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Guangdong’s Rise as a Global Leader in AI-Driven Manufacturing and Innovation

Jan. 15, 2026 | Technology & Innovation

Guangdong province has evolved from producing traditional goods to becoming a global powerhouse in advanced technologies and AI-driven manufacturing.

**Guangdong’s product landscape has transformed dramatically since the 1980s, when the region was known for items like Pearl River water and Lingnan clothing.**
Today, it leads China’s cross-border e-commerce trade, accounting for more than one-third of national exports and imports. Guangdong-based companies command significant market shares—DJI produces 70 percent of the world’s consumer drones, and the province manufactures one out of every three smartphones sold worldwide.

**This manufacturing dominance traces back to Guangdong’s early reform and opening-up policies, especially the “three supplies and one compensation” model, which matched global trends with affordable, quality production.**
Enterprises such as the Taiping Handbag Factory exemplified labor-intensive beginnings, while Midea evolved from making plastic bottle caps into a Fortune 500 conglomerate spanning smart home appliances, new energy solutions, and robotics. Over time, industrial clusters expanded into high-value sectors—consumer electronics, biotech drugs, and 5G phones—shifting the region’s advantages from land and cheap labor to engineering expertise and innovation dividends.

**As the world enters the AI era, Guangdong companies have seized emerging markets with products like smart glasses and intelligent robots.**
The province accounts for about 40 percent of China’s smart glasses manufacturing capacity, centered in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and saw that market expand 25-fold during the 2025 Double Eleven sales. Firms such as Thunderbird Innovation are rapidly gaining global share in consumer AR glasses. In robotics, Unitree deploys humanoid robots autonomously in service roles, while Guangzhou Ligong Industrial produces hundreds of industrial robots each month for aerospace, automotive, and research applications. Guangdong also leads global production in AI-related technologies: it makes 70 percent of consumer drones, 40 percent of smartphones and industrial robots, 80 percent of service robots, and holds significant shares in integrated circuits.

**To build on these strengths, Guangdong will launch the “Guang Products Travel the World” Spring Campaign in January 2026.**
Around 30 events, supported by major commercial platforms and involving thousands of enterprises, will promote the province’s diverse product range and expand its global footprint.

**At the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2025, leaders emphasized the role of major provinces like Guangdong in driving China’s economic growth for 2026, prioritizing industries such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and the low-altitude economy.**
Guangdong’s strategy focuses on expanding its high-quality AI industry and broadening application across regions and sectors. Its ecosystem already includes over 1,600 AI core enterprises and platforms such as Huawei’s Ascend and Tencent’s Hunyuan, aligning with the State Council’s “AI+ Action” objectives and the action plan released on January 7, 2026, which targets globally competitive AI manufacturing capabilities by 2027.

**In early 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reaffirmed its commitment to advance strategic sectors—robotics, quantum technology, and brain-computer interfaces—by enhancing research, product development, and ecosystem support.**
Guangdong’s extensive manufacturing base and innovation capabilities underpin its emergence as a new center for AI-driven industrial innovation.

China Advances Industrial Internet Platforms with New Action Plan for 2026–2028

Jan. 15, 2026 | Technology & Innovation

China is accelerating its digital-intelligent transformation of manufacturing through a new Action Plan issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for 2026–2028.

The plan aims to raise the number of influential industrial internet platforms from over 340 to more than 450 by 2028, while connecting upwards of 120 million industrial devices and achieving over 55 percent nationwide platform penetration.

**It centers these platforms as hubs for aggregating data, developing models, expanding applications, ensuring ubiquitous connectivity, and allocating resources efficiently.**
The plan emphasizes integrating industrialization and informatization through differentiated development: specialized, industry-focused, and collaborative platforms. It also establishes a multi-tier cultivation framework that guides platforms through basic, advanced, and ecosystem maturity stages to boost professionalism and industry specificity.

**Artificial intelligence integration forms another key pillar.**
The plan encourages enterprises to intensify research and development of high-quality industrial datasets, large models, and intelligent agents, leveraging platforms’ existing strengths in data and model accumulation to drive “AI + manufacturing” innovations. A complementary AI action plan aims to upgrade at least 50,000 enterprises’ industrial networks by 2028, using AI to redefine manufacturing processes and generate new productive forces.

**The plan deepens scenario-based applications by identifying targeted entry points for technology integration, enhancing service capabilities, and scaling solutions.**
It promotes flexible service models—such as pay-after-use, subscription, and performance-based payments—to lower adoption barriers and spur widespread platform usage across manufacturing subsectors.

**To underpin these efforts, the plan outlines four cornerstone initiatives: cultivating a multi-level platform system; aggregating industrial data for smarter analytics; driving extensive, scenario-driven applications; and reinforcing the broader industrial internet ecosystem.**
It calls for improved data collection, dataset construction, and intellectual property protection; the development of open-source communities and international cooperation; and innovation through ecosystem partnerships.

**Finally, the plan tasks local and regional authorities with tailoring support via funding mechanisms, tax incentives, and talent development programs.**
Policies will ensure equal treatment for private firms and small and medium-sized enterprises, expand public service capabilities, and accelerate platform deployment in line with local industrial strengths.

Monitored Intelligence for China - Jan. 16, 2026

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壹视界·开局之年谈反腐，总书记强调“更加清醒坚定”

One Vision·In the Year of Initiation Discussing Anti-Corruption, the General Secretary Emphasizes Being Clearer and More Determined

China Daily | Local Language | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | Political Scandal or Corruption

On January 12, 2026, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, emphasizing the imperative of governing the Party with strictness and advancing the fight against corruption decisively. He underscored implementing the Party Central Committee's major decisions, institutionalizing power restraint, and enhancing anti-corruption measures with greater clarity, determination, and practical standards, especially as the 15th Five-Year Plan begins.

Xi Jinping highlighted the ongoing severity and complexity of corruption, noting that eradicating the root causes remains an arduous mission. Corruption continues to manifest frequently, including major and emerging covert forms. He stressed maintaining a high-pressure stance against corruption without retreat, framing the fight against corruption as the Party's most profound self-revolution, essential for Party prosperity and national strength.

The General Secretary called for a historical and strategic perspective on anti-corruption efforts, focusing on achieving the Party’s mission while targeting both minor and significant corrupt practices, especially where public dissatisfaction is greatest. He cited examples from environmental and local governance improvements as evidence of the positive outcomes of clean politics, fostering an atmosphere conducive to effective governance and economic development.

With 2026 marking the start of the crucial 15th Five-Year Plan, Xi connected the Party’s self-revolution and governance to economic and social progress, encouraging cadres to embrace their responsibilities amidst complex domestic and international challenges. He reaffirmed that improving Party governance is critical to sustaining modernization efforts and national development.

Finally, Xi reaffirmed China’s distinctive anti-corruption approach, which integrates prevention, deterrence, and eradication efforts. He emphasized continuing the path developed since the 18th National Congress that addresses both symptoms and root causes of corruption through comprehensive governance and whole-chain collaboration. This approach aims to foster a politically clean environment and social righteousness, ensuring a strong start for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

Hong Kong pledges all-out efforts in fire aftermath, mulls reform to strengthen building safety

Xinhua | English | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | Accidents

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee pledged comprehensive efforts to address the aftermath of the deadly fire that occurred on November 26, 2025, in the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po district. During the first meeting of the eighth-term Legislative Council on January 14, 2026, Lee outlined the government's response and detailed planned reforms to enhance building safety and fire control.

Authorities have arrested several individuals on suspicion of manslaughter and corruption related to the incident. The development bureau has mandated the removal of all scaffolding nets on buildings undergoing maintenance and is revising the approval and inspection systems for these nets. The government has also introduced subsidies and relief measures to support affected residents.

An independent committee has been established to investigate the fire's cause and assign accountability, with a report expected within nine months. The HKSAR government has committed to implementing the committee's recommendations and undertaking systematic reforms and targeted improvements across various sectors.

Spokesperson reiterates Taiwan question is China's internal affair

Peoples Daily | English | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | Geopolitical Conflict and Disputes

A Chinese mainland spokesperson reaffirmed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and described the Taiwan question as a purely internal affair of China. Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made these remarks at a press conference on January 14, 2026, responding to inquiries about recent U.S. actions in Venezuela and their potential implications for Taiwan.

Zhu emphasized that resolving the Taiwan question is a just cause for safeguarding China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The spokesperson warned that reliance on external forces by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party in pursuit of "Taiwan independence" would only result in them becoming discarded tools of said external forces.

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