial leadership itself.”
Tags: Advanced manufacturing, AI, BYD, China, Competitiveness, Confront, Crisis, EVs, Future, Growth engines, Industrial leadership, Japan, Korea, Mainstay industries, Mobilize, Petrochemicals, Red Tech threat, Steel, Structural reform, Surrender
New York Times (May 31)
China’s biotechnology sector passed a milestone. This year’s prestigious meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) features “a presentation of a clinical trial conducted only in China.” Typically, the headliners have “featured drug trials that were run mainly at American and European hospitals.” This milestone “reflects the dizzying growth of China’s biotechnology sector. In just a few years, it has transformed from a sleepy industry into a juggernaut rapidly inventing and testing cutting-edge medicines.”
Tags: ASCO, Biotechnology, China, Clinical trial, Cutting-edge medicines, Drug trials, Europe, Growth, Headliners, Inventing, Juggernaut, Milestone, Oncology, Prestigious, Testing, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 16)
By one measure, President Trump’s Beijing summit “was a success. It didn’t achieve much, but it also didn’t appear to give away anything notable.” The caveat is that “we can’t be sure based on the few details leaking out from the parties,” some of which sound incredible. “Mr. Trump boasted about ‘fantastic’ Chinese purchases to come of U.S. soybeans and aircraft. But China didn’t confirm the sales, and by our count this is the second time China has bought the same American soybeans. Or is it the third?” In addition, Mr. Trump “also didn’t appear to bend to Mr. Xi’s threats on Taiwan, at least not so far.” If, however, Trump gives into China and “stops arming Taiwan, Mr. Xi will have won the veto over U.S. sales that the Chinese leader has long sought. It will send a message of weakness to our allies in the region.” Details like this, should they out, would make it a misnomer to call this “The Good-News-Is-No-News Summit.”
Tags: Aircraft, Allies, Arming, Beijing summit, Caveat. Leaking. Incredible. Fantastic, China, Misnomer, Purchases, Sales, Soybeans, Success, Taiwan, Threats, Trump, U.S., Veto, Weakness, Xi
South China Morning Post (May 15)
“For years, global businesses have been struggling to navigate rising trade tensions between the United States and China. Now, they are bracing for a daunting new level of complication: an intensifying legal arms race between the two powers” who are “racing to erect rival – and often conflicting – legal and regulatory regimes” and “gain strategic leverage in their ongoing stand-off over a host of trade, technology and security issues.”
Tags: China, Global businesses, Intensifying, Legal arms race, Navigate, Regulatory regimes, Rival, Stand-off, Strategic leverage, Struggling, Technology, Trade tensions, U.S.
New York Times (May 15)
The summit displays “the new equilibrium between the two adversaries. Mr. Xi arrived highly scripted, leaving no doubt that for all of China’s problems — deflation, depopulation, the bursting of the real estate bubble — the moment when China acts as a peer superpower had arrived.”
Tags: Adversaries, China, Deflation, Depopulation, Doubt, New equilibrium, Problems, Real estate bubble, Scripted, Summit, Superpower, Xi
