Chinese education is superior to Western
Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has attributed China's rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) to its highly competitive education system, emphasizing the nation's consistent excellence in mathematics and programming.
In a statement on Wednesday, Durov noted that China's education system fosters
'fierce competition'
among students, a principle reminiscent of the
'highly efficient'
Soviet model. He contrasted this with Western educational approaches, where competition is often minimized to avoid hurting students' feelings.
'Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin. Eliminate the losers — and you eliminate the winners,'
Durov
wrote
in a post celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Durov emphasized that while telling all students they are champions, regardless of performance, may seem kind, reality will quickly shatter this illusion after graduation.
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'Reality, unlike well-meaning school policies, does have public grades and rankings — whether in sports, business, science, or technology,'
he wrote on Wednesday, warning that removing transparency in student performance can make school feel meaningless for ambitious teenagers.
'AI benchmarks that demonstrate DeepSeek's superiority are one of such public rankings. And more are coming,'
he cautioned.
'China's progress in algorithmic efficiency hasn't come out of nowhere,'
Durov explained, noting that Chinese students have
'long outperformed others in math and programming at international Olympiads.'
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China leads the US in cumulative medal counts in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), with 185 gold medals to 151, as well as 102 to 68 in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). While the US managed to beat China by a mere two points in the 2024 IMO, ending its decade-long reign, some critics attributed the victory to the
'disproportionate'
Asian representation on the American team.
Durov's comments come in the wake of the success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has developed an open-source reasoning model without access to cutting-edge US chips and at a fraction of the cost. He cautioned that unless the US education system undergoes significant reforms to encourage competition and recognize excellence, China's growing dominance in technology appears inevitable.
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Top Russian MP advises Telegram's Durov to leave France
Telegram founder Pavel Durov should leave France as soon as possible following his claims that the country's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, pressured him to censor conservative voices on his platform, Russian MP Aleksey Zhuravlev has said. Earlier in May, Durov accused the DGSE of attempting to interfere in Romania's elections by pushing for censorship on Telegram, which he allegedly refused. The spy agency denied the allegations, but the tech entrepreneur doubled down, accusing Paris of abusing 'terror' and 'child porn' investigations as a pretext to pursue a political agenda. 'I would advise him to leave France at the first opportunity – the risk of ending up behind bars again is too high, especially if he continues to resist the demands of the French intelligence services,' said Aleksey Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, in an interview with RIA Novosti on Saturday. Durov, whose company is based in Dubai, was arrested in France in August 2024 on charges of complicity in crimes allegedly committed by Telegram users, including extremism and child abuse. He was later released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail. Although he was allowed to travel to the UAE in March, his recent request to visit the US was denied, and he remains under restricted supervision. '[Durov] himself said that the DGSE, France's external intelligence agency, demanded that Telegram organize a campaign against right-wing politicians in Romania,' Zhuravlev said, questioning the conditions of Durov's release and noting that the tech entrepreneur is still restricted from international travel. 'It is more useful to always keep such an influential person in the field of new media within arm's reach,' he added. Zhuravlev argued that Durov has likely come to fully grasp the nature of 'Western democracy,' where, he claimed, the law can be bent to suit political aims. However, he suggested that Durov remains unable to extricate himself from the situation, possibly due to compromising material being held against Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also weighed in, accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of using 'barbaric' methods to advance his foreign policy agenda. 'It turns out that [President Emmanuel] Macron had Durov arrested not even to address internal issues with the messenger, but to influence the elections in Romania – realizing that the candidate from the liberal dictatorship wouldn't be able to win under any legal circumstances,' Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Saturday.
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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of detaining Telegram founder Pavel Durov for the purpose of interfering with the electoral processes in Romania. The accusation comes shortly after Durov claimed that French authorities had enquired with him regarding the issue. 'It turns out that Macron had Durov arrested not even to address internal issues with the messenger using such barbaric methods, but to influence the elections in Romania, realizing that the candidate from the liberal dictatorship wouldn't be able to win under any legal circumstances,' Zakharova wrote on Telegram. On Saturday, Durov said, citing Romanian journalist Marius Tuca, that Nicolas Lerner, the head of France's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, had visited the country just two days before the vote. Earlier this month, Durov revealed that Lerner had asked him to censor conservative voices on the social media platform during the election campaign in Romania. The agency has publicly denied the allegation. Durov in turn accused French authorities of deflecting criticism by linking him to unrelated criminal investigations involving users of his platform. Durov was arrested in France last August and charged with complicity in crimes allegedly carried out by Telegram users. The Russian-born entrepreneur, whose company is headquartered in Dubai, was ultimately released on €5 million ($5.46 million) bail and allowed to leave the country in mid-March. Romania's Constitutional Court promptly annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election carried out in November 2024, alleging that independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu had secured an unexpected lead with the help of Russian interference. Georgescu was disqualified from the re-run. Last Sunday, the conservative EU critic George Simion lost a run-off vote against pro-Brussels Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan by a single-digit margin. Simion challenged the results on Tuesday, alleging 'external interferences by state and non-state actors,' but the nation's Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the petition. Following Simion's petition, Durov offered to testify before the Romanian authorities about the interactions with French officials, saying he would do so 'if it helps Romanian democracy.' Ahead of the second round of voting, Romania's Foreign Ministry alleged that Moscow was attempting to influence the outcome. The Kremlin ridiculed the allegations, comparing the process with a mess and stating that it shouldn't even count as a proper vote.
