The Wire China · China
TIER 5 Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:14:57 +0000
Plus, digging into Congo. | | --- | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | #### Weekly newsletter | January 18th, 2026 --- | --- | **Good evening. **When China and the Democratic Republic of Congo negotiated a massive investment agreement, it predictably involved two large Chinese state-owned enterprises, China Railway Group and Sinohydro. The deal was coveted by the DRC’s then president, Joseph Kabila, and granted China access to gold, cobalt and copper in return for investments in three highways, a railway and other infrastructure. Less predictable was the involvement of Huayou Cobalt, a private-sector company founded by a former bean-sprout seller turned commodities king, Chen Xuehua. In an excerpt from his new book, _The Elements of Power_ , Nicolas Niarchos tells how the agreement was negotiated and charts Huayou’s unlikely rise. Chen bred ducks and long-haired rabbits before starting his beansprout business; afterwards, he turned his hand towards nickel and cobalt oxide extraction and built a global mining empire stretching from Africa to Indonesia and Korea. Also in this week’s issue: Manus AI on the move; BYD’s China woes; J. Michael Cole on Taiwan, the “tinderbox” nation; don’t give up control of China-made connected energy systems, warn Francesca Ghiretti and Conlan Ellis; and David Webb, RIP. To read these stories, gain access to our extensive archive, and opt-in to our popular daily news round up, subscribe to _The Wire_ today. _Was this email forwarded to you?_ Sign up to receive our free newsletter. Click here to view this email in your browser. --- | | | | | | --- | | --- | | --- | | --- | --- | --- _Illustration by Sam Ward_ | **Digging into Congo** Washington’s man in Kinshasa was not happy. When China and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed an ambitious infrastructure-for-commodities swap in 2008, the U.S. ambassador went “berserk, calling us names and so on”, a former adviser to then DRC President Joseph Kabila tells Nicolas Niarchos in an excerpt from his new book. The adviser is unapologetic, arguing that China would eventually use what it mined in Congo for products the U.S. would later buy from its chief geopolitical rival — “so it’s a holistic thing”. --- | --- | --- _Credit: Adobe Stock_ | **Catch Me If You Can** A week after Meta announced it was joining forces with China-founded but now Singapore-based Manus AI, an AI agent developer, the Chinese commerce ministry confirmed that it plans to review the $2 billion deal. Noah Berman, Eliot Chen and Rachel Cheung chart how Manus’s efforts to sever its ties with China and move to Singapore enabled both its rapid international growth and its deal with Meta, which has forced Beijing to examine whether it can retain control of its leading AI companies. --- | --- | --- Visitors try out BYD cars on display during the 13th China International Automobile Exhibition, also known as Auto Guangzhou, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, November 21, 2015. _Credit: IC Photo via Depositphotos_ | **Home Field Disadvantage** BYD, which last year eclipsed Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric cars, is struggling at home of all places. BYD’s third quarter profits fell 33 percent, Savannah Billman writes in The Big Picture, despite 30 per cent price cuts rolled out in May 2025. Chinese rival Geely is looming largest in BYD’s rear-view mirror. In 2024 BYD sold twice as many vehicles as its Hangzhou-based rival, which also owns Volvo. Last year BYD sold only about 20 percent more units than Geely. --- | --- | --- | --- | | --- ### **A Q &A with J. Michael Cole** J. Michael Cole, a former Canadian intelligence analyst, moved to Taiwan 20 years ago and is author of the _The Taiwan Tinderbox: The Island-Nation at the Centre of the New Cold War_ , published in September. In a conversation with Brent Crane, Cole discusses his worst and best-case scenarios for Taiwan; the implausibility of any peaceful unification with China; and why, if necessary, the U.S. should defend the island if Xi Jinping tries to take it by force. “If you abandon a state to aggression by a regional hegemon, the leadership will regard this as weakness [and] will not stop there,” he argues. J. Michael Cole _Illustration by Kate Copeland Crow_ --- | --- | --- The chassis of Xiaomi's SU7 EV is displayed at Xiaomi Auto's delivery center in Shenzhen, China. The SU7 Pro model contains a 94.3 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack supplied by CATL. _Credit: Tada Images via Adobe Stock_ | **It’s the Connectivity, Stupid** As China’s massive economies of scale drove down the unit prices of electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels, other countries — willingly or unwillingly — largely resigned themselves to buying these technologies from Chinese manufacturers. But, warn Francesca Ghiretti and Conlan Ellis, China’s customers should not overlook the technologies that connect and control these devices and are vital to national security. --- | --- | --- David Webb, activist investor and founder of Webb-site.com, during an event at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong, May 12, 2025. _Credit: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty Images_ | **David Webb, 1965 – 2026** David Webb, who for years fought for fairer markets and better-run companies in Hong Kong, passed away on January 13, 2026. In remembrance, we are resurfacing this article about his career, first published in May 2025. --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | Subscribe today for unlimited access. Starting at only $25 a month. --- | Subscribe --- | --- | | | | | | | | --- | | --- | | --- | | --- | --- | --- | Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list. The Wire New York, NY --- | © 2026 The Wire --- | This email was sent to stephen.shu.zhang@gmail.com _why did I get this?_ unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences The Wire China * The Wire * New York, New York 10122 * USA ---