U.S. SPECIAL FORCES SEIZE CHINESE MILITARY CARGO BOUND FOR IRAN
Last month, a U.S. special forces team seized military-related cargo from China bound for Iran during a rare interdiction in the Indian Ocean. Several hundred miles off the Sri Lankan coast, operators with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command boarded the unnamed vessel, confiscated its cargo, and then allowed it to continue on its way. An anonymous U.S. official said authorities destroyed the shipment, which consisted of dual-use components procured from Chinese companies for the country's missile program. Chinese firms are known to supply materials and technology for Iran's ballistic missile arsenal, such as spectrometers, gyroscopes and other measurement devices. (Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2025)
MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SMUGGLING $160 MILLION IN AI CHIPS TO CHINA
Alan Hao Hsu, the CEO of Hao Global LLC, has pled guilty to smuggling $160 million in high-tech semiconductors to China. In the first case of its kind, federal prosecutors charged Hsu, a Texas resident, with smuggling U.S. goods and unlawfully exporting information between October 2024 and May 2025. He is accused of buying the chips from a North Carolina supplier then falsifying shipping documents to ship them to China. "Hao Global was a shell company that had virtually no assets or resources. Instead, Hsu funded this scheme with more than $50 million in wire transfers from companies and individuals that tied back to China," said U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei. Law enforcement had "disrupted Hsu's scheme and seized millions of dollars of GPUs," he added. Federal prosecutors have also made arrests in New York and Virginia involving efforts to mislabel semiconductors for shipment to China. (Houston Public Media, December 8, 2025)
PLA FIGHTERS LOCK RADAR ON JAPANESE JETS
In separate incidents, two Chinese J-15 fighter jets locked their radars on Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-15 aircraft while they were monitoring the PLA Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning. Both incidents occurred over international waters southeast of Okinawa while the Liaoning Carrier Strike Group was conducting what Beijing called "carrier-based fighter flight training." A Japanese destroyer and multiple maritime patrol aircraft were shadowing the Liaoning, and Tokyo scrambled its F-15 fighters after J-15 fighters launched from the Chinese carrier. "This radar illumination was a dangerous act," said Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. (U.S. Naval Institute News, December 8, 2025)
CHINESE AND RUSSIAN BOMBERS HOLD JOINT DRILLS NEAR JAPAN
Japan's Self-Defense Forces scrambled fighter jets in response to joint patrols by PLA and Russian military aircraft near the country. Two Chinese H-6 bombers and two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew from the Sea of Japan toward the East China Sea to join for a "long-range joint flight" off the coast of Shikoku. Japan's Ministry of Defense also detected four Chinese J-16 fighter jets, which joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Okinawa's main island and Miyako Island. Two Russian Su-30 fighters and early-warning aircraft were also detected in the Sea of Japan. Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the "repeated joint bomber flights by both countries... clearly represent a show of force against Japan." China's Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Chinese and Russian militaries had conducted their 10th joint strategic air patrol over the East China Sea as part of "the two militaries' annual cooperation plan." (Japan Times, December 10, 2025)
CHINA'S $1T SURPLUS PROMPTS CRITICISM...
In response to China's record $1 trillion trade surplus in 2025, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the country's heavy reliance on exports risks provoking its trading partners. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2030 China's market share in global exports will go from 15% to 16.5%, underpinned by advanced manufacturing and high-growth segments like robotics, electric vehicles, and batteries. "Continuing to depend on export-led growth risks furthering global trade tensions. China is now too big to rely on exports as a source for growth," said Georgieva. (Associated Press, December 10, 2025)
...AND LEVIES FROM MEXICO, EUROPE
Meanwhile, Mexico's parliament passed a law that slaps between 5% and 50% levies on 1463 mostly Chinese-made products, from textiles and footwear to household appliances, vehicles, auto parts, plastics and metals. For its part, the European Union has set a three Euro ($3.52) customs duty on low-value parcels to cover cheap Chinese e-commerce imports from online retailers Shein and Temu. (South China Morning Post, December 12, 2025; Reuters, December 12, 2025)
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