State media uniformly led with Xi Jinping awarding Serbia's President Vucic the Friendship Medal and signing joint statements, reinforcing the 'ironclad friendship' narrative throughout the day. Headlines from People's Daily, CCTV, Xinhua, and others repeated this theme in multiple editions. External outlets focused on US airstrikes on Iran (BBC Chinese), China's crackdown on illegal cross-border stock trading (DW Chinese), and a patriotic carnival in Hong Kong (HKFP). SCMP covered the Shanxi mine disaster's impact on the province's cultural shift, Huawei's chip workarounds, and China's halal export rise. Secret China reported on a stabbing in Zhuhai and a factory fire in Suzhou. The day saw no major shift from the previous day's Serbian visit dominance, with state media maintaining a coordinated editorial line.
