China's Week, December 2
$100,000 containerized hypersonic missiles; Batteries power 22% of heavy truck sales; China imports more oil daily than Saudi Arabia produces; Desktop-sized EUV light source.
Science & Technology
Vertiport, with CATL, runs on electricity; landing pad covered in solar panels, cabin a departure lounge and control room for eVTOL takeoffs, landings, charging.
China’s replacement return vessel docked with the Tiangong space station in four hours, brought taikonauts home safely after window cracked.
XPeng’s founder on humanoids: “Prices will be car-level, software value far above smart vehicles, social value 1–2× cars, and market scale between cars and phones”.
World’s first production line for large all-solid-state EV batteries starts tests.
Two thousand AI-related tenders were awarded nationwide worth ¥10 Bn in 3Q, mostly for education, government services and finance applications.
How Thirty Trillion Daily Tokens, public procurement and workflow economics are building the world’s deepest AI usage foundation.
Desktop-sized EUV light source using high-harmonic generation (HHG) produces coherent EUV light, makes 14-nm chips that power industrial automation and EVs.
One city’s 24x7 virtual assistant supports companies participating in tenders, explains registration procedures, helps interpret policies and resolves common issues.
Comac launched a clean surgical cabin for its C909 jet, expanding access to complex medical procedures in the country’s most remote and underserved regions.
Quercetin shows promise in cancer prevention. Shandong University team has discovered how the antioxidant found in apples and other foods works.
Economy & Trade
China imports 11 million barrels of oil a day–more than Saudi Arabia’s daily output,
keeping prices much higher than they otherwise would be.
Batteries powered 22% of new heavy-truck sales in H1, up 9.2% YoY. They outsell LNG models and their share of sales will reach 46% this year and 60% next year.
Globally,1.9 million TVs sold in October, up 23% from 2024. IC engines were a third of EU new car sales; electric truck sales are denting global demand for diesel.
Shanghai has 631 foreign-owned R&D centres. Even Renault, which does not sell cars in China, opened an R&D centre there to learn from the local market.
Two things are clear in China’s commercial launch sector: 1) large NGSO constellations need more rockets, and 2) eight companies are vying for their business.
China diversifies from US, EU, Australian farms, creates new supply chains by paying above-market rates directly to African farmers, locking in all the new supply and cutting out middlemen.
China is by far the world’s biggest official creditor: $202 billion of the $2.2 trillion disbursed went to projects in the US, also financed US M&A.
Real household income grew 5.4%, in 2024, 0.2% higher than the nominal growth rate 5.2%. 30-year mortgage rate is 3.1%, 2.65% for first time buyers.
Society & Environment
Solar panels in arid regions reduce soil evaporation 113%. The effect of the shade created is so profound it reverses the hydrological deficit that drives desertification.
Solar-nuclear hybrid system reaches 98% power reliability. Functioning as the control center, the Energy Management System (EMS) oversees the operation.
Hybrid heat pump slashes energy costs by 55% and grid reliance 75%, uses AI-based optimization to balance renewable energy, heating and battery storage.
A successful cargo flight of lithium batteries with an AI safety system monitors 12 indicators–temperature, gas emissions, etc.–contains, forestalls thermal runaway.
Population-specific genetic risk scores advance precision medicine for Han Chinese, predicting risks for diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders.
Shimao’s stone walls, built in 2200 BC, surround a 4 sq. km city and DNA suggests the local population has changed little since then.
How dynasties shaped Chinese culture and how each, with its technological and cultural advancements, propelled the nation forward.
Diplomacy & Geopolitics
Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai: “return to China is not an option”, after President Xi pressed China’s sovereignty claims in a call with President Trump.
China is repositioning the foundational narrative of US-China relations to post-WWII, from adversarial accommodation to historical allies with shared responsibility.
The 1962 India-China war was driven by a deliberate American strategy, to arm and aid Tibetan resistance movement and to make Beijing hostile toward New Delhi.
The Netherlands’ improper administrative and judicial intervention in Nexperia’s operations has still not been lifted, says Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
To run AI through 2030, China will need 1–5% of the power it added over the past five years, while the U.S. must add 50–70%.
Defense
First autonomous anti-submarine UAV, above, flies 40 hours at 32,000’ listening for subs, drops sonobuoys, analyses acoustic data, attacks with ASW torpedoes.
Private company mass produces $200,000, containerized, Mach 7, 1300km-range, hypersonic missiles with AI-driven target identification, evasive maneuvering.
The U.S. Navy is terminating four ships from its Constellation-class frigate program and abandoning the program before construction begins.
Superb rundown of the latest happenings. As always, indispensible!