Nigeria Times

By Guan Kejiang, Zhang Zhiwen, Ren Haoyu, People’s Daily

The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, concluded in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

During the session, the Chinese delegation set up China’s pavilion, and hosted over 100 side events focusing on China’s policies and actions in response to climate change, international cooperation on climate change, green and low-carbon development, coordinated pollution and carbon reduction, just transition and sustainable development, energy transition, digital development, and green finance.

These events aimed to showcase China’s philosophy and achievements in ecological civilization construction, and to forge consensus on jointly addressing climate change.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At multiple side events, participants highly valued the fruitful achievements of the BRI in promoting international cooperation and peaceful development, praised China’s significant role in driving global green development, and looked forward to increasing green cooperation within frameworks such as South-South cooperation.

At the 11th High-level Forum on South-South Cooperation on Climate Change held on Dec. 8, Dima Al-Khatib, director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, emphasized the significance of South-South cooperation in addressing climate change for developing countries to achieve green and low-carbon transition.

She said the BRI proposed by China has provided a favorable platform and opportunity for developing countries to strengthen cooperation on climate change, serving as a good example.

Bounkham Vorachit, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos, stated that China has become a global leader in utilizing green and low-carbon energy, and it has actively practiced and supported South-South cooperation.

The minister called the Vientiane Saysettha Low-Carbon Demonstration Zone, jointly built by Laos and China, a model of environmentally friendly and sustainable development. It has achieved significant results in reducing energy consumption, carbon emissions, and fossil fuel usage, she added.

At the Seminar on Belt and Road Green and Low-carbon Transition hosted by the BRI International Green Development Coalition on Dec. 8, Erik Solheim, vice president of the coalition and former United Nations under-secretary-general, noted that green development is a distinctive feature of the joint building of the BRI. He said China has made tremendous contributions to the development of global renewable energy, and it has also brought innovative driving forces to economic development, as well as the green and low-carbon transition of other developing countries.

During a side event on China’s latest progress in carbon capture, utilization and storage, representatives from multiple Chinese companies and research institutions introduced China’s actions and progress in the field.

During a side event on supercomputing for climate and environmental prediction, experts from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences showcased research results of numerical simulation in combining supercomputers and Earth system models, providing new perspectives and methods for predicting climate change and related disasters.

During a side event on wind, solar, and hydrogen storage, participants engaged in extensive discussions on topics such as energy transition driven by innovative wind power technologies, contributing their wisdom to the development of the new energy industry.

Tim Gould, chief energy economist of the International Energy Agency, said China possesses unique advantages in the development, manufacturing and application of clean energy technologies.

Such advantages, coupled with the support from and cooperation with international financial institutions, are of great significance in accelerating the development of clean energy in other regions, he added.

Abid Sulehri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Pakistan, said that China actively collaborates with other developing countries within the framework of South-South cooperation, making significant contributions to the global response to climate change.

China has hosted over 100 side events, which served as an important platform for frank exchanges and sharing of experiences among all parties, he said, adding that in the face of the complex issue of climate change, all parties need more consensus and action.

The China Energy Transformation Outlook 2023 report was released at a side event hosted at China’s pavilion on Dec. 9. The report said that China will embark on a new path of green and low-carbon growth that distinguishes it from developed countries.

According to the report, the development of key clean energy technologies will experience rapid and leapfrog development in China, and the country will advance high-quality social and economic development and improve people’s living standards with lower per capita energy consumption and carbon emissions compared to those in developed countries, thus injecting confidence into global green growth.

Dan Jorgensen, Denmark’s minister for development cooperation and minister for global climate policy, said the report is an important outcome of inter-governmental cooperation between Denmark and China. The report outlines the path for China to achieve its energy transition and provides a clear direction towards carbon neutrality.

Jorgensen emphasized that a green energy transition must be a global effort, saying China plays a crucial role in this regard and is taking active actions to realize this vision.

By Liu Gang, People’s Daily

Ho Chi Minh was one of the most familiar foreign leaders to the Chinese people. His close connection with China encapsulated an unforgettable chapter in China-Vietnam exchanges. Located in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, the former residence of Ho Chi Minh was the site where the late Vietnamese leader spent the longest time working and living.

On Nov. 13, 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, reviewed the friendly exchanges between the older-generation leaders of the two countries and the friendship between the Chinese and Vietnamese peoples at the former residence of Ho Chi Minh.

In front of a stilt house where Ho Chi Minh once lived, Xi presented Trong a state gift – 19 issues of People’s Daily about Vietnamese leaders’ visits to China. The stilt house stands as a testament to the concerted efforts made by the top leaders of the CPC and CPV to forge stronger bonds of friendship between the two nations in the new era.

A senior tourist visiting the former residence of Ho Chi Minh shared with People’s Daily his knowledge of the friendship between Ho Chi Minh and older-generation Chinese leaders. He was quite familiar with the Jiefang trucks, Forever bikes and other goods and materials China once donated to Vietnam.

A friendship featuring ” camaraderie plus brotherhood” has withstood the test of time. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam. Under the guidance of Xi and Trong, bilateral relationship between the two countries has been developing at a high level, and strategic cooperation comprehensively deepened.

Exchange and cooperation in various fields have continuously enhanced mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, especially among the younger generation.

Outside the stilt house, several young Vietnamese told People’s Daily that the more they know about China, the more they can feel the major achievements made by China. They said Chinese TV dramas and electronic products have sparked their interest in China, and many young Vietnamese are joining Chinese language courses and actively engaging with Chinese friends through platforms such as Confucius Institutes and China Cultural Centers.

The deepening understanding has propelled closer cooperation and communication. Recently, a brand-new news program in Vietnamese called “China and Vietnam Connection” was officially launched. The program, co-produced by Chinese and Vietnamese media outlets, is the first international cooperation program broadcast on Vietnam’s national television.

The CPC and the CPV have hosted 17 theory seminars. Relevant institutions from both sides have also organized various exchange activities, such as a symposium on party building and national governance in the new era and an international seminar on socialist development experience of China and Vietnam and its global influence. These activities shared experiences in party building and governance, and deepened the two sides’ understanding of the laws of socialist construction.

The traditional friendship between China and Vietnam has been flourishing, and the public support for China-Vietnam friendship has also been cemented. This has created a favorable social basis and public sentiment for the development of bilateral relations.

It is believed that as both countries firmly support each other in pursuing a socialist path that suits their respective national conditions, they will further strengthen solidarity and friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.

The stilt house will continue to witness the wonderful stories of China-Vietnam friendship and the passing on of the friendship.

People’s Daily

China and Vietnam are connected by mountains and rivers. They enjoy cultural proximity, cherish the same ideals, and have a shared future ahead of them.

In recent years, the two countries have brought out the full potential in their geographical proximity and complementarity of industries, and accelerated synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy, in a bid to better serve their respective national development and benefit the two peoples.

To the west of Kong Chro District, Gia Lai Province in south-central Vietnam, there stand dozens of huge wind turbines with their blades slowly rotating, providing steady electricity for local production and life.

These belong to a wind power project designed and constructed by China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC), which includes two wind farms. So far, all 64 wind turbines of the project have been erected with grid-connected power generation capacity, some of which have been put into use.

According to Lin Lingli, deputy general manager of the new energy division of Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute of CEEC, the project uses internationally advanced onshore wind turbines with large capacity and high towers, which have a large power generation capacity and occupy less land. Compared with coal-fired power plants of similar size, the wind power project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 897,000 tons annually.

Driven by a series of policies and measures, a number of Chinese enterprises helped develop Vietnam’s renewable energy power generation, contributing to the country’s energy transition and development. Wind farms invested in or constructed by Chinese enterprises have provided Chinese solutions to alleviating power shortages in Vietnam, offering many families with green electricity.

Long Jiang Industrial Park in south Vietnam’s Tien Giang Province enjoys prominent geographical advantages. It’s only 50 kilometers away from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and also 50 kilometers away from the container terminal of the Saigon Port. A hectic scene could be seen within the industrial park as all kinds of vehicles were running to and fro.

The comprehensive industrial park was invested and built by a Chinese company, and is among the first batch of the overseas economic and trade cooperation zones at the national level accredited by China’s Ministry of Commerce. Enterprises in the industrial park are mainly engaged in textile and light industry, machinery and electronics, as well as construction materials and chemicals.

The industrial park has received strong support from both Chinese and Vietnamese governments since it was established in 2007, offering constant impetus to China-Vietnam economic and trade cooperation and development.

Up to now, the industrial park has developed over 85 percent of its total area, introducing 53 companies, including 41 Chinese-funded enterprises to invest in the park. Among them, 48 have started production.

According to statistics, the industrial output value of the park accounts for over 35 percent of the annual industrial output value of Tien Giang Province, and over 45 percent of the province’s foreign trade volume.

The industrial park has created more than 30,000 jobs for Tien Giang Province and neighboring provinces, significantly improving the life quality of local people.

Deputy general director of the industrial park Tang Zhenyu said that expanding employment is one of the most direct and sustainable ways to improve the life quality of local people.

“We will step up efforts to attract outstanding companies in various fields to the park, providing more job opportunities for young people in Vietnam and making them the main force driving local economic development,” Tang said.

Early in the morning of Dec. 7, many students were seen in the carriages of a train on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line in Hanoi. These students, on their way to school, told People’s Daily that taking the light rail is safer than taking a motorcycle and faster than taking a bus, so they don’t have to worry about being late for class.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line, which was built by China Railway Sixth Group Co., Ltd., is Vietnam’s first urban light rail. It is a signature project synergizing the BRI and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy. With a total investment of $868 million, the project started construction in October 2011.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line is one of the main lines in Hanoi’s urban rail transit network. It plays a crucial role in alleviating traffic pressure in downtown Hanoi and promoting local economic development.

Besides, the line has become a new landmark of Hanoi attracting many young people and tourists to take photos and enjoy the convenient way of traveling.

According to statistics from Hanoi Metro Company, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line has carried a total of nearly 20 million passengers since it started operation in November 2021.

The Chinese company, while advancing the line project, has cultivated Vietnam’s first batch of professionals in light rail driving, operation, and maintenance. This has laid a solid talent foundation for the development of urban rail transit in Vietnam.

“China maintains a positive and open attitude toward participating in Vietnam’s infrastructure construction. Accelerating the development of transportation infrastructure, especially railway and highway connectivity, is a focus of synergizing the BRI and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy,” said Xiong Bo, the Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam.

By Xiong Bo

Both China and Vietnam are socialist countries led by communist parties. Connected by mountains and rivers, they have shared ideals, the same social system and similar paths of development. They enjoy broad common interests.

The two sides have fought side by side and offered mutual support to each other in the struggle for national independence and liberation, learned from each other and made joint efforts in exploring socialist development paths suited to their own national conditions and modernization paths with their own characteristics.

The traditional friendship between the two countries forged and cultivated by the older-generation leaders of the two parties and the two countries, represented by Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Ho Chi Minh, has grown ever stronger with the passage of time.

Sharing the same ideals and a shared future are the most salient features of China-Vietnam relations, and the traditional friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood” between China and Vietnam is the most vivid illustration of China-Vietnam relations.

Under the strategic guidance of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries have been constantly deepened and expanded. The two sides have reached important consensus on elevating their bilateral relations, and the China-Vietnam ties are facing important opportunities for development.

China and Vietnam have maintained frequent high-level exchanges and continuously deepened political mutual trust.

Following the successful conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress, Xi immediately extended an invitation to Trong for a visit to China. The two leaders reached new and important consensus on consolidating the traditional friendship between China and Vietnam, strengthening strategic coordination and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, charting the course for the development of China-Vietnam ties in the new era.

This year, over 10 members of the Political Bureau and Secretaries of the Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee have visited China, including President of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, and permanent member of the CPV Central Committee Secretariat Truong Thi Mai, maintaining close strategic communication with China’s Party and state leaders.

The communication and cooperation between departments and regions of both sides have become increasingly close, and the exchange of experiences in party and state governance continues to deepen. As emerging economies and developing countries, China and Vietnam should join hands to uphold international fairness and justice, practice true multilateralism, and make significant contributions to the peace, development, and progress of mankind.

China and Vietnam have reaped fruitful results in practical cooperation, and their mutually beneficial cooperation is also generating good outcomes.

Leveraging their geographical proximity and complementarity of industries, the two countries have accelerated synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy. They have worked together to build production capacity cooperation platforms, advance cooperation in key areas such as connectivity, green energy and digital transformation, and maintain smooth and stable production and supply chains.

China and Vietnam have continuously deepened their economic and trade cooperation. China has maintained the largest trading partner and a major source of investment for Vietnam for years.

In the first 10 months of this year, the number of China-invested projects in Vietnam ranked first among all foreign investment projects in the country, with investment amount increasing by 98 percent year on year.

Projects built by Chinese companies, such as the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line in Hanoi and the Soc Son waste-to-energy plant, have been put into operation. Chinese photovoltaic companies are also developing fast in Vietnam. These projects have contributed significantly to Vietnam’s economic and social development.

China and Vietnam have continuously deepened people-to-people and cultural exchanges, resulting in a vibrant people-to-people friendship.

The two sides have remained true to their original aspiration, vigorously promoted their traditional friendship, and engaged in flexible and diverse people-to-people exchange activities.

Trong noted that the Friendship Pass is the only cross-border port in the world named after the word “friendship,” which embodies the special traditional friendship featuring “camaraderie plus brotherhood” between the Vietnamese and Chinese people.

Confucius Institutes and the China Cultural Center are running smoothly in Vietnam; the border residents gala and the friendly exchange between the national and local committees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the Vietnam Fatherland Front have resumed; the China-Vietnam People’s Forum and the China-Vietnam Youth Friendship Meeting have garnered wide support.

The two countries are sending more students to each other. In the 2021-2022 academic year, over 27,000 Vietnamese students studied in China. The personnel exchange between the two countries also recovered rapidly, with more than 1.3 million Chinese tourists visiting Vietnam in the January-October period this year. As the two countries pick up speed to resume direct flights, there will be vast potential in their tourism cooperation.

It is a natural result that China and Vietnam have agreed to further deepen their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as they mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the relationship.

This is in line with the common aspirations and interests of both countries, and is good for regional and global peace and development, and will pave the way for a brighter future in the two countries’ bilateral relationship.

We are ready to work together with Vietnam, follow the strategic guidance of the top leaders of both parties, continuously consolidate political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, foster people-to-people friendship, and work to deepen and substantiate the comprehensive strategic cooperation between China and Vietnam.

Let the ship of China-Vietnam friendship brave the wind and waves, and set sail for distant horizons!

(Xiong Bo is the Chinese ambassador to Vietnam.)

By Kong Dechen

China’s gross ocean product grew 5.8 percent year on year to 7.2 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) in the first three quarters of 2023, indicating that the country’s marine economy has maintained its positive overall recovery momentum.

The country’s traditional marine industries have shown strong growth momentum. In the first three quarters of this year, China remained a global leader in terms of seagoing vessel market share, with new orders for seacraft growing faster and shipbuilding companies seeing continuous rebound in their economic benefits, according to Cui Xiaojian, deputy director of the National Marine Data and Information Service.

“New orders for seagoing vessels, seacraft output, and the number of sea ship orders in the hands of shipbuilders nationwide increased by 40.2 percent, 23.3 percent and 34.3 percent year on year, respectively,” Cui said.

“In particular, there has been a significant increase in the number of high-tech and high value-added ships delivered during the period. And a batch of container vessels with a TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) capacity of 24,000, LNG dual-fuel powered bulk carriers, and gas carriers were also delivered during the first three quarters,” Cui added.

The country’s marine tourism industry has strode into a new stage of full recovery, witnessing a 121 percent year-on-year growth in marine passenger volume in the first three quarters of this year, which has exceeded the level of the same period in 2019.

China’s marine resource supply capacity has steadily improved. In the first three quarters of 2023, 1,219 projects of sea area and island use were approved nationwide, up 4.6 percent year on year. These projects involve combined investment totaling over 600 billion yuan.

The country has made continuous efforts to increase its offshore oil and gas reserves and production. In the first three quarters of 2023, its offshore crude oil and natural gas production grew by 4.6 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year, while multiple projects were completed and commenced production in the country.

The construction of the country’s “blue granary” has been steadily advanced in the first three quarters of this year, when the growth rates of domestic marine aquatic products output and mariculture output both exceeded 5 percent year on year.

The country’s ever-growing emerging marine industries and continuously improving capability of  marine scientific and technological innovation have become the highlights of its marine economic growth in the first three quarters of this year.

China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry has continued to improve. The industry’s value of delivered orders for marine engineering equipment increased by 50 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2023, accounting for 64.3 percent of the international market share of marine engineering equipment.

Meanwhile, seawater desalination projects in Hebei province, Tianjin municipality, Shandong province, Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province and other regions across the country have been steadily advanced, with the scale of projects under construction and newly started exceeding 300,000 tonnes per day.

The country has constantly made breakthroughs in the development of marine renewable energy.

It has accelerated the construction of offshore wind power projects. In the first three quarters of 2023, the combined capacity of relevant projects under construction and newly started was about 19.4 million kilowatts, an increase of about 2 million kilowatts over the same period last year.

At the same time, the capacity of offshore wind power projects newly connected to China’s power grids and the country’s power output from offshore wind power projects during the period posted year-on-year increases of 14.8 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively.

Following the stable commercial operation of tidal energy projects, ocean thermal energy and wave energy have also entered project operation or power generation testing successively.

China has continuously made new progress in its basic research in marine science. It has launched the intelligent test task support ship Xiang Zhou Yun; put into service the undersea seismic data exploration and acquisition equipment Haimai, or “Sea Pulse”; and developed the first domestic 6,000-meter deep in-situ corrosion damage monitoring experimental cabin.

Production technologies in China’s marine industry have also experienced continuous improvement. The country’s first set of domestic 18-megawatt offshore wind turbine main shaft bearings has successfully rolled off production line; its 2,500-tonne self-propelled jack-up offshore wind power installation platform Haifeng 1001 was officially delivered; and the construction of the main hull structure of the Haiyang Shiyou 122, Asia’s first cylindrical floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, has been completed in China.

“In the first three quarters, foreign trade cargo throughput at coastal ports increased by over 10 percent year on year. However, the total value of marine imports and exports decreased by 1.3 percent from the same period last year, due to factors such as falling prices of bulk commodities and exchange rate fluctuations,” said He Guangshun, director of the marine strategic planning and economics department of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources.

China’s maritime trade routes have become increasingly dense, effectively facilitating the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Liaoning Port Group in northeast China’s Liaoning province launched a new route shipping steel from South America to Yingkou Port in Yingkou city, Liaoning province; Dalian Port in Dalian city, Liaoning province, put into operation a shipping route linking Dalian and the Philippines; and the opening ceremony of the shipping route between China’s Fangchenggang Port and Cambodia’s Dara Sakor international port was held at Fangchenggang port, a part of Beibu Gulf Port in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The infrastructure of coastal ports in China has continued to be upgraded. The Phase II project of a 300,000-tonne crude oil wharf of Yantai Port in Yantai, east China’s Shandong province, was officially put into operation; Beibu Gulf Port has significantly improved port cargo handling timeliness, accuracy and cargo transfer efficiency through its intelligent cargo handling system; Qingdao Port in Qingdao, Shandong province, has officially put into use its first automated ship loader, greatly improving loading and unloading efficiency…

With China’s macro policies continuously boosting the confidence of business entities, the country’s marine industry will enjoy a stronger endogenous driving force, and China’s marine economy is expected to maintain its momentum for steady growth throughout the year, He noted.

By Kang Pu

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have picked up pace in empowering various industries in China.

Thanks to technological advances and commercialization of research findings, UAVs’ application has been expanded into more and more fields, such as agricultural and forestry plant protection, emergency rescue, cultural relics protection, and power line inspection.

In Beijing’s Yanqing district, two sets of DJI Dock 2, a new drone dock developed by Chinese drone maker DJI, stand guard day and night at the southern and northern parts of the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

With the support of the drone docks, drones autonomously perform 10 patrol flights on five routes over the scenic area on a daily basis. The routes cover basically all the areas open to visitors.

Video footages from the drones are sent to the management center of the scenic area in real time, so that uncivilized tourist behavior can be discovered and discouraged in time. At night, infrared cameras on the drones make it hard for rule-breakers, including overnight campers, to evade surveillance.

In addition, the DJI Dock 2 can autonomously generate high-precision 3D models of key areas of the scenic area every two weeks. Through comparison of the 3D models, relevant personnel can notice changes in the natural conditions of the scenic area, such as landslides and wall shifts, in a timely manner, and carry out targeted examination and repair.

In Wensu county, Aksu prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, plant protection drones have made farmers’ work in the fields much easier.

“Defoliant can remove the leaves from cotton trees while retaining the branches and cotton, thus preventing leaves from mixing with cotton and affecting cotton quality during harvest,” said Zhu Rui, a drone pilot of a Wensu county-based company specializing in agricultural plant protection-related services.

“This M-22 drone was jointly developed by my company and our partners. It can spray chemicals over 400 mu (about 26.67 hectares) to 500 mu of cotton fields per day,” Zhu said, while operating a drone to spray defoliant over a cotton field.

“Agricultural and forestry plants including walnut trees, Chinese date trees, apple trees, wheat crops, and shelter forests are all taken care of using plant protection drones. They have significantly eased farmers’ workload and increased their income,” Zhu noted.

According to Zhu, drones can increase farmland yields by over 10 percent and reduce the average cost per mu of farmland by more than 30 percent.

In April this year, when a forest fire erupted in Longjingwan village, Baoluan township, Fengdu county, southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, dense vegetation and complex terrain made it dangerous for emergency response teams to approach the forests without an accurate judgment of the situation.

Fortunately, several drones soon arrived over the scene, helping rescue teams get a clear understanding of the fire lines, ignition points and the geographical conditions of the locality. 

“Commander, there are two fire lines to the southeast and southwest, plus three separate ignition points. The terrain is gentler to the northwest. I suggest entering the scene from that direction,” a rescuer reported.

With the help of drones, the fire was quickly extinguished.

Last year, Fengdu county equipped all its townships, subdistricts and relevant authorities with 36 domestically produced drones, achieving full coverage of drone-empowered intelligent oversight, according to Tang Shouyuan, county mayor of Fengdu.

“As air vehicles, drones are not limited to ground transportation constraints and can perform complex operations,” Tan Xiang, executive secretary general of the Research Center for UAV Applications and Regulation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out.

In recent years, China’s drone industry has achieved notable progress, with products enjoying higher reliability, lower costs, and diversified application scenarios, Tan said, noting that China has become one of the world’s largest industrial drone markets.

“Widespread application of industrial drones in agricultural plant protection, electricity supply, geography, security, marine science, meteorology, environmental protection, construction, healthcare, among other fields, has profoundly transformed people’s modes of production and lifestyles,” Tan said.

Technological innovations have played a crucial role in underpinning the extensive application of drones across industries.

Pointing out that some people in many sectors still have to work in complex and dangerous environments and perform repetitive tasks, Zhang Xiaonan, strategic director of DJI, said technological progress is supposed to help frontline workers complete missions more easily.

“Where there are pain points, there are sources of inspiration for innovations,” Zhang noted.

The DJI Dock 2, for instance, allows drones to autonomously complete flight missions without the need for a pilot to operate them.

The technical team of DJI envisioned the Dock as the “home” of drones. Equipped with various software and hardware, the “home” enables drones to make flight plans, perform flight missions, collect data, recharge, and complete other operations autonomously.

It took DJI 10 years to gain insights into users’ pain points, hone its Dock products, and finally win market recognition, according to Zhang.

The DJI Dock 2, as the second version of DJI Dock, is smaller but smarter. Compared to the initial version, the DJI Dock 2 has experienced a size reduction of 75 percent and a weight reduction of 68 percent, alongside significant increases in effective operational radius, flight time and professional surveying and mapping capabilities.

The continuous emergence of sci-tech achievements has contributed to the formation of a solid foundation for China’s drone industrial chain, according to Tan.

Drone technologies in China have undergone constant improvements, during which a good number of outstanding companies have achieved a strong presence in the drone industry, and a globally competitive complete industrial chain encompassing research and development, production, sale, and services has taken shape, Tan said.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President, will pay a state visit to Vietnam from Dec. 12 to 13.

Xi’s visit is at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and State President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong.

Six years after his last Vietnam trip, Xi’s upcoming visit is bound to open up new prospects for the relations between the two parties and the two countries and make new contributions to human peace and progress.

In their respective struggles for national liberation, China and Vietnam supported each other and forged a special bond of “camaraderie and brotherhood”. The two countries’ traditional friendship has taken root as their peoples have lived in harmony over a long period. It was enhanced through their joint struggle for national independence and liberation, and continues to deepen as they pursue reform and renewal.

In recent years, the strategic guidance of Xi and Trong has added new dimensions to the traditional friendship between China and Vietnam and pushed for continuous new development of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

After the 20th CPC National Congress last year, Xi invited Trong for a visit to China and the two leaders jointly charted the course for the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Since the beginning of this year, both countries have seen frequent high-level interactions, close exchanges between various departments and regions, and deeper cooperation in various fields, which have brought tangible benefits to the two peoples.

China and Vietnam are both advancing their own socialist modernization cause, both regard the bilateral relationship as a priority in their respective foreign policy, and both see each other’s development as opportunities for their own development.

Both countries are committed to a people-centered development philosophy, and are pursuing a path to prosperity and strength in line with their own national conditions. The two countries fully leverage their strengths in geographical proximity and industrial complementarity, advance the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan, promote cooperation in strategic areas like connectivity and deepen collaboration in emerging sectors such as e-commerce.

During Xi’s upcoming visit, the two sides will discuss upgrading the China-Vietnam relations, focus on six major areas including politics, security, practical cooperation, public support, multilateral affairs and maritime issues, and work to deepen and substantiate the comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries. This will help both countries to jointly follow their modernization paths with respective features, enrich the paths to modernization for developing countries and bring more benefits to the two peoples.

China and Vietnam have the same social system and shared ideals and beliefs, and the bilateral relationship should be at the forefront compared to other countries.

Given the volatile international environment and tasks of reform, development and stability in the two countries, China and Vietnam should persevere in realizing their goals, ideals and missions for the people’s happiness and human progress, and continue to view and develop bilateral relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. Both countries should follow the policy of long-term stability, forward-thinking, good neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation, and the spirit of being good neighbors, friends, comrades and partners, so as to ensure the steady and sustained growth of bilateral relations in the new era.

The two sides should uphold the important position of the people in friendly exchanges, and inherit and carry forward the China-Vietnam traditional friendship. Both sides should, with a future-oriented perspective, make consistent efforts to promote mutual acquaintance, understanding and affinity among young people of the two countries.

As a Chinese saying goes, neighbors wish each other well, just as loved ones do to each other. The basic policy of China’s neighborhood diplomacy is to pursue friendship and partnership with its neighbors, and to build an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood, highlighting the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness.

China continues to regard the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy and a key region for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, attaches importance to the position and role of Vietnam in ASEAN, and expects to work with Vietnam to accelerate the building of a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home, and advance regional economic integration in East Asia.

China and Vietnam strengthen communication and cooperation in multilateral affairs, support each other on issues involving respective core interests and major concerns, jointly uphold multilateralism and international fairness and justice, and follow the basic norms governing international relations. This is of great significance for maintaining regional and world peace and stability and promoting common development.

The traditional friendship between China and Vietnam is a precious common treasure shared by the two peoples. Inheriting the past and ushering in the future, the two countries should stay true to the original aspiration of carrying forward traditional friendship, bear in mind the shared ideals and mission, continue to add new dimensions to their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and inject new impetus into the development of relations between the two parties and countries as well as their socialist causes.

By Qiu Haifeng

The Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, has been increasingly used as international currency in recent years, gaining popularity as a payment, investment, and reserve currency in the global market.

As China’s economy recovers and its financial market further opens up, the yuan’s investment and hedging functions have strengthened.

Panda bonds, or yuan-denominated debts sold by foreign issuers in China, have been well-received.

According to the 2023 Yuan Internationalization Report released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, 58 panda bonds were issued from January to August 2023, totaling 106 billion yuan ($14.79 billion). This represents a year-on-year increase of 58.2 percent, surpassing the total number and amount of issuances from the previous year.

The macro-prudential management bureau of the PBOC announced on November 9 that various channels for mutual stock market access, such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, mutual recognition of funds, Bond Connect, the Shanghai-London Stock Connect, and the Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect, have been opened and optimized.

The policy framework for supervising qualified investors has been consistently enhanced and it has become easier for foreign entities to issue panda bonds. Additionally, Chinese stocks and bonds have been incorporated into major international indices. These developments have collectively contributed to an enhanced investment and financing environment for the yuan.

As of the end of September 2023, a total of 1,110 foreign institutions had entered the Chinese bond market, holding 3.3 trillion yuan in Chinese bonds, an increase of nearly 200 percent compared to five years ago. Domestic RMB financial assets held by overseas entities, including stocks and bonds, had reached 9.3 trillion yuan.

As foreign institutions continue to expand their presence in the domestic bond market, offshore yuan trading has also witnessed a surge in activity.

In late October, two yuan clearing banks were inaugurated, including one in Islamabad, Pakistan, which marked the official launch of yuan clearing services in the country. Additionally, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Vientiane Branch in Laos held a ceremony to commence yuan clearing services. This development increased the number of yuan clearing banks established by China in Southeast Asia to five.

“The yuan is assuming a growing significance in the global economy and financial markets,” stated Jameel Ahmad, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. The establishment of a yuan clearing bank will help reduce costs for local banking systems and support Pakistani businesses in exploring new markets, thereby contributing to the long-term development of the Pakistani economy and banking system, Ahmad added.

Since 2022, China has established yuan clearing banks in Laos, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Brazil. It has continuously enhanced the overseas yuan clearing network, resulting in smoother cross-border transactions for trade and investment. Presently, the PBOC has authorized 31 yuan clearing banks in 29 countries and regions, encompassing significant international financial centers globally.

“Since last year, the connectivity and cooperation between domestic and foreign financial markets have strengthened, resulting in a broader selection of offshore yuan products and enhanced facilitation and liberalization of cross-border investments,” stated a representative from the PBOC.

According to a survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the yuan’s market share in global foreign exchange transactions has surged from 4.3 percent to 7 percent in the past three years. This has resulted in a rise in its ranking from the eighth place to the fifth.

This growth has made the yuan the currency with the fastest-growing market share, as offshore entities increasingly adopt it for foreign exchange and risk management purposes.

Multiple sectors have shown optimism regarding the future prospects of the yuan’s internationalization.

Argentina has announced its plan to use the equivalent value of yuan under the China-Argentina currency swap agreement to repay its external debt and interest owed to the International Monetary Fund. This decision comes after Argentina’s previous use of the yuan to repay matured external debt at the end of June.

In July 2023, the Bolivian government announced that the state-owned bank Banco Unión has started trading operations involving the yuan. Marcelo Montenegro, Bolivian Minister of Economy and Public Finance, stated that the yuan trading operations have gotten off to a good start in the country. Montenegro highlighted the potential for increased utilization of the yuan within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

“More countries are now participating in yuan transactions, and the internationalization of the currency is advancing rapidly,” Montenegro expressed. He further stated that the yuan is expected to play a more significant role in future international trade activities.

More companies have expressed their confidence in the yuan. The PBOC recently released the Market Survey on the International Use of the RMB in 2022.

The survey, conducted among over 3,600 domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, found that around 82.8 percent of the companies are considering using the yuan in cross-border transactions or increasing its usage. This represents the highest level in recent years. Additionally, 71.8 percent of the foreign commercial enterprises surveyed expressed a preference for using the yuan as the currency for trade financing with China, marking the highest intention in the past three years.

By Dr Austin Maho

Nothing typifies the United States double standards and duplicity in the international arena than it’s current position in the raging conflict in Gaza between Hamas and the Israeli defense forces.

In global affairs the US presents itself as the bastion of democracy and the promoter of human rights freedoms and progress on the basis of justice and equality.

The truth is that nothing can be further from the truth. The United States policy is crafted in double standards and duplicity that only serves its national interests. Justice and equality are alien when US interest is at stake.

A good example is the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The blatant level of double standard is apparent. The murderous campaign being perpetrated against Palestinian by the Israelis has the support of the US.

The US government has opened it weapon stock to Israel without holding back. These weapons are being used by the Israeli defence forces to target hospitals, infrastructure and civilians with score of casualty recorded including women and child.

American official position in the face of these killings of innocent civilians has not been condemnation but one of tacit support for the Israeli government to carry on with its murderous campaign on the blocked Gaza Strip.

This is in sharp contrast between US government treatment of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.

Whereas it has imposed harsh sanctions because of Russia’s operation in Ukraine, the US in its double standard has turned a blind eye in Gaza.

Statements by top American officials tend to view Israeli attacks as “legitimate acts,” without a single condemnation.

The Israeli bombing of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza is a good example of American duplicity and double standards that places little value on human lives where its interests are concern.

Although the number of civilian casualties in Israel’s bombing of the hospital was much greater than losses in Russia’s targeting of the Maternity Hospital in Mariupol on March 9, 2022, the US administration did not show the same harsh reaction toward the Israeli government compared to Russia.

The US did not even hold Israel to account for the hospital bombing.
Commenting on the targeting of the hospital in Mariupol, US President Joe Biden said the attack was an “injustice” and a “disgrace to the entire world.”
“The whole world is united to support Ukraine and make Russian President Vladimir Putin pay a heavy price,” he said.
But after the attack on the hospital in Gaza, Biden said he was “deeply saddened by the explosion” at the facility. Biden even denied that Israel was responsible for the bombing!
“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, evidently referring to Israeli claims that Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group with similar aims as Hamas, was responsible.

Biden also described what happened in Ukraine as “genocide,” but sees the Israeli slaughter of trapped civilians in the Gaza Strip as an act of self Defence.

The US has shown a nagging hypocrisy and duplicity in the war in Ukraine compared to what is happening in the Gaza Strip. Why the double standard? Unsurprisingly, such stances go all the way to the top of the US administration and a reflection of its duplicity and double standards in global affairs.

The reflexive identification with Israel, by both the US government and Western media and politicians is mind bugling. Palestinians who are contending with age long discrimination and occupation including the denial of their basic rights are framed as the aggressors while the Israelis are framed as the victims.

This is a pattern the US has developed over the years that calls to question its ability to mediate in global affairs with fairness, equity and justice