China's Week, July 19
New 5G fighter joins the fleet. Mind-controlled bees. Organ regeneration switch. 77,000 STEM PhD grads this year. 18% of homes mortgaged, and much, much more.
Science & Technology
Construction of the launch pad for the gigantic Long March 10 Moon rocket on Hainan Island in preparation for the 2030 moonshot.
China's research lead over the US has quadrupled in the past year The Nature Index says. By 17.4%, while America's fell by 10.1%.
Robot dog runs 100m in 13.17 seconds, breaks Boston Dynamics’ record.
China mind-controls bees with world’s lightest brain chip. It’s strapped to a bee’s back, probes pierce the bee’s brain and electronic pulses then guide its flight.
Scientists who restored damaged outer ears in mice said their findings proved the existence of a genetic switch for organ regeneration, which meant it might also be present in other organs.
Open source Kimi K2, launched July 11, outscoress Western rivals at coding tests like LiveCodeBench. This comes after DeepSeek’s R1 shocked the world in January.
China’s 2030 sovereign AI ecosystem will integrate centralized governance with localized experimentation, emphasizes resilience, ethical oversight, national unity.
Economy & Trade
World’s Highest Mega-Bridge, the new Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, 625 m. (2,051 ft) above the river below, a testament to engineering, trade and connectivity.
Exports rose 7.2%, imports fell 2.7% in H1. High-tech exports up 9.2% YoY, Chinese brands were 32.4% of the total. China-BRICS trade hits $855 billion, up 3.9%.
China’s share of US imports fell from 14.8% in September 2024 to 7.1% in May, part
of a long-term decline that began during President Trump’s first term.
US listed companies’ $56.5 trillion market capitalization is 100% of US GDP. China’s $12 trillion market cap is 65% of GDP.
China makes 90 % of the world’s Sm‑Co magnets that keep guidance fins and F‑35 actuators working at 300 °C.
ASEAN (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines) pay US tariffs of 20%-40%, enjoy free trade with China under the RCEP.
77,000 Chinese STEM PhD graduates this year vs. 40,000 in the USA. Excluding international students and Chinese STEM PhDs outnumber the U.S. 3:1.
New East China-Moscow Direct Freight Rail Service; St. Petersburg Exchange Closes First China Timber Export Contract
Chinese Container Ships Receive Permission to Sail Russia’s Arctic Northern Sea Route.
60% of sovereign wealth funds to increase their investments in China over the next five years, higher than in 2024.
Society & Environment
320,000 tons: the largest green hydrogen and ammonia plant replaces fossil fuel-derived hydrogen in steel production; ammonia is the primary feedstock for nitrogen-based fertilizers.
An English-language Ne Zha 2, the world's top-grossing animated film, opens in cinemas in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand Aug. 24.
A run-down, 82 sq m (900 sq. ft) apartment outside central Xiamen sells for $300,000. Within Shanghai's Inner Ring Road it would be $886,000. How do people afford this? The Housing Provident Fund.
18% of Chinese households have mortgages, compared with 54% in the US. China’s home mortgage-to-GDP ratio was just 15% in 2012 (81% in the US), and the default rate was 0.17%.
The National School Milk Program, launched in 2000, has reached 30 million primary and secondary school students across 1,00,000 schools
China has demolished 300 dams and small hydropower stations on the Red River, a Yangtze tributary and the last refuge for fish species endemic to the upper Yangtze.
Governance
How one provincial capital built a high-tech empire by acting like a venture capitalist–and created a memory chip champion worth more than most unicorns.
In its current 5-year plan, China’s economy will reach $20 trillion in 2025. R&D spending has risen 50% and 460,000 high-tech firms now operate. 26 sci-tech clusters made breakthroughs in AI, space, and quantum technology. 95% coverage in education, healthcare, and pensions and reduced urban-rural income gaps. Forest coverage is 25%, clean energy surpassed coal and air quality improved. Food, energy, and industrial security strengthened.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
“No Safe Harbor” says Chinese control over ports gives “leverage over key nodes in regional supply chains, enhancing Beijing’s economic and diplomatic sway”.
EU sanctions BRICS journalists Association (BJA).
Egypt, China sign strategic agreement to dedollarise trade and adopt yuan settlement. Will settle trade in national currencies, using CIPS.
China’s strategic levers from open source AI dominance: technological competitiveness, open-source ecosystem development, international standard-setting and talent internationalization.
Three in five Australians see the relationship with China as ‘a complex relationship to be managed’ while one in five see it as as a threat to be confronted.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon: We must understand the rationale of these Western states.. The plan is, first, to reorganize the entire Middle East to secure access to oil for the countries of the Global North; and, second, to create the conditions for war with China.
The likelihood of electrification in African subnational regions rises by 0.4% with each additional 1,000 MW of power generation financed by China.
After Rio, BRICS will emphasize continental economic integration, trade in national currencies, and expanded global financial institutions like the NDB (the BRICS bank).
China's 2025 SCO presidency prepares for the meeting of the Council of Heads of State (CHS) September 1 in Tianjin, then by a summit SCO+ meeting.
Defense
Full-span wingtip control surfaces on Shenyang Aircraft’s 6G fighter provide more effective roll control while tailless design with a lambda-shaped wing I stealthy.
Top aircraft designer says AI and the ability to work with unmanned aircraft will be key for future fighters which ‘should be produced like mobile phones’. Their software should easily updated, as with mobile phones.
Cairo’s airspace is now guarded by China’s HQ-9B AA missiles–after decades with American air defense systems with American override codes. It includes AI-powered radar mapping and a direct uplink to Beidou, not GPS.
The first production J-35 fifth-generation, carrier-based fighters, below, have joined the fleet. The J-35 is faster, longer ranged with higher agility than the USN’s F-35.
