China's top anti-graft watchdog and the Ministry of Finance exposed six high-profile cases penalizing cadres for off-budget borrowing and paper-only debt resolutions. Enforcement now explicitly holds sitting officials accountable for unaddressed inherited liabilities, closing longstanding loopholes in the campaign to resolve hidden municipal debt risks.

China logged 84 major new foreign-invested industrial projects this year, directed into high-value electromechanical manufacturing, chemicals, automotive supply chains, and healthcare. Authorities pledged enhanced project tracking and targeted business environment reforms to sustain multinational commitments amid global headwinds.

China holds world-leading reserves in 14 strategic minerals and top-four rankings in nine others following five consecutive years of rising exploration outlays. Record extraction across coal, oil, and gas alongside new lithium and manganese strikes reinforces Beijing's priority to insulate critical industrial supply chains.

G20 trade ministers in Milwaukee concluded with a consensus statement against weaponizing food supply chains but deadlocked over overcapacity and industrial subsidies. Strong resistance from member delegations forced the US to abandon proposals altering Most-Favored-Nation tariff rules, foreshadowing tense negotiations at the Miami summit.

China's polar vessel Xuelong 2 carved a 110-nautical-mile corridor through Arctic ice to berth France's Tara Polar Station on an floe north of 80°N. The joint 20-hour deployment inaugurates a bilateral overwinter climate observation network, highlighting pragmatic scientific cooperation despite wider geopolitical tensions.