Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 61 / No. 6 i Beijing Review

PAKISTAN Fishing boats are moored in the bay at Gwadar port on January 29. The first phase of Gwadar Port’s Free Zone was inaugurated on the same day, seeking to facilitate regional and global trade under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor SOUTH KOREA Firefighters work at the ruins of the Sejong Hospital in the southeastern city of Miryang following a fire on January 26. The blaze killed 37 people, injuring over 100 more FRANCE A building on the bank of the Seine River is submerged in Paris on January 28. The Seine burst its banks due to heavy rainfall in late January which led to the evacuation of around 1,500 people in the Ile-de-France region RUSSIA Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (center) speaks at the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue…

The author is academic dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at Peking University We live in fast-moving times and an increasingly interconnected world. Globalization has reached new heights in the 21st century. Together with new technology, it has brought enormous benefits to many, but these gains have not been distributed evenly, which has been a source of discontent and the cause of recent backlashes against the very processes of globalization. Indeed, when about half of the world’s wealth rests with the top 5 percent of the population, the economy is in trouble. Economic principles tell us that equilibrium must exist between supply and demand for growth to continue. Pressing global issues call for global efforts. What can China offer to the cause of promoting inclusive growth? New…

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived on her maiden trip to China as the head of the British Government on January 31. Owing to numerous uncertainties at home including ongoing Brexit negotiations, terrorist attacks, a general election and a cabinet reshuffle, the highly anticipated visit had been postponed for almost a year. Nevertheless, the visit has been successful, evidenced by plentiful consensus and cooperation deals, and is believed to add impetus to the upward momentum of China-UK relations, guaranteeing the continuation of the golden era that started during David Cameron’s tenure as prime minister. Maintaining momentum Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK in 2015 was believed to have ushered in a golden era for bilateral ties, with the Cameron administration viewing China as a great opportunity for…

In the summer of 1996, 31-year-old Yang Liwei was informed that he could participate in the first round of physical examinations for China’s space program. He had no idea at the time that he would go on to become the first Chinese person to go beyond the earth’s atmosphere. After passing the first round of tests, he was called to Beijing for the second round. “I was so thrilled that I went three days before schedule, and the nurse made fun of me for being ‘too proactive,’” Yang recalled. It has been 14 years since he made history. During that time he has witnessed the growth of China’s manned spacecraft program. He has become one of the national heroes known as taikonauts, a compound word from taikong, meaning space in…

Those involved in illegal capital market activities have reasons to be fearful in 2018 as China’s top securities watch- dog takes a tougher stance on market irregularities. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) rejected six of seven initial public offering (IPO) applications on January 23, making it the biggest single day of rejections this year. “The IPO review will become stricter in 2018, and the requirement for the authenticity of corporate finance and business compliance has been raised to unprecedented levels,” the CSRC said in a statement. Tighter control over public listings was the latest move following toughened market oversight and severe punishment for illegal trading over the past year to prevent risks and protect investor interests. Last October, the CSRC set up a new committee in charge of reviewing…

Sea of Ice Fishing boats are locked together by the frozen sea in the waters surrounding Xingcheng, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, on January 28. Deep Sea Exploration On January 30, Chinese research vessel Ocean No.6 finished a 219- day, deep-sea scientific exploration in the western Pacific Ocean, returning to Dongguan, south China’s Guangdong Province. He Gaowen, chief scientist onboard the ship, described how the researchers sailed nearly 53,000 km, using a comprehensive geological and geophysical survey method to collect geological samples from 269 survey stations and environmental samples from a further 111 survey stations. The researchers obtained 10,143 km of geophysical line data from four research areas within a 200,000-square-km area of the western Pacific Ocean, which has helped to lay the foundation for future resource evaluation, He said. Wang…

On January 16 in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences announced the six greatest archaeological finds in China for 2017. These discoveries have provided people with information on human activity spanning a period of more than 40,000 years. A brief introduction to the six findings and what they reveal follows: Prehistoric migration In a cave at the crossroads of China and Europe, archaeologists have unearthed stone artifacts dating back 3,500 to 45,000 years. It is the first Paleolithic cave site found in the southern foothills of the Altay Mountains, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The methods apparent in the creation of an oval shaped stone scraper found in the cave match those of similar artifacts from cultures in the western regions of the Eurasian landmass. According to experts,…

Restructuring Nuclear Power Firms The State Council has approved the restructuring of two leading Chinese nuclear power companies, China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Group Corp. Ltd. (CNEC), according to an official announcement on January 31. CNEC will be taken over by CNNC, according to the announcement by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. The move will reduce the number of major state-owned enterprises under direct supervision of the administration to 97. CNNC is a major player in terms of investment, operation and development in China’s nuclear power sector. Strategic restructuring of China’s state-owned enterprises in equipment making, coal, power, communication, and chemical engineering sectors will accelerate this year, according to experts. Optimistic U.S. Companies Confidence within the U.S. business…

As heavy snow engulfed the alpine ski resort of Davos, a remote Swiss town populated by a mere 13,000 people, 3,000 government officials and business heavyweights from around the world arrived to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF). Running from January 23 to 26, this year’s WEF annual meeting was tasked with the theme of creating a shared future in a fractured world. China was on the lips of the attendant global elites, and Chinese voices could be heard almost everywhere in the venue. Among them was Liu He, China’s top representative, who called on the international community to push for economic globalization that is more open, inclusive, balanced, equitable and beneficial in a speech delivered on January 24, echoing the remarks of Chinese President Xi Jinping at last year’s…

The author is a principal researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges As the sum of rules, norms and regulations that govern states and other actors in global affairs, global governance is now undergoing complex and profound changes. Working toward a new type of cooperative partnership has gradually become an urgent matter for the international community. In the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results, this new partnership is based on peace, cooperation and development, as well as respect for different social and political systems, religions, cultures, national conditions and stages of development. In his speech made at the United Nations Office at Geneva in January 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “Pass on the torch of peace from generation to generation,…

January is the month that the province s, municipalities and autonomous regions of China hold annual sessions of their local people’s congresses, the local legislative bodies, and local comittees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the political advisory bodies, prior to the national equivalent of these two sessions in March. At the provincial Two Sessions, the deputies to the people’s congresses and the members of the CPPCC committees listened to work reports delivered by local governments and made plans for the coming 12 months. Local governors and deputies to the 13th National People’s Congress were also elected. Northwest China’s Qinghai Province took the lead this year, starting the session of the provincial committee of the CPPCC on January 21 and the session of the people’s congress on January…

A reduction in subsidies for new-energy vehicles (NEVs) has been officially confirmed, with some observers predicting that the industry could face challenges following the reduction and ultimate cancellation of favorable policies. “The reduction of NEV subsidies is imperative,” said Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, at the China EV100 Forum in Beijing on January 20. “Compared with postponing the cancellation of subsidies until the end of 2020, it is better to gradually reduce them to lessen the immediate impact on companies.” Wu Zhixin, Vice President of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, had previously predicted that NEV subsidies would be further reduced this year, and that the models that qualified for subsidies in 2017 would have just four months left to enjoy the benefits of the preferential…