JD.com, the main rival of Alibaba in Chinese online retail, has set out to demonstrate leadership in application of private 5G to logistics in warehousing and order fulfilment. As often when judging the status of Chinese sectors, it is hard to separate rhetoric from reality, but a clear starting point is that both Alibaba and JD.com, as well as other ecommerce giants outside China such as Amazon, have earmarked automation and logistics as critical for success. Indeed, Amazon has attributed its ability to establish same and next day delivery under its Prime service to automation within warehouses, having deployed over 520,000 robotic drive units globally in its fulfillment and sorting centers. Amazon now aims to go further by deploying more…