China's Week: January 11
Truck platooning; Fog-penetrating drones; 2,000yo computer; Chinese drones un-blacklisted; Boffo box office; PLAN launches 7 destroyers in 2025 vs. USN's 0.
Science & Technology
SANY’s the “1+4” single-driver platooning of fourth-generation autonomous trucks cuts freight cost/km 29% and ups fleet operating profit by 195%.
The world’s first AI-powered optical and electronic fog-penetrating drone, GDU’s UAV-P300, went on sale this week.
China’s 0.1-second blackout recovery tech protects grids in 12 nations.
Huawei’s single pole EcoMatrix base station cuts device count, improves coverage reduces energy use 35%, for lifetime savings of $40,000.
BYD’s 5,000-man assisted driving system generates 150 million km of driving data daily, enabling features like drone linkage and smart home control.
China and Russia join forces to expand in new strategic frontiers: the Arctic, outer space and influence-building.
A.I. Is Finding Deadly Pancreatic Tumors That Doctors Might Miss. One example of how China is racing to apply A.I. to medicine’s tough problems.
Domestically developed semiconductor equipment installed surged to 35% in 2025, up from 25% 2024.
World’s earliest computer is a silk loom built in China 2000 years ago.
Maglev train hits 700 km/h in 2 seconds, new world record.
Economy & Trade
Automated mooring’s high-vacuum system completes 30-minute supertanker
moorings in 30 seconds.
CATL’s systems power 900 ships–with batteries, power electronics, propulsion integration, and control systems, charging and battery swapping infrastructure.
PLAN launches seven Type 52 destroyers in 2025. USN launches none.
How the ‘world’s supermarket’ grew even stronger under Trump’s tariffs. Yiwu, one of China’s biggest export hubs, was expected to take a hit from US tariffs.
US government abandons plan to blacklist Chinese-made drones. The US drone industry cannot function without motors, batteries, rare earths, scale.
Box office up 22% in 2025, to $7.4 billion, led by Ne Zha 2. Domestic films get 80% of sales, Disney’s Zootopia sequel sets new high for imported titles.
20,022 China-Europe freight trains carried goods worth $68 billion to 128 cities in China and 232 cities in 26 European countries by end-2025.
40.6 million visa-free foreign arrivals since December 2024, up 27% YoY.
High-protein corn cuts soybean dependence. Its 10% protein (2% higher than regular corn) could add 3 million tons of protein annually, reduce soybean imports by 7-8 MT.
Society & Environment
Ski resort’s $700 birthday service: instructors carry women guests down slope. Detractors say ‘close physical contact’ blurs boundaries.
Urban afforestation project adding 50,000 ha/125,000 acres of city green space in 2026, part of the “Beautiful China” initiative targeting carbon neutrality goals.
90% of monitored cities achieved good air quality days in 2025, with PM2.5 concentrations down 5.2% year-on-year.
Infant mortality hit 2.5/thousand, under-five mortality at 5.6 per thousand. USA: 3.65/1,000 live births; Under-5 mortality 6.8 per 1,000 live births.
Online Education Platform’s 73 billion visits Expands AI Learning Globally
Ming Yang’s “world’s first fully recyclable carbon fiber wind turbine blade,” 110 m. (361 ft.) long, solves recycling nightmare.
China’s annual 10 million tonnes of e-waste contains 2,500 tonnes of gold. 97% recovery, minus $1455/gm extraction costs, generates $100 billion net profit.
Governance
Will China’s Plans for Humanlike AI Set the Tone for Global AI? Beijing tightens rules for humanlike AI, with a heavy emphasis on user safety and societal values.
New regulations streamline approval processes for foreign-invested R&D centers to attract more high-tech investment.
China will treat drones as aircraft under new laws to improve safety.
Shanghai aims to be world’s eVTOL capital: annual output value of $11.4 billion for its low-altitude economy core industries by 2028.
Diplomacy & Geopolitics
China, ASEAN expand digital economy and green development cooperation, upgrade the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.
China Tightens Export Controls on Dual-Use Items to Japan.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO, To Overtake G7 GDP By 2030
A confident hegemon doesn’t kidnap foreign leaders, sabotage economies with sanctions, weaponize courts and financial systems, or violate its own “rules-based order.” Those are the behaviors of a power that feels time working against it.
Thus, the primary beneficiaries of Trumpian aggression are precisely those Washington seeks to contain. China and Russia have spent years advocating an alternative framework for global cooperation based on sovereign equality and multipolarity. Each act of US lawlessness strengthens their appeal. After the illegal assault on Venezuela, expect the queue of countries seeking closer association with BRICS (and similar groupings) to grow longer, even as the US responds by escalating threats against those who do.
Defense
New microwave weapon destroys drone swarms within 3km. The Hurricane 3000 has a longer range than its US equivalent, carries out ‘diverse air defence missions’.
PLAN commissions Type 076 amphibious assault ship, first of its class with electromagnetic catapult, significantly enhancing expeditionary capabilities.
Power is regional first, global second. Always has been. China’s military doctrine, force posture, logistics, and strategic planning are overwhelmingly concentrated in East Asia.
Elites struggle to see that China doesn’t need to ‘win’ Venezuela militarily to undermine U.S. dominance. It just needs to keep building alternatives elsewhere.
Using a complete suite of Chinese hard- and software the Pakistan Air Force executed their defense against the Indian Air Force Chinese air battle flawlessly.