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NEWS IN CHINA

• Russian Presidential Aide to Visit China Ahead of APEC: Russian Presidential Aide and Maritime Board Chairman Nikolai Patrushev will visit China from October 8 to 13, where he will hold talks with Wang Yi, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs. His visit comes ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen in November, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend. A foreign ministry spokesperson stated that China welcomes President Putin's attendance at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen and Patrushev's visit may help coordinate positions and strengthen communication ahead of the meeting. Chinese experts also described the visit as reflecting strong political trust and stable China-Russia relations as this year marks the 30th anniversary of their strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of their Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Patrushev’s security background and role in maritime affairs could also place the Northern Sea Route high on the agenda. Russia seeks greater Chinese investment, vessels, equipment and market access to develop the route as a major shipping artery. A November 2025 memorandum on training specialists for polar navigation further highlights growing cooperation in commercial shipping and Arctic operations.
  
  
• Indonesia Awaits Chinese J-10 Fighter Jets: Indonesia is expected to receive its first batch of Chinese-made Chengdu J-10 fighter jets within six months. According to the Chinese military expert Zhang Junshe, the J-10CE has gained wider international attention following its reported performance in the India-Pakistan air conflict in May 2025. He highlighted that the aircraft’s key strength is its beyond-visual-range combat capability, particularly when paired with the PL-15 air-to-air missile. The expert noted that the J-10CE’s radar detection capabilities allow the missile’s range to be fully utilised, potentially providing an advantage in securing air superiority. Zhang also highlighted the fighter’s high cost-effectiveness, noting that it is more affordable than Western fighters with comparable capabilities. The number of aircraft to be delivered initially remains unclear. Indonesia’s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin confirmed the planned acquisition in October 2025. A member of the Indonesian House of Representatives’ Commission I also backed the purchase, stating that the 4.5-generation fighters could strengthen the country’s defence capabilities. Pakistan and Uzbekistan are confirmed overseas users of the J-10CE, while Azerbaijan and Bangladesh have also shown interest in the aircraft.
  
  
• Hainan Provincial Government Orders Crackdown on Illegal Beachcombing: Hainan Province has ordered swift action against illegal beachcombing in mangrove nature reserves after a CCTV investigative report exposed destructive tourism activities. Following the October 7 broadcast, the province dispatched a joint working group to affected cities and counties, while the Provincial Party Committee held a meeting to oversee rectification efforts. Provincial Party Secretary Feng Fei presided over the meeting. The meeting stressed that mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs are key marine ecosystems and called for stronger coordination between ecological protection and development. Authorities were ordered to immediately halt tourism projects damaging mangroves and other sensitive areas and investigate illegal tourist solicitation on online platforms. The province will strengthen administrative and criminal enforcement, hold responsible parties accountable and improve information disclosure to address public concerns. Authorities will also conduct inspections of mangrove, seagrass and coral reef protection to identify similar problems and prevent their recurrence. The meeting called for stronger long-term ecological protection mechanisms, clearer responsibilities across departments and tighter regulation of tourism activities, including beachcombing.
  
  
• China Upgrades Tibetan Large Language AI Model: DeepZang, China’s first Tibetan large language model, is undergoing a new round of upgrades to improve Tibetan-language AI and expand multilingual simultaneous interpretation. Researchers, universities and companies recently met in Hohhot to discuss ethnic-language corpora, low-resource language training and cross-lingual innovation. The upgrades aim to expand DeepZang’s use in public services, education, healthcare, cultural tourism and grassroots governance. According to the article, Tibetan presents challenges for natural language processing due to its complex linguistic structure, diverse dialects and limited high-quality data, therefore, DeepZang provides multi-dialect adaptation, semantic recognition and offline applications, helping make Tibetan-language AI more accurate and accessible. The model was trained on nearly 70 million Tibetan-Chinese parallel corpus data and more than 30,500 hours of audio covering three major Tibetan dialects. It supports AI conversations, real-time translation and speech-to-text in Tibetan, Chinese and English. Its developer, CHOKNOR, highlighted the shared challenges facing AI development for China’s ethnic minority languages, particularly limited data resources. Future efforts will focus on cross-regional and cross-lingual cooperation while expanding applications to support interethnic communication and digital development in ethnic minority regions.
  
  
• China Develops World’s First Nuclear Optical Clock: Chinese scientists have developed and stably operated the world’s first nuclear optical clock, marking a breakthrough in quantum precision measurement. The achievement, published on October 7, uses a domestically developed 148-nanometre continuous-wave vacuum ultraviolet laser and thorium-229-doped calcium fluoride crystals to measure energy transitions within an atomic nucleus. Conventional atomic clocks measure time using transitions between electron energy levels. Nuclear optical clocks instead use transitions within the nucleus. Since the nucleus is less affected by external electromagnetic disturbances, the technology could enable more accurate and practical time and frequency standards. A research team led by Tsinghua University developed the ultraviolet laser and thorium-229 crystal needed to operate the clock. The team successfully locked the laser frequency to the nuclear transition and achieved stability nearly an order of magnitude better than that reported by European teams at the same time. The solid-state design also offers potential for miniaturisation. Researchers emphasised that nuclear optical clocks could eventually support high-precision applications including satellite navigation and deep-space exploration.
  
  

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER

Qilian Student Dormitories for Tourists Draw Criticism on Weibo: A post about Qilian County in Qinghai providing student dormitories to tourists during the National Day holiday is going viral on Weibo. According to the post, the county received more than 100,000 tourists despite having a population of around 50,000, leaving hotels and guesthouses fully booked. Many users criticised the arrangement, with one questioning, “Who will protect the interests of students? There is a law protecting minors!” Another stated that “it was inappropriate to give students’ beds to tourists”, while one user questioned what would happen to students’ belongings kept in the dormitory. Several commenters noted that “tourists travelling by car were trustworthy in terms of their economic situation and overall quality.”  A few users questioned why high hotel prices would be a problem if tourists were economically secure. Some users blamed the local cultural and tourism authorities for the situation, arguing that “officials should have accommodated tourists themselves.” One user questioned the contradiction, saying that “if the economy is trustworthy, a high price should not be a problem”, while another criticised “the cultural and tourism departments for spending students’ money extravagantly.” Others also described the arrangement as “absurd” and questioned who would ultimately bear the cost.

INDIA WATCH

Guancha Discusses How AI Reshapes India’s GCC Job Market: An article in Guancha examined how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping employment in India’s Global Capability Centres (GCCs), once seen as key to the country’s shift from the “world’s back office” to a global knowledge hub. It stated that AI is automating routine tasks such as checking documents, reconciling accounts and writing basic code, reducing demand for entry-level workers. The article noted that India has more than 2,100 GCCs employing about 2.4 million people, but recruitment is slowing as companies increasingly seek specialised skills. While there is no evidence of widespread layoffs, hiring is shifting towards AI engineering, machine learning, cloud computing, cybersecurity and roles combining business and technology expertise. It emphasised that the impact is more severe for India’s traditional IT outsourcing sector. The article noted that major firms have reduced campus hiring and some have cut jobs, while net employee additions have remained limited. It highlighted that for graduates, this creates a difficult cycle as entry-level positions that once provided workplace experience are shrinking, while employers increasingly expect candidates to possess specialised skills beforehand. The article emphasised that the trend could deepen existing youth employment pressures in India. However, it noted that GCCs are not necessarily contracting as companies are also investing in reskilling and AI adoption while expanding higher-value operations. The article concluded that the emerging challenge for India is therefore not simply job losses, but whether its education system and workforce can adapt quickly enough to an AI-driven restructuring of employment.

Prepared By

Neha Maurya

Neha Maurya is a Project Assistant at Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA). A recent graduate of FLAME University with a major in International Studies and a minor in Public Policy, her research interests include strategic studies, governance, and education policy. She is interested in contributing to research that informs effective policy design and implementation.