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SCHWEIZER
BOTSCHAFT IN BEIJING
EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND IN BEIJING
AMBASSADE DE SUISSE EN CHINE |
Der wöchentliche
Presserückblick der Schweizer Botschaft in der VR China
The Weekly Press Review of the Swiss Embassy in the People's Republic
of China
La revue de presse hebdomadaire de l'Ambassade de Suisse en RP
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DPRK
Mongolia
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| Foreign Policy |
PLA prepared as US, secessionists provoke (Global Times)
2021-04-09
Multiple branches of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) are continuing large-scale military exercises near the island of Taiwan, at a time when Taiwan secessionists insisted on making provocative statements and holding drills, and the US sent a warship through the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday and voiced support to "Taiwan independence" forces, even as the PLA was exercising around the island with an aircraft carrier task group and warplanes. Taiwan secessionists and the US are leaving the Chinese mainland and the PLA with no choice but to enhance war preparedness in case of "Taiwan secessionism," analysts said on Thursday. Some 15 PLA aircraft, namely eight J-10 and four J-16 fighter jets, a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft and two KJ-500 early warning aircraft entered Taiwan's self-proclaimed southwest air defense identification zone on Wednesday, the defense department of Taiwan authorities said on Wednesday. A combined arms battalion affiliated with the PLA 73rd Group Army has been holding a series of amphibious landing exercises in recent days in waters off the southern part of East China's Fujian Province, with several types of amphibious armored vehicles participating in beach assault drills, China Central Television reported on Wednesday. Taking the ongoing drills by the Liaoning aircraft carrier task group, the PLA Army, Navy and Air Force are conducting exercises near the island of Taiwan, observers said. The PLA exercises come as Taiwan secessionists and the US are ramping up the rhetoric to provoke the Chinese mainland on the Taiwan question, which analysts said increases the risk of conflict. Taiwan would fight to the end if the Chinese mainland attacks, and the US can see a danger that this could happen amid mounting PLA pressure, including aircraft carrier drills near the island, claimed the head of the external affairs department of Taiwan authorities, Joseph Wu, on Wednesday, Taipei News reported on Thursday. In a separate event, the defense department of Taiwan authorities announced it would run eight days of computer-aided war games simulating a PLA attack this month, and live-fire drills in July, forming the two phases of Taiwan's largest annual Han Kuang war games, the report said. Citing another Taiwan official, Reuters reported Wednesday that Taiwan may shoot down Chinese mainland drones near the Dongsha Islands in the South China Sea. Song Zhongping, a Chinese mainland military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday that many officials in Taiwan, like Wu, are laymen who do not understand the military, while others who do understand the enormous power gap between the island's military and the PLA are lying and talking big to deceive people on the island, trying to show the money they used in arms purchase is worth it. Another military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are seeking secession at the cost of ordinary people in Taiwan by tying them onto the chariot of the "Taiwan independence" forces and dashing to a war that they cannot win. The PLA exercises are not only warnings, but also show real capabilities and pragmatically practicing reunifying the island if it comes to that, the analyst said. "The island's military won't stand a chance." The US on Wednesday sent the USS John S. McCain destroyer through the Taiwan Straits, which was tracked and monitored by the PLA Eastern Theater Command, Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, the command spokesperson, said in a statement on the day. The US move sent a wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" forces, Zhang said, noting that the command troops will stay on high vigilance to deal with any provocation. The US Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group also entered the South China Sea on Thursday, Beijing-based think tank the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative said on Thursday. Taiwan secessionists' hype of PLA threats is crying for help from countries like the US and Japan, since they know they are powerless and want to make the Taiwan question an international one, Shi Hong, Executive Chief Editor of the Chinese mainland magazine, Shipborne Weapons, told the Global Times. PLA's exercises from all directions of the island showed that mainland forces can isolate the island's troops and cut off foreign intervention, and the US will not be able to come to Taiwan secessionists' aid if a situation arises, Shi said. The reason behind the tensions and large-scale PLA exercises around Taiwan is the collusion of Taiwan secessionists and the US, which has been challenging the one-China principle, Song said. "It is the US and DPP authorities that have been changing the cross-Straits status quo, and the PLA had to respond." In extreme circumstance when Taiwan secessionists act to trigger the secessionism button, a large-scale confrontation or even war could break out, and such situation is to be forcefully imposed on the people on both sides of the Straits by the US and Taiwan secessionists, Song said, noting that that is why the PLA must effectively deter them and maintain peace. ^ top ^
US sanctions on 7 more Chinese tech firms just another 'mosquito' bite (Global Times)
2021-04-09
The US relentless sanctions against Chinese technology companies are nothing but another mosquito bite that will not disrupt China's pace in high tech development, said an expert with China's Commerce Ministry. This came as the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce, said in a statement on Thursday that they have added seven Chinese supercomputing firms to the sanctions list for conducting alleged activities that are contrary to the US national security or foreign policy interests. The seven Chinese firms are Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, Sunway Microelectronics, the National Supercomputing Center in Jinan, the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, and the National Supercomputing Center in Zhengzhou, according to the statement. The statement claimed that these entities are building supercomputers used by China's military on its modernization efforts or to develop weapons of mass destruction programs, an old fashioned rhetoric by the US government. Experts say that it reveals that the guiding ideology of the US, to guard itself against China's competition, has never changed. But these new sanctions are not much different from those the US had already imposed, Mei Xinyu, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of China's Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times on Thursday. He also noted that the US has been placing many restrictions on Chinese technology that could be used in the military, including computers, and this latest move has merely tightened existing sanctions, rather than imposing new ones. Despite the pressure from the US throughout time, Chinese technology companies have been making achievements under the shadow of sanctions. "It's like mosquitoes are biting us. They've been harassing us for years, so it doesn't matter to us to have one more bite," said Mei. Instead, the increasing sanctions from the US will only boost the Chinese companies to ramp up efforts on their own research and development to breach the technology gap in fields like semiconductors and computing, said Mei. In response to the relentless US sanctions on Chinese firms, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said during a press conference in March that the US government abused the concept of national security and state power and went all out to suppress Chinese high tech companies to maintain its monopoly and hegemony in science and technology. "This negates the market economy principles the US has claimed to champion and reveals its hypocrisy in touting so-called fair competition," said Zhao. ^ top ^
South China Sea: US bolsters presence with amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (SCMP)
2021-04-08
The United States has further stepped up its military presence in the South China Sea, reportedly sending an amphibious assault vessel to the disputed waters amid heightened tensions in the region. Satellite data showed that the USS Makin Island amphibious-ready group (ARG) travelled through the Strait of Malacca into the contentious waters from late on Wednesday until the early hours of Thursday, according to the Beijing-based South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI). The group included amphibious assault ship the USS Makin Island and the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego, the think tank said. Sailors on the USS Makin Island were conducting "a live-fire training exercise", the US Indo-Pacific Command tweeted on Thursday, along with a hashtag calling for a "free and open Indo-Pacific". This latest passage by a US amphibious assault ship comes at a time when both China and the US have sailed aircraft carriers into the South China Sea, with the US' Theodore Roosevelt conducting exercises with Malaysia on Tuesday and Wednesday, and China's Liaoning en route from the Miyako Strait off southwestern Japan to conduct "scheduled exercises" near Taiwan. Analysts say the US naval presence in waters neighbouring China is a signal from US President Joe Biden's administration to its allies in the region and to Beijing that it is committed to maintaining a military presence in the region to counter China. Beijing had hoped relations with Washington would improve after former US president Donald Trump left office, but there have not been noticeable changes in US military activities in the Indo-Pacific under Biden. "Since China-US relations are relatively tense, the US is putting more of its military capacity near China," said Chinese military commentator Song Zhongping. "Its transitioning to the South China Sea and western Pacific areas in particular is a normal situation." US destroyer the USS John McCain also passed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, which the Chinese military's eastern theatre command denounced for sending the "wrong signal" to Taiwan's government. The SCSPI also said that the USS Mustin guided-missile destroyer was operating in the East China Sea on Saturday. In recent weeks, there have been escalating tensions in the contested South China Sea, not least over the Philippine government lodging a protest about a large number of Chinese vessels massed at Whitsun Reef, a feature in the Spratly Islands that is inside the Philippines' exclusive economic zone but has other claimants including Beijing. The increased presence of China's coastguard near islands in the East China Sea that are also claimed by Japan, and Beijing's increasing "grey zone" warfare tactics against Taiwan, are among the other points of contention. Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the energy-rich South China Sea – disputed by neighbours such as the Philippines and Malaysia, and ruled by an international tribunal in 2016 to have no legal basis – and also claims the Diaoyu Islands that Japan claims as the Senkakus, and the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The deepening dispute with the Philippines over Whitsun Reef in particular has escalated in recent days, with Manila issuing strongly worded statements opposing the presence of what it says is a maritime militia. Beijing has claimed its vessels there are fishing boats sheltering from bad weather, and has reiterated its claims to the reef. Collin Koh, a research fellow from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said it was not the first time a US amphibious-ready group had sailed through the South China Sea, but that it was significant given current tensions in the waters. The Makin Island group was building on the USS Theodore Roosevelt's activities in the South China Sea to "demonstrate the US' security commitment to the region, not least its obligation towards the Philippine-US alliance", Koh said. Song said the maritime boundaries of the US Indo-Pacific Command's three major fleets – the Third Fleet, Fifth Fleet and Seventh Fleet – had been blurred under Trump to increase their combat effectiveness. The USS Makin Island's transit from the Indian Ocean, which falls under the Fifth Fleet, into the South China Sea, part of the Seventh Fleet's domain, was a reflection of this, he said. "Out of the Indo-Pacific Command, the Third Fleet's actual combat capabilities are the strongest, so since they need to direct combat forces to the Indo-Pacific, their main goal is to continuously transfer the Third Fleet's military forces into the Seventh Fleet and Fifth Fleet's areas," he said. "I personally think that the USS Makin Island may travel to its home port in San Diego via the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, and will need to carry out exercises while it is travelling." Military commentator Liang Guoliang said: "The USS Makin Island is going to show off the American navy's muscle. They are going to tell the Chinese military that even though Beijing built three airstrips in the Spratly Islands that can accommodate all kinds of warplanes, the US navy has the world's most powerful island-landing capability to deal with them." ^ top ^
US urged to stick to one-China principle (China Daily)
2021-04-09
China urged the United States on Thursday to properly and prudently handle issues related to Taiwan and stop sending wrong messages to Taiwan separatists, otherwise it will gravely compromise its own interests as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news briefing on Thursday afternoon in Beijing that the US should fully understand the sensitive nature of the Taiwan question and stick to the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiques. The US has recently sent seriously misleading signals to Taiwan separatists and posed threats to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits by repeatedly deploying its warships and conducting provocative acts in the straits, Zhao said. "China has never had any intention to intimidate anyone and we never fear others' intimidation. China doesn't want to exert coercion upon anyone and others' coercion of us is useless," he said."China has the firm determination and sufficient ability to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity." The US is the major force of intimidation and coercion around the world, Zhao said, noting that the one-China principle is the political foundation and insurmountable red line of China-US relations. Zhao's remarks came one day after the USS John S. McCain's passage through the Taiwan Straits. The People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command mobilized its forces to follow and monitor the US destroyer. "The move by the US naval vessel sent misleading messages to Taiwan separatists, deliberately disturbed the regional situation and compromised peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits. We strongly oppose such acts," Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, the command's spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday night. He added that the forces of his command are always on high alert to respond to any possible threats or provocations and fulfill their duties. The US warship's voyage on Wednesday was the fourth transit in the Taiwan Straits by a US naval vessel this year. The US started increasing the passage of its warships through the Taiwan Straits in 2019, when nine such transits took place. The number of transits reached 13 in 2020, the highest in the past 14 years. In another development, the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group conducted a bilateral exercise with the Royal Malaysian Air Force in the South China Sea on Tuesday and Wednesday. The US carrier group entered the South China Sea on Sunday, at almost the same time as the PLA Navy's Liaoning carrier battle group entered the western Pacific Ocean. Senior Captain Gao Xiucheng, spokesman for the PLA Navy, said earlier this week that the Liaoning group would perform training operations in waters near Taiwan, saying that the move was a routine arrangement included in the Navy's annual plan. ^ top ^
United States shows appalling U.S. human rights record in wake of COVID-19 (Xinhua)
2021-04-09
Based on fabricated materials, the United States has once again wantonly slandered other countries by releasing the so-called 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. In fact, the United States, with its own human rights problems piling up, has earned itself a tainted human rights record in the past four years. From post-election riots to deep-rooted racist problems and an incompetent pandemic response, the appalling facts have completely unmasked the self-proclaimed "defender of human rights." AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN DISORDER Disorder in American democratic institutions led to political chaos, further tearing the fabric of society apart. Money-tainted politics distorted and suppressed public opinion, turning elections into a "one-man show" of the wealthy class. According to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, dark money groups poured more than 750 million U.S. dollars into 2020 elections through ad spending and record-breaking contributions to political committees such as super political action committees. According to a commentary carried by the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 9, 2020, the 2020 U.S. election can be seen as the culmination of a two-decade period of decline in faith in the basic building blocks of democracy. Gun trade and shooting incidents hit a record high, and people's confidence in social order waned. The shooting incidents have rekindled the debate over gun control in the United States. However, over the past years, political division and partisan fights have complicated the issue and made the process fruitless. RAMPANT RACISM In the United States, ethnic minority groups have been suffering systematic racial discrimination and are in a difficult situation. The murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin charged with killing African American George Floyd in late May last year officially got underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month. Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts -- 21 times greater, according to federal data. The data also showed that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police. However, police officers in the United States who enforce laws with violence are usually not brought to justice. Moreover, African Americans are not the only victims of racism in the United States. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, some Washington politicians have been manipulating racist rhetoric and sentiments by linking the deadly pathogen to specific ethnic groups, leading to increasing violence and hatred against Asian Americans. GROWING POLARIZATION BETWEEN RICH, POOR In the United States, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, with the people at the bottom of society living in misery. The pandemic led to mass unemployment in the country. Tens of millions of people lost health insurance coverage. One in six Americans and one in four American children were at risk of hunger. Vulnerable groups became the biggest victims of the government's reckless response to the pandemic. Experts believe that the pandemic has exacerbated the survival crisis of the people at the bottom of U.S. society, but the problem of inequity in wealth distribution in the country has long existed and is worsening, thus triggering social and political unrest. INCOMPETENT PANDEMIC CONTAINMENT Due to the government's reckless response, COVID-19 in the United States has spiraled out of control and turned into a human tragedy. By the end of February 2021, the United States, home to less than 5 percent of the world's population, accounted for more than a quarter of the world's confirmed COVID-19 cases and nearly one-fifth of the global deaths from the disease. In a documentary that aired on CNN, Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator under former U.S. President Donald Trump, said the biggest mistake the federal government made in handling the pandemic was not providing "consistent messaging." TRAMPLING ON INTERNATIONAL RULES In the past four years, the United States has persisted in pursuing an agenda of "America first," isolationism and unilateralism, thus becoming the biggest threat to global security and stability. In June 2018, the United States brazenly announced its withdrawal from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council. John Bolton, former U.S. national security advisor, and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, warned in September 2018 and in March 2019 respectively that if the International Criminal Court (ICC) went ahead with investigating personnel from the United States and its allies, the United States would impose retaliatory measures against the personnel that were directly responsible for the investigations such as a ban on their entry to the United States, fund freezes and even economic sanctions on the ICC. From July 2017 to July 2020, in violation of international human rights laws and international humanitarianism, the U.S. immigration authorities have forcibly separated more than 5,400 children from their parents who are refugees or illegal immigrants in the southern border area, causing the painful separation of families as well as many child deaths in custody. In 2019, a total of 850,000 immigrants were arrested in the southern border area of the United States. Most of them suffered rough, insulting treatment and their human rights were trampled on. Due to its government's ineffective anti-pandemic efforts, the United States has unfortunately seen itself become the most seriously-affected country during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and its immigrant detention centers are the most severely-affected places in the country. Ignoring the risk of spreading the virus, the U.S. government has even forcibly repatriated a large number of illegal immigrants, which has put the people in Central America at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. During the just-ended 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, some countries' representatives have accused the United States of pursuing "vaccine nationalism." Over the years, the U.S. armed interventions have caused large numbers of civilian casualties in other countries. The U.S. unilateral coercive measures against certain countries have gravely violated human rights and even caused humanitarian crises. ^ top ^
China hosts int'l conference on CPC and human rights progress in China (People's Daily)
2021-04-09
More than 100 participants attended an international conference on human rights in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, on Thursday. The International Conference on the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Progress on Human Rights in China drew online and offline participation of experts, researchers and representatives from countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Egypt as well as international organizations. Qiangba Puncog, President of China Society for Human Rights Studies, said the 100-year history of the CPC is a glorious history of striving for people's liberation, safeguarding people's rights and devoting itself to well-rounded human development. Jiang Jianguo, Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, said the centenary of the CPC is a centenary of the great practice of respecting and safeguarding human rights, and also a centenary of great contributions to the global human rights progress. The international society shall jointly promote the development of global human rights governance in a more just and rational direction, he said. Hans Kochler, professor of philosophy at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, and president of the International Organization for Progress, said the CPC has won international recognition. Countries have the right to decide on their own internal affairs, and prioritize different types of rights, he said. Sandrine Nduwinana, director of the International Liaison Department of the China-Africa Business Council, acknowledged the CPC's ingenuity in eradicating poverty and expects more exchange and cooperation with the Chinese side in poverty relief. Participants also focused on topics such as the human rights theory of the CPC in the new era, the CPC's human rights concept, human rights protection in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and the relationship between poverty reduction and human rights. The conference was sponsored by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and the Publicity Department of the CPC Jilin Provincial Committee. ^ top ^
White House: No plans to boycott 2022 Olympics (China Daily)
2021-04-09
Despite strained relations between the United States and China at the moment, exploring more cooperation between them will be conducive to their interests as well as to the international community, according to experts, who spoke as the White House clarified that it is not in talks with its allies over a joint boycott of the 2022 Olympics. "Our position on the 2022 Olympics has not changed. We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and partners," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing on Wednesday. It was the second time in two months that the White House stated its position on the Olympics, scheduled in Beijing for Feb 4 to 20, about 300 days away. "We, of course, consult closely with allies and partners at all levels to define our common concerns and establish a shared approach, but there's no discussion underway of a change in our plans regarding the Beijing Olympics from the United States' point of view," she said on Wednesday. Psaki's remarks helped to clarify confusion arising from a briefing by US State Department spokesman Ned Price the previous day. When asked if the US was talking with allies about whether to consider a joint boycott, Price said: "It is something that we certainly wish to discuss." Later on Tuesday, Price said on Twitter that "we don't have any announcement regarding the Beijing Olympics". Asked if the US government is going to encourage US spectators to travel to China to view the Games, Psaki suggested that as the Winter Olympics are "some time away", spectators traveling may have to take the advice of medical experts. "Certainly our hope is that we are at a point where enough people across the country, and hopefully around the world, have been vaccinated. But we will rely on health and medical experts on that particular piece," she said. "Our position has not changed in our planned participation," she added. Yuan Zheng, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of American Studies, called for more dialogue and cooperation between the US and China, when speaking with China Daily on Thursday. "Although the Sino-US relations seem to be tense at present, the two sides have left room for cooperation apart from competition, and both sides have a desire to work together," Yuan said, adding that it will be impossible to seek China's cooperation if the US provokes such a boycott. If the US uses any political excuse to boycott the Games, it is "the equivalent of adopting a hostile policy" and is also "the practice of a Cold War mentality", which will not be welcomed by the international community, he said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also stressed on Wednesday that politicization of sports runs counter to the spirit of the Olympic Charter and harms the interests of all athletes as well as the international Olympic cause. "The international community, including the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, will not buy it," he said. "We have every confidence that with concerted efforts, we will host an extraordinary and outstanding Olympic event in Beijing in 2022." Attacking and maligning China based on deliberate lies will "not only hurt the US' reputation and interests, but also meet with the resolute opposition of the Chinese people and forceful responses from the Chinese side", Zhao said. Susanne Lyons, chairwoman of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, voiced on Wednesday its opposition to a boycott, saying such a move would "negatively impact athletes", who should not be used as "political pawns". "I think we will continue to see a lot of discussion on the topic of boycotts, and I want to just point out again what we have said very consistently," Lyons told reporters at a virtual Tokyo 2020 Team USA Media Summit. "We at the USOPC oppose athlete boycotts because they've been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues," Lyons said. "We do not believe that Team USA's athletes should be used as political pawns." ^ top ^
Turkey urged to stay vigilant to anti-China terrorists, nationalist politicians (Global Times)
2021-04-08
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and observers have urged Turkey to stay vigilant against a small group of politicians who try to exploit Xinjiang-related issues for selfish political purposes, after bickering between Ankara and Beijing was caused by Turkish opposition leaders' beautifying of bloody Xinjiang riots. They also warned that the terrorism threat Turkey faces will also be fanned by those figures. Yet, pragmatic cooperation between Beijing and Ankara won't be shadowed by individual politicians' besmirching. Turkey on Tuesday summoned Chinese ambassador Liu Shaobin after the Chinese embassy in Turkey tweeted condemnation and said China "has the right to respond" to Turkish opposition leaders, IYI Party leader Meral Aksener and Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas of the main opposition CHP, as they called China's dealing of the 1990 Baren riot "persecution," and the riots which brutally killed police and kidnapped others as "martyrdom." The embassy tweeted in Turkish on Tuesday that "China resolutely opposes and strongly condemns any challenge by any person or power to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the embassy's response is "totally justified and beyond reproach." Turkey also suffers from pain caused by terrorism and separatism. Hopefully, people in Turkey can view China's firm stance in defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as its counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts in a correct, rational and objective way, according to Zhao. "I personally do not think that either of the people who defended the Baren riot knew what really happened in Baren," Erkin Oncan, an Istanbul-based journalist who focuses on extremist movements in China and the Middle East, told the Global Times. He noted that it is no coincidence that the two names that commemorate the Baren riots were representatives of the well-known nationalist and anti-communist political movements in Turkey. On the other hand, Aksener and her party's support to separatists from China's Xinjiang is widely known. It is possible to say that there is a 'competition' on issues related to Uygurs between the nationalists who are in opposition and the nationalists in power. The opposition IYI Party accuses other parties for being silent about Uygurs, said the Turkish journalist. Li Wei, a counter-terrorism expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, described the 1990 Baren riot as "one of the earliest and deadliest terrorist activities that occurred in Xinjiang." On April 5, 1990, incited by a group of separatists egged on by the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a terrorist group, holding submachine guns, pistols, explosive devices and grenades, mustered over 200 people to attack the government building of Baren township, Akto county, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, kidnapping 10 people, killing 6 armed police officers, and blowing up 2 vehicles. Official documents show that one police officer's neck was almost chopped off, with only one layer of skin linking his head to his body. Another officer was beaten up by terrorists with sticks and shovels first, and then stabbed more than 30 times. Oncan said that unfortunately, Turkish people mostly can't see such reports, as Western media have a great influence on this, and Chinese media's voice remains unheard. "The nationalist perceptions of Xinjiang are being formed directly by the Western media and some Western countries. We can see that when the Western media starts another so-called 'human rights' report about China, the nationalists in Turkey also takes action," he said. Gokhan Karakas, who works for Turkish newspaper Milliyet, visited Xinjiang in July 2019 and interviewed Abdurrehim Heyit, a musician from the Uygur ethnic group. Before the visit, the musician was claimed dead by some Western media, anti-China forces, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Wang also said that the presence of East Turkistan separatists in Turkey also kept people from the truth about Xinjiang. For a long time, influenced by the Western media and the East Turkistan separatists living in Turkey, many Turkish people formed misunderstandings on China's Xinjiang policies. They wrongly thought "their Uygur brothers are under oppression in Xinjiang," despite the fact that China has issued a white paper in July 2019 stating Uygurs are "not descendants of Turks." A Turkish reporter told the Global Times previously that those separatists are the major source of Turkey's Xinjiang news. Many of them share connections with foundations, NGOs and even foreign governments, according to the reporter, saying that some Turkish politicians tend to hype those separatists' voices, trying to gain more political advantage. When Chinese State Councilor and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Turkey last month, there was a small group of protesters who condemned China's treatment of the Uygur population. "We call on Turkey to stand with East Turkestan," said Burhan Uluyol, one of the protesters, according to the Associated Press. When meeting with Wang, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey has always abided by the one-China principle and is committed to elevate Turkey-China strategic cooperative ties. He vowed that his country will never get involved in any action hostile to China, while prohibiting violent terrorist acts against China on its territory. Oncan predicted that this incident won't affect ties. "In the last few years the government of Turkey did not want to further isolate from the international arena, and does not want to create new tensions with other major powers like China," he said. Li also said that Turkey won't venture to put China-Turkey ties at risk just because of short-term or interparty interests, but needs to stay vigilant against anti-China terrorists and nationalist politicians, as they also pose a threat to Turkey's security. ^ top ^
Tokyo called on to respect Beijing's core interests (China Daily)
2021-04-07
Beijing has delivered a sharpened warning to Tokyo, saying that respecting China's internal affairs is a "minimum requirement" for Japan as a close neighbor, and Japan "should not stretch its long arm too far". The warning－following a series of Beijing's criticisms of Tokyo's joining Washington in lashing out on topics such as Hong Kong and Xinjiang－was issued by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday in a phone conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Experts said Japan should engage in damage control to keep its relations with China from being hijacked by the need to bolster the United States-Japan alliance. They also said a further deterioration of China-Japan ties may also affect economic cooperation between the two neighbors. During their conversation, Wang said China and Japan should work to keep their ties from unnecessary twists, turns, standoffs and involvement in major-country confrontations. Japan is expected to "become more positive when viewing China", act as an independent, self-reliant country, and not be exploited by countries with prejudices against China, he said. A superpower's will does not represent the international community, and countries following this superpower are not entitled to monopolize multilateral rules, either, he added. While Tokyo and Washington share an alliance, Tokyo is obligated to honor the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Wang said as he urged advancing the two-way pragmatic cooperation and improving the goodwill between the two Asian nations. Motegi said Japan is willing to properly manage and control differences. He said there is no change in its plan to harness stable growth of its ties with China, and the Japan-US alliance does not target any third party. Last month, representatives of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Japan made several sharp rebuttals of Tokyo's attacks on Hong Kong's electoral system reform as well as the US-Japan 2+2 ministerial talks' joint statement attacking Beijing on topics such as the Diaoyu Islands, Taiwan, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the South China Sea. In high-profile comments, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told Japan's Fuji TV on Sunday that it is important to create circumstances in which the Taiwan question can be resolved peacefully against the backdrop of countries such as the US and Japan "joining hands in maintaining their deterrence". Yang Bojiang, director-general of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Japanese Studies, said Tokyo's recent attacks on China are accompanied by its growing sense of urgency as it worries that the lingering pandemic will further diminish its comparative advantage in international competition. "Japan is eager to increase intimidation aimed at China over the Diaoyu Islands issue by relying more on its alliance with the US, which is adding risks of escalation of maritime tension and strains in political ties," Yang said, adding that further deterioration of its China ties may affect collaboration in economic and technological sectors. Still, Yang stressed the need to foster bilateral strategic mutual trust. There is a great deal of room in regional issues for cooperation and communication by China and Japan, such as the China-Japan-Republic of Korea free trade agreement talks and Korean Peninsula denuclearization, and there are remarkable prospects for both nations in economic and social sectors, he said. This month, Suga will travel to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden. Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted unnamed sources as saying that the talks will involve the situation in Taiwan, and the two sides will discuss whether to include it in the leaders' joint statement. Gao Lan, a professor of Japan studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that "the US is an inevitable factor in the trajectory of China-Japan ties" given the US-Japan alliance, and the China-Japan relationship has its vulnerable side and often faces twists and turns. Beijing and Tokyo should work together to avoid falling into the trap of bilateral conflict, maintain the steady growth of their ties and shape the trilateral interactions of the US, Japan and China, Gao said at a seminar last month. ^ top ^
China has a big role to play: ICRC official (People's Daily)
2021-04-07
In response to the spiking humanitarian needs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued its highest ever annual appeal, with an increase of 5.5% over the 2020 budget. In his interview with People's Daily, Jacques Pellet, Personal Envoy of the President for China and Head of the ICRC Regional Delegation for East Asia, explains the humanitarian threats facing the world and the cooperation plans between ICRC and China to address the current global crisis. Speaking of the humanitarian threats at present, Pellet said that over the past decade, the ICRC budget has almost doubled, which reflects the growing humanitarian needs. "There are over 100 ongoing armed conflicts across the world while the COVID-19 pandemic poses another layer of threat to the vulnerable populations in fragile contexts. In 2021, 239 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection," Pellet said, adding that this is already the highest figure in decades. Pellet stressed that amid the alarming humanitarian crises and increasing needs, a key challenge for humanitarian actors in 2021 and beyond is to maintain and acquire the funds necessary. "For that, we would expect more support from countries like China, both politically and financially." Pellet said China has one of the largest diplomatic networks. Its voice and actions can have a great impact on humanitarian affairs. "We are in contact with China for collaboration on various fronts, on Africa for instance. This increased engagement reflects China's key role in the world and its increasing influence on global affairs and governance." Over 40% of the ICRC's budget will be spent on activities across the African continent this year. Pellet pointed out that ICRC has been engaging with Chinese authorities and representations abroad to obtain China's support in assistance programs in fragile contexts in Africa as well as in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. ICRC is looking for more engagement through multilateral platforms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. "The ICRC is keen to engage with companies operating in conflict and fragile environment in their efforts to do no harm and to practice their corporate social responsibility. We have concrete connections with some Chinese companies overseas," Pellet said as an example. In 2019, a Chinese company that was commissioned through a bidding process by the ICRC and the Ministry of Water Resources in Borno State, Nigeria, completed a water project with a daily capacity of 9 million liters in Borno's capital Maiduguri. "That greatly improved access to water for 150,000 people, including residents and internally displaced people." In his opinion, the nature of today's humanitarian crises is increasingly complex. Humanitarian relief, development programs and peacekeeping are all needed at the same time, in the so-called Humanitarian-Development Nexus. He believes China, as the world's second largest economy, has a big role to play in this regard. "China has earlier funded ICRC programs in Syria and Nigeria, which contributed to improving the livelihood of those affected by war and helped stabilize the local situation. These elements can contribute to its development." Pellet stressed ICRC is expecting that such support and collaboration could continue on a regular ongoing basis. "China's global response to fighting the pandemic by providing assistance worldwide shows the important role China can play in dealing with global challenges and shaping its relationship with the outside world," said Pellet, stressing that many of the places that receive China's assistance are also contexts where the ICRC carries out its humanitarian activities and ICRC has seen a positive development in China's multilateral engagement and in its understanding of the importance of the role of organizations such as ICRC. Pellet hopes in that respect, the recently released white paper, China's International Development Cooperation in the New Era, will open new windows of opportunity for further cooperation. Pellet also mentioned China's successful control of the virus and the fight against extreme poverty. He believes China's experience can bring interesting aspects for other countries in need of humanitarian assistance. He said the idea of humanity transcends cultures, nationalities, races and religions. Vulnerable communities and people affected by armed conflict and violence should be assisted based on their needs and this assistance. Humanitarian programs should be carried out without discrimination or bias. He understands the concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind" as China's desire to actively contribute to the well-being of the world population through cooperation. "We are now facing a vicious circle. Conflicts and violence remain one of the main causes of poverty throughout the world, but similarly, increasing poverty further fuels violence and conflict. More than ever, the ICRC needs China's support to address the needs of people affected by armed conflict and increase their resilience," Pellet said. ^ top ^
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| Domestic
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Ruili Party chief removed from post for negligence in epidemic control (China Daily)
2021-04-09
Gong Yunzun, Party chief of Ruili, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been dismissed from his post for serious negligence in epidemic control in the city, where a total of 76 local confirmed cases and 25 asymptomatic patients have been reported as of Thursday. The decision was made by provincial discipline inspection authorities after an investigation, reported Yunnan Daily on Thursday. Gong, 46, took the main leadership responsibility for the outbreaks in Ruili, which occurred three times in succession over more than half a year, especially the recent flareups since March 29, severely damaging the overall situation of national and provincial epidemic prevention and control work, said the report. Gong took the post of Party Committee Secretary of Ruili in April 2018. He has now been demoted to a first-level researcher. Ruili reported 11 new confirmed cases and one silent carrier on Thursday, bringing the total local infection numbers to 76 and 25 respectively. The China-Myanmar border city was put under the spotlight after new COVID-19 cases were found on March 29, six months after a wave of cases hit the city in September 2020. With a population of 300,000, Ruili has launched two rounds of citywide nucleic acid testing, with the most recent one conducted on Tuesday. As of 6 pm on Wednesday, about 354,000 samples were collected, of which 186,000 were tested, said the authority at a press conference. It also rolled out a mass vaccination drive across the city on Friday, which was temporarily suspended on Tuesday due to the mass testing. Amid the outbreak, Ruili raised three neighborhoods to COVID-19 high-risk areas and six others to medium risk on Monday, breaking the 42-day streak after China cleared all medium- and high-risk areas on February 22. ^ top ^
China speeds up construction of clean, low-carbon society (People's Daily)
2021-04-09
As climate change becomes an increasingly severer challenge over the recent years, countries are facing more arduous tasks to maintain sustainable development. China made a solemn promise to peak carbon dioxide emission by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. At present, the country is taking more forceful measures and policies to ensure that the goal, which benefits the whole mankind, can be met. The next five years is a critical period for the carbon neutrality task. According to China's Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, the country plans to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP and carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 13.5 percent and 18 percent, respectively, and will make overall arrangements to actively respond to climate change. This year marks the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and efforts are being made across the country to advance green development. South China's Guangdong province proposed to improve a dual control system of total energy consumption and energy intensity, and promote the peaking of carbon dioxide emission by regions and industries. Beijing has rolled out a clear timetable and roadmap for carbon neutrality, and will restructure its energy consumption and advance energy conservation in key areas such as transport and construction. East China's Zhejiang province urged that the proportion of non-fossil energy in total primary energy consumption must be raised to 20.8 percent, and the ratio of installed capacity of coal-fired plants shall be reduced by 2 percentage points. Enterprises are major players in energy conservation and reduction of carbon dioxide emission. Xinjiang Bayi Iron & Steel Company of China Baowu Steel Group is now working on a project of hydrogen-rich blast furnace. The project, replacing coal with hydrogen, can not only improve the efficiency of smelting furnaces, but also reduce carbon dioxide emission by 30 percent. State Power Investment Corporation Limited, China Three Gorges Corporation and other energy enterprises of China recently raised their own goals to peak carbon dioxide emission. To peak carbon dioxide emission and achieve carbon neutrality as early as possible is becoming a consensus of and put into practices by more and more enterprises. "In recent years, China has been committed to a green and low-carbon path of high-quality development featuring ecological conservation, which has laid a solid foundation for the country to reach its goal of peaking carbon dioxide emission and achieving carbon neutrality," said He Jiankun, deputy-president of National Expert Committee on Climate Change. "From incandescent light bulbs to energy saving lamps, and to today's LED bulbs, it's becoming more and more environmentally friendly," said Tan Xiaojun, a resident of Pingdu, east China's Shandong Province, when buying lamps at a store. Ten years ago, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with four other departments and ministries released a roadmap to phase out incandescent light bulbs, after which the electric light gradually faded out. This helped China save 48 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, which is equivalent to reducing 48 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission. Meanwhile, China has also been subsidizing energy friendly home appliances and new energy vehicles (NEV) in recent years, which not only drives green consumption, but also guides the green and low-carbon development of relevant industries. Last year, over 1.3 million NEVs were sold across China, up more than 10 percent from a year ago. China has completed its 2020 targets of carbon emission reduction ahead of schedule. The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) required the country to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 17 percent, while the final result stood at 18.8 percent. During the last five years, China ranked the first in the world in multiple indexes, such as the installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic power and nuclear power under construction. As of the end of 2020, the total installed capacity of clean energy had hit 1.08 billion kilowatts, surpassing that of coal power for the first time and accounting for 49.2 percent of the country's total installed capacity. ^ top ^
Xi calls for boosting rural vitalization (China Daily)
2021-04-09
President Xi Jinping has urged steps to optimize the practice of eastern and western provincial areas pairing off to help each other in order to carry forward the momentum of poverty elimination, accelerate the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and promote rural vitalization. In an instruction published on Thursday, Xi highlighted the need to adapt the program of East-West Pairing-off Cooperation for Poverty Reduction, whereby a developed province in the east assists a less-developed region in the west, to the new situation and circumstances. The program, together with central departments offering assistance to designated poverty-stricken areas, is a major decision by the Communist Party of China Central Committee to promote the coordinated growth between regions and common prosperity, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee. He called for steps to focus on consolidating the outcomes of poverty reduction and pushing forward rural vitalization across the board with the furthering of the two programs. Xi announced at a grand gathering in Beijing in February that China has secured victory in its fight against absolute poverty in rural areas, having lifted nearly 100 million people out of extreme material deprivation and ensured that poverty is eliminated in all poor counties and regions. As the nation moves forward to vitalize rural areas, Xi said in the instruction that it is important to expand the area of pairing-off cooperation, refine the mechanisms and means, boost cooperation in industries and enable better alignment in resources, labor and talent. The goal is to work toward more coordinated development and joint growth between different regions, he said. He urged central departments undertaking the task of offering assistance to designated areas to carry out their duties, amplify their own strengths, innovate their aid measures, spur the implementation of policies and improve the efficacy of assistance measures. The instruction came as a national conference to advance the two programs was held on Thursday in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua said at the meeting that more work must be done to explore new models in pairing-off cooperation between eastern and western provincial areas and to promote the transfer of industries. While serving as a provincial leader in Fujian province in the late 1990s, Xi personally oversaw the progress of pairing-off cooperation between Fujian and Ningxia. One of the landmark programs from the cooperation was the development of Minning township and a slew of support industries that increased the per capita disposable income of residents to 14,900 yuan ($2,275) last year from 500 yuan in 1997. Yu Lerong, an associate professor of rural development at China Agricultural University, said Xi has reaffirmed the important role of the two programs for China in winning the fight against rural poverty and pointed the way for them to continue to aid the nation's rural vitalization drive. "It is important for the nation to amplify the role of the two programs, which have distinctive Chinese characteristics, so as to narrow the divide between regions and pave the way for common prosperity," she said. ^ top ^
China to issue white paper on poverty alleviation (China Daily)
2021-04-06
China's State Council Information Office will release a white paper on poverty alleviation on Tuesday morning. The white paper, titled "Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution," will be released at 10 a.m. Tuesday and a press conference will be held by the office. ^ top ^
Wuhan'on the rise' a year after lockdown was lifted (China Daily)
2021-04-08
One year after a lockdown was lifted, Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, the city hardest hit by COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland, has recovered from the outbreak and is developing at an even more rapid pace than before, experts and local residents said. On April 8 last year, the city reopened after a 76-day lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. It has reported no local COVID-19 cases for more than 10 months, since May 18. Mass vaccination of Wuhan residents was launched in December to further strengthen the safety and health of the people. As of Tuesday, 3.7 million vaccine doses had been given, according to the city's health commission. Vaccination of people over age 60 and in good health has started. Vaccinating people under 18 will be carried out in stages, the commission said. "Now our city is a healthy, happy one that is on the rise," Liu Huihao, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Changjiang Daily, a newspaper in Wuhan. When President Xi Jinping made an inspection tour of Wuhan on March 10 last year, he said the heroic people of the heroic city would definitely defeat COVID-19, rise from the ashes and make more glorious achievements in a new era. Bearing Xi's remarks in mind, the people of Wuhan not only beat COVID-19 but also brought changes to the city after its full recovery from the outbreak. One example is the ongoing construction of a national medical center for major public health incidents at Tongji Hospital, which is affiliated with the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Construction started in July on the center, which covers 105,000 square meters and is meant to improve the city's ability to deal with medical emergencies such as infectious diseases. The center is expected to be completed in June 2022, when it will become the country's sixth national medical center and the first outside Beijing or Shanghai. Six provincial-level pandemic treatment centers also are being built around Hubei, including three in Wuhan. The centers are designed to ensure quick control of any contagion and timely treatment of infectious diseases both on a day-to-day basis and during outbreaks, according to a plan announced last year by the Hubei provincial committee of the Communist Party of China. The move is part of Hubei's efforts to implement reforms in disease control and prevention. The centers will be responsible for reacting quickly to outbreaks, having adequate medical supplies and saving critically ill patients, so that successful treatment can be increased and death rates lowered, the plan said. During the Spring Festival holiday in February, 6.92 million trips were made to Wuhan, making it the fourth most popular tourist destination among all cities in China, after Chengdu, Sichuan province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and Chongqing, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In March, with the approach of the cherry blossom viewing season, online searches for "admiring blossoms in Wuhan" soared. Online travel agency Ctrip said searches on its platforms for "blossom viewing" in Wuhan increased 280 percent compared with February, and the number of such trips to Wuhan that were booked on its platforms grew by 115 percent year-on-year. Wang Xiukun, a postgraduate student of German language and literature at Wuhan University, said more than 1,000 students from her university volunteered to accompany and offer voluntary services to about 200,000 visitors who came to the university for the cherry blossoms since March. "There were medical staff members who had assisted Wuhan in the fight against COVID-19. There were also ordinary tourists who were enthusiastic about admiring the flowers," she said. Seeing that the university and the city have been as full of people as they used to be, Wang said she felt "the city itself is like a cherry blossom that blooms again". ^ top ^
Series on foreigners' perspectives of Shanghai launched (China Daily)
2021-04-09
The Information Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Thursday unveiled the "Shanghai Through Our Eyes" video series as part of efforts to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China this year. Comprising 100 short videos produced by the Shanghai Municipal Information Office and Xinmin Evening News, the series aims to share stories of Shanghai's development through the eyes of foreigners living in the city. According to the information office, the foreigners come from all walks of life and include scientists, entrepreneurs, experts, scholars, artists and even sports stars. "We have interviewed 100 people from political, business, and intellectual communities and they are going to share their feelings and experiences about the city, and we believe that such storytelling will help you gain a better understanding of the Communist Party of China," said Zhou Huilin, head of the municipal publicity department. Zhou also addressed the foreign journalists that were present, calling for them to "consistently adopt a fair and objective position, dive deeper into the reform initiatives of Shanghai and produce more truthful and vivid news reporting in order to help the international community better understand the CPC". Also in attendance at the event was two-time Academy Award-winning British director Malcolm Clarke, who is among the 100 foreigners featured in the series. Clarke, who has been living in Shanghai for the past few years, spoke to members of the media about his upcoming documentary Viral, which was filmed in Wuhan, the first epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The documentary chronicles the events that took place during the initial stages of the pandemic and contains interviews with a host of people including local medical workers, senior officials and even traders from the wet market. Looking back at the crisis, Clarke voiced his approval of China's handling of the situation, saying that the country managed to get the outbreak under control due to "decisive, strong, smart decisions that were made very early". "I think it's better if a Western tells the story (about Wuhan). Because there's always an aspect of people not believing in China and a lot of anti-China feeling today. I think telling it through a Western's eyes is probably a stronger way to explain to the world what really happened," he said. ^ top ^
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| Beijing |
Beijing may reach 70% inoculation rate by May; uses signs, thank-you notes to encourage vaccination (Global Times)
2021-04-09
As China is speeding up the pace of COVID-19 inoculation, Beijing is encouraging its residents, especially the elderly, to get vaccinated by posting inoculation data signs and "thank you notes." Experts expect Beijing to reach a 70 percent inoculation rate, the threshold for herd immunity, by May. Signs on the walls of several residential communities, mostly in hutong, in Dongcheng and Xicheng districts - two core districts in Beijing - show the inoculation rate that the community has achieved. Some of the communities had rates of more than 80 percent and got a green sign and a "thank-you note," while the ones with rates of 40-80 percent got a yellow sign. Those with rates of less than 40 percent got a red sign, according to the Global Times' observations on Thursday. The signs featuring different colors raised some concerns on Chinese social media platforms, with some saying that they might put pressure on areas with low inoculation rates and people who were not willing or ready to get a shot. Pictures shows a sign indicating inoculation rate of 40-80% in a Beijing community. Photo: Lou Kang/GT Pictures shows a sign indicating inoculation rate of 40-80% in a Beijing community. Photo: Lou Kang/GT An employee from the Shichahai Lake street office, Xicheng district, told the Global Times on Wednesday that posting these signs is a part of the efforts to promote vaccination in Beijing's residential communities. In a random interview with residents on Thursday, a Global Times reporter found most of them did not mind the signs. "It doesn't bother me at all," said a resident in his 20s. "I haven't gotten the shot yet because for me there is no need to rush. COVID-19 seems far way and I believe most of the others who haven't gotten vaccinated feel the same." A vaccination volunteer in Andingmen told the Global Times that "our country will resume normal communication with the rest of the world sooner or later. That's why the vaccination is necessary and people should get their shots as soon as possible." The volunteer said that local residents are able to get shots at the inoculation sites. Previously, people who wanted to get vaccinated needed to make appointments online first. Other cities are also encouraging COVID-19 inoculation via creative, considerate and non-coercive measures. Choices made by the public will be crucial in achieving the goal of immunizing 40 percent of the population by June, which experts said is likely to be achieved through an accelerated vaccination program. Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times on Thursday that China is expected to vaccinate 70 percent of its population by the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity. Relative to its population of nearly 21 million, Beijing is expected to reach a 70-percent inoculation rate by May, Feng predicted. Beijing had vaccinated more than 11 million people as of Saturday, accounting for 50 percent of the population. In early March, the number was 6 million. As of Wednesday, China had injected nearly 150 million doses. The rate of inoculation in the country is about 5 percent, while the US has reached 33 percent, according to the New York Times. Some medical experts have worried about the immunity gap between China and the rest of the world, which would push up the risk of imported cases. However, Feng said that there was no necessity to compare China with other countries. "We are in a different situation in this pandemic, where the US has a smaller population than China, yet it has more COVID-19 cases. While in China, the population is much bigger and yet there are almost no cases." "What we need is 'absolute population coverage' to make sure that every citizen in the country gets the vaccine by the end of the year," said Feng. ^ top ^
Beijing's coolest venue warming to new role (China Daily)
2021-04-08
As the oldest of all Beijing 2022 venues, the Capital Indoor Stadium has transformed into a double-duty ice sports center following a facelift to stage two of the host's strongest disciplines at the Winter Olympics. Built in 1968 as a multi-purpose summer sports facility, the stadium still evokes its past in much of its exterior appearance. However, the skating events taking place this week in its renovated competition hall herald an exciting new era for the landmark venue in the lead-up to the 2022 Winter Games. With the arena playing host to figure skating and short-track speed skating in 2022, organizers and operational staff are currently attempting to perfect the transition between the two disciplines as part of the ongoing ice sports test program for the Games. Key procedures of the switch involve the adjustment of ice temperatures, and changing the safety pads and judging seats. All this must be completed within two hours to host figure skating in the morning and afternoon before the short-track races in the evening, as per the Olympic schedule. Despite being a powerhouse in both disciplines, China has previously had little organizational experience in handling such a logistical changeover. "It's a brand new challenge for us because this combined arrangement only happens at the Olympics," said Shen Ling, director of the stadium's transition operation. "It's difficult for us as a first-time Winter Olympics organizer, but we have prepared very well for the operation, and the test program will help us perfect the execution with repeated practice." Starting from Saturday, Shen's team of 40 staff have had to complete the transition seven times over the course of six days, in order for competitions and training sessions of the two disciplines to take place alternately without any delay. Guiding them on the delicate task of adjusting the ice temperature is French technician Remy Boehler, who was hired by Beijing 2022 to prepare the rink for the Olympics. Boehler, the chief ice maker for the two disciplines at the 2018 Games in South Korea, stressed that figure skaters and speed racers require different densities of surface to cater to their respective moves. Softer and thicker ice suits figure skaters for digging in to perform jumps and spins, while a firmer and thinner surface helps speed skaters to push hard for acceleration. With a complete change of the ice surface not an option during the Olympics, Boehler's team has to adjust temperatures within a range of three degrees Celsius in between sessions to either soften the surface for figure skaters or harden it for speed skaters. "He's enlightened us on many details regarding the maintenance of the ice surface," Sun Luyong, a Chinese assistant on Boehler's team, said of the French expert. "From the control of ice temperature to the skills of ice layer shaving, we have so much to learn from him." To allow more time for temperature control, Shen's team has managed to speed up the transition process for protective pads, with the thick cushions used for speed skating replaced by thin fences for figure skating. "From spending over 40 minutes at the first rehearsal to now completing it within half an hour, we've managed to buy more time for our ice technicians," said Shen. "The more we practice, the better and faster we get the job done. This is what this week's test program is all about." The joint effort has earned positive feedback from athletes participating in the test event. Pang Siyu, a 15-year-old amateur short-track speed skater, was thrilled to clock a personal best in the women's 500m final on the Olympic track. "This rink is awesome," she said after winning in 45.71 seconds on Sunday. "This is definitely the fastest ice I've skated on. I don't want to leave the rink yet as I haven't had enough." With the trial program continuing, ice quality at the Capital Indoor Stadium is braced for a sterner test of its durability when China's national team speedsters, including men's reigning 500m Olympic champion Wu Dajing, lace up for nine events from Thursday to Saturday. With short-track and figure skating considered two of China's most competitive disciplines, the 15,000-seat Capital Indoor Stadium is expected to draw the biggest crowds during the 2022 Winter Games, potentially posing big challenges for the control of ice quality. The more people in the arena, the more difficult it is to control the venue's air temperature and humidity, complicating the ice density adjustment. Despite the unpredictable variables at the venue, Boehler, who was allowed more time to complete the ice transition at the last Games in South Korea, said he is certain that the surface will meet the Olympic standards next year. "This is really good preparation," he told Xinhua. "Everybody can now test the ice with the same conditions as the Olympic Winter Games." ^ top ^
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| Shanghai |
Shanghai to unveil global trade promotion plan (China Daily)
2021-04-09
Shanghai will launch a detailed plan to promote international trade in the city during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), improve overall core competitiveness and advance a new round of opening-up, municipal government officials said on Thursday. The plan envisages giving Shanghai the required competitive edge to be a hub for international trade. It also aims to make the city a major import and export distribution center connecting the Yangtze River Delta region and serving the entire country. Offshore and intermediary trade is another area that is expected to play a significant role in shaping Shanghai's fortunes in the next five years, Zong Ming, vice-mayor of the city, said during a news conference. To that end, banks will provide more convenience for foreign exchange transactions in the current accounts of companies in the city. Key areas such as China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Shanghai Hongqiao Central Business District will be encouraged to come up with special tax policies to support offshore trade. Yangshan and Waigaoqiao ports in the city will strengthen their capabilities for distributing intelligent manufacturing, integrated circuits and biomedicine products as well as bulk commodities, said Zong. Efforts will also be made to advance the city's higher level of opening-up to make it a gateway for investment in the Asia-Pacific region. In this regard, more world-class industrial clusters should be set up in the city so that more services can be provided to multinational companies throughout their entire life cycle. Shanghai should also be home to more multinational companies' regional headquarters to better connect domestic and international markets. Public information shows that about 535 multinational companies had set up their regional headquarters in Shanghai by 2015. The number jumped to 771 last year. In addition, the city was home to 481 regional research and development centers of multinational companies by the end of last year, compared with 396 in 2015. Consumption is another major sector that the city plans to tap for boosting international trade for the next five years. Gu Jun, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said high-end consumption should be increased in the city via more global debuts of international brands, incubation of domestic brands and building consumption landmarks. The total value of e-commerce deals realized in Shanghai reached 3 trillion yuan ($458 billion) in 2020, while the number was 1.7 trillion yuan in 2015, according to the municipal government. The city saw its total retail value rise to 1.6 trillion yuan last year, the highest in the country. Efforts will also be stepped up to make the China International Import Expo, which will hold its fourth edition this year, more influential globally to upgrade trade, industries and consumption. Meanwhile, the construction of a modern logistics system should be carried out to make Shanghai the supply chain management center in the Asia-Pacific region. Innovation should be seen in terms of investment mechanisms for international trade to further improve the city's business environment, according to the plan. ^ top ^
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| Tibet |
Tibet issues border activity bans, strengthens control over illegal crossings (Global Times)
2021-04-07
Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has announced bans on 15 border activities, further strengthening controls over illegal crossings as the region prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its peaceful liberation in May. The Public Security Department and Foreign Affairs Office of Tibet Autonomous Region have jointly issued a circular with other government departments, highlighting 15 acts that are prohibited at the border, the Tibet Daily reported Tuesday. The strictly prohibited acts include entering the border management zone without valid documents, evading border inspection, organizing or helping others to be smuggled across the border, and hunting or collecting national protected rare animals and plants. The bans also prohibit private small aircraft flight activities, damaging or moving of communications and water facilities, moving of markers that mark the location of the border, and damaging of military facilities. According to the announcement, anyone who violates these prohibitions will be held accountable according to law, and will be transferred to the judicial authorities if the act constitutes a crime. "The bans have always existed in local laws. It is a preventive as well as a regular measure to safeguard border security," Zhu Xiaoming, former Party chief of China Tibetology Research Center, told the Global Times on Tuesday. In 2020, the central government called for efforts to ensure national security and enduring peace and stability, steadily improve people's lives, maintain a good environment, solidify border defense and ensure frontier security at the seventh Central Symposium on Tibet Work. Zhu pointed out that the emphasis on the 15 border prohibitions can further implement this approach. Because of Tibet's long border and its harsh geographical and natural conditions, the border was not fully guarded before and criminal activities have always taken place along the border, Yang Minghong, a professor with the Faculty of Social Development and Western China Development Studies at Sichuan University told the Global Times. "In recent years, the region has also been infiltrated by some foreign forces. As Tibet is about to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its liberation, it is necessary to take appropriate precautions," Yang said. Tibet is preparing to celebrate its 70th anniversary of liberation on May 23rd. The year 2021 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China. Observers also noted that Tibet's stricter border controls may help safeguard the region's COVID-19 prevention work as India on Monday recorded an all-time high of 103,558 single day new coronavirus infections. Last week, the China-Myanmar border city of Ruili in Southwest China's Yunnan Province was hit by a COVID-19 flare-up, which was likely related to imported cases from neighboring Myanmar, local authorities said Saturday. ^ top ^
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| Xinjiang |
Xinjiang smear reflects West's moral decline (China Daily)
2021-04-09
Anti-China forces, including certain foreign governments, businesses and Switzerland-based NGO Better Cotton Initiative, have been using false allegations to smear Xinjiang cotton. That their accusations are baseless is borne out by the fact that they have not been citing a single evidence of "forced labor" in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to prove their claim. Xinjiang started benefiting from various subsidies and financial support provided by the central government way back during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Although Xinjiang lags behind coastal provinces in China in terms of economic and social development, it leads other provinces and regions in welfare programs such as the medical and pension insurance system, which covers both urban and rural residents thanks to consistent favorable policies of the central authorities. One of the financial supports that Xinjiang and other ethnic autonomous regions received was in the form of transfer payments－transfer of money without any exchange of goods or services. Transfer payments are part of the central government's policy to redistribute money to those provinces and regions in need. The fiscal funds transferred by the central government go straight to the local governments. From 2013 to 2019, transfer payments offset Xinjiang's fiscal deficit of more than 1.9 trillion yuan ($290.32 billion). Some prosperous eastern and central provinces, too, have provided financial support for underdeveloped autonomous regions as part of pairing assistance programs. For example, the Beijing municipal government has given more than 2 billion yuan a year to Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture for many years. In 2017, the funds accounted for nearly 10 percent of Hotan's GDP, according to official data. And State-owned enterprises have provided public services such as electricity in Xinjiang at relatively low prices. Thanks to such financial support, Xinjiang not only established advanced pension and medical insurance systems, but also introduced a 15-year compulsory education program－three years of preschool, six years of elementary and six years of high school－compared with the nine-year compulsory education system in inland provinces and regions. It is safe to deduce from these examples that Xinjiang has enjoyed these welfare programs thanks to the support from the central and other provincial authorities. The cotton industry is one of the three pillars of Xinjiang's economy－the others being oil and coal. That's why some anti-China forces are trying to smear Xinjiang cotton, but that will have little effect on the country's economy, as China has built effective safeguards against foreign interference. The smear campaign against Xinjiang cotton and poverty alleviation work in the region reflects the moral degeneration of some Western politicians and media. But this trend, in the long run, will weaken the foundation of Western society and cast a shadow over its development, instead of hurting China. For instance, Damien Sanfilippo, director of standards and assurance of Better Cotton Initiative told BBC last year that they had "identified the risk that poor, rural communities (in Xinjiang) would be coerced into employment linked to this poverty alleviation program". He added:"Even if these workers get a decent wage－which is possible－they may not have chosen that employment freely." Surprisingly, Sanfilippo seems to believe that impoverished people can earn a decent income without working for it. Earning one's own livelihood is a basic social value, so Sanfilippo's statements and BBC's report are preposterous and reflect the moral decline of Western society. That some Western media are spreading canards in a bid to embarrass China and brainwash their own people means Western society faces a bleak future, which will be compounded by the declining productivity and rising financial debt of the West. ^ top ^
Xinjiang teacher chose to go 'where country needs me most' (China Daily)
2021-04-09
For Guljahan Amat, applying for membership in the Communist Party of China was a must-do. Her parents in Urumqi, the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, were officials on the State payroll. They wanted her to be politically motivated ever since she was in the first grade. As a result, she became a member of the Chinese Young Pioneers, which is a national organization for primary school students, and the Communist Youth League, a movement for Chinese between the ages of 14 and 28 that is run by the CPC. "They are my role models, being honest and righteous. I thought I should be a member of the CPC (as well)," said Amat, who is now 30 and a teacher in Xinjiang. When Amat, who is of the Uygur ethnic group, passed the college entrance examination－the first among high school graduates of ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang－in 2009, she was recruited by the Education Department of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications to take preparatory courses on ancient Chinese language and English. The program is designed for high school graduates of ethnic minority groups who take college entrance examinations in their own languages. "I spoke very poor Mandarin and had no knowledge of English at that time," Amat recalled. In June 2011, her membership in the CPC was approved. In September of that year she was enrolled by Beijing Normal University's School of History with tuition waived and a small amount of allowance offered. Chen Tao, head teacher of the 2011 history class, recalled that Amat did not apply for grant aid, even though her family's financial situation was not good, but hoped instead that classmates who were in a worse situation could get financial support. To deal with her own situation, she took part-time jobs on the campus. Amat was always proud of outperforming her peers in Urumqi, from primary to high school. But among outstanding students from all over the country at Beijing Normal University, Amat felt a sense of defeat for the first time, because of her poor knowledge of ancient Chinese history and her poor teaching skills. Because students at the school are trained to be teachers, they are required to lecture in front of their classmates. "One day when it was my turn to lecture at the podium, I was so nervous that I drew a blank and faltered," Amat recalled. "My teacher called my performance 'too poor'." "All of a sudden, I became unsure of my ability to be a teacher, which I have considered to be a dream job since I was a child." But Amat didn't call it quits. She started reading aloud ancient Chinese characters for half an hour every morning and spent almost every weekend at the National Library of China in Beijing to read and borrow books. In addition, she asked the class's teaching assistant to help her improve her lecturing skills. By the time she finished her third year of university, she was one of the best lecturers. "I was not the smartest and the best one, but I didn't allow myself to be outdone by my classmates in terms of hard work and persistence," Amat said. "I have always kept going if I aim for a goal." During the summer holiday in 2014, she was thrilled to be one of four people to report to President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, when he visited the university. She represented all the students; the three others were the university's Party secretary, the president of the Chemistry School and the assistant for political and ideological work from the Education Department. The meeting with Xi, as well as his remarks, turned out to be the inspiration for Amat as a teacher. "General Secretary Xi told us that teachers should be benevolent," she said. "Now that I'm a teacher, I have always tried my best to help my students with my soul and heart," she said. "The children know well whether you treat them sincerely." Amat's choices of schools where she has taught and is now teaching were also inspired by Xi, who said that when the central and western parts of China grow strong, the country will become strong as a whole. After graduating in 2015, Amat decided to return to Urumqi, even though she could have chosen to remain outside Xinjiang. Amat said, "I was wondering, if all the students from Xinjiang left for other parts of the country, who would build our home place? General Secretary Xi says the central and western areas are short of skilled people. And I don't want to see my native land left behind." No 23 Middle School in Urumqi was the first place to recruit Amat to be a history teacher. But a one-year chance to be a volunteer teacher at No 8 Middle School in Kargilik (Yecheng in Mandarin) county in southern Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture was a life-changing experience for her. She applied to work at the school, which is 1,500 kilometers away from Urumqi and a melting pot for about 500,000 people of 13 ethnic groups, of which Uygurs account for 93 percent. "Kargilik is not that attractive in terms of some factors such as education level, living conditions and medical facilities, but I made up my mind to stay," Amat said. "I want to play a role in the place where the country needs me the most." Amat was moved by how her students need her and how they aspire to change. "The children are genuine, rustic, loving and easily approachable," she said. On her 25th birthday, when she went on a business trip to Urumqi, her students looked for her, from her office to her home. When they failed to find her, they cried, thinking she wouldn't come back. And when she was in bed with a terrible cold recently, two girls made porridge for her. "Almost every day, students let me know that what I am doing is worthwhile and meaningful," Amat said. Dai Yan, the head of the middle school's Party committee, said: "I've seen some people trying their best to go to big cities. Amat is an exception who moved the other way, from Urumqi to this faraway place." ^ top ^
Uygur ex-head of Xinjiang education department gets suspended death sentence (SCMP)
2021-04-08
The former head of the Xinjiang education department has been handed a suspended death sentence and five other Uygurs given hefty prison terms for their roles in writing and publishing of a number of school textbooks deemed "problematic" by local authorities, according to state media reports. Sattar Sawut was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve after being found guilty of separatism and taking bribes, Xinhua quoted a top judge in the region as saying on Tuesday. The charges were built around Sawut's role in writing and publishing of Uygur-language textbooks that were used in primary and secondary schools in Xinjiang for 13 years but in 2016 were deemed by the regional government to be inciting ethnic hatred and "separatist thoughts". His deputy at the education department and two publishers of the books were each given life sentences, while two editors from the same publishing house were also found guilty, but their sentences were not specified. None of the other defendants were named. The court ruled that the textbooks had incited people to carry out a series of violent and sometimes deadly attacks in Xinjiang between 2009 and 2014, the report said. Close to 200 people were killed in the 2009 riots in Urumqi, the regional capital. Details of the sentencing came as Beijing continues to defend its policies in Xinjiang against widespread allegations of discrimination against Uygur people and even charges of genocide. In recent weeks, China's state media have rolled out a series of reports and commentaries condemning foreign companies for their views on Xinjiang cotton. Beijing is also endorsing lawsuits against overseas academics and media outlets critical of its Xinjiang policies. The only evidence offered by Beijing regarding the problematic textbooks was shown in a documentary aired on Friday by state-run CGTN. Almost all of the problems cited concerned a short-lived government in the region in the 1940s – the East Turkestan Republic (ETR) – a chapter of Xinjiang's history that Beijing feels ambivalent about. In one case, an interviewee referred to a textbook's inclusion of a picture of Ehmetjan Qasim, a founding member of the ETR in the 1940s, with the emblem of the government pinned to his collar. That Soviet-backed government, which turned to the Communist Party after its revolt against the Nationalists, was incorporated by Beijing in its narrative as part of the nationwide revolution and Qasim – a Moscow-trained Marxist who later died on a Soviet plane flying to Beijing – was later lionised by the Communist Party as a national hero. But in most pictures of Qasim used by Chinese authorities, the ETR emblem is cropped out. And Beijing has almost always referred to that Uygur government as "the three district revolution" instead of the ETR, as it is keen to avoid any references to the highly sensitive name. Another of the problematic pictures in the textbooks showed clashes between Uygur fighters and Han-looking soldiers with the Chinese Nationalist Party in the 1940s. Beijing still calls the uprising a just revolution. The overhaul of the Uygur-language textbooks, as well as a purge of the region's education regulators seemed to begin in the second half of 2016, months before Sawut was placed under investigation by the Communist Party. The same year saw the appointment of the region's incumbent party chief, Chen Quanguo, who is considered a key figure in the implementation of Beijing's policies in the region and was put on a US sanction list last year. Meanwhile, Shirzat Bawudun, a former head of the Xinjiang department of justice, has also been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on separatism charges, the report said. Wang Langtao, vice-president of Xinjiang's regional court, said Bawudun had conspired with a terrorist organisation and taken bribes. The court said he colluded with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement – listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations – after meeting a member of the group in 2003, Xinhua reported. The US delisted the group as a terrorist organisation in November, citing a lack of evidence that the group still existed. ^ top ^
Witnessing the real Xinjiang, foreign diplomats debunk lies (Global Times)
2021-04-06
Savoring a piece of naan sprinkled with spices and chatting with a naan master at the International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Vladimir Norov was amazed at how this bread-like staple food has boosted the development of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. "The naan has a perfect integration of tradition and modernity," said Norov, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He said what impressed him most was the industrial chain driven by naan, a daily food for the people in Xinjiang, which is also gaining popularity in other parts of China. The naan making involves agricultural production, processing, logistics, cultural creativity, and the tourism industry, thus providing various positions for job seekers. Norov is not the only one impressed by the social and economic development in Xinjiang in recent years. From March 30 to April 2, a delegation comprising Norov and more than 30 diplomats from some 21 countries visited Xinjiang. They talked with locals from various sectors of society, visited local schools and enterprises, and debunked rumors about Xinjiang, a region whose image is frequently distorted by some Western politicians, organizations and media. Refuting lies Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh, the Iranian ambassador to China, visited mosques in the regional capital Urumqi and Kashgar. He was amazed by the conditions there. Responding to rumors fabricated by some Western media that Xinjiang "restricts freedom of religious belief," the ambassador said that, during a visit to the Baida Mosque located in Urumqi, normal Islamic religious activities in mosques took place in line with the Muslim people's will. "As a Muslim, I prayed in the mosque. I saw people are free to practice their religious activities." He said that the mosques are spacious and bright, the carpets are soft and clean, and there are tables and chairs for the convenience of the elderly and the disabled. The mosques also have facilities like flush toilets, ablution rooms, canteens, and cultural centers, Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh said. He also noticed that the Chinese government's efforts in fighting terrorism are genuine and bearing fruit. Xinjiang has "completely reversed the past, which was marked by frequent violent terrorist activities. There have been no terrorist incidents across the region over the past more than four years," Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, told the delegation at a briefing held on Friday in Urumqi. Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh's view was echoed by Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, the Nepalese ambassador to China, during their visit to an exhibition themed around the arduous fight against terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang. "I appreciate that the Chinese government and people not only substantially control terrorism but they have given new ways of life, including vocational training and education. It means people in Xinjiang are not suppressed, and they have been given opportunities to move forward toward peace and development," said Pandey. Some foreign diplomats voiced support and appreciation for policies that helped maintain Xinjiang's stability and development. Efforts have gone into developing Xinjiang, and many people's livelihoods have significantly improved, noted Ivan Zhelokhovtsev, Charge d'Affaires ad Interim of the Russian Embassy in China. He said that some Western news reports would not influence their views on Xinjiang-related issues. During his stay in the region, he did not find the issues that the news described. Better livelihoods "Upholding a people-centered development policy and taking people's longing for a better life as its goal, Xinjiang has made unprecedented achievements in promoting economic and social development and improving people's livelihoods," said Shohrat Zakir. Barataji Abdulla, a 33-year-old resident from Nazarbagh Town in Kashgar, was once a taxi driver. He was deeply influenced by extremism, even refusing to provide services for non-Muslim people. In order to get life back on track, his family members persuaded him to join a local vocational education and training center in May 2018, where he learned laws and vocational skills. After graduating in May of the following year, he became a pump truck driver with a monthly income of over 6,000 yuan (about 914.6 U.S. dollars) and now lives a stable life. Sobah Rasheed, minister counsellor of the Embassy of Maldives in China, said he was glad to see that Abdulla got rid of extreme thoughts and became thoughtful and far-sighted. Foreign diplomats visit a primary school in Awat Township of Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 31, 2021. From March 30 to April 2, a delegation comprising Vladimir Norov, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and more than 30 diplomats from some 21 countries visited Xinjiang.Photo:Xinhua Foreign diplomats visit a primary school in Awat Township of Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 31, 2021. From March 30 to April 2, a delegation comprising Vladimir Norov, secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and more than 30 diplomats from some 21 countries visited Xinjiang.Photo:Xinhua In a production workshop of a textile enterprise in Aksu, modern machines are running at full capacity. Akram Zeynalli, the ambassador of Azerbaijan to China, said that the machines here are highly advanced. He said he did not see anything negative in the working area or the staff living quarters. "I feel very good visiting here." Sanmugan Subramaniam, minister of the Embassy of Malaysia in China, said that there are many textile enterprises here that provide a large number of positions for local job seekers, which is of great significance for economic development. "I hope to have more opportunities to visit Xinjiang in the future and feel its progress and development," said Sanmugan Subramaniam. From 2014 to 2019, the GDP of Xinjiang increased from 919.59 billion yuan to 1.36 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 7.2 percent. Under the current standards, 3.06 million rural residents in the region have been lifted out of poverty, 3,666 poverty-stricken villages have withdrawn from the poverty list, and all 35 poverty-stricken counties are now off the poverty list. "I am deeply impressed by the rapid development of Xinjiang. People of all ethnic groups live and work in peace and contentment and enjoy equal rights," said Vladimir Norov. He said that the SCO is committed to maintaining security and stability and promoting the prosperity and development of its member states. Many Xinjiang developments and governance experiences are worth learning from, he added. ^ top ^
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| Hongkong |
Carrie Lam supports proposals to facilitate business listings in HK (Global Times)
2021-04-09
Hong Kong SAR's Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday said she supports proposals to relax listing requirements on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. With regard to proposals to relax listing requirements for companies that wish to float shares on the bourse, Lam said on Thursday that she supports, in principle, all measures that break down barriers, and, she believes that such efforts will be fitting for all government departments. The HKEX is an independent listed firm, but it has the Special Administrative Region government's support for all measures taken to attract local and overseas companies to float their shares on the bourse, media reports said on Thursday, citing Lam. The HKEX is seeking market views in a two-month consultation period on proposed reforms to enhance the listings of overseas issuers. The proposed measures will give greater flexibility to overseas-listed companies seeking secondary listings or dual-primary listings. Against the backdrop of the hostile stance taken by the US government toward Chinese firms listed in the US, the new move is seen as helpful to companies seeking home-return listings. Chinese search engine Baidu was among the latest Chinese firms making a "home-coming" share sale in Hong Kong. The Biden administration has retained some hardline policies from the Trump period in cracking down on Chinese companies listed in the US. Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Offshore Oil Corp became the latest Chinese company to be pushed out of the New York Stock Exchange on Biden's watch. ^ top ^
Hong Kong tycoon Lai pleads guilty to illegal assembly (China Daily)
2021-04-08
Hong Kong activist and media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and two former lawmakers from the city could face up to five years in prison, after they pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of knowingly taking part in an unauthorized assembly amid the city's 2019 social unrest. Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan and Yeung Sum were arrested on Feb 28, 2020, over an illegal assembly that took place on Aug 31, 2019, when the city was embroiled in street violence. The case was heard at the District Court in Wan Chai on Wednesday morning. At the court, the prosecutor played several video clips that showed the participation of the three in the illegal assembly held at the Southorn Playground in Wan Chai district. The videos also showed that Lai and Yeung were leading protesters in shouting slogans. When the march headed toward the police headquarters in Wan Chai, the videos also showed that the three were taking part. The unauthorized assembly had paralyzed road traffic in the neighborhood for almost eight hours. Sentencing in the case is set for April 16, the same day when Lai, together with six former opposition lawmakers, will be sentenced for organizing and knowingly participating in an unauthorized procession on Aug 18, 2019. Lai and the six others were convicted on April 1 for their roles in the unlawful assembly at Victoria Park of Causeway Bay on Aug 18. The two cases faced by Lai were part of four court cases in which Lai and a total of 14 other opposition activists were charged over several unlawful assemblies between August and October 2019. Lai, the founder of Hong Kong tabloid Apple Daily, was arrested in August last year and in February on suspicion of violating the National Security Law for Hong Kong, which came into force on June 30, 2020. ^ top ^
U.S. interference with HK doomed to fail (Xinhua)
2021-04-08
China's central authorities have taken steps to improve Hong Kong's electoral system, and the public has enthusiastically supported it. However, Hanscom Smith, the U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong, twisted right and wrong and upended black and white. Smith said -- on April Fool's Day no less -- that Hong Kong elections would not produce "meaningful democratic results." He further wrote in a local newspaper that "it is harder to recognize the Hong Kong that thrived for so long." At this critical moment when Hong Kong is moving from chaos to stability, some U.S. and Western diplomats like Smith are once again revealing their hegemonic mentality of interfering with China. They did not speak up when Hong Kong society was riddled with vandalism and robbery. They did not care about the mainstream public's opinion in Hong Kong for stability and development. But they jumped up and down at the time when Hong Kong's political system began to improve. This is not because China has violated its commitment to "one country, two systems," or because improving the electoral system has undermined democracy or freedom, as they have claimed, but because the implementation of the principle "patriots administering Hong Kong" has deprived them of pawns to oppose China and disrupt Hong Kong. The principle is not unique to Hong Kong or China. It is an internationally recognized basic requirement that those who govern must be loyal to their country, and it is also a principle that is commonly followed in the design of political systems around the world, including in the United States. In practice, there is no uniform model of democracy, and Hong Kong's electoral system is not a replica of any other electoral system. It has a basis in local realities -- based on a comprehensive summary of years of practical experience in Hong Kong's elections. Smith got part of it right, though. Hong Kong, in the future, is not going to be the one he recognizes. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, not a colony for anyone to invade, or the 51st state of the United States. The days that Smith and his likes call wind and summon rain are gone. When the U.S. consulate, once as robust as a busy market, gets less and less traffic, and when those factions poised to subvert Hong Kong by being tools of foreign powers are punished by the law one by one, the scheme of Smith and his likes will no longer work. ^ top ^
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| Taiwan |
Taiwan authorities panic from their radical policies (Global Times)
2021-04-09
Joseph Wu Jaushieh, the island of Taiwan's leader of external affairs, said on Wednesday that the Chinese mainland's military threat to the island is increasing, and that US policymakers "clearly see the danger of the possibility of China launching an attack against Taiwan." He also said that the island would fight to the very last day if attacked by the Chinese mainland. This was a rare statement of Taiwan authorities in the face of the risk of reunification by force. Apparently, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities have seen that they have pushed the cross-Straits situation into a dead end, with political and military antagonism spiraling upward. As they have destroyed the political preconditions for an ease of the situation, they have begun to fear the eventual breakout of a war. The majority of people are willing to see the Taiwan Straits enjoy peace with both sides of the Straits jointly discussing the peaceful reunification. But there are two premises. First, island authorities must accept the one-China principle and make policies promoting cross-Straits integration rather than division. Second, they should keep a distance from US strategies to contain China, refraining from acting as a pawn. However, the DPP has ruined both preconditions. Regional leader Tsai Ing-wen has refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle. Tsai has thus put an end to the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations and brought the island to a dangerous route to confront the Chinese mainland. To secure their extreme policies, the DPP authorities have made mistakes repeatedly by cozying up to US' campaign to pressure the Chinese mainland. In this way, the DPP has tried to prove its indispensable value to US strategy in exchange for Washington's determination to "defend" the island. This is a crazy road of no return. The Chinese mainland is growing stronger and more prosperous. How could the 1.4 billion Chinese people allow Taiwan to be separated from China in such a blatant way? What can be used for Taiwan to seek "independence?" The US in recent years mapped out its strategy to contain China and has played the "Taiwan card." The island of Taiwan, pleasing the US at the expense of its own interests, has rushed to build itself a frontline of the US' vicious China policy. How could there be such a mindless and stupid political team on the island? If the DPP authorities continue their radical road and refuse to pull back before it's too late, they are doomed to be rooted out. It's only a matter of when and how. Wu, to a large extent, was meant to make himself heard by the US and Japan, especially those radical anti-China forces in Washington, in an attempt to demand that they deter the mainland with greater efforts. However, the Taiwan authorities are too narrow-minded to figure out the general situation of China-US strategic competition. They tend to look up at the US, thus believing the mainland is in awe of Washington as they are. They are desperately silly. The present-day China is different from what it was several decades ago. The balance of military power in the Taiwan Straits has fundamentally changed. The situation of China-US competition is also changing. In the past, the possibility of the US military intervening in a war in the Taiwan Straits could generate pressure on the mainland. But today, no matter how the US declares its determination to "defend Taiwan," it can no longer frighten the mainland. Peaceful unification is the mainland's goodwill. It's not a choice being forced to make under threat. We despise those commitments the US has made to the island. We also believe our will to crack down on secessionists far outweighs Washington's will to "defend Taiwan." In extreme circumstance, our will to engage in a full-scale confrontation across the Taiwan Straits without hesitation will also be far greater than that of the US. At the same time, we look down on Tsai authorities' clamor on "fight to the end." It is believed that Taiwan people will not support their authorities' radical policies that have no bottom line, nor are they willing to become cannon fodder. No one will help the DPP authorities in fighting to "the very last day." Therefore, we offer the DPP authorities a piece of advice - facing the reality, making fundamental adjustments on its ruling policies, stepping out of the blind alley by themselves. If they insist on taking chances and continue to be evil, and they will lose both time and opportunities, until a severe stalemate makes the situation uncontrollable. In the end, they will be condemned by history, and severely punished by the law of the People's Republic of China. ^ top ^
China's military tracks US warship traversing Taiwan Strait (SCMP)
2021-04-08
China's military confirmed that it had tracked a US warship as it traversed the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, a move the US described as a routine freedom of navigation exercise and Beijing denounced as destabilising to the region. It came on the same day that Taiwanese authorities said 15 Chinese military aircraft, including a dozen fighter jets, had crossed into their defence zone, and warned Beijing that the island would "defend ourselves to the very last day" if necessary. "The US move to send warship to sail through the Taiwan Strait and hype it publicly is an old trick to 'manipulate' the cross-Strait situation," Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, spokesman for the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command, said in a statement. "China is firmly opposed to that." A statement from the US military's Seventh Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain's transit through the Taiwan Strait "demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific". Taiwan says it will fight 'to the very last day' as Beijing sends fighter jets "The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows," the statement said. Beijing claims the self-governed island of Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take it under its control. Over the last week, Taiwan's defence ministry has announced Chinese military incursions into its air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on an almost daily basis: one PLA aircraft flew through on Saturday, another on Sunday, 10 on Monday and four more on Tuesday, it said. "We are willing to defend ourselves without any questions and we will fight the war if we need to fight the war," Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Wednesday. "And if we need to defend ourselves to the very last day, we will defend ourselves to the very last day." Addressing the Chinese military aircraft moves on Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that "we have of course taken note with great concern the pattern of ongoing PRC [People's Republic of China] efforts and attempts to intimidate in the region, including in the context of Taiwan". "In support of long-standing US policy, as reflected in the Taiwan Relations Act, [the US] maintains the capacity to resist any resort force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardise the security or the social or economic system of the people on Taiwan," Price said. Price also warned that the US is watching for any "armed attack" against the Philippines in relation to Chinese vessels moored around Whitsun Reef in the disputed South China Sea, about 320km (200 miles) west of the Philippine province of Palawan. Why has the relationship between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan taken a turn for the worse? "When it comes to this amassing … we share the concerns of our Philippine allies regarding the continued reported massing of PRC maritime militia near Whitsun Reef, and we have seen the reports that vessels have also spread to other parts of the South China Sea," he said. "We have reiterated our strong support for the Philippines." Bonny Lin, a former US Defence Department official now at the RAND Corporation, said that China's repeated flights through Taiwan's air defence zone fit into a pattern of continuing escalation from Beijing, though not yet a dramatic change from before. "What Chinese strategists have warned already for at least six months if not a year – a major escalatory move from China's end wouldn't just be Chinese incursion into Taiwan air space, it would actually be China flying assets over Taiwan, over the main island," said Lin. "That would be a major step up." The US, meanwhile, had previously sent warships through the Taiwan Strait three times since President Joe Biden took office in January, moves the US says are freedom of navigation exercises legal under international law. The Biden administration has said it is committed to deepening ties with Taipei – a stance that also enjoys broad, bipartisan support in Congress. Analysts say Taiwan remains a worrisome flashpoint at a time when both Beijing and Washington believe that they are entitled to a leadership role on the global stage, that their political systems are superior and that their governance approach best equipped to deliver benefits to their citizens. Admiral Philip Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, warned Congress last month that President Xi Jinping may be accelerating his plan for an eventual takeover of Taiwan, given Beijing's recent provocative actions. But sometimes overlooked, analysts said, is Beijing's assessment of the cost if it ends up in a direct – and losing – conflict with the US military, including an erosion of domestic support, capital outflow, rising unemployment and a blow to its global reputation. "You're seeing undoubtedly an escalation of sabre rattling by Beijing in the Taiwan Straits," Jude Blanchette, an analyst with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said at a CSIS event on Tuesday. "The core focus, though, is, not only does Beijing have the military capability, but what are the domestic political calculations for the Xi administration as they contemplate this." Nor is it likely that outsiders will be able to discern Beijing's Taiwan timeline, said Ryan Hass, a Brookings Institution fellow and former China, Taiwan and Mongolia director with the National Security Council. "And I think that Beijing has good reasons to want to avoid direct conflict," he added. If Beijing did make the drastic choice to use force against Taiwan, said Ali Wyne, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, it "would be an extraordinary blunder on Beijing's part – militarily, economically, and diplomatically". Instead, Wyne added, what Beijing likely wants to persuade Taiwan now is that "if and as Taipei grows more diplomatically isolated and militarily vulnerable, Taiwan will increasingly have to negotiate with China on Beijing's terms". US discussions about a possible invasion as tensions grow may be counterproductive and inadvertently help Beijing heap psychological pressure on the Taiwanese people, said Hass, author of the new book Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence. He added: "My humble suggestion to our friends in government would be to spend more time talking about, focusing on, areas where we can help Taiwan strengthen itself." ^ top ^
Xi sends condolences for Taiwan train crash victims (China Daily)
2021-04-06
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, mourned for the compatriots killed Friday in a train derailment in Taiwan and sent his sincere condolences on Saturday to the families of those killed and expressed sympathy for the injured and wished them a speedy recovery. Xi was deeply concerned about the accident and the heavy casualties it caused. Initially, 51 people were reported killed in the accident, but the number was revised to 48 on Sunday. An express train slammed on Friday into a truck as it emerged from a tunnel near Hualien, derailing it and crumpling the front section. Taiwan's "transport minister" Lin Chia-lung said on Sunday he would not shirk his responsibility for the deadly crash, and questions swirled over lapses that could have contributed to the disaster. Lin said, "I am also in charge of minimizing the damage caused by the entire accident. After the whole rescue work is completed, I will take the responsibility". Taiwan's "premier" Su Tsengchang's office said Lin had verbally offered to resign on Saturday, but Su rejected it for the time being, saying efforts for now should focus on rescue and recovery. Local officials are investigating the manager of the construction site, Lee Yi-hsiang, from which a parked, driverless truck slid onto the track causing the crash. The "transport ministry", and the rail administration, which is subordinate to it, are facing scrutiny over a number of questions, including why there was no proper fencing at the site and whether too many standing-only tickets were sold on the train. Taiwan's "deputy transport minister" Wang Kwo-tsai said on Saturday that the railway administration needed to look at all these issues, adding that his personal feeling was that "initially, it looks like negligence" on the part of the building site contractor. The uncle of the youngest confirmed victim, a 5-year-old girl, told reporters he was still waiting for an apology for the accident. The island's government has promised compensation and that it will do everything it can to help survivors and their relatives. The damaged section of track will not reopen until April 20 at the earliest, Wang said. Rail traffic continues on a parallel track. "We continue to pull out the cabins stuck inside (the tunnel). The third cabin was dragged out last night. We expect to pull out two other cabins today," said Lin Chia-lung, adding that rescue and recovery work would continue. ^ top ^
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| Economy |
China issues guideline on easing market access in Hainan free trade port (Xinhua)
2021-04-09
China on Thursday issued a guideline to support easing market access in the Hainan free trade port in its latest effort to build the resort island into a globally influential, high-level free trade port. The guideline, jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce, detailed measures to innovate market access in the pharmaceutical and heath sectors, optimize financial market entries and development environment, and promote wider entries in the fields of culture and education. China will support innovative development of home-made high-end medical equipment and high-end medical beauty industry in Hainan, as well as promote online sales of prescription drugs, the guideline said. To optimize market access in the financial sector, efforts will be made to support the development of securities, insurance and funds in the province. In terms of boosting entries in the cultural field, market access in the cultural relics sector will be widened, and Hainan will be supported to develop the industries of cultural performances and online gaming, the guideline noted. Efforts will also be made to widen access in the field of education, and prestigious universities in the country will be supported to set up international colleges in Hainan. Entries to civil aviation, sports and seeds markets in Hainan will be eased, according to the guideline. Xu Shanchang, an official with the NDRC, hailed the guideline's measures in fields including online sale of prescription drugs, commercial aerospace and new energy infrastructure as trailblazing. The efforts are expected to revamp industrial access and supervision mechanisms, and form a more vibrant climate of reform and innovation in the construction of market access system of the country as a whole, Xu said. The guideline, a brand-new institutional arrangement, will generate new major policy dividends to support the construction of Hainan free trade port, he said. China released a master plan for the Hainan free trade port on June 1 last year, aiming to build the province into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century. ^ top ^
Exports, imports to sustain uptrend momentum in Q1 (China Daily)
2021-04-09
China's foreign trade is expected to sustain its upward momentum during the first quarter, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday. A recent survey conducted by the ministry of more than 20,000 export-oriented companies across China showed that they held more orders than the same period a year ago, during the January to March period. Many of them believe that they have benefited from the country's policies, including tax and fee cuts, export rebates and other trade facilitation measures. However, a number of companies said that there are still several uncertainties for their businesses this year. There are risks such as the impact of COVID-19, the instability of the international industrial and supply chains, and the complexity of the global environment. Gao Feng, a spokesman for the ministry, said the government will pay close attention to the global business environment, maintain the continuity, stability and sustainability of policies, and continue to help Chinese exporters reduce costs and increase efficiency to reinforce the stability and quality of the country's foreign trade. In terms of expanding imports, the official said the ministry will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant departments to optimize and adjust import tax policies in order to promote import of high-quality products and services. "In the meantime, the country will continue to highlight the leading role of the national import demonstration zones to boost the imports of advanced technology, equipment and services, import more products related to people's livelihood, and support the growth of new import formats," he said during a weekly news conference in Beijing. As China has been actively fulfilling the promises it made when the nation joined the World Trade Organization, there are still plenty of areas to further cut import taxes, particularly after the country launched the Hainan Free Trade Port, where a number of products and commodities can be traded with zero or low tariffs, said Liang Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. As long as global trade maintains a healthy growth order, China will further cut import tariffs and try to seal more free trade deals with various partners, he said. Apart from cutting import tax, China has also taken other measures to enrich its opening-up. It has been working with 14 other partners to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement before the end of this year and push for it to take effect on Jan 1, 2022. The deal will establish a management system for the origin of goods as well as informing companies about tariff concessions and relevant policies under the RCEP framework, said Zhang Jianping, director-general of the Beijing-based China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation. Jean-Etienne Gourgues, managing director of Pernod Ricard China, the French wine and spirits group, said that major regional free trade agreements like the RCEP will have a real impact in facilitating trade and play a strong role in trade promotion among companies in the region. For companies from outside the region like Pernod Ricard, he said the RCEP agreement will provide a more open and favorable business environment, as well as bring about more transparent policies. "A unified system of rules in the region will allow us to pursue further investment and in-depth development in the Chinese market, while also providing more space to introduce high-quality foreign consumer products in China," he said. China will issue a guideline to make clear the provisions on products covered by the RCEP preferential regulations, such as transportation rules and verification of the origin of exports, said Jiang Feng, director-general of the Department of Duty Collection at the General Administration of Customs. The country will also enhance policy promotion and training to help companies better understand the tariff concessions and preferential rules under the RCEP, so that they can fully benefit from such a massive multilateral trade deal, she added. ^ top ^
China's central bank optimizes bond transaction, circulation mechanism (Xinhua)
2021-04-08
China's central bank has further optimized its bond transaction and circulation mechanism, aiming for higher efficiency while enhancing the ability of the bond market to serve the real economy, according to an announcement of the People's Bank of China. The new arrangements include the implementation of electronic transmission by establishing direct system connections between infrastructure organizations and strengthening the intermediary service functions of such organizations. The issuers or lead underwriters are no longer required to provide the interbank lending center with a list of initial holders and their holdings, the document read. To further promote the high-quality development of the bond market, the bank will next continue to fine-tune the system of bond transactions in the interbank market and guide infrastructure organizations to perform their service functions well, it said. ^ top ^
China Intl Consumer Products Expo is highly anticipated (China Daily)
2021-04-07
The inaugural China International Consumer Products Expo is highly anticipated by international businesses, especially high-end brands, Xinhua reported on Tuesday. Many global high-end consumer brands said the expo, scheduled to be held from May 7 to 10 in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province, will be a bridge for global brands to enter the Chinese market via Hainan, providing unlimited business opportunities to overseas enterprises. The event is expected to be the largest boutique fair in the Asia-Pacific region and will have a significant impact, even on a global scale, said Han Shengjian, director-general of the Hainan Provincial Bureau of International Economic Development. The expo has attracted about 630 enterprises from 69 countries and regions with 1,165 brands, covering almost all leading brands and enterprises in the consumer goods field. Luxury brand Etro, representing "Italian chic" and "Made in Italy", has confirmed its participation in the expo. China is not only a critical market for Etro, but also an inexhaustible source of inspiration for breakthroughs and innovations, and the company is looking forward to having different inspiration at the expo, according to an unnamed representative from Etro. Hanse Yachts Group, a world-famous yacht manufacturer in Germany, also showed confidence in the Chinese market by participating in the expo because the yacht rental market is booming in Hainan and the policy of "zero tariff" for vehicles and yachts in the Hainan Free Trade Port, in particular, facilitated Hanse entering the Chinese market. Financial reports of many international brands showed sales in their companies have been hit by the sudden outbreak of the pandemic, but the Chinese market has bucked the trend with growth. Preferential policies in visa, tax and foreign exchanges at Hainan Free Trade Port have formed a good channel for international high-end brands, according to the report citing some exhibitors. Covering 75 percent of total exhibition area, the expo's boutique exhibition area contains five sections, including high-end food and supplements, fashion life, jewelries and diamonds, lifestyle and outdoors, as well as hospitality and professional services. The expo will provide exhibition and trade opportunities for "high, new, excellent and special" consumer boutique products from all over the world to enter the Chinese market and hundreds of new products will be launched during the event. Hainan is gearing up for the preparation work to hold the China International Consumer Products Expo with strengthened coordination of services in details, The Papers reported on Monday. China's CPC Central Committee and the State Council of China issued the Master Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port on June 1, 2020. Hainan Island has since then been opening its arms to the rest of the world as its largest free trade port. The policy system of Hainan Free Trade Port prioritizing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will have initially taken shape by 2025 and Hainan will build itself into a high-level free trade port with relatively strong international influence by the middle of the 21st century, according to the expo's official website. Behind the gathering of global brands is the huge potential of consumption in China and more international companies are ready to further deepened investment and trade cooperation with China via the platform Hainan has established. ^ top ^
IMF raises China growth forecast to 8.4% in 2021 (Global Times)
2021-04-07
The IMF on Tuesday increased China's growth projection to 8.4 percent for this year, as effective COVID-19 containment measures boost the economy's strong recovery. In its latest issue of the World Economic Outlook, the IMF put China's 2021 growth at 8.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points from its January forecast. Its projection for China's economic expansion for 2022 remains unchanged at 5.6 percent. The upward revision came amid an ascending trend as global growth was projected at 6 percent this year, up from the fund's January estimate of 5.5 percent. The US economy was predicted to grow by 6.4 percent in 2021 with a moderate 3.5 percent the following year. This compares to the IMF's projection in January that the US economy would expand 5.1 percent this year before a 2.5 percent growth in 2022. In the case of India, the South Asian economy was expected to record an expansion of 12.5 percent this year, 1 percentage point higher than the IMF's January forecast. While the global economy is apparently on firmer ground, recovery would come across as divergent amid high uncertainty, the fund said in its report. In emerging markets, "considerable differentiation is expected between China, where effective containment measures, a forceful public investment response, and central bank liquidity support have facilitated a strong recovery, and others," read the report. China-US tensions that remain elevated on multiple fronts, ranging from international trade to intellectual property and cybersecurity, also got a mention in the report. "Domestic economic disparities arising from the pandemic downturn may also prompt new trade barriers (…) Amid already high levels of trade restrictions, such actions would add to inefficiencies and weigh on the recovery. Furthermore, risks of protectionist tendencies surrounding technology are emerging," read the IMF report. As for China's fiscal and monetary policies, the fund projected a mild tightening this year after a large fiscal expansion in 2020 and a continuously supportive monetary policy in 2021 before gradually returning to neutral in 2022. ^ top ^
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| DPRK |
N. Korea will not go to Olympics: North's sports ministry (Global Times)
2021-04-06
North Korea will not attend the forthcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, Pyongyang's sports ministry said, citing the risks of coronavirus infection. At a meeting the North's Olympic Committee "decided not to participate in the 32nd Olympic Games in order to protect players from the world public health crisis caused by COVID-19", the North's sports ministry's news service said. ^ top ^
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| Mongolia |
China offers Mongolia helping hand to fight sandstorm challenge (SCMP)
2021-04-09
China has offered to help Mongolia address environmental problems after the two countries were hit by heavy dust storms this spring. "Environmental problems know no borders, and China is ready to cooperate with Mongolia in environmental protection, desertification prevention and control to jointly address challenges," Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in a phone conversation on Wednesday afternoon with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, who took office in February. Huge sandstorm hits west China's Xinjiang A sandstorm from southern Mongolia spread across East Asia in the middle of March, engulfing a huge swathe of northern China and also affecting the Korean peninsula. Local authorities said it was the worst in a decade, killing at least nine and leaving more than 80 people missing in Mongolia. According to Greenpeace East Asia, the frequency of sandstorms in Mongolia has increased in recent decades due to climate change and the long-term deforestation and soil erosion in the country's south, leading to severe air pollution. According to a government statement, Li said China was willing to maintain strategic communication with Mongolia and intensify cooperation in pandemic containment, while also calling for efforts to speed up the restoration of cargo volumes going through border ports and ensure progress of its major cooperative projects with Mongolia. Li added China would closely monitor changes in the global economic situation while improving the domestic business environment and keeping economic growth steady, which he believed would offer the best chance for China-Mongolia cooperation. Oyun-Erdene said Mongolia supported green development and regional economic cooperation and was willing to step up joint efforts in environmental protection, according to the Chinese statement. ^ top ^
Presidents of Mongolia and Russia hold telephone conversation (Montsame)
2021-04-02
On April 2, President of Mongolia Battulga Khaltmaa held a telephone conversation with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to discuss timely issues of bilateral relations. For the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the leaders exchanged congratulations and discussed issues concerning the Mongolian-Russian cooperation. After stressing that in the past years, the traditionally friendly bilateral ties have been developing very successfully and reached the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership, the two presidents agreed to issue a joint statement of heads of the states on the occasion of the diplomatic anniversary in the near future. During the conversation, the President of Russia has informed that Mongolian cosmonaut J.Gurragchaa has been awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky, order of merit of the Russian Federation, in recognition of his deeds in the development of Comprehensive Partnership between Mongolia and Russia and on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Mongolian-Soviet joint space flight. President Battulga congratulated Russia for successfully developing vaccines against COVID-19 and putting into use. In turn, the Russian President confirmed that he has received a letter dated February 11, 2021, from the Mongolian President on supply of COVID-19 vaccines to Mongolia and Russia is working with Mongolia's Ministry of Health and the private sector for the COVID-19 vaccine supply within the framework of the requests of the Mongolian President and the Mongolian side. President of Mongolia Battulga further expressed gratitude to the Russian President for providing support to the Mongolian government and put forward a request to accelerate the Sputnik-V vaccine delivery to Mongolia. In response, President Vladimir Putin pledged to pay attention on the coronavirus vaccine supply to Mongolia in view of the significant historical relationship between the two nations. The meeting also touched on Mongolian President's proposal to manufacture Russia's Sputnik-V vaccine in Mongolia. Supporting the proposal, President Vladimir Putin noted that a working group will be formed to study the possibilities in this area. In conclusion, the President of Russia expressed his confidence that forthcoming circumstances will enable the two presidents to meet in person. ^ top ^
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Embassy of Switzerland
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The Press review is a random selection
of political and social related news gathered from various media
and news services located in the PRC, edited or translated by
the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing and distributed among Swiss
Government Offices. The Embassy does not accept responsibility
for accuracy of quotes or truthfulness of content. Additionally
the contents of the selected news mustn't correspond to the opinion
of the Embassy.
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