Shadowing Practice: China's shadowy oil refineries, AI race vs. US & more | China news roundup - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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As we drove to this oil facility three hours south of Beijing,
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As we drove to this oil facility three hours south of Beijing,
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it was soon clear we weren't welcome.
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These guys are just trying to block the camera, basically.
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A black van pulled up,
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blocking our view of one of the many refineries dotting China's coast.
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Security here is really tight.
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This is a facility which is sanctioned by the US government for allegedly importing Iranian oil.
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Iran sends most of its oil to China.
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That trade is in the spotlight ahead of President Trump's arrival in Beijing this week,
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with the U.S.-Iran ceasefire under strain.
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The day before Trump departed for China,
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Washington blacklisted a dozen people and entities it says are linked to the trade of oil from Iran to China.
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Five Chinese oil refineries and multiple port terminals have been sanctioned by the U.S since last year for allegedly importing Iranian oil.
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The company we visited, Hebei Xinhai, was sanctioned last May.
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It declined CNN's request to be interviewed.
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It was hard to tell what kind of oil the plant was processing,
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but sanctions clearly hadn't shut it down.
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The U.S has been increasingly imposing sanctions on Chinese entities it believes are involved in the trade of oil from Iran.
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They are the largest state sponsor of terrorism,
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and China has been financing them with their energy purchases.
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For its part, China doesn't acknowledge importing Iranian oil.
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It also rejects U.S sanctions and has been pushing back.
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Earlier this month, Beijing ordered companies not to comply with sanctions on refineries.
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Multiple ports south of me here,
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as well as across the ocean in this direction,
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are believed to have continued to import Iranian oil throughout the course of the war.
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This oil is carried by a network of vessels,
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including those known as the Shadow Fleet.
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The oil is loaded in Iran and shipped out,
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often to a floating gas station off the coast of Malaysia,
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where dozens of boats loiter with their tracking devices turned off,
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trading sanctioned oil and ferrying it to buyers, like those in China.
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CNN pinpointed one such transfer,
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where the Iranian flag vessel Herbie transferred oil to a China-bound tanker just last month.
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Weeks later, the Herbie was intercepted by the US Navy on its way back to Iran.
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Once those ship-to-ship transfers are complete,
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ships heading for China blend in with thousands of other vessels regularly transiting through these waters.
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For the US, that's a major problem.
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But for China, this oil flow is powering its economy and keeping a close partner afloat.
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Lamone McCarthy, CNN, Hebei Province, China.
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The AI rivalry between the U.S and China is entering a new phase.
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As the two superpowers race for dominance in artificial intelligence,
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a new report finds that the gap between them has now nearly vanished, despite U.S chip restrictions.
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Hades Gold has our details.
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And we're leading China in AI.
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And I'm going to go see President Xi in two weeks.
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I look forward to that.
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But I'll say I'm leading.
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We have very friendly competition.
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That was President Trump recently commenting on the AI race between the US and China.
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But according to Stanford's 2026 AI Index,
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produced by the university's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence,
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the gap in AI performance between the two nations has now effectively closed.
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The gap is very small and then the US model will release
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and it'll perform a bit better and then the Chinese models will catch up.
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And that's the trend that we have been seeing over the past year.
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Take a look at this chart.
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American and Chinese AI models are now effectively neck and neck on key performance benchmarks.
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The report finds the U.S still leads in top tier model releases.
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But China leads in research publications and robotics deployment.
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Many experts are closely monitoring the trend.
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Robotics is an area where I think Chinese innovators have been doing phenomenally impressive work.
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There are some areas in which I think China has also arguably been leading the way.
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So in advanced video generation,
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for example, several Chinese models have been absolutely state-of-the-art.
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The Stanford report also says the U.S still invests far more money in the field than any other country.
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Private investment in the U.S totaled more than $280 billion last year,
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about 23 times more than China's $12 billion.
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In between 2024 and 2025,
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we saw almost double the corporate investment global or the private investment globally around the world.
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That is largely driven in the U.S.,
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though other countries such as China do have more public investment.
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China's DeepSeek recently unveiled its new model, V4.
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The startup took the global AI industry by storm last year with its groundbreaking release of the R1 model.
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It delivered near-industry leading performance at what DeepSeq said was a fraction of the cost.
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Unlike R1, which used NVIDIA chips,
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V4 is running on domestically produced chips,
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following restrictions on China's access to cutting-edge American chips,
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such as NVIDIA's Blackwell, under Washington's export controls.
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And they've developed efficiency innovations to try to squeeze more performance out of less cutting-edge chips.
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So in some ways, the export control constraints have forced Chinese companies to innovate in a unique way.
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And unlike most American AI labs,
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many Chinese firms have also embraced an open source strategy,
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making their internal model weights available for anyone around the world.
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Their strategy is build up a community ecosystem
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and try to take advantage of the network effects
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that come from building that open source ecosystem as a way to catch up.
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Meanwhile, the White House is accusing Chinese AI firms of copying American models through what it calls industrial scale campaigns.
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At the center of the allegations is a process known as distillation,
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a technique used to transfer knowledge from one model to another.
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But Beijing firmly rejecting the claims,
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saying such allegations are groundless and are deliberate attacks on China's development and progress in the AI industry.
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As the world's two largest economies push to dominate AI,
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the competition is only intensifying.
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Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.
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China held its annual humanoid robot half marathon.
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That thing is flying.
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You see that there yesterday in Beijing.
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Yes, this is the thing where machines race alongside hundreds of humans on a 13-mile Of course,
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they've all got their phones out while doing it.
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A Chinese Android, aptly named Lightning,
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outran the entire field with a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds,
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which happens to be more than six minutes faster than any human has ever run a half marathon.
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I want to bring in CNN contributor and tech journalist Jacob Ward.
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He's the host of the Rip Current podcast.
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Thanks for being here.
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Can you just help us understand what was actually achieved here and why it's so significant?
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well i think one of the thing that is
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so significant about this i mean you know like 10 years
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ago i took a camera crew to a raceway in florida to try
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and watch something like this and in
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that case robots were trying to open doors and drive jeeps
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and so forth i thought it was going to make great tv
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and it was a disaster i got in huge amounts of trouble for it
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because they just failed and failed
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and failed the most simple tasks used to elude robots now you have as you're seeing in this footage,
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a robot able to run faster than a human,
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yes, but also more than an hour faster than it did just a year ago at the inaugural race.
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And so why this is such an important thing,
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I mean, this company Honor that makes this robot,
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it's a phone company, is talking about converting this into something like an industrial scenario, right?
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So there go huge numbers of factory jobs.
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If you have a bipedal robot that can fit into human spaces and work with human tools,
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And then, you know, don't forget here,
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Omar, right, the pipeline between this and the military use of something like this is a very short one.
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That's where the funding tends to come from.
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And China dominates the market in bipedal and quadrupedal robots.
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And so this is not just a fun thing to watch, although it is.
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It's also got enormous geopolitical implications here, Omar.
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And so that's the thing.
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Like, yeah, if you're just watching this video,
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you know, hate to put down people's progress.
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But a part of me is like, all right, so what?
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But many machines can run faster or move faster than humans.
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Plus, it's not like these robots will be competing with humans in terms of racing.
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Now you point out that industry,
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there could be a whole different set of competition here.
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But just more broadly speaking,
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what does this sort of set up?
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Now that you've seen these results,
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robots running faster, moving more efficiently,
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what is sort of the next step here?
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Well, it raises two questions for me.
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The first is, right,
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how quickly do you then have an entire industrial base in China where humanoid robotics steps in for human work
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and puts out products at an incredibly faster pace than we've ever seen?
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I mean, I've already been to demonstrations in which you're seeing the combination of robotics and the large language models,
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the chat GPT style interfaces where suddenly you can just say to a robot,
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hey, go over there and pick up the blue box and bring it to me.
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You don't need technical skills to do it.
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So we're at this paradigm suddenly where this thing is truly a coworker in a whole new way.
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That could be transformative for jobs.
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And I'm not sure necessarily in a good way,
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at least in the short term.
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And then there's the larger philosophical question, right? just
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because this thing can run a marathon faster than a human does, should it?
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I mean, there's going to be so many things,
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I think,
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coming up where we are basically entering a period of history
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where the limits on what robots can do is no longer going to be the issue.
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It's going to be a question of what we want to reserve for ourselves.
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Just because robots can make art better than we can or run a marathon faster than we can,
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does that mean we stop making art?
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Do we stop running for fun?
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All of this stuff, I think,
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is going to sort of pose a fundamental question to the human species
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in a way that we are not prepared for here, Omar.
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Yeah, I am not prepared for it, for one.
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But look, progress moves faster than comprehension sometimes.
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Before we let you go,
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I want to stay in the world of robotics and ask about one of our colleagues,
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CNN's Will Ripley, did a report on China training robot dogs and attack drones.
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And I just wonder, when you look at sort of where the world of robotics is used next,
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is that as much as where things are going in terms of military as it is industry like working at a warehouse?
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Yeah, it is absolutely the place that so much of this winds up,
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not least because that's where the funding comes from.
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The Office of Naval Research here in the United States is one of the major funders of robotics,
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and certainly in China that is true.
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There is a continuum between the industrial base of China and the military use of this stuff.
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And we've seen, I mean,
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as recently as last year,
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we saw the PLA scientists talking about in China,
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talking about putting enormous munitions onto robotics.
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And so I think we're entering a world,
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yeah, where we with that question,
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we were asking each other right about should robots make art?
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Should robots run marathons?
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Suddenly we're in a place where should robots make war?
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And if we cheapen the cost,
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the human cost of making war on the one thing,
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on the one hand, that's a good thing.
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On the other hand, the political tolerance for sending robots into war,
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waging war, is a lot higher than it is for sending humans in.
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And suddenly we're in a whole other question where do we want robots making war
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if it's going to cause us to make it more often, Omar?
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President Trump says he doubts tensions between Taiwan and Beijing will erupt on his watch.
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One of the island's most outspoken lawmakers wants more discussion with the mainland.
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Taiwan's opposition leader tells CNN dialogue with Beijing is the only way to avoid war.
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She spoke to our senior international correspondent, Will Ripley.
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As President Donald Trump heads to Beijing for a high-stakes meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping,
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with Taiwan expected to be high on the agenda,
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the island democracy that China claims as its own seems to be sending a divided message on defense.
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After months of political fighting,
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and with Chinese fighter jets and warships routinely circling around Taiwan,
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the opposition-controlled legislature approved a dramatically smaller military package.
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Many blamed the gridlock on the leader of Taiwan's largest opposition party,
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KMT, Zhengliwen, who has called for less military spending.
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What's your response to calls from U.S lawmakers that Taiwan needs to spend this money on its defense
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to send the message to the global community that Taiwan is serious about its defense?
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Actually, we are very serious.
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We have been serious all the time.
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And that's why we keep explaining.
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We are trying our best.
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Some fear her best may not be enough to deter China's mounting military pressure campaign.
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The opposition plan funds U.S weapons but trims domestic programs like drones.
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Taiwan's ruling party, the DPP,
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has accused Zheng's KMT of taking orders from China.
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Just weeks ago, she went to Beijing for a rare meeting with Xi Jinping,
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who refuses to engage with Taiwan's elected leader,
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seen by China as a die-hard separatist.
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You obviously have your critics that accused you of being a pawn while you were in Beijing,
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saying that you and Xi Jinping had almost the same language.
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Although I have a common language in this part,
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but it is because the two sides have a huge war.
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So we must find a common foundation to open a peace conversation.
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Otherwise, the war is not possible.
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Next month, Zheng heads to the U.S.,
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hoping to convince lawmakers and Trump allies Taiwan does not have to choose between Washington and Beijing.
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You've said publicly you're worried about Taiwan being treated like a pawn.
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Are you talking about the United States treating Taiwan like a pawn?
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I think it's a political government's wrong.
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It's the only way to make Taiwan a choice.
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We don't have to be with the United States.
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Zheng dodges questions about her presidential ambitions,
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but does make a bold promise if her party wins in the 2028 elections.
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The government's administration will prevent any fight.
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How can you guarantee it won't happen
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if Taiwan doesn't have what your military leaders say are enough weapons to deter military action by China?
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But China's military pressure around Taiwan continues,
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even during Zheng's recent trip to Beijing.
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And now, as Trump prepares to meet Xi Jinping face-to-face,
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Taiwan confronts two radically different visions for avoiding war.
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And this really underscores, Alex,
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the debate that's happening here in Taiwan right now.
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You have the KMT side,
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which says you need to have dialogue with Beijing.
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They are stalling the passage of the remaining $15 billion of this defense bill
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that the DPP says needs to be urgently passed so that Taiwan can bolster its military deterrence.
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The State Department, in a statement to CNN, said it's unhelpful stalling.
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And they're saying it's essentially handing a concession to the Chinese Communist Party right before the Trump-Xi summit.
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In fact, there are some Taiwanese security officials accusing Beijing of using Cheng Li-wen to shape the narrative ahead of the summit.
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But she claims that Xi Jinping told her behind closed doors
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that China respects Taiwan's democratic system and that the two sides can coexist peacefully without having to arm up to the teeth.
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But of course, even while she was in Beijing having that meeting,
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Alex, Chinese military drills around Taiwan were continuing.
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China's censors not stopping new AI videos like these,
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mocking President Donald Trump and the Iran war.
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On Chinese social media, the message is clear.
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So far, he says the biggest winner is neither the U.S nor Iran.
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It's China.
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President Trump is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing next month.
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Online reaction?
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Blunt.
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Trump is not welcome to visit,
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and even if he comes, it's meaningless.
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No need to come.
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Without credibility, what are you coming for?
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That word keeps coming up.
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Credibility.
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Especially when it comes to ceasefire messaging.
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The entire White House's credit score combined wouldn't be enough to even unlock a single shared bike.
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Every day, Trump wakes up and reformats himself into a new Trump.
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Whatever version he is that day is the one that counts.
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This whole thing is really about no nuclear.
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They cannot have a nuclear weapon.
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In China, political speech is tightly controlled,
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but criticism of Trump seems to be spreading freely.
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How does that change the dynamic of this meeting with President Xi?
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I don't think it does.
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I mean, he's somebody that needs oil.
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We don't.
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China is Iran's biggest oil customer.
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Beijing also dominates green energy and claims to be cutting oil demand by more than a million barrels a day.
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While others are still bashing their heads in over oil,
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we've already gotten ahead in the next era, he says.
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Solar, wind, batteries and electric vehicles.
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Chinese carmaker BYD now overtaking Tesla in global sales.
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At the same time, pressure on the U.S dollar,
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the backbone of global oil trading.
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This Iranian embassy post says it's time to add petroyuan to the market.
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At one point, Iran considered allowing tankers through the Strait of Hormuz only if oil is sold in Chinese yuan,
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a senior Iranian official said.
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Some Chinese influencers say petrodollar is ending.
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Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
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Beijing's not fighting this war,
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but on China's social media,
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many are already declaring victory.
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And right when we started talking about censorship inside China,
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Aaron, the signal inside China went to bars and tone.
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Using real-world content like the video "China's shadowy oil refineries, AI race vs. US & more | China news roundup" can significantly enhance your English speaking skills. This video presents a dynamic context where discussions about geopolitical issues and economic strategies unfold. Engaging with such material allows you to gather vocabulary and expressions related to international relations, trade sanctions, and technological competition, which are increasingly relevant in today’s global landscape.
Furthermore, the fast-paced narration and the diverse vocabulary can help learners improve their English pronunciation. By practicing speaking along with the video, you can mimic the tone and intonation of the speaker, making it an enjoyable way to enhance your listening and speaking skills. Utilizing a shadowing app can also facilitate this exercise, allowing you to repeat after the speaker seamlessly.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Below are some key structures and expressions from the video that will enrich your English language use:
- “is sanctioned by” – This phrase illustrates passive voice and is common in formal discussions regarding legal restrictions and regulations.
- “is believed to have continued” – Here, we see an example of reported speech and speculation, which can be useful for expressing opinions or assumptions.
- “for its part” – This linking phrase helps in transitioning thoughts and clarifying the subject's perspective, useful for IELTS speaking practice.
- “powering its economy” – This idiomatic expression can convey how something contributes significantly to growth or progress, an essential concept in discussions about economic matters.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you engage with this video, be mindful of these pronunciation challenges:
- “sanctioned” – This word can be confusing due to its different meanings; focus on the correct emphasis on the first syllable.
- “refineries” – The clusters of syllables can lead to mispronunciation; practice breaking it down into re-fi-n-er-ies.
- “geopolitical” – This technical term can be a mouthful; emphasize the “geo” and practice the flow to maintain clarity.
By consistently practicing with this content, you can significantly improve English pronunciation and effectively use new vocabulary and grammatical structures in your speech. Shadow speech techniques from the video will help you absorb and retain what you learn, enriching your language journey. So why not start learning English with YouTube today?
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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