Slovak President Peter Pellegrini visited the world's first embodied intelligence robot 4S store, known as Robot Mall, at Beijing E-Town on Tuesday.
Pellegrini is paying a state visit to China from July 27 to 29 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. He toured highlights of this year's Humanoid Robot Half Marathon Competition and interacted with humanoid and medical robots during a stop at Robot Mall.
Expressing amazement at China's robotics achievements, the Slovak president said he believes the cutting-edge technology showcased at the venue will find its way into households in the near future.
Robot Mall is designed to support the transition of robotics from technological innovation to real-world application. Its exhibition highlights how robots are entering homes and industrial scenarios, including education, delivery, companionship, entertainment, and daily services. When touring the exhibition, Pellegrini also shared his views on China-Slovakia cooperation in cutting-edge technologies.
"Slovakia is a small country, but things which are developed in China can be used already in Slovakia. So I think we have to find a way how to implement them as soon as possible into our daily life, into our companies and so on," he said.
Chinese investment in Slovakia has continued to grow in recent years, particularly in high-tech industries, green energy, and innovation-driven sectors.
Analysts say closer cooperation in modern technology and research will remain a key topic during his visit to China.
Slovak President visits robot mall at Beijing E-Town
Slovak President visits robot mall at Beijing E-Town
Slovak President visits robot mall at Beijing E-Town
Rally participants gathered in the Japanese capital on Aug 9, which also marked the 81st anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, to voice strong opposition to the government's push to boost defense spending and revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the national Constitution.
Holding anti-war placards, chanting anti-war slogans, protesters warned that remilitarizing the nation would betray its pacifist ideals and endanger future generations.
"Defense spending keeps increasing. Based on Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan pledged never to wage war again, yet it keeps strengthening its military. I find this extremely dangerous. They are also trying to revise Article 9. So I believe that for the sake of future young people and children, Article 9 must never be revised. Japan decided never to repeat the mistakes of waging a war after its defeat in WWII. I think we should continue to safeguard that commitment," said a rally participant.
For many in the crowd, the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains a powerful moral compass as they believe that militarization offers no path forward for a nation that knows the devastation of war firsthand.
"Japan is the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings. Yet now Japan is going to deploy missiles. I believe Japan must never possess nuclear weapons," said another rally participant.
"I believe Japan has no future if it goes down the path of militarization. Nuclear weapons are absolutely bad for Japan," said a third woman, also a rally participant.
Beyond moral objections, some demonstrators said that Japan's economic vulnerabilities articulate that saber-rattling is a luxury the country cannot afford.
"I can't help but wonder what on earth a country with only a 36 percent food self-sufficiency rate would be fighting with. I have always been opposed to war, and I'm deeply dissatisfied with what the Takaichi administration is doing now," said another rally participant.
Other rally participants said that seeing revision of the Constitution could unleash unchecked military expansion, stripping away the very safeguards that have kept Japan at peace for eight decades.
"Article 9 of the Constitution is the key. If the nature of the Self-Defense Forces is elevated to a level beyond collective self-defense, which is explicitly written into the Constitution, it will allow the authority of the Self-Defense Forces to expand without limit. So no matter what, I want to prevent this from happening," said one more rally participant.
Japanese citizens rally against Takaichi's military expansion, constitutional revision
