China's Week, August 4

17-minute plasma; Temples Embrace Consumer Culture; First national childcare subsidies; Renewables growth exceeded power demand growth–a very big deal

Science & Technology

China's EAST maintained a high-confinement nuclear fusion plasma for 17 minutes, paving the way to its 2030 goal of steady-state fusion.

China’s ‘rare earth cascade extraction’ refines concentration and purity at each step, peaking at 99.99%, transforming a stop-and-go process into a production line.

China has 7 commercial launch companies with 51 production sites across the country.

Shanghai has officially launched its first fleet of fully driverless robotaxis, with the fare starting from $2.00 for the first 3 kilometers.

Premier Li proposed a World AI Coordination Organization (WAICO), in Shanghai, to ‘promote inclusive development and bridge the intelligence divide. The US AI Action Plan pushes for US corporate dominance of the AI stack.

Economy & Trade

China's First Trans-Scale Biomedical Imaging¹ Center’s core technology is a miniaturized two-photon microscope weighing 2.2 grams and can conduct real-time brain observations.

Brazil triples rare earth exports to China.

Meituan’s 150 million daily instant-retail orders a record, while Taobao and Ele.me exceeded 80 million.

Morgan Stanley’s Panda bond’s 1.98% coupon raised $279 million, making it the first U.S.-based company to access China’s domestic bond market.

LNG imports fell for past 8 months, down 12% YoY, due to increased domestic gas production. American LNG imports halted, reshaping global energy flows.