Year: 2026

Alibaba Group Holding has recruited a research scientist from Google DeepMind to bolster development efforts for its Qwen artificial intelligence models, in an internal restructuring that has seen the departure of previous technical lead Lin Junyang. While no successor to Lin was announced, former Google senior staff research scientist Zhou Hao was joining Alibaba as head of post-training research, replacing Yu Bowen, who also departed this week, two sources said. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was a key contributor to the US tech giant’s acclaimed…

China must speed up military applications of AI and deepen civil-military fusion to narrow its strategic gap with the United States, a leading Chinese political scientist and adviser to Beijing has said. Citing US-Israeli precision strikes that eliminated Iran’s supreme leader, Zheng Yongnian warned that China risked repeating historical mistakes if it limited artificial intelligence (AI) mostly to civilian or entertainment uses and failed to convert frontier technologies into decisive hard power. Advertisement Zheng highlighted how American companies such as Palantir, Anthropic and Anduril – the “tech right” within the…

Chinese scientists have reported a milestone in space laser communications, sustaining a high-speed, hours-long laser link with a satellite more than 40,000km (25,000 miles) above the Earth. The capability is seen as critical to future deep-space networks. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Optics and Electronics, which led the project, researchers used a 1.8-metre (6-foot) aperture telescope in Yunnan province to lock onto a geostationary satellite within four seconds. During the experiment, which lasted more than three hours, the laser link sustained uninterrupted data transmission at 1…

A common thread through each is that the screws will be turned ever tighter on Chinese firms in Europe. Combined, the proposals reveal anxiety over the bloc’s ability to compete with cut-price and increasingly high-quality Chinese products, the heightened security fears connected to Chinese investments, and a new-found urgency to do something about both. Advertisement The Industrial Accelerator Act, which was proposed to great fanfare, is a political bombshell that blows away decades of adherence to free trade and laissez-faire economics. It aims to increase manufacturing’s contribution to the EU…

China has vowed to boost economic resilience and not compromise on core principles in dealing with the US, as Beijing prepares to commence a major political event held ahead of Donald Trump’s highly anticipated visit. Lou Qinjian, spokesman for the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, stated the country’s pledge at a press conference on Wednesday, a day before the opening of the NPC’s annual session, which will run until March 12. During the gathering, China’s policymakers are expected to set the country’s agenda for the year and finalise the…

China and Iran may be strategic partners but, as was the case with America’s special operation in Venezuela in January, China has offered no security support to Iran over the US and Israeli attacks. The decision was based on a consideration of Beijing’s own interests, its ties with the US and other countries, and to minimise military and financial risks to China, according to analysts. Since the large-scale attacks against Iran began over the weekend, Beijing has limited its response to diplomatic statements, denouncing the strikes and killing of Ayatollah…