China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is helping transform farmland in Türkiye, as engineers equip local agricultural machinery with high-accuracy location tracking to ensure higher efficiency of seeding and plowing.
Gao Wei, an agricultural machinery technology engineer with Qianxun SI, the operator for Beidou Foundation Reinforcement system, has spent the past three years testing the BeiDou agricultural machinery automatic navigation driving system.
He and his colleague have traveled to an experimental base in Konya, a major city in central Türkiye, to install the BDS devices on agricultural machines.
Fukan, a local technician with five years of farming experience, is highly familiar the long-standing challenges associated with mechanized farming. Before installing the satellite navigation devices, local farmers used to rely heavily on visual observation, so seeds were often planted crooked, which delayed the planting season and hurt both quality and efficiency. In addition, nighttime work was nearly impossible due to poor visibility, which further limited yields.
After a field test with the device mounted on his planting, Fukan was visibly impressed.
"(With the navigation system,) the row spacing is more uniform, and production efficiency has increased. For farmers, this is a very practical and easy-to-use system," said Fukan.
According to Gao, the system relies on high-precision positioning from BeiDou satellites, combined with intelligent terminals, receivers and sensors, to locate the agricultural machine's position in real time. A steering motor then automatically guides the vehicle along a preset route.
BeiDou services and related products have been exported to more than 140 countries and regions worldwide. For Gao, seeing Chinese innovation take root abroad makes him proud.
"As a BeiDou agricultural machinery technology engineer, I feel especially proud to see Chinese technology gain recognition from overseas farmers. I look forward to the BDS continuing to expand overseas," he said
As a mature, fully functional and high-performance global satellite navigation system, the BDS currently has 50 operational satellites in orbit. It offers a global positioning accuracy of better than 10 meters, velocity measurement accuracy better than 0.2 meters per second, and timing accuracy within 20 nanoseconds. It is being integrated into an increasing number of application scenarios such as positioning, navigation, and international search and rescue.
China's BeiDou Navigation System boosts farming efficiency in Türkiye
Competition in the global automotive industry has shifted from a contest of scale to a multi-dimensional coordination of capabilities, a new report released at the ninth Hongqiao International Economic Forum said on Thursday, which called for a more collaborative global industry ecosystem. Titled "Global Automotive Competitiveness Report 2026," the study was unveiled at the parallel session "Free and Fair Trade and Industrial Competitiveness Cooperation" of the Hongqiao Forum, held as part of the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE).
The report constructs an evaluation framework for the international competitiveness of the automotive industry consisting of five dimensions -- industrial foundation, technological innovation, market competitiveness, global resource allocation, and environmental support -- and 29 indicators. Based on calculations and comparisons across 41 major countries worldwide, the report concludes that global automotive competition has evolved from a scale-based competition to a multi-dimensional coordination of capabilities. It calls for efforts to foster a new global automotive industry ecosystem featuring more coordinated supply chains, more inclusive technology, more open trade, more mutually beneficial investment, and more synergistic governance.
"The automotive industry has evolved from traditional fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles and now to intelligent connected vehicles, and its entire competitive logic is undergoing fundamental changes. The previous set of evaluation and analysis indicators, characterized by scale and output value, can hardly adapt to or explain the new competitiveness. The iteration and upgrading of the automotive industry, including the opening of new market space, require better coordination and cooperation," said Tang Yunyi, deputy director of the Institute of Applied Economics of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
The idea that global auto competition is now a contest of coordinated capabilities rather than sheer scale is finding an echo among the automakers that have built their China businesses on competition and cooperation alike.
For companies like Mercedes-Benz, which has spent decades manufacturing and selling in the world's largest car market, the report's core argument that lasting advantage lies in coordination mirrors a conviction already embedded in its own approach to the country.
"I believe, as a German company, in this true collaboration driving long-term value creation. And it is based on rules, fair competition, and therefore, we are very much looking forward to the next chapter here in China," said Oliver Thone, a board member of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.
The ninth Hongqiao International Economic Forum, running at the National Exhibition and Convention Center under the theme "Stability and Cooperation: Building an Open World Economy Together," brings together business leaders and representatives from around the world to explore paths to a more open global economy, alongside a series of parallel sessions and report releases.
The forum is running alongside the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE), which opened in Shanghai the same day, drawing more than 4,100 overseas exhibitors from 148 countries and regions. First held in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE has since evolved into a vital gateway for foreign businesses seeking access to China's vast consumer and industrial markets.
Shanghai forum unveils new framework for global auto industry competitiveness
