Chinese tech giant Huawei on Tuesday released HarmonyOS NEXT, its self-developed operating system built independent of Android architecture.
The launch event, which attracted nearly 5,000 attendees in Shenzhen, where the company is based, marks another milestone for Huawei since Washington put it on the "Entity List" in 2019, barring it from doing business with U.S. firms including Google, which provides Android.
The event marked the beginning of the official public testing phase of China's first homegrown mobile operating system, representing a significant breakthrough in the country's information technology industry.
Previous versions of HarmonyOS still used some Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code in their system base, necessitating compatibility with certain Android applications.
HarmonyOS NEXT, the self-developed fifth iteration of HarmonyOS, has achieved significant improvements in system fluency, performance, and security features, while also ensuring the independence of the homegrown operating system.
The system has been installed on over one billion devices, said Yu Chengdong, Huawei's executive director.
"In fact, our development team has gone through the path that others have gone through for 20 or 30 years in just 10 years. The battery life, security and privacy protection functions of the phone are very strong. The applications' version is being developed iteratively everyday, and the update schedule is very, very fast. I estimate another two or three months may be enough time for our whole ecosystem to mature,” Yu said.
Over 15,000 native HarmonyOS applications and meta-services have been launched, covering 18 industries, with general office applications serving more than 38 million enterprises nationwide.
HarmonyOS NEXT has reduced the difficulty and cost of adopting the new system, improved fluency by 30 percent, and many applications are being updated with new versions every day.
HarmonyOS is an open-source operating system designed for various devices and scenarios, including intelligent screens, tablets, wearables and cars. It was first launched in August 2019 and has replaced Apple's iOS to become the second-largest mobile operating system on the Chinese market after Google’s Android.
Huawei releases homegrown HarmonyOS NEXT operating system
China's permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong on Thursday strongly condemned Japan's colonial atrocities in Taiwan and called for unwavering vigilance against the resurgence of militarism.
At the UN General Assembly high-level plenary meeting to commemorate the first International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations, Fu said the world has yet to emerge from the shadow of colonialism despite the end of colonial occupation and the collapse of colonial system.
He urged the international community to firmly oppose any words or actions that challenge or seek to subvert the post-war international order.
Fu noted that the International Day Against Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations aims to urge the international community to remember the harm of colonialism, accelerate the ongoing decolonization process, and end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations.
Reflecting on the history of the World Anti-Fascist War, Fu stressed that peace needs to be striven for and safeguarded.
Following the victory of World War II, the trials of war criminals at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East ensured that the principal perpetrators of the war of aggression, whose hands were stained with the blood of people of many nations, received the punishment they deserved. The justice and integrity of the trials are unshakable and beyond challenge, Fu said.
"In history, Japan invaded China, the Korean Peninsula, and Southeast Asia, imposing horrendous colonial rule. Japanese aggressors committed innumerable crimes and atrocities in Taiwan, killing over 650,000 compatriots in Taiwan, forcibly recruiting around 200,000 young people to serve in the military, forcing more than 2,000 Taiwan women to become sexual slavery, or 'Comfort Women', occupying 70 percent of Taiwan's land, and destructively exploiting natural resources, including coal and gold mines. It was the darkest page in Taiwan's history," Fu said.
Fu called on the international community to resolutely defend the victorious outcomes of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and resolutely defend the post-war international order.
"We must never allow any denial or distortion of the history of aggression, never allow the revival of militarism, and never allow the recurrence of historical tragedies," the Chinese envoy said.
Any words or actions that challenge or seek to subvert the post-war international order could create instability in the world and bring immense suffering to humanity as a community with a shared future," Fu said.
"Japan, as a defeated country in World War II, must do deep soul-searching regarding its historical crimes, abide by the political commitments it made on the Taiwan question, immediately stop provocative actions that cross the line, and retract its erroneous remarks," he said.
China condemns Japan's colonial past in Taiwan, urging vigilance against militarism
