"Foxconn 'returns' to Chinese mainland." The Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newsweekly Yazhou Zhoukan recently reported, under this theme, about Foxconn's announcement in late July to invest 1 billion yuan ($139 million) in the construction of a new business headquarters building in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province, and that Apple's new iPhone 16 series will still be assembled in China. In fact, even before this report was published, news about "Foxconn and Apple 'coming back'" had been circulating among the insiders. Nothing better represents a company's optimism about a country's economic prospects than real investment. Foxconn's increased investment is a powerful response to "de-Chinaization" of the supply chain and a vote of confidence in the Chinese mainland's business environment.

The previous saying that "Foxconn has left" came largely from the hype of Western media. As multinational companies, it is normal for Apple and Foxconn to make some local adjustments due to changes in global business planning and comparative advantages. Foxconn Chairman Young Liu once said bluntly that having two or more suppliers in any sizable industry is quite normal. He also denied Foxconn's "relocation" to a reporter from the Global Times. When Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China in March this year, he also said that "there's no supply chain in the world that's more critical to us than China." According to the supply chain list released by Apple in April this year, there were 155 factories in the Chinese mainland in the 2023 fiscal year, ranking first in absolute terms. Since they never really "left," how can they "return?" 

The discussion surrounding Foxconn's "return" is not so much a matter of reality as it is a game surrounding China's economic confidence. Apple, as the "owner" of the supply chain, and Foxconn, Apple's largest manufacturers, have played an important role in the development of China's mid-to-high-end manufacturing industry represented by mobile phones. Their trends have a certain influence as a weathervane on public opinion. 

If you closely examine the previous hype about "Foxconn leaving," you'll find that a lot of things were taken out of context and misinterpreted. For example, Bloomberg claimed that "China's position as factory to the world has shifted from being a win-win for clients and suppliers to a massive risk." Except for those with a "Cold War" mentality, who would consider China's industrial chain and consumer market a "risk?" Isn't that ridiculous? The goal is to support the need of Western politics to "decouple and cut ties" with China and to create buzz for the narratives of "China's economic collapse" and "economic peak."

Why has China been able to attract the most manufacturing investment globally over several decades and develop into the world's leading manufacturing country? The reason is that starting from light industry, China's manufacturing has gradually climbed to the peak of high-end manufacturing, building a complete industrial and supply chain in the process. 

China possesses all industrial categories classified by the United Nations, added with an enormous market, a large team of engineers and skilled workers, and crucial yet often overlooked factors such as an efficient and proactive government, a stable social environment, and the honest and hardworking nature of the Chinese people. These software and hardware conditions together form the advantages and resilience of Chinese manufacturing, which no one can take away or deny. These advantages will become increasingly prominent as China continues its economic upgrade and transformation.

Foxconn is a microcosm of sustained confidence from multinational companies in Chinese manufacturing. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide increased by 14.2 percent year-on-year to 26,870 from January to June 2024. Among them, the actual use of foreign capital in the manufacturing industry increased to 28.4 percent of the national total, while the proportion of actual use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing increased to 12.8 percent. In the future, more multinational companies will hop on the "express train" of China's development, which is the general trend. The so-called "decoupling" and "de-risking" is a dead end. Regardless of whether specific companies are going out or coming in, we will focus on steadfastly promoting reform and opening-up and continuously creating a world-class business environment. The next "China" will still be China.

Experts forecast that multiple cities in China will experience extended period of extreme heat in August, with authorities proactively taking measures such as turning off display lights to address challenges posed by peak electricity consumption.

With blistering heat set to once again descend over China, Jia Xiaolong, deputy director from China's National Climate Center (NCC), suggested that the relevant authorities should be ready to make preparations for the energy supply during peak period for electricity consumption, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province has implemented measures such as pausing non-essential landscape lighting and suspending light shows from Monday to Friday to manage the power load during the ongoing extreme heat wave, local authorities announced on Tuesday.

The West Lake, a famed attraction located in Hangzhou, will temporarily suspend the power-generating musical fountains from August 6 to August 9, the site's management department said on Tuesday.

According to the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co Ltd, the average household electricity consumption of Hangzhou residents in July totaled 549 kilowatt-hours (kWh), ranking first in the province, with 57 percent of the households doubling their electricity consumption from the previous month.

In July, Shanghai authorities released an electricity proposal, prioritizing household energy consumption, essential projects and business activities which support critical services. 

A district in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality requested merchants to turn off their electronic advertising billboards from 12 pm to 8 am, suggesting that outdoor digital advertisings should be switched off or keep a low light level, an official from the local government announced in July.

East China's Jiangxi Province urged officials to avoid working with lights turned on during daytime or when offices are unoccupied and leaving the lights on all the time, according to an electricity conservation initiative issued by the local government.

Electricity conservation measures put in place by East China's Anhui Province suggested public institutions to act as standard bearers, such as setting the office air-conditioning higher than 26 C, suspending elevator access to low floors. Also, industrial enterprises are expected to voluntarily carry out staggered schedule for power use to minimize energy consumption and costs.

It is expected that in the first half of August, China will see two periods of extreme heat, of which August 3 to 7 searing heats in southern China will be featured by a wide range and high intensity. Temperatures in cities of East China's provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi will reach 39 C to 42 C, Jia told Xinhua.

During the Paris Olympics, a Spanish journalist carried and praised a Chinese-made backpack with the Beijing Olympics logo as "the best bag ever" for its exceptional quality. The endorsement sparked a surge in orders for the backpack, again highlighting the global recognition of Made-in-China products through the Olympic spotlight.

"Our company attracted more than 2 million viewers at our live-streaming site on Douyin.com within 18 hours, resulting in total sales of the backpack exceeding 3 million yuan ($419,720), Chen Haining, the manager of Xiangxing Group, the producer of the backpack, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Chen added that the total sales of the backpack surpassed 5 million yuan within two days of live streaming, and the company's Douyin account has swelled with new fans, with the number of the new followers hitting 700,000 within three days, and going on to exceed 800,000 as of Tuesday.

This backpack was designed for media use during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since then, the backpack was spotted during many international events carried by international journalists.

The Spanish journalist said he has been using the China-made backpack since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games for 16 years, according to a report by China News Service on July 25. 

Chen said that the backpack was specifically designed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, utilizing advanced technologies of that time to ensure durability and strength, but the backpack cannot be reproduced using the Olympic logo due to copyright issues. 

The upgraded version of the backpack, priced at around 100 yuan, is now available and quickly sold out upon release. Other similar products made in China are also in high demand.

The backpack has attracted widespread attention from both domestic and international media in recent days, and its "high-quality" has become a popular description for Chinese-made products at this year's Paris Olympics, market watchers noted.  

The success of Made-in-China products in drawing consumers at the Paris Olympic Games lies in a combination of high quality and sharp market insight, Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industry analyst, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"Seizing such opportunities requires genuine quality, and the market recognition could benefit the company's future market expansion abroad," he said. 

"Our team discovered that a foreign journalist mentioned this backpack in a China-related media report, and our company chairman shared the news online, encouraging us to respond proactively," Chen said, "I felt both excited and proud."

"We swiftly formed teams to handle the increased traffic generated by the Paris Olympic Games. During the past few days, our workers are motivated to create enough buzz that resonate with consumers," Chen told the Global Times.

Editor's Note:

When Manila hypes up so-called Chinese aggression, the Philippine people hold a different view. "China, like most of us Asian nations, are peaceful people. China did not invade us. China did not kill our ancestors. China did not impose their culture on us. China did not force us to speak their language. China did not meddle in our internal politics. But the United States did," wrote Jun Abines (Abines) , a Philippine political commentator. Why does he believe this? What experience could the two countries draw from previous friendly periods? Abines shared his views with Global Times (GT) reporter Li Aixin.

GT: Why do you believe China is peaceful?

Abines: More than 10 years ago, I was anti-China because of what I heard from TV, newspapers, and radio. The Philippines had a strong anti-China campaign for three decades. However, in 2014, while running a construction business, I met a client from the Chinese mainland named Mr. Qin. He noticed my criticism of China during discussions about China-Philippines relations amid tension in the South China Sea under President Benigno Aquino III. Mr. Qin invited me to visit China, specifically Guangzhou. That tour changed my perspective. From the moment we landed in Hong Kong and drove four hours to Guangzhou, I saw a China that was very different from what the media portrayed. During my 12-day stay in Guangzhou, I observed it was like Europe: safe, modern, and highly progressive.

I started researching more, and that's how my perspective changed on China. The more I dug into it, the more I realized that China, like the Philippines, has been invaded and bullied. China has actually helped fellow Asian countries that were invaded by the US. 

In the last 500 years of history, most of the worst conflicts in the world have not involved China; it's mostly been Western countries. So, I am 100 percent convinced that China is a peaceful country. The narrative in the Philippines that China will invade us is a joke, because history itself will tell that Chinese people are peaceful. They love business and trade.

GT: You also mentioned, "The West and the US already invaded us."

Abines: In 1898, the US came to the Philippines with deception. They said they would assist us in fighting the Spanish, and the Filipino rebellion against the Spanish government welcomed US troops. It was later revealed that Spain had already sold the Philippines to the US for $20 million, deceiving us during their first invasion.

Now, American troops are back, claiming they will enter our country again to help us fight China and be our friends in humanitarian and disaster response. However, look at what happened in Metro Manila recently - the flooding. No American forces were seen in the area offering aid. The rhetoric - the US trying to help - was a lie. We were deceived again. 

The US claims it needs nine bases throughout the Philippines. What is their purpose, and why are these bases located in cities full of civilians?

Before the US' return to the Philippines, the world already knew that the US' objective in Southeast Asia is to contain China. This is common knowledge. I think more than 50 percent of Filipinos know this, but most media outlets are silent now, and people like me are being silenced. Many of us face bans or deletions on social media. Our articles are hard to circulate because they want to prevent the truth from coming out.

People like me who are raising our voices are not doing this for anyone else but ourselves. Many Filipinos understand that inviting US forces to the Philippines will only bring trouble and chaos. 

GT: In Cebu City, where you live, there is the Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base, which is one of the bases the Philippines is offering the US access to. How do local people feel about the US military presence?

Abines: There's already a movement. Months ago, I saw a rally here advocating against a proxy war. There's a group saying that they oppose war. When interviewed by local media, they said, "We don't want to be the next Ukraine."

Another local group - No to Proxy War - conveyed that we Filipinos understand the US' objective is to contain China, and we don't want to be used as a proxy. We see the dangers ahead on that path. We want US forces to leave the Philippines and let us manage our own country, so we can progress economically. For too long, the Philippines has been poor due to bullying and economic policies dictated by Western countries, especially the US.

GT: After China and the Philippines recently reached a temporary arrangement on managing the situation of Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippine administration quickly reversed its position. How do you interpret Manila's flip-flopping on this hard-won consensus?

Abines: It has been this pattern over the past 12 months. Our current administration lacks a clear stance on peace. We notice this double talk on our side. President Marcos is saying two conflicting things at the same time. He said he wants peace, but his actions don't support it. 

Additionally, there are too many spokespersons on the Philippine side. Unfortunately, many will accuse me of being a traitor for saying this - I believe the truth is that the Marcos administration is very incompetent and is primarily serving US interests. If they truly prioritized the Filipino people's interests, they would wholeheartedly go for peace and diplomacy.

It seems that the Marcos administration is aiming to please a master. While their master is supposed to be the Filipino people, they appear to be serving the US instead. Their actions align with what the US dictates. That's why we are very restless in the Philippines because we've seen so much incompetence and abandonment of Filipino welfare. 

The Filipinos desire independence for the Philippines from the US. We seek progress, and the path to progress lies in fostering friendship with China, other ASEAN nations, and the US, but not in being a puppet of the US. If we continue to follow Marcos' actions, progress will elude the Philippines. 

GT: What are the positive aspects for the Philippines in having better ties with China? And what experiences could the two countries draw from previous friendly periods?

Abines: During his six years in office, former president Rodrigo Duterte adopted a neutral foreign policy and fostered friendly relations with China, which proved to be the best thing that happened to us economically. From 2016 to 2020, we witnessed significant economic growth and progress in our country.

This serves as a prime example of the benefits of an independent foreign policy and maintaining an open mind toward a pro-Asia perspective. This approach is crucial for ASEAN countries, especially the Philippines, to promoting regional peace. 

The lesson we can learn from the past period is to set aside differences. The South China Sea is disputed by at least five Asian countries. We should focus on prioritizing what both sides truly need: trade, progress, peace, and order. China, now an economic superpower with advanced technology, presents significant benefits for the Philippines. For a long time, the Philippines was deprived of technology and investment from Western countries, whom we call friends. 

There's a lot of hypocrisy in our friendship with the West, as we often hear and read in the news that they claim to be our friends.

But whenever we try to improve our economy, they oppose us. They dictate what we can or cannot do, hindering our progress. For instance, we need nuclear power plants, but they oppose it. We also need to resolve our insurgency problem, but the US doesn't want that to happen. This illustrates the irony of our Western friends. When we apply for visas to the US, about 90 percent of applications are denied. They view Filipinos as mere sources of cheap labor and we cannot enter the US and Europe without showing a lot of money. They think most Filipinos are bad guys. We are not welcome in their country. This is the worst friendship.

The more I dig about our relationship with the West and the more I try to understand our relationship with China, the more I see hypocrisy from the West and sincerity from China. 

Most Filipinos truly want peace in the South China Sea and throughout Southeast Asia. During the previous administration, we were very happy. Our economy was growing, and numerous infrastructure projects were underway. We had a strong relationship with China, and the Chinese government funded many projects in the Philippines. However, over the past two years, this progress has halted. 

We're frustrated that our mainstream media outlets only focus on negative news involving China, when we could benefit greatly from fostering friendship with, understanding, and embracing China as well as other Asian countries as brothers. That should be our case. But right now, we are disappointed by the fact that we have an administration in the Philippines that is a US puppet, which disgusts me personally. I think many Filipinos share my sentiment.

China's State Council, the country's cabinet, issued guidelines to promote high-quality development of consumption of services sector and expand opening-up of the fields including telecommunications, education, elderly care, medical care, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

The timely and critical move is conducive to unleashing the enormous potential of the service sector and inject new impetus into the high-quality growth of the Chinese economy, which has established a well-developed industrial system in the manufacturing sector and is experiencing rapidly rising demand for improved consumption among residents, experts said.

While emphasizing the exploration of the potential of improvement-oriented consumption in areas such as cultural entertainment, tourism, sports, education and training, and residential services, the guidance also encourages the growth of emerging sectors including cruising, yachts, recreational vehicle camping, low-altitude flight, Xinhua reported.

China's manufacturing industry and the real economy have developed rapidly. Promoting high-quality service consumption will contribute to the balanced and sustainable growth of China's economy, Cao Heping, an economist from Peking University, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Many service consumption areas cited in the guidelines are those that need to be further developed in the process of increasing China's national income levels, according to Cao.

China's growth will remain resilient at around 5 percent in 2024 despite challenges. The country’s service sector is an underutilized driver of growth. Reallocating resources to services has helped boost productivity over the past two decades, according to an IMF article published on Friday.

The proportion of service consumption in urban residents' spending now exceeds that of goods consumption, with a relatively higher growth rate. Promoting the growth of service consumption at this time will aid in the overall recovery of consumption, Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Saturday.

China will continue to relax market access restrictions for the service sector, deepen the opening-up of the fields of telecommunications, education, aged care, medical care, and promote the comprehensive implementation of opening-up measures in the fields of technology services, tourism, according to the guideline.

China plans to further streamline border entry policies and enhance the consumption environment to expedite the increase in the number of flights, offer a variety of payment services, explore opportunities to expand visa-free countries, and enhance cultural tourism year activities, according to the guideline.

Expanding openness in these areas will further support the continuous recovery and upgrading of China's industrial structure, according to Tian.

Relaxing market access and expanding opening-up policies will help attract more foreign capital and foreign tourists to engage with China's service consumption market. This will be a favorable policy promotion for the development of related fields, Cao added.

A man who stole a doctor's lab coat to dilute his wife's blood sample at the hospital to help her evade punishment for drunk driving was convicted of aiding the destruction of evidence and sentenced to four months' detention and six months' probation, according to a court ruling in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, on Wednesday.

The judgment is now in effect. The case disclosed by the court revealed that the man's wife, surnamed Huang, was caught by a traffic police while driving a minivan under the influence of alcohol in August 2023. Huang was then taken to the hospital for a blood test before returning home.

The man, surnamed Zhu, came to the hospital on the same day and stole a white coat and gloves from a room to disguise himself as a medic. Zhu found Huang's blood sample test tube from the storage area, then poured water into the test tube to dilute the blood sample, and put it back in its original location.

Staff at the identification center discovered abnormalities in Huang's blood sample and called the police after observing Zhu's actions on surveillance footage. Zhu's actions resulted in Huang's blood samples being unable to be used as evidence, and subsequently the public security organs utilized spare blood samples for re-identification.

The court held that the defendant Zhu ignored the law, and his doing has constituted the aiding and abetting the destruction of evidence, and shall be punished according to law. However, in view of the fact that the defendant Zhu has confessed and meets the conditions for the application of probation, he may be subject to probation in accordance with the law.

Zhu disrupted the normal order of litigation procedure. His action would have made the offender escape legal penalty, and he ought to be punished by the law, according to the court.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for modernizing the country's border, coastal, and air defense to make it strong and solid as he chaired a leadership group study session prior to the country's Army Day, which falls on Aug. 1.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Tuesday.

China's top anti-graft watchdog has placed four "tigers" under investigation from sectors including public security, finance and state-owned enterprises in the past week, demonstrating the country's strong determination to continue its efforts in deepening the fight against corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on Tuesday.

Experts noted that the financial and medical sectors will become the key targets of this year's anti-graft campaign, and the high intensity indicates there will be more senior officials to be put under probe than in previous years.

The four senior officials include former anti-terrorism chief Liu Yuejin, former vice president of China Development Bank Li Jiping, former general manager of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Li Yong and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress Li Xiangang, according to the report published by CCDI's official media outlet on Tuesday.

Liu Yuejin, 65, is the first senior official from the public security system to fall after the conclusion of this year's two sessions. Liu served as the commissioner for counterterrorism from December 2015 until June 2020, which makes him the first and so far the only person to have served in this former vice-minister level post.

With the addition of Liu, the number of senior officials under probe in 2024 has increased to 13, Caixin reported on Tuesday.

Multiple media reports revealed over recent days that Tian Wei, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering and former president of China's top-tier hospital, the Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, is under investigation on suspicion of corruption.

Tian's case reportedly involves a substantial amount of money, Caixin reported on Sunday, marking a "landmark case" in China's anti-graft campaign in the healthcare sector.

"Corruption is the biggest cancer that undermines the vitality and effectiveness of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and anti-corruption is the most thorough self-revolution," read the CCDI report.

Also on Tuesday, China announced the initiation of the "Sky Net 2024" campaign specially dealing with the pursuit and recovery of corrupt officials and assets overseas. It includes cracking down on the use of offshore companies and underground money transfer networks for illicit funds, conducting special operations to trace and retrieve assets in cases of fugitive suspects and defendants, among others.

"This year's anti-graft campaign features the strong intensity regardless of the corrupt individuals' previous contributions. No matter who you are or what you have achieved in the past, there will be no leniency. This should serve as a significant deterrent to potential offenders," Tang Renwu, dean of the School of Governance of Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

It demonstrates the CPC's commitment to carrying out the anti-corruption campaign to the end, not just in words but also in actions, which is a very important aspect in consolidating the ruling foundation of the Party, Tang said.

Based on the current trend, the number of corrupt officials targeted this year may exceed that of 2023, Tang noted.

According to data, in 2023, the national discipline inspection and supervision organs handled more than 1.7 million problem clues and filed 626,000 cases, 87 of which involved senior officials. And among the 610,000 individuals disciplined, 49 were provincial and ministerial-level officials, the CCDI report revealed on Tuesday.

A communiqué adopted by the 20th CPC Central Commission for CCDI on January 10 pointed to a number of fields of key targets for 2024, including the financial sector, state-owned enterprises, universities, sports, tobacco, medicine, grain purchase and marketing, and statistics.

Tang believes that the financial sector is a critical area of concern. There are some deep-rooted problems in the field, and the impact of corruption in the financial sector poses a great impact on social stability given it is a hub for the national economy. More than 100 officials within the financial system were put under disciplinary review in 2023, involving areas such as banking, insurance, and securities, according to publicly available data.

Another target would be the healthcare and education sectors, which relate closely to people's livelihood but had been overlooked in previous years, experts noted.

In addition, Tang believes that with cases accumulating over the past few years, there will be more threads that lead to deeper connections and more complex matters being dug out this year, which may involve those who have been retired for a long time. It will not simply be limited to one sector, but an intertwined story involving multiple sectors," Tang said.

Despite the overwhelming achievements made over the past few years, the anti-corruption situation remains severe and complex, said the report. For example, groups and factions still pose a threat to political security, while the misappropriation of policy dividends hinders the implementation of major policies.

Furthermore, the formation of interest groups between government and business has led to regional corruption, with the means of corruption becoming more hidden.

China is committed to promoting high-level openness, fostering mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, and welcomes foreign diplomats stationed in China to observe China's annual two sessions, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning highlighted the significance of the two sessions not only for China's political landscape but also as a crucial window through which the international community could better understand China. "We welcome foreign diplomats stationed in China to attend the two sessions," Mao said.

The Government Work Report conveyed a key message that China will broaden high-level openness through enhanced foreign investment, deeper economic cooperation, and active participation in global governance reforms, Mao noted.

By providing better service to foreign investment, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors, China aims to create a more attractive environment for foreign businesses. The country is dedicated to improving the quality of services for foreign investors, and facilitating a more welcoming atmosphere for foreigners living, working, or studying in China, Mao said.

The spokesperson stated that China is set to drive high-quality development via the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on broad cooperation in digital, green, innovation, health, tourism and poverty reduction in partner economies. 

Mao emphasized that China intends to deepen multilateral, bilateral, and regional economic cooperation, working towards implementing existing free trade agreements (FTAs) and negotiating high-standard FTAs and investment deals with more countries and regions.

The country will actively participate in the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and promote the construction of an open world economy to share the benefits of cooperation and win-win outcomes across the global community, Mao added.

"Openness leads to progress, and cooperation creates the future. China's determination to expand its high-level openness will not change, nor will its resolve to share development opportunities with the world. China will continue to uphold the concept of openness and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries to achieve common development," Mao said.

Year 2023 witnessed a fascinating catching-up game worldwide since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. In the coming year ahead, Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of 360 Security Technology, said he is "still quite optimistic" about the overall development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry in China.

The speed of development of China's large model is already a miracle. The world needs to be patient with China's large models. The industrial revolution of the internet has been going on for at least 10 years, and the turning point of AI has only emerged in the past year or two, Zhou told the Global Times.

In March, Baidu took the lead by introducing its first extensive language model ERNIE, named as "Wenxin Yiyan" in Chinese. Following its step, on March 29, 360 Security Technology unveiled its artificial intelligence strategy along with the release of Zhinao, or "intelligent brain"

Shortly after, on April 11, Alibaba introduced its "Tongyi Qianwen" large-scale model at the Alibaba Cloud Summit. On May 6, iFlytek launched its Xinghuo large-scale model, with Chairman Liu Qingfeng expressing their goal to surpass ChatGPT in Chinese and catch up with ChatGPT in English by October 24. Additionally, Huawei, JD.com, ByteDance, Sensetime, as well as other companies, have also released their own large-scale model products in succession.

Confidence toward China's AI industry in the coming year is pretty high among Chinese leading AI developers and industry observers, the Global Times found, though facing the fact that Google has also reemerged in the arena, marking its strong comeback with the release of Gemini on December 13.

Zhou admitted that there is still a gap between the Chinese model and ChatGPT-4. But the gap does not prevent China from building its own GPT.

Xiao Yanghua, a computer science professor at Fudan University, also director of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Data Science, also agreed that "Chinese enterprises should be a smart follower, actively explore our own competition track under the premise of ensuring that we do not lag behind."

Zhou told the Global Times that China possesses great industry dividends, saying the key for China's development of large-scale models is to seize the dividends of various AI-generated scenes.

China has the most comprehensive industrial categories in the world with complete supply chain and industrial chain. The greatest opportunities lie in industrialization, specialization and verticalization of the technology, also move toward deep customization, Zhou noted, calling on the wide utilization of GPT in industries, sectors, and within organizations, combining them with vertical AI-generated scene.

Having one large-model to fit all needs of various industries is way too broad and unrealistic. China's large-model products can be more fine-grained, Zhou said. In one industry, the large model can empower different aspects, specific links and tasks, such as in the financial sector, customer service is a relatively detailed aspect and in the field of intelligent connected vehicles, intelligent cabins, intelligent navigation or intelligent entertainment could be very detailed options.

"Many untapped blue oceans are out there," Xiao also told the Global Times, mentioning embodied large-scale models, medical large-scale models, scientific large-scale models and other specified fields.

But Xiao also warned that ChatGPT has formed a "flywheel effect," where iteration and optimization are pushing the technology into a self-reinforcing phase of rapid development, or possibly leading the industry to a situation in which in the future only one or two models will be the dominant players.

Adopt AI, think later?

Should AI technology, with a mix of fear and awe, progress faster or should it slow down? Or should we develop it while at the same time regulate it?

The Global AI Governance Initiative, proposed by Chinese leader this year advocates upholding a people-centered approach in developing AI and promoting the establishment of a testing and assessment system based on AI risk levels, so as to make AI technologies more secure, reliable, controllable and equitable.

Zhou concluded that the foreseeable challenges brought by AI include technical security issues mainly focused on network security and data security, as well as content security issues caused by the ability of large models to "fabricate" content.

More specifically, AI is at risk of being predominantly utilized as a tool for initiating cyberattacks, producing deceptive media or propagating false information and offensive language, industry observers warned.

Zhang Linghan, from China University of Political Science and Law and a member of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, told the Global Times China's stance has always advocated active promotion of AI technology development, while attaching importance to security.

Various laws and regulations, including the Data Security Law, regulations for managing internet information service algorithms and deep synthesis, and interim measures for governing generative AI services, have also been established to form a comprehensive AI regulatory framework, Zhang noted.

More risks and threats are expected to emerge, according to industry observers, as now AI industry has accelerated its evolution to "multimodal models."

To address the security issues of large models, "it is necessary to make technological breakthroughs rather than relying solely on the self-discipline of large model enterprises," Zhou said. He attributed this to the fact that large models have capabilities surpassing humans is already evident, and they are on the verge of becoming "superhumans" in the near future.

"We must prevent any 'irreversible' consequences from happening," Zhou emphasized. To realize it, humans should avoid relinquishing control of the system to the large model right from the start. Instead, prioritize the involvement of humans in the decision-making loop and ensure that crucial decisions are made by humans.

He went on to say that safety measures can be implemented in the agent architecture to address security and controllability issues that may arise from the utilization of various knowledge, skills and tools by large models.

Will AI become conscious?

This year, Elon Musk threw a bomb to the world saying artificial intelligence is "one of the biggest threats to humanity." Prominent figures in the sector, including representatives from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, have united to caution about the potential of AI causing human extinction.

As for the ultimate challenge brought by large models, Zhou believes that AI has not yet reached that stage. ChatGPT-5 will not appear overnight, and ChatGPT also needs to have "hands and feet" to connect with the real world in order to pose a real threat. So it is too early to worry about it now.

However, Xiao brought up a more practical emerging problem which is the addiction to use AI in daily work, simply allowing the machine to replace their thinking.

"Over-reliance on AI for thinking could potentially steer us toward intelligence degeneration, as human intelligence is intricately woven into our evolutionary-driven nature," he said.

"In history, no technology has developed at a speed comparable to AI. If traditional technology is a rifle, AI is a hydrogen bomb, completely different in scale," Xiao said.

But he said human activity protection zones that AI cannot interfere with can be established as a way of prevention measure, such as basic education for minors for the sake of thinking degeneration among young generations.

"When we have delegated a large number of writing tasks to machines, which means deprives ourselves of opportunities for mental exercise, resulting not only in the decline of generative abilities, such as writing, but also in the decline of human evaluation abilities."

As for machine consciousness, Chinese observers believe it is more about blurring boundaries between science and science fiction that people try to get attention from making sensational statements.

But letting the imagination go wild, Xiao said, now, machines possess a brain, known as large models, and further acquire a body, known as embodied intelligence, then they may evolve in human society or virtual worlds, and when a sufficiently large group of machine intelligences learn and collaborate with each other, it is not impossible for consciousness to emerge.

In that case, the bottom line is to set up a forbidden zone for AI cognitive systems. "For AI machines, the identity of human beings, as 'the creator' of the AI world, should be hidden," Xiao said.