China's top three mobile operators have showcased various 5G-A applications while sharing their latest development plans for 5G-A technology at the ongoing 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Shanghai.
This year marks the sixth anniversary of the official commercial launch of 5G in China, with 5G-A ushering in the "second half" of 5G applications.
5G-Advanced technology or 5G-A serves as a bridge between 5G and 6G, offering higher speeds, lower latency, and enhanced connectivity.
At the MWC Shanghai, which runs until Friday, 5G-A has become a central topic, with the top three telecom giants - China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom - having their latest techs as well as development plans displayed to visitors.
"Currently, we have established the world's largest commercial 5G-A network, with deployments in over 330 cities. This year, we will continue to upgrade some 5G base stations to evolve towards 5G-A, enhancing the overall intelligent capabilities," said Cao Lei, head of a research institute under China Mobile.
For China Telecom, it deployed approximately 75,000 5G-A base stations across 121 cities in 2024.
By 2025, the company aims to further expand the coverage of 5G-A base stations to over 150 key cities across China.
Chinese mobile operators have so far deployed 5G-A test networks in 31 provinces, expected to support 50 million users.
"All of our existing 5G base stations are equipped with the capability to evolve towards 5G-A features. In 2025, we will continue to expand the scale of our 5G network and promote lightweight network deployments, achieving 5G-A commercial deployment in over 300 cities nationwide," said Tian Yuanbing, the leader of taskforce of China Unicom.
The three-day MWC opened on Wednesday under the theme of "Converge, Connect, Create," showcasing the latest breakthroughs in communication and connectivity technologies.
China's top mobile operators unveil 5G-A development plans at MWC in Shanghai
A video featuring a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII), was released on Thursday in northeast China's Harbin, revealing details of how the unit used meteorological data to conduct horrific bacterial experiments on human beings.
The video was released by the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, in which former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out a bacterial dispersal experiment.
The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province.
Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition of the exhibition hall, said that Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's field human experiments by measuring wind direction, wind speed, and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results, according to Jin.
Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.
At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground. They sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.
"Unit 731's bacterial weapons were dropped by aircraft from a height of 50 meters in the open air. Therefore, the meteorological squad needed to observe wind direction and speed, which directly affected the precision and accuracy of the bacterial weapons deployment," said Jin.
Nishijima recounted the harrowing experience of the human test subjects.
"They were fully aware that inhaling the substances would certainly lead to death, so they closed their eyes and held their breath to avoid breathing them in. Their resistance prevented the experiment from proceeding. To compel them to comply, they were forced at gunpoint to open their mouths and lift their heads," said Nishijima.
These experiments, disguised as "scientific research," were in fact systematic tests of biological warfare weapons conducted by the Japanese military. The data generated from these inhumane activities became "research findings" shared among the Japanese army medical school, the medical community, and the military at large.
"At that time, the entire Japanese medical community tacitly approved, encouraged, and even participated in the criminal acts of Unit 731. The unit comprised members from Japan's medical and academic sectors who served the Japanese war of aggression against China. Thus, Unit 731 was not just a military unit but represented an organized and systematic criminal enterprise operating from the top down," said Jin.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.
At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and Japan's biological weapons killed more than 300,000 people in China.
Video offers details of Japan's germ-warfare crimes in northeast China
