Editor's Note:
With the onset of the cold winter weather, the "warm economy" in Yiwu is thriving. There has been a significant rise in demand for winter products from both domestic and international buyers, resulting in a surge of orders for gloves, hats, scarves, and other winter accessories. Photos: Li Hao/GT
China’s elite diving athletes Wang Zongyuan and Chen Yuxi have secured spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after winning gold at the national diving championship on Wednesday in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province.
Over 200 divers are competing at the annual event that will last till Tuesday. An analyst told the Global Times on Thursday that the championship, which serves as one of the three-leg qualifiers for the Paris Olympic Games, will help the national team to find some new diamonds in the rough.
China’s new diving talisman, 20-year-old Wang, ranked first in each of the six rounds in the final to triumph during the 3-meter springboard while two-time Olympic medalist Chen edged out Olympic champion Quan Hongchan to win gold during the 10-meter platform.
According to the point-based qualification for the Paris Olympic Games diving events announced by the Chinese Swimming Association, there are three legs of qualifiers, namely the national diving tournament in March, the ongoing national diving championship and the World Aquatics Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar in February 2024.
The two best rankings out of the three legs of a diver are translated into points. The top four athletes with the most points in a single event will be selected into the Olympic roster.
Wang and Chen, who also won gold at the national tournament in March, have thus secured their berths for the Olympic Games.
“The victory shows that my training and hard work have paid off. I take every competition seriously, and hopefully I can do my best in every competition. However, I was not at my best during the preliminaries and made some mistakes,” said Chen, who lost to Quan in October’s Hangzhou Asian Games.
“While the top divers are vying for spots for the Olympics, the national event also provides an opportunity for younger talents to make their mark. Jiang Linjing is a big surprise in the highly competitive 10-meter platform,” Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Jiang Linjing, a 13-year-old diver from South China’s Guangdong Province, managed to finish third behind Olympic champions Chen and Quan.
“They [Chen and Quan] are my idols. They were consistent in their dives and rarely make mistakes. I’m doing okay in training, but I tend to get nervous in big events,” said Jiang, who tried the 307C dive, one of the most difficult dives, for the first time in the competition.
Eyes will be focused on the men’s 10-meter platform final on Saturday as this is the only event in which China failed to win gold at July’s World Aquatics Championship in Fukuoka, Japan.
China swept 11 out of 12 golds on offer at the world championship and Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau upset China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao in a roller-coaster 10-meter platform final.
Women’s 3-meter springboard will also take place on Saturday.
In order to inspire athletes to innovate and take on challenging dives, the event has introduced special awards recognizing both the difficulty and groundbreaking achievements.
Chinese speed skaters made some breakthroughs at the speed skating World Cup in Beijing over the weekend, as they totaled two silver and four bronze medals in the three-day competition.
Ning Zhongyan has become the marquee name for the Chinese speed skating team this year as he bagged one silver and two bronze medals in all three races he participated in. Female skater Han Mei is also a big contributor as she claimed one silver and one bronze medals.
The National Speed Skating Oval, replaced its ice for the first time after hosting the Winter Olympics last year, has been dubbed the "fastest ice" as it witnessed the breaking of 10 Olympic records last year.
"I was a bit nervous when competing at the Olympics here last year, but now I am just enjoying the race," Ning told reporters. "I think I didn't fail to live up to the fans' expectations, but I do hope I can change the color of my medal at the next World Cup event."
In the women's race, Han's result in the 1,500 meters of 1:55.92 was just 0.4 seconds short of Japanese veteran Miho Takagi, who bagged three individual medals at the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Han's teammate Li Qishi finished third.
"Different from competing at the Olympics, now we have fans cheering for us, which is a booster for me," Han told reporters, noting she has set herself the goal of stepping onto the podium at the Milan 2026 Olympics.
The last time a Chinese female skater entered the top three in the 1,500 meters event was during the 1999-2000 season, when Song Li achieved third place in the Netherlands.
Li Yan, head coach of the national speed skating team, said though the team is preparing for its ultimate goal of the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, participating in the World Cup events has made the goal "clearer."
"Every four years we are preparing for one thing (the Winter Olympics), but this year our goals are clearer, which is to improve our results and rankings," she told reporters.
"Every athlete, regardless of their current level, is finding their shortcomings and areas to improve. More importantly, we are consolidating the spirit of the entire team, using the team's strength to achieve breakthroughs and support each other."
Compared to speed skating's brother, the discipline short track, which has become a popular event thanks to China's medal haul in the discipline, the oval races are relatively less influential, as it totaled only two gold medals in China's seven entries into Winter Olympics.
While in recent years China has seen success in shorter distance speed skating, particularly with Zhang Hong and Gao Tingyu winning gold in the 500 meters events at the Sochi 2014 and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, respectively, the country has struggled in mid-to-long-distance events, which makes breakthroughs like those of Ning and Han more significant.
Despite not participating in the previous season and lacking World Cup ranking points, Gao, who recently returned, finished just a place short for a podium finish in Beijing. But coach Li expressed satisfaction with his recovery.
"Gao's smooth return is the first step. The fans have high expectations for him, but after all, he hasn't participated in formal competitions for over 20 months," Li told reporters.
"Being able to move to the top group is a stable first step, and he just needs to do his best."
China once again dominated the Asian Games by bagging 201 gold, 111 silver and 71 bronze medals in Hangzhou, surpassing its record of 199 gold medals in 2010. But the harvest in Hangzhou goes beyond winning medals.
The national swimming team is the biggest contributor to the medal tally, as they took home 28 gold, 21 silver and nine bronze medals in 41 disciplines.
The leading athletes, male breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang, who won five gold and one silver medals, and female butterfly star Zhang Yufei, who collected six gold medals, were named the MVP of the Games.
But the touching moment culminating the swimming competition came when Zhang and her arch-rival but friend Rikako Ikee, who won the previous Asian Games MVP in 2018, shared a tearful embrace following the 50-meter butterfly podium.
Ikee, who won six gold and two silver medals at the Jakarta Games, was the bronze medalist in the 50 butterfly, her first international podium finish since being diagnosed with leukemia in February 2019.
Zhang said it is Ikee's story of fighting back from the disease that inspired her to continue to race after coming down sick when the competition was in full swing.
"I wasn't feeling well during the Games and would have wavered in my goal," Zhang told reporters. "But when I saw that Ikee was still competing, I felt that I mustn't give in as she is there [after overcoming the disease]."
Nineteen-year-old swimmer Pan Zhanle also made history in men's 100 meters with a sensational 46.97-second finish, becoming the first Asian athlete to clock under 47 seconds in the discipline. His result, only 0.11 seconds behind the world record, is the fifth fastest in all-time history.
Athletic breakthroughs
In athletics, veteran Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye, who leveled his personal best in the 100-meter dash at 9.97 seconds to win the gold medal, is also among the Chinese quartet who claimed the men's 4x100 meters relay final.
Xie, now 30, who was in the squad that won a silver medal at the 2015 world athletics championships, paid tribute to his younger teammates Chen Guanfeng, Yan Haibin and Chen Jiapeng, who are all under the age of 23, for the achievement made in Hangzhou.
"In the past two years, the relay team has experienced the pain of a transition between the old and the new," Xie told reporters.
"The win is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for us, giving us more confidence in our younger generation to compete in the future."
Xie also received a reallocated Tokyo Olympics bronze medal in Hangzhou with his elder sprinting quartet led by star Su Bingtian, who was sidelined in 2023 due to injury. Female veteran racewalker Qieyang Shijie was reallocated a 2012 London Olympics gold medal, making her the first ethnic Tibetan Olympic gold medalist from China.
Male tennis player Zhang Zhizhen, who is having a breakthrough season, also helped China to reclaim the gold medal in tennis men's singles since Pan Bing did so in 1994.
The win earned him a berth at the Paris Olympics, when he will play on clay court again at Roland Garros where he made history by becoming the first Chinese tennis player to make it into the last 32 at the 2023 French Open.
Warning signs
China's sports authorities have vowed to revitalize the three "major balls" - soccer, basketball and volleyball in 2023. But the result for these high-profile sports remains an ongoing project after falling short at the Asian Games.
Among the highlights, the Chinese women's basketball and volleyball teams have successfully defended their titles, the men's volleyball team made it to the finals again after 17 years and the men's soccer team also made it into the last eight again since 2006.
Zhou Jinqiang, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation at the Asian Games, said on October 8 that though there are bright spots in the three major ball games, generally the performances of a number of teams were unsatisfactory.
"The men's basketball team lost the semifinals to the Philippines, whose squad is not their first team, and the women's soccer team lost the semifinals to the second-tier Japan team, there is still a gap between the overall performance of the 'three major balls' and the people's expectations," Zhou said.
He further underlined the underachievement of the men's basketball team, who suffered a defeat to the Philippines in the semifinals in which the Filipinos only led 24 seconds in the 40-minute game. The men's basketball team have already missed the Paris Olympics after a disappointing run at the FIBA World Cup in 2023.
"The men's basketball team did not withstand the pressure in the key games and key moments, and was reversed in the case of a big lead, once again exposing the problems in the management of the national team," Zhou said.
Emerging hopes
Flashback to China's very first gold medal at the Asian Games. It comes in rowing when Chinese pair Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping won the women's light-weight double sculls.
Rowing remains a new sport for the Chinese public as traditionally it is the names of shooting, weightlifting or wushu - Chinese martial arts - where the Chinese delegation have claimed gold medals at past Asian Games.
The rise of Chinese rowing could indicate that Chinese athletes are able to compete internationally in some more sports and disciplines, rather than relying only on the traditional sports where China excels, said Cao Yaqi, deputy editor-in-chief of Titan Sports newspaper.
"The Paris Olympics are less than a year away. Winning medals could make those Chinese athletes who have qualified for the Olympics prepare and compete with confidence, just like what they did in Hangzhou," Cao told the Global Times.
"Chinese athletes are starting to develop confidence when competing, which will accelerate the transition of China from a medal powerhouse to an overall sports powerhouse."
Zhu Qinan, a former Olympic champion in shooting and now a spokesperson for the Hangzhou Asian Games Sports Operations Center, believed the Hangzhou Asian Games is an opportunity to demonstrate national spirit.
"The power of sports and the Asian Games has united the spirit of our countrymen and the nation, and cultural self-confidence has been further manifested," he said, before noting his career spanned the development of sports in China.
"We have made new breakthroughs in various international competitions in competitive sports, while the grassroots sports and the sports industry in these years have also continued to grow. I believe things will get even better."
With the name Temple of Heaven, an artwork jointly created by Chinese contemporary artist Zou Cao and “isolated elders,” or elderly people who have no family, has recently been finished and revealed to the public.
The art piece took Zou and his partners two months to create. There are 10 different versions of the art prints. The main subject of the prints is the Temple of Heaven, which was built in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Taking a close look at the art, one can see the architecture has been depicted with thousands of overlapping fingerprints. Compared to figurative paintings, the architecture looks slightly surreal, yet the artwork’s purpose is to be close to reality as Zou wanted to reconnect the marginalized “isolated elders” group with mainstream society.
“These elderly people are not just a community that needs to be helped. The idea of ‘everyone joins in the public welfare project’ can be achieved when the elderly participate in the whole art-making process,” Zou told the Global Times.
The art practice was originated as a charity program that was launched by the Tencent Foundation. The program is called “grandparent companionship project.” It offers support including food and companionship for 10,000 elderly people across the country.
The idea for the artwork came from the fingerprints some elderly people left on their letters sent to the program’s volunteers.
“I’ve been thinking about what I can do for the old people,” the artist told the Global Times and he added that the gap between fine art and society can be closed.
The art piece of Temple of Heaven reflects a trending artistic topic that is called “socially engaged art,” art critic and museum expert Li Liyang told the Global Times.
“This art form tries to make a response to what happens in society and everyday life. It is not just about changing the context but also reveals an artist’s longing and their focus on life practices,” Li told the Global Times.
The prints will be auctioned and all the benefits will be donated to the elderly people.
“I made the whole project into a ‘social sculpture,’ using artistic methods to change society based on what I, as an artist, can do,” Zou told the Global Times.
A research forum that relates to this artistic practice has also been carried out. Veteran TV host Jing Yidan said that ageing is always a sore point of societies. The public should pay more attention not only to elderly people without families, but also other elderly groups such as people who have lost their children.
Yu Yang, a famous art critic, said that Zou's fingerprint painting was different to his previous works. There is a genre transformation in turning the “prints” to “performance art,” Yu noted.
“Fingerprints are a symbol of contact in traditional Chinese culture. We can also interpret this as a commitment of the artist to his social responsibility,” Yu said.
Editor's Note:
On October 18, 2023, as the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) came to a conclusion, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced eight major steps China will take to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in a keynote speech. Benefiting over 150 countries, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become the most popular international public good and largest international cooperation platform in today's world.
The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI and 10th year since China first proposed building a closer China-ASEAN community of shared future. The ASEAN is the priority and key region for the implementation of the BRI, and is an active respondent and beneficiary of the framework.
In a recent interview with the Global Times reporter Wang Qi (GT), Shi Zhongjun (Shi), the Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Center (ACC), said ASEAN members highly value the tremendous achievements made with China under the BRI over the last decade, which has brought tangible benefits to ASEAN people and has been sincerely welcomed by them as a road to development and prosperity. He said ASEAN members generally look forward to the continued promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation, rather than becoming geopolitical pawns. All-round cooperation between China and ASEAN has also injected more positive energy into regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity amid global uncertainties and chaos.
GT: How do you interpret the outcome of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) and what is the response from ASEAN members?
Shi: The third BRF has just been successfully concluded, with representatives from 151 countries and 41 international organizations participating, and more than 10,000 registered participants, which fully demonstrates that the BRI has taken root in people's hearts worldwide, and the global influence of the concept is increasing.
President Xi Jinping met with heads of state, including leaders of ASEAN members, to reaffirm the broad consensus to continue to build a high-quality BRI. A total of 458 outcomes were delivered during the BRF and 369 practical collaboration projects have been inked, of which nearly 80, or more than one-fifth, are related to ASEAN members. These outcomes have drawn a new blueprint, opened a new phase, and injected new momentum into the BRI's future.
I've noticed that the leaders of the participating ASEAN members highly value the tremendous achievements made in the last 10 years of the joint construction of the BRI. They have expressed their willingness to continue to participate in the BRI, and hope that more pragmatic projects that are beneficial to the people will be implemented. They also welcome more Chinese investment to maintain the positive momentum of high-quality and inclusive development.
GT: What can we expect from future cooperation between China and the ASEAN, and what roles can the ACC play in this regard?
Shi: China and ASEAN members will work together to implement the important outcomes of the BRF.
First, we will further promote the BRI to dovetail with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, and the development strategies of each ASEAN member. Second, we will continue to strengthen infrastructure development in railways, highways, ports, airports, electricity, and communications to build a three-dimensional network of connectivity. Third, we will further enhance economic and trade exchanges, stabilize and smooth the supply chain and industrial chain, and cultivate new growth points for cooperation in emerging areas such as the digital economy, green transformation, and scientific and technological innovation.
Regarding promoting policy communication, the ACC will continue to maintain close communication with government departments and embassies of China and ASEAN members, and promote exchanges and docking of policies through co-organizing briefings and other activities.
In terms of promoting trade, the ACC will continue to build platforms, actively matchmaking enterprises and products from both sides to enter each other's markets, inviting ASEAN business to participate in economic and trade activities in China, and organizing face-to-face exchanges between governments, businessmen, and enterprises from the two sides, so as to facilitate the landing of more projects.
When it comes to promoting people-to-people exchanges, the ACC will continue to actively carry out exchange projects in the fields of education, culture, youth, tourism, and media between China and the ASEAN, to promote tourism recovery, and cultivate a positive atmosphere of public opinion for the China-ASEAN relationship.
GT: How do you view the cooperation between China and the ASEAN under the BRI in the last decade? What does it mean for the development of ASEAN members?
Shi: China and most ASEAN members are developing countries, which makes development a common goal for both sides. Over the last decade, China and ASEAN members have continuously strengthened their strategic synergizing, and have achieved fruitful results and joined hands to build a high-quality BRI model.
China and all 10 ASEAN members have signed bilateral cooperation documents on the joint construction of the BRI. The two sides have been each other's largest trading partner for three consecutive years and are accelerating version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN free trade agreement.
Facts have proven that the joint construction of the BRI has brought ASEAN members greater opportunities for cooperation and development dividends, as well as a greater sense of gain and happiness to the people on both sides.
For instance, the China-Laos Railway. It has been hailed by the Lao people as a "landmark project" that has transformed Laos from a "land-locked country" to a "land-linked country."
The railway has been in stable operation for 22 months, carrying more than 20 million passengers and 26.8 million tons of goods. Through the railway, fresh fruits from Southeast Asia can be delivered to Chinese consumers in a shorter period of time and at a lower cost. The project has provided more than 110,000 jobs for the Lao people and trained local technical and managerial staff, leading to the economic and social development of Laos.
GT: Since you became the Secretary-General of the ACC in September 2022, you have visited a number of ASEAN members. What are the attitudes and feelings of ASEAN members toward China and the BRI? What has impressed you the most after one year in office?
Shi: This year, I have visited six ASEAN members, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar, and met with high-level officials from the foreign affairs, economic and trade, investment, education, culture, and tourism departments of the host countries, as well as exchanging views with people from all walks of life, such as local chambers of commerce, universities, think tanks, and the media.
I feel that all sectors of ASEAN members welcome the BRI and highly appreciate the results achieved. ASEAN members generally believe that jointly building the BRI can improve the infrastructure of ASEAN members, narrow the development gap between regions, promote the region's post-COVID recovery, and effectively benefit the local people.
I have a deep impression that locals often talk about two BRI projects. The first is the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, which has just come into operation.
When I was in Jakarta, many local people said to me, "In the 1990s, it took a whole day to go to Bandung, but now it only takes 40 minutes through the high-speed railway, which is incredible!"
The second is the Chinese-invested Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in Cambodia, which connects the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh with the largest deep-water seaport, Sihanoukville. Locals in Phnom Penh say that it takes more than 5 hours to drive between the two places, but now it takes less than 2 hours, which brings great convenience to people.
At the same time, some media sources and think tanks in ASEAN members have told me that some ordinary people still do not have a comprehensive understanding of the BRI. In the future, the two sides should carry out more economic and livelihood projects, especially small but practical projects, so that more people in the ASEAN can share the dividends of the BRI.
GT: Under the US "Indo-Pacific Strategy," more external factors are intervening in the Asia-Pacific region. What is the importance of practical cooperation between China and the ASEAN under the BRI to maintain the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region?
Shi: China-ASEAN cooperation under the BRI has brought tangible benefits to ASEAN people and has been sincerely welcomed by them as a way to development and prosperity. ASEAN members generally look forward to continuing to promote mutually beneficial cooperation, rather than becoming geopolitical pawns. Regional countries are well aware of the motives and intentions of the interfering external forces.
At present, the recovery of the global economy from the pandemic is still generally weak, while the geopolitical situation is still strained and chaotic, with the issues of inflation, environment, food, and energy security still complex and grim. This poses a number of challenges to regional peace and stability.
The jointly construction of BRI has allowed for a large number of infrastructure projects to take root in the ASEAN, which not only improves local production and the living environment, but also effectively reduces the cost of participation in international trade for ASEAN members, strengthens their ability to integrate into the world economy, and stimulates the region's potential for greater development.
In addition, China and the ASEAN have been cooperating on trade facilitation, accelerating the process of regional economic integration, promoting the stability and smooth flow of the regional and global industrial chain supply chain, and injecting strong impetus into a steady recovery after the global pandemic.
In general, the all-round cooperation between China and the ASEAN under the BRI has injected more positive energy into regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity, and has become the greatest certainty amid current global uncertainties.
GT: What are the lessons that partners can learn from the successful China-ASEAN cooperation under the BRI?
Shi: China and ASEAN members are natural fellow travelers in the construction of the BRI, and have been working hand in hand for 10 years, achieving fruitful results along the way and bringing great benefits to the people of both sides. I believe that there are at least three aspects of experience that are worth learning from:
First, focusing on strategic synergizes. Over the last decade, the BRI has not only been designed to dovetail with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, but also has been customized to dovetail with the development strategies of each ASEAN member.
Second, we insist on mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. China and ASEAN members have been practicing the principle of joint construction and sharing and have deepened cooperation in these fields with complementary advantages.
Third, it's always keeping pace with the times. Both sides attach importance to "hard connectivity" in infrastructure, "soft connectivity" in education, culture, and tourism, and now, the "new connectivity" in green, digital, and artificial intelligence.
The core idea is to ensure that cooperation remains at the forefront of innovation, leading the trend, and truly benefiting the region.
The Central Conservatory of Music held a China-Argentina Friendship Exchange Concert with the support of the Embassy of Argentina in China and the National University of the Arts in Argentina.
The finale of the concert, "Jasmine Tango," was performed by the Central Conservatory of Music Chinese Chamber Orchestra. This piece was composed for the Tango Art Research and Practice Center project by the Central Conservatory of Music, using the familiar Chinese folk song Jasmine Flower and the well-known Argentine tango Por una Cabeza as the music material. It highlights the diversity of Chinese music, inclusiveness of Chinese culture, and expresses best wishes for the long-lasting friendship between China and Argentina.
Editor's Note:
Since 2012, China has witnessed an extraordinary economic transition, with historic achievements in all aspects of the economy from its size to quality. Such an unparalleled feat does not just happen, especially during a tumultuous period in the global geo-economic landscape and a tough phase in China's economic transformation and upgrading process. It was Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era that guided the country in overcoming various risks and challenges, and in keeping the China economic miracle alive.
As China embarked on the quest to become a great modern socialist country amid global changes unseen in a century, Xi's economic thought has been and will continue to be the guiding principle for development in China for years to come, and have great significance for the world. What is Xi's economic thought? What does it mean for China and the world? To answer these questions, the Global Times has launched this special coverage on Xi's major economic speeches and policies, and how they are put into practice to boost development in China and around the world.
In China's economic policymaking, policymakers and economists often use a rather apt term to describe the integral role the private sector plays in the country's social and economic development: "56789." This refers to private firms' contribution of more than 50 percent to national tax revenue, more than 60 percent to the national GDP, more than 70 percent to technological innovation achievements, more than 80 percent to urban employment, and 90 percent to the total number of enterprises in China.
More than describing private firms' enormous contributions to China's overall development, the phrase also lays bare the weight of the private firms in China's economic policymaking. And yet, whenever private firms, or the Chinese economy, encounter challenges, some at home and abroad levy obsolete claims against China's policy for the private sector. Some foreign media sources describe normal industrial regulation as "crackdowns," while others seek to paint a dire outlook for Chinese private firms.
Evidently, this has, to some extent, led to negative sentiment among some private firms, as private fixed-asset investment shrank by 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2023, with a 0.6-percent contraction in June alone, according to official data.
This further fueled pessimism toward Chinese private firms and even the Chinese economy as a whole. The IMF said last month that China's economy was slowing due to weaker private investment.
Are Chinese policymakers paying less attention to private firms, or engaging in "arbitrary crackdowns?" Are private firms facing an increasingly grim outlook in China?
After conducting interviews with more than a dozen Chinese private firms, entrepreneurs, and experts, the Global Times found that, while challenges remain, the private sector remains overwhelmingly confident in operation and future growth, pointing to increasing support from policymakers and China's overall economic prospects. Personal care and support for the private sector from President Xi Jinping have become a source of confidence for the country's vast private sector.
Support from top leader
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has, at important meetings and inspection tours around the country, commended the crucial contributions of the private sector to China's social and economic development and voiced unwavering support for the high-quality development of private firms.
"The CPC Central Committee has always considered private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as being in our ranks," Xi said in March, while visiting national political advisors from the China National Democratic Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, who were in attendance at the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Wang Yu, a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC and chairman of Spring Airlines, was among the national political advisors who were in attendance when Xi visited. "I am very touched!" Wang said at the time, noting that Xi's remarks helped "eliminate any worry among the vast number of private entrepreneurs and set our minds at ease, and greatly boosted our confidence in continuing to overcome difficulties."
In a recent interview, Wang said that a slew of recent policy measures for private firms further demonstrated Xi and the CPC Central Committee's unwavering support for the private sector. "Although China's economy is stabilizing and improving, the external situation is complicated and severe, and it still faces the huge test of 'triple pressures.' Private enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, have been more affected and impacted. At such a time of difficulty and confusion, the Party and the government have provided firm support and clear guidance," Wang told the Global Times.
On July 19, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council released a guideline on boosting the growth of the private economy, vowing to improve the business environment, enhance policy support, and strengthen the legal guarantee for the development of the private economy. Containing 31 measures, the guideline addressed major challenges faced by the private sector.
On July 24, Xi presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to analyze economic situation and make arrangements for work in the second half of the year. The meeting called for policies and measures to promote private investment and provide private enterprises with an enabling environment. It also stressed upholding the principle of unswerving consolidation and development of the public sector and unswerving encouragement, support, and guidance of the development of the private sector, or "the two unwaverings," which is also a key aspect of Xi's economic thought.
"A series of recent weighty documents will not only strengthen the importance attached to and support for the private economy, but will also provide a stronger policy guarantee for the development of the private economy in the new era through a series of new measures that are normalized and based on the rule of law, and will further stabilize expectations and boost confidence," Li Jin, chief researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute in Beijing, told the Global Times.
Efforts to tackle challenges
Highlighting the ultra-efficiency of policymaking and execution unique to China's system, and following the remarks and policy guidelines from the top leadership, various ministries have, in recent days, issued a slew of measures to help private firms tackle major challenges and ensure steady, sound development of the private economy.
Last week, eight Chinese ministries issued 28 measures to support the private sector, vowing to provide fair access for private firms to participate in major national projects and technological undertakings, increasing financial and land support, and strengthening the legal protection of the private firms.
On Sunday, the State Taxation Administration announced 28 measures to facilitate tax payments and promote the development of the private sector.
The measures have been well received by private entrepreneurs around the country, who described them as "timely rain" that will help them address major challenges they are facing in a targeted manner.
Chen Xu, chairman of the SENKEN Group, a police appliances manufacturing company in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, said that the company faces relatively big burdens in areas such as tax, research and development (R&D) investment, and rising labor costs, and recently implemented measures address such challenges.
"In particular, measures aimed at providing fair market access for private firms is very helpful for us," Chen told the Global Times, adding that other measures to help protect intellectual property are also very important to the firm, as it spends more than 30 million yuan on R&D each year.
Wang Shaoshao, founder of Ouhua, a small business in Zhejiang that focuses on flowers and related cultural products, said that recent policy measures supporting the land use of private firms greatly help the company, as it seeks to rent land for business activities.
Cai Qinliang, head of a company specializing in Christmas decorations manufacture in Yiwu, Zhejiang, said that exports orders are gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels and other challenges such as surging shipping costs are easing thanks to increased policy support.
"From production to shipment and customs, the policies issued by the government are very conducive to the development of the enterprise, which can ensure that we can clear customs and ship out goods as soon as possible," Cai told the Global Times, noting that recent measures aimed at cutting processing time for tax rebates to less than six working days and extending loans for small businesses, in particular, will help ease firms' financial burdens.
Zhejiang is one of the largest private business hubs in China, with the private sector enterprises accounting for over 70 percent of its economic activity. Zhejiang plays a crucial role in leading national efforts to boost the confidence of private firms, analysts said.
Upbeat on future prospect
Contrary to the rather dark picture painted by certain foreign media outlets, private entrepreneurs expressed confidence in their future outlook, thanks to firm support from the top leadership and concrete measures that help address challenges they face. Moreover, there are emerging signs that point to the resilience of the private sector in face of challenges.
In the first seven months of 2023, exports and imports by the private companies totaled 12.46 trillion yuan, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, becoming a bright spot in China's overall trade in the face of downward pressure, official data showed on Tuesday. This growth rate is significantly higher than the 0.4 percent year-on-year growth rate in China's foreign trade registered for the same period in 2022. Notably, the share of private firms' exports and imports in the country's total foreign trade rose to 52.9 percent.
"In fact, the production and order situation of our company in 2022 has recovered to about 90 percent of the pre-pandemic level, and it is still gradually improving this year and expected to basically return to the pre-pandemic level," Cai with the Christmas decorations manufacturing firm said, also adding, "with strong policy support, we are quite confident in the future."
Chen, chairman of SENKEN, said that despite challenges, the company is moving along steadily with its five-year plan for a listing on the stock market by 2024. It is also actively expanding its overseas market, even after having exported products to more than 60 countries and regions. "The hope is that our brand can be competitive and influential overseas," he said.
And for the private sector, the country's firm support is for long term, rather than a short-term boost measure. "The '56789' feature of the private economy has not changed, and private firms are inseparable from the Chinese economy," Li said, adding that the private sector plays an increasingly crucial role in the country's pursuit of high-quality development and ultimate Chinese modernization.
More forms of long-term policy support are expected for private firms, as Xi put it in March, to boost their confidence and unburden them of their worries, so that they can ambitiously pursue development.
Even since the eruption of the recent Israeli-Palestine conflict, China has taken a proactive role in de-escalation, collaborating with the international community to spare efforts to bring an end to the fighting, safeguard civilian lives, and provide humanitarian aid.
In recent days, the Chinese Government's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun has made relentless trips to Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Jordan in a diplomatic effort to de-escalate the situation and ease hostilities.
Meanwhile, in response to the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the China International Development Cooperation Agency has pledged an additional 15 million yuan ($2.05 million) in emergency humanitarian supplies. This aid aims to assist those affected by the conflict, in addition to previously allocated $1 million in cash assistance through the Palestinian National Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
During a meeting with Zhai on Sunday in Amman, the capital of Jordan, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini, noted that the UNRWA regards China as an important partner, thanks China for its long-standing political support and financial assistance to the UNRWA, appreciates China's emergency humanitarian assistance to Gaza since the conflict, and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as soon as possible.
UNRWA, which was founded in 1949, is mandated to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. The organization relies on voluntary contributions to finance its operations.
At the Wednesday media briefing, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that "China has no selfish interests in the Palestinian-Israeli issue. We stand for the protection of civilians, a ceasefire and an end to fighting, the opening of humanitarian relief corridors, the prevention of a greater humanitarian crisis, the resumption of political dialogue and negotiation, and the return of the Palestinian issue to the right track of the two-state solution so as to achieve lasting peace and stability in the Middle East."
"As [China assumes] the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month and a responsible member of the international community, China will continue to work with the international community to ease the situation, protect civilians, advance humanitarian assistance, and resume peace talks," he said.
The US is plagued with a drug abuse problem more acute than any other countries as 12 percent of global drug users come from the North American country, two times higher than the proportion of its population.
Provisional data indicates that nearly 110,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2022, the highest of all time, and more than two-thirds of the deaths involved the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, as per US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, the Associated Press reported.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, when visiting China in late August, claimed that US hopes to cooperate with China to tackle the rapidly increasing rates of fentanyl overdoses. However, the country simultaneously keeps scapegoating China on the issue, imposing sanctions and filing criminal charges against Chinese enterprises and individuals.
Through an investigation into the US' opioid crisis which reveals the country's legislative and law enforcement failures over the decades, the Global Times found that the US is disinclined to find a radical cure, while scapegoating China as a conduit for mounting anger in American society. All this serves the US' strategic rivalry with China.
Painkiller becomes source of pain
There is nothing new under the sun, and the US' fentanyl crisis is a continuation of its forbearer Oxycodone, a strong, semi-synthetic opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain.
The Netflix TV drama Painkiller released in 2023, adapted from a book published in 2003, revealed how the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma colluded with US medicinal regulators and developed aggressive marketing tactics to promote its brand name product OxyContin, an extended-release form of Oxycodone, as less likely to cause addiction, raking in tens of millions of dollars.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), charged with the responsibility of prescription drug use regulation, gave OxyContin the green light in 1995 even though neither long-term studies nor assessments of its addictive capabilities had been thoroughly conducted.
Two principal FDA reviewers who originally approved Purdue's application both took positions at the company after leaving the agency. In the following two decades, more FDA staffers involved in opioid approvals left the FDA to work for opioid makers, according to the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.
Purdue offered kickbacks, paid lecturers, and organized free seminar vacations to doctors to incentivize them to prescribe OxyContin, leading to a tenfold increase in prescriptions for less serious pain, from about 670,000 in 1997 to about 6.2 million in 2002.
As Purdue earned billions of dollars from oxycodone sales, other drug companies took note; when the numerous unnecessary prescriptions were given to chronic pain patients, addiction and overdose deaths soared.
The US' healthcare system also contributed - "Most insurance, especially for poor people, won't pay for anything but a pill," said Judith Feinberg, a professor at West Virginia University with expertise in infectious diseases associated with drug injection.
The US Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 11 million people in the US consume oxycodone in a non-medical way annually.
Although Purdue was ultimately brought to justice, addicts are not redeemed. The large, ever expanding group of drug dependence, without proper social support and intervention, easily became the victims of new, more powerful drugs - fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is also FDA-approved and up to 50 and 100 times stronger than heroine and morphine respectively.
Fentanyl, the cheaper to make yet more lethal drug and its close cousins became the biggest drug-related killers in the US in 2016, the Associated Press reported.
The media has reported on how drug users addicted to other substances unknowingly ingest fentanyl, as local dealers sell "traditional" products like cocaine "cut" with fentanyl, or pills containing fentanyl that are "advertised as legitimate prescription drugs."
Incapable legislation, enforcement
With around 4 percent of the world's population, the US consumes 80 percent of the world's opioids.
Why is the US?
The US' drug problem, including the current fentanyl abuse crisis, is deeply rooted in the country's lobbying political structure and ideology, said Zhang Yifei, an associate research fellow at the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The colossal profits bundle pharmaceutical companies with the FDA, sponsored politicians, academic groups, and the media, making the fentanyl crisis a predictable tragedy in the US that has enriched a few at the expense of many lives lost, Zhang said.
Academic institutions provide "scientific proof," media and think tanks propagate said proof, and drug makers lobby the government - this is a very complete and mature chain, Zhang elaborated, "They have various ways to exchange rights and interests through the 'revolving door' system."
Zhang also pointed to "the pan-liberalism trend in the US, which emphasizes the absolute freedom of individuals."
US governments, be they federal or state, are incapable of exercising effective regulation on many issues, although some of them, like drugs and guns, have endangered the public, Zhang said.
When the public demands for freedom of marijuana use, governments and drug companies "hear" these calls and legalize the drug, milking profits from sales. Even in states where marijuana remains illegal, its use is prevalent and law enforcement efforts to curb use are almost nonexistent.
A Chinese national who used to live in North Carolina, told the Global Times that it is common to see people "getting high" in public in broad daylight when the drug is illegal.
In the same way, only until the fentanyl crisis becomes so critical that the public demands for action to be taken, will the government finally act. The first fentanyl-related act passed in Congress in 2017, four years after lawmakers receiving alert on the drug.
When actions are finally taken, they cannot avoid the trap of US' political wrestling.
Lawmakers, during the US' 2023 legislative session, introduced over 600 bills related to fentanyl. However, in a deeply divided country, many of the fentanyl crime laws are notable for attracting bipartisan support, the New York Times reported in June. When Republican-controlled House reviewed a bill on fentanyl trafficking in May, 132 of the 133 vetoes came from Democrats.
Another incongruous approach is the use of "safer" supervised consumption services (SCS) through which people can use pre-obtained drugs "safety" with the support of trained personnel. Funded by public money, it is hard to say whether such facilities can curb overdoses more than treating those with an addiction, not to mention such "legal sites" can mislead youth to believe addiction and drug use are nothing to worry.
Zeng Lidu, a grassroots narcotic control officer in Central China's Hunan Province, told the Global Times that the US approach of control sounds "odd" in China, which, as one of the countries with the most effective drug control, closely monitors the maker rather than potential user.
"Fentanyl has variable structures, making it more difficult than the traditional drugs to crack down on," Zeng told the Global Times. "In our district, only a few chemical plants and hospitals are allowed the use of fentanyl under close supervision. We trace and regulate every step in their use, transportation, and storage of fentanyl."
Experts told the Global Times that many fentanyl precursors are widely used in the chemical industry. China, as a chemical giant, does not have a fentanyl abuse problem at home, which says a lot about the root cause of the American drug disease.
Not cooperation but scapegoating
Out of humanitarianism, China is willing to cooperate with the US in tackling the proliferation of fentanyl and has established a cooperation mechanism with the US on the issue.
China scheduled and controlled all fentanyl-related substance by class in 2019 - the first country to do so in the world, while the US itself is yet to do the same. China formulated three legal documents to support the filing, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenses involving these substances. To reinforce fentanyl testing and monitoring, five sub-centers of the National Drug Laboratory have been established across the country.
But the US in 2020 unilaterally and arbitrarily imposed sanctions on the institute of forensic science under China's Ministry of Public Security and National Drug Laboratory, severely jeopardizing related cooperation.
A new vilification of China popular in the US is that Chinese firms sell commonly used chemicals to a third country, such as Mexico, where fentanyl is manufactured and later sold to the US. Citing this, the US has sanctioned Chinese companies, even including tablet press machine makers.
Analysts stressed the "know your customer" practice that some in the US have been asking about far exceeds UN obligations. According to international practices, it is up to the importing country to ensure that imported goods are not used for illegal purposes, not the exporter. China has no sovereign right over a third country, and Chinese companies are not capable of verifying all buyers of its product.
Zhang Yifei said scapegoating China on fentanyl is an easy and convenient approach for the US government to unleash domestic anger against ineffective drug control.
Through distorted coverage on the issue, domestic media outlets successfully sell "China responsible" narrative to Americans at home. By repeatedly hyping the narrative at international occasions, the US also adds fentanyl into its recipe cooking "China threat."
In this sense, fentanyl is essentially same to long-term smear campaign against China on many topics including human rights in Xinjiang region, Zhang said.
As the presidential elections approach, blaming China for its domestic social handicaps as a political tactic sounds ridiculous, but quite a number of US politicians and voters buy this logic, Zhang noted. As the US' domestic political infighting escalates, chance of cooperation on this area which the US is in urgent need of, may narrow even further.