China will accelerate the construction of infrastructure and application pilot base for embodied intelligence training, the country's top economic planner said on Friday.
In the 2026 Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in April this year, humanoid robots have made tremendous progress compared to last year.
Li Chao, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing that China will comprehensively promote high-quality development of embodied intelligence.
"The performance of the robots has improved significantly, especially in three aspects. First, they are faster in speed, mainly due to the performance upgrade of components such as motors with high explosive power. Second, they are more flexible. We have witnessed a significant improvement in the robots' ability to navigate complex terrains such as curves and slopes, mainly due to technological advancements like the dynamic balance 'cerebellum' model. Third, they are more autonomous. Some robots have achieved full autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance, which is mainly due to the improvement of the autonomous perception and navigation model capabilities. Now humanoid robots have upgraded from 'being able to run' to 'being able to flexibly and autonomously run at high speed'," she said.
"[We will develop] robots to be able to not only play in sports fields, but also enter factories, shopping malls and households, accelerating their integration into all walks of life. On the other hand, efforts should be made to accelerate the construction of the application pilot base in the direction of embodied intelligence, improve and perfect the software and hardware ecosystem of embodied intelligence, enhance the coordinated interaction with training infrastructure, and accelerate technological innovation oriented towards application implementation," the spokeswoman said.
China to accelerate construction of infrastructure, application pilot base for embodied intelligence
China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao outlined the key priorities of the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, which opened on Friday in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.
In an interview with CGTN ahead of the two-day meeting, Wang said free trade, digital cooperation and green economy are high on the agenda of the meeting.
"The key areas include advancing regional economic integration and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) in strengthening digital cooperation and developing green economy. At present, the international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and chaos, with intensified geopolitical instability. The rise of unilateralism and protectionism poses serious challenges to the international economic and trade order, disrupting global and Asia-Pacific development. Against this backdrop, all parties have higher expectations for this trade ministers' meeting, hoping that it can build consensus and deliver outcomes," Wang said.
This year marks China's third time hosting the APEC meetings and the 35th anniversary of its membership.
By 2025, China had become the largest trading partner of 13 APEC economies. Trade between China and APEC economies reached 3.7 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has signed 24 free trade agreements or economic and trade arrangements with 31 countries and regions, including 15 APEC economies. In recent years, China has also completed upgrades of free trade agreements with APEC economies such as Singapore and Peru.
The minister said that China has always been a firm supporter and an important contributor to APEC.
"We have actively shared our vast market and development opportunities with all parties. China's door to the world will only open wider and wider. Facing the common challenges, China will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as a major country, further deepen reform, expand high-standard opening-up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the Asia-Pacific region and the world with its new achievements in Chinese modernization," the minister said.
China's Commerce Minister outlines priorities for 32nd APEC trade ministers' meeting
