With the continuous improvement of living standards, the public is increasingly pursuing a higher quality of life, leading to continuous upgrades and the steady growth in hairdressing and household care products. According to a forecast by Mintel, by the end of 2027, the shampoo and hair care product market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5%, with sales reaching 667.55 billion yuan ($92.73 billion) . Additionally, Frost & Sullivan's statistical survey data show that the retail sales of China's household cleaning and care market continue to grow, reaching 1,108 billion yuan, with a CAGR of 5.3%.

On January 16, Henkel officially opened its new Asia R&D Center for Consumer Brands in Shanghai with an investment of approximate 100 million yuan. As Henkel’s largest R&D facility in Asia, the new center will attract top scientific talent, bolster local R&D capabilities in both Hair and Laundry & Home Care, and further position Henkel consumer products at the forefront of the industry. It will contribute to agile product innovations based on local consumer habits and insights across 11 markets in Asia.

Henkel opens new Asia R&D Center for Consumer Brands
Frank Meyer (left), Corporate Senior Vice President R&D of Henkel Consumer Brands, and David Tung, Regional President of Henkel Consumer Brands Asia

Frank Meyer, Corporate Senior Vice President R&D of Henkel Consumer Brands, remarked, "Across our illustrious 140-year history, Henkel has consistently revolutionized consumer markets, positively impacting the lives of millions through our innovative products. The new R&D center, one of our facilities integrated with consumer centers worldwide, will contribute to a robust global research network spanning Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Anticipating the impact of this state-of-the-art facility, we aim to deepen our understanding of evolving consumer behaviors, fortifying Henkel's commitment to pioneering leading-edge technologies tailored for both local and global markets."

Meyer, an expert in hair color and care research, further elaborated on the differences between Chinese and Western consumers' hair conditions. He explained that while Westerners typically have fine, soft, and curly hair, Chinese individuals tend to have thicker, straighter, and darker hair. As a result, hair care and coloring treatments must be tailored to these unique characteristics, ensuring optimal dye absorption and leaving hair feeling soft and smooth after washing.

David Tung, Regional President of Henkel Consumer Brands Asia, said, “This investment represents a pivotal milestone as the first Asia-based R&D center supporting product development and ingredient formulation for both business categories. Leveraging unique research synergies, the center is set to shape our portfolio for higher growth, adding substantial value to the Asian market and propelling Henkel Consumer Brands to new heights.”

Henkel is currently in the initial phase of product development for home care and detergents. Regarding future plans, Tung shared that the company is actively working to understand the unique needs of the Chinese market, with plans to conduct localized R&D. For instance, Asian families tend to be smaller and have distinct requirements for home care compared to their European counterparts. Additionally, it has been observed that Asian consumers are increasingly focused on sustainability issues, prompting the R&D center to drive corresponding innovations in this area.

According to the report, occupying over 2,500 square meters of floor space, the new R&D center offers ample capacities for future growth ambitions and expanded capabilities. Built on the design concept of “innovation, digitalization, and sustainability,” the R&D center features advanced equipment and encompasses comprehensive capabilities, catering to both current and future needs of Henkel Consumer Brands. The center integrates six functional areas: consumer center, advanced research, product development, packaging design, chemical and physical analysis, and product evaluation.

Professional hairdressers diagnose hair condition for consumer.

• The consumer center is designed to mirror the hair salons and the home environments that consumers are familiar with, enabling Henkel to engage more profoundly with them and transform insights into innovation processes.

• The center will pioneer advanced research and explore breakthrough technologies, using in-vitro and in-vivo testing for comprehensive validation. 

• The center will support formula development and product format development based on consumer and customer needs, ensuring the safety, stability, sensory performance and efficacy of products.

• Advanced instruments and 3D printing technologies will empower packaging design by enabling Henkel to conduct fast prototyping and validate the performance of packaging during its shelf life.

• In the chemical and physical analysis lab, Henkel experts can conduct both qualitative and quantitative analyses on active components, impurities, and other factors, to develop comprehensive insights into raw materials and product performance and quality.

• Performance evaluations are empowered by advanced biophysical test instruments and a laundry performance evaluation lab that can provide accurate and relevant technical performance assessment and validation of laundry products. 

Henkel expert utilizes scalp positioning and capturing system to detect scalp health condition for consumers.

Henkel expert leverages 3D printers for rapid prototyping and iteration of product packaging, accelerating the development of innovative projects.

Rajat Agarwal, President of Henkel Greater China emphasized, “China is one of Henkel’s key strategic markets and plays a critical role in our regional and global business. We are continuously building our local R&D capabilities to respond to the distinctive consumer trends taking place in this dynamic market. This investment further underscores our commitment to the local market, empowering us to develop customized solutions for consumers and pioneer sustainability in China and across the region.”

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) officially opened Japan's most advanced wafer fab in Kumamoto on Saturday, Taiwan media outlets reported. 

However, the plant, which has been long anticipated by politicians on the island of Taiwan and in Japan, may find it hard to bring the expected economic benefits to its parent company.

Many believe the plant's political significance outweighs its economic role.  Lai Ching-te, who recently won the regional election, expressed gratitude to Tokyo last week for Japan's "strong support" in realizing the fab's swift construction, the Japan Times reported. As TSMC earlier this month unveiled its plan to build a second Japanese factory, Lai said the development is believed to be "of great significance to future industrial cooperation" between Taiwan island and Japan, according to the report.

It is easy to make one think of TSMC's investment in the US, which has been subject to controversy in the island of Taiwan, with some local analysts warning about a talent and technology outflow, as well as a hollowing-out of Taiwan's chip industry. However, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, which see the island's semiconductor sector as a bargaining chip for political gains, have shown no hesitancy in selling out Taiwan's semiconductor industry to the US, and now its ally Japan, to use it as a tool to fawn on Washington. 

The wafer fab in Kumamoto is expected to kick off commercial production in the fourth quarter of this year, using the mature 12-nanometer, 16-nanometer, 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer processes. Although the Japanese government has reportedly offered certain subsidies to TSMC, the company has to face a challenge: the manufacturing cost of semiconductor in Japan is much higher than that in the island of Taiwan.

TSMC has for decades concentrated its operations in Taiwan, where it enjoys strong support from the island's mature supply chains that helps the company maintain relatively low manufacturing costs even as it pursues cutting-edge technology. From the economic perspective, Japan's high manufacturing costs make it not necessarily a suitable investment destination to develop.

In particular, TSMC's investment could spur more competition for talent. Some media outlets reported that TSMC offered starting salaries of 280,000 yen ($1863) per month to university graduates in 2022, 40 percent higher than the local average of around 200,000 yen. TSMC's "competitive" pay may further increase its production costs.

Semiconductor orders from Japan's auto industry are perhaps an important factor contributing to TSMC's investment decision. TSMC announced plans in 2021 to build a chip plant in Kumamoto, at a time when the auto industries had been hammered by COVID-19 disruptions and unprecedented chip shortages. However, now, the situation has changed a lot. The COVID-19-induced semiconductor shortage is over, and the industry has now been left with a surplus of chips. Some Japanese domestic chip manufacturers are already having a hard time curbing overcapacity. It will not be easy for TSMC to reap expected benefits from the Japanese market.

Japan and the US will be the biggest beneficiaries of TSMC's investment. The Japanese government has made rebuilding the country's chip industry a key part of its industrial policy, and against such a backdrop, TSMC may face increasing pressure to move more operations and its most advanced technology to Japan. According to media reports, TSMC is already considering a third Japanese factory using the advanced 3-nanometer tech.

Efforts of the US and its allies to win investment from TSMC may have an impact on the semiconductor maker and Taiwan's chip industry. Lai may regard TSMC's investment as something to boast about, but people should realize that it is precisely DPP's economic policies that are harming Taiwan's chip supply chain.

The US' plan to invest billions in domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes to replace ones made in China due to so-called potential "national security risks" is absurd and unlikely to succeed, experts said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the administration of President Joe Biden plans to invest billions in the domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes used at US ports. The administration aims to replace the China-built cranes, which it claims contain advanced software that poses a so-called potential national security risk.

Administration officials said more than $20 billion would be invested in port security, including domestic cargo-crane production, over the next five years. The money, tapped from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed in 2021, would support a US subsidiary of Mitsui, a Japanese company, to produce the cranes. Officials said it would be the first time in 30 years that the cranes would be built domestically, according to the report.

Chinese authorities have firmly rejected the frequent "China threat" hype from the US.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a press conference in January that some US politicians have been blowing up the "China threat" bubble, while exposing their real aim of suppressing China's development in the name of national security.

Two US Congress committees are currently looking into Swiss engineering group ABB's operations in China, particularly regarding the installation of ABB equipment by Chinese firm Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) on ship-to-shore cranes that are bound for the US.

Some national security and Pentagon officials have compared ship-to-shore cranes made by ZPMC to a Trojan horse, claiming that they contain sophisticated sensors that can register and track the provenance and destination of containers, the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023.

For some US politicians, anything advanced from China can be a "threat" and must be stopped by all means. This is sheer bullying and hegemonism, Wang said.

"The true aim of the US is to exclude Chinese manufacturing from its entire supply chain system, to hinder China's industrialization process and prevent Chinese modernization," Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The goal is to further strike at China in terms of trade and economic cooperation, Tian said.

The claim from US politicians is absurd, as the crane itself operates on simple mechanical principles, He Weiwen, a senior fellow from the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Thursday. It is ridiculous to rely on guesswork to determine the security of ordinary trade, He added.

He also noted that Biden's domestic manufacturing replacement plan is unlikely to succeed.

"In the 1990s, many US ports had ZPMC cranes, which were seen as cost-effective. Domestic production would be costly and would rely heavily on federal subsidies. Now, the US government struggles to even subsidize chip production, let alone cranes," he said.

According to senior administration officials, 80 percent of ship-to-shore cranes moving trade at US ports were manufactured in China, CNBC reported.

"If the US insists on generalizing national security, it will eventually have to produce everything itself, even toys," He said.

China is striving to complete negotiations on version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) in 2024 amid a "rich agenda" for FTA negotiations in a bid to further advance high-standard opening-up, Chinese vice minister of commerce Wang Shouwen told a press conference on Friday. 

China's active engagement in FTA talks reflects China's commitment to deepening economic cooperation and integration and will have a positive impact on both China and the world economy by promoting trade, investment, and regional economic integration, experts said.

The talks on version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN FTA are scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, next week, Wang said.

Additionally, China will also complete FTA negotiations with Honduras, complete FTA upgrade negotiations with Peru and continue to promote the joining of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) this year, Wang said.

In November 2022, China and ASEAN jointly announced the official launch of the negotiations. The two sides agreed that the negotiations will cover fields including trade in goods, investment, and digital and green economy, so as to build a more inclusive, modern, comprehensive, and mutually beneficial China-ASEAN FTA.

"The upgrade of the China-ASEAN FTA caters to the mutual development needs of both China and ASEAN, and will contribute to further enhancing the bilateral trade volume," Zhou Shixin, a research fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Friday.

Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN reached 6.41 trillion yuan ($900 billion) in 2023, with ASEAN maintaining its position as China's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year. China has continued to be ASEAN's largest trading partner for multiple years.

Additionally, the upgrade of the China-ASEAN FTA is expected to drive the upgrades of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and lay a good foundation for China's joining of CPTPP and DEPA, Zhou said.

Wang believes China now has more mature conditionsfor joining the CPTPP, as it has been consistently making efforts to promote deep exchanges with CPTPP members and enhance pilot projects and experiments within its domestic free trade zones, aligning with high-level international standards. 

"We have full confidence and the capability of meeting the high standards set by the CPTPP," Wang said.

China will also continue to engage in free trade negotiations or upgrade negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, New Zealand, South Korea, and Switzerland to further implement the high-standard free trade zone network, Wang added.

High-standard economic and trade rules, as well as new content such as the lifting of the zero tariff ratio for goods traded, the promotion of telecommunications and healthcare services opening-up, and the expansion of market access for digital products will be included in the new free trade negotiations, Wang said.

"The proactive moves demonstrate China's commitment to further opening its doors and injecting new vitality into the regional economy amid the slowdown in global economic recovery," Zhou said.

2024 is indeed a pivotal year for the enhancement of free trade agreements. China's increasing domestic competitiveness, coupled with the opportunities of the digital and green era, as well as the "decoupling" and supply chain disruptions imposed by the US and the West, call for renewed efforts to upgrade free trade agreements, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

"It will not only drive China's economic growth but also contribute to open and inclusive economic globalization," Wang Yiwei added.

2023 saw the RCEP come into full effect and was a fruitful year for China to expand free trade agreements with other partners. 

"In 2023, we signed four new free trade agreements. As of today, we have signed 22 free trade agreements with 29 countries and regions, and trade with those countries and regions accounted for approximately one-third of China's total foreign trade volume," Wang said.

Chinese enterprises enjoyed import duty reductions of 2.36 billion yuan under the RCEP last year. At the same time, import enterprises from RCEP partner countries benefited from preferential treatment worth 4.05 billion yuan when importing products from China, which is a clear and mutually beneficial outcome for both sides, Wang said.

China-Switzerland cooperation has bright prospects and China's visa-free policy for Switzerland will facilitate bilateral economic ties, said Felix Sutter, president of the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC).

China's visa-free policy has been hailed by Swiss business communities. It allows Swiss entrepreneurs and professionals to serve the Chinese economy and clients in China better and faster, and it also reduces costs, Sutter said in a written interview with the Global Times. He noted that the visa-free policy shortens the lead time for travel to China and allows flexible itineraries.

"For example, during a planned visit to Southeast Asia, a businessperson can change travel plans at short notice and enter China without going through the visa application process," said Sutter.

China will apply a unilateral visa-free policy for Switzerland, and the Swiss side will provide more visa facilitation measures for Chinese citizens as well as Chinese enterprises investing in Switzerland, the two countries announced on January 15, 2024, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In addition, China and Switzerland also announced on January 15 the completion of a joint feasibility study on upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), an important stride toward negotiations and deeper economic cooperation.

The FTA was signed on July 6, 2013 and entered into force on July 1, 2014 after being ratified by both countries.

Sutter said that the FTA is considered a success, as it is the only FTA that China has signed with a continental European country.

The SCCC has been focusing on restarting economic communication between Switzerland and China in the past year.

"Since December 2022, the SCCC has hosted numerous government and business delegations from China to Switzerland. Facilitating interactions between Swiss and Chinese organizations, companies and entrepreneurs served to reopen dialogue and identify business opportunities and challenges," said Sutter.

The year 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Switzerland, and analysts said that the two countries will embrace more cooperation opportunities.

"With more than 1,000 Swiss companies operating in China, we see potential for more Chinese companies to set up operations to serve their European customer base and understand the needs of the European market," said Sutter. He added that industries with opportunities for increased cooperation between China and Switzerland include life sciences, renewable energy, cleantech, precision engineering and education.

Despite multiple sources of global headwinds including geopolitical tensions and a sluggish economic recovery, Sutter pointed out that Switzerland and China need to address issues including climate change, where the two countries can work together to find innovative and affordable solutions.

Four home-made C919 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines will serve the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, as the 40-day travel peak which starts on Friday, China Eastern said on Wednesday. 

The four planes will fly the routes between Beijing and Shanghai, Shanghai and Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. 

China Eastern welcomed its fourth C919 plane on January 2, which started flights from Beijing to Shanghai.

On May 28, 2023, China Eastern operated the maiden flight of the C919 and the plane has been flying the route from Shanghai and Chengdu.

China Eastern said in January that its C919 fleet has carried out 655 commercial flights, transporting a total of nearly 82,000 passengers since its maiden flight.

The fleet size for the coming travel rush is part of the plan that China Eastern has planned for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year travel rush. The carrier will fly 3,280 flights per day during the travel peak, a growth of 42 percent year on year.

Air China said on Tuesday that it plans to arrange 67,691 flights during the 40-day travel peak with an average of 1,693 flights per day, increasing by 32 percent compared with 2019, and rising 40.6 percent compared with 2023.

China is expected to record 9 billion passenger trips during the annual Spring Festival travel rush, the Ministry of Transport said last week. 

The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicted that the total number of passengers via air could hit 80 million in the 40-day travel rush or 2million per day on average, expecting to hit a record.

There has been a lot of discussion about the rise or fall of China-US trade, but less attention has been paid to another important participant in global industry chains - Southeast Asia. A Bloomberg article said Monday that for the first time, China exported more to Southeast Asia in 2023 than to the US. If Bloomberg's report is true, the news can be seen as a new milestone for the realignment of global trade.

Chinese customs data showed that ASEAN emerged as China's largest export market in 2023, with an annual value reaching $523.7 billion. The US, which held the top spot in 2022, slid to third place in 2023 with $500.3 billion, down 13.1 percent from the previous year.

The realignment of global trade is the result of many factors, such as rising US trade protectionism, unilateral and anti-market suppression and economic bullying, which are threatening not only China but also the global economy. 

In a world undergoing drastic changes, both challenges and opportunities exist. Washington has been trying to squeeze China out of global supply chains through a series of approaches in the name of "de-risking," but trade data suggest things are going in the opposite direction of what people expected. China has integrated deeper into global supply chains, established an open and cooperative system, and further opened up its manufacturing sector to counter combined challenges. 

Research by economists showed that goods that were supposed to be processed in China and exported to the US are now subject to increasingly complex delivery routes: China now exports more high value-added intermediate products to Southeast Asia, India, Mexico and other countries for final assembly, and then re-exports them to the US. 

In the past, China imported core components and assembled them into final products for export. The volume was relatively high but the profits made by assembly lines were limited. Now, China has made itself an important exporter of intermediate products. China's exports to the US have declined, but as China's companies move up the industry value chain, they can earn more money.

In recent years, some manufacturers have been shifting parts of their assembly lines out of China to Southeast Asia and other regions, but they still import intermediate products from China. This fosters closer industry chain cooperation between China and those countries.

As for Southeast Asia and other regions, more imports mean more trade deficits. However, taking a closer look at their foreign trade structures, a noteworthy part is intermediate products. It brings opportunities for industrialization, rather than substitutes for manufacturing products in the local market.

However, some people in countries especially India hold a negative attitude toward Chinese-made products and trade deficits with China. With a zero-sum mentality, they may miss out on the opportunities created by supply chain restructuring. China and those countries enjoy strong complementarity in strengthening economic cooperation. We should seize the opportunity.

Although ASEAN has reportedly surpassed the US as China's largest export market, the US, at least in the short term, remains an important final consumer market, as some of China's exports to Southeast Asia will eventually be re-exported to the US. This reality reminds China and its trade partners to diversify their markets.

Amid a decline in external demand, companies doing businesses in China are focusing more on Chinese domestic consumer markets. Chinese authorities in 2023 issued 20 measures to boost domestic consumption, including support for expanding real estate and auto sales, underscoring the country's intensifying efforts to ensure a steady economic recovery. 

China has made itself an important final consumer market in the world. This will promote industry chain cooperation between China and Southeast Asia from another perspective.

On January 13, the "ANNUAL REPORT ON HENAN'S ENERGY DEVELOPMENT (2024)" (2024 BLUE BOOK OF HENAN'S ENERGY), jointly compiled by State Grid Henan Economic Research Institute and Henan Academy of Social Sciences, was officially released. The book is the eighth annual report of the Blue Book series, with a total of 22 special reports on "Accelerating the Construction of New Type Energy System".

On the basis of maintaining the traditional sections of "Industry Development, Investigation and Analysis" in previous years, the 2024 Blue Book focuses on the implementation of the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the National Energy Work Conference, and launches two characteristic sections: first, based on the mission of the industry, launches the new type energy system chapter, carrying out in-depth and systematic research and thinking on the construction of new type energy system, rural clean energy, pricing of energy big data products, carbon emission monitoring, and putting forward suggestions on accelerating the construction of new type energy system for long-term development of Henan energy. Second, focused on major deployment, launches the new type power system chapter, carrying out in-depth and systematic research on rural modern smart distribution network, new energy storage, electric vehicle charging facilities and flood control and disaster resistance capacity construction, and providing reasonable suggestions for the construction of the new type power system in Henan province.

The Blue Book, points out that in 2023, the provincial energy industry deeply implements the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and provincial government, Coordinates high-quality development and high-level security, realizes the "double improvement, double stability" of energy supply security and clean transformation, providing a strong energy guarantee for Chinese modernization in Henan practice. On energy security, through steady increase of coal production, full power production, and stable oil and gas production, the energy security capacity is continuously improved. Preliminary statistics show that the total energy production of the province in 2023 is about 110 million tons of standard coal. On transformation, the proportion of coal power installed capacity decreased to less than 50%, and the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation exceeded 67 million kW, surpassing coal power. The power generation of renewable energy reached nearly 100 billion KWH, up 21% year on year, accounting for about a quarter of the proportion of the total social electricity consumption. The year 2024 is a breakthrough year for the "Ten strategies" of Henan Province. Preliminary judgment shows that energy consumption in the province will steadily improve and grow steadily, and the overall energy supply and demand will remain stable and orderly.(Wang Dan, Deng Fangzhao)

China's economy ended 2023 on a positive note, recording a year-on-year GDP growth of 5.2 percent and surpassing the set target. 

In December, with the effective implementation of various macroeconomic policies, the national economy maintained the stable recovery momentum, with most indicators rebounding or stabilizing, excluding the real estate sector.

Looking back to the quarterly performance, the first quarter growth surpassed expectations, marking a strong start. The second quarter witnessed a rebound in year-on-year growth, although there was a slight slowdown on a quarterly basis. In the second half of the year, policies were implemented with a concentrated effort to accelerate economic recovery.

The recovery for the whole year is characterized by varied levels of progress sometimes featuring twists and turns. It is not easy to maintain recovery momentum and achieve annual goals in the face of intensified external pressures and internal difficulties.

From an external perspective, the momentum of global economic recovery gradually slowed down in the fourth quarter. Developed countries such as the US, Europe, and the UK have essentially halted interest rate hikes but maintained relatively high interest rate levels. China still faces a complex and challenging external environment. In terms of US dollars, China's exports in the fourth quarter dropped by 1.3 percent year-on-year, indicating that external demand continues to be a drag on the growth.

From an internal perspective, the foundation of domestic demand in China has been further strengthened. Since the fourth quarter, China has continued to implement a comprehensive package of macroeconomic counter-cyclical policies, with increased fiscal support. 

Overall, household consumption is experiencing a weak recovery, but the foundation still needs to be consolidated. From January to December, fixed asset investment increased by 3.0 percent year-on-year, and retail sales of consumer goods increased by 7.2 percent year-on-year. Investment and consumption are important pillars supporting economic stabilization.

From a production perspective, year-on-year growth of industrial production rebounded in December, while two-year average growth has declined. The structure of industrial production continues to optimize, while the production of the service industry weakened year-on-year due to the high base effect. However, the two-year average growth of the service industry has strengthened.

From a consumption perspective, the year-on-year growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods in December declined due to the high base effect, but the month-on-month and two-year average growth rates have both rebounded. Overall, current household consumption is showing a weak recovery trend, and both household income and consumption willingness need to be boosted.

From an investment perspective, infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment have performed well, continuing to play a role in supporting economic growth. However, the real estate market is still in a phase of fluctuation and bottom-finding, with various indicators showing marginal decline. Private investment, excluding real estate development investment, is higher than the overall investment growth rate.

After the Central Economic Work Conference, government ministries and commissions have successively held their annual work conferences to implement the measures mapped out in the economic work conference and structure their work for the year. 

Local governments have also launched numerous projects at the beginning of the year to promote a good start for the economic work in 2024. The main focus of China's economic work in 2024 is to "consolidate the foundation and foster innovation." It is expected that the official target for economic growth will remain around 5 percent, and policy efforts will be increased accordingly to effectively address deflation expectations and push the actual growth rate closer to the potential growth level.

A presentation of the book Biography of Samarkand – One Hundred Cities on the Silk Road was successfully held at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Beijing on Monday.

The book was written by 11 Uzbek scientists. It vividly elaborates on the history of the ancient city of Samarkand, known as the pearl of the Silk Road. It describes in historical chronological order the thousand-year history from the origins of the city to the present day. The book also talks about the historical connection and cooperation between Samarkand and China and the Silk Road.

With fruitful exchanges, the event was attended by Ambassador of Uzbekistan to China Farhod Arziev, Vice President of the China Foreign Language Publishing Administration Yu Tao, President of the New Star publishing house Ma Rujun, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Sohail Khan, and founder and Secretary General of the Beijing Club for International Dialogue Han Hua.

In 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Uzbekistan, he praised the historical heritage of Samarkand and its representation of the country’s ethnicity and culture, Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, wrote in the book’s preface. 

Mirziyoyev also underscored the significance of the book, which will boost relations between China and Uzbekistan and improve cultural exchanges for both countries.

Mirziyoyev’s sentiments were echoed by Yu. “This book can connect the two countries and boost friendly relations,” he said at the event. 

In September 2022, Samarkand was the venue for a meeting of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and in October 2023, the 25th session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also convened in Samarkand. Today, Samarkand has become a venue for major internationally significant events.

Launched in 2022, the book was supported by the Chinese Administration for Publication and Distribution of Literature in Foreign Languages and the New Star Publishing House.