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More than 11.7 million barrels of Iranian crude have been reported as flowing to China through the Strait of Hormuz since late February, even as regional tensions and threats to merchant shipping have risen. The episode highlights Chinaâs growing energy resilience and the practical limits of US military guarantees in a highârisk maritime environment.
Transit through the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed in early March amid USâIsraeli strikes on Iran, with just 77 vessels passing versus 1,229 last year. Most remaining transits involve ageing, uninsured ships linked to a "shadow fleet," raising energy-market risk and complicating sanctions enforcement and naval protection efforts.
Pakistani air defences shot down two drones over Islamabad on March 13, one of which dropped an unexploded bomb on a military camp. Debris damaged buildings and flights at Islamabad airport were briefly suspended while investigators work to determine whether the drones were launched from inside Pakistan or across the Afghan border.
A sudden USâIsraeli strike on Tehran has unleashed a perilous new phase of Middle Eastern violence, killing scores of civilians and spreading disruption across aviation, energy and regional security. The assault underscores how technological precision and permissive legal interpretations intensify asymmetrical warfare and raise the prospect of protracted, regionwide instability.
Xinhua published photographs of the China Coast Guard ship Sandu conducting boarding-and-control training during a South China Sea patrol on March 8. The images reflect routine law-enforcement activity that doubles as a low-intensity form of power projection, part of Beijingâs broader effort to consolidate influence over disputed maritime areas.
President Trump declared Iran "completely defeated" after US strikes on Iranian targets, including the Kharg Island oil terminal, and said negotiations were not acceptable. US officials reported 13 American service members killed and around 200 wounded, while Iran warned it would retaliate by targeting any regional oil and energy infrastructure linked to the United States.
Chinaâs sixth helicopter detachment in Abyei passed a UN first-quarter equipment inspection after meeting standards across aircraft, vehicles, weapons, medical and living facilities. The result highlights Beijingâs growing professionalism in UN peacekeeping and preserves the unitâs ability to perform patrols, medevac and logistics in a challenging operational environment.
Attacks on merchant vessels and threats to close the Strait of Hormuz have prompted an unprecedented coordinated release of 400 million barrels of strategic oil stocks, yet markets remain volatile. The incident exposes the limits of stock releases as a remedy and highlights the deeper intertwining of energy security and geopolitics, with implications for long-term market structure and energy transition.
A domestically produced reusable rocket was showcased at the inaugural Shanghai Commercial Space Conference, which hosted 300 exhibitors across 15,000 square metres. The display highlights Chinaâs move from prototype to commercialisation in reusable launch technology, with implications for costs, market structure and strategic competition in space access.
Alibabaâs Qianwen introduced the G1 AI glasses at AWE 2026, featuring a dualâchip dualâsystem architecture, 64GB of local storage, a hotâswap battery in the right temple, and forthcoming features including voiceâcloning translation and expanded lifeâservice AI functions. The launch signals a push to marry largeâmodel AI services with consumer hardware while navigating privacy, power and supplyâchain constraints.
Thousands marched in Tehran on 13 March to show solidarity with Palestine despite nearby airstrikes that local media say killed at least two people. The state framed the demonstration as a rejection of American and Israeli pressure while amplifying allegations of civilian casualties to consolidate domestic support and signal resilience regionally.
Meta is planning a new round of layoffs affecting up to 20% of staff to free resources for aggressive investment in artificial intelligence. The move reflects pressure on advertising revenue and a wider industry pivot toward generative AI, but it also raises risks around talent loss and execution capacity.
Tencent has launched a free nationwide installation program for its new AI agent âLongxia,â seeing rapid consumer uptake and government-supported local rollouts. But the campaign has triggered regulatory warnings, privacy incident reports and an intellectual-property dispute, raising urgent questions about permissions, security and data governance.
Tencent Cloud has launched a 40âday nationwide program offering free onâsite installation and configuration of its "Lobster" AI and cloud products across 17 Chinese cities. The campaign aims to accelerate enterprise adoption and build customer relationships, but it arrives amid regulatory warnings and ecosystem disputes over security and intellectual property.
An IoT security testing technology developed in China, TRAISâP TEST, has been adopted as an ISO/IEC international standard, a step that strengthens Chinaâs influence in global technical norms. The standard could ease market access for Chinese vendors and testing labs while sharpening debates about technological governance and supplyâchain trust.
Didi has denied circulating reports that it approved a threeâyear operating extension for cars older than eight years. The correction highlights tensions between drivers' economic pressures, safety regulations set by local transport authorities, and the risks of rapid misinformation on social platforms.
Shanghaiâs Appliance & Electronics World Expo introduced an âOriental Hubâ with visaâfree entry for invited foreigners and dutyâfree handling for exhibits, turning a consumer fair into an efficient international marketplace for Chinese hard tech. The policy enabled overseas buyers to inspect and negotiate on AI chips, edge compute, optical interconnects and robotics on the spot, accelerating commercial engagement while signalling Chinaâs push to export integrated technology solutions.
Huawei has declared its allâscenario ecosystem has entered a âfullâchainâ era, aiming to bind people, cars and homes into an integrated platform built on HarmonyOS. The move signals a strategic shift toward deeper partner integration and vertical coordination, with implications for competitors, automakers and data governance.
At AWE 2026 Hisense unveiled new AI housekeeper and compact companion robot prototypes, saying consumer deployment is imminent. Leveraging its display and appliance business, the company aims to move robotics from commercial settings into homes, but faces technical, pricing and privacy challenges before wide adoption.
Devendra Chaplot, a founding member of Thinking Machines Lab, has joined Elon Muskâs xAI as the company continues to recruit researchers to pursue its stated goal of building âsuperintelligence.â The hire highlights xAIâs ongoing talentâacquisition drive and raises questions about both the pace of capability development and the governance challenges such ambition entails.
