Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol.65/No.12 i Beijing Review

Recent clusters of confirmed COVID-19 cases across China are posing a challenge to the country’s fight against the virus. China, however, has no intention of changing its current policy to clear infections in timely and methodical manner. The dynamic zero-COVID-19 policy does not denote zero infection. With the overarching goal of preventing imported infections and domestic flareups, this policy means that when a new local outbreak occurs, measures will be taken to promptly stem the spread of the virus and clear new infections. The gist is to cut off the spread of new infections as soon as possible, instead of risking the virus spinning out of control. The essential reason for China to adopt this policy is that the Chinese Government prioritizes the safety and health of its people. A…

ANTENNA THEORY SCIENTIST PASSES AWAY AT 101 Chen Jingxiong, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert on electromagnetic field theory and antenna design, passed away in Beijing on March 16 at the age of 101. Born in Zhenhai County of Zhejiang Province, Chen graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in June 1950, earning a postgraduate degree in telecommunications. Chen worked for several large companies in the aerospace industry, such as China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp., as well as held lecturing positions at universities like Peking, Tsinghua and Beihang. A pioneer in China’s antenna theory and guided radar antenna design, Chen put forward direct solutions of the electromagnetic field theory, thereby solving key technical problems in the country’s firstgeneration surface-to-air missile weapon system antenna. Lower Taxation,…

Some 40 foreign diplomats attended a launch ceremony for China and the World in a Changing Context: Perspectives From Ambassadors to China, hosted by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing on March 15. The book brings together observations on a range of bilateral and multilateral issues, including trade and investment, regional economic cooperation, sustainable development, technology and innovation, and entrepreneurship. Nineteen ambassadors to China and some international relations experts shared their insights during a round table discussion at the event. Edited excerpts of some statements follow: Wang Huiyao CCG President, editor of the book As China plays an increasing role in the global economy and global governance, its relations with other countries have become a subject of growing interest—and, at times, contention. Plugged into the politics of…

Four years have passed since the Donald Trump administration announced it would impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese exports on March 22, 2018, together with various further investment restrictions on China. Yet statistics issued by both sides now reveal that China-U.S. trade, instead of cooling down owing to the trade war, is heating up. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2021, bilateral trade jumped by 17.6 percent year on year, as data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics show it increased by 20.2 percent, leading Sino-American trade turnover to rank first among U.S. trading partners. Ironically, the countries’ trade growth well exceeds the 12.3-percent rate in 2017. Four years of trade war prove that trying to contain China has been a faulty stroke on the part…

The election of Yoon Suk-yeol as new president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) has triggered concerns regarding future relations between China and the ROK. These concerns mostly stem from Yoon’s tough talk against China. For example, he called for the deployment of additional U.S.-manufactured Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system units in the country. But it is normal for a candidate to solicit votes by making sensational pledges, which may not necessarily be honored after they assume office. No matter which political camp is in power in the ROK, China-ROK ties are expected to strengthen. China is the largest trading partner of the ROK, with bilateral trade volume hitting $300 billion last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, China and the ROK are each other’s largest source of foreign…

Prince William recently found himself in hot water following his allegedly “tone-deaf” and “racist” comments about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine during a visit to a Ukrainian cultural center in London. Social media exploded in controversy with users—respected royal reporters included—branding the royal everything from a “white colonizer” to an “ignorant racist.” According to reports at the time, he had been overheard calling the situation “alien,” as the British public is “more used to seeing conflict in Africa and Asia.” But since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, several Western reporters have voiced similar opinions, implying that war and violence are the preserve of the Third World. “This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European city,” said a CBS…

The past decade has seen big changes in Xinjiang, the Uygur autonomous region in northwest China where 58 percent of locals hail from ethnic minority groups. Kurbanjan Samat, Uygur native and well-known documentary maker, honored his own commitment to publishing a series of documentaries and accompanying books on the people of the region to battle the external bias against his hometown. Perception and preconception The series’ latest literary installment, entitled Jiang Lai (The Future of Xinjiang), appeared on shelves in March, presenting an overarching conclusion to Samat’s Xinjiang trilogy: I Am From Xinjiang on the Silk Road (2014), I Am Going to Xinjiang (2018), and I Am From China (2019). Samat launched his series around 2012 against the backdrop of a general global misunderstanding of Xinjiang following several terrorist attacks…

During a press conference on March 11, Premier Li Keqiang recalled his conversation with a dozen business people in 2021. They each talked about their individual corporate difficulties and their hopes for more government-led macro policy support. Li presented them with three relief options from which they could select their preferred one. First, massive investment to help them get orders; second, distribution of consumption vouchers to boost consumer spending; and third, tax and fee reductions. “They were silent for a moment and then almost unanimously went for the third option, as they believed it would work in the most direct, equitable and efficient way,” Li said. Their choice has now been taken into consideration in government policymaking. The government work report delivered by Li on March 5 at the Fifth…

The presidential election in the Republic of Korea (ROK) has attracted much attention as its location and growing economic and military capacity make it a country of increasing strategic importance. Conservative Yoon Suk-yeol secured a victory on March 10 by pulling ahead of his liberal rival by only 0.7 percentage point. As the U.S. pushes forward its Indo-Pacific Strategy, the role the ROK chooses to play in it under the new administration will impact not only its own development but also the regional landscape. In August 2020, the ROK Ministry of National Defense released its Intermediate-Term National Defense Plan for fiscal years 2021-25. The $253-billion blueprint for defense spending over the coming five years includes satellite and missile defense programs purportedly aimed at deterring the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea…

April 2020 saw the launch of an airlift program carrying medical supplies from China to Mexico, just 39 days after Mexico reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case. Referred to as the air bridge between both countries, the flights became the main delivery channel for overseas personal protective equipment and other necessities. The cargo list expanded in February 2021, after this Latin American republic became the first in the region to approve the emergency use of two Chinese vaccines produced by Beijingbased Sinovac Life Sciences Co. Ltd. and CanSino Biologics Inc., respectively. “I want to express my gratitude for the air bridge, which allowed Mexico to receive a large number of vaccine doses,” Mexican Congressman Alberto Villa said at a webinar on March 11, adding that for five decades running, the…

On the eve of heading to Beijing for this year’s National People’s Congress (NPC), Yang Changqin, an NPC deputy born in 1990, together with her staff was racing against the clock to fill their first 2022 order. An inheritor of the intangible Chishui bamboo weaving cultural heritage, Yang managed to combine tradition with rural revitalization, making it possible for this ancient handicraft to leave the mountains of Guizhou Province and venture into the world. At her weaving base, thousands of local villagers can increase their household incomes by working from home. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, their products mainly went to the overseas market, but the pandemic threw a wrench into the works. Yet the company managed to turn misfortune into literal fortune by tapping into domestic market demand. Stranger to…

Numerous cases of online bullying have been making the social media rounds in recent years. Hypocritical moral condemnation, cyberthreats, and extreme rhetoric increasingly pollute the digital stratosphere. Meanwhile, some platforms, ogling network traffic, tend to turn a blind virtual eye to sprouting bouts of defamation, verbal abuse and so the list continues. It’s high time for a cyberspace deep clean. Going by the latest data that China now has roughly 1.03 billion people roaming the Web and spending a weekly average of 28.5 hours online, the question becomes: What measures can help give the cyber environment a good scrub and, more importantly, rein in online violence? Cheng Guangjiang (www.gmw.cn): Good laws are the precondition for good governance. To curb cyberbullying and cleanse the digital realm, one key step is to…