Daily Buzz: 22 December 2025

China Seeks End to Cambodia-Thai Hostilities

China has sent an envoy to Southeast Asia to try to de-escalate renewed clashes between Cambodia and Thailand over a longstanding border dispute. Deng Xijun, special envoy for Asian affairs, said China will continue to "play a constructive role in facilitating a peaceful settlement" of the dispute, China's foreign ministry said in a statement. Washington, too, has been trying to engineer a return to ceasefire after the one US President Donald Trump helped broker in October collapsed. About 60 people have died and more than half a million have been displaced since the two nations resumed hostilities several weeks ago.

US Seizes Second Venezuela Oil Tanker

The US Coast Guard seized a second oil tanker after it departed from Venezuela en route to Asia and is in pursuit of a third vessel. The seizures come after US President Donald Trump declared a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, and designated the administration of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro a terrorist state. Washington, which wants Maduro to resign, is stepping up pressure on Caracas amid allegations that the Venezuelan government is involved in illegal drug trafficking. Oil exports are a major source of revenue for OPEC member Venezuela, and China is the largest buyer of the nation's crude.

Russia, Ukraine at the Same Table?

Russian and Ukraine delegations are meeting separately with US negotiators in Miami to try to thrash out a peace plan that US President Donald Trump earlier said he hoped could be finalized by Christmas. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the US has floated the idea of trilateral face-to-face talks. Moscow has rejected the idea. A top foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on Sunday that changes to the US peace proposal made by Ukraine and its European allies don't improve prospects for peace. Ukraine is known to be pushing back on Russian demands to surrender a large swathe of territory and is seeking NATO-style security guarantees if Russian ever attacks the nation again.

Meanwhile, the war continues. Russia unleashed a barrage of drone and missile attacks on the southern city of Odessa, killing eight and damaging port infrastructure after Ukrainian drones struck an empty Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean.

Israel Approves New Jewish Settlements

Israel has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, dealing a fresh blow to hopes for a possible Palestinian state. The government in recent years has approved a record 69 new settlements, which have been widely condemned as illegal under international law.

Top Business

China Issues New Rules for Online Commerce

China released new rules on Saturday to regulate pricing practices of Internet platforms, requiring transparency on pricing practices of website operators and merchants. The rules also give vendors

the right to set pricing without interference from platform operators and prohibit operators from imposing unreasonable restrictions on them. To protect consumers, the regulations require clear price labeling and govern services such as password-free payments, automatic renewals and unsolicited deductions. The rules come into effect next April.

China Launches CO2 Power Breakthrough

China began the world's first commercial supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) power generation at a steel plant operated by Shougang Shuicheng Iron & Steel Group in Guizhou Province, marking a milestone in advanced energy technology and industrial decarbonization. Unlike conventional thermal power systems that rely on boiling water to drive turbines, the new system heats and pressurizes liquid CO2 into a supercritical state, enabling higher energy density and lower flow resistance. The technology boosts power generation efficiency by more than 85 percent. The project is expected to generate more than 70 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

Construction Blitz in AI Data Centers Shows No Letup

The worldwide investment frenzy to build data centers that house AI workloads will surge to a record of more than US$61 billion this year, S&P Global reported. The spending frenzy is continuing even as investors raise concerns that it's too much, too fast, and as energy experts warn about the high electricity loads needed to power the centers. Much AI infrastructure investment is financed by debt. S&P data show more than 100 financial transactions related to data centers in the first 11 months of the year, with debt doubling to US$182 billion, led by Meta, Google and Amazon. The majority of data center activity is in the US and Asia-Pacific region, with growth emerging among wealthy Gulf states seeking to be regional AI hubs.

S&P Global Market Intelligence analysts predict competition in AI will continue to fuel spending on data centers next year. An ING bank analysis agreed with that assessment, while acknowledging investor concerns about the ability of tech giants to turn massive spending into profits in the foreseeable future.

In 2024, global data centers consumed an estimated 415 terawatt-hours of electricity – 1.5 percent of worldwide consumption, or roughly equivalent to total annual electricity use in France. The International Energy Agency estimates that demand could double by 2030, requiring the addition of generating capacity equivalent to the entire current grid of Germany. In terms of building new energy infrastructure, China is leading the US.

Economy & Markets

Shenhua Energy Plans Record A-Share Deal

Shenhua Energy, China's largest listed coal producer, approved what will be the biggest-ever takeover deal in the Class-A share market. Under the 1.3 trillion yuan (US$180 billion) restructuring plan, Shenhua will acquire stakes in 12 energy companies from its state-owned controlling shareholder China Energy Investment Corp. The deal will be funded 70 percent by cash, with the rest in share issuance. The assets to be acquired include coal mines, coal-fired power generation, coal chemicals and shipping. When completed, the transaction would surpass previous record deals, including China Shipbuilding Industry's merger and Guotai Junan's acquisition of Haitong Securities.

China's Bohai Oilfield Produces Record Output

The Bohai Oilfield, China's largest offshore oil and gas production base, produced a record 40 million oil-equivalent tons in 2025, operator China National Offshore Oil Corp announced on Sunday. The Bohai site currently operates more than 60 oil and gas sites. In the past five years, oil production has been growing 5 percent annually, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the national increase in crude production. CNOOC said Bohai is adopting digital technology and eco-friendly extraction systems. The National Energy Administration has predicted total nationwide crude production of 215 million tons this year and natural gas output of 260 billion cubic meters. China is the world's fourth-largest natural gas producer.

Game Industry Annual Revenue Rises 7.7 Percent

China domestic game industry sales this year rose 7.7 percent from 2024 to 350 billion yuan (US$50 billion), serving 683 million users nationwide, according to the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.

Yuan Debt Attracts More Investors

Foreign and domestic investors are increasing their embrace of yuan-denominated credit, with a surge in yuan lending set to overtake dollar loans at Chinese banks, Reuters reported. In the first 11 months of this year, non-Chinese issuers raised 169.7 billion yuan in onshore markets, and a record 801.9 billion yuan was raised by all issuers in offshore markets, where demand was strong. In the last three years, the value of foreigners' onshore and offshore issuance of yuan debt has more than doubled, according to China central bank data. Analysts attribute the boom to low yuan rates and Beijing's campaign to promote the yuan as a global currency. By last April, the yuan accounted for about 8.5 percent of global foreign-exchange transactions, compared with 89 percent for the US dollar according to the Bank for International Settlements.

Corporate

Moore Threads Unveils New Chip Architecture

Moore Threads, a designer of graphic processing units, unveiled a new-generation architecture and announced plans to enter the personal AI computing market. The Beijing-based company's new full-function GPU architecture, named Huagang, was five years in development and delivers a 50 percent increase in computing density compared with the previous generation. Mass production is expected to begin next year. Based on the new architecture, Moore Threads revealed two upcoming chips, Huashan and Lushan. In its entry into personal computer hardware, Moore Threads revealed an AI laptop priced at 9,999 yuan (US$1,420). The device comes preloaded with AI agents and large language models.

French Suspension of Shein Website Overturned

The French government said it would appeal a Paris court ruling that rejected its three-month suspension of Chinese discount online retailer Shein, which was imposed after an uproar over childlike sex dolls sold on the Shein platform. However, the court did rule that Shein must institute age-verification measures for adult products on its website to prevent "sexual products that may constitute pornographic content" from being accessed by minors.

China Firm to Take Control of Golden Goose

Chinese private equity firm HSG has bought a controlling stake in Italian luxury footwear maker Golden Goose from owner Permira at an undisclosed price. Singapore investment firm Temasek also bought a minority stake in the Venice-based maker of sneakers that retail for 500 euros (US$585) a pair. Permira will retain a minority stake along with existing holders that include private equity firm Carlyle, Reuters reported.

McDonald's Spans Chinese Mainland

McDonald's China completed its expansion to cover all provinces on the mainland with new outlets in Ningxia and Qinghai, Xinhua reported. The US fast-food chain first entered the market in 1990 and now has 7,500 outlets on the mainland.