Whenever I have time, I try to check French language publications also from non-France or non-Quebec sources. China's People's Daily is one of them. 

Last night, I hit this news about the Scientific achievements of China in 2019. Usual account of events or achievements published in every country at the end of a year. In the article they list 8 technological and scientific achievements of China in 2019.

The significance of this article is in its inclusion of a CREG Slurry TBM among these 8 achievements. I guess it is a big achievement for China to produce a 12.26m diameter Slurry TBM which can bore under the sea:

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2. A CREG slurry tunneling machine takes up the challenge of an underwater project

A 12.26 m diameter TBM (TBM) tunneling machine was designed to dig a 2.9 km long two-track railway tunnel under Suoyu Bay in the city of Dalian (northeast of China). This TBM was designed and delivered by the Chinese company CREG to successfully dig through the seabed of the Yellow Sea.

CREG's TBM includes a number of advanced technologies, including a double crusher system and a custom main drive capable of moving and rotating the telescopic cutting head in both directions to allow changing of cutting tools under pressure atmospheric.

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On its own, frankly this is just a "mee too" achievement. But it shows the importance the Chinese ruling elite attach to tunneling and especially to the success of a Chinese built slurry TBM of relatively big diameter. It is so important for them that, they list it next to Chine launching a space rocket from a sea platform, a supercomputer with the first global criterion of quantum supremacy or a space mission dubbed as the China's answer to Elon Musk's SpaceX.

For those who are not familier with the People's Daily. it is the biggest newspaper in China. It is also the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Thus, it directly asserts the priorities of the China's ruling elite.

Beware Robbins, Herrrenknecht and a few other remaining Western TBM manufacturers and demand the same priority from your political leaders.

I did not want to draw a dark picture in this fine day of Christmas. It is just interesting.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.