Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.64/No.10 i Beijing Review

One of the focuses of the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress, the national legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, is the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and the long-range objectives through the year 2035. Urbanization is an essential part of this focus as it is directly connected with the balanced development of different regions. To boost urbanization, a national plan for a new type of urbanization was released in 2014, stressing efficient use of resources and eco-friendly, harmonious development. Last year was the deadline for implementing the plan and according to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2020, over 60 percent of the permanent population were living in cities, 6.3 percentage points higher than the…

HEAD OF NEW GOVERNMENT BODY Wang Zhengpu has been appointed head of the National Administration for Rural Vitalization, the new government body for the promotion of rural vitalization. It was announced on February 25. The newly established agency succeeds the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. Its debut marked the transition of the policy priority from poverty alleviation to comprehensively promoting rural vitalization. Wang, 58, was a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Sichuan Provincial Committee and President of the Party School of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee in southwest China. Since January, he has served as a member of the Central Rural Work Leading Group. Anti-Addiction System Guancha.gmw.cn February 24 According to data from the China Internet Network Information…

Recent events suggest British political circles are confused about what kind of relationship they want with China. This lack of a coherent strategy is certain to cause problems down the road. Lack of coherence On February 12, at a roundtable event with business leaders at 10 Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “fervently Sinophile” and would seek to strengthen economic and trade links with China, resuscitating dialogues previously frozen owing to tensions over Hong Kong. This came amid a flurry of recent UK actions against China, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab attacking China at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, alleging human right violations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, and British television regulator Ofcom revoking the UK broadcasting license for satellite news…

In light of the medical burdens imposed by the COVID-19 epidemic, the Central Government funded the construction of a new hospital in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The hospital, called the North Lantau Hospital Hong Kong Infection Control Center (HKICC), opened on February 26 after a construction period that took four months. Located next to the AsiaWorld-Expo treatment facility—also funded by the Central Government to combat COVID-19—the HKICC is the first hospital in the SAR equipped with negative pressure systems in all rooms. Occupying 30,000 square meters—larger than four soccer fields—this massive project could be completed in four months thanks to the adoption of modular integrated construction technology. Projects of a similar scale in Hong Kong would normally take around four years. The facility has been referred to as…

Zhang Baoyan harbors a long-cherished wish: One day, the website she co-founded can be shut down. Baby Back Home, or Baobeihuijia.com, was launched by Zhang and her husband Qin Yanyou in 2007 to help families find their missing or abducted children. From an office in Tonghua, a city in the northeastern province of Jilin, Zhang and her team—with the support of over 360,000 volunteers across the country—have helped more than 3,600 people reunite with their biological parents. But she hopes there will come a time when the website is no longer needed. Zhang has been widely honored for her campaign, and has been awarded a range of accolades, including a national honorary title for female role models conferred by the All-China Women’s Federation on February 26. She is also a…

Three areas have emerged as priorities for international cooperation from the special edition of the Munich Security Conference held virtually on February 19, where the participants discussed how to rebuild and renew the transatlantic alliance in the face of global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. COVID-19 response With over 2.54 million deaths and more than 114 million infections globally by March 3, according to Johns Hopkins University, promoting global cooperation to control the pandemic is of utmost urgency. So far, vaccination seems to be the most powerful weapon against the disease. But some low- and middle-income countries and populations still do not have access to vaccines. The global production capacity, which is below the global demand, and the stringent storage and transportation requirements for the vaccines…

Robin Li, CEO of Internet giant Baidu, foresees artificial intelligence (AI) changing our lives and ways of production. Li is also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body. He talked with Beijing Review reporter Zhao Wei about the proposals he has submitted at the annual CPPCC session, which kicked off on March 4, Baidu’s recent innovations, and China’s position in global AI technology. This is an edited excerpt of his interview: Beijing Review: What are your proposals for this year’s session? Robin Li: The first one is about accelerating the commercialization of self-driving [vehicles] and the utilization of intelligent transportation to ease traffic congestion so that people can travel in a more eco-friendly and convenient way. This…

The slow warm-up to spring promises not only multitudes of cherry blossom and other flowers, but it also heralds International Women’s Day, March 8. Each year before COVID-19, the All-China Women’s Federation used to hold a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in celebration of China’s women and their accomplishments. My first invitation to the reception came in 2016 and I joined a large group of diverse women from all over China as well as a diverse group of foreign women, from diplomats to experts. Many of the Chinese women were in Beijing in connection with the Two Sessions, the annual meetings of the top legislature and top political advisory body. They often came attired in beautiful traditional dresses from their home regions, as did some…

Financing Support The banking and insurance sector has implemented a great deal of measures to buoy up economic recovery amid COVID-19 disruptions, Guo Shuqing, Chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said at a press conference on March 2. By the end of 2020, the sum of outstanding RMB loans increased 19.6 trillion yuan ($3.03 trillion) over the beginning of the year, and 6.6-trillion-yuan ($1.02-trillion) loans were extended. Last year, the amount of new loans to the manufacturing sector stood at 2.2 trillion yuan ($340 billion), exceeding the total volume of the previous five years. New loans to private enterprises totaled around 5.7 trillion yuan ($882 billion), 1.5 trillion yuan ($232 billion) more than in 2019, Guo said. A total of 292.1 billion yuan ($45.2 billion) was paid…

The Central Government’s No.1 Document for 2021 saw its publication on February 21, showcasing a general dedication to accelerating the vitalization of the rural areas and the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. The new paper marks a turning point in China’s agricultural development as well as boosts the improvement of the farmer community’s livelihood. The blueprint, following the nation’s vast rural regions’ entry into a moderately prosperous society, intends to jumpstart China’s new march toward the modernization of its agriculture and rural areas. One of the Two Centenary Goals of the Communist Party of China is to turn China into a modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful. By the time the People’s Republic of China celebrates its 100th anniversary…