Nigeria Times

By Li Kaixuan, People’s Daily

Amidst the growing emphasis on a green, low-carbon lifestyle, a burning question arises: how can an individual’s carbon reduction efforts be quantified and recorded? Could they manifest as a visible “carbon wallet” or carbon asset?

The “Lyuya Jifen” mini app on WeChat, which translates into “Green Bud Score,” developed by environmental authorities in Luzhou, southwest China’s Sichuan province, exactly provides an answer to the question.

Tracking her low-carbon practices on the mini app has become a habit for Luzhou resident Pan Yan, who would always log 144 grams of carbon reduction on it and gain five scores after emptying her plate once and take public transportation by scanning QR codes to get 10 scores while logging 80 grams of carbon reduction.

Leveraging a carbon reduction digital ledger developed by the All-China Environment Federation and innovatively applying carbon reduction methodologies, the “Green Bud Score” mini app has formulated a transparent and reliable algorithm for tracking individual green lifestyles.

Bridging data silos across disparate platforms such as WeChat Sports, public transportation and banks, the mini app collects, stores and analyzes low-carbon behaviors in real time, including walking, no-drive days and green finance. This digitalized approach holistically captures users’ carbon footprints in almost every aspect of daily life, enabling them to join carbon reduction efforts with just a few taps on their smartphones.

“The scores are useful,” Pan said, as she excitedly browsed an online marketplace in the mini app, where over 100 gift cards and commodities can be redeemed with the scores, including stationery, home appliances, and skin care products.

“The incentive mechanism works well and encourages more people to embrace low-carbon lifestyles,” Pan told People’s Daily.

Besides, the “Green Bud Score” mini app also hosts novel and captivating volunteering activities tailored to Luzhou’s ecological conservation initiatives. For instance, users can have a Procypris rabaudi, a locally found cyprinid species, released with 150 scores, and 100 scores would allow them to buy birdseed for black-headed gulls, a locally beloved species.

“These distinctive activities provide a stronger sense of participation,” Pan said.

These low-carbon behaviors have brought changes to Pan’s life. Emptying the plates has become a habit of her, while used books and clothes are always donated or recycled. Besides, Pan and her child would always read books about environmental protection.

So far, Pan has logged total carbon reduction of 170,050 grams, equivalent to saving 170 kilowatt-hours of electricity. “I’ve genuinely adopted a green, low-carbon lifestyle,” she said.

Since its launch, the “Green Bud Score” mini app has attracted over 350,000 registered users, including over 40,000 daily active users. Together, they have generated over 54 million scores and recorded more than 320 tons of carbon reductions.

By Qiu Haifeng, People’s Daily

Comprehensive bonded zones (CBZs), known for their high-level openness and streamlined customs clearance procedures, are special customs supervision areas established by the Chinese government.

Many preferential policies are available in China’s CBZs, including tax refunds upon entry, bonded imports, and free movement of goods within the zones, which can significantly reduce the institutional costs of transactions.

Over the past decade, the number of CBZs in China has been steadily growing since the first one became operational in 2007. So far, over 160 CBZs have been set up in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across the country.

The Beijing Zhongguancun comprehensive bonded zone (hereafter referred to as “Zhongguancun CBZ”), the first one in China featuring research and development (R&D) and innovation, has passed acceptance review in April. The bonded zone has a planned area of 0.4 square kilometers and an industrial space of 660,000 square meters. It will develop integrated circuit and pharmaceutical industries as the core, and artificial intelligence and technology service industries as the focus. Besides, it aims to expand bonded service formats, including headquarters economy, cross-border e-commerce, among others.

The first phase of the Zhongguancun CBZ involves an industrial space covering 100,000 square meters, which will accommodate the main facilities of 11 enterprises, including HyperStrong, Naton Technology Group, and Agile Robots.

“The Zhongguancun CBZ is a crucial experiment to examine how CBZs can contribute to sci-tech innovation,” said Feng Bin, deputy head of Beijing Customs.

According to Feng, by leveraging the policy advantages, the Zhongguancun CBZ aims to cultivate new business models that integrate bonded trade with other elements, drive technological innovation and foster new quality productive forces within the zone, while also strengthening industry collaboration inside and outside the zone.

Here is a vivid example to showcase the efficiency of China’s CBZs. In the past, Suzuki cars manufactured in India had to pass through South Korea before being exported to Central and South America, which involved multiple transfers, customs declarations, and other intricate processes.

Today, things are not the same anymore. The vehicles can be temporarily stored in the Yangshan special comprehensive bonded zone (hereafter referred to as “Yangshan special CBZ”) in east China’s Shanghai municipality, and later shipped to their final destinations.

Shou Shunyang, an official with Yangshan Customs, used a recent batch of goods as an example to illustrate the bonded vehicle transit business within the zone, where the production and market ends are both outside of China.

On April 26, a total of 2,687 Indian-made Suzuki vehicles arrived at the Nangang terminal of Shanghai and were immediately transferred in bulk to the adjacent Yangshan special CBZ for bonded storage.

Among them, 1,379 were shipped to Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras on May 5, while the rest were destined for Chile and Nicaragua.

It is reported that since starting independent customs operation in May 2020, the Yangshan special CBZ has made continuous breakthroughs in building a new type of trade demonstration zone, a global shipping hub, and an incubator for innovative business.

Additionally, the dense shipping routes and frequent sailings at the ports in Shanghai provide more options for consolidated shipping, significantly improving efficiency and reducing costs for businesses.

It is estimated that compared to traditional routes, this shipping route can reduce the logistics cost of exporting these vehicles by 12 percent and shorten the shipping time by 25 percent.

After four years of development, the number of registered enterprises in the Yangshan special CBZ has reached 1,591, with a total import and export value exceeding 780 billion yuan ($107.73), and an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 40 percent.

The continuously growing and upgrading CBZs are bringing new opportunities and injecting new momentum into the development of foreign trade across China.

For instance, there are 13 CBZs in south China’s Guangdong province. According to the Guangdong sub-administration of China’s General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter of this year, the import and export value of bonded logistics in Guangdong’s CBZs reached 139.42 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.8 percent. The total import and export value of all CBZs in the province exceeded 170.98 billion yuan, accounting for 8.4 percent of Guangdong’s total foreign trade.

Besides, the Yantai free trade port zone in east China’s Shandong province has strengthened information exchanges and resource sharing with customs, ports, and other authorities. It has improved supporting facilities and developed new business models such as cross-border e-commerce, international transit of commercial vehicles, and bonded blending of mineral products, creating more new growth drivers for foreign trade.

In the first quarter of this year, the import and export volume of the Yantai free trade port zone exceeded 20 billion yuan, accounting for about a fifth of the city’s total foreign trade.

According to industry insiders, China’s special customs supervision areas represented by CBZs have emerged as important platforms driving the development of an open economy.

Last year, the total import and export value of goods in China’s CBZs surpassed 6 trillion yuan, accounting for approximately 15 percent of the country’s total foreign trade, almost twice the amount five years ago.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

The narrative of “overcapacity” in China’s new energy industry is a pseudo-proposition, whether viewed from the principles of market economy and the law of value, or analyzed under the context of global division of labor and international market.

It is contrary to economic logic and reality to claim that China is exporting its excess capacity. Under economic globalization, production capacity is determined by supply-demand relations. According to the law of the market, the equilibrium between supply and demand is in constant flux, with imbalance being the norm in any market economy. Addressing the imbalances primarily relies on market regulation in accordance with the law of value.

China is an open market that embraces globalization. This requires Chinese new energy enterprises to adopt both domestic and international strategies in their development visions and resource allocation. Cross-border trade would not have existed if each country only focused on meeting their domestic demand.

The rise in Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and photovoltaic products in recent years is a result of global division of labor and market demand. It’s absurd to relate capacity issues to global trade and attribute China’s expanding exports to overcapacity.

As a matter of fact, it’s simply not the case that green products are in excess supply globally. On the contrary, the global demand for such products far outruns the supply.

According to the International Energy Agency, the global demand for new energy vehicles (NEVs) is expected to reach 45 million units by 2030, 4.5 times that of 2022, and the global demand for newly installed capacity for photovoltaic products will reach 820 gigawatts by 2030, about four times that of 2022.

The current production capacity for green energy in the world falls significantly short of the global demand, especially when more than 130 countries and regions have raised their carbon neutrality targets. Given the huge potential of global demand, China’s green production capacity is far from enough. It’s a complete fallacy that China’s “overcapacity” in new energy sectors harms the global market.

In an article, Bloomberg said to the extent that there’s grounds for hope around the energy transition right now, it’s largely thanks to the availability of cheap, clean Chinese products.

In today’s world, both supply and demand should be considered in a global context. It is an economic principle beyond human control that the production capacity of a country is decided by its own comparative advantages.

China’s new energy products are competitive because China, as an early player in the industry, has fostered technological advantages through long-term research and development, and developed comprehensive strengths by leveraging its robust domestic industrial capabilities, enormous market, and rich human resources.

Despite being priced higher than in the domestic market, Chinese NEVs and other related products are still highly sought after in many countries overseas. This demonstrates that China’s competitive advantages in production capacity are determined by both global demand and the efficiency of Chinese enterprises, in accordance with the law of the market.

It is driven by the entrenched protectionist beliefs that some countries labeled the Chinese new energy industry with “overcapacity.” Such false narrative is just an excuse to justify the imposition of trade barriers on China’s exports.

What is truly excessive is not China’s new energy capacity, but rather the abuse of protectionism by these countries to suppress the legitimate development of other countries.

They keep saying all the time that they oppose unfair trade and non-market practices, but in fact they are politicizing economic and trade issues, disturbing free trade with non-market approaches.

By spreading the false narrative of “overcapacity” in China’s new energy industry, they aim to stifle China’s industrial development and seek more favorable competitive positions and market advantages for themselves.

Those who spread such narrative to justify protectionism have nothing to gain from it and will only destabilize and disrupt global industrial and supply chains, hinder the world’s green transition, and curb the growth of emerging sectors.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, said on its website that the West’s complaints about China’s “overcapacity” are hypocritical and short-sighted and the Western industrialized countries would do better to face up to the competition and push for equal market access in exchange for good and cheap Chinese green energy products.

Any remark or practice that politicizes or overstretches the concept of national security regarding economic and trade issues is against the law of economy, which neither helps with a country’s industrial growth nor the recovery of the global economy. Attempting to sabotage others and gain a competitive edge through the “overcapacity” hype is both unmoral and impractical.

China stands ready to work with all relevant parties to uphold the basic principles of the market economy, including fair competition and open cooperation, so as to make its due contributions to global green and low-carbon transition.

By Jia Fengfeng, People’s Daily

In the Longbao National Nature Reserve, located in Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture of northwest China’s Qinghai province, Caicai and his fellow wetland rangers rose early to begin their daily patrol.

“This is China’s first breeding base for black-necked cranes. In the recent couple of days, many birds have migrated here, preparing to mate. We must make sure this place is well protected,” Caicai said. His gaze softened with a special gentleness as he observed a few black-necked cranes gliding over the distance meadows through a pair of binoculars.

“In recent years, more and more wild animals have settled in our reserve as the ecology here continues to thrive. We are incredibly proud of this,” Caicai told People’s Daily.

In recent years, the Longbao National Nature Reserve has seen a steady increase in its wildlife population, thanks to the development of information-sharing platforms, partnerships with professional research monitoring teams, regular biodiversity monitoring surveys, educational activities on natural science, creation of volunteer lake patrol teams, among others.

In particular, the number of birds spotted in the reserve has been on the rise year by year. Today, the reserve is home to 144 bird species from 39 families and 19 orders. More than 1.3 percent of black-necked cranes in the world live in the reserve, and the number of bar-headed geese there accounts for over 9.4 percent of the world’s total.

This is only a miniature of how Qinghai province treasures and protects the eco-environment.

Located at the junction of the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Qinghai province is hailed as China’s “water tower,” holding special significance in ecological conservation.

In recent years, Qinghai province has made notable strides in advancing ecological protection and high-quality development on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.

For instance, the water conservation capacity has continued to improve in the Sanjiangyuan region, which serves as the headwaters of China’s three major rivers, namely the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers.

The decrease in desertified and sandy areas in Qinghai has led to an expansion of grassland, with grass yields increasing year by year. The populations of wild animals and plants are also thriving.

The proportion of days with good air quality in the province exceeds 95 percent. All major rivers and lakes meet water quality standards for their designated uses. Remarkably, Qinghai now ranks first in China in terms of total wetland area.

A robust nature reserve system centered on national parks is taking shape rapidly across Qinghai province, fortifying an ever-stronger ecological security shield.

The impressive environmental achievements would not have been possible without science-based restoration efforts.

In 2023, Qinghai converted 97,000 hectares of desertified areas into green land, exceeding the annual target by 18 percent. Thanks to the collective efforts of province-wide voluntary tree planting initiatives, over 18 million new trees were planted, involving 3 million participants.

Moreover, Qinghai has further strengthened its support system for land greening by establishing an ecological and environmental monitoring network from sky to ground.

At the goji berry fields of Zongjia township, Dulan county, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Qinghai province, major grower Ding Ling has been guiding local workers to take care of the goji seedlings during the past few days.

“The market has been very good in recent years. Thanks to Qinghai’s exceptional ecological reputation, buyers speak highly of our goji berries. Our minimum income can reach 5,000 yuan ($690.95) per mu (about 0.67 hectares),” Ding told People’s Daily.

In 2023, 27,600 hectares of goji berries were planted in Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous prefecture. A total of 91,300 tons of dried fruit were produced therefrom, accounting for nearly 20 percent of China’s overall production. The production of dried fruit generated an output value of 3.32 billion yuan, representing 42.3 percent of the prefecture’s total agricultural and pastoral output value. The total value of the entire industrial chain amounted to 12 billion yuan.

The booming goji berry industry in Qinghai is backed by flourishing eco-friendly approaches. Additionally, a number of key projects highlight the province’s commitment to green development: the operation of the Maerdang Hydropower Station, the completion of the Yangqu dam, the construction of the world’s largest liquid air energy storage demonstration project in Golmud city, the operation of the Lijiaxia Hydropower Station, among others.

Qinghai is consistently striving for green and sustainable development. By the end of last year, the province secured a leading position in China for its clean and new energy capacity and non-hydro renewable energy consumption, with the total installed clean energy capacity reaching 51.07 million kilowatts. Lithium-ion battery production in the province accounts for 10 percent of the country’s total. Besides, the monitored area of organic grasslands has surpassed 150 million mu (about 10 million hectares).

Today, Qinghai’s development is featured by its lucid waters and lush mountains, with the thriving ecosystem emerging as the most inclusive public good for the residents.

In 2023, 76 percent of Qinghai’s fiscal expenditure went to livelihood projects. The growth in per capita disposable personal income of all residents outpaced the overall economic growth of the province. Farmers and herdsmen saw income growth surpassing China’s national average, and the urban-rural income gap continued to narrow.

Across Qinghai province, from valleys to grasslands, from snow-capped highlands to desert towns, ecological conservation and livelihood improvement are mutually reinforcing.

By Sun Zhen, Cheng Yuanzhou, People’s Daily

Guangdong province in south China has been accelerating the digital, networked and intelligent development of the manufacturing sector in recent years, leveraging technological transformation to upgrade traditional manufacturing industries such as textile and home appliance.

As a major production base of the textile and garment industry, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province has encouraged a number of industrial internet platforms to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transition to cloud-based systems and services, including Guangzhou Zhijing Information Technology Co., Ltd.(GZIT) a Guangzhou based company that uses digital technologies to streamline textile operations.

The company has developed an intelligent platform that assists garment manufacturers find proper fabric suppliers. The platform gathers massive market information and can quickly search for desired items based on actual demands.

Shi Daqing, general manager of a garment company in Dongguan, Guangdong province, is a beneficiary of the platform. “In the past, I had to search in fabric markets for days every time I came to Guangzhou to procure supplies. Now, with online fabric selection, it only takes a few minutes to find the fabrics we want,” said Shi, who has been engaged in the garment business for more than 20 years.

According to Li Yaping, co-founder and senior vice president of GZIT, the company, leveraging big data, Internet of Things and other cutting-edge technologies, has launched multiple smart cloud platforms that cover all sectors of the garment industrial chain, from fabric production to procurement, and from apparel design to sales.

Li told People’s Daily that it generally cost over half a month to design a piece of clothing in the past, which needed multiple procedures such as graphic design, pattern making, cutting and sample making.

However, the cycle has been shortened to just minutes thanks to an intelligent apparel design platform independently developed by GZIT, which can rapidly generate virtual samples based on preset styles and preferences.

In a smart textile park of GZIT in Yibin, southwest China’s Sichuan province, the company employs a real-time intelligent quality-check system.

Many defects of fabrics couldn’t be spotted by manual inspections, and now with the fully automated quality-check system, over 99 percent of the products are qualified, said Li Peifeng, head of the smart textile park.

“Each roll of the fabrics comes with a quality-check report and a QR code, which enable full traceability of production information along the chain,” he told People’s Daily.

Since its establishment in 2014, GZIT has continually expanded its business scope, serving more than 50,000 enterprises in the textile and apparel industry both inside and outside Guangdong province with digital technologies.

“Cloud” services give a big helping hand to SMEs, which is deeply recognized by Chen Kai, general manager of a textile company in Foshan, Guangdong province.

“We all know the benefits of digitalization, but everything about it, from R&D to equipment upgrade, costs money. Cloud services allow us small businesses to achieve significant outcomes with minimal investment,” Chen noted.

Today, Chen’s company can pay to use GZIT’s intelligent systems and enjoy tangible benefits of technological transformation. “The systems monitor equipment operation in real time, reducing abnormal downtime by 35 percent and boosting overall efficiency by 30 percent,” Chen said.

As more and more companies adopted its services in recent years, GZIT built a cloud platform that coordinates upstream and downstream production.

“Downstream apparel manufacturers place orders, the platform assigns them, and upstream textile firms take them,” said Li. “Through cloud-based management, we can rapidly match demands and supplies, thus promoting efficient production.”

Li is quite optimistic about GZIT’s future development. “Apart from servicing upstream and downstream enterprises, we are now integrating them to make the industrial chain more resilient and competitive!”

Zou Yongbing, chief economist of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong province, said that in recent years, the province has introduced and cultivated over 400 outstanding industrial internet platform companies and service providers including GZIT. Collectively, they have driven digital transformation for over 30,000 industrial enterprises above designated size and enabled over 750,000 SMEs to adopt cloud solutions.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the China-Russia diplomatic relations. It is an important milestone year in the history of China-Russia relations.

On May 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who was on a state visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The most important conclusion drawn from the 75-year history of China-Russia relations is that two neighboring major countries must always promote the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, respect each other on an equal footing, trust each other, accommodate each other’s concerns, and truly provide mutual assistance for the development and revitalization of both sides, Xi noted.

This is not only the correct way for China and Russia to get along, but also the direction that major-country relations should strive for in the 21st century, Xi said.

His important remarks have charted the course for the future development of China-Russia relations.

Head-of-state diplomacy is leading the all-round development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era.

The two presidents have held over 40 meetings, maintaining close communication and offering strategic guidance on promoting healthy and stable development of bilateral relations between China and Russia.

This time, Xi and Putin had a candid and fruitful discussion. They had a comprehensive review of the successful experience in developing the China-Russia relationship, and had an in-depth exchange of views on the relationship as well as major international and regional issues of mutual interest, charting the course forward for their cooperation across the board.

The two heads of state signed and issued the Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era in the Context of the 75th Anniversary of China-Russia Diplomatic Relations.

They also witnessed the signing of a number of important intergovernmental and interagency cooperation documents, injecting new, strong impetus into the sound development of China-Russia relations.

China and Russia will uphold the principles of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party, continue to deepen two-way political trust, respect each other’s choice of development path, and realize development and revitalization with each other’s firm support.

In the past three quarters of a century, the China-Russia relationship has grown stronger amidst wind and rain. China and Russia together have found a new path for major and neighboring countries to treat each other with respect and pursue amity and mutually beneficial cooperation. The China-Russia relationship has become a prime example of a new form of international relations as well as good-neighborly relations between two major countries.

The notable progress in China-Russia relations is attributable to the two countries’ commitment to five principles.

First, China and Russia are committed to mutual respect as the fundamental principle of relations, and always render support for each other’s core interests.

Second, China and Russia are committed to win-win cooperation as the driving force of relations, and work to foster a new paradigm of mutual benefit.

Third, China and Russia are committed to lasting friendship as the foundation of relations, and carry forward the torch of Sino-Russian friendship.

Fourth, China and Russia are committed to strategic coordination as an underpinning of relations, and steer global governance in the right direction.

Fifth, China and Russia are committed to fairness and justice as the purpose of relations, and dedicated to the political settlement of hotspots.

With the concerted efforts of the two sides, China-Russia relations have been moving forward steadily, with enhanced comprehensive strategic coordination and further cooperation on economy and trade, investment, energy, people-to-people exchanges, at the subnational level and in other fields. This has made positive contributions to maintaining global strategic stability and promoting greater democracy in international relations.

The two sides will take the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic ties as a new starting point, further synergize development strategies, and continue to enrich the bilateral cooperation, to bring greater benefits to the two countries and peoples, and contribute more positive energy to world prosperity and stability.

The two countries need to make further structural improvements to their cooperation, consolidate the good momentum in trade and other traditional areas of cooperation.

Last year, two-way trade exceeded $240 billion, close to 2.7 times of that of a decade ago. This is a good indication of the all-round cooperation of mutual benefit that continues to deepen between the two countries.

The two countries need to look for areas where their interests converge, tap into their comparative strengths, deepen the integration of interests, and enable each other’s success.

They should make further structural improvements to their cooperation, consolidate the good momentum in trade and other traditional areas of cooperation, support the formation of platforms and networks for basic research, continue to unlock cooperation potential in frontier areas, step up cooperation on ports, transportation and logistics, and help keep the global industrial and supply chains stable.

The two sides should create more highlights for people-to-people exchanges, jointly host successful China-Russia Years of Culture, strengthen cooperation at subnational levels, and continuously tighten the bonds between the two peoples.

By focusing on implementing the Roadmap for China-Russia Cooperation on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges Before 2030, the two countries are expanding people-to-people and cultural ties.

The two presidents have set 2024 and 2025 as China-Russia Years of Culture, proposed a series of cultural activities that are down to earth, close to people’s hearts and popular among them, and encouraged closer interactions between various sectors and at subnational levels, so as to enhance mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples.

Both sides are willing to continue to strengthen cooperation within the frameworks including the UN, BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as well as communication on major international and regional issues, so as to establish a fair and equitable global governance system.

Both China and Russia are permanent members of the UN Security Council and major emerging markets. It is the shared strategic choice of both countries to deepen strategic coordination, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and follow the general historical trend of multipolarity in the world and economic globalization.

With Russia chairing BRICS this year and China taking over the chairmanship of the SCO later this year, the two sides will support each other’s chairmanship, build a high-quality partnership that is more comprehensive, close, practical and inclusive, and build the unity and strength of the Global South.

As a Chinese saying goes, “A mountain is formed by accumulation of soil and an ocean is formed by accumulation of water.” After 75 years of solid accumulation, lasting friendship and all-round cooperation between China and Russia provide a strong impetus for the two countries to forge ahead despite wind and rain. Having reached a new starting point, China and Russia will always remain committed to their founding purpose and jointly shoulder responsibility to create more benefits for their peoples and make due contribution to global security and stability.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

On top of existing tariffs under Section 301, the U.S. recently decided to raise additional tariffs on its imports of Chinese products including electric vehicles (EVs), as part of its ongoing abuse of the Section 301 tariff review procedure driven by domestic political concerns.

The U.S. has unilaterally politicized economic and trade issues and used them as a tool, wielding the stick of tariffs to suppress China’s industrial development and normal economic and technological activities. This not only seriously violates the principles of market economy and international trade rules but also poses a grave threat to the healthy development of the global economy.

The imposition of additional tariffs by the U.S. is a typical act of unilateralism and protectionism.

The U.S. claimed that Chinese products had threatened its “national security” and accused China of engaging in “unfair trade practices,” but all these are baseless excuses. The main purpose of the U.S. imposing additional tariffs on Chinese products is to exploit political gains under the guise of protecting relevant industries.

As pointed out by Clark Packard, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, new tariffs on imported EVs and other products from China are driven mostly by domestic political calculations in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. It’s truly a race to the protectionist bottom.

The high tariff barriers set by the U.S. impede free trade and undermine fair competition. Such approach does not protect U.S. industries but rather makes them increasingly uncompetitive in a comfortable environment.

Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University, pointed out that the allegations in the U.S.-initiated Section 301 investigation against China lack evidence, and its attempt to curb China’s industrial development through tariffs is short-sighted and cannot achieve the long-term goal of revitalizing U.S. industries.

The imposition of additional tariffs by the U.S. is a typical act of hegemony and bullying.

The previous U.S. administration’s imposition of tariffs on Chinese products under Section 301 has severely disrupted normal economic and trade exchanges between the two countries and was ruled by the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a violation of WTO regulations.

Instead of correcting its actions, the U.S. has once again imposed tariffs, which demonstrates that certain people in the country are suffering from a chronic case of “China anxiety.” Trying to maintain the U.S. hegemony, they perceive China’s development as a threat and resort to all means to suppress China, in an irrational manner.

The development of China’s new energy industry is the result of technological innovation by Chinese companies and their active participation in market competition. It benefits from China’s complete industrial categories, industrial system, and huge domestic market. It is in line with the needs of global economic development and benefits not just China but also the U.S. and the whole world.

The U.S. resorting to all means to unscrupulously suppress China’s new energy sectors does not prove its strength but rather exposes its lack of confidence. It cannot solve the problems within the U.S. but further disrupts the normal operation of international industrial and supply chains. It cannot prevent China’s development and revitalization but instead encourages over 1.4 billion Chinese people to work even harder.

The Section 301 tariffs imposed on China for the past six years have heightened economic burdens for businesses in both countries and U.S. consumers, disrupted international trade order, and impacted global economic stability and security.

Moody’s has estimated that 92 percent of the costs of the tariff hikes will fall on U.S. consumers, while average U.S. household expenditure increases by $1,300 annually.

Instead of reflecting on the serious drawbacks of unilateralism and protectionism, the U.S. has made yet more mistakes, which have significantly raised the cost of imported goods and caused greater losses for American businesses and consumers.

Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said that maintenance of the prior tariffs – with no reductions – and imposition of additional tariffs ultimately make it harder for American companies to compete in the U.S. and abroad, cost American jobs, and increase prices for U.S. manufacturers and consumers during a time of ongoing inflation.

At a critical moment of global economic recovery, the U.S. further imposing tariffs is causing trouble for the development of the world economy and is not well-received internationally.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson have recently cautioned against the additional tariffs imposed by the U.S. on China, saying that “when it comes to import duties, I think that we (Sweden and Germany) essentially have a consensus that it is a bad idea to start dismantling global trade.”

Gita Gopinath, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, noted that under the surface, there are increasing signs of fragmentation. “If the trend continues, we could see a broad retreat from global rules of engagement and, with it, a significant reversal of the gains from economic integration.”

Unilateralism and protectionism go against the trend of the times. Faced with the recent years’ new and evolving situation in China-U.S. business ties, the two sides should stay committed to mutual respect, mutual benefit, and equal-footed consultation, follow economic and market rules, expand and deepen mutually beneficial business cooperation, respect each other’s development rights, and work for win-win outcomes for the two countries and the world at large.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

By Cao Shiyun, People’s Daily

About two hours’ drive southeast of Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, lies a tranquil mountain range in West Java. As one navigates the winding roads that snake through the mountains, breathtaking vistas gradually unfold. In the distance, under blue skies and white clouds, the Cirata Reservoir emerges, nestled amidst the majestic peaks. What catches the eye, however, are the neatly arranged massive arrays of photovoltaic (PV) panels that float on the surface of the reservoir.

Spanning across the equator, Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world. It boasts mammoth oceanic area and rich solar resources. The Indonesian government has decided to develop solar power generation into the strongest pillar of its clean energy supply by 2060.

As a collaboration project between Indonesia’s state electricity corporation PLN and the United Arab Emirates energy company Masdar, the Cirata floating solar plant was constructed by China’s PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited (HDEC) The 192-megawatt-peak capacity power plant was connected to the power grid in November last year.

The Cirata floating solar plant features 13 PV arrays. Each of them measures 430 meters long and 230 meters wide, and includes 48 sub-arrays. Together, they comprise a total of over 28,000 solar panels.

Wang Shaofeng, deputy chief engineer of the project, told People’s Daily that it was the first time for HDEC to build a floating solar farm so huge and challenging that required the company to overcome various problems throughout the designing to construction phases.

According to Wang, the Cirata floating solar plant is the first floating solar farm in the world that floats on a reservoir with depths up to 100 meters.

Due to the complex topography, steep slopes and thick sludge under the water, it was difficult to fix anchor blocks during the construction, Wang noted, adding that the project team specifically developed anchor blocks with higher bearing capacity to make the anchor system stable.

“The Cirata floating solar plant is the first floating PV project in Indonesia and the largest in Southeast Asia. It is a key strategic project of Indonesia at the national level. The smooth implementation and completion of the project have boosted the country’s confidence in energy transition,” said Guo Xiaodan, the representative of PowerChina in Indonesia.

Today, the Cirata floating solar plant accounts for 25 percent of Indonesia’s total new energy generation capacity. It is expected to generate 300,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year, providing clean energy to about 50,000 Indonesian households.

According to preliminary estimates, the project will save 117,000 tons of standard coal for Indonesia on an annual basis, and reduce the annual emission of carbon dioxide, coal dust, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by 214,000 tons, 82,000 tons 9,000 tons, and 4,500 tons respectively.

So far, the project has offered over 8,000 jobs for local communities both directly and indirectly. Tang Lijun, on-site manager of the project, told People’s Daily that the most of the project’s employees used to be farmers and fishers, whose incomes were very unstable as they lived at the mercy of the elements.

Their incomes have significantly increased after working on the project, with some experiencing a fourfold surge in monthly earnings, Tang said. After the completion of the project, they can continue to work in operations and maintenance of the project using the skills they have acquired or seek employment in other projects, Tang added.

It is learned that the project has also organized professionals to visit local middle schools to promote PV knowledge, and worked with the local government to recruit interns from Indonesian universities in an effort to cultivate a talent pipeline.

Yoga, a university student in internship on the project, said: “The staff on the project patiently guided and helped us. Here, I learned a lot of knowledge and experience that cannot be gained at university.”

Guo said that the project has always followed a localization strategy, employing local designing, construction and installation teams, and offering multiple safety and skill training sessions for local workers. The project has nurtured a batch of outstanding professionals in the PV industry, Guo added.

The Cirata floating solar plant exemplifies the practical cooperation between China and Indonesia. In recent years, the two countries have achieved significant progress in their collaboration on renewable energy. Notably, PowerChina’s successful river diversion at the Batang Toru Hydropower Station has laid a crucial groundwork for future work. Additionally, Trina Solar, a Chinese PV company, has signed an agreement with Indonesian partners to establish Indonesia’s inaugural production base for PV cells and modules.

“China owns advanced technological expertise in renewable energy. Strengthening cooperation with China will help Indonesia achieve its energy transition goals,” said Agung Pribadi, director of the Center for Mineral, Coal and Geothermal Resources at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia. He emphasized that China will play a crucial role in assisting Indonesia in achieving its carbon neutrality objectives.

“The Cirata floating solar plant has become another iconic project of the Belt and Road cooperation between Indonesia and China after the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway,” said Veronika S. Saraswati, convener of the China Studies Research Unit at Indonesia’s leading think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The successful operation of the Cirata floating solar plant once again demonstrates the achievements and potential of cooperation between Indonesia and China in the field of renewable energy, she noted.

She believes that the two countries will continue to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership for more mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

By Wang Hao, People’s Daily

As the longest river in China, the Yangtze River amasses a number of tributaries and winds through many deep gorges, offering rich hydropower resources, abundant shipping routes and huge freshwater reserves.

Six mega hydropower stations along the mainstem of the Yangtze River — Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu, Xiangjiaba, Three Gorges Dam, and Gezhouba Dam — form the world’s largest clean energy corridor, which spans over 1,800 kilometers with a water level drop exceeding 900 meters. A total of 110 hydroelectric generators operate in tandem along the corridor, consistently generating green electricity.

Recently, all the six cascade hydropower stations have been connected to an industrial internet platform, which marked the completion of an “industrial brain” of the world’s largest clean energy corridor. This is expected to significantly boost the corridor’s operational efficiency and reliability.

It is reported that these six cascade hydropower stations have generated over 3.5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to saving over 1 billion tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.8 billion tons. Besides, the coordination among these cascade reservoirs has also ensured unimpeded shipping, sufficient water supply, and ecological conservation.

The Baihetan hydropower station has 16 hydro-generating units with a total installed capacity of 16 million kilowatts. These units are powered by water plunging over 200 meters from above, with each rotation producing around 150 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

“Our staff work round the clock. With the installation of sensors to collect data in real time, any abnormalities will trigger automatic alerts within the system,” said Wang Bin, deputy director of the operations department of the Baihetan hydropower station run by China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd. (CYPC).

In December 2022, all units of the Baihetan hydropower station went fully operational, which marked the completion of the world’s largest clean energy corridor, a witness to the breakthroughs made by China in hydropower engineering.

For instance, the Gezhouba Dam, completed in the 1980s, has a single-unit capacity of 170 megawatts. Besides, the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, is equipped with power-generating units each with a capacity of 700 megawatts.

China’s capability to produce million-kilowatt power-generating units couldn’t have been obtained without new techniques, materials, and industrial upgrades.

Li Haijun, deputy director of the electromechanical technology center of China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG), said that million-kilowatt units undergo significantly higher water pressure impact, rotational speeds and stresses compared to smaller units.

In response to this challenge, CTG has taken the lead in collaborating with major steelmakers to develop 800 MPa high-strength steel plates specifically designed for spiral casings. Such breakthrough has effectively put an end to the long-term reliance on imported steel plates, Li explained.

Scheduling these giant hydropower stations involves multiple aspects across vast spatiotemporal scales, regions, and grids. To handle peak and base loads, higher safety and stability standards are demanded,” explained Tang Zhengyang, deputy director of CYPC’s Water Resources Research Center.

The industrial internet platform enables the hydropower stations to cope with all-business scenarios, including intelligent operations, maintenance, repairs, dispatching, and decision-making, which comprehensively strengthens smart operations and propels digitalization.

Apart from supplying electricity, the clean energy corridor has also formed a 768-kilometer-deep waterway that steadily improves the navigation conditions of the Yangtze River. Previously unnavigable sections have been turned into wide passages, and small ports along the corridor have grown stronger and bigger. For example, along the section in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, multiple 5,000-ton deep water berths have emerged, which amplify the advantages of water transportation along the Yangtze River, known for its low energy consumption, high capacity and cost-effectiveness.

As a strategic freshwater source of China, the Yangtze River basin commands 995.9 billion cubic meters of water resources annually, accounting for about 36 percent of China’s total. The clean energy corridor alone forms a cascade reservoir cluster with 91.9 billion cubic meters of storage, which serves as a vital strategic freshwater reserve.

Fish populations serve as a crucial indicator of a river’s ecological health. Systematically increasing water discharges from the reservoirs to gradually raise river levels can help create favorable conditions for natural fish spawning and reproduction. Relevant authorities have  conducted multiple ecological scheduling experiments with an increasingly broad scope.

According to an official with the Changjiang Water Resource Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, current scheduling objectives have expanded beyond facilitating fish propagation. They now encompass layered water withdrawal for temperature regulation, prevention and control of algal blooms, sediment sluicing and silt reduction in reservoirs, and curbing excessive growth of submerged aquatic vegetation.

These efforts are contributing to the conservation and restoration of the aquatic ecosystem across the Yangtze River basin. As a result, the world’s largest clean energy corridor has evolved into a corridor of ecological conservation.