Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.32 i Beijing Review

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had not yet been eradicated when the country had to grapple with floods, the most severe after the inundation in 1998. But despite the double pressure, the loss of lives and property has been substantially lower, thanks to improved control measures. Overcoming natural disasters runs through the history of the Chinese nation. In ancient China, according to legend, King Yu introduced flood control, which made him acclaimed as Yu the Great. Tenaciously fighting against natural disasters has been part of the Chinese spirit for thousands of years. Today, the resilience has been enhanced by modern organizational capability, social governance and extensive application of science and technology. The organizational skill is evident in the creation of special departments and taskforces for flood control at the central…

Mike Pompeo is the embodiment of a fine U.S. diplomat. Eloquent speaker and West Point graduate. Army veteran and former top intelligence officer. Family man and devout church-goer. The way he skillfully and cheerfully engages his audiences at press briefings and during speeches offers a case study for stern-faced politicians with their austere public personas. In a speech in April 2019, Mr. Pompeo jokingly lauded the American intelligence practices of lying, cheating and stealing, knowing that it would meet with resounding approval from the audience. Politics aside, it takes a person of strong resolve to resist his charm. Yet the Western media has been overtly unfair to Mr. Pompeo of late. The New York Times claimed him to be “the worst secretary of state in American history, without a single…

We note the increasingly aggressive statements and actions being taken by the U.S. Government in regard to China. These constitute a threat to world peace and are an obstacle to humanity successfully dealing with extremely serious common issues which confront it such as climate change, control of pandemics, racist discrimination and economic development. We therefore believe that any new cold war would run entirely counter to the interests of humanity. Instead we stand in favor of maximum global cooperation in order to tackle the enormous challenges we face as a species. We therefore call upon the U.S. to step back from this threat of a cold war and also from other dangerous threats to world peace it is engaged in including withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty; withdrawal from…

On July 20, Ant Group, the fintech arm of Alibaba established in 2014, announced it would launch initial public offerings (IPOs) both on Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Science and Technology Innovation Board of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), popularly known as STAR Market, consolidating the trend of dual listing among Chinese companies. Four days earlier, chipmaker Semi-conductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) got listed on STAR Market, following an earlier debut in Hong Kong. Electric vehicle maker Hozon Auto has also announced its plan to list on STAR Market in 2021. Ant Group runs Alibaba’s digital payment and lending service platforms such as Alipay, Alipay Wallet, Yu’ebao and Ant Credit. The company, with an anticipated valuation of $200 billion, said it hopes to further its technological innovation and promote digital…

JIN LIQUN REELECTED PRESIDENT OF AIIB Jin Liqun has been elected to a second term as president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) by the bank’s board of governors during its fifth annual meeting on July 29. Jin was elected as the inaugural president for a term of five years when the bank started operation in 2016. “It has been a tremendous privilege to lead the AIIB during its foundational years,” Jin said. Under his leadership, the AIIB has grown from 57 founding members to over 100 approved members from around the world. Headquartered in Beijing, the AIIB is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia. It aims to expand investments from core infrastructure to tomorrow-infrastructure that will tackle climate change,…

The U.S. demanded on July 21 that China close its consulate general in Houston, with its law enforcement officers forcing entry into the premises of the Chinese mission later. China expressed firm opposition to the U.S. actions and in response, ordered the closure of the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The abrupt U.S. decision has thrown China-U.S. relations into their direst straits since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979. It violates the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and has shocked the international community. U.S. President Donald Trump also threatened to close more Chinese diplomatic missions. The development has triggered suspicion that China-U.S. relations are falling into the so-called Thucydides trap, which would negatively impact world peace and development. Coined by U.S. political…

The author is an assistant research fellow with China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations In the EU’s long and complicated history, a common financial policy is one of the most sensitive issues as its member states have different agendas and interests to defend. When the EU Special Summit started in Brussels on July 17 to establish a recovery fund to address the socio-economic fallout from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as well as the bloc’s long-term budget for 2021-27, the divide between the “frugal four”—the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark—and the Southern European countries, was huge as usual. To narrow it down, the meeting, instead of ending the next day, had to be prolonged to July 21, making it one of the longest summits in the EU’s history. However,…

At the Second China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai last year, a new sparkle was added by the launch of the Extraordinary Italian Jewelry Pavilion that brought 15 iconic jewelry brands from Italy. It was an initiative of the Italian national gold jewelry manufacturers’ association and Shanghai-based Chinese jewelry brand Vetiver, who also signed an agreement to introduce more Italian jewelry manufacturers to the Chinese market. This year too, Vetiver is gearing up for the Third CIIE, to be held from November 5 to 10. It will be its third attendance at the fair. However, this time, the urgency is far greater. “Italian jewelers’ traditional and mainstream markets used to be Europe and the U.S. But now, as they grapple with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), China is their…

On May 1, Beijing started implementing its mandatory domestic waste sorting regulation passed at the end of 2019. Affecting over 21 million residents, this rule is part of the Central Government’s garbage classification plan aiming to recycle 35 percent of the waste generated in 46 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, by this year. Every Beijing resident must separate their household trash into four groups: kitchen, recyclable, hazardous and other waste. The city administration can penalize those who fail to follow the scheme. The penalties include fines for individuals and heavier ones for businesses, which could go up to 50,000 yuan ($7,147) depending on the frequency. The municipal government has taken several steps to implement and publicize the garbage-sorting practices. Different stakeholders like real estate and property management firms are responsible…

The next few months before the U.S. presidential election on November 3 will be a high-risk period for Sino-U.S. relations as Donald Trump will do anything to win his reelection. The possibility of the Trump administration resorting to military conflict against China can’t be ruled out. Trump’s China policy has no bottom line. He is likely to announce a diplomatic break-off with China because one of his election strategies is to constantly provoke China. If he can make China strike back, it will deflect everyone’s attention in the U.S. from his failure to curb the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. He can then pretend to be a strong political leader who dares to take on China, which is a ploy to get more votes. China has refused to be provoked.…

With sporadic confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) popping up again, the possibility of another wave of the epidemic has risen in the country. On July 29, the Chinese mainland reported 102 locally transmitted cases, 96 in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest, five in Liaoning Province in the northeast and one in Beijing. After Beijing swiftly contained a cluster of 335 locally transmitted cases reported from June 10 to July 6, there were no new locally transmitted cases. But the respite lasted only a little over a week. On July 15, Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang, confirmed the first case of its cluster, followed by Dalian, a coastal city in Liaoning, which began to report its cluster from July 22. Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist for the…

Saravoot Yoovidhya has several attachments to China. The CEO of Thailand’s TCP Group, a major player in the energy drink market, says Hainan in southernmost China is his family’s ancestral home. Also, China is the largest market for his company’s products and to nurture the potential, TCP is building a manufacturing plant in Beijing that will become operational next year. In the next three years, the group will invest over $150 million in China to grow its market share and launch new products for its global portfolio, creating local jobs in the process. The TCP Group is among several foreign investors whose faith in the Chinese market has been buoyed by the resumption of production and normal life while other investment destinations in Europe and the United States still remain…

($1=7 yuan) Recovery of China’s software industry picked up momentum in the first half (H1) of this year. The profit of the industry rose 1.3 percent year on year to 424.1 billion yuan in H1, ending a five-month declining streak. China’s telecommunications industry reported steady growth in H1. The combined revenue of the sector reached 692.7 billion yuan during the period, up 3.2 percent year on year. Outstanding loans extended by China’s micro-credit companies stood at 884.1 billion yuan by the end of June, down 24.9 billion yuan from the beginning of this year. In recent years, China has tightened regulations for the sector targeting small companies and low-income groups to rein in financial risks. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)…