The Hanging Temple in Shanxi Province, China. Photo: Our China Story
China Warns Against US-Backed Parallel Mechanisms at UN Security Council
China defended the authority of the United Nations and warned against initiatives that bypass its framework during discussions at the UN Security Council on 26 January. Ambassador Fu Cong cautioned against US-backed parallel mechanisms, emphasizing that the Security Council holds the sole legally binding authority on international peace and security. The remarks come in the context of the US-led ‘Board of Peace’, launched in Davos on 22 January with 25 signatory nations and US $1 billion in permanent membership fees. China reaffirmed its commitment to multilateral diplomacy, respect for sovereignty, and the rules-based international order.
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UK Prime Minister Starmer Visits Beijing, Pledges Strategic Partnership Amid US Tariff Pressures
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Beijing on 29 January, marking the first UK prime ministerial visit to China in eight years. During an 80-minute meeting with President Xi Jinping – twice the scheduled time – both leaders agreed to develop a long-term, stable, comprehensive strategic partnership. The visit coincided with a wave of US allies seeking closer economic ties with China amid renewed Washington tariff threats and unilateral policies. Officials said the discussions focused on trade, investment, and multilateral cooperation, signaling a pragmatic approach to Sino-British relations in a shifting global economic landscape.
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Chongqing Holds 2026 Two Sessions to Advance 15th Five-Year Plan and Consultative Democracy
Chongqing convened its 2026 Two Sessions on 27–28 January, marking the first provincial-level legislative gatherings of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The sessions reviewed 1,385 proposals from the 2025 CPPCC and examined urban renewal initiatives that renovated over 1,200 older residential communities, benefiting 300,000 households. The city also upgraded 1,028 ‘representatives’ homes’ and established 16 full-process people’s democracy practice stations, emphasizing mega-city governance, consultative democracy, and inclusive urban development. Delegations from 24 countries were invited to observe China’s grassroots democratic practices.
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CPC Launches Investigation into Top Military Leaders to Reinforce Party Control
On 24 January, the CPC Central Committee announced investigations into Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and Politburo member, and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, for suspected serious violations of discipline and law. Official statements said both had ‘gravely betrayed Party trust’ and ‘seriously undermined the system of the CMC chairman bearing ultimate responsibility.’ The move underscores the Party’s unwavering commitment to anti-corruption and its absolute leadership over the military, signaling strict enforcement of discipline within China’s armed forces.
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China’s Manufacturing Sector Accelerates Intelligent Transformation as Smart Equipment Sales Rise
According to 2025 data from the State Taxation Administration, China’s manufacturing sector is rapidly advancing intelligent and green production. Smart equipment sales rose 28.1%, while purchases of automation equipment increased 11.3% and digital equipment by 10% year-on-year. Industrial robot output climbed 17.4%, and specialized service robots surged 42.1%. Manufacturing’s share of national sales revenue reached 29.7%, up 0.5 percentage points, as high-energy-consuming industries’ share declined 1.1 points. These figures demonstrate the sector’s accelerating transition toward smart, automated, and environmentally sustainable production, marking the close of the 14th Five-Year Plan with a notable shift in industrial structure.
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China Halves New Energy Vehicle Tax Incentives and Tightens Standards to Promote Quality Growth
Starting 1 January, China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) tax incentives were halved, and technical requirements were raised to encourage quality-driven development. Plug-in hybrid vehicles must now achieve 100 km of pure electric range, up from 43 km, to qualify for purchase tax benefits. The maximum exemption was reduced from 30,000 yuan (US $4,286) to 15,000 yuan (US $2,143). Officials said the measures aim to shift the industry from price competition to technology-driven growth, supporting China’s carbon peak and neutrality goals while promoting innovation and long-term sustainability in the NEV sector.
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Grain Output Hits Record 714.9 Million Tonnes in 2025, Completing 14th Five-Year Plan Agricultural Targets
China’s 2025 grain harvest reached a record 714.9 million tonnes, an 8.4 million-tonne year-on-year increase, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced on 22 January. This marks the second consecutive year above 700 million tonnes, completing the 14th Five-Year Plan’s agricultural targets despite extreme weather, including droughts and floods in some regions. Technological progress contributed over 64% to agricultural growth, while comprehensive mechanisation reached 76.7%, driving productivity gains and supporting the country’s agricultural development.
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China Surpasses 14th Five-Year Plan Innovation Targets with 2.29 Million High-Value Patents and Top 10 Global Ranking
At the National Science and Technology Work Conference on 26 January, senior official Ding Xuexiang announced that mainland China now holds 16 high-value invention patents per 10,000 people – exceeding the 14th Five-Year Plan target of 12 – while the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster ranks first globally in the WIPO 2025 Global Innovation Index, meaning China has risen to 10th place overall, the first middle-income economy to enter the top ten.
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Beijing Startup Moonshot AI Releases Kimi K2.5 with Agent Swarm Capability That Coordinates 100 Sub-agents in Parallel
Scoring 50.2% on the HLE-Full benchmark – surpassing both GPT-5.2 and Claude Opus 4.5 – the open-source trillion-parameter model introduces Parallel-Agent Reinforcement Learning (PARL), enabling autonomous task decomposition across up to 1,500 coordinated tool calls; released under Modified MIT License with aggressive API pricing at US $0.60 per million input tokens – a 47.8% decrease – the advancement democratises access to production-scale agent architecture as the AI industry shifts from chat-based interactions to autonomous multi-agent systems capable of executing complex workflows without human intervention.
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Digital Technology Preserves 350 Cultural Sites in Shanxi as Gaming Phenomenon Sparks Youth Interest in Heritage
Using 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry, Shanxi Province – home to 531 national-level protection units, the most in China – has documented 1,500 ancient buildings, 1,500 painted sculptures, and 15,000 square metres of murals while accumulating 2 petabytes of archival data; the video game Black Myth: Wukong, which prominently features Shanxi’s ancient heritage sites, generated over 160 million yuan (US $22.7 million) in ticket revenue within two months of its August 2024 release and triggered a 3,178% surge in tourism searches.
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Spring Festival Travel Rush to See Record 9.5 Billion Trips as China’s Transport Infrastructure Supports World’s Largest Migration
The 40-day Chunyun (春运) period from 2 February to 13 March will see approximately 80% of journeys made by private vehicles on China’s expressway network, with railways expected to handle 539 million passengers – up 5% year-on-year – as the country’s transport infrastructure, comprising over 50,000 km of high-speed rail and extensive highway networks, enables millions to return home for Year of the Horse celebrations.
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