By Eduardo Baptista and Fanny Potkin

BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -China’s state-owned defense giant Norinco in February unveiled a military vehicle capable of autonomously conducting combat-support operations at 50 kilometres per hour. It was powered by DeepSeek, the company whose artificial intelligence model is the pride of China’s tech sector.

The Norinco P60’s release was touted by Communist Party officials in press statements as an early showcase of how Beijing is using DeepSeek and AI to catch up in its arms race with the United States, at a time when leaders in both countries have urged their militaries to prepare for conflict.

A Reuters review of hundreds of research papers, patents and procurement records gives a snapshot of the systematic effort by Beijing to harness AI for mi

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