The New York Times reports: "This placid, leafy hamlet tucked beside a dam in the countryside hardly seems like the next testing ground over China's efforts to cut smog and greenhouse gases. But here among cornfields and crumbling stone homes skirted by persimmon trees, the government intends to build a nuclear power plant...Ask villagers here what they think of the proposed plant, though, and talk quickly turns to the Communist government's dismal record of industrial accidents, as well as the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. Residents in Hubin will be resettled to new homes a few miles away, but many said that they would still feel threatened living so close to a nuclear station."
Bloomberg News reports: "The violence swirling out from Syria in recent weeks is pressuring China to step off the sidelines and take a more active role in international efforts to stem the conflict...Since Syria's internal strife spilled into the streets of Paris on Nov. 13, French President Francois Hollande has pressed Russia and the U.S. to merge their parallel bombing campaigns into an international effort to wipe out Islamic State. The U.K., which has bombed the group in Iraq, is thinking about joining the fray in Syria. That has left China as the sole veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council still advocating for a political solution."
The Wall Street Journal reports: "A Malaysian government-investment fund struggling to dig itself out of a heavy debt load sealed a $2.3 billion deal to sell a collection of energy assets to a Chinese state-owned firm. China General Nuclear Power Corp. is purchasing all of the energy assets of 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, for 9.83 billion Malaysian ringgit ($2.3 billion) in cash. Those assets, known as Edra, consist of 13 power plants across five countries from Malaysia to Egypt and Bangladesh. China General Nuclear will also assume an unspecified amount of debt as part of the deal."