China's smart technology test ship accelerates sea tests for homegrown marine equipment

China's first deep-sea green intelligent technology test ship, "Weilai," or "Future", has carried more than 20 sets of critical new marine equipment on board to conduct sea tests since its official delivery in July 2025.

The test ship is about 110 meters long with a displacement of about 7,000 tons, and powered by full electric propulsion to ensure a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles.

Dubbed as a floating lab, the ship aims to accelerate the transition of homegrown marine equipment from prototypes to commercial products and viable industries.

One of its key test subjects is a domestically developed intelligent steering system, a market long controlled by foreign suppliers. This system, which directs the ship's course, is critical for safe navigation. The rapid response and precise control of the steering system are crucial, particularly in complex conditions such as entering or leaving ports and navigating narrow channels,

Over the past few months, the vessel has focused on testing the self-developed intelligent steering system's course-changing performance, course-keeping ability, and autonomous deviation correction capability under complex flow fields.

"During the tests, through the MarineNet information system independently developed by the Taihu Laboratory. We collected key data in real time, such as steering frequency and steering amplitude. The 'value' of this data is very high. They are not simulated signals collected in a laboratory, but data collected under real navigation conditions in complex environments like wind and waves, salt fog, and electromagnetic interference," said Lyu Jiang, a senior engineer with the Taihu Laboratory of Deepsea Technological Science in the city of Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province.

To accelerate the technological iteration, improvement, and upgrading of the homegrown intelligent steering system, a mature imported intelligent steering system has also been installed on the vessel as a benchmark for comparison.

"This ship can serve as an exam room where both systems can compete side by side. The goal is to improve our marine equipment through such comparison," Lyu said.

Beyond steering gear, the vessel is also testing other innovations such as an intelligent medium-speed engine.

"Take the domestically produced intelligent medium-speed engine as an example. By running it on the vessel for an extended period, we can test its power response and fuel efficiency under different sea conditions and loads. We have already fed the complete set of test data back to the equipment's research and development unit, enabling them to further improve our homegrown equipment and systems," he said.

China's smart technology test ship accelerates sea tests for homegrown marine equipment

The 17th meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation was held in Hanoi on Tuesday.

Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son co-chaired the meeting with officials from various ministries and provincial governments of both sides participating online and offline.

Efficient coordination among various departments and localities of the two countries has led to an upgrade in all-round cooperation, Wang noted.

Faced with a complex and volatile international situation, China and Vietnam should join hands to advance the path of socialist modernization, continuously create new prospects for relations between the two parties and countries, and make new contributions to strengthening Global South unity and self-reliance and promoting international and regional peace and stability, said Wang.

He added that both sides should expand the breadth of pragmatic cooperation, including promoting railway connectivity, strengthening cooperation in agriculture, electricity, finance, key minerals, and technological innovation, and jointly safeguarding the multilateral trading system.

Efforts should also be made to maintain the momentum of people-to-people exchanges, such as promoting cooperation in media, publishing, radio, and film, and to strengthen the management of differences, advance maritime cooperation, and conclude consultations of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea at an early date, Wang added.

Son said that Vietnam has always regarded China as a top priority and strategic choice in its foreign policy, adding that Vietnam firmly adheres to the one-China policy and opposes any form of Taiwan separatist activities.

He added that Vietnam agrees with the next steps of cooperation proposed by China, and is willing to further consolidate strategic mutual trust, prepare for high-level exchanges, and strengthen party and parliamentary exchanges.

Vietnam is willing to deepen defense and security cooperation, promote mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, agriculture, finance, green energy, and cultural and educational fields, strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation, properly manage differences, and advance Vietnam-China relations to deeper and more substantive levels, Son said.

China, Vietnam hold meeting to advance cooperation