china

China has not stood idly by in the face of the Dutch offensive against Nexperia. The pulse with Europe intensifies

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Nexperia probably doesn’t sound familiar to us. It does not manufacture phones or computers, but its small chips are present in a good part of devices. For years, it was a discreet company based in the Netherlands and owned by the Chinese company Wingtech, far from the media spotlight. Everything changed this fall, when the Dutch Government took temporary control of its management citing reasons of economic securityand a few days later China banned its subsidiary from exporting part of its products. In just one week, an invisible company became the epicenter of the new technological pulse between Europe and Beijing. The Dutch Government’s measure was not an expropriation, but it was an unprecedented move. The Ministry of Economic Affairs invoked the Asset Availability Lawa 1952 law created to ensure the supply of essential goods. With it, he assumed veto power over strategic decisions. In parallel, The Amsterdam Business Chamber appointed an independent administrator and reorganized voting rights to ensure oversight. According to the Executive, it was about ensuring that the company maintained its production in Europe and avoiding any transfer of sensitive knowledge outside the continent. Dutch control over Nexperia has a very specific scope. The State does not own the company, but it can veto strategic decisions, changes in management or movements that modify its structure in Europe. Through the independent administrator appointed by a court, the Government has a direct say in the management and can stop any decision that it considers a risk to supply or technological security. Supervision has been established for an initial period of one year, although it is not clear whether monitoring could be extended beyond that period. Export veto. A few days after the Dutch decision, China reacted with a measure that directly hits the Asian subsidiary of Nexperia. The Ministry of Commerce vetoed the export of certain “finished components and subassemblies” manufactured in Chinese territory, both by the company itself and by its suppliers. The blockade does not affect its internal market, but limits part of the trade routes to Europe and America. The company has confirmed that it is seeking an agreement with the Chinese authorities to reverse the veto. Impact on the supply chain. Nexperia’s Guangdong plant is one of its largest centers, with a capacity of tens of billions of parts per year. The Chinese order affects precisely that facility and its local suppliers, which restricts international shipments. Nexperia keeps its factories active in Europe and Southeast Asia, which could help mitigate the effects of the blockade. For now, the company assures that European production and orders continue as normal. Official responses: Following the Dutch Government’s decision, Nexperia announced that it will fully cooperate with the authorities and implement the management changes ordered by the court. Wingtech, its Chinese parent company, talks about “an excessive intervention based on geopolitical bias rather than a fact-based risk assessment” by the Netherlands. From Beijing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the politicization of the issue and discriminatory practices against Chinese companies Chronology to understand the case at a glance. In just two weeks, the Nexperia case went from being an administrative decision to becoming a diplomatic fight between Europe and China. September 30, 2025: The Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands invokes for the first time the Goods Availability Act to apply supervisory measures over Nexperia. October 4, 2025: China’s Ministry of Commerce prohibits Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting certain “finished components and subassemblies” manufactured in the country. October 7, 2025: The Amsterdam Business Chamber suspends CEO Zhang Xuezheng and appoints an independent administrator with decision-making power over the company. October 12, 2025: The Dutch Government officially announces the activation of the law and the control framework over Nexperia. October 14, 2025: Nexperia recognizes the veto imposed by Beijing and affirms that it is holding talks with the Chinese authorities to resolve the blockade. ⠀ The episode leaves more questions open than answers. China has not published a detailed list of affected products, and the available information comes from Nexperia’s statement on October 14. It is also not known whether Dutch supervision will end within the announced deadline or whether it could be extended. Ultimately, the company operates between two opposing regulations, with no clear margin for stable normality. A conflict, opposing views. The Netherlands maintains that it acts for economic security and to protect technological capabilities considered strategic. China, on the other hand, interprets the measure as a form of discrimination that seeks to slow its industrial advance. Between both positions, the company tries to maintain balance on a board that has become as political as it is technological. What is at stake is not only the future of Nexperia, but the role that Europe wants to play in the new geography of technology. Nexperia is not a minor player. From its headquarters in the Netherlands coordinates a global network of more than 12,500 employees and manufactures billions of components each year for industries ranging from automobiles to consumer electronics. Their chips, invisible to most, are part of the technical fabric that supports much of the digital economy. That scale explains why what began as a national measure has ended up resonating in a global debate about control, dependence and technological power. Images | Nexperia (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | Before the tariffs, China bought most of its beef from the US. After the tariffs another country has won

US soybean silos are bursting because China no longer buys them. The threat to the US is used oil

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The trade war and the exchange of tariffs between the US and China is having repercussions at many levels and agriculture is one of the sectors that is suffering the most from the consequences. Due to its size, China is one of the main importers of food products and is using this advantage to punish its rival. They are doing it with beef and also with soybeans. Now Trump has a threat to China. What has happened? China was the main US customer in the soybean business, but the trade war is reconfiguring the game board and soybeans are being one of China’s main weapons in this tug of war. The decision to stop buying soy is wreaking havoc in the US and now Trump pushes to stop buying another product from them: used cooking oil. The president has used your social network Thruth to describe China’s move with soybeans as “an act of economic hostility” and has assured that “we can easily produce cooking oil ourselves, we do not need to buy it from China.” Why it is important. The used cooking oil market moved 6.9 billion dollars in 2024. This oil is used to create biofuels, and with increased recycling and sustainability initiatives, the figure is expected to double by 2032. The United States is the world’s largest buyer of used oil and China is its largest supplier. According to data from the Department of Agriculture American, in 2024 the United States bought 43% of all the used oil produced by China. The soy problem. China was the US’s main customer in the soybean business. Until not long ago, they bought 40% of all production from them, a figure that was reduced to 20% in 2024. Despite the reduction, it was still a lot: 27 million tons and a value of 12.8 billion dollars. In 2025 only about 16 million tons have been imported until July, but this was just the beginning. Currently, China has further reduced imports of US soybeans, which aim to be practically zero in the last quarter of the year. Instead, China is doing business with other countries: Brazil and Argentina. Consequences. American farmers’ silos are bursting with soybeans. They count in the New York Times that states like North Dakota sold more than 70% of their production to China and now find that their best customer no longer buys from them. It is an enormous amount to be able to place before production goes to waste. The damage to the agriculture sector is enormous, with farms projecting losses of up to $400,000 this year. Tensions. A few days ago we learned of Beijing’s decision to consolidate its dominance over rare earthsa strategic sector in which they are the key player. The United States responded with a 100% tariff which is accumulated to those already imposed previously. Trump exploded on social Thruth against the measure, but in one of his usual changes of position, days later posted another message in which he lowered his tone: “Don’t worry about China, everything will be fine. The highly respected President Xi has only had a bad time.” The threat to stop buying used oil represents a new escalation of tension, although there are voices like that of Rush Doshi, Biden’s former security adviser, They believe that it will not have great consequences and in Beijing it will be seen as a sign of weakness. Image | Pexels 1, 2In Xataka | Holland has just declared war on China in the most important battle of the century: control of semiconductors

The US attacked China with tariffs and China has counterattacked by stopping buying meat from them. The big winner has been Australia

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The United States was one of the main exporters of beef to China, but the tension between both countries and the tariff war has ended this relationship. The winner of the situation is Australia, which is already the country that exports the most beef to China, but also one of the main partners of the United States. What is happening. There was no official statement from the government. Last March, China did not renew its beef export licenses with the United States and has found a new partner to meet demand: Australia. Beef exports have increased 35% in the first half of the year and the Australian livestock sector has already invoiced 6.6 billion dollars, according to Nikkei Asia. Shipments to the Chinese market have grown by 65%, but they have also increased to the United States by 48%. It’s a double victory. Why it is important. China is the largest importer of agricultural products and is using this stance to harm the United States. They already did it with their decision to stop buying soybeans from the United Stateswhich was their main supplier, and now they have done it with beef. The beef trade between the United States and China produced around 120 million dollars a month. Now that number is zero. It is another example that dismantles Trump’s storywhich defends tariffs as a beneficial measure for the United States. Skyrocketing prices. The price of meat reached its all-time high last September, according to data from United Nations. In particular, the increase in the price of beef is caused by several factors. On the one hand, the decrease in production in countries such as the United States, New Zealand and Europe. In the United States specifically, the shortage has been caused because of the drought. On the other hand, tariffs and geopolitical tensions have put pressure on international market prices. The game board has been reconfigured, with the United States and China turning primarily to Australia and Brazil to meet their demand. perfect position. At least for the moment, Australia wins because it is in a good position with the main meat importers. In China they are already the first supplier of beef, while in the United States they are the second behind Brazil. The key is that while Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilin Australia they only have 10% because they mainly export minced meat for hamburgers. Australia and China. There was not always harmony between the two nations. In 2020, China suspended imports of Australian beef. The reason given was labeling problems for some products, but everything indicates that the decision had more to do with the critical stance of the Australian government about China’s handling of the coronavirus. Image | Wikipedia, PXhere In Xataka | China has just beaten the United States in the most unexpected fight: that of branded coffee shops

an F-35 squadron that does not belong to China, Russia or the United States

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In the month of January it was known America’s plan B in the Arctic once it seemed that “the Greenland thing” was not going to be so easy: a underwater cave in Norway. Two months later, eight icebreakers attested that Russia was there tooand in August, both nations looked with surprise at the arrival of five icebreakers with the flag of China. Now, at congregation a squadron of F-35s has been added… from a fourth contender. New strategic axis. we have been counting throughout the year. The Arctic has ceased to be a remote space and has become a central theater of power: a place where geography dictates the rules, meteorology sets human limits and the proximity between platforms The military turns every kilometer into a possible avenue of attack or surveillance. What was once a map and science is now state policy. From the Nunalik deck (a freighter that traveled thousands of km avoiding growlers and storms to deliver material to Canada’s northernmost intelligence network) brutal lessons emerge: presence in the north is not improvised, it is built with infrastructurespecialized logistics and sustained budgetary will. The fact that a delivery can be delayed for 48 hours because the dockworkers are closed for a weekend, or that a 2.5 ton anchor ends up dragging a 180 meter chain between icebergs, illustrates the basic arithmetic of the Arctic: distance and climate are permanent enemies of any defense project. Logistics and fragility. They remembered in The Wall Street Journal to maintain bases like Pituffik’s either Alert (the latter just 800 km from the North Pole) means dealing with very narrow seasonal windows: the sealifts (sea supply operations) are possible only four or five months a year, air transport must cover the invisible, and a single missing part can delay crucial work a whole year. Inuit communities, icy runways that require constant maintenance, satellite platforms and underwater cables make up a network in which any weak link puts the whole at risk. Thus, if creatures such as musk ox and polar bears are found on the coast, behind the tracks and radars there are also human lives that depend punctual suppliesand errors like 1991 plane crash that cost lives in the approach to the Alert base remind that Arctic logistics is not a technical variable but a matter of survival. View of Thule Air Base Russian advantage and western window. Geographically, Moscow starts with objective advantages: the Kola Peninsula is home to the Northern Fleetnuclear systems launchable by Arctic routes and a depth of deployment that the West took decades to erode. However, the weakening of part of the Russian ground forces after the war in Ukraine has opened a window for allies to rebuild capabilities in the north. The question is whether to take advantage of it quickly and consistently. Western allies face the task of recover strategic ground almost from scratch: the lessons learned in Afghanistan or the Sahel are not directly exportable to a region of polar darkness, snow storms and ice that makes even the best prepared ships creak. If these gaps are not closed, the russian advantage and/or the appearance of foreign actors They will make Western deterrence, more than a policy, an urgent technological requirement. Russian icebreaker Hypersonics, sensors and more. The challenge is not only to be present, but detect and anticipate. The hypersonic missiles (unpredictable trajectories and speeds of at least Mach 5) put traditional radar networks in check, and have pushed Ottawa to commit 6 billion of Canadian dollars (in collaboration with Australia) to far horizon radars and Washington to accelerate space sensors that track ballistic and hypersonic vectors from orbit. In other words: detection is a necessary condition to deter, and without early detection there is no response. The problem, they pointed out in the Journalis that technology is not the panacea: it requires logistics integration, data centers, resilient command posts and continuous maintenance that the polar climate makes prohibitively expensive if not planned for the long term. Denmark on the front line. And on that board where the flags of China, Russia and the United States are already found, the recent decision of Copenhagen is inscribed: 8.7 billion dollars to increase the fleet from F-35 to 43 devices and 4.2 billion expressly dedicated to reinforcing Arctic security, with a joint headquarters in Nuuk, two new ships, maritime patrol vessels, surveillance aircraft and units in the polar territory. Denmark mixes the purchase of American technology with the will to act as regional guarantordriven by both Allied pressure and the commotion caused for the idea (proclaimed by Trump in January) of “buy” Greenland. The package shows two things: the first, that European states are willing to spend considerable sums on advanced projection and detection systems. The second, that sovereignty and territorial presence have become in currency geopolitics, where the air force and naval capabilities are not only military but also diplomatic pieces. Local sovereignty and criticism. Not only that. The extension of the military presence in Greenland does not occur in a vacuum. Local voices, represented by figures such as Aleqa Hammond, former Greenlandic Prime Minister, they reproach Copenhagen to decide without sufficiently consulting the 57,000 people on the island, remembering that militarization affects ways of life and resources shared. Furthermore, the pressure on ecosystems fragile and the need to respect indigenous rights make it essential to combine security with listening and real compensation. If the Arctic is a strategic boardis also a home: decisions about bases, radars and icebreaker routes They must incorporate the social and environmental dimension or risk legitimizing internal tensions that erode any long-term military base. Costs, industries and alliances. Plus: building a presence in the north is not just about buying fighters and installing radars. I remembered the BBC which requires shipyards to manufacture icebreakers, polar cargo ships, maintenance lines for icy runways, contracts held with operators and, above all, the political will to sustain recurring spending. The NORAD modernizationcoordination between Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom … Read more

China wants to imprison the world with its restrictions on rare earths. His greatest prey has escaped him

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It’s been months since China presses the whole world with one of his great aces up his sleeve: rare earths. Last week he used them again to unbalance the balance of technological trade worldwide and imposed new restrictions to its export, but its attack has a gigantic hole. One called Taiwan. rare earths to me. Taiwan’s economy minister has revealed that the country does not expect there to be a big impact from these new restrictions from China. The reason is simple: such minerals are different from the metals needed in the semiconductor sector that Taiwan’s manufacturers and production plants dominate. Taiwan does not need China. In fact, both the products necessary domestically for the production of these chips and the rare earths used in their manufacturing processes come from Europe, the United States and Japan. This makes the country safe from the pressure that China wants to exert with its dominance of the rare earth segment. China tries to force the hand. China expanded significantly export controls on rare earths last Thursday. It added five new items to its list of minerals with restricted exports, but also imposed new scrutiny mechanisms for chip users. The change is not minor: any product manufactured outside the country that contains just 0.1% of materials of Chinese origin will need a license to be exported. TSMC safe. Taiwan is the largest chip factory in the world and for years it has TSMC as a major player in the sector. The company leads this segment and has become the great ally of the Western world when it comes to producing chips for the AI ​​industry. The Chinese restrictions do not appear to pose future dangers for TSMC and other manufacturers in the country, according to those statements. But. Even so, the economy minister added that these additional controls could affect global supply chains for various products. To clarify better: the direct impact may not be noticeable, but yes it could be the indirect onebecause for example ASML’s EUV scanners use rare earth magnets that could end up suffering delays due to these restrictions. And be careful with the “ripe chips”. For example, chips for electric vehicles and drones. China is precisely determined to dominate the mature circuit market: given that can’t compete At the moment with the most advanced manufacturing technology, what it wants is to be the main protagonist of less advanced but equally important chips in industries such as the automotive industry. Restrictions as a lever to negotiate. China’s measures in this regard They are just part of that commercial and technological war that it maintains with the West and, especially, with the United States. The reaction of the US government was immediate, and Donald Trump announced 100% additional tariffs on Chinese imports. Both superpowers try to use their assets to put pressure on their rival while waiting for a imminent negotiation: Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to meet in South Korea in late October. Image |Wikimedia | leannk

Immediately afterwards, they gave China a new railway record

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China has been celebrating these days, as the National Day festivities have coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival. And like every year, there is a larger influx of people who take public transportation from what is already usually China. In this aspect, its railway system has once again set a record. On October 8, China Railway Zhengzhou Group transported more than a million passengers in a single day, establishing a new historical mark and demonstrating once again the capabilities of its high-speed train infrastructure. Quite an achievement. During the entire festive period (October 1 to 8), China Railway Guangzhou Group moved 21.8 million passengerswhich represents an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. The first day of the festivities marked a milestone, with 3.5 million travelers in a single day. The data from the Ministry of Transportation reveal that about 82% of Chinese travelers chose the high-speed train as a means of transportation during these dates. Featured cases. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong line recorded 955,000 trips during the festive period, with an increase of 29.35% year-on-year. On October 4, this connection transported 135,000 passengers in one day, 40% more than the previous year. According to A spokesman for the passenger services department of China Railway Guangzhou Group, “the coincidence of National Day with the Mid-Autumn Festival caused a significant increase in passenger flow, mainly driven by tourism and family visits.” Click on the image to go to the post How have they achieved it? To manage such a volume of passengers, the railway authorities deployed an operational strategy which included extraordinary trains, connections with multiple units, circular routes were established, night services increased on days of higher demand and additional carriages were coupled to regular trains. During the holidays, the Guangzhou Railway Group operated an average of 3,419 trains of daily passengers, with 358 extra services. Increasingly popular destinations. These data, however, reflect only part of the picture. The Ministry of Transportation amounted to approximately 1,240 million interregional travel during the first half of the festive period, reaching historical highs. Only on Saturday, October 5, 301.29 million trips were registered, 6.1% more than the previous year. Frontline cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen were the most popular destinations, along with tourist enclaves such as Chengdu and Xi’an. High speed train as favorite. These records once again cement high-speed rail as the backbone of transportation in China, while also reflecting the vitality of the country’s tourism and mobility sector. The Chinese railway network, which is crowned as the largest in the world at high speed, it does not disappoint in infrastructure capacity and operational efficiency, especially in times of mass events. In Xataka | China has just redrawn the map of strategic minerals: its new rules on rare earths target the United States

For decades a silent boom has been taking hold in many regions of China: Christianity

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The recent history of Christianity in China is anything but simple. First for the Cultural Revolution and more recently, with Xi Jinping at the helm of the Communist Party, for repression against the unofficial churches. However, despite this troubled chronicle, experts tend to agree on something: in recent decades the Christian faith has expanded with force for the country. So much so that it already clearly dominates certain regions and there is who considers that in no time China will be “the largest Christian nation in the world.” How many Christians are there in China? The question is quite simple. Answer it, not so much. The China General Social Survey shows that between 2010 and 2018 the percentage of Chinese adults who identify as Christians (Catholic and Protestant) it was around 2%a percentage that can be found in essays about the matter. However, there is a quick search to find authors which differ significantly from that estimate, placing it at 3%, 7% or even 9% of the total population, which also includes children. In 2020 The Economist pointed that only Protestants make up 3% of the country’s population, although there are studies that suggest the real figure could be much higher if unregistered clandestine churches are taken into account. The reality is that it is not easy to have a precise figure. The reasons are multiple: the control of information by Beijing, the diversity of sources and methods in making calculations or even the “linguistic and conceptual differences between religion in East Asia and other regions”, such as warns Pew Research. How many believers are we talking about? The answer is again the same: it depends on the source. Although given the large size of China (1.4 billion inhabitants) even the most conservative calculations would leave a census of tens of millions. How many? Years ago, a Peking University study spoke of 40 millionWorld Population Review raises the estimate to 49.2 million and Visual Capitalist has even gone further, placing the figure close to 72 million. Is there more data? Yes. Other sources speak of some 20 million of adults, 60 million if the global population is taken into account, or even 100 million. Although its considerable disparitythe data lends itself to two clear readings. The first is the enormous weight of Protestants in the Chinese Christian community (some studies claim that represent 90% thanks to your great expansion). The second is that it is not necessary to resort to the most optimistic calculations to verify that China already surpasses (by far) the number of Christians in countries like Germany, France or Spain and would even be a handful of millions of believers in Italy if both Catholic and Protestant Christians are taken into account. How are they distributed throughout the country? A few years ago Reuters produced a map based on the studies of Professor Fenggang Yang, from Purdue University, which shows the dominant confession in the different regions of China. The plan reflects that Buddhism prevails in most of the southern and southwestern regions while other areas such as Xinjiang or Gansu are Muslim. Catholicism and especially Protestantism shine on the eastern flank. Even in Zhejiang areadespite the challenges that believers have encountered there. And what is the evolution? A quick Google search shows there are experts convinced that Christianity will continue to expand strongly in China and even place it among the countries in which the religion is experiencing greater growth, especially if we talk about Protestantism. In 2016 Professor Yang predicted that in 2030 the Asian giant will be “the largest Christian country in the world” despite its enormous Buddhist and Muslim population, among other confessions. “If we use an average annual growth rate of 7%, there will be more than 224 million Protestants in China by 2030,” the expert reflectedwho specifies that they would represent 16% of the population. “If we add Catholics, it would take even less time for China to become the largest Christian nation.” Does everyone have the same opinion? No, not everyone is so optimistic. In 2023 Pew Research published a study which suggests that, although Christianity expanded during the 80s and 90s (between 1982 and 1997 its faithful base went from six to 14 million), in recent years it has shown signs of “stabilizing.” As proof, they are based on official data that reflect that the percentage of Christian adults has barely changed between 2010 and 2018, without the pandemic having altered that picture. Still, Pew Research recognize that, in general, “survey-based estimates of China’s Christian population could be conservative,” as there are believers who choose not to reveal their faith “for fear of negative social or economic consequences,” especially if they belong to an unregistered church. Images | Gary Todd (Flickr) and Visual Capitalist (Pallavi Rao) In Xataka | China faces a bigger problem than the birth rate crisis: its young people are too busy to form couples

The US is becoming obsessed with virtual brides, China with boyfriends

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There are more and more people who They have found a friend in AIa psychologist and even a romantic partner. “AI buddy” apps are increasingly popular and, same as in other aspects of the AI ​​race, there are notable differences between the approach being taken from the United States and China, which is taking two directions marked by culture. In China, what is popular are AI boyfriends. In the United States, brides. What is happening. They tell it in China Talk. There is a clear dichotomy in AI peer trends between the two countries leading the AI ​​race. On the one hand we have a United States where AI brides aimed at the male audience and with a clear sexual focus succeed. On the other hand, in China, boyfriends aimed at female audiences and with a focus on narrative immersion and game mechanics are more popular. Why is it important. Although with differences in approach, the rise of these apps reveals an underlying problem: widespread frustration with real human relationships. loneliness In a hyperconnected world, the ‘dating fatigue‘ of dating apps and other factors such as fear of rejection or marital failure are contributing to the use of these apps. According to this study that analyzed the 110 most popular AI companion apps, it is estimated that they have about 29 million active users per month, not counting more general use apps such as Replika either Character.aiwhere users can chat with various characters, not always for romantic purposes. The American approach. In the aforementioned study, it was seen that more than half of AI bride apps are based in the United States, while only 10% are in China. They are products designed for heterosexual men and often have the word “girlfriend” in the name (17% compared to only 4% with the word “boyfriend”). According to a report by girlfriend.ai published by Reuters, half of the users who use this app are young men who feel lonely and prefer an AI girlfriend than face possible rejection. The influence of the ‘manosphere‘ also plays an important role with misogynistic discourses that paint AI girlfriends as an alternative to real relationships because they are more controllable and submissive. The Chinese approach. Although there are also AI brides, the most successful format is the boyfriends aimed at the female public. One of the factors is the drop in marriage rateswhich in 2024 fell 20% compared to the previous year. There are many single people in China, but while many of single men live in rural areaswomen generally receive better education and move to cities, where it is easier for them to have access to technology. Furthermore, the advances in equality They have caused many women to deny the traditional family ideal and seek refuge in these pseudo-relationships. Two concerns. In the United States there is an open debate about the effects of AI on mental health and specifically AI colleagues are in the spotlight. The Federal Trade Commission has made a requirement to some of the most popular apps to provide information on how they are controlling the negative impact of their technology, especially on children and adolescents. In the United States, concern centers on the risk of addiction, emotional manipulation, and loss of contact with reality. In China too call for regulation to protect the youngest, but there is another reason that adds to their concern: the demographic crisis. They say in China Talk that, in the past, the strategy was to use the term “leftover women” in a derogatory way to push them to get married and have children (the classic “spinster” of a lifetime that the manosphere is resurrecting also in the West). In this sense, AI boyfriends pose a threat that can “distract” them from following the right path. Image | Girlfriend.ai / Zhumengdao In Xataka | China faces a bigger problem than the birth rate crisis: its young people are too busy to form couples

The US studied what would happen if it enters war with China. Now he has started a career desperate to double missiles

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When China raised the curtain of your military parade staged much more than arms power which has. It was a clear and direct message that had its reaction a few days later, when the United States moved its new platform from missiles to Japan. It was then discovered that, if missiles, there are 3,500 pointing In the same direction. Since then, the United States has started a desperate race: to double its own missile manufacturing for what may happen. The strategic awakening. I told it in an exclusive The Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon has turned on all alarms in the face of the evidence that its missile arsenals would not reach to sustain a prolonged conflict With China. Russian Ukraine invasion and mass consumption of interceptors In Europe the fragility of the American industrial base had already made clear. However, He counted the medium What was the twelve between Israel and Iran, in which Washington launched Hundreds of high -end missiles to support their ally, which finished emptying the deposits and precipitated a shock plan. The message that circulates in the pentagon’s offices is clear: the current arsenal is not enough to defend Taiwan or the allied bases in the Pacific if a direct confrontation with Beijing explodes. The new creation. To face that reality, the Department of Defense has created an extraordinary body, the Munits Acceleration Councilpersonally directed by Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, who calls the main executives of the industry every week to demand immediate increases. The strategy seeks to duplicate, and even quadruplethe production of the twelve missiles considered critical: from the Patriot interceptorsto him Standard Missile-6the Long Range Anti-Ship Missilesthe Precision Strike and the Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missiles. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegesh, and the Chief of the General Staff, General Dan Caine, They have presided Meetings with giants such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon or Boeing, but also with new actors such as Anduril Industries and with key component suppliers, from solid propellants to batteries. The destroyer of guided missiles USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) of the United States Navy launches an RIM-174 Standard Eram (Standard Missile-6, SM-6) The industrial bottleneck. The challenge is monumental. The complete manufacture of a missile can take up to two years. The production lines have cooled after decades of divestment, secondary suppliers have disappeared and critical pieces such as Boeing front search engines have become true bottlenecks. Expanding shifts, add square meters and form specialized personnel require billions of investment and firm purchase commitments. As Experts remembercompanies do not produce without contract: they need guarantees that the pentagon will not withdraw financing in the middle of the effort. Even so, some suppliers have taken steps in advance. Northrop Grumman, for example, has invested More than 1 billion in expanding its rocket engines capacity, with the expectation of doubling production in four years. Patriot Priority: Patriot. The most urgent case is the Patriot PAC-3whose global demand has shot himself. In September, the army gave Lockheed a contract of almost 10,000 million of dollars to manufacture 2,000 missiles in three years, but the objective of the pentagon is to reach that same figure Every twelve monthswhich means quadruple the current rhythm. To do this, Boeing has been seen forced to expand Thousands of square meters of its plant to assemble more search engines, while Lockheed studies new investments in assembly lines. The spokesmen insist that they can deliver above their declared capacity, but all claim more money and multiannual commitments that give stability to the productive jump. Precision Strike Missile New acquisition model. The pressure is such that The army announces “Massively substantive changes” in the way of buying weapons. Formulas such as licenseing technologies to third parties are explored, attract private capital or guarantee registration programs to give demand visibility to the entire supply chain. Trump administration already It allocated 25,000 million extra in five years through Big, Beautiful Billbut analysts agree that it will be necessary to multiply For several orders that figure to meet the objectives. The effort, in addition, is part of a greater debate: how to maintain an industrial base capable of sustaining high intensity wars in a world where arsenals are consumed in weeks. Background: China. The ultimate reason for this acceleration is the perspective of a War in the Pacific. A confrontation By Taiwan I would demand simultaneously American and Allied Bases, guarantee maritime runners and face a Chinese Navy increasingly equipped with hypersonic missiles and drons swarms. American superiority will depend not only on the quality of its systems, but on their ability to replace them quickly in case of prolonged conflict. Pentagon fears Discover too late that does not have the necessary volume to hold the pulse. Hence the race against clock to turn the industry into a large -scale war arsenal. The risk of the gap. The acceleration effort reveals the structural contradiction of the West: weapons every time more sophisticated and faces which are consumed at an industrial rate, in front of adversaries willing to flood the battlefield with solutions of low cost and mass production. In that sense, Ukraine’s lesson seems clear: millions of millions of dollars They can be exhausted In a matter of months, and rebuild reserves it has been. If the United States wants to maintain its deterrence against China, it must demonstrate that it can sustain not only technological innovation, but also the mass production on which the survival of its network of alliances depends. Image | Lockheed Martin, Mapn, Us Navy In Xataka | Satellite images have revealed that China has turned its oriental coast into a war zone: 3,500 missiles point to Taiwan In Xataka | After the demonstration of China’s force, the US moves a card sending its new missile platform to Japan

The greatest attack of Ukraine on Russian soil discovered a new threat with drones. China has just multiply it

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In 2024, Ukraine managed to enter trucks disguised as mobile houses in Russian terrain. It was the origin of what happened in June 2025, when The Spiderweb operation It was activated giving rise to kyiv’s greatest attack on Moscow since the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine. The offensive also staged the Future of the contests. China has taken another step in that threat marked by drones. Show converted into threat. They told them Analysts at The War Zone. China, through the company Damodahas presented a containerized system designed in principle for light shows with drones, but whose concept reveals deep military implications. The Automated Drone Swarm Container System is capable to display and recover Hundreds (potentially thousands) of small grid drones automatically, in a matter of minutes and with a single operator. Although the declared objective is entertainment, the system encapsulates the logic of how a simple container can be transformed into a portable swarm launcher with capacity of saturating skies and objectives at will. What today is a viral show on social networks, tomorrow can be a devastating weapon on the battlefield. From Guinness to War. Damoda already holds the world record with More than 11,000 drones in simultaneous flight in a coordinated show. Now, with this modular system of extensible racks, each container can accommodate At least 648 dronesready to take off and land synchronized. Drones automatically return to their positions and recover in the system itself, which It allows constant repetition With minimal human intervention. The promise for the civil market is speed, portability and cost reduction, but from the military perspective what is shown is the ability to convert a truck or a container into a force multiplier, camouflaged in an innocuous appearance. The precedents. The most immediate parallelism is found in the Ukraine War. As we said at the beginning, in mid -2024, kyiv carried out the call Spiderweb Operationwhere hidden containers as sheds or mobile houses were used as undercover kamikaze drones. Those attacks against aerodromes inside Russia They damaged or destroyed dozens of aircraft, including strategic long -range bombers. The blow was so serious that the Pentagon estimates the loss of at least ten of these devices. Something similar It happened in the Middle Eastwhen Israeli commands used covert structures to launch drones and missiles against goals in Iran during the beginning of the twelve -day war. Both operations show that the container, the most banal and ubiquitous infrastructure of global trade can become A lethal vector of power projection. The military potential. If civil design is extrapolated to the war, the concept is transformed into A swarm weapon low cost with saturation effects. Several trucks equipped with these containers could simultaneously launch hundreds or thousands of drones with diverse missions: from exploration and recognition to electronic warfare, interference of radars or kinetic attacks with small explosive loads. It would be enough Reduced number of systems To sweep an air base, disable radars or cover an urban front with lethal swarm. Its deployment in scenarios where the control lines are diffuse, such as cities in war, would allow devastating and almost impossible to stop with traditional defenses. The defense challenge. The difficulty in repelling a massive attack of swarms is multiplied with each advance in Autonomy and artificial intelligence. A swarm with the ability to Autonomous search and destruction It could penetrate shegars, hangars or buildings in search of objectives, exceeding the limitations of preprogrammed attacks. Let’s think that conventional anti -aircraft systems, designed to intercept specific threats, are overwhelmed in front of hundreds of simultaneous drones. The directed energy weapons, like lasers or microwaveThey offer partial but limited solutions by scope, direction and power. One of the few effective alternatives is to respond with another defensive swarm of interceptor drones, capable of creating a mobile barrier in the sky. Even so, cost-efficacy asymmetry plays in favor of the attacker: while an interceptor missile It can cost millionseach suicide drone barely reaches some thousands of dollars. Representation of a container launch system for the Merodeo ammunition of the Hero family of the German contractor Rheinmetall, as another example of a relevant concept that has previously been shown A show in the contest. The great risk is that what is now deployed as a cultural or tourist show can be transformed With hardly modifications In a gun of war. The camouflage, a priori, is perfect: a load container standard, transported by train, truck or ship, does not raise suspicions until, in minutes, it becomes A lethal swarm. This multiplies the strategic challenge for air bases, ports and cities close to the front, where a single infiltrated container could inflict damage comparable to that of a cruise missile sap. In wars where surprise and saturation are key, this kind of “drone box” emerges as the contemporary equivalent of an unpublished intelligent cluster bomb and precision. Global threat in buds. The truth is that China is not the only country in Explore this land. Defense companies and contractors In the United States And Europe also work in similar conceptssome even thought for naval pitchers. The debate in the US Navy already proposes to install containerized swarms In ships for defense and attack, which shows the inevitability of this transition. The Chinese precedent and the war in Ukraine indicate that the next future of the Air War is not only in the great seasons of sixth generation or in hypersonic missiles, but in low -cost swarms capable of overflowing any defense. The paradox. The Automated Drone Swarm Container System of Damoda It is officially a civil product to illuminate the skies in celebrations. But what projects, beyond its luminous choreographies, is a disturbing mirror of the future of war. Each viral show is at the same time, An essay From what can happen on the battlefield: the replacement of the power concentrated by distributed saturation, the replacement of the missile of millions with hundreds of low -cost drones, the transit of the technological war to … Read more

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