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China's liquid-fueled intercontinental strategic nuclear missiles DongFeng-5C, which have a global strike range, pass through Tiananmen Square during the V-Day military parade in Beijing, China, on September 3, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Xi hosts military parade, Poland’s new prez to meet Trump, US hits drug-carrying Venezuelan ship
China’s giant parade sends a message to the West
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a massive military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square earlier today, featuring 10,000 troops and a show of new weapons, including an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the United States mainland. The procession wrapped up a jam-packed week of diplomacy and showmanship, with some 26 foreign leaders – including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – in attendance. Though the display officially marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II – especially China’s war with Japan – the purpose was a little more contemporary: Xi wants to subvert the notion that the US is the lone global hegemonic power.
Poland’s new president comes to Washington to discuss own Russia border
Unlike other European leaders, Polish President Karol Nawrocki won’t be imploring US President Donald Trump to lend more support to Ukraine when he makes his first official White House visit today. He’ll instead focus on his own border with Russia. The Trump administration’s interest in Europe appears to be dwindling, so Poland – which relies heavily on US military support – will be hoping to maintain that backing. Nawrocki, just four weeks into the new job, also faces his own power struggle with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk over everything from foreign policy to social welfare, making this trip a useful opportunity to position himself as the leading Polish voice on the world stage.
Trump escalates pressure on Maduro with Caribbean strike
The US president said a military strike destroyed a drug-laden vessel near Venezuela, killing 11 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Trump shared a grainy video of the explosion on Truth Social, warning traffickers to “beware.” Caracas dismissed the footage as AI-generated, but Washington insisted it was authentic. The operation comes as Trump escalates pressure on President Nicolás Maduro, recently doubling the bounty to $50 million for information leading to the Venezuelan leader’s arrest on drug charges. Venezuela has vowed to resist US intervention, calling the growing American military presence in the Caribbean the greatest regional threat in a century.
The Meta logo is seen on a mobile phone with the Chinese flag in the background in this photo illustration.
Meta’s AI is being used by Chinese military researchers
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has taken a different approach to the AI boom than many of its Silicon Valley peers. Instead of developing proprietary large language models, Meta has championed open-source models that are free and accessible for anyone to use. (That said, some open-source advocates say it’s not truly open-source because Meta has usage rules.)
But because of Meta’s openness, Chinese researchers were able to develop their own AI model — for military use — using one of Meta’s Llama models, according to a paper they published in June, but first reported by Reuters on Nov. 1.
Chinese university researchers, some of whom have ties to the People's Liberation Army, developed a model called ChatBIT using Llama 2 — first released in February 2023. (Meta’s top model is Llama 3.2, released in September 2024.) In the paper reviewed by Reuters, the researchers said they built a chatbot “optimized for dialogue and question-answering tasks in the military field.” It will be able to be used for “intelligence analysis, … strategic planning, simulation training, and command decision-making,” the paper said.
Llama’s acceptable use policy prohibits using the models for “military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications [and] espionage.” Meta told Reuters that the use did violate the terms and said it took unspecified action against the developers but also said the discovery was insignificant. “In the global competition on AI, the alleged role of a single, and outdated, version of an American open-source model is irrelevant when we know China is already investing more than a trillion dollars to surpass the US on AI,” Meta said.
Open-source development has already become a hot-button issue for regulators and tech advocates. For example, the California AI safety bill, which was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, became controversial for mandating developers have a “kill switch” to shut off models — something that’s not possible for open-source developers who publish their code. With an open-source model in China’s hands — even an old one — regulators may have the fodder they need to try and crack down on open-source AI the next time they try to pass and enact AI rules.