Nigeria Times

Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence transcend differences in social system, ideology

By He Yin, People’s Daily

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Although born in Asia, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence transcend differences in social system and ideology. They have become an important norm governing contemporary international relations and fundamental principles of international law, contributing the wisdom of the East to properly handling state-to-state relations.

Under the current international situation, inheriting and promoting the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is conducive to fostering international consensus and jointly addressing global challenges, thus promoting world peace and development.

The spirit of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence remains as relevant as ever.

Seven decades ago, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai put forth in full the five principles for the first time — mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

Since then, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have been incorporated into a series of important international documents, widely accepted and recognized by countries across the world.

The enunciation of these principles was a major initiative in the history of international relations and a significant contribution to the building of a new type of just and equitable international relations.

The five principles capture the essence of today’s international relations and manifest humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. They can apply to relations among all countries regardless of their social system, stage of development or size.

Having withstood the test of the evolving international landscape in the past 70 years, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are showing strong vitality.

The significance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence remains as important as ever.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have strong vitality because they give concrete expression to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and conform to the fundamental interests of people around the world.

The core of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is that there is sovereign equality among all countries and that no country should monopolize international affairs. These principles offer a powerful intellectual tool for developing countries to uphold their sovereignty and independence, and they have thus become a rallying call for enhancing solidarity, cooperation and strength among them.

The world today is undergoing both transformation and upheaval; changes unseen in a century are unfolding at a faster pace; and human society faces unprecedented challenges. In this context, inheriting and promoting the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is particularly important.

Only by truly adhering to the principle of sovereign equality of states can the foundation for mutually beneficial cooperation between countries be established, and peace and development of the world ensured.

The role of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence has continued to grow.

The five principles are conducive to both peace and development. Rejecting the law of the jungle by which the strong bullies the weak, they provide a new approach for peacefully resolving historical issues and international disputes, and create a sound environment for mutually beneficial international cooperation and common development. They help build a fairer and more equitable international order.

In the world today, injustice and inequality are still pronounced problems in international relations. Unilateralism, protectionism and bullyism are resurging. Regional conflicts and local wars continue to erupt.

The international community should further inherit and promote the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, uphold sovereign equality, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, enhance mutual trust through dialogue, and build peace through cooperation. By doing this, the international community will continuously embrace common progress and win-win outcomes.

China champions and firmly observes the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Over the past seventy-plus years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China has always followed a path of peaceful development. It has never initiated a war or occupied an inch of a foreign land. It is the only country that has incorporated peaceful development in its Constitution, and the only country among the five nuclear-weapon states to pledge no first use of nuclear weapons.

China is working to build a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness, as well as cleanness and beauty, and a community with a shared future for mankind. Chinese President Xi Jinping has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative, providing Chinese solutions to development issues facing the mankind.

Adhering to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries, China is committed to promoting a new type of international relations, and will contribute its strength in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.

Under the new circumstances, China will keep working with all parties to inherit and carry forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, call for an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, build a community with a shared future for mankind and write new chapters of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

By Gong Wenjing, People’s Daily

Artificial intelligence (AI) creation differs greatly from traditional models of creation. It involves “feeding” massive amounts of data for AI training and “referencing” existing works. These “feedings” and “references” raise concerns about potential copyright infringement, sparking extensive discussions in relevant industries.

In April this year, the Beijing Internet Court ruled on China’s first AI voice rights case. The plaintiff was a voice-over artist surnamed Yin who found out in May 2023 that her voice was being used in numerous audiobooks online without her consent.

After the investigation, it was found that one cultural media company, with whom Yin had previous business dealings, handed over the audio recordings of Yin’s audiobooks to another software company which then processed her voice using AI technology and sold it to the operator of the app “Magic Sound Workshop.”

The court decided that the defendants – the cultural media company and the software company – are jointly responsible for compensating Yin for economic losses of 250,000 yuan ($34,433). The app operator and the software company are also required to issue an apology to the plaintiff within seven days of the judgment taking effect.

Copyright infringement risks are present in every stage of AI creation. During the development phase, there are issues around authorizing training data copyrights. In the utilization phase, there are questions about determining the nature of generated content and attributing copyrights.

Furthermore, because AI-generated content follows the creative patterns of its training works, there may be infringement concerns arising from style imitation, such as paintings in the style of Van Gogh or AI-generated songs imitating famous singers, which has sparked discussions about the legitimacy of style imitation.

In November 2023, the Beijing Internet Court concluded a widely followed copyright infringement case involving AI text-to-image generation between plaintiff surnamed Li and defendant surnamed Liu. The court made a groundbreaking ruling that AI-generated images with a natural person’s independent intellectual input should be recognized as copyright-protected works.

“The AI generative cases that the court has been handling typically involve copyrights, personality rights, data rights, and other new types of legal issues, many of which are the first of their kind in China,” said Yan Jun, a senior judge of the Beijing Internet Court.

The question of whether AI-generated content is eligible for copyright protection is a contentious topic that needs to be addressed promptly given the rising intellectual property (IP) challenges, said Yan.

Is copyright protection valid for all AI-generated content?

“The personalized features in AI-generated content, the degree of creator involvement, and choices made on creative elements vary from case to case, making it impossible to make generalizations,” said Zhang Ping, a professor with Peking University Law School.

The generated content can only be protected by copyright law if it meets the criteria of originality and copyrightability, Zhang added.

Take the above AI text-to-image copyright infringement case as an example. The plaintiff created the images in question using generative AI technology, showcasing the intellectual input in decisions such as character presentation, prompt order, and parameter settings.

“The plaintiff made a series of aesthetic choices and personalized judgments in creating the images, exhibiting outstanding individualized expression that met the ‘originality’ criteria. Therefore, the plaintiff holds the copyright to the images,” said Bai Niannian, a senior partner at Gongheng Law Firm based in Beijing.

Content auto-generated by AI without human originality should not be considered a work nor be ineligible for copyright protection, Bai added.

Zhang believes that the current copyright system uses human intellectual achievements as the benchmark, thus lacking comprehensive provisions for AI-generated content. Meanwhile, traditional infringement determination standards also face applicability challenges in AI creation scenarios, presenting new obstacles for judicial practices.

The legal framework for AI-generated content is closely linked to the core interests of copyright holders and has a direct impact on industrial development and technological progress. Finding a proper balance between protection and development tests the governance wisdom of all parties involved.

Zhang said that in general, China’s generative AI technology innovation is progressing rapidly, so the formulation of laws and regulations should leave room for technological innovation and adopt an open and inclusive regulatory principle.

On how to accommodate the interests of all parties and fully unleash the vitality of AI creation, Zhang said that first of all, it is important to improve laws and regulations to clarify the scope and standards for copyright protection of AI-generated content and strengthen normative management of the data training process.

Besides, establishing a liability-sharing mechanism adapted to the development of the AI industry is vital, he noted.

He also suggested creating open data-sharing platforms to encourage reasonable use and licensing of data, promoting industry self-discipline and multi-party collaboration to foster healthy development of AI creation.

“The rise of AI creation inevitably challenges traditional IP rules, but this challenge is not insurmountable. The key is to clarify the norms of intellectual property right protection in each stage of the AI creation process and establish interest balancing and sharing mechanisms among relevant parties to protect and drive the development of AI creation,” said Zhang.

By Wang Mingfeng, People’s Daily

A tourist surnamed Yao visiting the Danjing Mountain in Pengzhou, Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province just experienced the convenience of drone delivery – soon after he stepped into the scenic area, a drone delivered to his hands a cup of hot coffee he had previously ordered on his phone.

Chengdu is among the first batch of pilot cities of China’s low-altitude airspace management reform. Striving to build itself into a center of low-altitude economy in west China, the city is strengthening its exploration in development and manufacturing, low-altitude airspace development, scenario innovation, and integrated development.

This year, the city aims to improve the output of its low-altitude manufacturing sector to 6.5 billion yuan ($895.63 million) and expand the size of its low-altitude economy to 26 billion yuan.

“We handled over 500 food delivery orders during the Spring Festival, and we flew more than 100 flights per day when visitors came to enjoy the flower blossoms, which made us internet-famous. The popularity is totally beyond our imagination,” said Zhou Xiaoming, chairman of a drone tech firm based in Chengdu, the operator of a national-level flight-testing center for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) known as “Sky Eye.”

According to him, currently the company runs six routes deep in the valleys along the Jianjiang River in Longmen Mountains, Sichuan province, which can not only deliver coffees, but also paradrop hotpot food and groceries based on users’ demands.

It takes only about 20 minutes for the drones to deliver stuffs from merchants to scenic areas, B&B hotels and camp sites, Zhou added.

Apart from daily life scenarios, drones are also widely applied in industries such as emergency rescue and meteorological observation in Chengdu.

For example, the long-rage and multipurpose Wing Loong drones have become a strong force in China’s meteorological and emergency support systems, assisting artificial precipitation, monitoring meteorological phenomenon in the sky and ensuring stable cloud communication.

An executive of AVIC (Chengdu) UAS Co., Ltd. noted that the company will continue to innovate in low-altitude application scenarios and actively explore the new field of logistics transportation.

It is reported that Chengdu has now built a complete industrial chain covering raw materials, basic components and systems, complete drone manufacturing, and operational services.

It has gathered more than 110 upstream and downstream enterprises, with products ranging from 10 kilograms to tonnage level, covering 66 application scenarios such as urban governance and production operations.

Statistics show that in recent years, the industrial output of Chengdu’s UAV industry has maintained an average annual growth of over 20 percent. Last year, the total revenue of Chengdu’s UAV industrial exceeded 10 billion yuan, ranking among the top in China in terms of overall competitiveness.

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are also a focus of low-altitude economy. Nicknamed “flying cars,” these aircraft are considered one of the most important carriers for the development of low-altitude economy.

As one of the first pilot cities of China’s low-altitude airspace management reform, Chengdu has relaxed policies in the low-altitude sector, which has boosted the confidence of companies in launching their products.

In July last year, AEROFUGIA, a tech firm in low altitude transportation and smart industry solutions owned by Chinese car manufacturer Geely, signed an agreement with Sino Jet, the largest business jet operator in Asia-Pacific, for the acquisition of 100 Chinese-made eVTOL aircraft.

The two will work together to promote the application of eVTOL in business aviation. Once the airworthiness certification is completed, Chengdu is expected to be the first city to apply eVTOL in business air travel.

Orderly and compliant opening of the low-altitude airspace is a prerequisite for low-altitude economy to “take off.”

Every day, industrial drone enterprises would carry out various scientific and research tasks such as signal transmission and river channel inspection in the airspace of the “Sky Eye” UAV flight test base, which is below an altitude of 1,200 meters and covers a radius of 5 kilometers.

Zheng Wenqiang, director of a flight base of JOUAV, a Chengdu-based drone company, told People’s Daily that over the past five years, he and his team have completed nearly 10,000 test flights of drones in the base.

“Stable time and range, as well as unique terrain and landforms, are necessary conditions for conducting test flights of industrial-grade drones,” Zheng said.

“Sky Eye” covers diverse landforms such as mountains, hills, forests, rivers, and lakes, which can simulate the working conditions of industrial drones in actual application scenarios to the greatest extent, he explained.

Zhou said, “In the national-level flight-testing center for UAVs, you just need to provide notification one hour before takeoff, which greatly improves flight efficiency and helps achieve maximum flight capability.”

It is learned that Sichuan province has designated seven airspaces for coordinated management and eight low-altitude visual flight corridors. Nearly 1/3 of Chengdu’s territory is within the scope of the Sichuan low-altitude reform pilot airspace, which is public and open for regular flights.

Up to now, Chengdu’s UAVs have completed over 8 million flights, accumulating 600,000 hours of flight time. The efficiency of airspace resource utilization has been significantly improved in the city.

By Huan Yuping, People’s Daily

The development of the new energy industry is crucial for the future of planet Earth. It is important to promote the emergence of high-quality production capacity through fair competition in the industry and enhance global development momentum through open cooperation.

Fair competition is the fundamental principle of a market economy. It is precisely through sufficient market competition that China’s new energy industry has forged international competitiveness.

Chinese new energy companies continuously optimize production processes, improve production efficiency, and promote technological innovation, consistently offering high-quality products at more competitive prices. China ranks among the top globally in terms of the number of patent applications in areas such as new energy vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products. 

Many multinational companies have realized that the fiercely competitive and innovative Chinese market is a “well-equipped gym,” and they have successively established new energy research and production bases in China to promote industry upgrading and overall development progress.

Maintaining fair competition is the best way to enhance consumer welfare. Sufficient market competition drives companies to offer high-quality products that better meet market demands at more favorable prices, resulting in maximum benefits for consumers.

In recent years, facing intense market competition, Chinese new energy vehicle companies have continuously introduced new models covering different price ranges and catering to diverse consumer needs, providing consumers with more quality choices.

Chinese photovoltaic companies have launched products such as large-scale photovoltaic power stations and residential rooftop photovoltaic systems, enhancing the diversity of products and application scenarios.

These efforts have significantly increased the market penetration of new energy products, benefiting consumers.

Only through fair competition can green and low-carbon transformation be promoted globally. To achieve sustainable development, it is essential to have high-quality capacity as the foundation.

Chinese new energy enterprises have actively engaged in international cooperation, helping more and more developing countries embrace green development, as indicated by the De Aar wind power project in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, a photovoltaic power plant in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh, the Chinese-manufactured electric buses running in Mexico City, and Chinese companies investing in and constructing new energy vehicle and power battery factories in Hungary.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, pointed out that China’s provision of relevant services and support to other countries has significantly improved the accessibility of clean energy technologies and reduced the cost of using green technologies globally.

Protectionism goes against the principle of fair competition. It not only fails to protect domestic industries but also distorts the international market, hampers resource allocation efficiency, and hinders the development of the new energy industry around the world.

Currently, the world is at a critical moment of transitioning from old to new growth drivers. Adopting protectionist measures for emerging industries like new energy would result in global resource waste and efficiency losses, impacting the sustainable growth of the global economy and limiting or even stifling incremental opportunities.

The international community should collectively oppose protectionism, and properly address differences according to market economy principles and WTO rules, so as to create a favorable international environment for the healthy development of the global new energy industry.

Upholding fair competition does not mean that the government has no role to play. In history, developed countries have successfully achieved industrial upgrading, not only because of the role of the market, but also because of the guidance and support of industrial policies introduced by their respective governments.

Since joining the WTO, China has earnestly complied with subsidy-related rules and promoted the development and growth of its production capacity under market economy conditions.

The continuous emergence of high-quality new energy capacity in China today is a result of the effective collaboration between a functioning market and an active government.

When governments guide the development of their own new energy industries, the key is to not violate international rules, exclude competition from other countries through industrial policies, or maliciously suppress the industrial development of other countries.

What the world needs is environmental protection, not protectionism against green products. The new energy industry is a promising sector that empowers global development and creates a greener future. The optimal solution to promote the development of the industry and achieve mutual benefits is through fair competition and open cooperation. Protectionism will only lead the global green transition to a dead end.

In the future, countries should adopt an open mindset, uphold fair competition, and promote mutually beneficial cooperation. Together, they should strive to build a global market that is competitive, efficient, expansive, innovative, and highly interconnected. This will create new opportunities for the development of the new energy industry and provide a favorable environment for the long-term growth of businesses in all countries.

By Jia Fengfeng, People’s Daily

Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture in northwest China’s Qinghai province faces enormous challenges in education development due to its high altitude, inhospitable climate, harsh environment and severe natural conditions.

“We have invested considerably in infrastructure, but the harsh climate conditions have severely hindered its effectiveness,” said Jormai Tentseng, director of the education bureau of Golog.

Sports fields built in schools, exposed to scorching sunlight and extreme coldness, always become uneven and filled with potholes in just a few years, the director added.

To better meet local people’s needs for quality education resources, expand teaching staff and improve educational standards in pastoral areas, the Golog Xining Ethnic Middle School was established in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, with the paired assistance provided by Shanghai.

On July 21, 2017, the construction of the school commenced, and in just two years, the school was put into use. The school has a standard sports field, multimedia classrooms, spacious and clean cafeteria and dormitories, as well as a library and technology museum.

Over 1,000 students from high-altitude pastoral areas, with an average elevation of over 4,200 meters, have come to the school to study and pursue their dreams.

The excellent facilities of the school have greatly improved the students’ academic performance, and the teachers’ caring warmed the hearts of the students.

Yesi Tsering, 15, who grew up with his family on grasslands, is the kind of person who really feels the cold. Thanks to the heating in his dormitory, he doesn’t feel cold anymore even with just a thin blanket.

“After coming to Xining, my horizons have expanded a lot. In the classes, we have ‘visited’ many places and ‘met’ many people,” the student told People’s Daily.

As lunch time approached, a teaching seminar was still on in the library of the school.

“You feel confident in front of the class only if you’ve thoroughly mastered every concept and planned out exactly what to teach and how to teach it,” said Chen Wei, who teaches chemistry to 12th grade students at the school, to Bai Yufang, who teaches chemistry to 11th grade students, in a rather stern tone, while reviewing and correcting Bai’s teaching plan, going through it word by word.

Chen has been a teacher for over two decades. He’s a member of Shanghai’s fifth batch of education assistance team aiding Qinghai. Bai, who just started working a year ago, is both Chen’s colleague and apprentice.

“We have 62 teachers at the school, with an average age of only around 30. The majority of them were born in the 1990s. Although they lack teaching and management experience, they are highly adaptable and willing to accept new stuffs. They are full of energy,” said Chen, who has long regarded himself as a part of this place.

“Given that our students’ foundational knowledge is still relatively weak, it’s all the more important that we make our lessons engaging and thorough,” Chen told People’s Daily.

There are six other teachers who came to the school together with Chen. They are not accustomed to the altitude and climate there, and most of them have poor sleep and chest distress. However, none of them lowers the standards with regard to their jobs.

“We’re adapting Shanghai’s successful teaching methods and experiences to improve our systems, including teacher performance evaluations and student daily management,” said Chang Tu, principal of the Golog Xining Ethnic Middle School who came from the Chu’neng Middle School affiliated to the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.

Besides, teachers from Shanghai also take on management positions, trying to cultivate an outstanding local teaching team, Chang added.

Educational aid is about improving teaching capabilities of a certain place, and also the introduction of external educational resources to that place.

In August 2018, the Golog Xining Ethnic Middle School joined Datong Education Group based in Shanghai’s Huangpu district. Since then, the education bureau of Huangpu district has sent 80 education experts to Golog in 16 batches.

In June last year, 10 teachers of the Golog Xining Ethnic Middle School joined a training session organized by a joint teaching and research workshop established by Datong Education Group, turning the one-way educational aid into two-way exchanges.

“A total of 126 students joined the national college entrance exam last year, and 90 of them, or 71.43 percent, qualified for bachelor’s programs,” Chang said. According to him, the score of 69 students crossed the first-class admission threshold.

Just after 3:00 P.M., a classroom at the Golog Xining Ethnic Middle School was buzzing with activity – a meeting of the robotics club was going on.

Under the instruction of their teacher, Wang Huiyun, students were simulating scenarios for obtaining, storing, and using renewable energy.

“When we first started our information and technology classes, we began by teaching students how to type,” Wang said.

“But these kids are smart and hardworking,” he noted. After more than a year of study, they had not only mastered basic computer skills but also begun to explore and innovate on their own. Their efforts paid off at the 13th Qinghai province youth robotics competition, where the robotics club won second place in the middle school division.

According to Chang, the school has launched study tours to the Qinghai Provincial Museum and the Qinghai Natural Resources Museum, invited Chinese calligraphy experts to give lectures, and hosted featured sports games.

“With a science-based educational approach, we will comprehensively evaluate students’ growth, prioritizing moral development and tailoring teaching methods. Our aim is to instill in children both the courage to venture beyond their hometowns and the ability to contribute to their communities,” Chang remarked.

By Li Qiang, Li Yanan, People’s Daily

The opening ceremony of the Kazakhstan Year of Tourism in China in 2024 was recently held in Beijing. China and Kazakhstan will hold a series of splendid activities throughout the year of tourism, which include art performances and tourism forums.

Kazakhstan boasts abundant tourism resources, such as the Shymbulak Ski Resort, Lake Kaindy, Charyn Canyon, the Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve, and the National Park Burabay, attracting a large number of tourists every year.

The Kazakh government has set a goal to increase domestic tourist numbers to 11 million and foreign tourist numbers to 4 million by 2030. Besides, the number of people employed in the tourism industry is expected to reach 800,000 by that time.

Kazakh Minister of Tourism and Sports Yermek Marzhikpayev said that China is one of Kazakhstan’s priority tourism markets and partners, owing to the two countries’ geographical proximity and profound historical connections.

Kazakhstan plans to attract more Chinese tourists by leveraging its rich nomadic culture, centuries-old history, and unique natural landscapes, the minister added.

In recent years, China and Kazakhstan has witnessed continuously deepening tourism cooperation. In November 2017, China officially set up a tourism office in Astana, which was the first one of its kind established by China in a Central Asian country. The office has played an active role in promoting cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries. In November 2023, mutual visa exemption between China and Kazakhstan was implemented, further stimulating the travel demand of tourists from both sides.

Since the beginning of this year, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Kazakhstan has been on the rise, making the Central Asian country an emerging popular outbound travel destination.

According to statistics from Chinese online travel agency Ctrip, the number of tourism bookings to Kazakhstan by Chinese tourists this year has increased by 229 percent year on year, and 262 percent compared to 2019.

Data from another Chinese online travel platform Fliggy showed that since March, the number of flight bookings to Kazakhstan has increased more than threefold from a year ago. Almaty, Astana and Aktau are especially favored by Chinese tourists.

“Currently, Chinese tourists can take direct flights to Kazakhstan from Beijing, Xi’an, Hangzhou, and Urumqi, or enter the country through land ports in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.  Natural scenery and local culture are major attractions,” said Xu Jia, general manager of a travel agency in Sichuan province.

Xinjiang is adjacent to Kazakhstan. Therefore, some Chinese tourists would have a tour in the autonomous region first and then go to Kazakhstan via places like Khorgos.

It is reported that the Khorgos international highway bus station has four international passenger routes to Kazakhstan, and with the arrival of the peak tourist season, there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists traveling between China and Kazakhstan.

The China-Kazakhstan Khorgos International Border Cooperation Center located in the Khorgos Area of the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone is always bustling with activities. The cooperation center spans the border between China and Kazakhstan, covering a total area of 5.6 square kilometers.

Citizens of China and Kazakhstan, as well as third countries, can enter or leave the cooperation center visa-free for up to 30 days, which facilitates face-to-face business negotiations, trades, tourism and shopping.

The passage connecting China and Kazakhstan in the cooperation center has become a popular photo spot for tourists.

It is reported after the cooperation center resumed full operation in 2023, the number of tourists has shown an exponential growth. It handled a total of 4.18 million inbound and outbound tourists throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 4.27 times.

This year, the cooperation center has once again experienced a peak in cross-border tourism and shopping, with tens of thousands of tourists entering and leaving the cooperation center every day.

Marzhikpayev said that the Kazakhstan Year of Tourism in China is a milestone event that helps strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries.

“We believe that the dialogue between the two sides will inject new vitality into the partnership in the tourism sector, open up new prospects, and lay the foundation for fruitful long-term cooperation,” the minister noted.

Kairat Batyrbayev, executive director of the Eurasian International Studies Association in Kazakhstan, said that China’s outbound tourism is booming and it is expected that more Chinese tourists will choose to travel to Kazakhstan in 2024.

This will help drive the development of Kazakhstan’s tourism industry and promote the upgrading of supporting infrastructure such as roads, hotels, and restaurants, Batyrbayev noted, adding that Chinese tourists gaining a deeper understanding of Kazakh culture, customs, and food will further deepen the cultural exchange between the two countries.

By Qu Song, Zhang Xiaodong, People’s Daily

“Friendship and mutual trust are particularly important in a world that is undergoing changes unseen in a century, which further highlights the significance of the movie The Composer,” said Sabit Kurmanbekov, an art director of the movie and a screenwriter from Kazakhstan, during a recent interview with People’s Daily.

“The Composer” is the first movie jointly produced by China and Kazakhstan. Kurmanbekov said he is proud to be a part of it, adding that cultural cooperation between the two countries under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) enjoys bright prospects.

The movie was an outcome of the inter-government co-production shooting agreement signed by China and Kazakhstan in 2016. It tells the story of how late Chinese composer Xian Xinghai was saved and helped by a Kazakh peer during World War II when he got stranded in Almaty, Kazakhstan while trying to return to China from the Soviet Union.

Kurmanbekov was initially invited by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan to be an art director of the movie. During the production, filmmakers from the two countries soon made friends with each other. Under the proposal of Chinese director Sherzat Yahuf, Kurmanbekov was promoted to assistant director.

Recalling this experience, Kurmanbekov said he was impressed by the advanced technologies and strict procedure control of China’s filmmaking industry, and he was delighted to see that his Chinese counterparts had embraced his revision to the script.

“I was lucky to have such an experience in my career,” Kurmanbekov told People’s Daily.

Kurmanbekov, who lives in Almaty, is quite familiar with the name Xian Xinghai. However, it was when he worked with his Chinese peers to refine the details of the story that he truly delved into the fate of this great Chinese musician.

“I often couldn’t help but wonder if I could overcome all the challenges and keep making music in a remote and cold foreign land just like Xian did. His love and loyalty to his home country are also what touch me,” Kurmanbekov noted.

He said the movie portrays a story about friendship and mutual trust. Friendship is beyond national borders and identities. It saves people in times of danger and gives them wings to soar.

“In the movie, we can always see the beauty of friendship and mutual trust, and these good qualities are exactly needed by the world today,” Kurmanbekov said.

He called the movie a very successful co-production and an exemplary model of international people-to-people and cultural exchanges. He believes that people-to-people and cultural exchanges between nations are as important as political and economic cooperation.

He said Kazakhstan and China enjoy a long history of friendship, with a shared goal of promoting peace and friendship worldwide in the 21st century.

“Art is a language spoken to people’s hearts and serves as a vessel of ideas that will be appreciated and interpreted by future generations, thus having incomparable influence. It plays an important role in enhancing mutual trust, showing mutual respect, and promoting peace,” Kurmanbekov remarked.

In 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing. The two heads of state jointly met with the main cast members of the movie at the Great Hall of the People and watched the trailers. Kurmanbekov said the meeting still excites him today.

He said the BRI proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping is a great cause that revitalizes the ancient Silk Road on the Eurasian continent, promotes the development of partner countries, lifts millions of people out of poverty, and embraces peace and development.

People in Central Asia particularly value the opportunities brought about by connectivity projects under the BRI, which helps connect the five landlocked countries in the region to the rest of the world, Kurmanbekov added.

Kurmanbekov filmed another movie in the years following the completion of “The Composer,” which tells a story of mutual assistance happening along the China-Kazakhstan border. Currently, the Kazakh screenwriter is studying the discourse on peace in Chinese philosophy and hopes to make a film that tells the shared historical stories of Eurasian countries.

“I’ve already developed a mature concept and really hope to cast a Chinese actor as the male lead,” Kurmanbekov said.

He said he hopes to keep contributing to friendship and mutual trust between the people of Kazakhstan and China through his artworks.

By Yan Huan, Ma Fei, People’s Daily

Interactions between civilizations provide the most solid foundation for the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and people-to-people exchanges provide the strongest driving force for the organization.

Since the establishment of the SCO, its member states have deepened mutual learning among civilizations, deepened good-neighborliness and friendship, and strengthened people-to-people connectivity, practicing the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diversity of civilizations and pursuit of common development, and jointly building an SCO community of cultural exchanges.

The Chinese side has been actively exploring new channels for cultural cooperation to enhance the international communication capacity of the SCO, such as establishing a media cooperation mechanism, hosting the SCO Media Summit, and holding the Media and Think Tank Forum for SCO Countries.

It supports expanding channels for non-governmental exchanges among SCO member states to bring their people, youth in particular, closer to each other. China has launched relevant activities related to the SCO University, hosted SCO Youth Campuses and invited youth leaders of other SCO member states to visit China.

Diverse yet concrete initiatives are being implemented. SCO deputy secretary-general Nurlan Yermekbayev noted that the Shanghai Spirit charts the course for different countries and civilizations to get along with each other.

At the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, China proposed that in the coming three years, China will provide SCO member states with 1,000 International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarships, offer 3,000 “Chinese Bridge” summer camp opportunities, and invite 100 young scientists to China for scientific research exchanges.

In recent years, the Chinese side has been actively promoting the SCO to launch more down-to-earth projects of people-to-people exchange in various fields, aiming to build a bridge of mutual understanding and friendship among the peoples of SCO member states.

With a people-centered approach, SCO health cooperation has been continuously improved. China has actively promoted resource integration and expanded pragmatic cooperation among institutions. The China-proposed Lifeline Express International Sight Saving Mission and the establishment of a traditional medicine alliance have opened up new prospects for health and medical cooperation within the SCO.

After China announced to carry out 2,000 free cataract operations for SCO member states at the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in 2022, there has been a surge of patients seeking treatment in Uzbek hospitals, in hope of restoring their vision.

China has provided support for the restoration of historical sites and archaeological cooperation in SCO countries, launching joint archaeological surveys at the ancient city of Rahat in Kazakhstan, a Buddhist temple on the west side of the Krasnaya Rechka site in Kyrgyzstan and Itchan Kala, the walled inner town of the city of Khiva in Uzbekistan.

Following a joint application by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It marked the first transnational World Heritage application, building powerful momentums for SCO member states to jointly protect cultural heritage.

Technology is key to solving global issues, while open sci-tech cooperation remains a desired approach. In recent years, SCO member states have increasingly deepened their non-governmental exchanges in science and technology. Through joint R&D, people-to-people exchanges, technology transfers, and various other activities, they have built powerful drivers for sci-tech progress, economic growth, livelihood improvement, and common development.

In Pakistan, the country’s first smart distribution centers jointly built by China and Pakistan has increased package sorting efficiency of local e-commerce companies by four times, with the rate of package misclassification dropping from 1 percent to less than 0.03 percent.

The first Luban Workshop, a Chinese-supported vocational training facility, in Central Asia has been launched in Tajikistan. Catering to the country’s need for economic development and industrial upgrading, it offers courses on urban heating application and engineering measurement technologies, thus building a talent pipeline for Tajikistan’s future development.

The observation area of China’s FY-2 meteorological satellites covers SCO countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Through weather forecasting, disaster prevention and mitigation as well as other services, the satellites have effectively enhanced the capabilities of these countries in monitoring weathers, climate and ecological environment. In the past days, the SCO has always been glittering with a brilliant light of people-to-people exchange. Looking ahead, the organization will keep setting examples of regional and international cooperation on promoting harmonious coexistence among different civilizations and renewing the everlasting friendship of people from all countries, through its efforts to advance people-to-people exchange

By Zhang Xinzhu

On June 10, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the 18th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, during which he announced that the Chinese government supports building a demonstration area in Qingdao for China-SCO local economic and trade cooperation.

Six years on, the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) has grown into a center for international logistics, modern trade, two-way investment cooperation, and commercial, tourism and cultural exchanges, while boosting the development of the China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade.

The demonstration area has become a gathering area for enterprises from SCO member states to share development opportunities in the Chinese market, and is forging ahead to build itself into a new and promising platform for Belt and Road cooperation.

The SCODA is striving to establish itself as a hub for institutional innovation.

Since its establishment, the SCODA has placed institutional innovation front and center and has reaped early fruits by pioneering more than 80 institutions.

Besides, the demonstration area has set up a comprehensive economic and trade platform to offer one-stop services covering trade, customs clearance, logistics, and finance, resolving obstacles faced by enterprises in economic and trade investment.

These achievements have proved that steadily expanding institutional opening up can facilitate trade and investment, and enhance the level of trade cooperation.

The SCODA is striving to establish itself as a new hub for economic and trade cooperation.

Based on the SCO International Hub Port and a multimodal transportation service platform covering railway, sea, air and land ports, the SCODA is working to build a convenient connectivity pattern and a manufacturing center, logistics center and product distribution center facing Northeast Asia. The SCO International Hub Port has obtained the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE).

Moreover, the SCODA has launched 21 international train routes and set up an overseas assembly center for China-Europe (Qilu) freight trains in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Besides, it has also opened a sub-demonstration area in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. By further enhancing infrastructure connectivity, the SCODA can provide enterprises with more opportunities and contribute to economic growth.

The SCODA is striving to maintain safe and stable industrial and supply chains.

Industrial and supply chains are important parts of modern economy, which have a significant impact on the operation of the modern economic system.

To better ensure stable industrial and supply chains of SCO member states, the SCODA has hosted the SCO Industrial and Supply Chains Forum & the SCO International Investment and Trade Expo, and launched the China-SCO Industrial Park Alliance, promoting information sharing, logistics connectivity, and project collaboration.

In addition, the SCODA has set up an area for the application of the industrial internet and built 20 export-oriented industrial clusters, including the Haier COSMOPlat Industrial Internet Ecopark. By enhancing the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains, the SCODA aims to better safeguard the common interests of all SCO member states.

The SCODA is striving to nurture high-caliber professionals.

Close economic and trade cooperation relies heavily on talents. The China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade, which was established in 2022, serves as a practical platform to train professionals who can contribute to multilateral economic and trade cooperation among SCO member states.

So far, the institute has carried out 180 training sessions for more than 13,800 participants from SCO member states and Belt and Road partner countries, providing practical experience tailored to their actual needs. An increasing number of professionals with expertise in international economic and trade rules and national conditions of different countries have emerged, which will further deepen the exchanges and cooperation among SCO member states.

History tells us that openness and cooperation are a major driving force behind dynamic international economic and trade activities. Looking ahead, openness and cooperation will remain essential for continued human progress.

Moving forward, the SCODA will consolidate its role as an important link in international industrial, supply and trade chains, boosting economic and trade cooperation of SCO member states. It will continue to build a pilot area for institutional innovation in two-way investment and trade among SCO member states, a gathering area for entrepreneurship and business development, and a new and promising platform for Belt and Road cooperation, so as to create a new highland for opening up in the new era.

(Zhang Xinzhu is a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Qingdao Committee and secretary of the Party Working Committee of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area)