Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 61/No. 44 i Beijing Review

KOREAN PENINSULA Representatives of South Korea, North Korea and the United Nations Command hold the second consultation on disarming the Joint Security Area in the inter−Korean border area at the Freedom House, Panmunjom, on October 22 VIET NAM Newly elected President Nguyen Phu Trong takes the oath at Parliament House in Hanoi on October 23 THE UNITED STATES Police officers guard at Time Warner Center building in New York on October 24. CNN’s New York headquarters, former U.S. President Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton were all reported to have received explosive devices United Nations Under Secretary General Mark Lowcock speaks to journalists on the situation in Yemen at the UN headquarters in New York on October 23. He demanded a humanitarian cease−fire in Yemen to avert…

With machines roaring, workers at a corn-processing factory in Xiangyang Village of Zhaodong, Suihua City in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, were busy peeling, washing, boiling and then packaging corn. Boxes containing corn piled up around the factory. Wang Zhongbao, the owner of the plant, was busy answering calls from people wanting to place orders. “Our production volume can’t meet the growing demand,” Wang said. “I have to turn most of them away. We are planning to expand the plant to a much larger scale.” Working as a barefoot doctor in the village for over a decade, Wang decided to start his own poultry-raising business in 2005. He started with 2,000 chickens and spent a lot of time learning from skilled villagers and veterinarians how to avoid diseases and raise healthier…

What do naan bread, paintings drawn with soldering irons, exquisite handmade tamburas, elaborately embroidered garments, edible fungi, raisins, melons and home-baked cakes have in common? They were on display at the sixth China-Eurasia Expo held in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on August 30 and September 1. They also shared a common origin: They were all products of poverty alleviation programs in Xinjiang. In recent years, Xinjiang has launched many targeted anti-poverty programs. In 2017, 317,400 people in Xinjiang were lifted out of poverty, and 331 villages and three counties were taken off the poverty list. The poverty incidence rate dropped from 15.5 percent in 2016 to 12.6 percent, according to the autonomous region’s poverty alleviation and development office. Since 2014, government organs, state-owned enterprises and…

With China now pursuing high-quality development and economic upgrading, its traditional manufacturing sector is trying to embrace the new wave of the information technology revolution and become intelligent. Cutting-edge technologies are increasingly being harnessed to save manual labor and handle hazardous tasks, making modern life increasingly comfortable and convenient. This has led to the increased use of various types of robots in production and people’s life. Their functions range from painting cars, defusing explosives and assisting doctors in medical treatment to helping in the kitchen and taking care of both the elderly and the young. Since 2013, China has been the largest industrial robot user in the world. The value of the global robot market from January to September of this year topped $19.48 billion, up 13.6 percent year on…

In a statement made on September 17, U.S. President Donald Trump accused China of “constituting a grave threat to the long-term health and prosperity of the U.S. economy.” What’s more, in a speech on October 4, Vice President Mike Pence falsely declared that China’s “success was driven by American investment in China.” What has China’s development brought to the world? This should not be a difficult question to answer. People’s Daily released an article highlighting China’s contribution to the rest of the world. An excerpted version follows: How should we measure China’s contribution to the world through its development? First, by the extent China has pushed forward the world’s development; second, by what China has done to safeguard world peace; and third, as far as the world order is concerned,…

To the Rescue China is set to transform its fire services and armed forestry police into a national firefighting rescue team, according to a new government plan. Released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, the plan aims to improve the country’s disaster prevention, rescue and workplace safety, as well as to protect life and property and maintain social stability. Specific management and safeguard measures for the team will be released and improved. After three years of trials, a mature policy system in line with laws and regulations will be formed. “The forces and resources of emergency rescue should be optimized and integrated to give full play to the team’s role as the main force in emergency…

Heilongjiang Province is located in China’s northeast, at its highest latitude. Apart from its cold and long winter, it is also well known for its fertile black soil, making it one of the most crucial grain-producing areas in the country. From September to October every year, the province gradually begins the autumn harvest from south to north. Corn, rice and soybeans are the major crops harvested. The rice growing in Wuchang County and the soybean planted in Suihua City enjoy a stellar reputation in domestic and international markets. The degree of agricultural mechanization in Heilongjiang has taken the lead among China’s provinces. During the harvest season, one can see a variety of machinery across the boundless and flat terrain, creating a spectacular autumnal landscape. Comments to zanjifang@bjreview.com…

The Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port and sitting on the junction of the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, is the first stop along half the deep-water freight shipping routes from China to Europe. Hence it is witness to growing economic ties between the two sides. Around 40 percent of Chinese goods are exported to Europe via the Netherlands. Every week, there are more than 90 round-trip flights between Amsterdam and seven Chinese cities. The China-Europe Railway Express has also expanded the range of solutions for logistics between the two countries, linking China with Tilburg, the second largest logistic hub in the Netherlands. Located at the intersection of the land and sea, the Netherlands has long been a gateway to Europe. In recent years,…

Amid a complicated international landscape and domestic challenges, China’s economy managed to maintain overall stable growth in the first three quarters of 2018. The stress is on resilient growth by shifting toward high-quality and sustainable development. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that GDP grew 6.7 percent year on year in the nine months to around 65.09 trillion yuan ($9.38 trillion). But the GDP growth rate edged down from 6.7 percent year on year in the second quarter to 6.5 percent in the third quarter. A report from the financial research center at Bank of Communications attributed the slowdown to both external challenges and slowing growth in domestic infrastructure investment. According to NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong, the trade friction between China and the United States has…

Tax Deductions Chinese authorities on October 20 unveiled draft temporary measures on special additional deductions from taxable personal incomes to collect public opinions. China’s revised Individual Income Tax Law allows special additional deductions from taxable incomes for children’s education, continuing education, treatment for serious diseases, caring for the elderly, as well as repaying housing loans and rents. The temporary deduction rules were made under the principles of being fair and reasonable, simple and easy to implement, effectively reducing people’s burdens and improving their lives, according to the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration. For children’s education, 12,000 yuan ($1,729) will be deducted each year from the parents’ taxable income. Rent deduction of up to 14,400 yuan ($2,076) each year will be granted to taxpayers who don’t own any…

In late September, the peak harvest time, workers in Youyi Farm, the largest state-owned farm in China located in the vast plains north of Heilongjiang Province, were racing against time. The corn had already been harvested and the soil turned over, waiting for next year’s sowing. As the farmhands worked frantically to gather the rice, there was one noticeable difference. The laborers doing the work were not humans but an army of giant, advanced agricultural machines. “We finished harvesting maize earlier than other places because of the large-scale use of agricultural machinery, which helped us sell our corn earlier and at a better price,” Yang Deqing, in charge of publicity in the farm’s fifth administrative zone, said proudly. As one of the 113 farms under the Heilongjiang Farm and Land…

October 23, President Xi Jinping announced the official opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) at a ceremony in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province, marking the inauguration of the largest sea-spanning bridge in the world. Crossing the Pearl River Delta, the 55-km, Y-shaped bridge consists of two artificial islands, an underwater tunnel and a series of bridges. As direct road connections between the east and west along the Lingding Channel, the HZMB integrates Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SARs) and Zhuhai. The project, which began construction in 2009, involved an investment of 126.9 billion yuan ($18.3 billion). It will strengthen exchange in economy and trade in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as facilitate transportation for relevant industries such as logistics and food, among others. The…

It is easy to take sides politically or ideologically on trade issues, but the politicization of these matters is a poison pill that no one will be able to escape. This pill, as embedded in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is extremely venomous, not only for China, but also for the world at large. The trade deal, which was concluded at the end of September, contained a clause in article 32.10 which states, “Entry by any Party into a free trade agreement with a non-market country, shall allow the other Parties to terminate this Agreement on six-month notice and replace this Agreement with an agreement as between them (bilateral agreement).” This clause and the whole of article 32.10, by design, ostensibly prevent Mexico and Canada from entering into any free trade…

Owners who regard their pets as family members are worried about the apparently shorter lifespan of their animals in China. “In Japan, the average lifespan of cats is 18 years, but Chinese cats hardly reach 12,” Brandy Niu, General Manager of Mars Pet Nutritioncare China, an American pet food and nutrition company, told Beijing Review. Regarding the six-year difference, Niu said that food is of the utmost importance. In Europe and the United States, owners buy dedicated food and almost 80 to 90 percent of it can be converted to calories, she explained. However, in China, the conversion rate is about 10 percent. In other words, only 10 percent is food, the other parts are excess leftovers. “So both the industry and consumers require education,” Niu said. Her company is…

Almost pushing 60, Lars Søren Ravn has dedicated his entire life to painting and graphic arts, even dabbling in sculpture with some success. Now, this self-taught, freethinking libertarian from Denmark has found a new creative haven in Xiamen, in southeast China’s Fujian Province. And perhaps more importantly, he also met and married Chinese writer Zi Fanmei. Xiamen Dada meets Young Wild Ones In the 1980s, a new art scene was emerging in Northern Europe, the Young Wild Ones, influenced by Joseph Beuys, the Fluxus movement and expressionist painters. This generation of young Danish artists were critical of the mainstream artistic creations. Ravn, an aspiring young painter from Vejle, in the southeast of Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula, was immediately captivated. “My late mentor was Peter Louis-Jensen. I was his assistant and he…