text: CHINA SECURES STAKE IN HAMBURG PORT: Germany’s ruling cabinet approved China’s Cosco to purchase a stake in the port of Hamburg’s shipping terminal. The approval grants Cosco a 24.9% stake in one of three terminals owned by logistics firm HHLA. The decision was immediately met with formal written protests from the German Foreign and Economic Ministry and four other government ministries, which said the move “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence” on critical transportation infrastructure, allowing China to use the port for leverage in a time of crisis. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials said China hoped “relevant parties” in Germany would see the move as “pragmatic cooperation” and refrain from “gratuitous hype.”CHINA GAINS DIRECT ROUTE TO RUSSIA’S SIBERIAN GAS FIELDS: Russia’s major energy supplier Gazprom is testing alternate transportation routes from the Kovykta gas field in Eastern Siberia as part of an effort to reroute supplies away from Western Europe. Gazprom reportedly plans to deliver gas from the Kovykta fields to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. The direct route to China is expected to come online this December and will significantly increase gas availability to China during a period when its demand is expected to rise. Barclays estimates that Gazprom could use the profits from these gas sales to offset losses from Western sanctions and skirt obstacles posed by Russian capital controls and economic constraints in Europe.KAZAK URANIUM SUPPLIERS SEEK TO BYPASS RUSSIAN SANCTIONS: Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom mining company, the world’s largest supplier of uranium, announced plans to bypass Russian sanctions by increasing shipping quota limits on alternative routes to western countries. Citing ongoing Russian shipping sanctions, Kazatomprom officials announced they were in the process of working with partners to increase shipping for its uranium products along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR). Currently, the company is limited to an annual max of 3,500 tons of shipping along the TITR, which is insufficient to move products that totaled 5,400 tons in the last quarter alone.JAPAN AND LITHUANIA UPGRADE SECURITY TIES AGAINST CHINA: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Wednesday that his country would upgrade security ties with the Baltic country Lithuania to counter Chinese aggression. Lithuania is facing a sustained economic and political warfare attack from China for its overt support of Taiwan and is one of the few countries that host a de facto Taiwan embassy. In his announcement, Kishida said, “Japan and Lithuania are important partners that share basic values such as freedom, human rights, and the rule of law.” Latin America SITREP