HOT TOPICS
China reacts to U.S. interception of cargo ship
The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed concern after the U.S. intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, urging relevant parties to abide by ceasefire agreements responsibly to avoid escalating conflicts and to restore normal passage through the Strait. The incident follows a phone call between President Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during which Xi advocated for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire and a political resolution to conflicts in the Middle East.
ByteDance profit drops
ByteDance Ltd.’s net profit plunged by more than 70% in 2025 due to heavy investments in artificial intelligence, despite domestic revenue growing 20% and overseas revenue jumping nearly 50% year-on-year. Li Liang, vice president of Douyin, stated that excluding the impact of preferred shares and changes in option costs, overall revenue and profit grew, with TikTok’s e-commerce and emerging businesses showing positive trends.
Shanghai encourages M&A
Shanghai issued an action plan to empower industries through internet platforms, focusing on key supply chains such as new-energy vehicles, electronic information, integrated circuits, and embodied AI. The policy encourages enterprises to engage in mergers and acquisitions, guides the participation of brokerages and asset management firms, and supports platforms in integrating overseas resources to facilitate cross-border deals.
iQiyi AI controversy
Remarks by iQiyi Inc. CEO Gong Yu sparked controversy after he claimed that AI could increase an actor’s annual output from four to 14 films, suggesting that live-action filmmaking might become a cultural heritage, and stating that prominent actors had joined the company’s AI database. Following denials from multiple actors regarding AI authorizations, iQiyi clarified that an actor’s presence in the database only indicates a willingness to explore AI film projects, and specific cooperation requires separate negotiation and authorization.
Hainan develops commercial aerospace
Hainan province released a draft of its 15th Five-Year Plan for the service industry, proposing to expand the variety of duty-free goods for island residents and push sales outside the island via cross-border e-commerce. The plan also aims to elevate the commercial aerospace sector by building an integrated system covering launch, services, manufacturing, and applications, which sparked a broad rally in commercial aerospace concept stocks on Tuesday.
NEWS SUMMARY
Beijing’s financial regulators have ordered 205 companies, including major state-owned enterprises, to remove the unapproved use of “financial holding” or “financial group” from their names within three months. The move underscores China’s ongoing campaign to tighten oversight of financial holding platforms and eliminate unlicensed financial activities at the source.
Hong Kong’s licensed virtual asset trading platforms have been approved to engage in secondary market trading of tokenized funds.
The Supreme People’s Court is drafting guiding opinions to standardize judicial practices concerning data disputes, which have surged 25.6%.
Tesla Inc. stated that it currently has no specific plans to mass-produce humanoid robots at its Shanghai Gigafactory.
The China-Laos 500-kilovolt power grid interconnection project was officially commissioned on Monday.
Contact editor Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com)
