In an exclusive interview with VOA, former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss issued a stark warning against China’s authoritarian ambitions and called for the West to adopt a tougher stance to protect global freedom. Truss laid out her vision for an “economic NATO” to deter Beijing, criticized the Labour government’s soft approach to China, and defended her controversial lobbying for a defense export license involving China.

Click here to read the full story in Mandarin.
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Beijing — China said Thursday that an investigation had found the European Union imposed unfair “trade and investment barriers” on Beijing, marking the latest salvo in long-running commercial tensions between the two economic powers. 

Officials announced the probe in July after Brussels began looking into whether Chinese government subsidies were undermining European competition. 

Beijing has consistently denied its industrial policies are unfair and has threatened to take action against the EU to protect Chinese companies’ legal rights and interests. 

The commerce ministry said Thursday that the implementation of the EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) discriminated against Chinese firms and “constitutes trade and investment barriers.” 

However, it did not mention whether Beijing planned to take action in response. 

The two are major trade partners but are locked in a wide-ranging standoff, notably over Beijing’s support for its renewables and electric-vehicle sectors. 

EU actions against Chinese firms have come as the 27-nation bloc seeks to expand renewable energy use to meet its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 

But Brussels also wants to pivot away from what it views as an overreliance on Chinese technology at a time when many Western governments increasingly consider Beijing a potential national security threat. 

When announcing the probe, the ministry said its national chamber of commerce for importing and exporting machinery and electronics had filed a complaint over the FSR measures. 

The 20-page document detailing the ministry’s conclusions said their “selective enforcement” resulted in “Chinese products being treated more unfavorably during the process of export to the EU than products from third countries.” 

It added that the FSR had “vague” criteria for investigating foreign subsidies, placed a “severe burden” on the targeted companies and had opaque procedures that created “huge uncertainty.” 

EU measures such as surprise inspections “clearly exceeded the necessary limits,” while investigators were “subjective and arbitrary” on issues like market distortion, according to the ministry. 

Companies deemed not to have complied with probes also faced “severe penalties,” which placed “huge pressure” on Chinese firms, it said. 

The European Commission on Thursday defended the FSR, saying it was “fully compliant with all applicable EU and World Trade Organization rules.” 

“All companies, regardless of their seat or nationality, are subject to the rules,” a commission spokesperson said in a statement. 

“This is also the case when applying State aid or antitrust rules.”   

Projects curtailed 

The Chinese commerce ministry said FSR investigations had forced Chinese companies to abandon or curtail projects, causing losses of more than $2.05 billion. 

The measures had “damaged the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises and products in the EU market,” it said, adding that they also hindered the development of European national economies and undermined trade cooperation between Beijing and Brussels. 

The EU’s first probe under the FSR in February targeted a subsidiary of Chinese rail giant CRRC, but closed after the company withdrew from a tender in Bulgaria to supply electric trains. 

A second probe targets Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers seeking to build and operate a photovoltaic park in Romania, partly financed by European funds. 

In October, Brussels imposed extra tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars after an anti-subsidy investigation under a different set of rules concluded Beijing’s state support was unfairly undercutting European automakers. 

Beijing in response announced provisional tariffs on brandy imported from the EU, and later imposed “temporary anti-dumping measures” on the liquor. 

Last month, China said it would extend the brandy investigation, citing the case’s “complexity.” 

Separately, a report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China warned that firms were being forced to drastically localize their operations to suit China’s regulations, driving up costs and reducing efficiency. 

Heightened trade tensions and Beijing’s “self-reliance policies” were causing many multinationals “to separate certain China-based functions, or even entire operations, from those in the rest of the world,” it said. 

It added that governance rules increasingly dominated by national security concerns had heightened uncertainties for local entities in engaging with European clients. 

Some customers are therefore choosing to “err on the side of caution and not take a risk by buying from a foreign service provider,” Chamber head Jens Eskelund said at a media event on Thursday.           
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LONDON — Britain will create a new sanctions regime to target the leaders of networks that smuggle tens of thousands of people into Britain each year, as well as the often-Chinese makers of the boats and motors they use, the government said Wednesday.

Under huge political pressure to cut the numbers arriving in small boats from France, the government said the laws would complement other reforms.

“We will target those profiting off putting lives at risk, and disrupt the gangs’ finances,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.

The policy was due to be the centerpiece of a speech by foreign minister David Lammy on Thursday, seeking to demonstrate coordination between the foreign and interior ministries.

Lammy said Britain would pursue the makers of the boats used by migrant smugglers.

He told Times Radio many of the manufacturers were from China. Asked by the BBC whether the government would sanction those businesses, Lammy said: “Absolutely, because when you look at those boats, where do the engines come from? Where does the rubber come from?”

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government said the sanctions would be in place by the end of the year and enable authorities to ban those linked to people-smuggling from entering Britain, punish those trying to do business with them, and freeze assets.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer was elected in July and immediately ditched the previous, Conservative government’s plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda as a deterrent, instead switching focus to breaking up the gangs that organize crossings.

Migrants from North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere pay thousands of pounds to traffickers for places in small inflatable boats that then try to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping channels to reach the English coast.

Over 36,800 people made the crossing in 2024, 25% more than the previous year, according to government data, while dozens have died in the attempt. 
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held bilateral meetings Thursday with his Ukrainian and British counterparts Wednesday before hosting the Ukraine Defense Contact Group one last time. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb is traveling with Austin as the U.S. is expected to announce its final military aid package for Kyiv under the Biden administration.
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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY — The United States is providing Ukraine with $500 million in additional weapons and equipment from its existing military stockpiles, in what officials told VOA will be the final military aid package before President Joe Biden leaves office.

The officials were speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, which is expected Thursday when U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s hosts the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany, for the last time.

“Our focus will be on maintaining momentum, delivering results, and sending a clear message: The international community stands resolute in its support for Ukraine,” Austin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he will join Austin at the 25th meeting of the group, which comprises about 50 nations that came together under Austin’s leadership to coordinate security assistance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“They [Ukrainians] continue to survive, but they do that with the support of the U.S. and other allied countries and coalitions through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. And I think it’s pretty clear that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is, it’s more than just a common understanding. It’s a common cause,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday.

As Ukrainians fight to survive, that common cause to support their fight is shrouded in uncertainty. President-elect Donald Trump has not indicated whether he will continue America’s leadership of the group when President Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, and current administration officials and defense analysts warn that could prove catastrophic for Kyiv.

Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that Trump, who has been very critical of the Biden administration’s handling of Afghanistan, would not want to see a similar humanitarian crisis “on his record.”

“If you have a major curtailment or end of U.S. support for Ukraine, then you could have a major disaster in Ukraine,” he told VOA.

Rather than cut Kyiv’s lifeline, Bowman said, the U.S. should surge support to Ukraine in the first months of the new administration “to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position” ahead of any peace negotiations.

There is still $3.8 billion in approved funds for Ukraine that was passed by Congress in April, but the Pentagon says it can’t send that aid at this time because it needs additional funds from Congress to restock its own supplies.

While analysts point to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as a high point of Austin’s legacy, funding delays from Congress and deliberations within the Biden administration on what weapons to give Kyiv have hampered Ukraine’s fight.

Bowman says that too often, when Ukraine asked for something, the Biden administration told them “no,” then “maybe,” before finally saying, “yes.”

“During that time period, we saw Russians advancing, Ukrainians dying and the delay being costly,” he said.

Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, the group of about 50 nations has provided Kyiv with more than $126 billion in weapons, training and equipment. The U.S. has provided about $66 billion, slightly more than half of the group’s aid.

Officials said the administration hoped the latest aid package, along with other commitments from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, could put Kyiv in a stronger negotiating position. They also told reporters that at least 80% of the American weapons and equipment promised to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles would reach Ukraine before Biden left office. One notable exception, a senior defense official said, was a group of military vehicles that were still being refurbished to be used on the battlefield.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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With the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey sees an opportunity to send home up to 4 million Syrians who came there during Syria’s civil war, amid growing public hostility toward the refugees. Many of those interviewed in Istanbul, however, have built new lives in Turkey and say that with no guarantees of safety or livelihood, they are not ready to return. Dorian Jones reports.
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A Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 13 people Wednesday and injured dozens more, Ukrainian authorities reported.

The attack came minutes after regional Governor Ivan Fedorov warned that “high-speed missiles” and “glide bombs” were heading toward the Zaporizhzhia region.

Bodies of the victims and people injured in the attack were strewn across a road and adjacent paved areas next to damaged public transportation facilities. The debris hit a tram and a bus with passengers inside, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said.

High-rise apartment blocks, an industrial facility and other infrastructure were damaged in the attack. Emergency workers were trying to resuscitate a man while raging flames, smoke and burned cars could be seen in the background.

Russian troops used two guided bombs to hit a residential area, Fedorov told reporters. He said at least four of the injured were rushed to a hospital in serious condition. Fedorov said Thursday would be an official day of mourning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, “There is nothing more cruel than launching aerial bombs on a city, knowing that ordinary civilians will suffer.”

As he often has, Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western allies to step up pressure on Russia.

Russia regularly carries out airstrikes on the Zaporizhzhia region, which its forces partially occupy. Moscow claims to have annexed the Ukrainian region along with four others, including Crimea, which it unilaterally seized in 2014.

Ukraine hits fuel depot

Earlier Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said it struck a fuel storage depot deep inside Russia near Engels in the Saratov region about 600 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border. The attack caused a huge fire at the facility, which supplies an important Russian air base.

Ukraine’s General Staff said, “The damage to the oil base creates serious logistical problems for the strategic aviation of the Russian occupiers and significantly reduces their ability to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects. To be continued.”

Russian officials acknowledged a major drone attack in the area and said authorities had set up an emergency command center to fight the fire.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the attack hit the depot that supplied a nearby airfield used by aircraft that launch missiles across the border into Ukraine, a statement on Facebook said.

Ukraine has been developing its own arsenal of domestically produced long-range missiles and drones capable of reaching deep behind the front line as it faces restrictions on the range that its military can fire its Western-supplied missiles into Russia.

Zelenskyy said last year that his country has developed a weapon that could hit a target 700 kilometers away. Some Ukrainian drone attacks have hit targets more than 1,000 kilometers away.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any future deal to end the war in Ukraine would need to build into it deterrence to prevent Russia from once again attacking Ukraine.

Speaking in Paris, Blinken warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would try to use any ceasefire in Ukraine to refit Russian forces and eventually attack Ukraine again.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Ukrainian forces carried out what Russian officials said Wednesday was a mass drone attack on the Saratov region, causing damage to an industrial enterprise.

Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said the attack targeted the neighboring cities of Saratov and Engels, an area that is home to an airbase for Russian bomber planes.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said on Telegram its forces hit a Russian oil depot in Engels that provides fuel to the airbase.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones in the Saratov region, but did not say anything about damage in the area.

Ukrainian drone attacks are typically focused on the areas directly along the Ukraine-Russia border, with some targeting regions further into Russia. Saratov is located in southwestern Russia about 450 kilometers from Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it also destroyed 21 total Ukrainian drones over Kursk, Rostov, Belgorod, Bryansk, Krasnodar, Volgograd and the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine’s military said Wednesday that Russian attacks overnight included 64 drones mostly targeting areas in central Ukraine.

Air defenses destroyed 41 of the drones over the Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions, the Ukrainian air force said.

Officials in Sumy said the attacks damaged a house and injured one person.

Some information for this report was provided Reuters
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Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed from an Iranian prison Wednesday and was flying home, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said.

Her release came three weeks after she was detained in Tehran while working on a journalist visa.

Iran had accused Sala of “violating the law of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Meloni’s office praised the “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels” in securing Sala’s release.

Iran has denied any link between Sala’s detention and the arrest of an Iranian businessman days earlier days by Italian authorities. The United States accused the Iranian of illegally supplying drone parts used in an attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the strike.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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With temperatures dipping below freezing this week in Moldova’s Russian-backed breakaway region of Transnistria, the end of an agreement to ship natural gas from Russia through Ukraine has led to rolling blackouts, idle factories and a lack of hot water.

Ukraine decided not to renew a five-year gas transfer deal with Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. The agreement, which was negotiated before the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, allowed natural gas shipments across Ukrainian territories to countries in Europe.

Before the war, Russian pipelines supplied 40% of Europe’s natural gas. Now, that figure is about 8%, according to data from the European Commission.

Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed Kyiv had stopped the transit “in the interest of national security,” according to The Associated Press. 

The European Commission has repeatedly emphasized that ending the transfer of Russian natural gas across Ukraine was not a surprise and that countries had time to prepare for it. 

But in Transnistria, a sliver of territory wedged between the Dniester River and the Ukrainian border, the end of the agreement is a serious matter. The pro-Russia separatist enclave, which fought against Moldova in 1992, declared a state of emergency over the end of the shipments.

Moldova’s Foreign Ministry told VOA in a statement that parts of the country west of the Dniester River — which includes most of Moldova’s population and the nation’s capital, Chișinau — was preparing to stop supplies from Russia and has been buying gas on European markets, albeit at a higher price. 

 

Moldovan authorities said they offered to help the breakaway region obtain gas from European markets. In response, Transnistria’s “Foreign Ministry” claimed Moldova was attempting “to manipulate public opinion by providing false information.” 

In a statement issued on January 6, it said: “Transnistria has not received any specific forms of assistance or adequate practical support from the Moldovan side. There is none today.”

Moldova’s pro-Western prime minister, Dorin Recean, said that by “jeopardizing the future of the protectorate it has supported for three decades in an attempt to destabilize Moldova, Russia is demonstrating the inevitable outcome for all its allies: betrayal and isolation.”

“We view this as a security crisis aimed at allowing pro-Russian forces to return to power in Moldova and use our territory as a weapon against Ukraine, with which we share a 1,200-kilometer border,” Recean said.

“The Moldovan government remains committed to supporting all citizens with simple solutions for those in the Transnistrian region. Alternative energy solutions such as biomass systems, generators, humanitarian aid and basic medical supplies are ready to be delivered if the separatist leadership accepts support,” he added.

Oazu Nantoi, a member of the Moldovan parliament, said he also believes that Transnistria is refusing help from official Moldovan authorities on the Kremlin’s orders.

Nantoi told VOA that most of Moldova is supplied until March.

“There, we are no longer dependent on Gazprom’s monopoly. We can buy gas at market prices,” he said. “Sometimes these prices bite, but Gazprom cannot influence consumption.”
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