Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • China’s DeepSeek rolls out a long-anticipated update of its AI model

    China’s DeepSeek rolls out a long-anticipated update of its AI model

    As competition in artificial intelligence between the United States and China reaches new levels of intensity, prominent Chinese AI startup DeepSeek rolled out previews of its highly anticipated next-generation V4 model lineup on Friday, marking another major milestone in China’s push to advance its domestic AI ecosystem independent of U.S. technology.

    The V4 release comes months after DeepSeek’s specialized R1 reasoning model upended global tech markets earlier this year, with the startup claiming it outperformed comparable U.S.-built models at a far lower cost. R1 quickly became a global symbol of China’s rapid progress closing the AI gap with the United States, and expectations for V4 have been building among developers and users eager to compare its capabilities to leading models from U.S. industry leaders OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Some analysts initially projected the V4 launch would arrive more than two months ago, to coincide with the Lunar New Year holiday.

    DeepSeek’s new V4 family includes two core open-source variants: the high-performance V4 Pro and the lightweight V4 Flash. The startup says the new models deliver sweeping upgrades across three key areas: general knowledge retention, logical reasoning, and agentic functionality — the ability for AI to complete complex, multi-step workflows and tasks without constant human input. One of the most notable shifts in the new lineup is its underlying hardware: unlike prior DeepSeek models that relied on U.S.-made chips from industry leader Nvidia, V4 is powered by chips developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei.

    In a statement accompanying the launch, DeepSeek shared internal benchmark results comparing V4 to top U.S. models. The company notes its top-tier V4 Pro Max delivers superior performance on standard reasoning tests compared to OpenAI’s recently released GPT-5.2 and Google’s Gemini 3.0-Pro, though it falls slightly short of OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 and Google’s Gemini 3.1-Pro. The V4 Pro, DeepSeek claims, outperforms Anthropic’s mid-tier Claude Sonnet 4.5 in agentic capabilities and comes close to matching Anthropic’s flagship Claude Opus 4.5. For everyday simple agent tasks, the more efficient V4 Flash matches the performance of V4 Pro, with reasoning capabilities that nearly equal its higher-end counterpart, per the company’s testing.

    The V4 launch came just hours after OpenAI introduced its own newest model, GPT-5.5, in a clear sign of the breakneck pace of competition in the global AI race. Both V4 variants also include a game-changing 1 million token context window — the measure of how much text and data an AI can process and retain in a single session. That marks an eightfold increase from the 128,000 token window supported by DeepSeek’s previous V3 model, released in late 2024, and enables the new models to handle far larger datasets, long documents, and complex extended conversations more effectively. The startup also emphasized the V4 lineup is designed to run far more efficiently than prior generations.

    Unlike closed, proprietary models from leading U.S. AI developers, DeepSeek makes its core technology open source, allowing outside developers to modify, adapt, and build new tools on top of its models. The company also offers a free publicly accessible chatbot for web and mobile users, helping it gain a large global user base. A January report from Microsoft found DeepSeek usage has grown rapidly across many developing nations, especially in regions where Huawei smartphones dominate the consumer market.

    Huawei confirmed its compatibility with the new models in a separate statement Friday, noting its Ascend chip platform and supporting ecosystem work seamlessly with DeepSeek V4. Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, described the V4 rollout as a “pivotal milestone for China’s AI industry”, particularly amid rising global pressure for countries to build self-reliance in critical emerging technologies. She added that the partnership with Huawei demonstrates that a fully functional Chinese AI ecosystem independent of Nvidia’s market dominance is technically achievable, even as U.S.-China technological decoupling continues.

    Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at global technology research firm Omdia, concluded that “Based on the benchmark results, it does appear DeepSeek V4 is going to be very competitive against its U.S. rivals.”

    Not all industry observers are convinced the V4 represents a transformative leap forward, however. Ivan Su, senior equity analyst at investment research firm Morningstar, argued that while V4 is a solid, capable update to DeepSeek’s product lineup, it does not deliver the same level of groundbreaking innovation that R1 introduced earlier this year. He noted that domestic competition within China’s AI sector has intensified dramatically since R1’s launch, and that independent third-party testing is needed to verify DeepSeek’s own performance claims, since the startup’s internal comparisons cannot yet be confirmed by outside experts.

    The V4 launch comes amid ongoing friction between U.S. AI firms and Chinese developers over intellectual property. Earlier this year, Anthropic publicly accused DeepSeek and two other China-based AI labs of running “industrial-scale campaigns” to steal its technology via a process called knowledge distillation, a method that trains a smaller model by feeding it the outputs of a more powerful competitor model to replicate its capabilities. OpenAI made similar accusations in a letter to U.S. lawmakers, and this week Michael Kratsios, chief science and technology adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, repeated the claims, accusing Chinese tech firms of distilling leading U.S. AI systems to “exploit American expertise and innovation.”

    The Chinese embassy in Washington has pushed back against these allegations, framing them as unjustified efforts by the United States to stifle competition from Chinese tech companies.

  • A massive, unstable ice block stalls Everest climbers at base camp

    A massive, unstable ice block stalls Everest climbers at base camp

    KATHMANDU, NEPAL – A dangerous unstable ice formation has thrown a wrench into the 2024 spring Mount Everest climbing season, forcing hundreds of climbers and their Nepalese support teams to pause their summit bids just as operations are set to ramp up, Nepalese mountaineering officials confirmed Friday.

    The hazard is a massive hanging serac located along the standard climbing route between Everest’s base camp and Camp 1, a section of the iconic peak that already ranks among the most dangerous in the world. Himal Gautam, a representative from Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering, confirmed the ice block is shifting and poses an unacceptable level of risk for teams moving up the mountain. As of Friday, more than 800 total people – including permitted foreign climbers and their local guides – are stuck at base camp, waiting for officials to sign off on a safe passage forward, with expedition leaders and government teams working around the clock to re-evaluate conditions daily.

    This year’s spring climbing window, the most popular period for summit attempts on Everest, runs through the end of May. Nepal’s tourism department has already issued 410 summit permits to foreign climbers for the season, a number that will double when counting the required Nepalese Sherpa guides, porters, and support staff that accompany every expedition.

    The problematic serac sits within the Khumbu Icefall, a notoriously unpredictable glacial stretch that is universally regarded as one of the most treacherous sections of any Everest climb. The icefall is constantly shifting, dotted with gaping hidden crevasses and topped with overhanging ice blocks the size of 10-story buildings, any of which can collapse without warning.

    Preparing a safe route through the Khumbu Icefall falls to the Icefall Doctors, an elite team of experienced Sherpa guides who annually fix climbing ropes and install aluminum ladders across deep crevasses to open the passage for expeditions. This work is typically completed by mid-April, but the unstable serac has halted progress. The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, the organization that manages the Icefall Doctor team, is now planning to conduct an aerial survey to fully assess the serac’s stability. Committee chairman Lama Kazi Sherpa said the current avalanche risk is far too high for ground teams to work safely, so officials are adopting a wait-and-see approach, holding off on reopening the route until the ice block naturally melts to a safer size.

    This is not the first time a massive ice collapse in the Khumbu Icefall has caused tragedy on Everest. In 2014, a large chunk of glacial ice broke loose and triggered a devastating avalanche that killed 16 Sherpa guides who were moving client equipment up the mountain. That disaster remains one of the deadliest accidents in the recorded history of Everest climbing.

    Climbing teams typically time their summit bids for early to mid-May, when short, stable weather windows offer the best conditions for a push to the 8,848.86-meter (29,031.7-foot) peak. More than 4,000 climbers have successfully reached the summit since the first recorded ascent by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.

  • Viral videos highlight sense of safety in China

    Viral videos highlight sense of safety in China

    A growing collection of short social media videos filmed and shared by foreign residents and visitors to China has sparked widespread international online discussion, centering on the exceptional sense of public safety that defines daily life across the country. These clips capture a range of ordinary, revealing moments: Chinese police officers calmly walking curious children through how firearms function, young kids sitting atop marked police vehicles to enjoy open-air folk performances, and international creators wandering city streets alone long after dark with no trace of fear.

    Many of these first-person accounts have gone viral among global netizens, offering unscripted, personal perspectives that differ from much mainstream international coverage of China. One of the most widely shared clips comes from British vlogger “Jason in China”, who filmed himself walking through the streets of Kunming, Yunnan, late at night. Pointing out the crowded, lively sidewalks around him, he noted that he felt not even a flicker of unease — a stark contrast to his experience back in the UK, where anyone out after dark constantly scans their surroundings for potential danger. In China, he said, that constant anxiety simply does not exist.

    A similar account from Spanish vlogger “Zhuli from Spain”, filmed in a public park in Guangdong province, resonated with millions of viewers. Standing in the open space at 11 pm, she said, “For me, this is real freedom — a woman on the street after 11 pm, walking alone without any fear. This is how it should be.” These viral videos are not isolated outlier moments: they reflect a consistent pattern of experience shared by a growing number of foreign nationals living or traveling in China, who are increasingly taking to social media to share their unfiltered daily experiences.

    These personal testimonials are backed by formal data and global research. The 2025 Global Safety Report, published in January 2026 by leading U.S. analytics firm Gallup, ranked China as the third-safest country out of more than 140 countries and territories included in the global survey. The report also recorded extremely high levels of public trust in Chinese local law enforcement, alongside very low rates of personal victimization from crime. Official Chinese statistics echo this finding: data from the Ministry of Public Security shows that overall criminal cases dropped 12.8 percent year-on-year in 2025, hitting the lowest level recorded in decades, while public order offenses also declined. For the sixth consecutive year, public satisfaction with personal safety remained above 98 percent.

    Academic experts who study Chinese governance note that this widespread sense of safety is not an accident, but the outcome of decades of deliberate, structural investment in public security. Kong Fanbin, dean of Nanjing University’s Huazhi Institute for Global Governance, explained that the viral content underscores the tangible results of China’s long-term efforts to build a comprehensive public safety ecosystem. “It shows that China has built a high-level public safety network covering all citizens and social actors,” he said. Unlike models that rely solely on formal law enforcement, Kong noted that China’s public safety framework integrates grassroots community organizations alongside police forces, creating a layered system that reaches into every neighborhood.

    What many foreign observers notice, Kong added, is not just the absence of violent crime, but a broader, more pervasive environment of order shaped by responsive governance and widespread social cooperation. He Yanling, a professor of public policy at Renmin University of China, describes this high-performing grassroots governance as an underrecognized Chinese achievement, one that has received far less international attention than the country’s well-documented economic growth. “Grassroots governance in China is also a ‘miracle’,” she said. “The sense of safety people are talking about is a real social reality.”

    Professor He outlined three core factors that underpin China’s strong public safety outcomes. First, the Chinese government prioritizes public safety as a core public good and a fundamental responsibility of the state, placing it at the center of governance priorities. Second, the country uses a multilayered governance system that extends from national institutions down to neighborhood-level grid management, allowing for early intervention and granular oversight of local public order. Third, high levels of broad public participation support formal governance efforts: “Safety is not achieved by government forces alone,” she said. “It is supported by active involvement of ordinary people.”

    For example, many foreign visitors have marveled at the common practice of leaving packages on doorsteps or in public spaces, where they remain untouched for days. Professor He explained that this norm reflects broader social progress, not coercion: as basic survival and development needs have been met for the vast majority of the population, people have no incentive to violate social norms for small material gain. Communities have also built shared norms of collective responsibility for public order, which lower societal transaction costs and boost civic engagement over time.

    The viral clips of children interacting casually with police also highlight the unique, trust-based relationship between law enforcement and the public in China, Kong noted. This close bond is rooted in a long-standing tradition of community-oriented policing, where trust is built through consistent, accessible service over time. “Trust is built over time,” Kong said. “It comes from consistent service and responsibility.” In China, protecting the lives and property of citizens is framed not as a narrow legal obligation, but as a core, broad responsibility of the state — a difference that helps explain why people feel safe out late at night in both large megacities and small rural towns.

    Global debates around public safety often frame the issue as a trade-off between security and personal privacy, particularly in Western policy discourse. But Kong rejected this framing in the context of China’s governance model. Public surveillance in open spaces, he explained, is designed exclusively to support public safety management, not to invade private life, and access to surveillance data is strictly regulated by detailed legal protocols. In an increasingly digital society, data-driven safety governance and privacy protection are not opposites, he argued: “Only when authorities have sufficient real-time information can they provide more effective protection. The two are complementary.”

    Professor He added that as China continues to develop as a highly urbanized, market-oriented economy, the government has consistently prioritized safety and order as foundational to long-term social progress. Legal frameworks governing new technologies such as public surveillance continue to evolve, with the explicit goal of balancing public security needs with robust personal data protection. “The key measure is people’s sense of gain,” she said, noting that public perception of safety remains the core metric for evaluating policy effectiveness.

  • Prosecutors seek 30-year prison term for South Korea’s Yoon for drone flights over Pyongyang

    Prosecutors seek 30-year prison term for South Korea’s Yoon for drone flights over Pyongyang

    In a major development marking the closing phase of the criminal trial against former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, state prosecutors have formally asked the Seoul Central District Court to sentence the ousted conservative leader to 30 years in prison over explosive allegations that he deliberately stoked cross-border tensions with North Korea to consolidate authoritarian power at home.

    The charges against Yoon, which include aiding an adversarial power and multiple counts of abuse of authority, are part of a sprawling set of indictments connected to his short-lived, controversial declaration of martial law in December 2024. Special prosecutors led by independent investigator Cho Eun-suk argued in court Friday that Yoon and his top national security allies orchestrated unauthorized drone flights over Pyongyang roughly two months before the martial law declaration. Prosecutors allege the provocative drone incursions were intended to ratchet up inter-Korean hostilities, creating a manufactured crisis that Yoon could exploit to justify imposing domestic martial law, during which he labeled rival liberal political factions as North Korea-aligned “anti-state” forces.

    North Korea first publicly accused South Korea of flying surveillance drones over Pyongyang to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on three separate occasions in October 2024. Then-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, a close confidant of Yoon, initially issued an ambiguous denial of the claims, before South Korea’s Defense Ministry later revised its position to state it could neither confirm nor deny Pyongyang’s allegations. The incident triggered a sharp spike in cross-border tensions that lasted through the end of 2024.

    Yoon ultimately moved forward with his late-night martial law declaration on December 3, 2024. In a live televised address to the nation, he attacked opposition liberal parties over a series of policy disputes, most notably their impeachment of his top appointed officials and cuts to his administration’s proposed budget. The extraordinary decree was overturned just six hours after it was announced, after a quorum of opposition and ruling-party lawmakers breached blockades set up by armed soldiers and police that Yoon had deployed to shut down access to the National Assembly. Lawmakers voted unanimously to invalidate the martial law order, forcing Yoon’s cabinet to formally rescind the measure.

    The political fallout from the crisis unfolded rapidly: Yoon was suspended from presidential duties on December 14, 2024, following impeachment by the liberal-controlled National Assembly, and the Constitutional Court formally removed him from office in April 2025. He was taken into custody in July 2025 and has since stood trial on multiple overlapping criminal charges connected to the martial law incident. Earlier this year, the Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of the more severe charge of rebellion and sentenced him to life in prison. Both Yoon, who has maintained his innocence, and prosecutors — who had originally pushed for a death sentence in that case — have appealed the verdict. Yoon’s legal team has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, and had no immediate public response to Friday’s 30-year sentence request.

    Prosecutors are also seeking a 25-year prison term for Kim Yong Hyun, Yoon’s former defense minister and a key co-conspirator who they say helped plan the martial law declaration and mobilize military forces to implement it. In a public statement released Friday, Cho’s investigation team alleged that Yoon deliberately sought to create a de facto state of war between the two Koreas as part of a premeditated plot to remove political opponents, monopolize state power and extend his time in office beyond his legal term.

    Yoon’s brief martial law declaration plunged South Korea into one of its most severe political crises in modern history, paralyzing domestic governance, halting high-level diplomatic engagement, and triggering significant volatility in South Korean financial markets. The political turmoil only stabilized after Yoon’s liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, won a snap presidential election in June 2025. Shortly after taking office, Lee signed into law legislation authorizing independent, wide-ranging investigations into the martial law incident and all other criminal allegations against Yoon, his wife, and his close political associates.

  • Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win

    Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win

    The question of what constitutes victory over Iran is one that rarely receives a clear, consistent answer—and the chasm between competing definitions lies at the heart of the long-running standoff between Iran, the United States, and Israel. In political circles in Washington and Jerusalem, the vision of success is framed in uncompromising, decisive terms: the permanent elimination of Iran’s nuclear program, the fragmentation of its regional power projection networks, and even the ousting of Iran’s top political leadership. This is the language of total war, rooted in the expectation of a clear, conclusive endpoint.

    From Tehran’s perspective, however, the definition of victory could not be more different. For Iran, success boils down to one core goal: national survival. This fundamental asymmetry in objectives shapes every dimension of the ongoing conflict, and it creates a decisive structural advantage for the side that requires far less to claim victory. Today, that side is Iran.

    There is no ignoring the stark military imbalance between the two camps. The US and Israel possess cutting-edge precision strike capabilities that can reach targets across Iranian territory, and they have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to hit critical infrastructure, senior leadership, and key strategic assets.

    Yet tactical military gains have consistently failed to translate into the desired political outcomes. Iran’s state structure has not fractured, its governing system remains fully intact, and its military, regional, and ideological networks continue to operate unimpeded. Even its most sensitive strategic capabilities, including its accumulated nuclear expertise, have proven remarkably resilient to external pressure.

    The core miscalculation from Washington and Jerusalem stems from the false assumption that Iran operates by the same strategic rules as Western powers. It does not. Iran has no ambition to deliver an outright military defeat to the US or Israel. Instead, its strategy centers on outlasting its adversaries, complicating their strategic objectives, and raising the human and financial cost of continued pressure until that cost becomes unsustainable.

    This logic plays out across every front of the conflict. The battlefield extends far beyond direct military confrontation, stretching into global shipping lanes, international energy markets, and regional alliance structures. Disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are no random accident: they are deliberate pressure tactics designed to inflict global economic pain.

    Iran’s strategy is not aimed at regional dominance—it is aimed at entanglement. Tehran does not need to win a traditional military victory if it can draw its opponents into a protracted conflict that is too costly to sustain and too complex to resolve on Western terms.

    When conflicts stall, the default response from stronger powers is almost always escalation: expanded bombing campaigns, strikes on critical energy infrastructure, and even the extreme option of a full ground invasion with “boots on the ground.” The unspoken assumption is that greater force will eventually force a breakthrough.

    But Iran is far from a passive target. It has already proven it is willing to launch retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, targeting sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, and Iraq. Any Western strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure would not remain contained; they would trigger immediate retaliation against these neighboring states, rapidly widening the scope of the conflict.

    A further critical constraint undermines the case for escalation: current estimates suggest the US has already depleted between 45% and 50% of its key missile stockpiles, including roughly 30% of its entire inventory of Tomahawk cruise missiles. This leaves the stark reality that escalation is no longer just a question of political will—it is a question of military capacity. In any broader conflict, the limiting factor will not be how far Washington is willing to go, but how much firepower it has left to deploy.

    The human and geopolitical consequences of escalation would extend far beyond the battlefield. Iran’s retaliation would target neighboring countries’ power, fuel, and water systems. As summer temperatures climb across the Middle East, this would render large swathes of the region increasingly uninhabitable, forcing millions of people to flee their homes and creating a new large-scale humanitarian displacement crisis.

    Even after widespread escalation, the core reality of the conflict would remain unchanged. Iran’s political and social system is structured for long-term endurance, and any ground invasion would almost certainly devolve into a protracted, attritional conflict that drains Western resources for years. Most importantly, escalation misses the fundamental point of the standoff: the problem is not a lack of force, but the absence of a realistic political objective that military force can actually achieve.

    Compounding this strategic confusion is a quiet but consequential rift between the US and Israel over their end goals. Israel’s public posture reflects a commitment to maximalist outcomes: a deep, potentially irreversible weakening of Iran’s governing system, if not outright regime collapse. The US, by contrast, has oscillated between competing approaches: coercion, containment, and occasional negotiation with Tehran.

    These are not minor differences in tone—they are fundamental divides in strategy. Wars waged without a shared, clear definition of victory almost never produce the desired outcome. Instead, they generate endless military activity with no strategic convergence: constant military movement, but little progress toward a sustainable resolution.

    Today, the conflict has settled into a familiar, intractable pattern. It is no longer a confrontation moving toward a decisive conclusion. Instead, it has locked into a cycle of targeted strikes followed by temporary pauses, fragile ceasefires that hold just long enough to avoid total collapse, and on-again off-again negotiations that progress just enough to avoid total failure.

    The repeated extension of these ceasefires is not a sign of progress—it is a reflection of strategic constraint. Under the current administration, Washington has strong political incentives to keep talks alive, avoid deep escalation, and end the conflict sooner rather than later. The alternatives—an all-out regional war or a catastrophic global economic shock—are far too politically risky to pursue.

    This dynamic works directly to Iran’s advantage. Tehran has no need to make quick concessions when delaying negotiations only strengthens its strategic position.

    Time is not a neutral factor in this conflict. The longer the stalemate drags on, the more it intersects with the most fragile pressure points of the global economy. International energy markets are already strained, key supply routes are under constant threat, and global energy reserves are tightening. Industries dependent on stable fuel supplies—aviation, commercial shipping, global manufacturing—face growing exposure to disruption.

    What began as a regional standoff has now evolved into a systemic global risk. Even limited disruptions to energy supplies can ripple outward across the global economy, driving up consumer prices, breaking global supply chains, and undermining political stability in countries around the world. The longer the stalemate persists, the greater the cumulative strain on the global system, and the closer the world edges toward a full-scale global economic shock.

    In purely conventional military terms, the balance of power is clear: the US and Israel hold overwhelming military superiority over Iran. But the outcome of wars is never decided by military capability alone. It is decided by the interaction of strategic goals, accumulated costs, and the passage of time.

    Measured by that standard, Iran’s position is far stronger than conventional military analysis suggests. It has set a far lower bar for success, demonstrated a much higher tolerance for prolonged external pressure, and proven it can impose significant costs on its adversaries far beyond the traditional battlefield. Most critically, Iran does not need to win a decisive military victory—it only needs to prevent the US and Israel from achieving their stated goals. So far, it has done exactly that.

    Returning to the original question: can the US and Israel win this conflict? If winning means forcing Iran into total submission or fundamentally reshaping its strategic posture, the unavoidable conclusion is that they cannot. What they can do is continue managing the conflict, containing its worst excesses, and shaping its marginal outcomes. But that is not victory—that is just endurance.

    The greatest danger of the current impasse is the persistent belief that just a little more pressure, one more round of escalation, or a few more months of stalemate will eventually deliver a breakthrough. If that belief is misplaced, this is not a war on the cusp of being won—it is a war that cannot be won at all. It is a forever war.

  • IP protection in new fields strengthened

    IP protection in new fields strengthened

    Ahead of the 2026 World Intellectual Property Day, senior Chinese regulatory officials outlined major progress in the nation’s intellectual property (IP) development and announced new targeted measures to strengthen IP safeguards for fast-growing emerging technology fields during a press conference held Thursday.

    Rui Wenbiao, deputy director of the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), reported that China saw continuous improvement in the quality of domestic IP creation and further intensified IP protection across all sectors in 2025. Last year alone, China granted 972,000 invention patents, pushing the total number of active domestic invention patents past the 5 million mark — a milestone that makes China the first country in the world to reach this figure.

    Along with this overall growth, China has secured a large number of core patents in high-potential emerging sectors, including quantum technology, biomanufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G communications. Additional IP data for 2025 also shows the nation registered more than 4.2 million new trademarks, 10.67 million new copyrights, 6,986 new plant variety rights, and recognized 104 new geographical indication products, Rui added.

    On the global innovation stage, China achieved a landmark ranking jump in 2025: the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index placed China 10th globally, marking the first time the country has entered the top 10 of the index. It also now hosts 24 of the world’s 100 leading science and technology innovation clusters, with the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou cluster holding the number one spot worldwide.

    “With their vibrant innovative activity, high technical density, and enormous market potential, emerging fields have become new core drivers and engines powering China’s high-quality economic and social development,” Rui said. In response to this rapid growth, CNIPA has already ramped up IP protection efforts for these sectors, and has placed increased focus on addressing ethical concerns tied to artificial intelligence applications. Moving forward, Rui noted that CNIPA will work alongside other relevant government bodies to refine national IP legal frameworks, to better adapt to the unique needs of these growing sectors and resolve emerging regulatory challenges.

    Wang Huowang, head of the Law Enforcement and Inspection Bureau at the State Administration for Market Regulation, added that targeted IP enforcement campaigns in emerging sectors and the e-commerce industry will be a top priority for Chinese regulators in 2026. “We will strengthen proactive enforcement and forward-looking IP protection for new fields and emerging business models, including next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, new energy, and green environmental protection,” Wang explained. Regulators will also intensify crackdowns on common illegal IP activities, such as malicious trademark squatting and trademark infringement, to create a more secure regulatory environment that supports the healthy development of emerging industries.

    Wang Zhicheng, head of the Copyright Administration of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, emphasized that copyright has grown into a critical strategic resource for China’s innovation-driven development. In recent years, law enforcement teams have expanded anti-piracy campaigns targeting key sectors including film, cultural products, and youth publications, actions designed to support healthy industry growth and protect the welfare of China’s younger population. This year, anti-piracy enforcement will focus specifically on audiovisual works, online literature, and digital content distribution, with advanced digital technologies being deployed to boost the efficiency of enforcement operations, Wang added.

  • Chinese foreign minister and Thai prime minister agree to collaborate on fighting cyberscams

    Chinese foreign minister and Thai prime minister agree to collaborate on fighting cyberscams

    BANGKOK – On a regional diplomatic tour aimed at deepening bilateral ties across Southeast Asia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held official talks with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul in Bangkok on Friday, centered on elevating the long-standing strategic partnership between the two nations and expanding cross-sector collaboration.

    Following the closed-door meeting, Thai government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek confirmed that the two leaders reached a clear consensus to strengthen joint action against transnational criminal networks, with a specific focus on combating cyberscams, alongside advancing cooperation in other key priority areas. In the meeting, Anutin expressed sincere gratitude to Beijing for its consistent support of Thailand amid regional and global challenges, while Wang extended congratulations to the prime minister on retaining his cabinet position following Thailand’s recent general election. Wang also underscored his firm confidence that the Thailand-China relationship will continue to gain momentum and deepen in the coming years, according to the spokesperson.

    The meeting kicked off with a formal greeting at Bangkok’s Government House, where the two leaders shook hands and posed for official photos before entering discussions. Ahead of his talks with Anutin, Wang had already held productive working sessions with his Thai counterpart, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, government officials confirmed.

    Wang’s three-day visit to Thailand began Thursday, coming directly after a series of high-level meetings with Cambodian government officials in Phnom Penh. That stop focused on strengthening political and security cooperation between China and Cambodia, wrapping up successfully before Wang traveled onward to Thailand. Per the official schedule released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Myanmar will be the next stop on Wang’s Southeast Asian diplomatic tour after he concludes his engagements in Thailand.

    The diplomatic engagement builds on a deepening foundation of ties between Beijing and Bangkok: China has held the position of Thailand’s largest trading partner for years, and the two nations marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations in 2023, a milestone that included an unprecedented historic visit to China by Thailand’s reigning monarch, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, last November. In recent years, Chinese direct investment into Thailand has also grown at an accelerated pace, a trend partially driven by a broader shift of Chinese manufacturing operations into Southeast Asia as companies seek to mitigate the impact of United States tariffs on Chinese-made goods.

  • Ten photos from across China: April 17 – 23

    Ten photos from across China: April 17 – 23

    Every week, a curated collection of photojournalism from across China offers a window into the diverse cultural, social and economic moments shaping the world’s most populous nation. For the period spanning April 17 to 23, 2026, China Daily has released its weekly roundup of 10 striking images, offering audiences a visual tour of events unfolding across the country.

    The first image released as part of this weekly collection captures a vibrant cultural celebration unfolding in the southern regional capital of Nanning, located in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Dated April 18, 2026, the photograph captures a group of Dong ethnic minority performers mid-performance: the artists blend vocal harmony with the gentle melodies of the pipa, China’s centuries-old traditional four-stringed lute, during the official opening ceremony for a multi-event series marking the annual Sanyuesan Festival.

    One of the most widely celebrated traditional cultural observances across southern China’s many ethnic minority communities, Sanyuesan — which translates directly to “Third Day of the Third Lunar Month” — is a centuries-old holiday that honors ancestral traditions, fosters intercultural connection, and showcases the unique artistic heritage of China’s 55 officially recognized ethnic minority groups. The image, captured by photojournalist Zou Hong for China Daily, highlights the ongoing vitality of traditional folk performance in modern China, as communities gather to celebrate their shared cultural identity.

    This weekly photo roundup is just the first of 10 curated images documenting moments across the entire country, ranging from infrastructure milestones to community events and natural landscapes, with the full set available to view via China Daily’s official digital platform, chinadaily.com.cn. The collection was updated and published to the platform at 6:40 a.m. Beijing Time on April 24, 2026, making the visual reporting accessible to global audiences within 24 hours of the final event in the weekly coverage window.

  • Trump says ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon to be extended by 3 weeks

    Trump says ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon to be extended by 3 weeks

    On April 23, 2026, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. President Donald Trump made a key announcement: the fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which went into effect on April 16, will be extended by an additional three weeks. The announcement came just hours after the two nations wrapped up their second round of ambassador-level talks in the U.S. capital, a meeting that brought together senior diplomatic leadership from both sides alongside top U.S. officials.

    Trump confirmed the meeting took place in the White House Oval Office, with attendees including U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, Lebanon’s Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa. In a post published to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump simply stated, “The Meeting went very well!”, offering no further specifics on the discussions that unfolded during the closed-door session.

    The U.S. leader also outlined Washington’s planned next steps in the region, noting the United States will partner with Lebanon’s national government to help the country build its defensive capacity against Hezbollah, the Iran-aligned political and military group that holds significant influence in southern Lebanon. Trump further shared his long-term diplomatic goal, saying he remains eager to host senior leadership from both nations in the near future: Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. This plan aligns with comments Trump made last week, when he said he expected the two leaders to visit the White House within one to two weeks to work toward a comprehensive permanent peace agreement that would resolve ongoing tensions related to Hezbollah.

    The original 10-day truce was implemented after weeks of escalating cross-border hostilities that unfolded amid the broader U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran. It is important to note that Israel and Lebanon have never maintained formal diplomatic relations. For decades, Israel has classified Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy force, and current negotiations are being conducted exclusively between the Israeli government and Lebanon’s official national government, with Hezbollah not participating directly in the talks.

    Despite the pause in large-scale fighting that the ceasefire brought, the truce has remained unstable throughout its first week, with low-level tensions persisting along Lebanon’s southern border, leaving regional observers cautious about the long-term prospects of the newly announced extension.

  • China to send giant pandas to Atlanta again

    China to send giant pandas to Atlanta again

    BEIJING – Decades after the end of its first giant panda partnership with China, Zoo Atlanta is poised to welcome a new pair of the beloved endangered species, marking a fresh chapter in Sino-U.S. panda diplomacy even as broader bilateral relations remain strained. The announcement came Friday, just weeks before U.S. President Donald Trump’s widely anticipated official visit to Beijing for high-level talks with Chinese leadership.

    The China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) confirmed in an official statement that the two new arrivals — male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang, both raised at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, China’s leading giant panda conservation facility — will launch a 10-year collaborative conservation program under a bilateral agreement signed between CWCA and Zoo Atlanta in 2024. While the exact departure date from China for the pandas has not yet been released, preparations on the U.S. side are moving forward at full speed.

    According to the CWCA, American teams are currently completing final upgrades to the giant panda enclosures to ensure the new pair will have a comfortable, secure habitat, with Chinese conservation experts providing ongoing technical guidance throughout the renovation process.

    Zoo Atlanta first shared the news of the upcoming arrival Thursday, expressing overwhelming enthusiasm for the new partnership. “We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas,” said Raymond B. King, the zoo’s president, noting the institution was deeply honored to be chosen as stewards for the new pair.

    This new agreement comes after the conclusion of Zoo Atlanta’s original giant panda program in 2024. During that first cooperation period, the previous pair of pandas, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, successfully birthed seven cubs during their tenure in Atlanta. By October 2024, all seven cubs had been relocated to China, with the original adult pair and their two youngest offspring departing for their return that same month.

    For more than half a century, China’s global giant panda loan and conservation partnership program has served as a core pillar of Chinese soft-power diplomacy, widely known as “panda diplomacy.” Giant pandas first became a symbol of unofficial Sino-U.S. friendship back in 1972, when Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. shortly after the normalization of bilateral relations. Today, even as geopolitical and trade tensions between the two powers remain high, conservation experts and officials frame the renewed panda partnerships as a rare area of shared cooperation. Both Washington’s National Zoo and San Diego Zoo received new giant pandas from China in 2024, signaling a broader restart to the program after previous panda pairs returned to China amid shifting bilateral dynamics.

    The CWCA emphasized in its announcement that the new decade-long cooperation with Zoo Atlanta will advance critical joint work across multiple key conservation and scientific areas, including giant panda disease prevention and treatment, joint research, and academic exchanges between Chinese and American experts. Officials from both sides highlight that beyond its diplomatic significance, the program carries major global value for the long-term survival of giant pandas, a species that has rebounded from endangered status thanks to decades of cross-border conservation work.