Chinese humanoid robots stunned at Beijing's half-marathon, beating past records and rivaling human runners, highlighting rapid AI and robotics advancements.

A humanoid robot from Chinese smartphone company Honor ran a half-marathon in Beijing faster than the human world record, completing 21 kilometers in just over 50 minutes and signaling a new era in robotics competition.

"Guangdong Province has emerged as a leading hub for robotics and AI in China, offering a highly autonomous industrial ecosystem, strong large-scale manufacturing capacity, and diverse real-world application scenarios," the U.S. website Interesting Engineering commented.

Walker S2 is an adult-sized humanoid robot with legs, a torso, and arms. China is sending these robots to patrol their border with Vietnam.

Every week, we recap highlights of the news from China. This edition covers some notable tech developments and the China-Taiwan relationship.

Several restaurants in eastern China are using artificial intelligence (AI) robots to cook as many as 100 dishes to cut costs, sparking a heated discussion on social media. In Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, at least three such eateries have been operating for months, Zhejiang TV reported.

A humanoid robot standing approximately 127 cm (about 4 ft 2 in) tall and built in China can now rally a tennis ball back and forth with a human partner, returning forehand shots at a 90.90% success rate during controlled real-world tests.

The Trump administration’s four-page AI framework is nothing compared with China’s coordinated bid for technological supremacy.