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China warns that any Japanese military involvement in the Taiwan question would face a firm response from Beijing.
Meanwhile, China strikes double Olympic goals on the same day.
Welcome to World Today, a news program with a different perspective.
I'm Ge'Anna in Beijing.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching World Today.
China has reiterated that any Japanese military involvement in the Taiwan question would trigger a firm response from Beijing.
The remarks came after Japan's parliament reappointed Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi following her party's victory in a snap general election.
Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, says If Japan exercises its right to collective self-defense and intervenes the Taiwan question, no matter what excuses it has, it will be an act of aggression and will definitely meet a firm response from China.
Takahashi said in November that a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait could threaten Japan's survival and justify the use of collective self-defense.
Fu described such comments as a provocation against the post-war international order, adding that peace-loving countries should remain vigilant and firmly oppose them.
For more on this, joining us on the line is Professor Chu Qiang from Mingzhu University.
Professor, Ambassador Fu made it clear any Japanese military involvement in the Taiwan question under any excuse would be an act of aggression against China and China will strike back resolutely.
What's your take on the timing of this tough statement and what does it reveal about China's bottom lines on Taiwan?
Well, I think the timing is actually very important, because the Takahashi cabinet has been right now controlling the Japanese government.
Also, I think Ms.
Takeuchi's announcement makes all the people not only Chinese people, I mean all the people who love peace and who respected the order after the Second World War really, really worrying about it.
Because they say Japan wants to restore their army.
They want to have the nuclear power.
And any other countries who probably have been related to Japan's national interests.
They will probably be equipped up and fight against it with the military power.
Come on.
Even the iceberg of melting concerns Japanese national security.
Would they just arm up to conquer the Antarctic or to invade Norway?
I don't think so.
So I think they are going too far, and they're going wild.
For example, they're saying that if Taiwan have any issues, they're going to send out their troops to defend Taiwan's so-called independence.
Well, this is ridiculous because everybody knows Taiwan is part of China.
And there has been established as a fact of many legal documents after the Second World War.
And this is a common, universally acknowledged truth of the United Nations and all the member countries.
So Japan out of nowhere has making this announcement.
It's basically saying well, if Hawaii have any problem well, Japan will have to send their troops to defend Hawaii or Tasmanian have any crisis, so Japan would also need to send the troops to invade Australia.
So this is basically lunatic-minded.
So I think China actually has been sending out a very dedicated and resolute announcement to defend the spotlight, to tell if any foreign country would like to invade Taiwan.
It's like to invade China.
And China, like any other countries, to executive self-defense rights, because this is a pure invasion, even just an oral announcement, but we can take it like a quasi-declaration of war.
So I think this behavior is against Chinese sovereign rights, is against United Nations charts and also against all the peace-loving nations after the Second World War.
We made this announcement not only for China, but also for a peaceful post-war world.
Then building on that, China said it will strike back at any Japanese intervention on Taiwan.
What kind of measures will China take based on your observation?
And how has Japan already been affected by Takayoshi's radical moves?
Well, a lot of people are saying China should not fight back because Japan quote unquote don't have an army.
But probably you don't know Japan actually have the second strongest army.
And also Navy among all the ASEAN plus Eastern Asian regions.
It's larger than Mongolia.
It's larger than South Korea.
It's larger than Malaysia and Indonesia combined together.
Don't be fooled by this camouflage.
And a lot of people saying China are trying to overwhelm Japan because China is a large country with more of the troopers.
Japan is small.
It's not the truth.
Japan with all the support of Western alliances, and they are probably in position of potential nuclear weapon technologies.
Probably the second largest nuclear power country of the whole world.
They have so many nuclear power stations.
Just with a little bit of change of the technology, they can have nuclear power.
The only fact is that they are not allowed to do so.
But if they change their constitution, they decide to own the nuclear weapon.
They can own it with a snap of fingers.
So if we allow that to happen well, I think, China standing at the front line against the Japanese invasion and their agitation toward the whole world peace, we need to get involved directly.
I think number one if the Japanese army have any kind of interference towards Taiwan or towards other nations, China probably should intercept it, driven them out or directly engage with them.
And also China.
Well, we authorized to solidify its defense all over Taiwan Strait and also the adjacent waters.
And also we need to build up the A2 and AD capabilities.
And meanwhile we can set up the overseas military bases to counter the fight of the Japanese potential invasions.
And don't get food.
Japanese don't get the self-defense team.
They are getting the National Defense Army right now.
I think we're going to see that probably within one or two years, because I don't think Takahashi is actually the problem.
Takahashi is the result of the problem happening in Japan right now.
Extreme right wing and extreme far extremist in Japan are rising up really quickly.
I have to remind everybody about America.
Remember that John Bessalon has been dying on the Iwo Jima Island.
Remember Australian troopers.
Your patriots have been decapitated by the Japanese suicidal warriors.
And also, don't let me remember about Malaysian and Singaporeans.
Remember the Patan Death March.
How many Singaporeans and Malaysians have been killed by those extreme militarists?
So I think, secondly, China will have to isolate Japan by diplomacy.
For example in the United Nations and also many other multinational platforms.
Japan will be accused by their invasion and potential invasion behaviors.
And also China will agitate.
A lot of the peaceful And the defense-related documents and declarations and agreement try to separate Japan from the economic access towards the material access.
And also, I think China will continue to ask for accusation, accountabilities of Japan's post-war activities responsibilities, because there is a fact that we need to remind everybody japan used to kill more than 30 million people in chinese battlefield during the second world war, but after the war, china decided to.
We would not ask for the accountability of Japan.
They don't need to repay us.
They don't need to kill their war criminals because China decided we need a peaceful relation with Japan.
We need a peaceful neighbor after the World War so we can have a long-lasting peace. in this area.
But Japan now stand out to say, no, we don't like this.
We don't like to be standing up like a defeated nation.
We want to rise up like a winner again.
We want a bonsai charge.
We want in a Sakura self suicidal charge.
Now, if that happens again, China will put the two debt together and ask them to repay by double.
It's definitely a cause for concern.
Professor, Ambassador Fu pointed out that Japanese leaders linking Taiwan to Japan's so-called existential threat and using collective self-defense to get involved betrays Japan's obligations as a defeated nation.
What exactly are those post-war obligations for Japan?
Well, I think for the post-war obligations, Japan has many things they need to do.
For example, according to the Cairo Declaration they have, the core obligation is that they have to return all the territory they stole or conquer from China, like Taiwan, the penghu islands and also including the ryokyu islands, which is okinawa currently.
But post the war i think there is some glitch happening.
So america temporarily put ryokyu island or the okinawa islands under the management of the japan.
So japan is just a supervisor of this territory, not owning this territory.
But they actually took this opportunity to snitch in this territory of their own to declare that okinawa is a part of japan.
Actually it's not.
We would like to say okinawa is actually a, you know, a neutral ground occupied by united states to set up a military base and under the supervision of japan.
It's not the territory of japan by any meanings.
And also, if Japan violated all these kind of obligations of Cairo declaration, they are trying to wage a war against all the winning victorious countries.
And also about the Potsdam declarations like the Clause 6, 7, 9 and 11.
Well, Japanese militarism and imperialism need to be evacuated from Japan.
Not only their privilege, but also all kinds of the thoughts need to be routed out from Japan.
And also, according to that document, all the Japanese military forces will be removed.
So Japan cannot own any national defense industry, nor they can have any national defense army.
They can have some self-defense forces by little, but only enough to defend their parameters, like in the ocean or something, and that's it.
And also the Japanese territory can only be limited to the Honshu Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku and all the other small islands.
That does not include Ryukyu, does not include Penghu and, of course, not include Taiwan, which is part of China.
So any kind of a violation of that will call for the victorious countries' security examination and even demilitarization of the current Japan.
Otherwise, if they're saying okay, we can use so-called collective self-defense right to get involved in other countries' domestic affairs, like in Taiwan well, that's even worse.
So China basically can, according to that document, directly invade Japan and conquer them and control their government until they get the new democracy and get pacified.
And also Japanese surrendering.
The documents also said the Tenno, which is the king of Japan, actually have to faithfully implement the Boston Declaration.
They cannot violate it.
And also when they joined the United Nations, they reiterated all the aforementioned documents.
So which means Japan is a failed country. and they will be limited towards all kinds of the rights.
But Takeuchi actually are using this uprising popularism in Japan saying we're going to rise up again as an empire.
We're going to rise up again to be a so-called normal country.
We're going to have all these rights to invade the other country, even though they say well, we're not intending to do so right now, but we're going to keep that right.
Well, if that beast will be woke again, just remember what we just said.
Remember Iwo Jima.
Remember Patan's death march.
Remember the decapitated heroes of Australia.
That's going to happen again.
That's very insightful.
Professor, earlier you mentioned other neighboring nations.
On Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reflected on the dark history of Japan's 1942 invasion during Total Defence Day, highlighting the lessons that no one else will defend the country and security depends on self-reliance and collective resolve.
So, in light of Foo's warning that peace-loving countries should stay alert to Japan's radical moves, What lessons can Japan's neighboring nations take from their previous experience during the Second World War against Japanese aggression to deal with Japan's revival of militarism today and maintain regional peace?
Well, I think one of the ideas we get from Prime Minister Wang is that really everybody needs to be the first responsibility person of their own national security system.
So I think ASEAN nations, especially Singapore, those smaller nations, need to be fully aware of that.
Singapore always have a very close relation with Japan economically.
But at this very critical moment as alliance of America, I think Singapore need to be very sober and need to be very clear.
Because if you rely on this kind of American and Japan alliances or American and Singaporean alliances relationship, defend your own security, that's basically not going to happen.
Remember, before the war, second world war, japan never threatened about asian nations.
They never say we're going to conquer malaysia.
They never say we're going to colonize singapore.
But at the last moment, when they get desperate, when they're defeated on the pearl harbor on the pacific ocean, they resolutely conquered asian nations and singapore probably is the worst victims out of many.
They've been colonized, the people been killed, they've been forced and enslaved, their women has been raped, and all that happened on that just a small territory.
So singapore really need to be clear-minded to choose who their friend.
Well, if they don't want to get into the muddy water, at least asian nations they have their own collective defense.
You know mechanisms out of the asian nations treaty.
So they need to build up all this kind of the national defense.
Don't imagine and do not get illusion about Japan as a peaceful player.
They rise up, you're going to get darker again.
And also in the future, I think all the other ASEAN nations really need to form this kind of collective security consensus.
For example, we have the ARF and also we have the Shanghai Cooperation Organizations.
We can work together to build a pre-alert mechanisms and also joint responding mechanisms towards the rising up bud of the Japanese militaristic.
And also this kind of the remilitarization actually will send up really important signal to all of Asian countries, because if we allow that to happen again, This very large region including China, South Korea, Mongolia and also 10 countries in ASEAN, they probably will face another round of very serious challenges.
And a lot of people are probably going to die again.
The economy and supply chain which is the most stable around the whole world in the past 20 years.
Remember, The Far East Asia is the only region without serious regional conflicts in the past 20 years, when the Middle East, when Ukraine, are in war zone and we are not, because China and many other big nations and other regions are being really responsible not to reach any kind of the security issues.
So I think that's a reason, fundamental reasons.
That whole region stayed in a very peaceful situation.
But Japan, if they rise up, they want to break this balance.
And I think this region will fall into the war zone just in no time.
So we need to all be very clear and be alert about that.
And we need to stop that in a very early stage and kill that kind of a nightmare in the cradle.
Thanks, Professor, for those insightful analysis.
That was Professor Qu Qiang from Minsu University.
Coming up, China strikes double Olympic goals on the same day.
This is Rare Today.
Stay with us.
You've been listening to Road Today.
China has claimed its first two gold medals at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, marking a major breakthrough for the country's Winter Games campaign.
Su Yiming soared to victory in the men's snowboard slopestyle final with a near-flawless run, securing China's first gold for these Games.
Shortly after five-time Olympian Xu Mengtao made history by becoming the first freestyle skier to win back-to-back Olympic aerials gold medals.
For this and more.
My colleague Song Ruixin had a talk with Paul Dong, co-founder of EI Asia Limited.
We're more than 10 days into these Olympics, but leading up to this point, there was so much anticipation and speculation about who would claim the first gold.
So why does this particular medal carry such weight?
And then for the athletes and the audience and the delegations.
What unique role does the first gold medal play in shaping the narrative and atmosphere of an entire Games?
Well, I think this question is primarily regarding what does this mean?
It means for China, the Chinese nation or sports fans, their following of the games of their delegation in Milano or Cortino.
I think, yes, absolutely.
If you want to describe the previous 10 or more days as very anxious for Chinese fans, it's a little bit exaggeration.
I think it's more kind of anxiety surrounding the delegation up front in Milan and Cortina or in Northern Italy.
But for back home here in China.
Unless you are a very veteran fan of sporting news, a lot of people wouldn't be following that China's performance in Italy that closely, because it coincided.
With the holiday season, people were busy traveling around the country going back home to celebrate the spring festival.
But at the same time, I think we are pretty much motivated by exciting sports news spreaded online instead of so much on TV.
Because people are too busy to follow scheduled events.
So I think back home here the very first gold medal would be kind of explosive to remind people of something big going on elsewhere.
I mean, overseas as something as big as the Olympic Games.
And that first gold happened to come with quite a story.
How would you assess Sui Ming's performance this time?
Even before Sui Ming's very first gold medal, he was already in another event.
That's true.
And also Gu Ailin.
Ailin Gu was in her two events as well.
But if we read the statistics related to the two free skiers in their recent performances, you are still not very surprised with such relatively late coming of the very first gold, because Gu Ailin has been a college student and so has been Su Yiming and they have been busy with school.
And at the same time, Gu Ailin has been away from very competitive free skiing events in the world and the olympic games just to serve as a test of how her shape, how good she still is.
I mean, she has been practicing but have been quite some distance away from competitions for a while, except for a couple of individual events.
So i think it's quite realistic for us to readjust our expectations.
We're waiting for this very first goal and it finally came, And it's already kind of luck because we lowered the expectation in Su Yiming after he failed to retain his gold medal at the Big Air event.
He still secured a bronze medal, which was already a remarkable achievement.
But we have to applaud him.
Which is the performance was kind of exceeding a lot of people's expectations.
I mean, the expectations were readjusted lower after his bronze medal performance a few days ago.
And he beat the odds, you know, exceeded our expectations.
Wow, the crowd and also the referees as well.
I mean, the judges were umpires. who gave him the top score in every of the three attempts.
So I think this just came.
What does this mean for the entire Games for China?
Well, is it quite a relief for the leaders of the delegation?
Absolutely.
It came a little bit late, although it was not so big a surprise.
China didn't have a very secured opportunity to win the gold medal in the skating event.
And then almost immediately, we saw something very different, that is, experience.
Just after Su's victory, veteran Xu Mengtao made history as the first freestyle skier to win back-to-back Olympic aerials goals at 35 in her fifth Games.
And what does this victory say about her ability to perform under such an, I would say, immense pressure?
Yes, indeed.
I quite agree with you.
I think whenever a veteran enters into a new record times of Winter Olympics four years at a time, you kind of think that her chances is not on the rise, maybe on reducing scale.
I had such a debate with a friend of mine who knows you very well, who is also very specialized in sports reporting.
And he has tremendous confidence in her.
But I was very, very skeptical because of her injuries, because the interviews that the CMG did in the weeks ahead of the games with her family members, with her coaches, with a team supporting her and, of course, with herself.
And I was more prepared for something like a medal instead of a gold medal because, given the age and also the difficulties that all other major competitors have caught up with her, you know for her I was Praying not for a medal, but for health.
But this really astonishing performance stunned me.
The very last one.
Performance only one time allowed in the final round of six athletes in the aerials final.
I think she really deserves the joy and the excitement.
It's absolutely phenomenal.
And it will be a kind of inspiration for everyone many other athletes who are seriously considering retirement and she still refuses to confirm her readiness to retire.
I think that will come in of concerns for parents, because at this age a lot of people can do many athletic things like coaching, like teaching or competing at a less competitive level.
Many people would think, take it as immense pressure.
But obviously, she didn't take it that way, that passive or negative.
I think she got very, very excited when competing on that level.
My final question, what would define a successful Winter Games for China beyond just a medal counts.
Is it depth or youth development or global competitiveness?
Yeah, I think people would easily compare China's performance in Italy or Milano or Cortina with that of four years ago in Beijing.
But that was very, very different when you were playing host to the very first Winter Olympics in China.
China did already extremely well on snow very first time in 2022, but largely from the free ski events.
But this time, if you look at other events like speed skating, we have quite a couple of medals from the men's speed skating and this time around in the group of three skaters stepping on the bronze medal award-winning podium.
But at the same time we also need to recognize a lot of other breakthroughs in luge, in bobsleigh and skeleton and other very stamina demanding events like biathlon, Nordic combined and many other events.
And China is making advancement or progress in those events.
With our naked eye, we can tell.
How winter sports are gaining foothold here are growing tremendously in this country.
This is something we will never worry about when you have such a large and growing base of the pyramid.
And you have more reason to believe in the future of any ice or snow teams or athletes to do better despite some setbacks in a particular event.
That was Paul Dong, co-founder of EI Asia Limited, speaking with Sun Ruixin.
More to come, we'll take a closer look at China's robot revolution.
Can China become a global robotics powerhouse?
Stay with us, where today continues after the break.
Welcome back to Road Today, our Chinese New Year edition.
China's humanoid robot industry is taking off from headline-grappling performances at the road humanoid robot games to rapidly commercializing models from rising companies like Unitree, with China already commanding 40 of the road's robotics market and its humanoid sector projected to grow more than 60 annually.
The country is racing to push robots from factory floors into everyday life.
What has been fueling this surge?
How does it fit into China's national strategy?
And can China become a global robotics powerhouse?
My colleague Zhao, Yang is joined by Andy Mock, professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Li Lun, assistant professor of economics at Peking University, and Yan Liang, professor of economics at Willamette University.
So Yan, I will start with you.
Morgan Stanley projected that China's robotics market will more than double by the year 2028.
So what do you think are the main reasons behind this rapid market expansion?
Well, I think China is really now the leader in the humanoid robot development, partly because there is very significant government support and partly also because of the private enterprises right.
Both startups but also established companies are really leading technological innovations, also mass production as well as commercial deployment.
So I think you know China has just achieved several, I would say, breakthroughs in the recent months.
For example, the AGI bots just finished a three-day marathon.
And we also know that the UB Tech just claimed that they're able to roll out quote the world's first mass delivery unquote of industrial human rights robots.
So what we're seeing is not only technological breakthroughs, but really the mass production at costs that is effective.
That would allow for more adoption of these robots in industrial and service sector.
So we're seeing all these efforts that are both led by the government when it comes to strategic planning, but also set up industrial super funds to support the industry development.
And also partly because the private enterprises are being very innovative.
And there's also a lot of user cases and complete supply chain to facilitate the kind of cost effective mass production.
So all of these, I think, are really driving China's humanoid robot developments and really solidify its leadership role in this industry.
And so, Andy, what are the latest advancements in humanoid robots in China?
Are we seeing the real world deployment beyond the lab?
I think we are, Zhao Liang.
And to step back a bit about where to fit these latest developments.
But I think what we see here is that in sector after sector, the pattern is the same.
America dreams and China builds.
And I think the story of humanoid robots is really the next chapter. of this larger shift.
And, you know, as we've seen tremendous advancements by companies, Unitree, Fourier, UB Tech.
And I really want to talk about Xpeng.
And these companies together, I think, are really pushing from lab demos to real-world functionality.
And you know some of the, I think, the developments we can talk about.
Unitries models can already run and climb stairs.
Ubitex walker robots are being deployed in customs halls, logistics centers forays, targeting hospitals and elder care.
I think here's what's very interesting.
So Xpeng is coming forward with its humanoid platform.
That has really amazed people in how human-like its movement is.
And this is, I think, an attempt to cross the so-called uncanny valley.
So where it's not only technologically possible for robots to work alongside humans, but it doesn't freak people out and make them feel very uncomfortable.
So I think This is a very, very important part of this.
I think what is also very fascinating is that we look at this pattern where Apple has tried for decades, through Project Titan, to create an automobile.
Xiaomi took less than three years. to deliver a blockbuster electric vehicle.
And similarly we see Tesla, who has been working for years on humanoid robots, may be surpassed by Xpeng.
So I think bigger picture, I think America dreams, China builds and we are seeing this latest chapter play out with humanoid robots.
So Li Lun, a lot of humanoid robot companies.
How is Chinese government supporting the robotics and AI industries?
Yeah, so we're seeing a very top-down approach from a strategic priority.
For example, we saw that robotics and AI are directly written into both the 14th and 15th five-year plan.
So basically, it's included in a series of future industry roadmaps.
So, basically from the very top, we have placed human robots as a new engine of growth besides EV and also other new energy industries, also in terms of digital infrastructure.
So that's basically from the local government side by 2024.
We have seen that you know china has built over 42 million 5g base stations and also you know the local governments are building a lot of you know ai computing centers and data centers.
So these will serve as the digital infrastructure that's guaranteed for, you know, the development of these robots.
And in terms of industrial policy and also in terms of regulation, We saw that the National Development and Reform Commission have basically both the policy and guidelines and there are some regulation or warning against repetitive or price competition.
So overall, I think the Chinese government is basically both serving as an accelerator but also a regulator.
So on the one side it's putting resources into these industries, but on the other side it's also, you know, trying to make sure that you know the market is regulated.
Also, the sector is not, you know, is staring away from hype and, you know, going towards real productivity gains.
And Yan, so what do you think are the main applications for humanoid robots in China?
Are they being used in factories, customer services, healthcare, or even education?
Well, I think a lot of the sectors that you just mentioned are seeing the applications of these humanoid robots, right?
So, for example, in manufacturing sector, we have seen the Ubitex Walker S2 humanoid robots are being deployed for many of the automakers, like BYD and Geely Auto.
Also in electronics manufacturing.
We're also seeing these humanoid robots are being deployed, as well as in some of the service sectors, such as logistics and warehousing, hotels and other, you know tourist related hospitality industries, as well as retail industries.
I think the next step is really trying to promote more, you know, sort of the care economy to utilize these robots right.
So, as you mentioned, like healthcare, elderly care, childcare or education, I think these also have a lot of user cases for these humanoid robots, in addition to the manufacturing sector and logistics and warehousing.
I think one of the challenges right now is that there are a lot of robots that are able to focus on one specific task in the manufacturing sector, for instance.
They can learn and perform manufacturing tasks through trainings and so on.
But I think you know, when it comes to for home, or for home care, or for elderly care, what you need to do, what you need to have, is a robot that can perform various tasks in very different you know circumstances.
So this kind of very general applications, very general purpose robots are still being you know, developed.
But I think, as I mentioned earlier, China has a lot of user cases for these robots, as we know that today there are more than 2 million robots actually working in China's factories, according to a report by the International Federation of Robots.
And factories in China also installed 300000 new robots, which is more than the rest of the world combined.
So, as you see, robots are really being applied, adopted widely in China's factories and some other sectors.
Again, not only because China is advanced in these technologies, but because of the production scale and also the cost effectiveness, I think that we're likely to see this trend is going to move much faster, going forward.
And Andy.
So how critical is AI, especially the large models and the real-time learning, enabling the human and robots to become more real-world applications.
Well, I think AI is absolutely critical, Zhao Yang, because without the right AI models, we really cannot have more general purpose robots.
I think we will be stuck in a world of more industrial automation which, of course, is already mature in China.
And here I think it's important to point out though, that when we talk about AI, there's a couple things we really have to understand.
So obviously robots are physical objects, so manufacturing matters a lot.
So China is world class here.
When we think about AI, a lot of people think about the models.
And here it's, I think, still unclear that there's wide recognition that large language models are probably not the way to go.
And that there's something like maybe world models or whatever that really need to power AI, this new generation, this new age of embodied intelligence or intelligent general purpose robots.
But then even upstream of that is data.
And here I think again, what China is able to offer very deliberately, very systematically, is to address every part of this value chain for making sure that We, the world, can generate a lot of appropriate data to train the right AI models and then actually build and deploy these robots.
And I just briefly want to say here, you know, it's a very important application is elder care.
So with the rapidly aging population, there's a lot of urgency here.
And I think within the next five years it's entirely plausible that elder assisted robots will be rolled out in assisted living homes, urban community centers in China lifting monitoring reminding, offering basic companionship.
But and this is the really key point here It's not just all of this visible part of the value chain, but what happens when these robots are working living side by side with humans every day?
What happens when something goes wrong?
What happens if there's a software glitch?
So this part, I think, is invisible but vitally important for the successful diffusion of this new technology.
And here I think China also is doing really tremendously important work laying the ground in terms of the standards.
What are the regulations, uh to deal with?
Um, when things uh don't work as they're supposed to, can you roll back the software?
How do you stop a robot from doing something that it should not do?
These are vitally, vitally important aspects.
And actually I just finished a book about this and you know emphasize that this really the governance part of it is really important.
And yeah, actually, Andy, talking about robots used in the services sector, like outlay care.
So how can developers increase the trust and guarantee the safety in close, you know, physical interactions?
Right.
I do think that this is one of the challenges.
I agree with Andy that I think there are a lot of user cases and now it's also really driven by national policies, especially having pilot programs like in Beijing, that the idea is to use robots for daily tasks ranging from mobility assistance to doing chores, and also companionship and emotional support.
But, as you just mentioned, I think one of the challenging part is to really encourage the seniors to accept these kinds of new technologies.
There are definitely concerns about whether or not there are potential malfunctions.
There are also the concerns about whether or not these machines would really perform tasks in a careful way not to have any sort of injuries and things like that.
There's also, of course, the question about affordability.
But I think you're right.
I think with more you know, training and also more sort of experiment and regulations with the kinds of users, I think we're likely to see more of you know, trust building, I would say right.
That once you know these robots are being introduced in assisted living and also at homes, and seeing how these machines can be reliable and perform all these different tasks, I think that will help to improve right the acceptance rates.
But I also agree that you know training and also data, and also really build these models that are flexible and dexterous right that can perform many different tasks at once.
I think that is very important.
I think, despite the challenges, many of the industrial experts actually predicted these kinds of companion robots will be common in homes within three years, and some of the more advanced models maybe within five years.
So that is a very promising, I think, outlook for using robots for, you know, home and for assisted living out of the care, and so on.
And Li Lun so for the AI advancement.
What will be its impact on different industries employment education, human relationships and communication?
For example, how is AI used in education, maybe in your classroom?
Well, that's a great question.
So I think overall, AI is already significantly changing.
You know how the society works and basically, you know, As you mentioned, changing the different industries, changing the employment, changing the type of jobs that we do.
So I think overall, AI is definitely a real productivity boost, but sometimes the boost is not even.
So with the high-tech jobs or the high-skilled labor that's, you know, being in contact with AI or actually using AI in their jobs you know they actually have a productivity growth or productivity boost.
But for people, you know, that's in danger of being replaced by AI.
So, you know, in terms of their job security, in terms of, you know, their job being, you know, exposed to automation,
So I think this is probably going to bring, you know, changes to their to their life.
But I think, you know, technology or society have have a way out.
So maybe we'll have new jobs in terms of, you know, for example, as we talk about, you know, elderly care.
I think one model is for AI, is you know, for robots?
Is that, you know, with machine serving as a muscle and human serving as the brain?
So so maybe instead of a full robotic nurse, we can have nurses being remote and controlling the robotic from you know thousands of miles away.
And back to your question about education.
So I think the most important part of AI is that you know college education or education in general.
It used to be a one size fit at all kind of education.
There is no customization.
There's no personalization. per se, the teachers basically teach the same material to all students.
But right now, with the help of AI, especially sometimes in my classroom as well.
So using the AI, basically, I tried using an AI tutor to help students answer questions.
That you know is 24-7, even when I'm sleeping.
It can also answer some of the questions that I can, you know, check later to see if they're correct or not.
And also they can, you know, generate some quiz questions, you know help them to, you know summarize or translate readings, even in English.
So I think it definitely transformed the way students learn in the classroom.
But the way I see it is not a replacement to teacher, it's a tool and maybe a coworker for teachers.
And Andy, so how is this going to change the music and the film industry?
What does the AI generated music or film mean for human artists?
Well, that's a great question, Zhao Yang.
And I know that many creators, many people in the music film, television industry are tremendously worried about this because, of course, the fear is, if you are a writer, or perhaps even if you are an actor or a musician, that you could be replaced by AI.
And I think the reality is that it will be some of both.
Right.
And, in a sense, just as we've seen, the smartphone with the ability to easily shoot photos, shoot videos and edit videos really democratized the creation of videos.
And, of course, this led to new forms of entertainment, new forms of media like TikTok YouTube, etc.
Similarly, we will see some people suffer negative repercussions from this, but those that are fastest to hop on the bandwagon or get on the train may actually benefit quite a lot.
We look at what is likely to happen with AI is perhaps what happened in the Industrial Revolution in England.
Where steam power created not only factories that could produce standardized goods at much higher volume, much lower cost, but it also led to urbanization.
We may see with AI will encompass not just creators and music and entertainment, but also many, many other sectors of society as well.
And yeah, so for the artificial intelligence development.
China actually holds about 60 of the world's AI related patents.
And a recent MIT study shows that China has overtaken the US in the global market for open AI models.
So why is this meaningful?
Well, I think you know, China has become a global leader, I would say, in AI research and also adoption, despite you know many of the challenges, for example, the high-end GPU ban from the United States when it comes to exports.
But I think that you know, as China has had this really whole society mobilization, I would say, to really develop the AI industry.
So from the government that has set up strategic planning but also put up funds and also develop regulatory clarity to guide the industry to develop.
And we're also seeing many companies, right?
DeepSeq being one of them, but there are many of them are really innovating and really use smart, I think, solutions to overcome some of the computational shortages.
We're also seeing really this sort of ecosystem being built, right?
From AI in terms of the construction of the large language models to cloud services, and also when it comes to monetization of these ai technologies in various user cases.
So i think we're seeing a lot of these kinds of innovations and adoptions going on, not to mention because china aimed to lead in open source ai, which really made it cost effective and also um, you know the cycle of of uh, innovate and also to build upon this open source AI is huge.
It has a huge potential.
So that's why you're seeing many companies, even outside of China, are willing to work with the Chinese AI, because it's open sourced.
So I think all of these help to promote China's leadership in that regard.
There's, of course, China's AI governance.
I think China has been taking a proactive but also cooperative way to regulate AI users.
So I think a lot of these would help to provide the long-term development guidelines for companies to develop their AI technologies and also again to utilize it.
I think this cannot be emphasized enough.
Whereas in the US, even though there's a lot of AI investments, especially in CapEx, but the use of cases are still not, as much because it's expensive, but also it's because again, a lot of companies are still in that innovation process but not really use AI or adopt AI, integrate them in the traditional industries or in the broader society.
So I think in that sense China is really leading the way, not only in terms of technological development, but really in terms of innovative uses of these AI technologies.
And the US has launched what the White House calls the biggest federal push on artificial intelligence in history the Genesis mission.
So what's the strategy behind this and what's the details of it yet?
Well, the so-called genesis mission is basically trying to connect the 17 national laboratories to accelerate discovery of scientific discovery, also strengthen national security and also drive energy efficiency.
So it's really trying to build a sort of a more holistic system right to integrate all these different infrastructures together for scientific exploration, for energy efficiency and also for national security purposes.
But it's not really clear what exactly in terms of the substantive either funding sources or talent recruitment or development.
So there's a lot of, I would say the details are still quite vague.
It's not quite clear.
This is really the project by Department of Energy in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
It's not like an all-out effort that involved many departments or many programs.
It seems to me it's still a pretty vague but ambitious idea at this point, rather than a very specific action-packed program.
So Andy, today we discussed a lot about AI, but do we actually trust AI, or are we just tolerating it because it's useful?
And what gives you the most hope and the most worry about where AI is taking us?
Well, Zhao Yang, you know, I think in some sense you know this is an existential question that both researchers in the field and philosophers fear, because it's not only as you say.
I mean that you know, AI is a enormously productive technology that can be applied in the factory even to some of the most personal human relationships, right?
But where some believe that AI is different is that it might actually end up being far smarter than humans.
And that may change the nature of mankind's relationship to reality, right?
So we've always thought the Age of Enlightenment.
What makes humans different is the ability to think, to reason, to understand.
So what happens if we now have a new class of species that are far smarter than us, can make decisions better than we can?
So I think that this is maybe beyond the scope of what we're talking about today.
That were Andy Mock, professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, Li Lun, assistant professor of economics at Peking University, and Yan Liang, professor of economics at Willamette University.
Speaking with our Zhao Yang.
China's industry and information technology sector recorded a steady growth and a strong innovation momentum in 2025.
Authorities say the sector contributed more than 40 of the country's overall economic growth last year.
Wang Ziheng has the details.
According to official figures, the sector's value-added industrial output increased by 59, highlighting its role as a key economic engine.
In telecommunications.
China has built the world's largest and most advanced information infrastructure.
The country has set up nearly 5 million 5G-based stations, covering nearly all townships and villages nationwide.
The number of 5G users has climbed past 1.2 billion.
China has also advanced a next-generation connectivity.
It has completed the first phase of 6G research and development with more than 300 technologies in reserve.
Authorities say the second phase of 6G technical trials has already begun.
In the digital and intelligent industries, revenue reached around 40 trillion yuan, or about 6 trillion US dollars, by the end of 2025.
Profits exceeded 3 trillion yuan.
China has built tens of thousands smart factories across the country.
The number of artificial intelligence companies has exceeded 6000 and the core AI industry is expected to surpass 12 trillion yuan in scale.
The country is also speeding up robot development.
More than 140 domestic manufacturers now produce complete robot systems, and over 330 humanoid robot models have been released.
These robots are entering sports venues, factories and homes, marking a new stage of real-world application.
That was Wang Zihang reporting.
That's all the time for this edition of Road Today.
I'm Ge'Anna.
Thank you so much for listening.
Until next time.
