Kinaforum

onsdag 16. september 2026

Why a fresh wave of North Korean soldiers may fight in Russia's war in Ukraine

An enemy that swarmed the battlefield in large groups while under fire, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of drones and fire from automatic weapons. An elite corps of ghost soldiers who chose suicide over surrender. They fought and died in their thousands, then apparently vanished from the battlefield.

North Korea's soldiers were sent to fight by Pyongyang alongside Russian forces as they sought to repel a Ukrainian offensive on Moscow's territory at the end of 2024. They paid a heavy price, as many as 3,000 killed in action from the 13,000 deployed.

Ultimately, they would adapt their tactics, and with Russia would drive Ukrainian forces from its Kursk region. In combat terms, little has been heard of them since, but according to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, North Korean forces, and their weaponry, are soon to make a dramatic return to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The Himalayas are melting faster - and India's economy is 'at risk'

The Himalayas are approaching a dangerous threshold as glaciers melt faster, glacial lakes grow more unstable and the mountains face a widening gap in monitoring, according to new research.The findings come in the aftermath of devastating floods in Nepal and Tibet, which killed more than 1,300 people and caused widespread destruction, highlighting the growing risks from a rapidly changing Himalayan environment.

Himalayan glaciers are now losing mass 65% faster than they were a decade ago, the report by global consultancy Systemiq, produced with the Integrated Mountain Initiative and with technical contributions from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, says.

Yet only about 21 of the estimated 40,000 glaciers across the Himalaya-Karakoram region are being monitored in detail and on a sustained basis, according to the report.

China bristles at Anthropic CEO’s ‘fearmongering’ about its AI development

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday bristled at the Anthropic CEO’s call for the U.S. to curb China’s artificial intelligence capabilities as part of a wider argument for a global slowdown on AI development.

In a lengthy essay published Saturday, Dario Amodei warned that a “Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.” To enable the U.S. to keep its technological edge, Amodei called for maintaining restrictions on sales to China of the most advanced AI chips and chipmaking equipment. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Amodei’s dire warnings about China were counterproductive and that all parties should work together on AI.

“Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance -- which serves no one’s interest,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press conference in response to a question about Amodei’s essay.

As the world debates the risks of AI, China closes the technology gap with the US

As the rapid development of artificial intelligence triggers a renewed debate about its risks, the United States and China keep racing to develop increasingly powerful models.

The U.S. has outpaced China and other countries in AI model capabilities, research, citations and other areas. China has been rapidly catching up as an AI superpower even as U.S.-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the most advanced technologies, including the cutting-edge chips and the machines to make them.

Experts and recent reports, like one by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, said China has emerged as an AI counterweight to the U.S. and this year appears to be erasing the U.S. lead.

Will AI really destroy humanity? Pioneers who created the tech weigh in

As researchers warn that artificial intelligence could pose catastrophic risks, some of the pioneers who helped develop the technology are weighing in with additional warnings on the dangers of unfettered advances in capability. A series of stark AI safety warnings has emerged over the past week, with researchers from major AI labs like Anthropic, OpenAI and GoogleDeepMind all sounding the alarm about potentially catastrophic risks from developing the technology.

AI bosses including Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk have shown rare agreement in calling for a slowdown and regulatory oversight. Meanwhile, concerns have also intensified debate in Washington. While some members of Congress from both the Democratic and Republican parties have advocated for bills to check the progress of AI, U.S. President Donald Trumpon Monday raged against growing calls for AI regulation.

China’s AI leaders keep quiet despite U.S. ‘publicity’ on tech risks

While frontier U.S. labs have sounded the alarm on artificial intelligence in recent high-profile speeches, Chinese companies have largely kept quiet. Z.ai, Moonshot, MiniMax, Alibaba and Tencent have not made similar comments, and did not provide any statements when contacted by CNBC about the warnings from Silicon Valley.

It’s important to be prudent about AI, but the publicity is “a little bit oversold,” said Ray Von, founder, CEO and chairman of Tencent-backed OpenPie, a startup building devices for companies to use AI securely on internal data. “That’s why in China, we don’t pay too much attention to that, because that’s not the first time [the U.S. execs] say these things,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “They should just do it.”

Despite troop reduction in Tibet border, China alleged to advance into contested Arunachal territory

China significantly reduced the size of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces deployment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in occupied Tibet last year, said Indian media reports Sep 14, citing the country’s Defence Ministry annual report. Ten combined Arms Brigade-size forces are now stated to remain deployed in areas along the LAC and in traditional training areas. However, while this report covers the period up to Mar 31, 2026, recent report from Arunachal Pradesh and other sources speak of the Chinese military pursuing aggressive and expansionist activities that have reportedly been confirmed by satellite imagery.

“The year 2025 witnessed a significant reduction in the deployment of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces opposite the northern borders,” hindustantimes.com Sep 14 quoted the ministry as saying in its latest annual report. Apart from the 10 combined arms brigades positioned along the LAC, another 10 are stationed in traditional training areas away from the frontier, the 2025-26 report was cited as saying.

China tightens restrictions on citizens’ foreign travels, targeting those with money, talent, as well as activists

China has begun implementing on Sep 15 new border-control regulations designed to keep two of its most valuable assets from leaving the country: money and talent. It also seen to target human rights and other kinds of activists, for citizens deemed to have “harmed” China’s national security or interests while overseas can also be barred from leaving the country.

The rules give authorities the power to impose exit bans of six months to three years on Chinese citizens who commit certain violations.

The rules, issued by the State Council, give authorities explicit legal power to block people from leaving the country – turning a patchwork of ad hoc travel bans into a permanent regulatory tool for stemming capital and talent flight as well as restricting the movement of activists who are in the bad book of the Party-state.

All Tibet protesters against President Xi Jinping at BRICS summit in New Delhi released without charges

All the activist of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) and Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), totalling around 70, have been released without criminal charges on Sep14, a day after the BRICS Summit in New Delhi ended and long after Chinese President Xi Jinping had flown back to Beijing.

After being held for 37 hours in Tihar Jail under preventive detention orders, Karma Dolma, Tenzin Nordon and Tenzin Tsephel were released, said SFT India on Istagram Sep 14. The trio had climbed poles to hang two protest banners and a Tibetan national flag in a tunnel area near the site of the BRICS Summit – the Bharat Mandapam in the Pragati Maidan complex – on Sep 11.

The group also said one SFT-Delhi member and one Tibetan journalist, who were detained separately, were also released after nearly two and a half days.

Big AI slowdown a safety pause or strategic retreat?

Over the weekend, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for artificial intelligence (AI) companies, including his own, to slow down their work. Sam Altman and Elon Musk, heads of rivals OpenAI and xAI respectively, agreed.

The move reflects concern across the AI industry and, more broadly, about the dangers of new, rapidly improving systems. Recent high-profile incidents such as OpenAI’s AI agents hacking another company and hijacking a public website have shown current systems can break out of safety confines – and even more capable systems are in development.Further complicating AI safety is the tension between safety and performance. Companies will be reluctant to limit the performance of their models in the name of safety for fear of losing ground to competitors. US President Donald Trump has also rejected calls for a slowdown, for fear of losing ground to China.

This means any successful effort at “pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up”, as Amodei puts it, will require significant cooperation between rival companies – and nations.

China launching multidomain drone swarms for next-gen warfare

China’s pursuit of multidomain drone swarms reflects a broader effort to turn autonomous systems from standalone weapons into the connective tissue of a networked form of warfare built around speed, redundancy and system-level disruption.

China is expanding its uncrewed combat capabilities from homogeneous aerial drone swarms to the multidomain integration of autonomous land, sea, and air platforms, according to an assessment published by the Intelligent Technology Research Institute of state-owned defense contractor China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC).

CNBC’s The China Connection newsletter: Tech controls expand to employees

Forget chips and rare earths. Starting Tuesday, China is formally restricting its citizens from leaving the country if they violate tech export controls. It reflects how Chinese businesses today have more advanced technological know-how than the past — and have been ramping up overseas expansion. The new rules build on measures strengthening oversight of overseas investment that took effect July 1.

All companies going global need to think about whether they are compliant, especially if executives are handling negotiations abroad, said Shuai Peng, CEO of Lex Magister, a platform connecting Chinese businesses and lawyers internationally.

While semiconductor and artificial intelligence companies are most impacted, the new rules cover all industries, as reflected in lists such as the Commerce Ministry’s export controls, Peng said. He doesn’t expect much restriction on the ability of businesses to participate in international conferences such as the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Wealthy Chinese, tech talent confront tighter borders as Beijing widens exit controls

China’s new border-control regulations are designed to keep two of its most valuable assets from leaving the country: money and talent.

The rules, issued by the State Council and taking effect Tuesday, give authorities explicit legal power to block people from leaving the country – turning a patchwork of ad hoc travel bans into a permanent tool for stemming capital and talent flight.

Authorities can bar Chinese nationals from departing over export-control or technology-transfer violations deemed to threaten national security. The new rules also add pressure on wealthy households already facing a widening tax dragnet, along with private bankers, trust companies, and immigration agencies that help move their money and families abroad.

Trump won’t put the brakes on AI because he wants to beat China. How big a threat is Beijing?

Last weekend, as the world worried about the possibility of unconstrained artificial intelligence wiping out humanity, the leaders of the United States and China articulated their visions for the era-defining technology. They came from almost opposite sides of the spectrum.

Brushing aside the calls from AI scientists and executives from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google to slow the development, US President Donald Trump said what was most important was keeping the US in the lead against China in the intensifying AI superpower race. “We’re leading China in AI…and frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI wins,” he said on Saturday.

Trump dismisses AI alarms as a ‘HOAX’ — worrying White House officials

President Donald Trump spent Monday angrily rejecting calls from AI industry leaders for more government regulation on their cutting-edge models, making clear in a daylong string of social media posts he considers outpacing China and preserving AI-driven economic gains a higher priority than addressing growing public concerns.

Trump asserted a “SICK conspiracy” was afoot to undermine AI and claimed his oversight alone was enough to prevent models from going rogue. He called concerns a “HOAX,” comparing the technology to the “Global Warming Scam” and the investigation of possible ties between his campaign and the Russian government. He also renewed his support for the data centers that power AI, despite their political unpopularity.

For the first time, Japan has more than 100,000 centenarians

Japan has been gripped by a declining population for decades, but one age group is adding new members and there are more of them than ever. For the first time in Japan, the number of people aged 100 or older has surpassed more than 100,000 – a new record in the country known for longevity.

The population of centenarians rose again – for the 56th consecutive year – to 107,677 in September, up almost 8,000 from the previous year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Tuesday. Most are women, accounting for 88% or 94,298 of the total, the ministry added.

North Korea says recent drill shows 'huge destructive power'

North Korea said Monday that its recent "live-fire" drill demonstrated "huge destructive power."

During the test on Saturday, different types of weapons were fired simultaneously, with the aim of boosting the morale of North Korean troops and improving their capabilities to "completely collapse the enemy," according to the state news agency KCNA.

KCNA reported that the drill involved five army units and tested attack drones, tactical cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, and other weapons systems. Experts say North Korea is not slowing down its weapons activities, even after US President Donald Trumprecently scaled back a military exercise with South Korea in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with leader Kim Jong Un.

Pay to ghost your boss: Japan's resignation business

For Y.M., a Japanese man in his early 20s, his first job out of university at a real estate sales firm quickly turned into a daily trial of endurance. Among his colleagues, he was always the one being screamed at.

According to his testimony featured on the website of Leadbrain, a Tokyo-based labor and human resources consulting firm, he sought a quiet way out because he was wary of how colleagues perceived him. He was reluctant to burden his parents and determined to avoid workplace conflict, which is a common attitude among working Japanese.

Rather than submitting his resignation in person, he opened his phone and began searching for a resignation proxy service, a third-party agency that could help him quit without direct interaction with his employer.