Another big week for tech and defense
Science & Technology
Unitree, whose robots hold the Guinness sprinting record, just released an open-source full-body data set that lets robots dance.
The JinDou 400 engine flies Beijing-New York in 2 hours at 3,100 mph (5,000 km/h), at 66,000 feet (12 miles). 12” diameter x 10’ long, it produces 880 lb of thrust without compressors or turbines.
Shenzhou-19 astronauts have converted CO2 and water into oxygen and ethylene, which can be processed into rocket propellant.
AECC ignited its 600-kg thrust-class high-end turbofan engine after 8 months development. It will power 1.5 to 4-ton UAVs.
Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra Super Dam will capture three times the hydroelectric power of the Three Gorges Dam.
Will Bluetooth alternative, Star Flash, take over consumer electronics? It supports multiple simultaneous connections, low power, and streams lossless stereo audio.
China is exporting 28nm. lithography machines. Their yield rate is like ASML’s, but the price is only 3% of ASML’s. 28nm chips account for 80% of global chip demand
Manufacturers delivered 3.17 million civilian drones last year, and 220,000 citizens have drone piloting licenses.
Record satellite-to-ground laser communications 10x faster, 100 Gb/s. For 6G, ultra hi-res sensing and next-gen satellite positioning.
CR450 train prototype hits 450 km/h will have 400 km/h operating speed, stabler, shorter braking, +22% energy-efficient, 10% lighter, quiet cabin.
910 new drugs make China the #2 pharmaceutical market, and its drug development pipeline of 5,380 drugs rivals America’s 5397. China’s biopharma market has reached $3.3 billion with a CAGR of 13.8%.
A Palbociclib breast cancer tablets that costs $2 in China costs $227 in the USA, 100 times more.
Startup NeuroXess lets brain-damaged patients turn thoughts into speech in real time, and remotely control a robot arm using thoughts alone.
World’s first 3rd-generation nuclear reactor starts powering 6 million homes.
Summarizing a 90,000-word book costs $2 from OpenAI and $0.07 from China’s Deepseek. A security codebase analyst costs $60 from OpenAI, $2.20 from DeepSeek.
Trade & Economy
China Rail handled a record 194,000 cargo trains daily in 2024, and a record 4.08 billion passenger trips, up 10.8%. Air trips rose 18% to 730 million.
Foreign brands accounted for 64% of car sales in 2020. In 2024 it was 35%. EV sales will take over the Chinese car market, collapsing ICEV and foreign brand sales.
Foreigners made 65 million cross-border trips by in 2024, up 83% YoY, and 2.6 million Chinese visas were issued for foreigners, up 52%.
China’s Rednote tops US iOS app downloads, Temu #2, Tiktok #3.
Huawei beats Apple, dominates global smartwatch market.
Microsoft’s Brad Smith: the US must remain competitive with Huawei in AI or face another defeat like 5G.
The one-billionth 5G mobile subscriber signed up in November, accounting for 56% of the country’s 1.79 billion mobile users.
China has completed its national ‘high-speed rail for computers,’ an 8,080-mile, super-fast computer network with delays under 20 ms. and 3cm. location accuracy.
There are 4.5 million firms in core sectors of China’s digital economy.
Booming phone-friendly mini-dramas will earn $7 billion in 2024.
SMIC cut 28nm node wafer price from $2500 to $1500, pressuring foreign fabs. UMC’s 28nm fab utilization fell from 85% last year to 68% in 2024.
Yiwu (pop. 2 million) produced 80% of the world’s Christmas decorations, worth $70 billion, for 2 billion people in 160 countries.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge saw a record 27 million trips in 2024.
Chinese dollar bonds sold in Riyadh safer than 10-year US Treasuries. Chinese RMB bonds appreciated 9% in 2024.
China’s Lithium reserves have increased from 6% to 16.5% of the global total, lifting it from sixth to second place in the world rankings.
China launched a probe into US exports of mature node semiconductors, citing complaints from domestic chip industry.
WSJ: “China accounts for 27% of global industrial production, up from 24% in 2018. By 2030, China’s share will have risen to 45%”.
Society
The retirement age for men will rise from 60 to 63 over 15 years, for women will be raised from 55 to 58, and women blue-collar workers will rise from 50 to 55.
Has the fourth wave of scientist returnees arrived?
Surviving in Cashless China 2025: 10 apps to make your life easier.
In 2024, the nationwide
Per capita disposable income, 41,314 yuan, increased 5.1% after inflation. Rural household income was 23,119 yuan, up 6.3%.
Environment
370 MkW of renewables–83% of new capacity–and only 40 MkW of coal power installed last year. Renewables still insufficient and unstable.
The Yarlung/Brahmaputra mega-dam will generate 3% of China’s total power (300 TWh), and cost $137B. At 8¢/kWh, it will earn $22B pa for a 16% ROI.
Only China is close to matching a high energy consumption growth entirely with clean energy.* Coal-fired emissions rose 1%, showing it’s close to solving the puzzle.
Governance
In 2024, Xi visited 10 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the Macao Special Administrative Region, made four visits abroad.
Judicial system is integrating AI: case filing, document drafting, hearings, reviews, reducing document preparation time so judges resolve 50% more cases monthly.
The CCDI investigated 56 vice-ministers or above in 2024, up from 45 in 2023. It classifies graft into three categories:
graft, bribes, fraud, embezzlement, extortion, smuggling, tax evasion etc, which are economic crimes meant to increase the personal wealth of officials.
behaviours considered unhealthy, like spending public money for luxurious work and lifestyle conditions, extravagance and waste, excessive spending on entertainment and travel etc.
preferential treatment or nepotism in personnel appointment and promotions and favourable treatment of relatives of officials, friends and associates, which facilitate the creation of personal networks.
Unlike Western systems, China’s socialist welfare system invests in enhancing everyone’s income-earning capacity. The welfare system differs from social charity.
Bangladesh’s BRI-financed, Chinese built, 170 km Padma Bridge railway is fully operational, reducing Dhaka – Jesol travel from 10 hours to 3.
Geopolitics
Indictment Debunks China Hacking Claim after main-stream media spread an anti-Chinese propaganda campaign launched by U.S. national security sources.
9 New BRICS Partners: Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan. Pending: Algeria, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkiye.
2021 Gina Raimondo: “U.S. needs to work with Europe to slow China’s innovation rate”.
2024 Gina Raimondo: “Holding Back China in Chips Race Is a Fool’s Errand”.
NYT: “China will be selling affordable EVs and renewable energy equipment around the globe while the US becomes the new Cuba—where you visit to see old gas-guzzling cars that you drive yourself.”
New York Times, 1976: Mao Tse‐tung, who began as an obscure peasant, died one of history’s great revolutionary figures. In Chinese terms, he ranked with the first Emperor who unified China in 200 B.C.
Chinese scientist cleared of charges of ‘secret’ China ties sues university after 5 years in jail.
The Black Book of Communism has sold millions, yet most of its dramatic claims were rejected by his own contributors when the book came out.
Defense
The J-36, above, beats the B-21 due to greater thrust from its 3 engines, interior space
The content below was originally paywalled.
for electronic systems, PTMS, battery pack, 4G semiconductor tech1 and fuel load.
Chinese Sixth Generation Fighters Poised to Cut Pentagon Demand For F-35s: Lockheed Martin Stock Drops After New Chinese Jets’ Unveiling.
Mobile 5G base station provides high-speed, low-latency, secure, reliable data exchange for 10,000 soldiers within 2 miles for troops in complex terrain under electromagnetic attack.
The new Type 076, the 40,000 tonne Sichuan, the first amphibious assault ship with an electromagnetic catapult.
Metal Storm gun fires 450,000 rounds per minute from five barrels, intercepts hypersonic missiles. The US Phalanx system fires 4,500 rpm.
Estimating China’s Defence Spending: How to Get it Wrong (and Right) – M. Taylor Fravel, George J. Gilboy, Eric Heginbotham
All 700 border outposts have been connected to the national power grid, improving the lives of front-line troops and the deployment of power-consuming equipment.
PLA Assessment: “Although the U.S. military is equipped with sophisticated weaponry, it is extremely afraid of getting injured or killed”.
In China’s Gallium Oxide-on-Diamond RF module, the diamond substrate offers 14x the thermal conductivity of GaO-on-Si and 7.4x that of GaO-on-Sic, and fixes the poor thermal conductivity of Gallium Oxide. Such technology + an adequate power generator allow J-36, J-XX and CCAs to generate Radio Frequencies for powerful electronic attacks.
