Tesla is offering a 50% discount on the “fully driverless” version of its Autopilot assistance system in China, part of efforts to boost its adoption in the country.

Why it matters: Increased use of full Autopilot in China will help Tesla to optimize its localized self-driving solution for the Chinese market, which is its second-largest globally after the US.

Tesla’s China software team currently sends data and feedback from local users to the US for processing, according to a media report.

It will finish work on a local research and development center in Beijing later this year to handle optimization efforts for the Chinese market in the future.

Tesla, which enjoys support from the Chinese government, released a picture of its Gigafactory 3 Shanghai on its social media account on Wednesday, saying it will go into operation by the year-end.

Details: Chinese Model S and Model X owners who bought the enhanced version of the Autopilot, can spend 50% less on replacing their system with the full self-driving package at RMB 27,800 (roughly $3,950).

Hackers have attempted to steal information from Chinese government employees by faking email login pages for several high profile agencies and state-owned enterprises, cybersecurity researchers say.

Why it matters: The apparent espionage attempt may be linked to an advanced persistent threat (APT) group, an organization that accesses private information for a prolonged period while remaining undetected.

The offensive began as early as the second half of 2018.

The hackers targeted China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, state planner the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Commerce, among others.

“By stealing email credentials, and accessing internal email content, it would be possible to gain insight into what decisions are being made within the target organization and could lead to the theft of sensitive information.”

—Cybersecurity researchers said in a report published on Thursday

The Trump administration released details of a rule on Wednesday that will officially bar US government agencies from buying telecommunications equipment from Huawei, despite the Chinese firm’s efforts to fight the move in court.

Why it matters: The rule comes after the latest round of trade talks between the US and China ended without a deal, making Huawei, again, a bargaining chip in a stand-off between the world’s two largest economies.

The prohibition cites the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed last year, which restricts the use of federal money to purchase telecom equipment from companies that pose national security risks, which include Huawei.

The ban is also part of a broader US push against Huawei over the fears that Huawei gear may provide backdoors for the Chinese government into American and its allies’ networks.

“The law provides Huawei with no opportunity to rebut the accusations, to present evidence in its defense, or to avail itself of other procedures that impartial adjudicators provide to ensure a fair search for the truth.”

—Song Liuping, the chief legal officer at Huawei, commenting on the NDAA

Huawei has officially announced HarmonyOS, the operating system it was rumored to be developing to replace its reliance on Android.

In China the software will be known as HongmengOS.

The company says the operating system can be used in everything from smartphones to smart speakers and internet-of-things devices like sensors.

There’s been a lot of speculation about Huawei’s in-house operating system ever since Google suspended the company’s Android license back in May, following the US government’s decision to put Huawei on the Entity List.

Huawei has made no secret of the fact that it’s been working on its own OS, but the extent to which it would be able to act as a substitute for Android is unclear.

HarmonyOS was created with four major building blocks in mind, ensuring a new generation OS that is best suited for our digital world today.