☕️ Good morning friends, 

The US is halting visa issuance for 75 countries. At this point, it seems easier to enter North Korea than the United States... 

What else is moving the world today:

• South Korea cashes in on the China–Japan conflict.

• China’s AI apps turn millions of users into directors.

• Founder of the world’s most famous hot pot chain resumed his role as CEO.
  

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🇨🇳 China steps in to cool the bull market: Exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing are raising margin requirements for new stock loans from 80% to 100%. Investors buying shares “on margin” now need to put up more of their own capital. In short: less leverage, less froth — but the rally is meant to continue.

Regulatory shock for travel tech: Shares of Trip.com plunged more than 15% intraday after China’s antitrust regulator launched an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices.

TOP BIT

🥁 Drum diplomacy: South Korea is the laughing winner

South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung has become a focal point in the escalating China-Japan conflict.

Last week he met Xi Jinping in Beijing and took selfies on a Xiaomi smartphone. This week he played the drums with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to K-pop hits in Nara.

Details

🇯🇵 Takaichi’s predicament: Japan needs Seoul in its conflict with China—especially after Beijing's export restrictions on rare earths. Takaichi hopes for support, but Lee is keeping a low profile:

💰 Seoul collects from both sides: Chinese tourists avoiding Japan are flocking to South Korea. Since November, Chinese tourism has been booming. Investors are betting on South Korean retail and consumer stocks.

🎯 The 400-delegate message: While Japanese managers had to cancel their Beijing trips, Lee traveled to China with a 400-member business delegation.

🔴 Trump’s unpredictable factor: With his visit to China in April, Trump becomes a wildcard. Mediation in the China-Japan dispute is questionable. According to Bloomberg, Seoul faces its "toughest test": balancing the US alliance with proximity to China.

A reminder: Why the China-Japan conflict escalated

In November, Takaichi said a Beijing attack on Taiwan could be an "existence-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing for military action.

Beijing's reaction:

• Travel warnings for Japan

• Unofficial ban on Japanese entertainment

• Renewed ban on Japanese seafood imports

• Export restrictions for 800+ dual-use goods (including rare earths). Japan is now desperately searching for alternatives.

📊 All details & data: NBC, BBC, Time

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NUMBER OF THE DAY

One in seven babies in South Korea was conceived through artificial fertilisation in 2024.

🧪 Lab over bedroom: IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction accounted for 15.1% of all births, up from 8.7% in 2019. Over the same period, total newborns fell from 302,000 to 238,000.

🏥 Clinics running flat out: Demand is increasingly driven by couples over 40, with waiting lists growing longer. Billions in government subsidies are flowing into the sector.

Watch: In the country with the world’s lowest birth rate, starting a family has been pushed further and further back. Medicine is filling the gap left by high living costs, work pressure and late marriages.

MARKET BIT

🎬 Video-AI-Boom: Kling AI hits $240M ARR and pushes Kuaishou +84%

📈 Consumer AI with real traction: Kuaishou’s video generator Kling AI has 60 million users worldwide and generated over USD 20 million in revenue in December alone with a projected USD 240 million ARR, more than double its level in March ‘25.

📊 From laggard to AI play: Long dismissed as a TikTok copycat, Kuaishou has revamped itself within just 18 months. The pivot into AI video has lifted the stock by roughly 84% in 2025, with Kling’s global traction adding the extra upside.

🎬 Video is the new AI battleground: Competition is shifting from large language models to video generation. Kling is taking on OpenAI’s Sora, Google Veo, Runway, and Luma — and is the only Chinese model ranked in the global top three.

🚀 Run-rate rocket: Many well-known GenAI tools are only now approaching USD 100 million in ARR. Kling has already surpassed more than double that after just 19 months, jumping from USD 100 million to USD 240 million in only nine months.

⚡ China speed: Kuaishou spends far less than US rivals but prioritizes time-to-market. The explicit goal was to ship before OpenAI. Kling launched in July 2024, just a few months after Sora was announced.

Background

China has rapidly produced several market-ready video AI platforms in a short period of time, including:

• Shengshu Tech, offering an end-to-end video production agent

• Alibaba Cloud, enabling personalized video generation using a user’s own appearance and voice

• SenseTime, focusing on low-cost, high-volume production for short-drama series

Video generation is considered one of the hottest segments in generative AI because it directly replaces real production costs in marketing, e-commerce, and entertainment. The global AI video market is projected to reach around USD 4 billion by 2030, with annual growth rates exceeding 120%. Falling compute costs, improving model quality, and intense competition are accelerating adoption.

👉🏻 Full Story: SCMP, BusinessTimes, Chosun Daily

HEAD OF THE DAY

 🇸🇬🇨🇳 Zhang Yong 张勇

🍲 From school dropout to hotpot king

Zhang Yong (55) created the global hotpot empire Haidilao (market value: $12 billion) from a four-table restaurant.

🧂 His secret ingredient: Since the food was mediocre at first, he focused on extremely good service. Haidilao became famous for free manicures, shoe-shining services, and hand massages for waiting guests, as well as noodle dances at the table.

🫵🏻 Employee focus: Zhang shares 3% of the branch profits with his managers. His philosophy: “Trust your employees, give them space—then they will take their jobs seriously.”

💡 Lesson learned: If the core product is not (yet) perfect, you win through an unbeatable customer experience and radical trust in your own team.

THE ASIABITS PODCAST

HIGHLIGHTS 

💾 Nvidia’s China chips with 25% Trump surcharge: The US government is clearing the way for H200 exports to China, but is charging a 25 percent levy for it. Trump commented: “We let them do it, but the USA keeps 25% of the dollar value for itself.” Despite strict requirements and export caps, Nvidia expects billions in revenue—provided that Chinese regulators approve the import in light of their own self-sufficiency efforts.

🦙 Alpaca gallops ahead as the first Japanese US unicorn: The fintech startup secures $150 million in fresh capital, bringing its valuation to $1.15 billion. This marks the first time a company founded by Japanese individuals in the USA has surpassed the magic billion-dollar mark. The trading infrastructure specialist is now using the funds for aggressive expansion in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as for potential company acquisitions.

🗳️ Takaichi’s election poker: Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to dissolve parliament next week. Her goal: she wants to secure her own mandate through a snap election. With this solo move, she left even the LDP party leadership out in the cold to bypass internal resistance. The risky advance is intended to legitimize her course and sideline the opposition during budget negotiations. If she fails to win, she risks losing the support of her own party.

COUNTRY READS

🇵🇭 Philippines’ tourism minister faces criticism for a weird magazine cover amidst falling visitor numbers. More here.

🇲🇾 Malaysians poke fun at a photo from the local US Embassy and proactively emphasize that the country has no oil reserves. More here.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s trade with China reaches record levels as the country increasingly shifts to the Asian market due to US punitive tariffs. More here.

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