The Wire China

On Friday, President Trump hosted the first-ever #cryptocurrency summit at the White House, capping off a remarkable?month?of crypto-friendly policy changes and SEC reversals. One of the most significant changes concerns Justin Sun, a Chinese national whom the SEC charged in 2023 with violating securities laws. Last year, Sun reportedly?bought?$75 million worth of #crypto tokens backed by the Trump family, and at the end of last month, the SEC requested a pause in the case against Sun as both sides “consider a potential resolution.” Our cover story this week is actually a re-release,?a profile of Justin Sun?that Eli Binder and Katrina Northrop wrote four years ago. We are featuring it again because much of their findings are even more interesting now, and it remains one of the best in-depth looks at Sun’s origins, business connections in China and the odd overlaps between Sun and Trump’s base. As Binder and Northrop predicted, Sun’s?“flashy personality and penchant for hyperbolic marketing are, in a way, Trumpian.” Elsewhere we have #infographics from Noah Berman on?China’s waning #oil thirst; Brent Crane's?interview with Hal Brands?on the axis of autocracies; a reported piece from Eliot Chen on?Xi Jinping’s use of #agritech; and an op-ed from Philippe Le Corre about whether #China is?making gains in #Europe. Bonus: We are also re-releasing a piece about i-Soon,?an “ostensibly private” Chinese company.?On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice?unveiled charges?against ten employees of i-Soon that it said were implicated in a hacker-for-hire campaign orchestrated by Chinese government ministries. Almost exactly a year ago,?Eliot Chen wrote about?the company’s state ties and investors, which include a top Chinese #cybersecurity firm. Last month, that company’s billionaire chairman?sat in the front row?at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other private sector leaders. In other words, i-Soon is worth a second look since it demonstrate the fusion of public and private interests in China — and how they can be increasingly difficult to disentangle.

We are excited to announce the publication of our first ebook:?'Broken Engagement: Interviews with those who have made — and remade — the U.S.’s policy towards China',?written by longtime contributor and former senior editor at?The Wall Street Journal, Bob Davis. The book, which you can purchase and download?on Kindle, gathers?together the?interviews Davis has done for?The Wire China?with leading American policy makers who have shaped the U.S.’s approach towards China over the last four decades. Those interviewed served under presidents from George H. W. Bush to Joe Biden, and include the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Robert Lighthizer, Charlene Barshefsky, Matt Pottinger, Robert Rubin, Ash Carter and Robert Gates.

"The CCP isn’t waiting for U.S. states to get their act together," writes Kit Conklin in this week's op-ed. "Every day, Beijing is finding new ways to infiltrate American industries, institutions, and supply chains."

"Granted, China is a vital trading partner to the EU… However, the way the EU manages that bilateral relationship will be a determining factor of the bloc’s future economic prosperity."

"As demand growth slows on a global basis, in no small part driven by tapering demand growth out of China, that means you’re not going to need U.S. production to continue increasing." — Matt S., lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler

In this week’s #infographics, Noah Berman charts what has happened to China’s #oil imports and the implications for global markets if its demand is now leveling off.

"...just listening to what Chinese leaders say, it’s harder and harder to deny that China seeks a world in which power balances have changed and in which China has an increasing ability to write the rules of the road in the 21st-century..."

Hal Brands is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). In this Q&A with Brent Crane, Brands talks about his latest book, and why Eurasia is key to global security.

The prominent position of top #agricultural entrepreneurs at the Chinese leader’s meeting with private sector bosses illustrates how much of a priority the sector has become. Eliot Chen reports.

"How do you keep ten thousand pigs in the same place and healthy and well, fed with good feed? In 2012, China’s firms did not know how to do that. In 2025, Chinese pig farming is the best in the world at scale." — Even Pay, a director at Trivium China specializing in agriculture.