Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.25 i Beijing Review

GREECE Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias (right) and his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio sign an agreement on the delimitation of maritime zones between the two countries in Athens on June 9 FRANCE Workers remove the scaffolding at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on June 9. It was erected to repair the monument left badly damaged by a fire last year UNITED KINGDOM Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at the virtual Global Vaccine Summit from 10 Downing Street, London, on June 4. World leaders pledged $8.8 billion to provide equal access to vaccines for all GERMANY European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde speaks during a press conference live-streamed from the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt on June 4. The ECB said its pandemic emergency purchase program would expand to…

This year has been rewarding for Yang Xiaojun, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The green peafowls Yang and his team bred laid over 20 eggs. They worked hard for these purebred green peafowl eggs for more than six years. The green peafowl is China’s only native peafowl and was once common in Yunnan Province, where the Kunming Institute of Zoology is based. However, in recent decades a decline in their number led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to list the species as endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species. Habitat loss is one of the main reasons for the species’ dwindling population, with fewer than 500 purebred green peafowls now left in the wild in China, fewer…

U.S. President Donald Trump had expected to host the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in his Florida resort in late June. He tried but gave up due to disappointing response from the leaders of other member countries. In May, despite the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Trump proposed a face-to-face leaders’ meeting instead of the previously planned online event. Also, he attempted to expand G7 to G11 by including Australia, the Republic of Korea (ROK), India and Russia. However, Trump’s proposal failed to gain support. German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined his invitation, citing the overall COVID-19 situation. French President Emmanuel Macron was open to travel to the U.S. “only if the sanitary conditions allow.” A possible invitation for Russia met with resistance from Canada, Britain and the EU. On May…

Donghang Road, a section of the border road connecting Shanghai and Jiangsu Province in east China, though not long, is an important one. Once completed, the nearly 2.5-km road will reduce the traffic pressure on other trunk expressways and highways in the region and improve the land link between Shanghai and Jiangsu. After its scheduled completion by the end of this September, the distance between the Fenhu Hi-Tech Development Zone in Jiangsu, a key area for investment and manufacturing, and Shanghai will be shortened by 5 km. Luo Weiwei, President of Innoscience (Suzhou) Semiconductor, which is based in the hi-tech zone, is looking forward to that. “It will connect us better with the airports in Shanghai,” she told People’s Daily. “Based on the semiconductor industry in the Yangtze River Delta,…

The Beijing Municipal Government recently announced plans to offer coupons worth 12.2 billion yuan ($1.71 billion) to spur domestic consumption severely curbed by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The first batch of 3 million coupons was issued on e-commerce giant JD.com on June 6. They can be used at participating restaurants and retailers in Beijing as well as for buying products equipped with smart technology. Yet Beijing is not the first Chinese city to do this. In many cities across China, consumption coupons have been issued in various forms to stimulate consumption and economic recovery. Coupons issued by companies are often seen during China’s shopping festivals, but according to statistics from cities that have already used them, government coupons can create a multiplier effect, in which an increase in spending…

Sweet Result A farmer picks grapes in Tangshan, a city in Hebei Province in north China, on June 9. Air Traffic Up The air passenger number hit 1.03 million on June 5, rebounding to 61.5 percent of the level seen in the same period last year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The number of flights had jumped to 11,333 on the same day, reaching a new high since February. The recovery pace of air traffic has accelerated significantly since May. From June 1 to 5, average daily passenger numbers rose to 935,200, recovering to 57.4 percent of the level of the same period last year. Flood Damage Rain-triggered floods in south China had affected some 2.63 million people in 11 provincial-level regions as of 2 p.m. on…

Last month Li Zongwei, a garbage collector for the Haidian Environmental Sanitation Service Center in Beijing, had a new job added to his task of driving his truck to designated areas in the capital to collect kitchen waste. He became a photographer and his subject: garbage. Early every morning, he would go on his round, open the green bins meant for kitchen waste, and quickly scan the contents to see if they fit the criteria. If they did, he would take a photo of them before hauling them onto his truck. If they did not, he would have a word with the property management staff, telling them what was wrong and asking them to resort the trash. Li started this errand on May 1, the first day when mandatory garbage…

On June 7, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper on China’s battle against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Titled Fighting COVID-19: China in Action, the white paper gives a detailed, chronological account of the government and the people’s efforts to contain the epidemic. For now, China has successfully eliminated all channels for community transmission of COVID-19, according to the document. Accordingly, it states its main purpose as “keeping a record of China’s efforts in its own fight against the virus, sharing its experience with the rest of the world, and clarifying its ideas on the global battle.” A test of fire COVID-19 has spread faster and wider than any other illness since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the white paper says. “Facing…

Thirty years after the promulgation of the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and 23 years after Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, one article in the Basic Law has yet to be implemented. Article 23 of this constitutional document stipulates that Hong Kong shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central Government, or theft of state secrets. While the local society of Hong Kong supports making laws to carry out Article 23, the opposition has obstructed efforts to do so till today. As a result, Hong Kong has become defenseless when it comes to guarding national security. This is a major factor behind the increasingly rampant activities damaging national security that it faces. Timely legislation At…

After a year of operation, China’s Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board, also known as the STAR Market, has witnessed steady expansion with a number of achievements. The board, launched on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) on June 13, 2019, is aimed at boosting the capital market to better serve the real economy, and driving technological innovation. According to the SSE, over 100 companies have been listed on the board since it started trading on July 22 last year, whose total market value has exceeded 1.5 trillion yuan ($212 billion). Proposed in 2018, the board is designed to provide direct financing support for companies in hi-tech and strategic emerging sectors such as next-generation information technology (IT), advanced equipment, new materials, new energy, energy saving and environmental protection. It has piloted the registration-based…

FTP Benefits Market entities will enjoy a number of benefits in investment, tax and market access when doing business in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), Shen Xiaoming, Governor of Hainan Province, south China, said on June 8. License application and government approval will not be required for industries that are not prohibited by law or mandatory standards, Shen told a press conference in Beijing. Foreign investment will be subject to a management system combining pre-establishment national treatment and a negative list designated for the FTP, further reducing restrictions and prohibitions on the basis of free trade zones, Shen said. Domestic firms registered in the FTP will be encouraged to raise funds by issuing shares abroad. The FTP will also offer tax benefits for firms operating in sectors such as…

During an inspection tour of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, President Xi Jinping visited Wuzhong, where the Yellow River flows through the city’s center, on June 8. “[Xi’s] visiting the same river four times in one year indicates the importance of the ecological protection of the Yellow River for our country,” a commentary by Xinhua News Agency said. Since 2012, the Central Government has put more emphasis on protecting the environment, which has been damaged by rapid economic development. The revised Environmental Protection Law that took effect in early 2015 provides stricter rules for environmental protection supervision and harsher punishment for any deeds that harm the ecological environment. Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, announced during the Third Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in…

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there is a 75 percent chance that 2020 will be the hottest year on record, and a 99.9 percent chance it will rank among the five hottest years ever. The last few years have been the hottest on meteorological records for the whole world, as well as China. Data from the U.S., UK and international bodies show that the first three months of 2020 were the warmest or second warmest months on record. The Global Seasonal Climate Update released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in May shows that April 2020 tied with April 2016 as the warmest April on record. Although it is still too early to be sure whether 2020 will end up being the warmest year on record, the…

After Hong Kong returned to the motherland in 1997, the Chik family in Zhejiang Province in east China decided to shift their garments business from Thailand to the new special administrative region (SAR) and settle down there due to the huge room for development they saw there. Their daughter Momo was a child at that time. Today, she is a 30-year-old financial professional in Hong Kong who has roots both on the mainland and in the SAR. Last year, she was stunned by the protracted violent protests in Hong Kong, which left her wondering what could have caused the misunderstandings. “I’ve been thinking how they will end after hurting Hong Kong greatly and putting people in jeopardy,” she said. Mutual benefits As a center of international trade and commerce, logistics,…

Before Beijing became the capital of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it had faced ups and downs in its status as the first city. In the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the honor fell to Jinling, today’s Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, east China. However, Emperor Yongle (1360-1424) proclaimed Beijing the new capital in 1420. The relocation played a significant role in the stability and prosperity of the dynasty. Capital Museum of China in Beijing traces the story of Beijing’s transformation in its exhibition Capital Relocation—1420, From Nanjing to Beijing. Opened in January, the exhibition displays 267 cultural relics from cultural institutions in the two cities, including Nanjing Museum, the Palace Museum and the National Library of China. They showcase the political, economic and cultural development of the two capitals…