china

Japan has just crossed a line that it has not crossed since World War II. China has responded with supersonic missiles

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At the beginning of the 20th century, during the battle of tsushimathe Russian imperial fleet took more than seven months to circle half the planet to confront Japan. The result was so disastrous and fast that several powers suddenly understood an idea: in the Asia-Pacific, controlling the sea could decide the global balance long before a total war began. Supersonic missiles off the US and Japan. It we count last week. The South China Sea is becoming a huge military board where Beijing wants to make it clear that it is willing to answer directly to any attempt to surround its area of ​​influence. While the United States, the Philippines and Japan develop the largest Balikatan maneuvers of recent years, China has now responded by sending H-6 bombers armed with YJ-12 supersonic missilesJ-16 fighters equipped with anti-ship missiles and several naval groups around Luzon and Scarborough Shoal. The message is difficult to ignore: Beijing wants to show that it can deploy air and naval force heavy right in front of a military bloc led by Washington and Tokyo without abandoning the initiative in the region. Already looks like a war rehearsal around Taiwan. The Balikatan maneuvers have changed enormously in recent years. What were once relatively conventional exercises between the United States and the Philippines have morphed into focused simulations in maritime settingsattacks against major adversaries and possible conflicts around Taiwan and the South China Sea. The full participation of Japanese forces and the presence of ships from Australia and Canada reflect the extent to which Washington is trying to build a regional network capable of responding to China in the event of a crisis. Beijing interprets it as a direct threatespecially since several of these maneuvers take place near routes and positions that China considers essential to protect its access to the Pacific. Japan has crossed a symbolic line. A few hours ago one of the movements that most irritated Beijing during the maneuvers took place, and it was not only the American presence, but the increasingly active role of Japan. for the first time since World War IIJapanese forces launched abroad a Type 88 anti-ship missile during military exercises in the Philippines, something that China interprets as a clear sign of Japanese “remilitarization.” Although the missile can be used for defensive purposesBeijing considers that deploying this type of weaponry outside Japanese territory breaks part of pacifist logic that Tokyo maintained for decades after 1945. Furthermore, the context further aggravates the tension: Washington also fired Tomahawk missiles from the Philippines using the Typhon systemcapable of hitting targets hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, potentially including mainland China itself. For Beijing, the image is disturbing because it reflects how Japan, the Philippines and the United States are beginning to rehearse together a scenario where the Pacific island chains could be transformed into advanced attack platforms and military containment against China. Two armed H-6 bombers fly over Scarborough Reef in an attempt by Beijing to show its superiority to Manila and its allies amid the Balikatan maneuvers and territorial disputes H-6 bombers are no longer simple propaganda. Chinese bomber flights over Scarborough Shoal have become relatively commonbut this time the important detail was the weapons. The H-6 appeared with a greater load of YJ-12 supersonic missiles, specifically designed to attack large ships and naval groups. At the same time, J-16 fighters They escorted the deployment while Chinese ships closely followed the multinational flotilla led by the United States and the Philippines. In other words, Beijing is using these exercises to show something very concrete: in a hypothetical regional conflict, it would try saturate and keep away US naval forces using massive quantities of anti-ship missiles launched from land, aircraft and ships. China is surrounding the Philippines with layers of military pressure. Beyond the bombers, China deployed the combat group of the Liaoning aircraft carrier and various armed surface groups with Type 055 destroyersconsidered some of the most powerful ships in the Chinese Navy. One of these groups carried out live fire exercises east of Luzon, precisely in areas that the United States and the Philippines are studying as possible reinforcement routes in the event of war. The Chinese strategic idea is increasingly evident: convert the Philippine maritime environment into a extremely dangerous area for any US attempt to move troops, supplies or reinforcements towards Taiwan or the South China Sea. Naval warfare is changing because of drones. While showcasing bombers and aircraft carriers, China is also accelerating the adaptation of its navy to a threat that has transformed recent conflicts such as Ukraine or attacks in the Middle East: the drones. In fact, Beijing has just presented a new naval antidrone system capable of intercepting stealth and very low altitude attacks in complex electronic warfare environments. The tests carried out in the Bohai Sea show the extent to which the Chinese Navy assumes that future naval confrontations will not depend only on large ships and missiles, but also on enormous swarms of drones capable of harassing or destroying much more expensive ships. The China Sea is filling with signs. The bomber combination with supersonic missilesnext-generation destroyers, aircraft carriers, artificial bases and anti-drone systems reflects something deeper than simple military exercises. China is preparing an environment where any US intervention around Taiwan or the Philippines would be extremely complexsaturated with aerial, maritime and electronic threats. And the most significant thing is that it is no longer just about propaganda displays: Beijing is testing in the field how to coordinate all those capabilities against real forces from the United States, Japan and their allies in one of the most tense regions on the planet. Image | CCTV In Xataka | The YJ-20 has just entered the scene at the most delicate moment: China has launched its hypersonic missile against the US and Japan In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla

It never grew that much outside of China but it never fell that much inside China.

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BYD finds itself facing a diatribe unimaginable just a year ago. While its sales skyrocket outside China, it manages to sell fewer and fewer cars in its own country. Whatever its future, we are experiencing a key moment in a company that aspired to be one of the five major car manufacturers worldwide. The data. 455,707 cars. These are how many BYD has sold outside of China so far in 2026. A spectacular growth of 59.8% year-on-year and a solid basis to reach the 1.5 million units that the company wants to sell outside its country this year. 1,003,039 cars. These are the ones that BYD has sold within China so far in 2026. A not inconsiderable drop of 26.4% year-on-year and a solid concern for a company that has already been declining in sales for eight consecutive months in its country, reaching in some cases a decline of up to 42%like last March. Both data are brought CarNewsChinawho collect data from companies inside and outside the Asian country. Why does it fall? That BYD has been falling for more than eight months in a row is no coincidence. The Chinese State has left aside extensive subsidies for the purchase of electric cars or plug-in hybrids, known as “new energy”. That has slowed down the market and, of course, who has hurt the most It is the leading company that, in addition, does not sell other types of cars either under the BYD name or under any other of its brands such as Denza either Yangwang. The company is by no means the only one that falls into the Chinese market. No subsidies, national sales have suffered but the context has been complicated for the company since companies like Geely (which have surpassed him in sales) They have a broader catalog of technologies and some cars like the BYD Dolphin Surf (Seagull in China) are much less competitive without aid since the market rewards large and technological cars at a low price. However, the great advantage of this model is in the price and not so much in what it offers in its infotainment systems. Why does it grow? The positive side for BYD is that its arrival in new countries and sales where it was recently established seem to be going at a very good pace. As we said, outside of China They have already sold more than 400,000 carswhich falls within the roadmap to sell 1.5 million cars outside of China this year. BYD has entered these countries with a formula that lays the foundations for continued growth: contained price (compared to its rivals) for medium and large-sized electric and plug-in hybrids. This is leading them to good numbers in Europe but also in Latin America. In both cases BYD is already working to produce locally and not bring your cars only from China. It must be remembered that their electric vehicles are still punished with tariffs in Europe but their plug-in hybrids do not have that problem. To this we must add that its capacity to update models is very high, as seen with the BYD Atto 2. And how is it going in Spain? Spain is one of the most important countries for BYD outside of China. It is strange because we are not a country with high levels of plug-ins but we are an interesting market because we value price a lot. And, there, the BYD Dolphin Surf It is priced low enough to be a bestseller in countries like Spain. So far this year, it is the third best-selling electric car and the first “non-Tesla.” But, in addition, BYD also has the Signal U and the Atto 2 to the two best-selling plug-in hybrids in our country. Why is it worrying? BYD faces a challenge: needs to continue growing. At least, that’s what they thought themselves. In 2025 they became the company that more electric cars sold worldwide. In 2024 they already touched it but they set a goal that was not met last year and that, barring any surprise, will not be met in 2025: manufacturing 5.5 million cars. Getting into the five million car club would mean positioning BYD as one of the five largest manufacturers in the world. In 2025, that position will be occupied by Stellantis with 5.6 million cars, a conglomerate that has 14 brands under its umbrella. By just 50,000 units, BYD failed to surpass Ford, but the most painful thing for the company is that it remained at 4.6 million cars sold. An insufficient figure for its prospects but unimaginable a few years ago. But it’s not alarming. Although the results within China are not good, the company has demonstrated the ability to adapt to new environments. The company has two great strengths: its businesses go beyond automobiles and its potential growth outside of China is enormous. The brand has the right product for markets where, like the Spanish market, price is valued above other incentives. In Latin America, Chinese cars are making their way for this reason. And in North America, Mexico and, above all, Canada has opened the door to companies arriving from China. In Europe, BYD’s growth continues. In countries like Spain it is obtaining great results but in others it is still establishing itself. But, in addition, they will soon be able to tighten the price of their cars when the assembly lines of Hungary and Türkiye start walking And everything indicates that the brand does not want to stay here, There are already rumors that they want to buy the Dresden Glass Factory for which Volkswagen is looking for a new owner. Photo | BYD and aboodi vesakaran In Xataka | It turns out that the “good, pretty and cheap” electric car does exist and is manufactured in China. So Citroën has stepped up

China turned off the oil tap when the conflict with Iran broke out. Now he reopens it to rescue a thirsty Asia

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When the Strait of Hormuz was practically sealed after the outbreak of the well-known Third Gulf War, the world held its breath. In the midst of widespread panic over the strangulation of one of the planet’s most vital energy arteries, the first major tectonic movement came from Beijing. The Asian giant opted for the crudest pragmatism: it ordered its large refineries to immediately and opaquely stop gasoline and diesel exports to shield its own tanks. China isolated itself to survive. However, in just a few weeks, the board has taken an unexpected turn. With an Asia that looks into the abyss of the shortage, Beijing has decided to reopen the valve, going from being a protectionist actor to establishing itself as the great energy lifeline of the region. Asia’s savior: China. The shockwaves of war have left the Indo-Pacific region shivering. Asia has become “ground zero” of the crisis. In Australia, the panic has emptied the gas stationsforcing the government to cut emergency taxes; India has had to sacrifice tax revenue to freeze prices due to shortages; Japan has refused to share its strategic reserves with its neighbors; and Vietnam airlines They have had to cancel en masse their flights due to the lack and extra cost of aviation fuel. In the midst of this desperation, China has made its move. As anticipated BloombergBeijing has given the green light to its state refineries to export 500,000 tons of fuels (gasoline, diesel and kerosene) over the next month. According to sources cited by oil pricecompanies such as Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) already have shipments ready on ships that will be destined, as a rescue, to severely punished neighboring nations such as Vietnam and Laos. The energetic rice bowl. That China can afford to export fuel while the rest of the continent applies rationing measures is not a miracle, it is the result of a silent strategy. China took advantage of previous years to buy heavily sanctioned and cheap crude oil (Russian, Venezuelan and Iranian), managing to accumulate colossal reserves of almost 1.4 billion barrels. According to researcher Henry Tugendhatthis gives Beijing a cushion of about 104 days of domestic demand, in addition to having a “floating warehouse” of Iranian oil tankers anchored off its coasts waiting to be unloaded. Returning to “Game of Thrones.” But Beijing’s move goes far beyond helping its neighbors; It is a direct geopolitical challenge. As detailed South China Morning Post (SCMP)China has for the first time activated its so-called “Blockade Rules” of 2021. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has issued an official order prohibiting domestic companies from complying with the sanctions recently imposed by the United States. Washington had sanctioned five refineries Chinese independent companies (known as “teapots”), including Hengli Petrochemical, accusing them of financing the Iranian military by purchasing its oil. By ordering the contempt of these sanctions because they are considered a “improper extraterritorial application”Beijing demonstrates that it not only has physical control of the crude oil, but that it is willing to engage in a legal and financial confrontation with the United States to protect its supply lines. Tightrope diplomacy. The short-term scenario will be played in the offices. As explained The New York TimesChina is playing both sides in this conflict. On the one hand, he acts as a peaceful mediator, pushing Iran to negotiate to de-escalate tension, having been key in the fragile temporary ceasefires. However, on the other hand, US intelligence agencies suspect that Chinese companies continue to export dual-use material and even military technology to Tehran. All of this is meticulously calculated ahead of the imminent May 14 summit in Beijing between Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. According to the analysts consulted through the New York environmentthe fact that the US is bogged down in the Middle East and rapidly spending its military resources, gives China a position of tremendous strength to negotiate over tariffs, trade and the US naval blockade. lenergy as the definitive weapon of the 21st century. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has functioned as a stress test for energy globalization. The sanctions drawn up in Washington attempt to financially suffocate the actors in the conflict, but the tyranny of physical infrastructure imposes its own rules. China has shown that the energy wars in this decade are not only decided with naval deployments, but with warehouses full of strategic reserves, independence in refining capacity and overwhelming dominance in the manufacturing of renewable energy. By reopening its export tap, Beijing sends a clear message to the world: while the West hyperventilates over the price of a barrel, China is the one who has the ability to decide who is left in the dark in Asia. Image | Photo by Bundo Kim on Unsplash Xataka | China is one of the largest refining powers on the planet. And he has decided something: to keep all the gasoline he produces

The highway with the most lanes in the world is in China and has 50 lanes, except for one small detail: it is a lie

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Demographic growth, urban development and the great automobile boom crossed paths in the 20th century to give rise to some of the most spectacular roads today: from the Panamericana that has never closed to the road with the longest straight line in the world. Logic leads us to think: if there are more cars, then more lanes are needed to avoid traffic jams (spoiler: from one point on, not working). And if we talk about roads with more lanes, there is one place that takes the cake: the Interstate 10 in the United States. The point that interests us in question is in Houston, Texas: there an ordinary six-lane highway from the 60s became thanks to an astronomical widening of the widest road on the planet. It is this American highway that holds the record with 26 lanes and not a chinese highwaydespite the fame of the 50 lanes of the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao. The highway with the most lanes is in Texas. Within that highway that crosses the United States from Santa Monica in California to Jacksonville in Florida with a route of 2,460 kilometers in total length there is a specific section known colloquially as the Katy Freeway: a segment about 37 kilometers west of Houston. At its widest point, at Gessner Road, the road has 26 lanes in total: 12 main lanes (six in each direction), 8 service lanes (four in each direction) and 6 central dynamic toll lanes. This corridor is the backbone of mobility for the entire west of Houston, one of the largest cities in the United States and extremely dependent on the automobile (even for the United States): it has hardly any public transportation, little urban planning and decades of peripheral expansion. In this scenario, the I-10 is more than a highway: it is the artery of mobility and business parks, logistics centers, hospitals and universities that depend on private vehicles are concentrated around it. An unofficial record, not official. The Katy Freeway holds this record in practice, but it is not official (there is no Guinness for this) because no one has agreed on how to count the lanes. Do you only count those on the main road? There are 14. Do you add the side service lanes and the center toll lanes? You reach 26. Without a single, agreed upon criterion, Guinness cannot set a number and certify it. Brief history of its construction and expansion. The Katy Freeway was built in the 1960s and had six to eight lanes, sufficient for the mobility needs of the time. But between the 80s and 90s, Houston suffered spectacular urban growth: in 2000, traffic surpassed the 200,000 vehicles when had been designed for 120,000. In 2004, the American Highway Users Alliance (AHUA) classified it as the second most serious bottleneck in the country: they estimated that drivers lost 25 million hours a year. So the Administration planned a huge road expansion: an investment of 2.8 billion dollars and a four-year project between 2004 and 2008 to incorporate dynamic toll lanes inside an interstate highway for the first time. To make room they demolished an old railway corridor. As a curiosity, in 2014 there was another small expansion to add an auxiliary lane in each direction. Travel time from Pin Oak to downtown. Source: City Observatory / data: Houston Transtar More lanes and more traffic jams. Since a picture says a thousand words, above these lines is a graph from the non-profit organization City Observatory with data from Houston’s official traffic agency. City Observatory collects Although the AHUA described in a report that this expansion was one of the great success stories of traffic engineering to alleviate traffic jams and traffic jams, this was not the case: the congestion got worse. Just two years later, they recorded that travel times on that 47-kilometer route from the outskirts to downtown Houston increased by 13 minutes in the morning rush hour and 19 minutes in the afternoon. This phenomenon has a name: induced demand. Thoroughly developed by Gilles Duranton and Matthew Turner in “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities“, offers a clear conclusion: vehicle kilometers traveled increase proportionally to the available lanes and the new roads attract more drivers and more trips until the added capacity is saturated. The G4 toll, seen in Street View What happens with the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao. It is common to find references to the G4 as “the 50-lane highway” thus overtaking the Katy Freeway on the right. The reality is another story: as verified by Africa Check with Google Mapsthe G4 is in practice a four-lane highway along almost its entire length of more than 2,000 kilometers. The expansion to dozens of lanes that usually appears corresponds exclusively to the Zhuozhou toll area (can be verified with Street View), near Beijing, where the number of lanes is expanded punctually to distribute the flow to the toll booths. Just half a kilometer later, it is reduced to four again. In 2015 there was a terrible traffic jam during the week of China’s National Day at that point that caused kilometer-long queues and the spread of that supposed “50-lane highway” when in reality it is the toll infrastructure of an ordinary four-lane road. In Xataka | The longest straight road in the world is a mental challenge: 240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic In Xataka | The longest road in the world has been incomplete for 50 years: the 106 kilometers of jungle that no country has been able to pave

The superapp model that dominates in China never caught on in the West. something is changing

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Superapps are mobile applications that offer many unified services, from messaging to mobile payments and much more. In Asia, especially China, They are the default formula that has been successful for years with apps like WeChat, Meituan or AliPay. In the West we are more into specialized apps, but the market is beginning to show clear signs of approaching the Chinese model. The Uber case. Uber just announced the integration of hotel reservations in your app through its alliance with Expedia. In this way, in the same app we have car reservations, food delivery and hotel reservations, a solution that is quite similar to the model of a Chinese super app like WeChat, which integrates all types of services under one umbrella. Uber’s goal is that, by offering more services, the Uber One subscription will be more attractive to consumers and thus increase its income. An important detail: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was previously CEO of Expedia, so this alliance does not seem coincidental. TikTok Shop. Uber is not the only one that is following this strategy, there are other proposals that also point in the direction of consolidation. We have the clearest example with TikTok and the integration of the marketplace. ByteDance has managed to export a very Asian model: see a product in a video and buy it without leaving the app. TikTok Shop has been in Spain since the end of 2024 and, at the end of 2025, there is already a TikTok account more than 12,000 stores operating on its platform. The adoption data is positive, but the model is still very far from the penetration it has in China. There have been attempts. The creation of a super app that succeeds in the West was Elon Musk’s obsession when he bought Twitter. The bet did not work out and today X continues to be what Twitter was: a microblogging social network. PayPal also tried its superapp version integrating hotel reservations with little travel. Years ago there was talk that WhatsApp could be the WeChat of the West, but despite having been adding functions, it is still a messaging app. Looking to the future, we have the case of ChatGPT and its path to a super app that integrates the chatbot with the Atlas and Codex browser. Why in China yes and here no. It is not a question of simple preferences, but has a structural explanation: Internet penetration in China was much slower and, in some ways, skipped the era of the personal computer. While Western consumers came to the smartphone with already formed habits (a browser to search, an email program, an online store), the Chinese did so directly from the mobile phone. By not having already created habits, this made the creation of these “everything apps” much easier. Likewise, the penetration of credit and debit cards was also slow and many consumers switched from cash to mobile payments, hence apps like WeChat or AliPay have become the default standard for paying everywhere. Another factor that plays in favor of the adoption of these apps is that they had no competitors. With the entire Google and Facebook suite blocked by the Chinese government, these apps did not have to compete, but rather filled a void. And of course there is the regulatory issue and institutional support. in China you can pay taxes from WeChatapply for a business license or pay a traffic fine without leaving the app, because the Chinese government actively integrated its public services into these platforms. In the West, the merger between a private company and the State would generate immediate political and regulatory scrutiny. something is changing. On the one hand, the perception we have of China from the rest of the world has been changing in recent years. The success of TikTok, the Labubu, the popularity of electric cars… are symptoms that China has become a cultural reference and technological. This opens a new opportunity for success. On the other hand, there is a new variable: AI. The arrival of AI tools is already changing our information-seeking habits and has the potential to function as a layer on top of everything we already use, connecting services that previously lived separately. Image | IlgmyzinUnsplash In Xataka | The US has made an almost total commitment to enormous AI models. China is showing another way

The megacity you haven’t heard of is in China and aspires to be the largest in the world

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In the world there are big, huge, huge cities and then others that are almost a country in themselves, like Jing-Jin-Jithe huge conurbation that has been taking shape in northern China for years. And “country” can be taken in its most expansive sense. If they are fulfilled the forecasts launched by its promoters more than a decade ago, the megalopolis will host between 110 and 130 million of inhabitants, in addition to a robust business muscle. Its size will also take away the hiccups: is spoken of more than 200,000 km2double that of all of Portugal. It may sound like science fiction, but there is a very simple explanation: Jing-Jin-Ji is not a city founded from scratch, but a new way of understanding and organizing Beijing, Tianjin and the province of Hebei to shape an urban titan. Rethinking Beijing. Although it does not reach the levels From Tokyo, Delhi or even Shanghai, Beijing is one of the most populous cities on the planet. Its stable population easily exceeds 20 million of people, more than all Romania or Netherlands. That huge number of people move every day to go to school, the doctor and of course to companies that may be close by. several hours of their houses. If we add to that the role of Beijing as the capital of one of the greatest potentials in the world, the result is an (almost) impractical megalopolis, polluted and in which complications the services. To face such a challenge and prevent the exodus from the countryside from ending up collapsing the city, in recent years the Government has resorted to several solutions. One has been limit the population. Another is to rethink Beijing itself so that it is no longer just the capital of China or a mere metropolis, but part of a much larger conurbation. The objective is twofold: to relieve pressure on the capital and to promote a new industrial hub, one capable of replicating the success achieved in the Yangtze River Delta or Guangzhou and Shenzhen area. A new giant: “Jing-Jin-Ji”. With this premise, a decade ago the Chinese authorities decided to go for what is probably one of their most ambitious projects: Jing-Jin-jia word that hides a nod to the cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Ji, which is how the province of Hebei is traditionally known. That business card speaks for itself idea. The idea is strengthen the bond between those three territories in northern China, distributing part of the crushing burden that now falls on the capital, improving communications and betting on a distribution of specialized roles. The story of Jing-Jin-Ji can soar at least to the National New Urbanization Plan presented by the Government for the period 2014-2020. In it, China, a nation already accustomed to megacities, advocated the promotion of a dozen “urban clusters.” The greatest of all would be Jing-Jin-Ji, in which Beijing would embrace (in an almost literal sense) with Tianjin, which is another of the biggest cities of the country and nearby cities in Hebei province. More than theory (and politics). The project received Xi JinPing’s blessing just 12 years ago, in April 2014and was sold with a display of astonishing data. Its objective was neither more nor less than to bring together a region of more than 215,000 km2 in which some 130 million people would live in 2050, generating a powerful industrial and commercial hub. It could have remained just that, an ambitious idea, but a quick review of the newspaper library confirms the extent to which China was determined to push it forward. The following year, in 2015, The New York Times confirmed that Jing-Jin-Ji was beginning to become a reality. Shortly after Guardian informed of the plans to create Xiongan, a large city located just under 100 km from Beijing that would allow the urban framework of Jing-Jin-Ji to be articulated. It was just one of the measures to consolidate the new megalopolis. The most effective of all was the reinforcement of rail and road communications. In 2016, China actually approved an ambitious investment plan to build kilometers and kilometers of roads and reach the middle of the century with about twenty of railway lines. Is it just infrastructure? No. Improving communications is a fundamental part of Jing-Jin-Ji, but not the only one. Another, equally important, is the distribution of roles between the regions. He starting point It was simple: Beijing would consolidate itself as a political, cultural and technological center while Tianjin would establish itself as an export port and manufacturing hub. As for Hebei, there was a commitment to also orient it towards industry and wholesale trade. In the background, slide China Briefingthere was the desire to bet on industrial clusters focused on emerging sectors, such as electric vehicles, the biopharmaceutical industry or robotics. To achieve this distribution, of course, it was not enough to set guidelines on paper. In 2015, the Beijing authorities announced his plans to refocus the capital, moving certain services, such as wholesale markets and administrative offices, out of the urban center and moving some services to suburban areas or even to Hebei province. The importance of gestures. Perhaps the best proof of the extent to which the Government wants to keep the project alive is that, from time to time, the Chinese press publishes articles reviewing the progress in the creation of Jing-Jin-Ji. It happened in April 2024coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the presentation of the plan, and it happened again in 2025, when CGTN He published an article to make it clear that Beijing’s suburban dream is advancing little by little. His chronicle highlights the increase in economic production in the region, the opening of new stretches of road that allow travel times to be cut, the reinforcement of public transport or collaboration at an economic level and when providing services. The local press also highlights that the region “has become an innovation center” capable of attracting companies. Of course, there are also important challengeshow to achieve greater … Read more

In the US they throw Molotov cocktails at their creators, in China children dance with robots

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On April 10, A man threw a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s mansion, CEO of OpenAI. In his pocket he carried an anti-AI manifesto and the names of other tech leaders. Meanwhile, in China, humanoid robots danced with children and received applause from the public at the Spring Festival Gala. Public opinion of AI. When we talk about the AI ​​race between the US and China we usually focus on technology; who has the best modelsthe goings-on with the chips…There is another angle from which to look at this competition, and that is public opinion: how citizens are valuing these innovations. And in this, China is winning. Pessimism vs optimism. In a complete Stanford University report published by Rest of Worlda section is dedicated to public opinion on AI and the data are very different between both countries. To the question “Products and services that use AI excite me,” only 38% of Americans answered yes, while in China they got 84% positive responses. It is not a small difference, we are talking about China getting the highest score and the United States is almost at the bottom of the list Other countries also showing enthusiasm towards AI are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, all in Asia. In the case of Spain, with 45% we are a little below the global sentiment, which is 53% globally. Trust in regulators. It was another of the points of the report and here the United States received the worst score. Only 31% of respondents trust that the US government regulates AI correctly. Not surprising, since the Trump administration’s strategy to win the AI ​​race It is precisely deregulated. The survey does not collect this data about China, but it does indicate that other Asian countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have high trust in their regulators. Rejection of AI is growing. The Molotov cocktail thrown at Sam Altman’s house is not the only violent act sparked by growing anti-AI sentiment. A few days earlier, an Indianapolis councilman who voted in favor of building a data center woke up in the middle of the night to hearing gunshots. Thirteen shots were found at his door and a message that said “no data centers.” We have also talked about cases of attacks on robotaxis in San Franciscowith passengers inside. The consequences. The study links optimism and confidence with faster adoption of AI. In the United States the adoption rate is 28% while in Singapore it reaches 61%, more than double, and it also has the highest number of AI researchers per capita. Meanwhile, the migration of talent to the United States has plummeted since 2017 and it is at a minimum. Furthermore, opposition to the construction of data centers, motivated by pollution and energy consumption that they produce, is delaying many projects. Image | Xataka In Xataka | There is a new migratory movement among the technological elite: the Chinese talent that succeeded in the US is returning home

For the CEO of Ford, the reference for the electric car is no longer Tesla, it is China

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The head of Ford has been studying Chinese manufacturers in depth for months and is clear about one thing: that to understand where the electric car is going, we must pay close attention to China. For some years now the country is leading a historic transition in the automobile, and the perfect proof of this reality is the fixation that brands as historic as Ford have with the Chinese electric car. And for Jim Farley, CEO of the company, Tesla is no longer the benchmark. China, not Tesla. The automobile industry has been at a crossroads for some time. Electric sales are not growing at the expected rate in the West, large manufacturers have had to rethink their strategies and convert their factories (energy storage for data centers), and in the United States the elimination of federal tax incentive It has made the purchase of a new electric car even more expensive. In this context, Ford CEO Jim Farley explained in the Rapid Response podcast that Tesla is no longer the benchmark, and that it is now China. Change of sight. In the interview, Farley explained why he has been testing a Xiaomi SU7 instead of an American vehicle. “If you’re an American and you want us to beat the Chinese in the car business, you’re going to want to pay attention, not necessarily to Tesla. Nothing against Tesla, they’re doing well, but they don’t really have an up-to-date vehicle,” he said. And his reference for Ford is not Elon Musk, but BYD: “The best thing in the business for us in cost, supply chain, manufacturing experience and innovation is BYD,” Farley said. in the same podcast. Concerning. BYD was born in 1995 as a battery manufacturer and today is the largest electric car manufacturer in the world by volume. having surpassed Tesla in global sales in 2025. In 2022 it was the first manufacturer to completely abandon pure gasoline cars. For Farley, what is relevant is not the market capitalization of each company, but rather who is defining what the consumer will want to buy in the next decade. TOGod to the expensive electric ones. Ford has learned its lesson through million-dollar losses. The company became the second brand that sold the most electric cars in the US after Tesla, but its models were, according to Farley himself, “designed in the wrong way.” In December 2025, Ford took over a $19.5 billion correction having to reformulate its entire electric strategy. He F-150 Lightningwhich was presented as the flagship of its electrical commitment, is converted into an EREV vehicle (with a small combustion engine that acts as a generator) because, as admitted Farley himself in December, “the $70,000 electric cars were not selling.” The new roadmap involves launching an electric pickup at $30,000 before 2027. The key is in the second-hand market. Farley has an unconventional way of reading the market. And it is that prefer look at the sales of used cars before those of new ones, because “the second-hand market is twice that of new ones, and since they are all sold at lower prices, they are a better predictor of consumer behavior.” And of course, in this market, affordable electric and hybrid vehicles are the ones that move the most compared to those in the premium segment. China is not just price. Farley recognize that each Chinese car incorporates about 4,000 or 5,000 dollars in government subsidies, direct and indirect. He is also aware that these vehicles incorporate up to ten cameras and advanced connectivity systems that, in his opinion, “should be reviewed by the US Department of Defense for reasons of national security.” However, Farley concludes that the correct response is not to ignore them, but to learn from them. “That is the gift that China has given us: that we are respectful enough of its progress not to settle for business as usual,” he said in the interview. Cover image | Hans and Rapid Response In Xataka | The longest straight road in the world is a mental challenge: 240 km without curves, in the middle of the desert and with truck traffic

The oil reserves of the main powers, in a graph that summarizes how well China is doing

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Since the Strait of Hormuz was closed On February 28, after the offensive by the United States and Israel, the world as we know it hangs by a thread: going to a gas station to refuel, catching a flight or simply filling the refrigerator are mundane actions at risk, although at the moment what we have noticed the most is that prices go up and flight cancellations. The threat of running out of oil is getting closer. Oil is not just energy: having oil means having more time in the face of an energy crisis. The question is: how many days can an economy function without a single new barrel entering its borders? Well, it depends on two factors: how much you have stored and how you manage it. A few days ago the United States Energy Information Administration answered that question in the form of graphic for some of the world’s major powers. The result is uncomfortable and summarizes very well that China has done its homework. The EIA analysis shows oil inventories in December 2025, that is, just before the game began. We insist: it is not just the barrels that remain, it is a map that reveals who has room to hold out. That the Strait of Hormuz is closed It doesn’t affect everyone the same.. In March 2026, the United States and other IEA members they agreed a coordinated emergency release of reserves after the closure because approximately 20% of the world’s oil passes through that redoubt of a few kilometers. But the exposure to the shock is totally asymmetrical: while Europe and East Asia import massively from the Persian Gulf, the United States has record domestic production (13.6 million barrels per day) that drastically reduces your dependency. Although China appears at the top as the outstanding leader, paradoxically it is the most exposed in volume, but also the best prepared in reserves: it has room to withstand months of supply cuts. On the other side of the coin is Europe, the most vulnerable to this situation: its reserves are noticeably smaller and its own production is residual. Which countries are most and least prepared for the closure of Hormuz Inventory of crude oil reserves in some specific countries. EIA. December 2025 During 2025, China accumulated an average of 1.1 million barrels per day, reaching almost 1.4 billion barrels. To put it on scale, it is more than triple what the United States stores in its strategic oil reserve (1,397 compared to 413). And it has done so quietly: China does not publish official data on its inventories, so the EIA estimates them by crossing imports, exports and data from third parties such as Vortexa, Kpler and Kayrros. As collects Reuterssince 2024, Chinese national companies add emergency oil to commercial reserves following government instructions. In short: they have a second strategic layer, logistics deliberately designed to endure in situations of blockade, sanctions or conflicts. China has made good use of cheap sanctioned Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil to fill its deposits at bargain prices, according to a report from the US Congressional Committee. Estimated crude oil inventories of China and the United States in December 2025. EIA Although the United States strategic reserve has capacity for 714 million barrels, at the end of last year it barely had just over 400, its lowest level in decades, after large sales in 2022 and 2023. The explanation is that the United States used its reserve to mitigate inflation after the war in Ukraine and has not yet recovered. That is to say, America’s room for maneuver has been reduced and with reserves at 58% and the Strait of Hormuz closed, it is at its lowest levels since the early 1980s, when the SPR was still in the process of filling. If there is a phrase to define the situation of the old continent, it is that Europe is hanging by a thread. OECD Europe held just 179 million barrels in government inventories as of December 2025, a structurally weak figure for a bloc that imports more than 97% of the oil it consumes. That Europe is dependent on oil is not a surprise, but with the closure of Hormuz the need to change this reality is urgent. He underlying problem in Europe is fragmentation: each member state manages its own reserves under the minimum framework of 90 days of demand required by the IEA, but without a common European strategic reserve. So in the face of a severe crisis, the response comes disseminated and not unified. Japan takes bronze, with 263 million barrels accumulated in government reserves. However, what is most striking is its legal architecture: the Petroleum Storage Law Japan forces private industry to maintain 70 days of demand (about 220 million additional barrels) over the government’s 90 days. A public and private double layer system that makes Japan the most robust system per capita. Finally, Japan participates in the international joint storage system: the EIA excludes from its calculation the international joint storage inventories that Japan maintains outside its borders. That is to say, the real figure of Japanese access to crude oil in an emergency scenario is higher than what the graph says. In Xataka | After gasification plants and renewables, Spain has another energy lifeline for Europe: oil refineries In Xataka | The world’s rare earth reserves, laid out in this graph showing the brutal dominance of a single country Cover | EIA

China has launched its hypersonic missile against the US and Japan

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During the Falklands War, British naval officers they later recognized that one of the most tense moments was not a big attack, but the simple missile warning that no one saw arriving clearly on the radars. In a matter of seconds, the uncertainty was enough to disrupt maneuvers, communications and critical decisions across the fleet. The scene left an idea that is difficult to forget: at sea, sometimes the decisive factor is not firepower, but the speed at which everything happens. A missile, three speeds and a dashboard change. The appearance of YJ-20 missile marks a qualitative leap in the military competition between great powers, and it does so because it places China in a position of advantage in the development of hypersonic weapons capable of altering the naval balance in a matter of minutes. This system, designed specifically to attack large surface ships, introduces a threat difficult to neutralize due to his extreme speed and ability to overwhelm defenses. In other words, the difference no longer lies only in who has more ships, but in who can hit first without giving any room for reaction. The problem of extreme speed. Several analysts said weeks ago that the YJ-20 moves in a range that redefine the times naval combat, with cruising speeds around Mach 6 and a final descent that can reach Mach 10. This means that the interval between launch and impact is drastically reduced, seriously limiting the ability of current defensive systems to detect, track and intercept the projectile. For example, in scenarios close to China, this margin narrows even moreto the point of compromising any effective attempt at a response. missile launch Aircraft carrier in the spotlight. The Scmp analysts They recalled that the priority target of this type of missile is aircraft carriers, considered the core of US naval power. Although these operate within complex battle groups with multiple defensive layers, the nature YJ-20 hypersonic calls into question the effectiveness of that model. There is no doubt, we always talk about deterrence, but the possibility of launching multiple missiles against the same target increases the risk of saturationopening the door for even advanced systems to be overwhelmed. A sea as a scene of tension. And it is at this point where the missile has been in the news this week. The tests and demonstrations of the YJ-20 that have taken place do not occur in a vacuum, but in a context of increasing friction in the South China Sea. The reason? As the United States, the Philippines and Japan carry out joint exercises like Balikatan 2026China has responded showing its offensive capacity in exactly the same region. Geographic proximity, especially in areas such as Luzon or the Taiwan Strait, turns each maneuver into a strategic message with direct implications on regional balance. Technology versus technology: the emerging gap. Yes, because the comparison with systems like Japanese Type 88 missile highlights the technological leap that hypersonic systems represent. While the latter multiply speed and reduce reaction times, many of the allied systems continue to operate with subsonic capabilities or, at best, supersonic. This gap forces to rethink doctrinesinvestments and priorities in defense, since current tools may not be sufficient against this new generation of threats. A career that moves to space. They explained from IE that the American response points to large-scale solutions, such as the development of space-based interception systems. Here proposals arise such as the so-called “Golden Dome” announced by Trump that reflect the magnitude of the challenge, with projected investments of hundreds of billions of dollars and deadlines that extend for years. The problem is not only technological, but strategic: how to adapt to an environment in which speed and surprise can decide a confrontation before it even fully develops. A debut at the worst possible time. The entrance on scene of the YJ-20 matches one of the voltage spikes more visible in the region, just when forces from the United States, Japan and their allies deploy their largest joint exercise in waters near China. In that context, the public demonstration of this missile is not an isolated gesture, but rather a calculated message that takes advantage of the moment of maximum military exhibition rival. If you will, the result is a particularly delicate combination: one with a new weapon, tested against potential direct adversaries, in a scenario where each movement has an immediate strategic reading and increases the risk of possible escalation. Image | CCTV In Xataka | China is beating the US with a simple strategy: manufacturing hypersonic missiles at the price of a Tesla In Xataka | China has revealed a new naval military strategy: civilian ships that can become missile launchers

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