Nigeria Times

By Yang Junfeng

A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object or process. It builds a bond between the real and virtual worlds.

In today’s China, the digital twin technology is empowering various booming industries, such as digital transportation, smart city and environmental protection, making economic and social development more intelligent.

A new expressway currently under construction in east China’s Anhui province has utilized digital twin technology from its inception. A virtual version of the expressway is being built concurrently as construction progresses.

“As the first intelligent expressway in Anhui, it incorporates emerging technologies to construct an underlying digital twin model,” said a representative from Anhui Transport Consulting & Design Institute. It allows real-time collection of vehicle movements, weather and other multi-dimensional traffic data, and thus enables precise monitoring and management of the expressway.

According to the representative, digital twin technology is expected to enhance the traffic efficiency of the expressway, bolster its whole-process emergency response capabilities, and reduce the duration of closures resulting from adverse weather conditions.

Insiders believe that the evolution and application of digital technologies are leading to more efficient and intelligent transport solutions. In the near future, the Chinese highway network will be highly digitalized, with the rising of a trillion-yuan ($136.7 billion) digital economy market related to highways, injecting new momentum into the transportation sector to advance Chinese modernization.

The rapid development and wide application of digital twin technology have generated new ideas for urban planning, construction, governance and management.

In Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City (YZBSTC) in Sanya, south China’s Hainan province, a new smart industrial park is under construction. Built by iFlytek, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, this industrial park utilizes digital twin technology and has constructed an information model by modeling relevant spatio-temporal data, thus supporting various application systems.

“Leveraging AI algorithms and the digital twin platform, we have completed the upgrading from collecting data of single units to sourcing big data of the whole YZBSTC. Digital innovations make urban development and planning manageable, controllable and visible,” said an executive of iFlytek.

Today, Chinese cities are on a “fast lane” in terms of digital twin development.

Suzhou in east China’s Jiangsu province has collected comprehensive and high-precision data on its ancient architectures, providing support for protection and restoration efforts. The Xiong’an New Area in north China’s Hebei province has synchronized virtual and real urban planning and construction.

Experts believe building a digital twin of a tangible city would enable more efficient urban management, and facilitate the city’s sustainable development.

During a 2023 Yellow River flood control drill, a “digital Yellow River” “flowed” rapidly on a panoramic digital twin platform, displaying hazard distribution that could be caused by extreme weather. This platform showed clearly the flood progression and damage in shoal areas, with an aim to improve flood control efficiency.

Wu Dan, deputy director of the information engineering center of the Yellow River Laboratory’s digital twin team, explained that constructing a digital twin is crucial for intelligent governance of the Yellow River basin and will comprehensively enhance the capabilities to ensure water security across the basin.

Digital twin technology has also provided technical support for environmental protection in Zhejiang province.

This May, in a 1,800-meter altitude alpine wetland in Baishanzu National Nature Reserve, a pair of Chinese spot-billed ducks foraging were captured by cameras. Location, meteorological and hydrological data were soon transmitted back to the system via Internet of Things monitoring devices and a digital twin platform.

“It marked the first time that Chinese spot-billed ducks were spotted at such a high altitude since the nature reserve was established, providing valuable insights for experts studying the animal’s migration patterns and habits,” said Ye Lixin, an engineer of the nature reserve.

Experts believe that digital twin technology has broad application prospects in ecological conservation. It not only offers scientists more tools to research and safeguard the natural environment, but also helps government agencies and related businesses strike a better balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Global modernization should be pursued to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all, said Chinese President Xi Jinping when addressing the opening ceremony of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF).

This grand vision is consistent with building a community with a shared future for mankind, and charts the course for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has forged a cooperation platform for common development, and enabled many developing countries to accelerate their progress of modernization. In the future, it will get onto a new stage of higher-quality and higher-level development, and portrait a grand picture of countries working together for modernization.

“China is endeavoring to build itself into a stronger country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone, but for all developing countries through our joint efforts.”

Xi’s words explained the logic of “When China does well, the world will get even better,” and revealed China’s intention to seek win-win cooperation and common development in promoting the BRI.

To achieve modernization is a shared dream of people of all countries, and no country shall be left behind in humanity’s modernization process.

The BRI, taking building a community with a shared future for mankind as the ultimate goal, is a path to modernization for all countries as well as a path to a bright future for humanity. With the initiative, countries can independently explore a path to modernization that suits their own national realities and share the opportunities created by Chinese modernization.

British scholar Martin Jacques said that Chinese modernization in essence is providing opportunities to the world, especially developing countries.

The BRI injects impetus into the realization of global modernization. Over the past decade, Belt and Road international cooperation has gotten off the ground, turning blueprints  into real projects. It has launched thousands of practical cooperation projects, and achieved fruitful and tangible outcomes.

From the massive infrastructure projects that vitalize participating countries’ development momentum, to industrial cooperation aiming to enhance these countries’ poverty reduction capabilities, the BRI focuses on tackling the bottlenecks containing participating countries’ development and has contributed to the modernization of all countries.

At the opening ceremony of the third BRF, Xi announced eight major steps China will take to support the joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. These steps include both concrete measures and long-term mechanisms, injecting new momentum into humanity’s global modernization process with action-oriented, efficient and pragmatic efforts.

Foreign dignitaries commended the BRI for bringing opportunities to their countries’ development. Some said the initiative effectively promoted Egypt’s economic development and created important opportunities for developing countries, and some said the eight major steps will further assist Africa in achieving industrialization, agricultural modernization and economic integration. They are expecting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to continue powering their countries’ modernization process.

The BRI provides a path to realizing global modernization. Every country should adhere to the philosophy of solidarity, cooperation and common development in its pursuit of modernization, and follow a path of joint contribution, shared benefits and win-win cooperation.

The BRI always upholds the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. It has established a new framework for international cooperation, and blazed a trail for achieving global modernization that features peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and prosperity for all.

During the third BRF, a total of 458 outcomes were achieved, further expanding the areas of BRI cooperation. China will promote local employment through cooperation projects and carry out 1,000 small-scale livelihood assistance projects. These important measures, once implemented, will surely promote the modernization process of relevant countries.

Zamir Ahmed Awan, founding chair of Islamabad-based think tank, the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, believes that the BRI, emphasizing inclusiveness and openness, helps the Global South achieve economic growth and sustainable growth, and helps developing countries accelerate modernization.

Belt and Road cooperation pursues development, aims at mutual benefits, and conveys a message of hope. To promote such a great undertaking that benefits the people of participating countries, it is important to stay focused on the goal, take results-oriented actions, persevere, and keep moving forward until the goal is met.

China will work with relevant parties to continue deepening Belt and Road partnership, promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and make unremitted efforts to advance global modernization.

By Su Bomin

The city of Dunhuang in northwest China’s Gansu Province was a pivotal hub on the ancient Silk Road. Through the road, camel caravans and commercial fleets boosted the exchange of goods, which also stimulated diverse civilization exchanges between the East and the West.

Represented by the Buddhist art of the Mogao Grottoes and cultural relics from the Library Cave, Dunhuang culture has spanned nearly 2,000 years. It is a crystallization of the integration and convergence of Chinese culture with foreign cultures such as Indian, Greek, and Persian, and a shining pearl in the long river of world civilizations.

The Dunhuang Academy is the largest institution in the world studying Dunhuangology. In recent years the Dunhuang Academy has launched The Great Art of Dunhuang exhibition and public exhibitions of Dunhuang murals in Austria, France, Uzbekistan and other countries and regions, and brought creative cultural activities to Australia and Thailand, in an attempt to enhance the world’s understanding of Dunhuang culture.

The Dunhuang Grottoes boasts rich historical, cultural, and artistic value, and after thousands of years, the murals there are facing the danger of degradation. How can we permanently preserve the information of the Dunhuang Grottoes?

In the late 1980s, Fan Jinshi, then executive deputy dean of the Dunhuang Academy, first proposed the concept of “digital Dunhuang,” which aimed at using digital technology to permanently and faithfully preserve the murals and colored sculptures.

Over the past 30 years, the professional digitalization team at the Dunhuang Academy has actively collaborated with domestic and international research institutions, gradually establishing an accurate, authentic, and high-definition “digital Dunhuang” database. This database provides crucial support for the preservation of the Dunhuang Grottoes, the studies of Dunhuangology, and the promotion of Dunhuang culture.

Today, the once immovable grotto relics have taken flight with the wings of digital technology, reaching destinations all around the world.

In 2022, the world’s first blockchain-based digital resource-sharing platform went online. Through the use of artificial intelligence technology, the platform collects elements from murals in the Dunhuang Grottoes, making available more than 6,500 archived high-definition digital images showing murals and manuscripts from the Mogao Grottoes and other grotto sites in Dunhuang. These resources are now open to the world in 19 thematic categories.

Thanks to the continuous efforts to improve the preservation of cultural relics and outreach approaches, the gap between the Dunhuang cultural heritage and the general public has been significantly narrowed. In 2022 alone, the Dunhuang Academy has garnered over 200 million views on media platforms, with visitors from 120 countries and regions.

In the past decade since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed, the Dunhuang Academy has carried out a series of international academic and cultural exchange activities.

In 2018, it sent a delegation to Afghanistan for an academic survey. After learning in detail the difficulties faced by and demands of Afghanistan’s Bamyan Province in cultural heritage research, protection and education, the delegation provided targeted recommendations and discussed future areas and methods for strengthening cooperation, in an attempt to jointly safeguard and promote the historical and cultural heritage of the Silk Road.

The BRI creates new opportunities for the development of Dunhuang culture, and the Dunhuang culture in turn provides cultural support for advancing Belt and Road cooperation.

Over the past 10 years, experts with the Dunhuang Academy have visited Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries many times for investigations and exchanges on ancient Silk Road sites.

In 2017, at the invitation of the Kyrgyz side, the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China assigned the Dunhuang Academy to conduct feasibility research on a protection and restoration project of ancient castle ruins in Kochkor District, Naryn Region, Kyrgyzstan.

Based on a comprehensive investigation and study of this ruins, engineering projects were carried out for cultural relics protection, digital preservation, preventive heritage protection, and site display, laying a solid foundation for China’s cooperation with more countries in the field of cultural heritage.

As we gradually carried out investigations at ancient sites in Silk Road countries, we discovered that though these countries’ cultural relics were made from different materials and with different techniques, there has been a very close cultural connection among these sites.

The cultural heritage protection technology system of the Dunhuang Academy not only has contributed to over 200 key national cultural relics protection projects in China, but also plays a positive role in the protection of cultural relics and sites in other Silk Road-related countries.

This year, we have undertaken an international aid project that aims to digitally document the murals on the west door arch wall on the first floor of the Thatbyinnyu Temple in Bagan, Myanmar, as well as the ruins of the temple’s north gate.

Going forward, we will continue to cooperate with other countries and contribute to the protection and research of Silk Road cultural heritage.

By Li Zheng, People’s Daily

“Customers can get their cars delivered in only 10 days after placing an order on a mobile application,” said the head of a workshop of Voyah, a luxury division of Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation, in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, explaining that Voyah has achieved customized and order-oriented production.

Voyah’s production is driven by orders, which can eliminate the pressure of inventory costs. Customer can design their personalized high-end new energy vehicles (NEVs) on their phones – picking colors and configurations – rather than settling for an off-the-shelf model.

In the workshop, vehicles with different colors and models can be made on the same assembly line. This flexible production allows the brand to build customized cars that meet different preferences,  forming a user-centered innovation model.

It shows the innovative power of this traditional automobile enterprise in its active transition to NEVs. With over 2,400 patents, the automaker has R&D personnel accounting for 36.5 percent of its total and stimulates the participation of employees in its shareholding.

Voyah fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. It has vigorously ventured beyond existing products into new markets against the pressure of transformation and upgrading, creating an atmosphere of hard work and an impulse to seek opportunities.

Fostering an innovative ecosystem is key to driving enterprise innovation. This requires a supportive environment with improving public services.

Across China, various measures have been taken to stimulate innovation in companies.

For instance, to assist technological advances, the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone has built a comprehensive road network to facilitate the testing of intelligent connected vehicles. By linking the 5G communication network, digital space network and smart road network, it has enabled a favorable environment for NEV makers to innovate.

Additionally, to help researchers bridge the laboratory-to-market gap with high risk and cost, Huazhong University of Science and Technology pioneered a pilot-scale service platform. By providing resources to enterprises and reducing trial and error costs, the platform sparks enthusiasm for innovation.

Fertile soil nurtures beautiful flowers, and a supportive environment allows companies to thrive through innovation in niche fields.

In Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, information technology company Bitland is working to build a complete and controllable computer supply chain system, continuously improving its independent production of components. Zhongxing Innovative Material Technologies Co., Ltd. has become a specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprise that produces lithium-ion battery diaphragms.

Enterprises are the most active cells in the market economy, with each firm acting as an engine of innovation. When companies in different industries spontaneously innovate, their collective efforts can generate the innovation potential of the entire economic system.

A new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation has spurred the growth of advanced, smart and green industries, which are crucial for industrial transformation and upgrading. Digitalization is empowering new industrialization and injecting powerful momentum into constructing a modern industrial system.

Companies like Jointown Pharmaceutical Group and Bestore Co., Ltd. have already built intelligent warehousing centers. Using QR code identification, their unmanned warehouses are able to automatically classify, sort, circulate and discharge massive items.

Innovation is thriving at the micro level, while macro development is driven by collective efforts. From a macro perspective, the Chinese economy is steadily recovering and advancing towards high-quality growth. This progress is made by countless enterprises innovating in their fields, intelligent production lines producing customized products on large scales, and workers striving for better lives.

What’s more impressive than shining innovation outcomes is people’s belief in the future. The vibrant vitality of countless entities ultimately coalesces into a tremendous force propelling macroeconomic development. This dynamism forms a solid foundation for confidence in the Chinese economy.

By Guo Jiping, People’s Daily

China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) in Beijing from Oct. 17 to 18. It is reported that representatives from over 140 countries and more than 30  international organizations have confirmed their attendance at the event.

Despite the turbulent international situation, China has rolled out the red carpet to welcome guests from all over the world, which demonstrates the country’s unswerving commitment to promoting world peace and development.

Over the past decade since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), stories of win-win cooperation have continued to unfold along this public road of shared opportunities and common development.

So far, over 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations have signed more than 200 BRI cooperation agreements with China; the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has grown from 57 founding members to 109 members, which account for 81 percent of the world’s population and 65 percent of global GDP; and more than 80 routes have been launched for the China-Europe freight trains, reaching 217 cities in 25 European countries.

Experience over the past 10 years has fully proven that the BRI is an open and inclusive platform and a global public good jointly built by all partners.

International analysts have eagerly sought to understand what allowed China to conceive the grand initiative and accomplish significant achievements in furthering its development.

The BRI is the result of China’s reflections on the future and destiny of humanity. In March 2013, in the face of the profound questions of “What is wrong with the world?” and “What should we do about it?”, which concern the world, history and the times, Xi creatively proposed the concept of building a global community with a shared future for mankind.

By launching the BRI, China aims to put this concept into practice and build a practical platform and open up paths for creating an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

The BRI stemmed from China’s unshakeable pursuit of world peace and development. China unswervingly follows the path of peaceful development. It safeguards world peace to ensure its own growth, and contributes to world peace through its own development.

Taking the path of peaceful development is China’s response to international concerns about its development direction, and also a reflection of the confidence and consciousness of the Chinese people in achieving their development goals.

By proposing the BRI, China strives not only to pursue its own development and enhance its capacity to safeguard world peace, but also to benefit the world by strengthening the forces for upholding world peace and development.

In pursuing Belt and Road cooperation, China will not resort to the outdated geopolitical maneuvering, but will create a new model of win-win cooperation. It will not form “a small group detrimental to stability”, but will try to create “a big family of harmonious coexistence“.

The success of the BRI represents the success of China’s development path and experience. China has achieved the two miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability, resolved its problem of absolute poverty once for all, and realized its first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The fundamental reason for these achievements is that China has found a successful development path that is suited to its national conditions and people’s aspirations and supported by its people.

With nine percent of the world’s arable land and six percent of the freshwater resources, China feeds nearly one-fifth of the world’s population. In 2022, China’s GDP expanded to 121 trillion yuan ($16.56 trillion), while its share of the global economy rose to 18 percent, demonstrating remarkable development achievements.

The success of China’s development path has strengthened other developing countries’ determination to pursue paths based on their own national realities, and China’s great achievements in development have boosted other developing countries’ confidence in realizing national prosperity, national rejuvenation and improving people’s wellbeing. The BRI has provided valuable opportunities for other developing countries to draw on China’s development experience.

The success of the BRI is the success of China’s commitment to open development. Only when a country is strong enough can it have the confidence to open its doors to the world, and opening up in turn enhances its prosperity. The BRI is a major initiative China has launched to expand opening up. It is not a solo endeavor by China, but a collaborative effort involving all stakeholders.

In the face of a rising tide of de-globalization, China remains firmly committed to high-level opening up, creating an even brighter future for cooperation under the BRI.

The BRI has continuously broken deadlocks, removed bottlenecks and spurred innovations, showing the world that only by building an open world economy can countries improve the wellbeing of their peoples.

As former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pointed out, the BRI upholds an open and inclusive vision for development that transcends borders and zero-sum game mindset, which is precisely the development philosophy the world urgently needs today.

By Guo Jiping, People’s Daily

The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) is slated to take place in Beijing from Oct. 17 to 18. Themed “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity”, the forum, to be held on the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, is set to bring together representatives from over 140 countries and more than 30 international organizations.

Since it was proposed 10 years ago, the BRI has ushered in many heartening stories of cooperation of the times.

British scholar Martin Jacques has pointed out that it is not an exaggeration to argue that over the decade of its existence the BRI has “changed the world”.

A review of the BRI cooperation in the overall context of global changes and development of the times can help better understand how it has changed the world.

The BRI was proposed at a time when the deep impacts of the Global Financial Crisis continued to emerge, and the international community faced the common task of exploring new growth points and starting a new cycle of world economic growth.

At that time, the foundations of global economic growth were unstable, trade and investment were sluggish, and economic globalization suffered setbacks while imbalances in development intensified.

In an effort to help the international community jointly meet the challenges of the times and overcome obstacles to development through cooperation, China proposed the BRI, a solution full of Oriental wisdom.

“The Belt and Road Initiative embodies our pursuit of common development. The Initiative aims to break development bottlenecks, narrow development gaps and promote the sharing of development fruits among countries. It envisions a community of common development where we work together through thick and thin for a shared future,” Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out.

Focusing on the fundamental issue of development, the BRI aims to realize economic integration, interconnected development, and the sharing of achievements through the alignment of development strategies, injecting impetus into global economic recovery.

In June 2019, the World Bank released a special research report, which presented the concept of “Belt and Road Economics”. According to the report, BRI transport projects, if fully implemented, could contribute to lifting 32 million people who live on less than $3.20 a day from moderate poverty, and are estimated to increase trade by as much as 6.2 percent for the world.

Development is an inalienable right of all countries, not a privilege reserved for a few. However, the reality in recent years is that the global development gap continues to widen, and imbalanced development has become the biggest imbalance in today’s world.

The BRI has unleashed the development potential of developing countries and promoted balanced, coordinated and inclusive global development.

It has helped many countries improve infrastructure, establish their own industrial systems, and solve long-standing problems such as power and talent shortages. Thanks to cooperation projects under the framework of the BRI, many countries have built their first expressway, first modern railway, first industrial park, among other key infrastructure facilities.

A foreign scholar noted that the BRI has created development opportunities for countries in the Global South and changed the prospects for many developing countries.

For a long time, some developing and least developed countries have become “forgotten corners” in the tide of economic globalization. The international community has increasingly recognized the need to reform the traditional global economic governance model and establish a new global development philosophy that is fair and inclusive.

Upholding the aim of facilitating policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and closer people-to-people ties, the BRI has promoted connectivity over land, maritime, air and cyberspace.

It has facilitated the building of high-quality, sustainable, risk-resilient, reasonably priced, inclusive and accessible infrastructure, promoting the orderly flow of production factors, efficient allocation of resources, and deep integration of markets. This has helped more countries better integrate into global supply, industrial, and value chains, making it an effective solution to promote healthy economic globalization and build an open world economy.

For many countries, the development opportunities brought about by the BRI are unprecedented. Because of these unprecedented development opportunities, Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, has gained access to the sea, Croatians held grand celebrations on the day the Peljesac Bridge opened, Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina joined the public in cheering “Goodbye, mud!” at the opening ceremony of the Route Nationale 5A after a renovation project. The list goes on.

The BRI has brought to the world a new type of economic globalization and a new model of global economic governance.

The BRI is very timely and is a better benchmark for economic globalization, said former German President and former International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Koehler.

BRI cooperation represents a new model of international relations and world trade that will make globalization fairer and more humane, pointed out former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.

By Liu Shi’an, Xie Weiqun, Fang Min, People’s Daily

Building pilot free trade zones (FTAs) is an important strategic measure of China to comprehensively deepen reform and expand opening up in the new era.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of China’s first pilot FTZ in Shanghai. Over the past decade, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, or Shanghai FTZ, has achieved a series of important outcomes in liberalizing and facilitating trade and investment, promoting financial openness and innovation, and enhancing governance capability of the government.

Aligned with international economic and trade practices, the Shanghai FTZ introduced a negative list for foreign investment upon its establishment. Market access for foreign investment has transitioned from a review-based system to a filing-based one. Today, there number of items on the list has been shortened to 27 from 190 , with no restrictions imposed on the manufacturing sector.

This July, leading circular materials technology company Umicore headquartered in Belgium set up a technology development company in the Waigaoqiao Bonded area of the Shanghai FTZ, with an investment of 15 million euros ($15.92 million).

“Less items on the negative list mean less restrictions. The market access for foreign investment is getting wider and wider, which better facilitates the investment of enterprises,” said Zhang Kefang, an executive of Umicore.

As the negative list shortened, the Shanghai FTZ has implemented a number of first-in-China projects in 60 areas of opening up including automobile manufacturing, financial services, medical services, and value-added telecommunications. It promoted the formulation of the systems of pre-establishment national treatment and negative list for foreign investment, as well as their incorporation in the foreign investment law, and introduced the negative list for foreign investment to cross-border service trade and market access sectors.

The establishment of a “single window” platform for international trade marked a significant innovation of the Shanghai FTZ in promoting trade facilitation.

As the head of the planning department of Shanghai-based E&P international, a company specialized in the development of information technology in aspects of international trade and port logistics, Pan Xiaodong was involved in the development of the “single window” platform ten years ago.

“Similar to ‘one-stop online service’ in the field of international trade, this platform seamlessly integrates customs, quarantine, maritime, and border inspection information, greatly facilitating customs clearance and trade,” Pan said.

So far, the “single window” platform has served over 600,000 trade enterprises, facilitating the data processing of more than a quarter of China’s total trade in goods.

The Shanghai FTZ takes institutional innovation as its core task, with a focus on generating replicable and scalable institutional outcomes. Of the 302 institutional innovation outcomes for FTZs promoted nationwide, nearly half were pioneered or synchronously piloted in Shanghai.

Finance is a crucial area for the experimentation of free trade. Speaking of the opening up of the financial sector, Lu Fang, CEO of J.P. Morgan Securities (China) Co., Ltd. noted that foreign investment in the financial sector used to be subject to equity ownership restrictions. “The Shanghai FTZ has been at the forefront of financial liberalization,” Lu added.

The free trade account introduced by the Shanghai FTZ is a “pioneer” in innovative cross-border RMB business, with integrated financial services for cross-border settlement and financing in both RMB and foreign currencies.

As of now, Shanghai has cumulatively opened 144,000 free trade accounts, handling the equivalent of 142 trillion yuan ($19.5 trillion) in cross-border settlement transactions, with an average annual growth of 61 percent. The total financing that enterprises have obtained through free trade accounts in RMB and foreign currencies totaled 2.8 trillion yuan.

International asset management institutions are increasingly flocking to the Shanghai FTZ. Since 2020, nine of the world’s top ten asset management companies have chosen to establish offices in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area.

“We firmly believe in the potential of the Chinese market and will continue to bring our diverse range of resources to Shanghai, exploring new models for the development of asset management companies in China,” said general manager of Schroder Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Zhang Lan.

By combining the expansion of opening up with institutional reforms, Shanghai has been actively promoting the transformation of government functions, innovative management models, optimized operational mechanisms, and a shift in service approaches.

It continuously works to optimize the market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment. It is reported that Shanghai has delegated over 100 municipal-level administrative approval matters to the government of Pudong New Area.

“Recently, a new Lawson convenience store opened in Pudong, and the procedures went smoothly,” said Jin Ye, deputy director of the business risk control department of Shanghai Lawson, Inc.

“In the past, it would take nearly two months to complete the procedures for opening a store, but now it only takes two to three days,” Jin noted.

After a decade of hard work, the Shanghai FTZ has achieved remarkable success. By the end of 2022, over 84,000 enterprises had been newly registered in FTZ, along with more than 14,000 new foreign-funded projects. The total amount of foreign investment reached $58.6 billion.

In 2022, Pudong New Area’s GDP hit 1.6 trillion yuan, 2.5 times higher than that of 2013. Since its establishment, the Lingang new area of the Shanghai FTZ has experienced an average annual GDP growth of 21.2 percent.

By Liu Zhiqiang, People’s Daily

China’s GDP grew 5.2 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2023, reaching 91.3 trillion yuan (about $ 12.7 trillion), according to statistics recently released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growths in the first, second and third quarters were 4.5 percent, 6.3 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.

In the first three quarters, China’s economy withstood downward pressure and continued to recover, said Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS, during a press conference on Oct. 18.

Particularly in the third quarter, multiple sectors and indicators showed positive changes, and the trend of overall economic recovery has become even more prominent, he added.

Deducting the base effect, the average two-year growth in the January-September period this year stood at 4.4 percent, 1.1 percentage points higher than the Q2 figure. China’s GDP increased by 1.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q3, 0.8 percentage points higher than that of the second quarter.

Whether looking at year-on-year growth in the third quarter or cumulative growth in the first three quarters, China was among the top-performing major economies, Sheng said.

Employment performance was better. In the first three quarters, the surveyed urban unemployment rate nationwide was 5.3 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year, and it improved month by month. In September, this figure stood at 5 percent, 0.2 percentage points down from August.

Overall price levels remained stable. In the January-September period, China’s consumer price index (CPI) went up moderately by 0.4 percent, and the producer price index (PPI) for industrial products fell by 3.1 percent year on year, with a narrowing decline for three consecutive months.

In particular, in September, the PPI decreased by 2.5 percent year-on-year, nearly 3 percentage points less than the lowest point in June, indicating a stable and improving domestic demand.

High-quality development was steadily advanced. For example, innovation momentum remained abundant. In the first three quarters, investment in high-tech industries grew 11.4 percent year-on-year, with the production of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells maintaining rapid growth. Also, resident income increased steadily. In the first three quarters, the per capita disposable income of residents nationwide was 29,398 yuan, up 5.9 percent in real terms after deducting price factors, higher than GDP growth.

“These positive changes fully demonstrated that China’s economy has continued to recover and improve in the first three quarters, and also highlighted the tremendous resilience, potential, and vitality of the Chinese economy,” Sheng said.

Looking ahead, Sheng said growth will likely pick up in the fourth quarter given the continued recovery trend and stimulus policy measures taking effect gradually. “We are very confident in achieving the annual target,” he said.

Consumption will continue to recover and improve. Sheng Laiyun explained that in the first three quarters, commodity consumption, service consumption, and household consumption expenditure have steadily rebounded, and local governments are accelerating the implementation of policies to promote consumption. Additionally, improvement in employment and growth in residents’ income have laid a foundation for the recovery and growth of consumption, he added.

The industrial economy also bounced back steadily. In the first three quarters, the value-added industrial output of enterprises above designated size grew 4 percent year on year. In Sheng’s view, a series of operational indicators have also released positive signals: purchasing managers’ index returned to expansion territory; PPI declines narrowed for 3 consecutive months; industrial profits turned positive in August; in the first three quarters, the capacity utilization of industrial enterprises was 74.8 percent, and the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 96.8 percent, up 0.4 and 0.6 percentage points respectively from the first half. “Some of the positive changes in the economic sphere are preliminary, and the sustainability of these changes needs further observation. The foundation for stable economic recovery still needs to be consolidated,” said Sheng. He added that in the next stage, it is crucial to ensure policy implementation and further cement the foundation for e