Technology

China’s support of global governance fits with its sense of history

Published

2 years ago

March 5, 2024

BEIJING, March 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — China’s annual two sessions began this week. This critical series of meetings in spring is vital to defining China’s approach to economic, political and foreign policy issues for the whole year. It also offers observers a window into the latest ideas and practices of China’s development in various aspects, including the whole-process people’s democracy, high-quality development, Chinese modernization and the wisdom the country provides to global governance. The Global Times selected the opinions of foreign scholars to shed light on these concepts.

Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London

China’s path to modernization in the last half a century has had the advantage of being able to observe what other countries, including the US, European countries and Japan, did earlier in their programs to change their economies and develop. What China did over this period is, as the phrase in the late 1970s put it, emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts and keeping pace with the times. It adopted a pragmatic approach and one that allowed many different ideas about how to develop itself to be tried and tested, for example, township and village enterprises. These were tried in some places and then when they showed potential, were promoted in others, to the point that they became national policy. So China was very open-minded about what models it took from the outside world, but it also made sure these were adapted to the unique situation within the country. This was mostly about acknowledging the scale and diversity of China, a country that is continental in size and complexity. I think this made the Chinese experience very different than anywhere else. It was a remarkable mixture of the local and the international.

The changes in China over the past 40 years as “earth-shattering.” The main change has been in people’s material living standards. At the start of 1978, per capita GDP was about $190. Today it is coming close to about $12,000. That means immense changes in people’s general living standards. Over the last 40 years, more people than ever before have seen their living standards generally increase in China. The changes show themselves in the infrastructure the country has, and the remarkable transformation of its population from a largely rural living one to one where more than half are now living in cities. Broadly, this has been achieved by flexible policy-making and in the early decades by the government allowing space for innovation and improvisation. It has also been nurtured by a huge desire among the Chinese people themselves to see their living situation change and improve.

China has a unique identity – like everywhere else. While China has taken many ideas in the last decades from the outside world to develop itself and its economy, it has also remained at its core culturally very distinctive. This means that successful engagement with China means acknowledging its differences, but being respectful of that. It also means embracing a China which often is coming from a different background and thinking in a slightly different way.

Martin Albrow, an eminent British sociologist and one of the first globalization theorists

China has got a very unique and well-developed system of consultative democracy, which means that people can engage with the policies of the government at every level of society, and they are being consulted at every level. I think the notion of consultative democracy is actually very appropriate for the current age.

Most countries in the world, and most people in the world accept concepts such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as very fine concepts. I think the countries that obviously adopt the most will be the ones that have already benefited from the BRI. As most countries in the world have now benefited from the Belt and Road, they obviously will see a shared future as an example of the way China reaches out through its relations with other countries.

China is very much in favor of global institutions and global governance, and it does everything it can to support them. It fits with China’s own sense of history. It fits with the idea of the middle kingdom, because it builds relationships through the world as a whole. And global governance, as we know it today, is bringing people together with shared values and shared purposes, like the Millennium Development Goals. If you belong to the United Nations, you belong to that mission to save the world. So I think it fits very neatly with Chinese history.

China must take the leading role in bringing peace and harmony as far as possible in all the troubled spots of the world, and that includes Israel, Ukraine and Yemen. All the troubled spots are the areas where Chinese diplomacy has got to be very active in trying to create peace because peace is obviously in the best interests of the world.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinas-support-of-global-governance-fits-with-its-sense-of-history-302079295.html

SOURCE Global Times

Technology

Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

Published

2 hours ago

April 29, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

Technology

Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

Published

2 hours ago

April 29, 2026

Watch Chef robots in action.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

Technology

Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

Published

2 hours ago

April 29, 2026

New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry.

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

SOURCE Air Products