Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.63/No.36 i Beijing Review

R&D Progress China’s spending on research and development (R&D) hit a record high at 2.23 percent of its GDP in 2019, 0.09 percentage point higher than the previous year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on August 27. Total expenditure on R&D amounted to 2.2 trillion yuan ($321.3 billion) last year, up 12.5 percent year on year, according to a report jointly released by NBS, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance. The figure has seen doubledigit growth for four consecutive years, with the growth pace last year quickening by 0.7 percentage point from the previous year, said Deng Yongxu, an NBS statistician. Investment in basic research stood at 133.56 billion yuan ($19.4 billion) last year, accounting for 6 percent of the total…

While companies worldwide grapple with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Chinese tech giant Huawei has to contend with other challenges as well. Under growing pressure by the U.S. Government, some countries have banned its equipment and now it faces an additional block on its sourcing of chips. But despite the headwinds, the company has maintained dogged progress, which has been acknowledged by the new Fortune Global 500 list. “Telecommunications giant Huawei leapt from 72nd to 49th place on this year’s Global 500 ranking, breaking into the top 50 for the first time,” the U.S. business magazine said as it announced the 2020 list on August 11. The annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide by revenue noted that Huawei, which held 41 percent share in the smartphone market in…

The author is a professor at the Institute of Foreign Relations, Tsinghua University The Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes, has become an important platform for participating countries to fight the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. China and other participants have been helping each other in the combat: cooperating in response and control through timely sharing of information, diagnosis and treatment experience and best practices, strengthening and upgrading public health systems, promoting dialogue among health experts, and providing assistance to countries in need. Meanwhile, the initiative has helped promote resumption of production and economic recovery. It is also expected to create new growth drivers. For instance, the Digital Silk…

It occupies less than 4 percent of China’s land mass, but produces about one quarter of the nation’s GDP. The Yangtze River Delta, which has spearheaded China’s economic development for over three decades, is exploring a new development pattern amid grave and complex domestic and international circumstances. When the government decided to set up the Shanghai Economic Zone to promote regional economic coordination in the early 1980s, the Yangtze River Delta city cluster comprised only 10 cities: Shanghai, four cities in Jiangsu Province and five cities in Zhejiang Province, all adjacent to Shanghai. Since then, the cluster has been expanding. In the early 1990s, with the opening of Pudong New Area in Shanghai, the number of cities in the cluster increased to 15. In 2016, a development plan for the…

Every cloud has a silver lining, goes the old saying. For the exhibition industry in China amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the cloud itself has become a silver lining. Online exhibitions are now the new normal where visitors can continue to develop their business, transcending borders and pandemic containment measures. The China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT), held annually for more than 30 years in Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeast China, to promote two-way trade and investment between Chinese and foreign companies, will be both online and offline this year, from September 8 to 11, against the backdrop of COVID-19 prevention and control. Online debut By logging on to CIFIT’s official website, its newly created app or WeChat applet, visitors anywhere in the world will be…

A volunteer shows a special protective suit he received as a souvenir in a community in the Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, on August 21. By August 26, Xinjiang had 107 confirmed novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases and 38 asymptomatic cases, all in regional capital Urumqi, according to the regional health commission. From July 15 to August 26, a total of 719 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospital after recovery. Volunteers are participating in COVID-19 prevention and control in Urumqi and taking care of those in need.…

VIET NAM The 52nd ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting is held via video link on August 25. Participants discussed the bloc’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, including a comprehensive recovery plan MALTA Migrants wait for disembarkation from an armed forces patrol boat in Senglea on August 20. Malta’s military rescued 118 irregular migrants from a sinking boat LATVIA A girl sprinkles color powder during a color festival in Jurmala on August 16 COTE D’IVOIRE Supporters of President Alassane Ouattara attend an event in capital city Abidjan on August 22, after he officially announced his reelection bid JAPAN A visitor takes pictures of wind chimes at an exhibition in Tokyo on August 26. The exhibits will be given to medical workers as gifts of gratitude PAKISTAN Vehicles plow through floodwater in…

James Kimonyo, Rwandan Ambassador to China, is becoming an online star. He has found a new way to take diplomacy to the people by selling some of his country’s best-known products, including coffee and chili sauce, through live-streaming. This January he made his live-streaming debut when he teamed up with a well-known Chinese live-streaming host on Taobao Live, China’s premier online sales portal, introducing Rwandan coffee beans to Chinese netizens. Then in May, during a joint live-streaming session with Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, he sold 3,000 bags of packaged coffee beans in just one minute. “It’s so fascinating to see how people come rushing to buy the products. It is a good opportunity to reach as many consumers as possible,” Kimonyo said. On…

After years of rapid growth, China’s once red-hot property market is entering a period of stable and sustainable development and will continue to shore up the economy, analysts said. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the housing market remained stable in July, with home prices in 70 major cities registering slower month-on-month growth. New home prices in four first-tier cities—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen—rose 0.5 percent month on month in July, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month, the data showed. The price stability is a result of sustained government efforts to rein in housing speculation over the past few years, with each city rolling out targeted measures to keep housing inflation within a proper range. Home prices soared in 2016 when speculators took…

Sports Fun A bicycle motocross lover rides into Donghu Lake in Wuhan, Hubei Province in central China, on August 22. CPPCC Meeting The National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, on August 25 opened its 13th Standing Committee session on economic and social planning for the next five years. Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, attended the opening meeting. State Councilor Wang Yong said while delivering a report at the meeting that goals and tasks should be meticulously set for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for national economic and social development. During the session, political advisors held discussions on a…

Chaozhou, a city in Guangdong Province, south China, is known as one of the birthplaces of the Chinese tea ceremony. It is famed for an ancient art as well. Its delicate woodcarving, which originated in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is a masterly skill that was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. Chaozhou woodcarving has been used to decorate buildings, furniture and articles for religious rites, characterized by the use of vibrant gold, red, blue and green paints. It is also known as gilt wood for the use of lacquer and gold foil to add a lustrous golden finish. The National Museum of China, in collaboration with the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration and Guangdong Museum, recently held an exhibition of Chaozhou woodcarving, displaying items from the Ming…

Universities and colleges across China will receive returning students and freshmen in the coming weeks. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has asked colleges and universities to take measures to prevent any surge in novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases. Some colleges, including some in Beijing, which hosts the largest number of students, have decided to seal off their campuses after the students arrive. Opinions differ on whether this is a sound practice. Some believe that since COVID-19 has not been totally eliminated and is still spreading across the world, with no effective vaccines available, it is necessary to remain vigilant. After all, with clusters of people in classes, canteens and libraries, campuses are a key target for strict control. Therefore, although sealing off campuses may cause problems and inconvenience for students,…