Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.31 i Beijing Review

The Chinese economy grew 3.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, reversing the 6.8-percent decline in the first quarter and performing the best among all major world economies, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on July 16. In the middle of the plummeting world economy due to the still uncontrollable novel coronavirus pandemic, China’s economic recovery has brought a glimmer of hope. The economy’s shift from contraction to growth in the first half of the year indicates China’s epidemic control has been effective. With the coordinated efforts of the government and the people, the virus was contained and production resumed in an orderly way. Besides, a series of policies and measures were taken to facilitate the recovery of the economy. The growth of major…

Even before the dust of disruptions and devastation inflicted on lives and livelihoods by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic settles, robust conversations and actionable roadmaps are well underway to facilitate a global recovery and, in particular, uplift struggling economies in Africa. The sinister COVID-19 pandemic has resuscitated the urgent need for the recognition of a common humanity. If there has been an iota of doubt that the global community is intrinsically and irrevocably tied to a common destiny and shared future, the outbreak of the pandemic cleared that up. The dread of thermonuclear conflagration and the corollary of a mutual balance of nuclear capabilities among major powers as a meaningful deterrent have completely paled into insignificance when compared to the disaster inflicted by the pandemic. However, lethal as it…

After bidding farewell to fishing, Zhao Zelun now spends more time on his farm and his newly renovated guesthouse on Zhongba Island in Chongqing Municipality in southwest China. For nearly three decades, Zhao made a living as a fisherman on the Yangtze River. But in 2010, he started thinking of going offshore as the number of fish began to dwindle. When Zhao first began fishing in the early 1990s, it was a different story; he could easily catch hundreds of kilograms of fish in one trawling. But in recent years, he could hardly get one 10th of that. “The money I earned from fishing dropped dramatically and I gradually realized that I couldn’t count on the Yangtze for a living anymore,” Zhao told Chongqing TV. What sealed his decision was…

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s largest semiconductor foundry, listed on the one-year-old Science and Technology Innovation Board of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), popularly known as the STAR Market, on July 16, becoming the first Chinese technology firm to list both on the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. On the first day of trading, SMIC’s share price closed at 82.92 yuan ($11.86), surging by 201.97 percent from its issuing price of 27.46 yuan ($3.93). At the end of the day, it reached a market value of 613.76 billion yuan ($87.81 billion), the largest on the STAR Market. The company had announced its initial public offering (IPO) plan on the STAR Market on Mcay 5. It took only 37 days from filing the IPO application on June 1…

As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread globally, experts have pointed out that a second, and even a third wave of the disease are highly possible before a vaccine arrives. Robert Redfield, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has warned that a second wave in winter could hit the U.S. harder than the current outbreak. The pandemic has disrupted the global supply and value chains, plunging the world economy into recession. There is an increasing risk of the major economies abandoning open cooperation and slipping into isolation. Globalization faces a crisis. Against this backdrop, the performance of China’s economy shows economic recovery is possible. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, China’s GDP in the second quarter grew by 3.2 percent year…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it a key slogan during the campaign for Brexit in 2016 that the most important thing was for Britain as a sovereign nation to “take back control.” Part of that was about immigration, which was a key concern of voters during the campaign. Part of it was about how Britain felt too many decisions were made in Brussels by un-elected officials. But there was also a sense that on security, trade and investment, the UK was cramped and its strategic space restricted by being part of a multilateral union. Following the U.S. The UK is still one of the world’s largest economies. It has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. It is a key security partner for the U. S., where it…

Chinese friendship was extended to Sri Lanka through the ancient Silk Road many centuries ago when the two countries established close trade and cultural links. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Sri Lanka established diplomatic ties in 1957, laying the foundation for cooperation in several fields. During times of disaster, China has been among the first to come to Sri Lanka’s assistance. In 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Sri Lanka, China helped in the reconstruction. It did a repeat act after the end of a nearly three-decade-old separatist movement, assisting the civil war-battered island nation’s development with soft loans and investment. Sri Lanka values such friendship and Sri Lankans have been supporting China whenever necessary. When the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic was reported in China, Sri…

Sensheng, a plastics manufacturer based in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province in east China, was on the verge of letting go around 20 percent of its staff to pay back a 3-million-yuan ($429,418) loan that was about to be overdue, when its lender, Taizhou Bank, came to its rescue. Under the bank’s new policy designed to cushion epidemic impact, the firm was able to renew the loan without having to pay back the 3-million-yuan principal, as long as it promised to spend the funds on business operation and keep its employees on the payroll. Sensheng is one of many Chinese companies craving for funds to keep their businesses going after the epidemic dampened demand and slowed production. A central bank survey showed that credit demand in over 300 cities across China has…

Rescue Ride People affected by flood take a rescue boat to a safe area in Guzhen Town in Lu’an City, Anhui Province in east China, on July 20. Since July 2, continuous heavy rains have affected more than 3.6 million residents and forced the evacuation of over 600,000 people in Anhui Province. Criminal Cases The first half of 2020 saw a decline in the number of criminal cases across China amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) said on July 20. Procuratorates across the country approved or initiated the arrest of 280,333 suspects between January and June, down 47.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the data released by the SPP. The number of suspects prosecuted in the first six months dropped…

NEW FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON NAMED Wang Wenbin, former Chinese ambassador to Tunisia, was named the 32nd spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy director general of its Information Department. Wang, born in 1971, joined the ministry in 1993. He has worked in different departments of the ministry and the General Office of the State Council, as well as in Chinese diplomatic missions in Senegal, Cameroon and Mauritius. He served as China’s ambassador to Tunisia from 2017 to 2020. His appointment came after former spokesperson Geng Shuang was named deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations. Wang said he looks forward to introducing and explaining China’s diplomacy and policy in order to promote understanding and friendship between China and the rest of the world, at a press…

China’s V-shaped economic recovery continued for a fourth consecutive month in June, led by strong domestic demand. If the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) remains under control, China can remain the world’s best consumer story. The recovery of sales of autos and homes reflects that middle-class and wealthy consumers have both sufficient money and enough confidence in the future to spend it. And it was not only big-ticket items that bounced back. Online sales of goods rose 25 percent year on year in June. During the first six months of the year, online sales accounted for one quarter of total retail sales. It is significant that this healthy economic recovery has come without a dramatic stimulus. Credit growth, for example, has accelerated only modestly. Augmented total outstanding social finance, the broadest…

The way in which China and Arab countries are supporting each other during the global fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic provides an excellent example of why the old adage, a friend in need is a friend indeed, remains relevant in today’s world. When China was in the depths of its fight against COVID-19, Arab states showed solidarity by voicing support and donating medical supplies, among other things. Some famous landmarks, including ancient temples in Egypt and the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, were lit up in the colors of China’s flag. At that time, many Western countries imposed restrictions on travelers from China, causing travel and delivery difficulties. But Arab states adopted a more flexible approach. Major airlines in the Middle East, such as…

Xie Hui, a 31-year-old resident of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, halted her daily commute between Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, and her home in another city some 20 km away, since July 17 after the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) reemerged in the northwest region of China. On July 15, a young woman became the first COVID-19 patient in Tianshan District in downtown Urumqi, ending Xinjiang’s record of zero new locally transmitted infections for four months, the city’s prevention and control task force announced a day later. “Nobody would like to take the risk of getting infected,” Xie said. As of July 23, there were 95 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Xinjiang, 93 of them in Urumqi, and 85 asymptomatic cases. A total of 3,346 close contacts of infected…

In sharp contrast to the thinly vegetated towering peaks in the background, the slope on which Long Tingheng’s orchard sprawls is densely covered with assorted fruit trees. Locals nickname the slope Mountains of Flowers and Fruits. Long, a farmer in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province in southwest China, has seen his life transformed by the orchard of about 0.67 hectares. His family planted cherry, plum and apple trees, which fetched more than 200,000 yuan ($28,620) in 2019, he said. Ten years ago, Long and other farmers in Jiashan Village mainly grew corn and potato. Their annual per-capita income was about 1,000 yuan ($143), less than what they can now earn from a single cherry tree, said village head Wang Chaoyun. Amid sweeping agricultural structural reforms in Aba,…

($1=7 yuan) Production and Sales of Passenger Cars in China June Market Share of Chinese Brand Passenger Cars June Exports of Automobile Enterprises June (Source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers) The 17th China Changchun International Automobile Expo, one of the country’s major auto expos, concluded on July 19 with a transaction volume of 10.3 billion yuan. The 10-day event in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province in northeast China, attracted 293,000 on-site visitors and 575,000 online visitors. China Development Bank, one of the country’s major policy banks, said it issued loans to the tune of 705.3 billion yuan in the first half of the year to support the energy and transport sectors. Outstanding loans grew by about 282 billion yuan during the period. The funding went to support the development of…

When Beijing Television Station started a new cultural variety show, I Will Wait for You in the Summer Palace—on July 3, it brought cheer to many people who have not traveled for a long time. It gave them not only an online tour of a beautiful destination with breathtaking scenery but also brought to light its culture, history and philosophy. The destination: the Summer Palace, the famed imperial garden in northwest Beijing, built during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998. The historical site has been given modernday glamor by actors and other celebrities who are the guides during the virtual sightseeing tour, telling the audience about the history of its attractions. They also play games featuring the palace and the historical personages…

Education authorities and universities recently released a document on employment data for this year’s college graduates. One striking point in the data was that those engaged in e-sports, online shopping and other kinds of new businesses were considered employed. Traditionally, e-sports and video games have been looked down upon, even despised by parents, who blame them for distracting their children from books. However, with the rapid development of the Internet, online games are growing into a new profession. Nowadays, there are e-sports programs at universities, and there is a huge demand for gamers on the market. More importantly, e-sports athletes and operators, recognized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security as new professional in April 2019, earn no less than those working in conventional sectors, and sometimes much…

The so-called “Hong Kong Autonomy Act” by the U.S. in response to the newly enacted Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is illegal and amounts to gross interference in China’s internal affairs. The Chinese law aims to protect Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong is part of China, it is a legitimate right of the country to promulgate a national security law. On the other hand, the U.S. move aims to restrict China, which is a sovereign nation over which the U.S. has no jurisdiction. The Trump administration has also announced sanctions against Chinese officials and companies, which is a violation of international law and principles of international relations. Since Hong Kong’s return to China on July 1,…