Science and Technology

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: An Olympics-style robotics tournament showcases China’s industry dominance, the United States threatens secondary sanctions on China over its support for Iran, and the founder of Evergrande Group is sentenced to life in prison for fraud and bribery.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: An Olympics-style robotics tournament showcases China’s industry dominance, the United States threatens secondary sanctions on China over its support for Iran, and the founder of Evergrande Group is sentenced to life in prison for fraud and bribery.

China Showcases Robotics Prowess

The 2026 World Humanoid Robot Games kicked off in Beijing on Saturday. Now in its second year, the Olympics-style, five-day event pit thousands of robots against each other in jumping, running, dancing, and even horseback riding. (The horses were also robots.)

Though there were some kinks to be worked out, the robots kept breaking records—including Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s 100-meter time—and underscored China’s growing dominance of the global robotics industry.

But don’t expect to see these robots in the United States any time soon: Last month, the Trump administration announced a comprehensive ban on new imports of “advanced robotics devices,” which now must be assembled in the United States and contain at least 65 percent U.S.-made parts. The ban applies to all countries, but it is presumably targeted at China, which dominates robotics manufacturing and was the source of nearly 90 percent of all humanoid robots sold in 2025.

The move is likely to backfire because U.S. manufacturers simply cannot meet the demand for robotics components without massive investment and support. Though there are a few cutting-edge U.S. firms such as Boston Dynamics,........

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