AI Monetization: ByteDance’s Doubao adds paid subscriptions in China, offering higher usage quotas and practical tools like file organizing and slide generation, as ByteDance tries to balance costs with its huge user base. Cybersecurity Arms Race: 360 Security unveils “Yitian Tulong” tools it says mirror Anthropic’s Mythos—automatically finding software vulnerabilities and automating cyber defense—framing vulnerability-finding AI as a strategic national asset. Tech Under Pressure: Alibaba sues the US Defense Department over its Pentagon “military-linked” designation, arguing the label is baseless and that it restricts lobbying and other rights. Unified Market Push: China’s top legislature reviews progress on building a unified national market, pressing for clearer rules, better fair-competition checks, and fixes to bottlenecks in areas like technology and data. Financial Risk Cleanup: Beijing reports major progress in cutting local government financing vehicles and debt, while auditors warn some governments still used deceptive tactics to hide liabilities. Energy & Trade: China’s unified market drive and Summer Davos messaging land alongside major global supply-chain talk, while Iran’s brief reopening of the Strait of Hormuz clears some Chinese cargo ships. Auto Exports: New data shows Chery surging in Europe and Chinese brands gaining faster in multiple regions, with South Africa’s market share topping 19% in early 2026. Supercomputing: China’s LineShine reclaims the world’s fastest supercomputer spot using all-domestic chips, underscoring the push to bypass US export controls.