'Xi puzzled: where are my unicorns?!…Policymakers still seem to operate with an old mindset, in which the economy is treated as a piece of machinery and can be fixed by changing some components here and there.'
robertwoo.substack.com/p/the-baffled-…

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met China’s new defense minister face-to-face for the first time and reaffirmed plans to reopen direct lines of communication between their militaries.
Feliz Solomon Chun Han Wong 王春翰
wsj.com/world/asia/u-s…
wsj.com/world/asia/u-s…

China’s factories retrenched unexpectedly in May, snapping a two-month run of growth and raising fresh questions over the nation’s export-led push to revive its ailing economy.
Nathaniel Taplin Xiao Xiao Grace Zhu
wsj.com/economy/china-…
wsj.com/economy/china-…

China’s property slump has weighed heavily on land sales, drying up a key source of revenue for local governments. Now, authorities are looking at an unconventional way to fill up their coffers: data monetization.
wsj.com/economy/chines…

Western sanctions were meant to subdue America’s enemies, leveraging the power of the dollar to strong-arm governments into submission without bloodshed. Instead, they have birthed a global shadow economy, with China at the center.
Ian Talley
wsj.com/world/how-amer…

A month after it set up American Lidar in the U.S., Hesai was added to a Defense Department list designating companies as Chinese military entities operating in the U.S. Its stock fell 30% in a day after the list was published and hasn’t recovered.
wsj.com/politics/natio…

Lidar maker Hesai became a U.S. target amid allegations that its laser sensors, which are important to the U.S. auto industry and military, could be used to collect sensitive American data.
wsj.com/politics/natio…

.Rush Doshi to Mike Gallagher & Matt Pottinger: 'Betting on a great power’s collapse or liberalization is unwise. Despite its challenges, China is the first U.S. competitor in a century to surpass 60 percent of U.S. GDP.'
foreignaffairs.com/responses/what…

Reuters: 'N. Korea's rare swipe at China this week underscored how Beijing and Pyongyang do not entirely see eye-to-eye on the latter's illicit nuclear weapons arsenal, despite warming ties in other areas.'
Josh Smith
reuters.com/world/asia-pac…