China Bureau Chief @WSJ. Formerly of Seoul, New York and Hong Kong bureaus. jonathan.cheng@wsj.com
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Oct 27 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Biden administration official Melanie Hart: “I exited my time in government feeling like transatlantic cooperation on China was the big missing piece. We did our absolute best in every way to pull Europe along and find ways to collaborate on China.” thewirechina.com/2025/10/26/mel…
Hart: “I was deeply disappointed in Europe’s ability to follow through on actual solutions…Europe insists on bringing a butter knife to a gunfight again and again, and it was frustrating to not be able to move beyond that.” thewirechina.com/2025/10/26/mel…
Oct 24 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
Most-Wanted Fentanyl Producer Is Extradited to the U.S. After Brazen Escape—Zhi Dong Zhang, one of the Justice Department’s most-wanted , fled house arrest in Mexico. He was in Cuban custody.
@PerezEnMexico @Jose_deCordoba wsj.com/world/americas… wsj.com/world/americas…
@PerezEnMexico @Jose_deCordoba MEXICO CITY—The accused Chinese drug boss was this close to the perfect getaway. In July, Zhi Dong Zhang escaped from house arrest in Mexico, where he was set to be extradited to the U.S. on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges. wsj.com/world/americas…
Oct 19 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
.@KaiserKuo: “We have witnessed not merely the rise of another great power, but a fundamental challenge to assumptions long embedded in Western thought—about development, political systems, and civilizational achievement itself.” sinicapodcast.com/p/the-great-re…
@KaiserKuo Kuo: “China is now shaping the trajectory of development, setting the pace…For Americans especially, the deeper psychic shock lies in the recognition that modernity is no longer something they authored and others merely inherit.” sinicapodcast.com/p/the-great-re…
Sep 15 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
China’s Economy Shows Signs of Summer Slowdown—Broad slowdown hits world’s second-largest economy as trade uncertainties loom, property sector weakens
@hannahmiao_ @ByXiaoXiao @TByGraceZhu wsj.com/economy/chinas… wsj.com/economy/chinas…
@hannahmiao_ @ByXiaoXiao @TByGraceZhu Signs of weakness in China’s economy stretched into August, adding pressure on Beijing to step up efforts to stimulate near-term growth. wsj.com/economy/chinas…
Sep 5 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
How China’s New Naval and Air Sites Would Aid an Attack on Taiwan—Satellite images show major infrastructure expansion, including on the Taiwan Strait
@NiharikaSM wsj.com/world/china/ch… wsj.com/world/china/ch…
@NiharikaSM China is undertaking a large-scale build-out of infrastructure along its east coast, including air and naval sites that show its growing readiness for a potential conflict over Taiwan. wsj.com/world/china/ch…
Sep 1 • 61 tweets • 21 min read
China Ups Surveillance of Troubled People to Quell Rising Unrest—Communist Party’s new ‘society work’ agency helps with emotional and economic setbacks while monitoring dissatisfied people
@ByChunHan @shenlulushen wsj.com/world/china/ch… wsj.com/world/china/ch…
@ByChunHan @shenlulushen A 68-year-old man in China’s Zhejiang province barged into a local government office last year and declared he couldn’t go on living. His neighbors were bullying him, he claimed, and he threatened to take revenge. wsj.com/world/china/ch…
Jul 23 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
“Navigating the President’s Policy Whiplash on China—Is it a trade war or a big deal? Six months into his second term, President Trump’s China policy seems to be a bit of both—and neither.”
@Lingling_Wei wsjchina.cmail20.com/t/d-e-suhslt-d…
@Lingling_Wei You could feel that sense of strategic whiplash everywhere at last week’s Aspen Security Forum. A main question many asked wasn't just what the White House would do next on China, but whether it had a coherent plan at all. wsjchina.cmail20.com/t/d-e-suhslt-d…
Jun 24 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
How the Trauma of the One-Child Policy Lingers in China—Beijing tends to brush off the impact of its policies, be it its Covid restrictions or the Great Leap Forward, urging citizens to look ahead. But the one-child policy is hard to shake off.
@QiLiyan wsjchina.cmail20.com/t/d-e-skdlhly-…
@QiLiyan “For one thing, it accelerated the demographic bind China faces of now–dropping birthrates and a rapidly aging population. The policies to control the population have given way to new ones to strongly encourage births.” wsjchina.cmail20.com/t/d-e-skdlhly-…
Jun 13 • 19 tweets • 7 min read
Chinese AI Companies Dodge U.S. Chip Curbs by Flying Suitcases of Hard Drives Abroad—Engineers carry data to countries where Nvidia chips are available, frustrating Washington’s aims
@raffaelehuang @lizalinwsj wsj.com/tech/china-ai-… wsj.com/tech/china-ai-…
@raffaelehuang @lizalinwsj KUALA LUMPUR—In March, four Chinese engineers flew to Malaysia from Beijing, each carrying a suitcase packed with 15 hard drives. The drives contained 80 terabytes of spreadsheets, images and video clips for training an artificial-intelligence model. wsj.com/tech/china-ai-…
Jun 6 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
“Although Xi has clearly consolidated his authority as China’s paramount leader, he now appears to be delegating key aspects of governance—particularly in economic policymaking—to his deputy, Premier Li Qiang.”
@neilthomas123 @ChinaFile chinafile.com/reporting-opin…
@neilthomas123 @ChinaFile “Xi seems to be transitioning from hands-on control to a more oracular leadership style: preserving ultimate decision-making authority while entrusting more day-to-day policymaking to the loyalists.” chinafile.com/reporting-opin…
May 6 • 27 tweets • 10 min read
How Images of the Dalai Lama Landed a Tibetan Woman in China’s Dragnet—Rare account of woman who escaped Tibet sheds new light on China’s policies aimed at bringing the region to heel
@triptilahiri @austinramzy @pokharelkrishna wsj.com/world/china/da… wsj.com/world/china/da…
@triptilahiri @austinramzy @pokharelkrishna DHARAMSHALA, India—Nam Kyi, a young Tibetan activist, had been out of prison for only a few years when she was picked up by Chinese police in 2022. wsj.com/world/china/da…
May 1 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Beijing Doesn’t Want America to See Its Trade-War Pain—Plunging trade has already led to job cuts; ‘it is very painful’
@Lingling_Wei @raffaelehuang wsj.com/world/china/be… wsj.com/world/china/be…
China has signaled that as a nation it is better able to tolerate the pain of a prolonged tariff war than the U.S. But cracks are starting to show, suggesting how deeply that pain is already setting in across its economy. wsj.com/world/china/be…
Apr 28 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
China, Philippines Make Rival Claims in Disputed South China Sea—Both countries plant flags on a collection of sand bars, heightening a standoff between Beijing and Manila, a U.S. ally
@gksteinhauser @austinramzy wsj.com/world/asia/chi… wsj.com/world/asia/chi…
@gksteinhauser @austinramzy China and the Philippines have staked rival claims to a spit of land in the South China Sea, moves that could further inflame tensions in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. wsj.com/world/asia/chi…
Apr 22 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The Atlantic: “‘You Think We’re Afraid of America?’ Chinese manufacturers seem ready for a trade war.”
@Changxche theatlantic.com/international/…
“When I approached a group of idle factory men, their replies were bellicose: ‘Hold strong!’…‘You think we’re afraid of America?’ barked another. Later, one man offered a steadier assessment: ‘The truth is, it will have an impact, but we will be fine.’” theatlantic.com/international/…
Apr 19 • 24 tweets • 9 min read
Man Versus Machine as China Shows Off Humanoid Robots: A half-marathon in Beijing featured a road race between human runners and 21 robot models—and showed how far robots still are from mimicking people.
@Kubota_Yoko @raffaelehuang wsj.com/tech/man-versu… wsj.com/tech/man-versu…
Metal met asphalt in a half-marathon that featured thousands of human runners—and 21 Chinese humanoid robot models. Saturday’s road race involving human and robot runners in Beijing has been billed as a showcase of China’s cutting-edge technology. wsj.com/tech/man-versu…
Apr 15 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
“Economic weakness, however, isn’t deterring Xi from hardening his position toward the U.S. That’s because Xi adamantly believes that ‘the East [meaning China] is rising, and the West [meaning the U.S.] is in decline.’”
@Lingling_Wei wsjchina.cmail19.com/t/d-e-sdjujdt-…
@Lingling_Wei “So as long as China manages to outshine the U.S. in sectors the top leader considers as key to the great-power competition, the overall economic weakness is both tolerable and manageable.” wsjchina.cmail19.com/t/d-e-sdjujdt-…
Mar 1 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
The Chinese EV Maker Threatening Ford and GM—Lei Jun set out to build the ‘Apple of China.’ Xiaomi’s car business is now outpacing Tesla and Rivian.
@yoyominnie wsj.com/business/autos… wsj.com/business/autos…
@yoyominnie Four years ago, Xiaomi was a successful smartphone business with a car business consisting of nothing more than a plan approved by the board and a vow to make it work. This year, the company’s assembly lines are set to turn out 300,000 vehicles. wsj.com/business/autos…
Jan 30 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
DeepSeek Scrambles U.S.-China Tech War—The U.S. tried to slow China’s tech advances, but DeepSeek showed how hard that is
@lizalinwsj @joshchin @stuwoo @hwclarence wsj.com/tech/deepseek-… wsj.com/tech/deepseek-…
@lizalinwsj @joshchin @stuwoo @hwclarence The unexpected success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has revealed cracks in U.S. efforts to contain China’s technology ambitions, challenging both Washington and Silicon Valley to rethink how best to preserve American supremacy. wsj.com/tech/deepseek-…
Jan 28 • 18 tweets • 7 min read
DeepSeek Chief’s Journey From Math Geek to Global Disruptor—The Chinese engineer built the AI company after founding a successful hedge-fund
@GZuckerman @raffaelehuang wsj.com/tech/ai/liang-… wsj.com/tech/ai/liang-…
@GZuckerman @raffaelehuang Some call him China’s Sam Altman. Others compare him to Jim Simons, the pioneer of quantitative investing. Liang Wenfeng shares a lot with both innovators, and his impact might end up being as great. wsj.com/tech/ai/liang-…
Jan 19 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
Xi Tells Officials Scared of Being Purged: It’s OK to Make Mistakes—With the economy on the line and many bureaucrats too cowed to act, party enforcers vow to be lenient (when appropriate)
@ByChunHan wsj.com/world/china/ch… wsj.com/world/china/ch…
@ByChunHan Xi Jinping is intensifying a war on corruption that has purged officials in record numbers—with the side effect of leaving many unwilling to act for fear of punishment. wsj.com/world/china/ch…
Jan 15 • 29 tweets • 10 min read
China Reins In Its Once-Freewheeling Finance Sector With Purges and Pay Cuts—Xi’s campaign against capitalist excess ushers out internationally experienced financiers for a new generation of loyalists
@RebeccaYFeng @ByChunHan wsj.com/world/china/ch… wsj.com/world/china/ch…
@RebeccaYFeng @ByChunHan For decades, China sought to learn from Western finance. Now it’s purging many of its internationally experienced financiers while ushering in a new generation of functionaries willing to carry out Communist Party edicts and disavow capitalist excess. wsj.com/world/china/ch…
