#beijing-investment-plans

#beijing-investment-plans

In recent weeks, China approved the world's first commercial brain-computer interface medical device and unveiled a five-ton class electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that has already completed a public flight.

Richard Yu promises that Huawei will expand satellite connectivity to lower-priced devices, ensuring that it won't be confined to high-end models only. This initiative marks a new chapter in the company's journey, addressing the connectivity struggles that persist due to insufficient mobile network coverage.

"Asia has more diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular patients than anywhere else in the world," Abrar Mir states, emphasizing the severity of the health crisis in the region.

The Goddess escalator, which takes almost 21 minutes to ascend, is almost certainly the world's largest of its kind, cutting through the center of Wushan and rising straight into the sky.

The meeting made clear, based on the requirements set out in the 2021 joint notice issued by ten government agencies, that stablecoins are considered a form of virtual currency. At present, they cannot adequately meet requirements for customer identification, anti-money-laundering compliance, or related regulatory standards. They also carry significant risks of being used for money laundering, fraudulent fundraising, and illegal cross-border capital transfers.

China's approach to AI is architecturally different. Where Western tech companies have largely pursued AI as a product category - chatbots, copilots, and standalone tools that can be sold to enterprises - China has treated AI as infrastructure: a utility layer woven into the fabric of commerce, logistics, government services, and daily life.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is working with a Southeast Asian company on plans to use Nvidia's Blackwell chips in Malaysia for AI research and development. The partner is a Tier 1 Nvidia cloud partner, meaning it gets priority access to Nvidia's latest chips directly from Nvidia. ByteDance plugs in through that relationship to access hardware it cannot legally obtain at home.

In an unprecedented Chinese New Year marketing blitz, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings spent an estimated 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) to turn their artificial intelligence assistants into household names, according to Morgan Stanley.

As I write this week's edition, NASA's Space Launch System rocket is undergoing a second countdown rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The outcome of the test will determine whether NASA has a shot at launching the Artemis II mission around the Moon next month, or if the launch will be delayed until April or later. The finicky fueling line for the rocket's core stage is the center of attention after a hydrogen leak cut short a practice countdown earlier this month.

China, which the U.S. until recently saw as its "pacing threat," may feel relieved that neither of President Trump's targets were in its neighborhood. On the other hand, it may also worry that U.S. actions are aimed in part at countering China's influence, per Trump's and his officials' explanations, and that Trump's "America First" rhetoric has not reduced his appetite for what China calls "military adventurism."

"We decided the leadership was so unpredictable, anything could happen," he said, adding that tariff volatility made long-term commitments difficult. "If the tariff goes up to 25 per cent and we become uncompetitive, the whole store proposition is at risk," he said. "I'm not going to sign a five-year lease in this environment." His comments follow a US Supreme Court ruling that many of the tariffs introduced since 2024 were unlawful. However, the administration subsequently confirmed a temporary 10 per cent global tariff, later raised to 15 per cent, adding to market uncertainty.

At Meituan, China's platform for local services, especially known for food delivery, I worked on two AI projects. One was a consumer-facing AI assistant that helps users complete various tasks, including ordering food. The other was a merchant-facing AI agent designed to help businesses manage their daily operations, including handling reservations, managing orders, and supporting routine operational tasks. The main difference between how products are built in China and in the US comes down to the market.

A decade ago, China's political leaders laid out an ambitious industrial plan: By 2025, they pledged, their country would be a world capital, with the goal of moving from "Chinese speed to Chinese quality, the transformation of Chinese products to Chinese brands." This is the difference, they wrote, between "Made in China" and "Created in China." At WIRED, we never take what the government (ours or anybody else's) says at face value.

Open source - that might be the clearest signal of how China wants artificial intelligence to reshape its economy. Hisham Alrayes, the group CEO of Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group, said China is prioritizing open models and broad deployment to spread AI's gains across the economy, instead of funneling them to a few tech giants. Speaking at a Davos panel on China's "AI+ Economy" strategy on Wednesday, Alrayes said the country's approach reflects a fundamentally different economic philosophy.

Last week, news broke that Meta is buying Chinese AI startup Manus for around $2 billion. The company is known for its AI agent that can handle everything from job interviews to stock analysis. Meta plans to integrate Manus' AI agent into its own products. Now, the Financial Times reports that China's Ministry of Commerce has decided to review the purchase to determine whether the deal violates the country's export control rules for technology.

China's official discourse centres on the idea of peaceful rise, the commitment to non-interference in internal affairs, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and economic partnerships based on mutual benefit. Beijing insists that relations with Washington should not slide into conflict, calling for a system of global governance built on cooperation rather than confrontation. Yet the geopolitical landscape reveals a wide gap between this discourse and reality. Donald Trump's return to the White House has brought back rhetorical escalation and increased geopolitical pressure.

Instead of paralyzing China's AI sector, these controls have promoted domestic self-reliance. With no choice but to develop indigenous workarounds and architectural innovations, Chinese businesses are decoupling AI progress from sheer hardware volume. U.S. policies have undoubtedly bought time, but they have also ushered in a parallel innovation ecosystem totally independent of Western influence.