News on China
Geopolitics
UN Security Council Majority Condemns US Military Strike on Venezuela, Demands President Maduro’s Release
On 3 January, US forces launched ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’ against Venezuela — carrying out forcible detention of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, while killing at least 100 people — prompting China to strongly condemn the US military actions at the UN Security Council as acts of aggression and a ‘flagrant violation’ of the UN Charter and international law. Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and a majority of Council members demanded the immediate release of the detained president and His wife, and called for Washington to cease military aggression, which UN Secretary-General Guterres warned ‘constitutes a dangerous precedent.
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Export Controls Imposed on 800+ Dual-Use Items to Japan after Taiwan Intervention Remarks
Following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November remarks describing a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan as a ‘survival-threatening situation’ for Japan — the first such characterisation by a Japanese leader — Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce announced immediate restrictions on over 800 dual-use items to Japanese military end-users, covering goods valued at 10.7 trillion yen (US $68.4 billion) or roughly 42% of Japan’s imports from China, while simultaneously initiating an antidumping investigation into dichlorosilane imports from Japan, alleging a 31% price decline from 2022 to 2024 in a critical semiconductor manufacturing chemical. Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi estimates that a three-month curb on rare earth exports alone could cost Japanese businesses 660 billion yen (US $4.2 billion) and reduce GDP by 0.11%, with losses potentially reaching 2.6 trillion yen and a 0.43% GDP reduction if restrictions extend to one year.
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National Politics
Public Security Law’s First Major Overhaul since 2006 Introduces Self-Defence Protections
Following extensive public consultation that led to the removal of a controversial clause on ‘hurting national feelings’, the revised law — expanding from 114 to 144 articles in its first major overhaul since 2006 — codifies self-defence provisions for the first time, establishes a record-sealing system for minor offences including drug use and gambling, mandates audio-visual documentation of enforcement, and addresses emerging issues such as school bullying and high-altitude object throwing.
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258,000 Telecom Fraud Cases Solved in 2025 through Regional Law Enforcement Cooperation
Blocking 3.6 billion scam calls and 3.3 billion fraudulent messages throughout 2025 while conducting face-to-face interventions with 6.747 million potential victims, law enforcement authorities arrested 542 ringleaders and repatriated 57,000 suspects from Myanmar since 2023 under trilateral coordination mechanisms with Thailand — demonstrating the efficacy of systematic state-led governance in combating transnational telecom fraud.
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Economy
Beijing Demands Protection of Energy Interests in Venezuela as Washington Imposes ‘Oil Quarantine’
Following the US military operation that forcibly captured Venezuelan President Maduro and the First Lady on 3 January — an action that analysts describe as reviving twentieth-century hemispheric interventionism — Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning emphasised that bilateral cooperation between sovereign states is protected under international law, that Venezuela holds “permanent and full sovereignty over all its natural resources and economic activities,” and that “the lawful rights and interests of China in Venezuela must be protected.” She condemned external interference and stressed that China will continue to safeguard its economic and energy investments in Venezuela.
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Agriculture and Environment
PM2.5 Drops to Record Low of 27 Micrograms as Decade-Long Clean Air Campaign Achieves Historic Milestone
A decade of pollution control measures — including coal plant closures, retirement of over three million high-emission vehicles, and clean energy transition — reduced annual fine particulate matter concentration from 89.5 micrograms per cubic metre in 2013 to 27.0 in 2025, while severely polluted days fell from 58 to just one; the transformation, praised by the United Nations Environment Programme as a model for developing megacities, demonstrates that sustained state-led environmental governance can achieve rapid air quality improvements alongside economic growth.
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Science and Technology
BRICS New Quality Productive Forces Research Centre Launched to Advance South-South Technology Cooperation
Announced by Premier Li Qiang at the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro last July, the centre — adopting a ‘physical plus network’ dual structure — aims to foster joint research on ‘new quality productive forces’ and cultivate international talent, marking the third major multilateral science and technology cooperation platform China has established under the BRICS framework following the 2020 Xiamen-based PartNIR Innovation Centre and the 2025 AI Development and Cooperation Centre.
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Regulatory Review of Meta’s US $2 Billion Manus Acquisition Launched over Export Control Concerns
Following the so-called ‘Singapore washing’ relocation of AI agent startup Manus from its original bases in Wuhan and Beijing to Singapore, the Ministry of Commerce announced on 7 January that it will assess whether Meta’s acquisition of the company — valued at approximately US $2 billion — violated export control regulations; the probe examines whether the transfer of core technical personnel and proprietary AI technology developed in China constitutes unlicensed technology export, with potential criminal liability for company founders under Chinese law.
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DeepSeek Publishes Breakthrough AI Architecture Solving Decade-Old Scaling Problem with 6.7% Training Overhead
Published on 31 December 2025 by 19 researchers including founder Liang Wenfeng, the Manifold-Constrained Hyper-Connections framework stabilises neural network training by reducing signal amplification from catastrophic 3,000x to controlled 1.5x — achieving 7.2 percentage point gains on BIG-Bench Hard — while the efficiency-focused approach, developed amid Washington’s semiconductor export controls, demonstrates how architectural innovation can enable cost-effective AI development accessible to resource-constrained organisations worldwide.
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People’s Life and Culture
Viral ‘Kill Line’ Discussion Sparks Reflection on Divergent Social Safety Net Approaches in US and China
A December 2025 viral phenomenon on Chinese social media — examining Seattle’s homelessness crisis — has crystallised disillusionment with the ‘American Dream’, as 67% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck while China’s dibao system (低保系统 / subsistence allowance system) covers 39.1 million residents and 625,000 instances of homeless assistance were provided; online conversation highlights the contrasting philosophies and practices in social security between the two nations, inviting deeper consideration of how different development paths address the needs of their citizens.
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