TheFederalReservebuildingisseeninWashington,US,Jan26,2022.Photo/AgenciesTheUSFederalReservereleasedminutesofitsDecembermonetarypolicymeeting,inwhichFedofficialsreiteratedtheirdeterminationtocurbinflation。
Chinese and US flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing, Jan 21, 2021. Photo/Agencies What film star would give up their career in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to become a policeman in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region? If a database is to be believed,
The Baihetan hydropower station, the worlds second-largest in terms of total installed capacity, was recently put into full operation, which marked the completion of the worlds largest clean energy corridor on Chinas Yangtze River.During the three-day New Year holiday, liveliness returned to Chinas consumption market, and multiple provinces sent business delegations overseas to seek new opportunities.These all indicate the enhanced confidence of enterprises in the Chinese market and accelerated steps of work resumption in China, following the optimization of countrys COVID-19 response measures.The international community is now more optimistic about Chinas economic prospects, believing that Chinas optimized COVID-19 response will inject more impetus into the countrys economic recovery and growth.Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. all lifted their forecast on Chinas economic growth in 2023.According to a survey by the Bank of America, three quarters of its portfolio managers hold that China will see higher growth after it optimized its COVID-19 response.WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Chinas optimization of COVID-19 response "will help remove one set of uncertainties" in a world reeling from the impacts of the pandemic.Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann noted that the optimization will inject more impetus into the recovery of China and the world.However, some western media outlets have shut their eyes to the positive changes of the Chinese economy and the authoritative judgement by international economic organizations and commercial institutions, and have taken to groundlessly talking down the Chinese economy.When China was following a dynamic zero-COVID approach, these media outlets fanned up the negative impacts from Chinas COVID-19 response on the world economy. However, their views did not change...
People enjoy leisure time at a business center in Beijing, Dec 24, 2022. (Photo: Xinhua)In a recent interview, Beijings acting mayor Yin Yong said the government should increase support for enterprises and give them space to recuperate so that they can see further development.It is necessary for the authorities to implement some policies to reduce the burden on enterprises that have experienced economic shocks and to give them more assistance, so that they resume production and promote sustainable development once the pandemic has peaked.In the more than three years since the pandemic broke out, Beijings economic development has suffered considerably. Only 12 of the 38 major industrial categories saw a year-on-year profit growth from January to November last year, the rest suffering varying degrees of losses. For example, in the first three quarters of 2022, the operating revenue of small and medium-sized enterprises above the designated size in Beijing fell by 1.7 percent year-on-year, with the total profit decreasing by 2.4 percent, and the jobs offered by them declining by 4.3 percent.Beijing has introduced a series of policy measures to stabilize growth and ensure peoples livelihood. Last year, Beijing launched a number of policy measures to help enterprises, including by further reducing their operating costs, increasing financial support, stabilizing industry and supply chains, and optimizing the business environment.In 2022 alone, the extra tax reduction and tax rebates in Beijing reached nearly 200 billion yuan ($29.53 billion). The implementation of these measures has not only made a positive contribution to Beijing stabilizing its overall macroeconomic market but also boosted the confidence of its market players.However, it should be noted that although the pandemic has peaked, the fundamentals underpinning economic development have not fundamentally changed. The overall environment for Chinas economic development remains severe, and de...
Paxlovid, Pfizers anti-viral medication to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is displayed in this picture illustration taken Oct 7, 2022. (Photo: Agencies)Albert Bourla, CEO of US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer, reportedly said at a conference on Monday that they had signed agreements with a Chinese enterprise for localized production of the anti-COVID-19 drug Paxlovid.The announcement came just one day after the National Healthcare and Security Administration officially finalized the 2022 national healthcare list, which Paxlovid failed to enter because of its very high price. There is no information on the price that was quoted and the price the NHSA expected, but the fact that the drug failed to make it to the list implies there was an unbridgeable gap, big or small.The announcement on Monday further restores hope that Chinese patients, like their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere, have convenient, protected access to effective drugs in their fight against COVID-19. Even though Paxlovid failed to make it to the national healthcare security list, China, Chinese companies and Pfizer are working to ensure stable supply of drugs for Chinese patients.Apart from the possibility of producing Paxlovid in China, the NHSA has temporarily included the drug in its healthcare security list and will pay for it until March 31, by which time infections will have peaked in most cities. In other words, Paxlovid will be available when Chinese people are most in need of it.Azvudine, developed by a domestic company, and Qingfei Paidu granules, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine, have both made it to the list. So, if Paxlovid is too expensive for some families to afford in the absence of support from the national medical security fund after March 31, Chinese patients will still have two other drugs to choose from.
General secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the second plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in Beijing, capital of China, Jan 9, 2023. Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi attended the meeting. (Photo: Xinhua)Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has stressed the need for ceaseless efforts to promote full and rigorous Party self-governance and ensure the implementation of decisions and plans made at the 20th CPC National Congress. Xi made the remarks while addressing the second plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Monday.The conference has made it clear that the Party should continue to uphold strict principles, apply strict measures and foster a rigorous environment for its self-governance, and the Partys self-reform should be carried forward staunchly. While pushing forward strict self-governance, efforts should also be made to encourage enthusiasm, initiative and creativity among Party members and officials.To do a good job of governing the country, the Party should do a good job of governing itself, and the country will become strong only if the Party maintains its strength.Therefore, full and rigorous self-governance should be an unceasing endeavor, and the Party should remain alert and determined to tackle the special challenges that it faces.With 96.71 million members — as of the end of 2021 — the Party has become one of the largest ruling parties in the world, and therefore it is important that it can be run with effective systems and regulations, which should be continuously improved to ensure rigorous self-governance.Prominent problems should be found in a timely manner. These problems, Xi noted, include, but are not limited to, failures to implement the decisions and prohibiti...
Screenshot of the articleChinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has published an article “How China Sees the World” in US bimonthly international relations magazine The National Interest. “It has been reaffirmed at the 20th Party Congress that China is committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and it remains dedicated to building a community with a shared future for mankind,” the text reads. “Such an official, open declaration of the CPC (Communist Party of China)’s worldview sheds light on the way it engages with the world,” Qin wrote.Here is the full text of the article, published on December 26:How China sees the worldThe 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in October. The CPC has thus started on a new journey, and so has China’s development. The thinking of Chinese Communists, as stated at this Party Congress, not only determines China’s direction but also has a sure impact on the world’s future.Just as people’s worldviews fundamentally shape the ways they choose to engage with the world, the same holds true for countries and political parties. It has been reaffirmed at the Party Congress that China is committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and it remains dedicated to building a community with a shared future for mankind. Such an official, open declaration of the CPC’s worldview sheds light on the way it engages with the world.Looking at the world as a community with a shared future naturally leads to a path of reform, opening up, and win-win cooperation. In the past decade, China has established twenty-one pilot free trade zones and increased the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) it has signed from ten to nineteen, which include the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the biggest FTA in the world. Pre-establishment national treatment has been given to foreign investors across the board, and the items on the nega...
Cardboard, paper and magnetic tickets are on display at a museum in Shijiazhuang railway station, the forerunners to today’s intercity e-tickets.A passenger buys a ticket at Nanjing Railway Station in Jiangsu Province, East China on Christmas eve 2022. (Photo by Su Yang/Peoples Daily Online)The museum in the Hebei Province capital city shows how China’s trains and train services have been constantly upgraded from yesterday’s paper to today’s paperless tickets.Travelers scan their national identity cards to pass through Qijiang East Railway Station checks in Southwest Chinas Chongqing municipality on January 7. (Photo by Chen Xingyu/Peoples Daily Online)Once upon a time, the vendor personally wrote out all the information on the first generation of cardboard tickets.Then in the 1990s they were replaced with a soft red computer-printed paper ticket. The vendor now only had to type in the date and train number.A high-speed train runs over the Daning River in Wushan county, Southwest Chinas Chongqing municipality on January 7. The bridge is a section of the Zhengzhou-Chongqing high-speed railway. (Photo by Wang Zhonghu/Peoples Daily Online)In 2008 a blue magnetic ticket was introduced for the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed intercity railway. The ticket could be passed through automatic gates.Digital technologies including facial recognition have been added to today’s electronic train tickets.In the past people lined up all night for a ticket home. Today they go online to find a ticket.Chinese mainland passengers with e-tickets can pass through barriers by simply scanning their national identity cards, saving time and reducing ticket loss problems.In 2022 multi-ride and periodic tickets were unveiled for the Kunming-Mohan section of the China-Laos Railway for business travelers and commuters.A code-scanning service has been introduced to more than 3,200 high-speed trains where passengers can obtain Chinese language travel information and services abo...
LI MIN/CHINA DAILY A detailed analysis of China’s efforts and innovative medical actions shows that the Chinese leadership has left no stone unturned to safeguard people’s lives and health in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has disrupted the socioeconomic structures of econo
PeoplegatherduringarallydecryingrisinggunviolencewhileurgingpoliticianstotakeactioninWashington,DC,June11,2022.Photo/XinhuaAyoungBangladeshimanintheUSwasgunneddownbythepoliceinCambridge,Massachusetts。
People select decorations for Spring Festival in Beijing, Jan 7, 2023. (Photo by Zou Hong /chinadaily.com.cn)On the eve of Spring Festival, on Jan 30 last year, Jishuitan Hospital in Beijing, which specializes in treating burns and external injuries, received just two patients with burn injuries from firecrackers, a huge drop from 25 in 2021.Of course, it was because in 2022 Beijing prohibited firecrackers during Spring Festival. While reducing noise pollution, the move also saved people from injuries.It is heartening to see the Beijing municipal governments recent announcement about continuing the policy in 2023. When it comes to securing peoples lives and health, a ban on firecrackers is never too tight.Besides health, there are several other reasons why the ban is worth supporting. As a city with a 3,000-year history that served as capital under five dynasties, Beijing has a large number of ancient buildings. Firecrackers pose a big challenge to these buildings, and banning them is one way of protecting the capitals architectural heritage.Besides, Beijing has finally improved its air quality, getting rid of the heavy smog, thanks to efforts from all sides, factories included. There is no reason to allow firecrackers to bring the smog back.On Sunday, Dongying in Shandong province, Dalian in Liaoning province and Yanchuan in Shaanxi province announced that firecrackers will be allowed in certain areas during the festival, but then the conditions there are different. Dongying, for example, has a small population and it will be possible to minimize the danger from firecrackers.Therefore, the policy allowing each city to make its own decisions is suitable. However, it should be noted that persuasion is an important part of the policy-making process, and that municipal governments need to explain their decision to the public. However, those breaking rules by burning firecrackers at the wrong place or time should be punished.
PhototakenonJuly14,2020showstheGoldenBauhiniaSquareinHongKong。
People shop at a Target store during Black Friday sales in Chicago, Illinois, US, November 25, 2022. (Photo: Agencies)There is no doubt that the United States will continue to raise interest rates in the first half of 2023, but its stubbornly high inflation will not be easily tamed and the risk of economic recession looms large despite the introduction of the CHIPS and Science Act to rejuvenate its hard-hit manufacturing sector.The US Fed raised interest rates seven times in 2022, pushing the rate to the highest level in 15 years. In an attempt to rein in double-digit inflation in the early 1980s, then Fed chairman Paul Volcker aggressively raised interest rates, ushering in an era for the "great moderation" of the US economy. Incumbent Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has tried to follow Volckers example, but when Volcker took over as Fed chairman in August 1979, the US was in an era of rapid expansion, which provided him with solid external conditions to fight inflation. In contrast, Powell now faces not only a US which is seeing excessive money printing, but also a foreign trade system sabotaged by the US itself.When the US embraced the world with an open and inclusive mind, Volcker certainly had the resources to fight inflation. However, as the US now treats other countries unequally, Powell lacks Volckers strength, and what awaits him is not the "great moderation" of the US economy, but various forms of recession. Now, the US housing market is in decline, banks are tightening lending standards, and demand has weakened to recession levels.US economic circles admire the economic models of Germany, Japan and China, which boost economic development by implementing industrial policies. However, in the US the term "industrial policies" is seen as taking the road to socialism, when it is in the nature of US-style capitalism to implement the market economy. The US wants to resort to industrial policies to rejuvenate its feeble manufact...
Paxlovid, Pfizers anti-viral medication to treat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is displayed in this picture illustration taken Oct 7, 2022. (Photo: Agencies)The National Healthcare and Security Administration officially ended its negotiations for the 2022 national healthcare list on Sunday. Three anti-COVID-19 drugs that were discussed include Azvudine developed by a domestic company; Qingfei Paidu granules, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine; and Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer.While the first two drugs made it to the list, Paxlovid failed to do so because of its high price, prompting some to blame the administration for being too stingy in its spending.However, it is right for the NHSA to be tightfisted with the budget.A pack of Paxlovid costs between 1,980 yuan ($291.93) to 2,300 yuan. Considering the fact that the average disposable income per capita in China in 2021 was 35,128 yuan, the price is almost more than half an individuals monthly income, which is rather expensive.Including it in the basic medical security drug list will be a good way to make it affordable. However, unlike commercial insurance, the basic medical security fund is to cover peoples basic medical needs. If Paxlovid is added to the list, it will ultimately be paid for from money contributed by the people, and drain public funds.The NHSA is obliged to ensure the money people pay is spent in a way that best serves their purpose.A win-win result would have been for Pfizer to lower Paxlovids price to make it acceptable for the NHSA. In order to cope with the pandemic, the NHSA has, however, said that it will continue to pay for Paxlovid till March 31 to meet peoples needs. That shows the country is doing all it can to protect peoples health.
The Baihetan hydropower station, the worlds second-largest in terms of total installed capacity, was recently put into full operation, which marked the completion of the worlds largest clean energy corridor on Chinas Yangtze River.During the three-day New Year holiday, hustle-and-bustle returned to Chinas consumption market, and multiple provinces sent business delegations overseas to seek new opportunities.These all indicate enhanced confidence of enterprises in the Chinese market and accelerated steps of work resumption in China, which comes from the optimization of countrys COVID-19 response measures.The international community is now more optimistic about Chinas economic prospects, believing that Chinas optimized COVID-19 response will inject more impetus into the countrys economic recovery and growth.Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co. all lifted their forecast on Chinas economic growth in 2023.According to a survey by the Bank of America, three quarters of its portfolio managers hold that China will see higher growth after it optimized its COVID-19 response.WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said Chinas optimization of COVID-19 response "will help remove one set of uncertainties" in a world reeling from the impacts of the pandemic.Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann noted that the optimization will inject more impetus into the recovery of China and the world.However, some western media outlets have shut their eyes to the positive changes of the Chinese economy and the authoritative judgement by international economic organizations and commercial institutions, groundlessly talking down the Chinese economy.When China was following a dynamic zero-COVID approach, these media outlets fanned up the negative impacts from Chinas COVID-19 response on the world economy. However, after China optimized its response...
Fireworks light up the sky over Big Ben during the New Year celebration in central London, United Kingdom, January 1, 2023. (Photos: CFP)As the world becomes more connected and globalized, the role of tourism in improving relations between countries is much more important. With the rise of the internet and social media, it has never been easier for people from different countries to learn about one anothers cultures and ways of life.Tourism puts a human face on that, which allows people from different countries to come together and learn from each other. It allows for first-hand experiences and personal connections to be made that can break down barriers and improve relations between nations. Nonetheless, the European Union has urged its member countries to require a negative COVID-19 test for Chinese tourists and China had previously required quarantine for international arrivals. The overall levels of mistrust and stereotyping have increased. When tourists from one country visit another, they can see how people there live and work, and to learn about their customs and traditions. This helps to break down stereotypes and prejudices, and would lead to a greater appreciation of other cultures.As we learn to live with the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry has been hit hard. Borders were closed, and travel restrictions were put in place. Although that was done to save lives, it could not continue on indefinitely. In China, the opening up is taking place this week when it comes to tourism and international travel. In Western countries, travel was permitted before – but until the last few months, many people were reluctant to travel.What weve seen in the West is a hesitant re-opening followed by a surge in tourist visits. People, who had put off a vacation in 2020, and again in 2021, were desperate in 2022 to re-book their trips. Suddenly, everyone wants to travel – and not even the economic slowdown in the West has stopped that. We have, in effect, three...
UkrainianandRussianflagsarepicturedaheadoftheRussian-UkrainiantalksattheBelovezhskayaPushchaNationalPark,onFeb28,2022。
MA XUEJING/CHINA DAILY Editor's note: The Chinese path to modernization is in line with its national conditions and is the modernization of a huge population. And China's achievements have inspired many developing countries to seek their own path to development and prosperity. Three experts share
The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. [Photo/IC] The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October demonstrated the viability, legitimacy and sustainability of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the socialist market economy, which the Party has established to p
US House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hugs his Floor Director John Leganski as he celebrates being elected the next Speaker of the US House of Representatives while Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) applauds in a late night 15th round of voting on the fourth session of the
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