SCMP China·Friday, December 19, 2025

SCMP China - Friday, December 19, 2025

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

US lawmakers want DeepSeek, Xiaomi added to list of Chinese military-linked firms

A group of nine US lawmakers sent a letter to US Secretary of Defence ‌Pete Hegseth this week urging the Pentagon to add a slew of Chinese technology firms to a list of entities allegedly assisting the Chinese military. The letter, sent late on Thursday after US President Donald Trump signed a US$1 trillion must-pass military spending bill into law, asks Hegseth ⁠to place AI firm DeepSeek, smartphone maker Xiaomi and electronic display maker BOE Technology Group on what is known as the Section..

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Knife attacker kills 3 after smoke bombing Taiwan metro

Usually safe Taiwan was rocked on Friday evening after an attacker exploded smoke bombs in the subway, stabbed several people, including at least three to death, and injured several others before killing himself when he jumped off a building in an apparent effort to escape, according to news reports. Police are investigating the motive. According to news agencies, the suspect, identified as a 27-year-old man named Cheng Wen, attacked Taipei residents in the metro subway system indiscriminately,.

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China’s rebuilding of Micronesian airport runway raises alarm in US

The rebuilding of a World War II-era airfield in Micronesia with the help of Chinese companies has raised alarm in the United States, with US defence analysts warning about Beijing’s growing footprint in the strategic western Pacific. Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defence of Democracies, posted a video on social media last week showing an airport runway being rebuilt on Woleai, a remote 4.5 sq km atoll in Micronesia’s Yap state. “Chinese company

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TikTok seals US deal but core algorithm could still rattle ties with China

TikTok may have dodged a US ban but unresolved questions about its algorithm could remain a source of tension in the broader US-China relationship, according to analysts. ByteDance, the parent company of the social media site, signed a binding agreement this week to divest its US entity into a joint venture controlled by a consortium of American investors, ending years of legal and political uncertainties. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in an internal memo on Thursday that the deal effectively...

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TikTok reaches new US deal; China’s answer to Nvidia’s A100: SCMP daily highlights

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. TikTok reaches deal on new US venture with American investor group In a landmark move that ends years of legal and political uncertainty, TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi informed employees that the company has signed a binding agreement to divest its US entity into a joint venture controlled by a consortium of American investors. 2. Chinese team builds optical chip

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US defence policy act overstates ‘China threat’, Beijing says, urges ‘rational’ view

Beijing on Friday accused Washington of using its new US defence policy act to hype up the so-called China threat and interfere in its internal affairs. It also urged Washington to view their relationship “rationally” and refrain from enforcing negative China-related provisions. The latest National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Donald Trump on Thursday, restricts US outbound investment in Chinese technology and curbs federal contracts with Chinese biotechnology..

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Foreign ship gets penalty for illegally using Starlink within Chinese waters, report says

China has issued a penalty to a foreign vessel for illegally using Starlink – SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service – within Chinese waters in the first case of its kind, according to local media. The vessel, which was not identified, was found with a “micro rectangular antenna” installed on its top deck during a routine inspection by maritime law enforcement officers at Ningbo port in Zhejiang province, state-run Ningbo Daily reported on Wednesday. The Ningbo Maritime Safety Administration.

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Secure Arctic shipping route essential for China, senior official says

The Arctic shipping route is essential to safeguard China’s development over the next decade, a senior Chinese official said in Beijing, calling for greater efforts to expand its practical use. With proposals for the next five-year plan incorporating security and development, China must ensure its international transport channels remain unimpeded, Ma Jiantang, deputy director of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s economic committee, said. China’s traditional trade lanes...

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Landmark in-air refuelling test extends China’s drone swarm delivery range to US homeland

Northwestern Polytechnical University has conducted what could be China’s first openly reported autonomous aerial refuelling flight test, according to scientists involved in the project. Two unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were used in the refuelling tests. One served as the tanker with a refuelling pod and the other as the receiver. In high-speed formation flights, the receiver autonomously located, tracked and docked with the tanker under extreme conditions using a highly robust...

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Taiwan’s opposition lawmakers vow to impeach leader William Lai

Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) announced on Friday they would try to impeach the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te, according to reports from Taiwanese media. Fu Kun-chi, the convenor of the KMT caucus in Taiwan’s parliament, accused Lai of undermining constitutional norms and behaving in an authoritarian manner. “Lai must step down and Taiwan must not allow the emergence of figures like Yuan Shikai or Cao Kun,” Fu said, according to

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