China's Week: June 20

Orbiting satellite refueled, rare earth fertilizer works(?!), liver cancer knockout, China train, planes are unloading in Tehran. No connection to war, of course.

Science & Technology

Shijian-25 refuels Shijian-21, extends satellites’ lifespan by eight years. NASA abandoned satellite refueling after OSAM-1 ran years late and $2 billion over budget.

Carbide ceramic heat shield works up to 3,600ºC (6,512º F) in an oxidizing environment, far exceeding the current thermal limits on hypersonic flight.

The $2.5 billion Xinghuo hybrid fusion-fission reactor is 4X more energy efficient than traditional reactors: 100 MW continuously by 2030, compared to ITER’s goal of 10 MW and America’s 1.5 MW.

Breath analyzer makes blood tests obsolete, monitors diabetes in real time by measuring acetone levels in exhaled breath.

Revolutionary liver cancer therapy delivers glass microspheres of Yttrium-90 to liver tumors via the hepatic artery. Large-scale production paves the way for significant progress in nuclear medicine globally.

First fully AI-powered, automated IC processor design software, QiMeng, produces the first fully automated CPU chip. Its performance equals ARM’s Cortex-A53.

High tech fibers–Carbon, Aramid, UHMWPE–power new industries, robots. China produced 10,000 tons of UHMWPE in 2016, 100,000 tons in 2024.

DeepSeek tied for first place with Google’s Gemini-2.5 and Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4, says WebDev, which evaluates LLMs’ ability to code quickly and accurately.

REE microfertilizing began in the 1960s: “REEs lift chlorophyll photosynthesis efficiency 23%; REE corn seed-dressing lifts yields by 14%, pods per soybean plant by 26%; Vitamin C in citrus rose 19%, storage decay rate fell 35%”.

Finance & Economy

Flying bike’s 44 mph speed, 31 mile flight range, $69,000 price. Automated takeoff, landing and route planning, redundant motors and ballistic parachute inlcluded.

Huawei leads global wearables market, Xiaomi second, Apple third. Huawei’s Q1 2025 saw 10 million shipments for a 22% market share, up 42% YoY.

May GDP grew 5.8% YoY, with high end manufacturing up 8.6%, Industrial robots 35.5% YoY, Service robots 13.8%, CNC machines 6.3%, NEVs 31.7%.

Export restrictions quadruple China’s antimony export prices. Battery makers suffer.

China’s Comac, France’s Safran developing widebody C929 brake controls, ice detection, tyre pressure and on-board oxygen. A JV? IP swap for market access?

First China train reaches Tehran, 6,500 miles from Xian, in 15 days vs. 35, via Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan –just as an attempt begins to prevent Iran from becoming a logistics hub for the new Eurasian architecture.

The 110,000th China-Europe freight train left Erenhot, Inner Mongolia for Moscow, fourteen days away, hauling 55 containers of home appliances.

200,000 visitors, $12 billion deals signed at the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo: up 46% in project volume and a 11% in deal value YoY.

Society & Environment

National PM2.5 fell 35% from 2015-2022. A monitoring system now captures real-time environmental dynamics across space, air, ground, and sea. Drones, AI analytics and automated labs provide traceable workflows and real-time alerts.

Shanghaians’ 5G-A cellphone network is five to ten times faster than regular 5G. $27.60/mo. Family shared data, fiber broadband, international roaming data.

One-stop shopping? RedNote users can jump from posts directly to product pages on Taobao and Tmall without switching apps or searching.

Maotanchang High School is a “gaokao factory.” Students begin class at 6:20 a.m., then a full day of eight classes, then three-and-a-half hours of evening self-study, ending at 11 p.m.

Criminal control of a home surveillance system: In 2020, Mr Han obtained passwords for 193 cameras, viewed households and saved images. Verdict: 3 years and 1 month in prison, and a 130,000 RMB fine. It is reasonable to consider such devices as ‘computer information systems’ for purposes of this crime.

Governance & Geopolitics

Xi Jinping: “Two years on, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project has been officially launched. We are making steady progress in planning for the third railway link between China and Kazakhstan, in phase-II restoration of the China-Tajikistan highway, and in China-Turkmenistan energy cooperation. Freight trains are connecting more and more Chinese cities to Central Asia. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route has been upgraded and expanded. Green industries, digital economy, artificial intelligence, aviation and space are becoming new drivers of our cooperation. Cross-border e-commerce, online education, and other new business models are benefiting more and more people in China and Central Asia.

The plan is to make it impossible for Iran to sell oil and gas directly to China. Iran’s missile strikes are becoming more precise thanks to access to advanced BeiDou