2026 WIC Wuzhen Summit opens with focus on open-source AI
Pakistan’s contract to buy Chinese Z-10ME attack helicopters covers 30 airframes, according to an image circulating on Chinese social media. The image was shared by a prominent military blogger on Sunday and marks the first time a concrete number for Pakistan’s fleet of the helicopters has surfaced since Islamabad officially inducted them into service in August last year. In the post, the blogger known as Sashoujian said that on July 11 China National Aero-Technology Import and Export...
China’s ruling Communist Party has overhauled its personnel process in its search for clean and battle-tested cadres ahead of next year’s major leadership reshuffle. New rules were included in a resolution adopted at the 20th Central Committee’s fifth plenum last Thursday and published by state news agency Xinhua on Sunday. Analysts said that as provincial and ministerial reshuffles begin ahead of the 21st party congress, the fifth plenum sent a clear message: Beijing wants proven crisis...
Taiwan is tightening its military service exemption rules in a sweeping overhaul expected to halve the exemption rate and add thousands of conscripts to the armed forces each year as the island grapples with persistent manpower shortages. Under the revised standards, which took effect last week, men will generally be exempt on weight grounds only if their body mass index (BMI) exceeds 45, while the height threshold for exemption has been lowered to 144cm (4.7 feet). Rules covering hypertension...
China’s top diplomat has again stressed the need for a political settlement to strife in the Middle East, telling a senior Iranian official in Beijing on Monday that armed conflict was not the way out. “As conflicts in the Middle East drag on and risk further spillover, dialogue and negotiation remain the only viable path forward,” Wang Yi told Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “All parties should … focus on a political settlement in a rational and...
Turkey has signed America’s rule book for the moon, but its first ride to the lunar south pole – the icy region both Washington and Beijing are racing to reach – will probably come from China. A team of more than 120 students and professors at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara has built prototypes of two AI-powered rovers for Chang’e-8, a Chinese mission originally planned for 2028. Turkey is not part of the International Lunar Research Station, a base China plans to build on the...
Beijing is accelerating production of its Type 071 amphibious transport docks by expanding construction to a second shipyard, potentially strengthening its ability to move troops and military equipment across the Taiwan Strait in a conflict. The expansion comes amid long-standing United States assessments that Beijing lacks enough landing ships and logistical support for a large-scale assault on Taiwan, suggesting the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) may be moving to address a significant...
China and Oman have called for a peaceful resolution and full ceasefire between the US and Iran, stressing that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz must be restored. The call came during talks in Beijing on Monday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq. In their joint statement, Beijing and Muscat encouraged the United States and Iran to resume dialogue and reach a “comprehensive agreement that includes the nuclear issue”. The two sides also affirmed that...
We have put together stories from our coverage of China’s fifth plenum. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘Unwritten rules’ become newest target in Communist Party’s war on corruption The Communist Party of China has pledged to vigorously crack down on the “unwritten rules” that enable corruption in the party, deepening its long-running campaign to keep officials in line. 2. At China’s fifth plenum, Communist Party puts discipline and loyalty to Xi...
Some high-pressure turbine blades in US-made GE Aerospace engines powering Boeing 787 aircraft have suffered unexpectedly early damage, leaving airlines with a difficult choice: replace the engines or continue flying under strict inspection requirements, according to a Chinese aviation specialist. The findings raise questions about the reliability of American aerospace products amid growing scrutiny of US manufacturing quality. According to the study, cracks can develop in some blades within...
This article is the official English translation of the original Chinese document released by Xinhua.
Chinese researchers have mapped how energy from surface wind surges thousands of metres into the seabed, revealing massive underwater conduits they called “inertial chimneys”. The discovery, based on data collected by a US-funded ocean sensor array off the east coast of Japan, coupled with future long-term underwater monitoring, can provide underwater acoustic environmental support for marine detection and communication, the team said. The scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the...
Joshua Cooper Ramo is chairman and CEO of Sornay, an investment and advisory firm. Previously he was CEO of Kissinger Associates. Ramo is the author of the new book Darwin’s Lock: America, China and the Shared Future of Nations. His 2004 analysis of “the Beijing consensus” contrasted the Western and Chinese economic development models. He is the author of two New York Times bestselling books and now lives in Shanghai with his family. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click...
