eChina.news

Industry

As Xi’s US visit approaches, basic details of planned AI talks remain uncertain

With Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the United States just weeks away, Washington and Beijing are still struggling to arrange a hoped-for dialogue on artificial intelligence, with the venue, participants and scope of the talks yet to be settled. Two sources familiar with the discussions said Washington had yet to decide which part of the US government should take the lead. The two sides had also not agreed on whether technical experts and private-sector representatives should be...

August 19, 2026

Industry

China joins Musk’s SpaceX with reusable rocket breakthroughs

China-based LandSpace successfully launched a Zhuque-3 rocket and recovered its first stage, a breakthrough in the nation’s efforts to develop reusable boosters that can slash the cost of space launches. The first stage of the 66-metre (217-foot) rocket touched down in Minqin County, Gansu province, northwest China, on Wednesday after an eight-minute flight that delivered a Honghu-3 internet satellite into space. Take-off occurred 390 km (242 miles) away at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in...

August 19, 2026

Industry

Is South China Sea warship breakdown a sign US is ‘taxing reserve capacity’?

After USS Benfold lost power for four days last month, analysts say prolonged operations in the Middle East could be taking a toll The USS Benfold lost power due to an engineering failure involving its generators on July 24, the US Navy said in a statement cited by USNI News on Friday. It left the nearly 10,000-tonne Arleigh Burke-class vessel stalled for four days without power in the South China Sea. US Seventh Fleet spokesman Commander Matthew Comer said in the statement that the destroyer lost power while conducting routine operations in the Indo-Pacific with the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group.

August 19, 2026

Industry

Mongolia apologises after China raises security concerns about protesters at oil camp

Beijing’s embassy demands stronger protections for personnel following camp raid at Kherlen Tohoi oil block According to Mongolian media reports, protesters went to the Kherlen Tohoi XXVIII oil exploration area and tried to stop exploration work by Mongolia Foison Energy last Friday. They live-streamed the event, with social media footage showing two women dumping items belonging to Chinese workers onto the ground. Two Mongolian citizens involved in the incident have been detained, according to local authorities. Chinese chargé d’affaires Cao Li raised “serious concern” over the incident with Buriad Dashpurev, state secretary of Mongolia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, during a meeting on Tuesday, according to the embassy. “We urge the Mongolian side to continue taking concrete measures to protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and the personal and property safety of Chinese employees, and prevent similar incidents from happening again,” the embassy said. According to the embassy, Dashpurev apologised over the incident and said Mongolia would not tolerate interference with the lawful operations of Chinese companies.

August 19, 2026

Industry

US urged to follow China’s lead in treating data as an economic asset

As China deepens the commercialisation of its vast troves of data, the United States needs to develop its own national data strategy that treats data as an economic asset to better position itself to prevail in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, a key US congressional advisory body has said. In a report published on Tuesday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) warned that the US risks ceding global leadership in setting global data...

August 18, 2026

Industry

US Democrats rebuke Trump for easing sanctions on Beijing, Hong Kong officials

Lawmakers said sanctions should remain as mainland Chinese, Hong Kong officials were ‘complicit in Beijing’s dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy’ “We write to express serious concern,” the four-page letter said. “It raises serious questions about the durability of US policy towards Hong Kong that we believe warrant a direct response from the administration.” This modification removed nine of the 48 previously sanctioned officials from the list, including several top security officials and Justice Secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok. This effectively ended restrictions on their ability to use the US banking system or access any US assets. The change also saw 39 others – including former chief executives Carrie Lam and John Lee as well as the previously cited National People’s Congress Standing Committee leadership – moved to a different sanctions list that removed some restrictions, including a prior ban on importing goods.

August 18, 2026

Industry

How China got caught in the crossfire of a US bacon fight

Midwestern Americans watching television this summer may have been surprised to see China and bacon appearing together in political advertisements. “The corrupt Save Our Bacon scam in the farm bill – it’s a giveaway to Chinese corporations,” one advertisement declared over images of the Chinese flag and Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Whose side is your senator on? America or China?” Viewers might assume the advertisement was promoting yet another Republican-led effort to counter Beijing. The...

August 18, 2026

Industry

Harvard, MIT among 30 US universities ordered to audit China research ties

Higher education group says Pentagon implied wrongdoing without presenting evidence, as House China committee calls for ‘real consequences’ An American official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, confirmed that Harvard, MIT and Johns Hopkins had received notifications. It included several of the country’s most prominent research universities, including Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, New York University, and the University of California campuses in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Pentagon had not responded to repeated email and telephone requests from the South China Morning Post seeking the names of the universities, the collaborations that prompted the audits and evidence of any unauthorised technology transfer or misconduct.

August 18, 2026

Industry

Will Washington’s tech crackdown test fragile US-China truce?

Ahead of next month’s expected summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington, a low profile US regulatory agency has opened a new front in the technology battle between the world’s two superpowers, even as it attempts to avoid sabotaging the vital high-stakes meeting. The latest action by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in July saw it advance stringent bans on new Chinese robots and power inverters. The move came after months of FCC measures...

August 18, 2026

Industry

Taiwan launches first live-fire exercise with first-person view drones

The island’s military is working to learn the lessons of the Ukraine war and boost its asymmetric defences against the PLA Taiwan’s army has for the first time used first-person view (FPV) drones against armoured vehicles in a live-fire exercise, adopting tactics pioneered during the Ukraine war to strengthen its asymmetric capabilities against the People’s Liberation Army. The exercise on Monday highlighted efforts to broaden strike options beyond traditional firepower such as rocket systems and heavy artillery. The Army Unmanned Systems Training Command brought together six units from the military’s artillery commands, Marine Corps and Military Police for the exercise. Under simulated battlefield conditions, operators flew FPV drones carrying armour-piercing warheads against decommissioned tanks and armoured ammunition carriers. FPV drones – which stream real-time video directly to a pair of goggles worn by the pilot – are usually designed to be more manoeuvrable and acrobatic than other drones, allowing greater accuracy in combat. The drones conducted frontal and flanking strikes in both single-drone and coordinated two-drone attacks, according to the Youth Daily News, a defence ministry-affiliated newspaper based in Taipei.

August 18, 2026

Industry

Top Chinese general draws on Jiang’s legacy to highlight importance of loyalty in military

CMC vice-chair Zhang Shengmin recalls how late president steered the country through the turmoil that followed the end of the Soviet bloc In the article, published by party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Tuesday, Zhang highlighted the existential threats China faced in the late 20th century and how Jiang steered the People’s Liberation Army through the turmoil that followed the fall of the Iron Curtain in Europe in 1989. The vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission argued that during this period, “hostile forces” had been promoting concepts he described as “depoliticisation”, “departyisation” and “nationalisation”. The Communist Party has long viewed such ideas – which would effectively remove the party’s ideological control, institutional grip and leadership from the military – as existential threats. Zhang said Jiang had treated the party’s absolute leadership as the PLA’s core foundation, launching comprehensive education campaigns across the ranks and weeding out harmful tendencies.

August 18, 2026

Industry

PLA troops sent gold, New Taiwan and US dollars in ‘wartime financial support’ drill

A drone was used to deliver camouflage cases filled with gold bars and bundles of cash, according to state newspaper report The report prompted heated discussion online and has since been deleted. It included photos from the drill showing soldiers in tactical camouflage gear in a field counting bundles of NT$1,000 and US$100 notes, along with gold bars. Also visible was a case with the PLA emblem marked “Settlement Office No 4, Nanjing Centralised Funds Receipt and Payment Management Centre”. The report did not say where or when the drill was conducted and it was not clear if the cases of cash and gold were genuine. During wartime, cash could be needed to pay for supplies and services, intelligence, compensation for collateral damage or for other expenses when it is not possible to access banking or electronic payment systems.

August 18, 2026