China vows to reunite scam victims with families, crack down on cross-border criminal gangs – Reuters

Exclusive: Chinese buyers interested in unwanted German Volkswagen factories, source says – Reuters: ‘Building cars in Germany for sale in Europe would allow China's EV makers to avoid paying EU tariffs on electric cars imported from China’

China’s state security forces given new powers to oversee key building projects – SCMP: ‘fresh powers to supervise and manage sensitive construction work on sites such as key government buildings and military facilities.’

Chinese military delegation from PLA’s Eastern Theater Command to visit Japan mid-January – Xinhua

ByteDance’s TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi, and three other Chinese firms hit by EU privacy complaints – Reuters: ‘by Austrian advocacy group Noyb’

China confirms PLA Navy’s new Type 076 amphibious assault ship will be a drone carrier – SCMP

MERICS China Forecast 2025: Economic stress increases risk of domestic instability – MERICS

Five of China’s most important provinces say they plan to grow at or above 5% this year, signs that the country will set an ambitious national target despite growing trade headwinds – Bloomberg

China deploys more security to try to reassure a country on edge – The New York Times: ‘The security push, which the authorities in some places have labeled “Operation Winter,” follows a string of recent attacks’

Most Chinese feel an uneasy ‘consumption downgrade’, according to survey – Nikkei Asia: ‘An 80% majority of Chinese consumers feel they have slipped into a “consumption downgrade,”’

KMT leans into pork barrel politics in attacking DPP over pensions – New Bloom

Taiwan to ramp up monitoring of ‘flags of convenience’ ships after severed undersea cable incident – The Straits Times

President Lai Ching-te (DPP) meets with Taiwanese delegation to Trump’s inauguration led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (KMT) – Focus Taiwan