| Type | Weekly online news magazine |
|---|---|
| Founder | David Barboza |
| Editor | Tom Mitchell, Andrew Peaple |
| Staff writers | Eliot Chen, Rachel Cheung, Noah Berman, Savannah Billman |
| Founded | 2020 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | New York |
| Country | United States |
| Website | www |
The Wire China is a weekly online news magazine focused on Chinese business, economics and finance, founded by formerThe New York Times Shanghai correspondentDavid Barboza.[1]
The Wire China launched its first issue in April 2020.[2] It publishes five to six articles per week including a 3,000-5,000 word cover story, a news and analysis piece, a data investigation called 'The Big Picture', Q&A, and an Opinion section. The magazine also publishes a regular books column and the occasional long essay.[3] In 2020 it published cover stories investigating the accounting scandal ofLuckin Coffee,[3] whistleblowers atGlaxoSmithKline China's operations,[4] and Chinese aerospace companyAviation Industry Corporation of China's acquisition of American companies during the GFC.[5]
Content is behind a paywall, with monthly and annual subscriptions available.[1]
According to its website,The Wire China's news coverage focuses on:
China largely from beyond its borders, so we are focused on looking at the country from a global perspective. How do China based businesses invest and operate outside of the country? How do multinationals operate inside China? Who are China's leading entrepreneurs and startups, and how have they succeeded or failed? How do cross border deals work? How do Americans, Europeans and others invest in China, and how do Chinese businesses invest overseas? When it comes to business, what happens at the intersection of China and the rest of the world? And is there a way to put today's dynamics in perspective with a historical piece, looking back at the origins of a conflict, or development?[1]
In 2020, when the Chinese government moved to take over billionaire Xiao Jianhua's assets,The Wire China first reported thatXiao Jianhua's Tomorrow Group put out a statement that was later censored.[6] In the statement, the Tomorrow Group questioned the takeover decisions of theChina Securities Regulatory Commission and theChina Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as well as the Chinese government's risk assessment.[7]
In September 2020,The Wire China interviewedSteve Bannon on his relationship with Chinese fugitiveMiles Kwok.[8][9][10]
Orville Schell, theArthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at theAsia Society in New York wrote a long essay for the website titled "The Death of Engagement" which was praised byThe New York Times opinion columnistThomas Friedman.[11][12]
Its coverage on the practice of Chinese billionaires using trusts to hide their money in South Dakota was cited in a Hudson Institute report on kleptocracy and foreign corruption.[13]
The publication has published several pieces on semiconductors in the U.S.-China relationship.Willy Shih, a Professor of Management Practice atHarvard Business School, gave an interview to the publication about the United States falling behind in semiconductor technology.[14] Similarly, it ran a piece on how Chinese regulatory approval complicated U.S. chip firmNvidia's pending acquisition of Israeli chip firmMellanox Technologies.[15]
On May 30, 2021,The Wire China published a detailed whistleblower report on securities fraud aboutCLSA andCEFC China Energy called "Broken Bonds".[16]
In April, 2023,The Wire China announced a new collaboration withAsia Society to launch theChina Books Review, a major outlet of commentary on China-related publications.[17]
WireScreen is The Wire China's sister business that focuses on providing data and information on Chinese companies and individuals. It often appears inThe Wire China, especially in the data section, 'The Big Picture'. It incorporates research fromThe Wire China journalists as well as other data sources. In an interview with Harvard's Nieman Lab, Barboza explained his rationale for launching WireScreen:
Traditionally, journalists are on one side and they do their research, and then they throw it away and don't give it to anyone else. I think how wasteful is it that most journalists throw away or never use or don't pass on any of their notes or records. Everyone that comes behind them does their research all over again.[3]
The database has over a million companies, and data engineers continue to collect and add information. Its target customers include other journalists, policy makers, scholars, and the business community.[18]
David Barboza, a former longtime correspondent with The New York Times, co-founded The Wire China, a digital news magazine dedicated to understanding China's economic rise in April.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)