The Next DeepSeek?

Plus, the HK company causing Panama's China problem.

Good evening. DeepSeek, tariffs, the Panama Canal — we’ve got something for everyone this week. For starters, our cover story is a ‘who’s who’ in China’s AI industry; in other words, the folks beyond just Liang Wenfeng and Kai-Fu Lee who you ought to know and pay attention to. We also have an op-ed from a pair of RAND researchers on why you shouldn’t be fooled by China’s recent AI advances:?computing power, they argue,?remains key to long-term strategic advantages.

On the tariff back-and-forth, we have an op-ed from Deborah Elms, of the Hinrich Foundation, arguing that a seemingly bland document published on the first day of the new Trump administration deserves a closer look. And, ICYMI, we have Eliot Chen’s cover story from last week on Canada’s long-simmering China problem and why the spate of foreign influence scandals in the country are critical backstory to the ongoing trade tensions and politicking.

On the Panama Canal, which Secretary of State Rubio visited last Sunday, our Big Picture looks closely at the history, ownership and operations of CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong company whose subsidiary operates ports on either end of the canal. We also have a Q&A with Patrick Jenevein on China’s energy industry and his experience tangling with a state-owned giant.

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Who’s Who: China’s AI Industry

In this week’s cover story,?Noah Berman?has profiled more than 50 of the leading figures in China’s AI sector — those responsible for the ideas, funding and regulation driving its growth and creating the ecosystem from which DeepSeek and other top companies are emerging.

The Canada Con

Canada’s year-long public inquiry into foreign interference — to include?election meddling by China?— came to a close recently and laid bare what conservatives in the U.S. have been saying for years: Canada isn’t taking its national security seriously. Eliot Chen reports on?Canada’s long-simmering China problem?and how the recent spate of scandals?could change the country’s relationship with President Donald Trump.?

The Big Picture: The Hong Kong Company at the Center of Panama’s China Problem

Does China control the Panama Canal? To answer that question, you need to take a closer look at CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong company that operates ports on either side of the canal. This week’s Big Picture looks at the company’s background, assets and leadership to assess the extent to which it could and does represent the CCP’s interests.

A Q&A with Patrick Jenevein

Patrick Jenevein is a businessman from Texas whose long experience working in the energy sector in China forms the backdrop to his new book,?Dancing with the Dragon.?In it, he recounts how his company, Tang Energy, started investing in the gas industry in Xinjiang 30 years ago, before moving on to larger projects, particularly in the wind-power industry. That experience, which led Jenevein and his company into a long-running battle with a major state-owned defense company, forms the core of the book. In this week’s interview with Andrew Peaple, he talks about his long history of investing and operating in China’s energy industry and what it’s like to be caught between the U.S. and Chinese systems.

DeepSeek’s Lesson: America Needs Smarter Export Controls

With the arrival of DeepSeek’s low cost, chip-efficient AI model, some have argued that U.S. efforts to deny China its most advanced semiconductors have been a failure. But in an op-ed,?Ashley Lin and Lennart Heim of RAND argue?that far from proving Washington has taken the wrong approach, the rise of?DeepSeek?instead demonstrates that the U.S. needs to get smarter about its export controls to avoid squandering the country’s current advantage in AI.?

The Shock and Awe Hidden in Trump’s First Trade Memo

A seemingly bland document published on the first day of the new administration reveals the extent of the president’s desire to reshape global trade. As Deborah Elms of the Hinrich Foundation?argues in this op-ed, “The memo provides the clearest indication of a coordinated game plan that is very likely to fundamentally reshape U.S. trade practices in the months and years ahead.”

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