China to Host UN Peacekeeping Staff Officer Course and Counterterrorism Forum
China’s Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Chen Xi announced on Friday that China will hold an international training course for United Nations peacekeeping staff officers, along with a major counterterrorism forum, as part of upcoming military-related activities.
According to Chen, the Ministry’s Peacekeeping Affairs Center and the Foreign Languages College of the National University of Defense Technology will jointly host the training course in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, in the second half of October. Instructors and trainees from 12 countries and international organizations, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria and the United Nations, will take part.
The course focuses on building the skills required for UN peacekeeping staff posts. It consists of three modules: basic theory, professional skills and headquarters exercises. Covering 31 topics, including the basic principles of peacekeeping operations, civilian protection, and command and control, the program is intended to help participating countries’ militaries conduct peacekeeping operations in a more professional, standardized and coordinated manner.
Chen also said the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force will host the “Great Wall-2026” International Counterterrorism Forum in Beijing from Oct. 13 to 15. More than 320 Chinese and foreign representatives from 62 countries and international organizations are expected to attend.
Themed “Advancing Practical Counterterrorism Cooperation and Jointly Safeguarding Our Homeland,” the forum will address four topics: terrorism trends and counterterrorism capacity building in an unmanned and intelligent environment; preventing and combating maritime terrorism; protecting key targets against terrorist attacks; and countering infiltration across borders. Chen said the forum will help strengthen friendship and mutual trust between the Armed Police Force and its foreign counterparts, deepen bilateral and multilateral counterterrorism cooperation, and help maintain regional peace and stability.
Source: China News Service, October 10, 2026
https://www.chinanews.com/gn/2026/10-10/10710613.shtml
Beijing Calls on Overseas Chinese to Back Unification and Advance Party Aims Abroad
In a speech reported in Chinese state media, Chen Xu, deputy minister of the Central United Front Work Department and director of the State Council’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, described how Beijing wants to mobilize overseas Chinese communities. He framed his remarks as study of a July 2026 instruction on overseas Chinese affairs from Xi Jinping, which he said sets the direction for the work.
Chen argued that engagement with the roughly 60 million overseas Chinese and 40 million returned overseas Chinese and relatives serves several national goals, among them economic modernization, cultural influence and “a community with a shared future for mankind.” His most politically sensitive passage concerned Taiwan. He said overseas Chinese have long conducted publicity, solidarity and protest activities against “Taiwan independence” abroad, and that separatist forces are colluding with foreign backers, making unification harder. He called for strengthening the “Chinese nation community” consciousness, combining “unity and struggle,” and squeezing the overseas space for what he termed hostile separatist forces while building up pro-unification forces worldwide.
Chen also said overseas Chinese have supported China’s bilateral and multilateral ties and the Belt and Road Initiative, and should act as a “golden ribbon” and “bridge of friendship” between China and their host countries.
On organization, he stressed that the Party’s centralized leadership must run through all overseas Chinese work. United Front departments at every level, he said, should coordinate ministries, community groups, universities, financial institutions and companies, under unified Party committee leadership.
Chen acknowledged challenges, including weakening ties to China among younger overseas Chinese and disunity among community groups. He also urged overseas Chinese to obey local laws. The speech reflects how Beijing links diaspora outreach to its sovereignty and foreign-policy goals, and the language on countering Taiwan independence abroad is likely to draw scrutiny from host governments.
Source: Study Times, October 9, 2026
https://www.studytimes.cn/lltt/202610/t20261009_92572.html
China Reportedly Orders 18 Stability Measures Ahead of Fifth Plenum
The Chinese Communist Party’s Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee is set to open in Beijing on October 26. According to the X account “Baodian Weekly,” a confidential central-level document discloses for the first time 18 security and stability measures the party has arranged for the meeting, including stepped-up intelligence gathering on, and behavior prediction of, “sensitive” foreigners.
The report says the office of the central leadership group for safeguarding political security and social stability recently sent a notice to provincial-level coordination bodies, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and relevant member units and task forces. The notice urges officials to maintain bottom-line and worst-case thinking, concentrate on defusing major political and social risks, and ensure stability throughout the session.
Authorities are told to enforce party and national security responsibility systems, with local governments, industry regulators and legal organs sharing accountability. Departments must keep staff on duty around the clock and report any major emergency promptly, without delay, omission, falsification or concealment. A daily reporting mechanism requires submissions by 6 p.m. each day, whether or not anything has happened.
Among the 18 requirements, officials must watch for infiltration and subversion by overseas separatist forces and tighten vetting and monitoring of diplomats, journalists and NGO staff from key countries traveling to sensitive areas in China. They are also to guard against flash-mob disruptions, reactionary slogans displayed on screens or banners, and illegal drone flights, and to curb foreign religious infiltration and illegal domestic religious activity. Other measures include enforcing the no-fly zone over the capital, tightly controlling petitioners traveling to Beijing, preventing mass incidents and individual extreme cases, and strengthening management of online public opinion.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 13, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610130073.aspx
China, Pakistan to Hold First Joint Army Training in Xinjiang
China’s Ministry of Defense announced that the Chinese and Pakistani armies will hold their first joint army training exercise in Korla, Xinjiang, in the second half of October. Ministry spokesperson Chen Xi said the drill, called “Karakoram-2026,” will focus on joint counterterrorism clearing operations in high-altitude terrain. It will include drone operations, moving-target shooting, long-range sniper training, and joint command and live-troop exercises. Chen said it would deepen exchanges and strengthen both sides’ ability to counter terrorist threats.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao reported that militant groups in Pakistan have repeatedly targeted Chinese firms and projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, causing casualties among Chinese personnel and damaging facilities under construction. Beijing has repeatedly demanded severe punishment for those responsible. In March 2024, five Chinese engineers were killed in an attack in northwestern Pakistan, and in October of that year, an explosion at a Chinese-invested project killed two Chinese citizens.
The two countries have previously held “Warrior” counterterrorism exercises, but these mostly involved special forces or border units. Commentators cited in the report said the new drill marks an expansion of cooperation from special-operations units to regular army formations.
Chinese military expert Song Zhongping, quoted by Ming Pao, said joint action against cross-border terrorist groups has long been a shared training need. He argued that because the exercise is being held on the People’s Liberation Army’s home ground and involves a range of counterterrorism equipment, including drones, it intensifies the training. He said China has accumulated extensive counterterrorism experience in Xinjiang, and Pakistan should learn from it and acquire new equipment. Song added that the exercise is larger and more targeted than past cooperation, and that the Korla location can simulate plateau conditions. He did not rule out joint or cross-border counterterrorism operations between the two countries in the future.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 11, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610110143.aspx
Chinese Provinces Issue Plague Prevention Notices After Death of Russian Lab Worker
Health authorities in China’s Hunan and Guangdong provinces and the Hulunbuir region of Inner Mongolia have issued plague prevention guidance in recent days, following the death of a researcher at a Russian institute in Siberia. Hunan’s disease control authority published its health reminder on October 9, and Guangdong’s provincial disease control bureau released a plague information piece the same day. Hulunbuir’s disease control center issued a risk notice that explicitly mentioned the Russian case and urged people arriving from plague-endemic areas of the Russian Far East to monitor their health.
Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk-based Siberian and Far East anti-plague research institute, was hospitalized with severe pneumonia on September 29 and died on October 2 despite ventilator support. Russian officials said on October 8 that medical observation of all her contacts had ended and tests found no dangerous pathogens, but the cause of death remains unknown.
Hulunbuir’s notice advised anyone with suspected symptoms to seek immediate medical care and disclose any travel to plague-endemic areas. Hunan’s experts said the province has no natural plague foci and infection risk is extremely low. Its reminder listed “three reports and three don’ts,” covering reporting dead rodents, suspected patients and unexplained high fevers, and avoiding hunting, eating or transporting wild animals that carry plague. Hulunbuir issued a similar “three don’ts, three musts, three protections” guideline. Guangdong’s article reportedly did not mention the Russian case.
A Mongolian community member living in Japan said the warnings likely followed instructions from higher authorities, given Hulunbuir’s border with Russia. A Guangdong IT worker said Inner Mongolia sees a few mostly bubonic plague cases each year, with no sign of a large pneumonic outbreak. A Linyi, Shandong resident said she saw no local warning, but noted that some online posts discussing the issue were deleted.
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 12, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shehui/2026/10/12/china-cdc-plague-russia/
China Sanctions Paraguayan and Belizean Officials Over Support for Taiwan
China’s Foreign Ministry announced countermeasures on Tuesday morning against two officials from countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Issuing two separate ministerial orders in quick succession, Beijing targeted Paraguay’s Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Gustavo Emigdio Villate Samaniego, and Belize’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Francis Fonseca.
The measures imposed on both men are identical and consist of three parts. First, all movable property, real estate and other assets they hold inside China will be frozen. Second, organizations and individuals within China are prohibited from carrying out transactions, cooperation or other activities with them. Third, neither will be issued visas or permitted to enter China, a ban that extends to Hong Kong and Macao.
The two orders, published on the ministry’s official website, give the same justification. They accuse certain “anti-China politicians” in Paraguay and Belize of stubbornly supporting their countries’ official diplomatic ties with Taiwan out of self-interest. According to the ministry, these individuals have taken a series of harmful actions and made damaging statements on China-related issues, undermining Beijing’s core interests.
The ministry said the countermeasures were adopted to safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and to oppose Taiwan independence separatist activities. They were imposed under China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and took effect immediately upon announcement.
Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies have periodically drawn scrutiny from Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as part of its territory and opposes any official international recognition of it.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), October 12, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202610120065.aspx
China’s Battery Makers Ride the AI Data Center Boom as Power Storage Orders Surge
While gas turbines and transformers have drawn attention in the AI arms race, a quieter boom is under way in battery storage. In the first five months of 2026, global shipments of storage for AI data centers reached 10GWh, already exceeding all of 2025. Industry forecasts put annual shipments of AI data center lithium batteries above 300GWh by 2030, and most new orders are going to Chinese manufacturers.
The reason lies in how AI computing consumes power. A single Nvidia NVL72 rack can draw 120 to 140 kilowatts, about 20 times a traditional rack. More troublesome is that thousands of GPUs synchronize during training, alternating between full load and idling, which creates square-wave power swings of tens of megawatts. Grids respond in seconds, while GPU power shifts in milliseconds, and even a 10-millisecond voltage dip can ruin a training run. Traditional lead-acid backup systems are too slow and too far from the chips.
The solution is a three-layer defense: capacitors handle jitter, in-rack battery backup units respond within 2 milliseconds, and campus-scale storage absorbs fluctuations lasting seconds to minutes. Demand is also driven by grid connection queues of three to seven years in some US regions, pushing operators to build their own power supply. The global BBU market, about 3.5 billion yuan ($490 million) in 2025, is projected to reach 35 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) by 2030.
Chinese firms are well placed to deliver. A 19GWh Abu Dhabi project, the largest single storage order globally, was completed by BYD and Sungrow, requiring complex tuning to combine solar variability with GPU load spikes. Sunwoda’s AI data center storage orders grew nearly 30-fold in the first half, while Shuangdeng’s rose over 80 percent. Chinese firms make 83% of the world’s lithium batteries and offer full capability from cells to system integration, an edge built over years in electric vehicles and renewables.
Source: Huxiu.com, September 26, 2026
https://www.huxiu.com/article/4894068.html
China Says U.S. Unilateral Deep-Sea Mining Push Threatens Global Ocean Governance
A Chinese international law scholar argues that since April 2025, the United States has moved to bypass the International Seabed Authority (ISA) through executive orders and revised approval rules, accelerating mining in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The shift, marked by preliminary NOAA recognition of a comprehensive application from The Metals Company, is said to undermine the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and deepen uncertainty in global deep-sea governance.
The author identifies three features of the new U.S. approach. First, Washington, which has not joined the Convention, relies on its 1980 Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act rather than multilateral mechanisms, which the author calls a departure from multilateralism. Second, the author says the United States frames deep-sea mining as part of strategic competition with China and is rallying allies into exclusive supply chains. South Korea’s Korea Zinc, for example, invested in TMC and has said it would bypass Chinese supply chains entirely. Third, NOAA’s new rules merge exploration and commercial recovery permits and shorten environmental review and public participation periods, which the author says puts commercial interests above ecological safety. A 2024 discovery that polymetallic nodules can produce oxygen in darkness underscores how little is known about deep-sea ecosystems.
The author attributes the shift to surging demand for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths, zero-sum thinking aimed at “de-Sinicizing” supply chains, stalled ISA negotiations over benefit-sharing, technology transfer and environmental protection, and a long-standing habit of selectively following international law.
The consequences, the author argues, include weakened legal authority of the Convention, fragmented governance from parallel regimes, and sharper resource competition.
The international response includes the ISA Council’s 30th session consensus requiring mining contractors to submit supplementary compliance materials, and a case opened in July 2026 before the Seabed Disputes Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, its first case and the first brought by a non-state entity. The author concludes that the international community should reaffirm the Convention and speed up deep-sea mining rules.
Source: Study Times, September 17, 2026
https://www.studytimes.cn/ddsj/202609/t20260917_91753.html