Top Southeast Asian leaders will travel to China for military parade, sources say

 Leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are expected to attend next month’s Victory Day event in Beijing

Dewey Simin Beijing

Published: 3:00pm, 15 Aug 2025Updated: 3:00pm, 15 Aug 2025

Top Southeast Asian leaders are expected to attend China’s military parade next month to commemorate the end of World War II, in what would be a show of Beijing’s growing influence in the region.

Many countries are said to be sending more senior delegations than they did a decade ago, when the first such parade was held.

According to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will likely attend the parade, set to be held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 3, 2025.

Explainer | China will bring out the big guns for its military parade. What’s it all about?

Liu Zhen

Published: 6:03pm, 24 Jun 2025Updated: 6:07pm, 24 Jun 2025

China is preparing to show off its military might with a huge parade in Beijing on September 3 marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II.

As well as thousands of goose-stepping soldiers, the People’s Liberation Army will bring out the big guns with its latest missile systems, weaponry and aircraft on display for the first time since the last military parade six years ago.

Why hold a parade?

The PLA has not fought a war since the 1990s and its military parades since then have served as a demonstration of the PLA’s prowess and determination. 

They have become more frequent since Xi Jinping took power in 2012. Amid an ambitious modernisation drive – with the goal of creating a “world class” military by 2049 – there have been large-scale parades in Beijing in 2015 and 2019, and in Inner Mongolia in 2017. Two major naval parades have also been held, in the South China Sea in 2018 and in the Yellow Sea in 2019.

Fewer parades took place when Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were in office. One was staged in 1999 when Jiang was in power and another in 2009 when Hu was president, both in Tiananmen Square. Naval parades were also held in the Yellow Sea to mark PLA Navy anniversaries in 1995 and 2009.

Xi Jinping (centre) with former presidents Hu Jintao (left) and Jiang Zemin at the 2019 parade. Photo: AP

In recent years, these parades have reflected a fundamental shift in China’s defence strategy and foreign policy – from “keeping a low profile and biding time” to “proactively striving for accomplishments” – and they come as geopolitical rivalry has intensified, especially with the United States.

China also has long-standing territorial disputes with its neighbours, including Japan over the Diaoyu or Senkaku Islands, over its contested border with India, and over its expansive claims to the South China Sea that overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Tensions have escalated in recent years over these hotspots as China – now militarily and economically stronger – has taken a more assertive stance while the United States backs its rivals.

Taiwan remains a major flashpoint and there are fears a conflict could break out between China and the US over the self-ruled island. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be brought under its control – by force if necessary. And while the US, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, it opposes any forcible change to the status quo and is committed to providing defensive arms to the island.

Against this backdrop, the PLA has been flexing its military muscle more regularly, including with war games such as live-fire exercises in key areas that are aimed at deterrence and pushing forward its modernisation programme, and with large-scale parades to show its power and resolve. 

Play  https://youtu.be/Ayi8ddu_eZg

Why September 3?

For 60 years, from 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was founded until 2009, the PLA only staged big military parades on National Day, October 1.

The first Victory Day military parade marking the end of World War II was held on September 3, 2015. It marked 70 years since Imperial Japan signed the surrender document on September 2, 1945.

A decade on, China will hold its second Victory Day parade this September.

The win over Imperial Japan was hugely significant for China since it was the “first complete victory” against a foreign invader in the country’s modern history. Beijing highlights this victory both to reinforce national identity and unity and to establish the ruling Communist Party’s role in leading China to overcome its past humiliations and become a strong nation.

Beijing is also seeking to reshape the narrative around World War II, for example by shifting the starting point of the war to the Mukden Incident in 1931 instead of the 1937 battle at the Marco Polo Bridge, adding six years to the Chinese people’s war against the Japanese.

In doing so, it is trying to emphasise China’s sacrifice and contribution to the fight against fascism in Asia and to position itself as a defender of the post-war order.

The 2015 Victory Day parade reflected this narrative, highlighting the 1931-37 resistance in Manchuria by the party’s Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

In what was seen as a “united front” against Taiwan independence, the parade was attended by war veterans from both the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. The KMT ruled China at the time of the Japanese surrender but was later defeated by the Communists in the 1945-49 civil war and fled to Taiwan, where it was the governing party.

Similar arrangements are expected to be in place this year.

https://youtu.be/b_L_QrDhgqM Play

What to expect

From fighter jets to hypersonic missiles, the PLA has a raft of new equipment that could go on public display for the first time at this year’s parade.

That includes the Shenyang J-35, the second model of the air force’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, and the J-20A, an upgraded J-20 stealth fighter powered by Chinese-made WS-10C engines.

Both aircraft are expected to fly over Tiananmen Square during the parade, alongside other upgraded warplanes such as new Y-20 variants the Y-20B transport aircraft with WS-20 engines and the YY-20 aerial refuelling tanker, and the KJ-3000 early warning and control aircraft.

New types of drones are also expected to be unveiled during the parade.

But the two types of sixth-generation fighters under development are unlikely to take part, given that parades usually show equipment already or almost in service.

While the navy’s newest additions – including the Fujian aircraft carrier, new guided-missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships and submarines – will not be part of the spectacle, its latest ship-borne aircraft could make an appearance.

They include the J-15T and J-35 fighter jets that have been modified for catapult launch, the KJ-600 early warning and control aircraft for the Fujian, and various ship-based drones.

The navy’s nuclear-capable submarine-based JL-3 ballistic missile and the YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship missile could also be rolled out on launchers.

Meanwhile, the PLA Rocket Force is expected to showcase some of its new generation of strategic missiles, such as the DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile which can carry multiple independently targetable nuclear warheads in one single missile, and the DF-27 hypersonic missile.

The PLA Ground Force has embraced the era of drone warfare and some of its latest equipment – from robotic dogs to unmanned ground vehicles and anti-drone systems – is also likely to be part of the parade along with traditional weapons.

Liu Zhen

Liu Zhen joined the Post in 2015 as a reporter on the China desk. She previously worked with Reuters in Beijing.

Related:

On 80th anniversary of its surrOOn 80th anniversary of its surrender, Japan should change its course: Global Times editorial

Japan's understanding of history concerns not only its own national future but also the future of East Asia. If Japan wants the future generation to be "free from predestined apology," the country must first turn back from the erroneous path of historical revisionism.

Japan constructs image as a ‘victim of war’ through WWII films, revealing distorted historical perspective, GT investigates

 

A ‘war of film narratives’

By 

Huang Lanlan

, 

Chen Xi

, 

Xu Keyue

 and 

Xu Liuliu

Published: Aug 15, 2025 12:56 AM

 

 

 

 

Promotional material for Chinese movie Dead To Rights Photo: Courtesy of Douban

Editor's Note:

This year marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War. With films like Dead to Rights and Dongji Rescue gaining popularity during the summer season, they have stirred patriotic sentiments among many Chinese.  

Simultaneously, several war-themed films have been released or re-released in Japan this summer, which focus on portraying Japan as a "victim" suffering "hardships" during the war, while rarely addressing Japan's historical crimes of aggression that caused huge suffering in various Asian countries.

What constitutes a correct perspective on World War II （WWII） history? Can history be arbitrarily rewritten through cinema? On the day of the 80th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender, the Global Times presents an investigative article, exposing how Japan promotes historical revisionism through film narrative and creates a one-sided image of Japan as a "victim of the war" so as to distort history. In a sense, this summer is witnessing a "war of film narratives" between China and Japan.


In late July, at a roadshow event for the film Dead to Rights in Shanghai, director Shen Ao told the audience that, beyond the visible war of fire and smoke, there exists an invisible war - a war of culture. 

"To this day, this war has not ended; it continues to struggle online and within the public discourse," Shen said. "Therefore, I hope this film, these photographs, and these materials can alert the audience to distinguish friend from foe, and recognize right from wrong."

Perhaps not everyone immediately grasped Shen's warning, but a glance at Japan this summer reveals that since July, according to descriptions from Japanese media and publicly released trailers, at least seven films related to WWII have been released or re-released. Most of these films emphasize Japan's suffering as a "victim," while seldom mentioning Japan's historical acts of aggression and crimes.

Why is there such a stark divergence in the narratives surrounding WWII between China and Japan, despite being situated within the same historical context? What historical perspective is Japan attempting to convey to its citizens and the world through its films? 

Some scholars studying histories of China and Japan pointed out that these Japanese WWII films, to some extent, aim to distort the narrative of the war, creating a false and biased collective memory among the populace that can essentially foster a "collective amnesia" which allows Japan to forget its identity as a perpetrator and instead emphasize its pathos of being a "victim."

A 'pathos factory'

This summer, Chinese cinema screens have been presenting a series of films commemorating the War of Resistance. 

Dead to Rights tells the story of ordinary people risking their lives to preserve and disseminate photographs documenting Japanese atrocities, embodying the national spirit of "defending every inch of our land." Dongji Rescue recounts the humanitarian act of Chinese fishermen rescuing Allied prisoners of war while under Japanese gunfire, offering a different perspective on the history presented in the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru. Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witness vividly portrays China's significant contributions to the global anti-fascist victory on the Eastern Front. Set for a September 18 release, 731 Biochemical Revelations exposes the heinous bacterial warfare crimes committed by the Japanese army. 

Promotional material for Chinese movie Dongji Rescue Photo: Courtesy of Douban

Yu Peng, chief director of Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witness, told the Global Times that the film extends beyond the battlefield between China and Japan to present the attitudes of countries such as the UK, the US, and the Soviet Union at different stages. From patriotic sentiment to the shared future of humanity, these currently released or upcoming works collectively shape China's cinematic portrayal of WWII history: a remembrance of suffering, but more importantly, a commemoration of justice, resistance and peace.

In sharp contrast, around the same time in Japan, at least seven WWII films released or re-released have constructed a completely different historical narrative.

The documentary Kurokawa no Onnatachi, which premiered on July 12, according to Japanese media, focuses on some maidens "who were forced to 'sexually entertain' Soviet soldiers" and aims to "show the strength of the women who publicly spoke about their tragedy," while seldom talking about the fact that Japan waged the war as an aggressor.

Similarly, Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash, released on August 1, presents the tragedy of the nuclear explosion at Nagasaki through the eyes of three students, repeatedly questioning the value of life, while downplaying the fact that Nagasaki was a crucial military base for the Japanese army during WWII.

Friday marks the 80th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender. According to Japanese media, the film Yukikaze will be released on this day. The film portrays the WWII Japanese destroyer Yukikaze as a "lucky ship that rescued crew members," promoting its narrative of "saving lives during fierce battles," while glossing over the fact that the ship was a weapon of Japan's aggression.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the World Anti-Fascist War, Japan has skirted around its heavier historical responsibilities, using films like these to construct a "factory of pathos." On social media, some Japanese viewers expressed emotion over the students in Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash, who, "in a time when the atomic bombing itself was not yet widely known," "faced the destruction of their city and massive casualties - an experience no one had ever endured before."  

While the trauma indeed existed, these Japanese films, through single-perspective narratives, transform serious reflections on aggression and anti-aggression, war and peace, into simple laments for Japan's own "suffering" from its defeat, said several Chinese history scholars reached by the Global Times.

Xu Luyang, the screenwriter of Dead To Rights, told the Global Times that Japan has yet to offer a sincere apology or face up to history objectively and honestly. Although 80 years have passed since the war, attitudes and understanding of the war reflect the subjective tendencies of people's spiritual worlds. 

Germany has continuously reflected on its fascist war through various aspects of national thought, law, intellectuals, and media since WWII; Japan, while having sporadic reflections, lacks a comprehensive and thorough review, standing in stark contrast to Germany, he noted.

Against the backdrop of insufficient societal reflection on the war in Japan, it is unsurprising that some Japanese films, which are steeped in a "victim mentality," find a market in Japan.

Sun Ge, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences focusing on critical Asian studies and comparative ideology, attributed the lack of deep reflection on war in Japan to a "generational fracture" that emerged in the 1960s. 

"In Japan, post-war accountability has primarily been driven by those who personally experienced the war. They advocate for social reflection, emphasizing the need to understand China's position as a victim," Sun told the Global Times on Wednesday. However, with the restructuring of the Cold War landscape, the strengthening of US-Japan relations since the 1960s, and the complex relationships between Japan and the Taiwan Straits, the continuity of this historical accountability has been disrupted across generations.

With the gradual decline of reflection on history by Japanese authorities and society, a "victim mentality" started taking its place. Industry insiders indicate that this mentality is fully reflected in many Japanese WWII films, which have become one of the main producers and disseminators of Japan's "victimhood narrative."

Self-proclaimed 'victim'

In this "war of film narratives," Japan frequently employs the tactic of portraying itself as a "victim" in its films. In an interview in May 2024, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda frankly said that when Japanese people make films about the war, they very often depict Japan as a victim.

"But when you look at it objectively, Japan wasn't a victim, and we're not good at admitting and dealing with our status as the aggressor. You don't really see that in Japanese films," Kore-eda said in an article published on the website of the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2024.

Kore-eda's observations are vividly echoed in Japan's recent WWII films. Some industry insiders and audiences may notice that these movies frequently employ several cognitive tactics to construct and amplify a "victimhood narrative." 

For example, many of these films focus on the tragic stories of certain Japanese soldiers or civilians, creating a "pathos aesthetic" that evokes sympathy for the "sacrificed," thereby sidestepping the causes of the war and the essence of Japan's aggression. Additionally, many films conflate "anti-defeat" ideology with anti-war sentiment, concentrating on Japan's "pain of defeat" rather than reflecting on its acts of aggression. Moreover, some of these films prefer to personalize war narratives, delving into the "growth" stories of one or several Japanese individuals during the war, while downplaying discussions of national culpability. These tactics are evident in recently released films.

A Chinese moviegoer in Japan who goes by the name "Sun" shared with the Global Times her thoughts after attending a preview screening of Yukikaze. She said that despite the film's star-studded cast, she found it difficult to empathize with the content. 

"The plot is dry, overly sentimental throughout, and even laughably ridiculous in some parts," Sun said. 

A few critical voices have also emerged on social media regarding recent Japanese WWII films, including some sober reflections on history. 

"Convey [the reality of] war without beautifying it," one Japanese netizen commented on X on August 6. "War must never be repeated."

There are still voices within Japanese academia and civil society calling for honest acknowledgment and reflection on the country's history of aggression. Unfortunately, amid Japan's generally right-leaning social climate, these voices often go unheard, with the truth of history drowned out by nationalist rhetoric. 

Sun told the Global Times that today, most Japanese born after the war don't feel a responsibility for the war. Although exceptions exist, such as the renowned "Article 9 Association" dedicated to preserving anti-war and peaceful thought, these voices remain marginal in mainstream discourse in the country.

The overall silence in Japanese society regarding historical reflection is due not only to the right-leaning atmosphere, but also to a collective tendency to evade these issues. 

"Anti-war stances inherently require presenting the complexity of reality, which entails self-criticism or reflection. For both the media and the public, this is an arduous task - yet for various reasons, the (Japanese) public often shies away from confronting these issues," Sun said.

During an interview with the Global Times, Wang Guangsheng, director of the Japanese Culture Research Center of Capital Normal University, referenced the perspective of Japanese scholar Masaki Nakamasa in his work that can be translated as Japan and Germany: Two Traditions of Postwar Thought.

Nakamasa contends that Germany's earnest postwar reflection was, in essence, "born of necessity," as it was compelled to improve relations with neighboring nations to secure space for development. In contrast, under the US-Japan alliance framework, Japan's geopolitical reality eliminated the imperative to seek forgiveness from victimized nations like China and South Korea, objectively diminishing incentives for profound remorse, Wang said. 

Furthermore, disparities in postwar tribunals created unresolved historical burdens: German war criminals faced explicit accountability for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Japan, however, lacked comparable judicial processes, with its government frequently evading responsibility by invoking "sovereign immunity," resulting in its lack of a clear understanding of its own culpability, the expert said. 

'Collective amnesia' in Japan

The prevalence of Japan's "victimhood narrative" regarding WWII on the screen is regarded as an inevitable result of the country's long-standing rightward political shift and the pervasive influence of historical revisionism. Ryuji Ishida, a scholar of modern and contemporary Japanese history, told the Global Times that contrary to the notion that "historical revisionism [only] emerged as a significant trend in the 1990s after the collapse of the Cold War," the view that "conservative and right-wing factions of historical revisionism have always been mainstream (in Japanese society) aligns more closely with reality."

In July, the Global Times conducted field interviews in Tokyo and Nagano, Japan, discovering a severe gap in Japanese youth's awareness of their country's modern history of aggression. For example, at the Iida City Peace Memorial Hall in Nagano Prefecture, which permanently exhibits physical evidence of the infamous Unit 731's human experiments, students in the nearby study area were completely unaware of its existence; young Japanese visitors to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine treated it as just a normal shrine, with no understanding of its ties to Japan's war of aggression. This "collective historical amnesia" is closely tied to Japan's long-promoted "victimhood narrative."

Recently, Japanese football star Keisuke Honda sparked widespread controversy after initially denying the Nanjing Massacre, then later admitting his mistake after reviewing historical materials. However, after coming under attack from some right-wing netizens in Japan, he claimed that further research was needed and no conclusion could be drawn. Some scholars on China-Japan relations believed that Honda's farce was a stark manifestation of the pervasive influence of Japan's long-standing cognitive infiltration of the "vicitimhood narrative," and the tragedy of the "collective amnesia" in the country.

In an environment characterized by collective avoidance and "amnesia," lots of Japanese war films, whether intentionally or unintentionally, have become cognitive tools for Japan to gloss over its historical transgressions. Many viewers may have noticed that in this "war of film narratives" surrounding WWII, numerous Japanese films tend to focus on "playing the victim" and "emotional manipulation," while many Chinese films on similar themes generally document history and restore the truth in an objective way. 

This represents one of the most significant differences between Chinese and Japanese films on WWII. Xu, the screenwriter of Dead to Rights, noted that photographs in his film symbolize the "revelation of truth," which remains a core dispute between China and Japan regarding the Nanjing Massacre. 

"A country that once committed heinous crimes and launched brutal aggression against China, yet refuses to acknowledge its past is our close neighbor. " From this perspective, Xu said that the film's revelation of truth is "undoubtedly a form of resistance and a counterattack."

Regarding Japan's wartime actions, there is considerable public consensus on Japan's victimhood, such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the air raids across Japan, regarding which the suffering inflicted by war is widely acknowledged, said Japanese Communist Party member and House of Councillors member Taku Yamazoe. 

"Yet, eight decades later, Japan has failed to reach a consensus on its role as a perpetrator. I believe this stems from the government's reluctance to squarely acknowledge its responsibility," Yamazoe told the Global Times.

Prior to the publication of this article, some Japanese media had reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had decided to forgo delivering an official statement on the 80th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender, unlike his predecessors. Instead, he would issue "personal views." However, it remained undecided when and in what form this would be presented.

On August 6, the official account of the US Embassy in China claimed in a post on Weibo that 80 years ago on August 6, the US and Japan ended a devastating war in the Pacific. Yet for the past eight decades, the US and Japan have stood shoulder to shoulder in safeguarding peace and prosperity in the Pacific region. This statement was met with ridicule and criticism from many Chinese netizens who said that such a post misleadingly suggests that the US and Japan had joined forces to end the Pacific War, thereby seriously distorting history.

These "news developments" have added increasing weight to the "cultural war" warning issued by director Shen during the roadshow for Dead to Rights at the end of July. They also serve as a reminder to Chinese filmmakers, that the role of cinema is not only to document a period of history, but also to solidify a nation's correct understanding of that history, and to showcase the conscience that ought to be shown.

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Cyber scams rising sharply; Scam victims face trauma of losses

Home Ministry ramps up efforts as losses hit rm1.12bil

ONLINE scams in Malaysia have caused a staggering Rm1.12bil in financial losses in just the first half of 2025 alone, says the Home Ministry.

It said that the government would begin intensifying its efforts and curb online scam losses in the country, which include strengthening the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC), in response to the growing scam cases.

The ministry said this would involve the creation of new positions involving various schemes.

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also agreed for the NSRC to be placed under the direct supervision of the Home Ministry. It has also been decided that it will be led by the police force,” the Home Ministry said in a parliamentary written

“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has also agreed for the NSRC to be placed under the direct supervision of the Home Ministry.” Home Ministry

reply to R. Yuneswaran (Phsegamat) on the amount of money lost by Malaysians due to online scams and the steps being taken to address the issue.

The ministry also said it is studying the feasibility of drafting a Cybercrime Bill as part of its efforts to combat cybercrimes in the country. It added that its Semakmule portal, which enables the public to check bank account numbers, phone numbers and companies used by scammers, currently has 265,869 bank accounts, 211,265 phone numbers, and 12,724 company names recorded.

On Aug 5, the Digital Ministry said online scam financial losses in 2024 reached a worrying Rm1.58bil, a 2.53% increase from the year prior.

It was reported earlier that to cope with an average of 500 scamrelated calls per day, the government has approved an additional 139 permanent staff for the NSRC.

In the interim, 40 Commercial Crime Investigation Department personnel have been deployed to assist operations.

Currently, the NSRC is supported by personnel from the police, Bank Negara, calling agents appointed by the central bank and bank officers.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the NSRC’S operations will be relocated to Cyberjaya by early September to allow all agencies to work under one roof.

The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my › nation › 2025/08/15 › sc...

Scam victims face trauma of losses

Scam victims face trauma of losses

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/08/15/scam-victims-face-trauma-of-losses

M'sians whose money vanished also have sleepless nights and trust issues. PETALING JAYA: At 5am on April 1, 2023, Lawrence was jolted awake .

With just four words, Tim Cook reset Apple’s AI narrative and reminded everyone not to count them out

No I'm 

Cook reminded everyone that this deliberate, slow-burning approach isn’t new for Apple. — AFPCook reminded everyone that this deliberate, slow-burning approach isn’t new for Apple. — AFP

Maybe the most surprising thing about Apple’s all-hands meeting – aside from the fact that Apple had an all-hands meeting – was how effectively it may have reset the narrative around the company’s AI efforts. Those efforts have not gotten great reviews over the past year as Apple has seemingly struggled to keep up with its tech company peers.

Partly, that’s because Apple made big promises that, so far, it hasn’t delivered on at all. And, partly, it’s because Apple has virtually endless resources and talent, but hasn’t figured out a compelling AI product – especially when it comes to Siri, the beleaguered voice assistant that still struggles to do basic tasks at a time when Apple’s peers are talking about shipping agents that can do computer things for you.

Presumably, the point of the meeting was to rally the troops around fixing Apple Intelligence.

“Apple must do this,” CEO Tim Cook said, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the meeting. “Apple will do this. This is sort of ours to grab. We will make the investment to do it.”

That’s the kind of thing you would say if you’re a CEO trying to get your team excited. As a general rule, if you want your team to care a lot about something, they have to believe you care a lot about it. Otherwise, it will hardly seem worth their energy.

There is the obvious question of whether Apple is able to “grab” the moment and build something compelling, or whether the company is willing to “make the investment” on the scale of its rivals, some of whom are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to poach talent from the competition. But, there was one thing Cook said that caught my attention, if for no other reason than it might be the best way to reframe the entire narrative.

“We’ve rarely been first,” Cook said. “There was a PC before the Mac; there was a smartphone before the iPhone; there were many tablets before the iPad; there was an MP3 player before iPod.”

All of that is true, and it’s actually a very important point because with those four words, Cook did something Apple hasn’t managed to do in nearly two years of artificial intelligence hype: he reframed the company’s position not as a weakness, but as an intentional strategic advantage. Cook reminded everyone that this deliberate, slow-burning, wait-until-it ’s-ready approach isn’t new for Apple.

On the contrary, it’s the playbook. Being first has never been Apple’s goal. Being right has.

This idea–  that Apple is best when it reimagines categories instead of inventing them – has long been a part of the company’s mythos. But in the AI era, where speed seems to matter more than anything else, Apple’s silence has looked less like restraint and more like hesitation. Some critics have even accused the company of being so far behind that it can’t catch up.

Apple knows it has to catch up, or – at least – deliver. “AI is as big or bigger than the internet, smartphones, cloud computing and apps,” Cook said.

I think the jury may still be out on the scale of AI’s impact on not just the tech industry, but on every aspect of our lives. What is clear is that every other major tech company is forging ahead as though this is the single most important platform shift in the last 30 years.

According to Apple’s head of software engineering, Craig Federighi, Apple originally pursued a hybrid approach to upgrading Siri, bolting LLMs onto its existing command-and-control framework. But the results weren’t good enough. “We realized that approach wasn’t going to get us to Apple quality,” Federighi admitted.

So, they scrapped it – and started over.

That’s not something you do unless you believe the stakes are existential. And for Apple, they might be. If AI becomes the next primary interface for computing – replacing touch, voice, and visual navigation with intelligent inten – then whoever builds the best system wins not just attention, but platform dominance.

But even with this urgency, Cook isn’t pretending Apple will be the first to market with bleeding-edge AI tools. What he is saying is: we know how to play this game.

And that’s what makes those four words so powerful.

They reframe delay as design. Restraint as responsibility. They set expectations for investors, employees, and customers – not for Apple to be the fastest, but to be the one that gets it right when it counts.

They also remind everyone that Apple doesn’t need to outpace OpenAI or Google in foundational model development. That’s not the game Apple plays. It’s never tried to be the loudest or the most open. It tries to be the most useful to the most people, in the most seamless way.

And in a platform shift, what matters most isn’t who makes it first, it’s who makes it usable. That’s where Apple shines.

The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, but it was the first one that made sense to normal people. The iPad wasn’t the first tablet, but it was the first one that didn’t feel like a failed laptop. Apple doesn’t win with specs. It wins with user experience.

So when Cook says, “We’ve rarely been first,” it’s not a concession. It’s a flex. It tells Wall Street: don’t confuse quiet with complacent. It tells employees: trust the process. And it tells rivals: we’re still Apple.

In many ways, the all-hands was a necessary culture moment – not just to unify Apple internally, but to reassert its identity externally. After a year of AI hype and hand-wringing, Apple finally gave us a coherent story about where it fits in. And it did so with just four words. – Inc./Tribune News Service  - y Jason Aten

Related stories:

• Will iPhone prices go up? Apple is investing US$100bil in US manufacturing
• CEO Tim Cook says Apple ready to open its wallet to catch up in AI

China achieves key digital breakthroughs in 14th Five-Year Plan, ranks global second in computing power: official

 

AI Photo: VCG

China has made remarkable strides in digital infrastructure and technological innovation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) with its total computing power ranking second worldwide and technology breakthroughs in key digital sectors, Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration (NDA), told a press conference on Thursday.

In terms of digital infrastructure, by the end of June, the country had 4.55 million 5G base stations and 226 million gigabit broadband users, with its total computing power ranking second worldwide. These advancements have strongly driven economic and social development, Liu said.

Technological breakthroughs also shine in key digital sectors. The integrated circuit industry has formed a complete industrial chain covering design, manufacturing, packaging, testing, equipment and materials. Domestic operating systems are thriving, with China's self-developed HarmonyOS powering over 1.19 billion devices across over 1,200 product categories like smartphones, cars and home appliances. China's overall AI strength has seen systemic growth, holding 60 percent of global AI patents, according to the NDA.

The data industry has emerged as a new growth driver. In 2024, the number of data enterprises in China exceeded 400,000, and the scale of the data industry reached 5.86 trillion yuan ($817.24 billion), an increase of 117 percent compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20). Digital economy growth has also created over 100 new occupations, generating fresh employment opportunities, according to the NDA.

By the end of 2024, China's software revenue had grown by 80 percent compared with 2020, while the added value of above-scale electronic information manufacturing had increased by over 70 percent. Meanwhile, intelligent transformation and digital upgrading are advancing at an accelerated pace. More than 10,000 smart factories have been established, covering over 80 percent of major manufacturing industry categories. Smart home appliances and smart wearables have emerged as new consumption trends. -  Global Times

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