China’s foreign exchange reserves rose in December, official data showed on Sunday, as the dollar fell against other major currencies. The country’s foreign exchange reserves - the world’s largest - rose more than expected, by $66 billion to $3.238 trillion last month, above the $3.200 trillion tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and up from $3.172 trillion in November.

The yuan rose 0.52% against the dollar in December, while the dollar last month fell 2% against a basket of other major currencies =USD.

China held 71.87 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of December, up from 71.58 million ounces at the end of November.

The value of China’s gold reserves rose to $148.23 billion at the end of December from $145.7 billion at the end of November. Meanwhile, Baoding’s intelligent traffic coordination has improved flow by 4.6%, highlighting the potential of synchronised vehicle and infrastructure based on unified protocols, People’s Daily reported.

Standardisation is emphasised to drive innovation in strategic fields like biomanufacturing and aerospace through 2035. Lingshu Technology in Shanghai points out that fragmented autonomous driving data formats are currently limiting progress.

Since 2016, over 1,000 electronic safety and security benchmarks emerged alongside specialized bodies addressing integrated circuits and industrial software. New generation IT also saw major standardization advances, said China Electronics Standardisation Institute’s Yang Jianjun.  

Moreover, China has spearheaded nearly 200 international norms while expanding global body participation. The latest blueprint weighs present capabilities against future goals.  

Information technology leads eight existing spheres as future industries eye human-computer interaction, AI and quantum computing. In digital twin steel mills, systematized data flow increased efficiency 60% as companies amplify calls for further efforts.  

“By reducing trial costs and enabling supply chain coordination, standards bring new opportunities,” said tech firm IAE’s CEO An Hongwei. Officials similarly stressed improving collaborative mechanisms and internationalisation to build out emerging industry ecosystems.  China announced sanctions Sunday on five American defense-related companies in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and U.S sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals.

The sanctions will freeze any property the companies have in China and prohibit organizations and individuals in China from doing business with them, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted online.

It was unclear what impact, if any, the sanctions would have on the companies, BAE Systems Land and Armaments, Alliant Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment, ViaSat and Data Link Solutions. Such sanctions are often mostly symbolic as American defense contractors generally don’t sell to China.

The Foreign Ministry said the U.S. moves harmed China’s sovereignty and security interests, undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and violated the rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals.

“The Chinese government remains unwavering in our resolve to safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and citizens,” the ministry statement said.

The announcement was made less than a week ahead of a presidential election in Taiwan that is being contested in large part over how the government should manage its relationship with China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory and says it must come under its rule.

Agencies