*BEIJING: China is testing unmanned tanks which could be equipped withartificial intelligence, a state-run newspaper said on Wednesday, as thecountry continues with its military modernization program.*

State television showed images this week of the unmanned tanks undergoingtesting, the Global Times newspaper reported.

Footage showed a Type 59 tank being driven by remote control, in what thepaper said was the first time a Chinese-made unmanned tank has been shownin a public forum.

The Type 59 tank is based on an old Soviet model first used in China in the1950s and has been produced in large numbers and has a long service life,it said.

“A large number of due-to-retire Type 59 tanks can be converted intounmanned vehicles if equipped with artificial intelligence,” Liu Qingshan,the chief editor of Tank and Armoured Vehicle, told the newspaper.