On April 29, Ambassador Shen Minjuan published a signed article titled “Why Chinese Humanoid Robots are Taking the Lead?” in the “China’s Effective Governance” column of Mongolia’s Daily News, as well as on major Mongolian media outlets news.mn. Full text:

Why Chinese Humanoid Robots are Taking the Lead?

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of

the People's Republic of China to Mongolia

Shen Minjuan

Recently, a special half marathon kicked off in Beijing, where over a hundred humanoid robots and 12,000 human runners competed on the same course. The intense competition concluded with a victory for a robot, “Lightning”, which finished the race with a lightning-fast speed of 50 minutes and 26 seconds. The machine is not only about 2 hours faster than the winning robot last year, but also broke the world record of half marathon for humans.

I still remember that at the inaugural competition last year, participating robots were troubled by glitches along the way, and only six teams managed to finish the race. In just one year, the pace of progress in China’s humanoid robots has been as astonishing as Lightning’s speed. So, what has enabled Chinese androids to run so rapidly?

This achievement is underpinned by China’s vast market and diverse application scenarios. With a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of over 400 million, China boasts the world’s largest and most promising consumer market. It also offers the richest array of application scenarios, providing both a testing ground and an incubator for technological innovation. 

Last year, Chinese companies launched over 330 humanoid robot models, with production reaching 14,400, accounting for more than 80% of the global total. This year, output is expected to surge to 100,000. From round-the-clock “workers” on assembly lines, to “engineers” carrying out hazardous operations deep in mines, to “waiters” in restaurants and “caregivers” in nursing homes, androids have become important assistants across industrial manufacturing, scientific research, education, warehousing and logistics, and household services.

This achievement is also driven by China’s complete industrial system and steadily improving innovation capacity. China’s manufacturing sector has ranked first globally for 14 consecutive years. At the same time, the country remains committed to greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, making breakthroughs in a series of key core technologies and overcoming chokepoints. “Made in China” is evolving into “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” and “Created in China”. China’s national innovation index has risen to 9th in the world. 

Humanoid robots are the climax of advanced manufacturing. China’s patent applications in this area rank first globally, forming a fully independent value chain spanning from basic research and core materials to complete machine manufacturing. 70% of the core components in robots showcased at this year’s Spring Festival Gala are made in China and the number is expected to move towards 80% in the future.

This achievement is empowered by the integration of artificial intelligence. Since the debut of DeepSeek early last year, a “China wave” has swept across the AI field, with domestic open-source large models such as Qwen, Kimi, and GLM rising in tandem. China is now home to over 6,000 AI companies, and its AI patents account for 60% of the world’s total. 

China was the first to propose the concept of “AI Plus”, promoting the integration of AI into all sectors and daily life. And humanoid robots serve as an ideal carrier of embodied intelligence. AI is not only the “brain” of robots, endowing machines with perception, learning, memory, and decision-making capabilities, but also the engine for their upgrades. It has significantly reduced R&D costs and enabled robots to move beyond laboratories into practical applications in industry, services, and households, truly driving development and benefiting humanity.

This achievement also stems from China’s forward-looking planning for emerging industries and future industries. The outline of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan sets out clear arrangements for fostering and expanding these sectors, calling for faster development of strategic emerging industries such as robotics and promoting embodied intelligence as a new engine of economic growth. Across the country, provinces are leveraging their unique strengths by establishing industrial funds and building open-source communities to provide comprehensive support. 

Take Beijing as an example: the Beijing World of Robots, visited last month by the Mongolian Prime Minister Uchral during his trip to China, is a comprehensive platform integrating exhibition, trading, application, and experience of embodied intelligence. It is also a vivid illustration of Beijing’s efforts to cultivate industrial clusters. That’s why the Prime Minister said that “Chinese robots can do everything”.

Looking ahead, as technological progress continues to accelerate, humanoid robots will run faster and more steadily, with ever more diverse application, becoming even more capable partners in people’s work and daily lives. On the path of exploring the future, China stands ready to share its development experience and technological dividends with countries around the world, especially those in the Global South, to bridge the intelligent divide, promote common development through inclusive technology, and create a better life for all.