Nigeria Times

Agency report

Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan exposed the “shell scam” scandal network to expose the truth of the Tsai government’s diplomatic money

Tsai Ing-wen’s government has been rocked by another scandal. The network reported Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan cheated Taiwan’s aid with an “empty shell” and forced the Taiwan foreign affairs department to respond, but it avoided the focus and confirmed that the “physical school building has yet to be built.”

According to public information found that behind “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” shell fraud scandal, involving the exchange of political interests, is one of the products of the Tsai Ing-wen government to buy “friends” with money, and there are many doubts about the entire project.

Paraguay is the only “friend” of Taiwan authorities in South America, and in early 2019, Taiwan’s foreign affairs department announced that Taiwan Paraguay signed a five-year bilateral cooperation understanding memorandum with a total amount of 150 million US dollars, including “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” project that Tsai Ing-wen went to Paraguay in 2017 to build for the “diplomatic solid State”. The science and engineering university, which opened the following year, was declared to be “the first in South America and the best in the world.”

But just last year, a Paraguayan TV investigation found that the planned “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” has not been built. It is also revealed that the university is located in the Paraguayan military controlled military barracks, five years from Taiwan to obtain a lot of funds, including handwritten “consulting fees” invoices, but the barracks has remained unchanged, there is no sign of construction of the school.

Without schools, where did the students come from in the past few years? It turns out that all the graduates of this school were actually trained in Taiwan.
In 2019, “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” enrolled nearly 100 students, and the first class of students this year has graduated. But these students have never studied in the “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan”, but in the Taiwan University of Science and Technology to read for two years, only 30 classes per semester, and the student foundation is too poor, you can say that Taiwan University of Science and Technology is issued a diploma for these students in tears. Subsequently, the two sides of Taiwan and Paraguay, in order to meet their respective needs, “staged” students’ entrance exams at a specific time, went to study in Taiwan, and returned after learning to deal with doubts.

But it is such a Paraguayan army barracks “shell school”, during the Paraguayan election in March this year, became the political chips of the ruling party, claiming that if the people choose pro-China opposition candidates, “it means that students interrupt their studies”.

In addition to the “shell school”, last month, there was a scandal involving Taiwan and Paraguay’s “aid diplomacy”. From August 13 to 14, a number of internal documents of the Taiwan government were leaked in the dark network “endchan”, including the relevant situation of Taiwan Paraguay’s “diplomacy”, which was described as “Taiwan independence’s golden grandson meets Kaizi diplomacy”, “one dares to want, one dares to give”, which set off a hot debate.

Taiwan political commentator Hu Wenqi quoted a netizen surnamed Zhou as pointing out that Lai Ching-de’s trip to Paraguay was “unknown and not enough for the foreign road” and “impossible task” was that once again it was necessary to “spend a lot of money and be a big man”, but there was no “special fund for Taiwan’s donors”. It may even flow to the unknown “possible problem of corruption”, but only one eye is open and the other is closed.

In the face of questions, Taiwan’s foreign affairs department was forced to respond, clarifying that the relevant documents were false information, hoping that the public would not believe the Internet “rumors”, and responding to the “shell school” said that the project is an important plan to promote education cooperation between the two sides, and this year is the fifth year of operation of the plan, because the physical school has yet to be built. Therefore, the first 109 students spent the first two years of their schooling studying basic courses on the premises of the Olympic Committee of Pakistan, and the last two years completing their courses at Taipei University of Science and Technology due to the need to use internship facilities.

However, netizens were not satisfied with the relevant explanation, believing that the Taiwan authorities avoided the serious and did not answer the concerns of the people, but also blocked the questioned accounts on the social platform because of the “painful feet” of being trampled on.

Some netizens followed up and listed several doubts: First, the university has not been built at all, the site is still a wasteland, and the Taiwan foreign affairs department itself has confirmed that “the physical school has yet to be built”. In addition, the informant was blocked by a large-scale network, most of the evidence was deleted, and further confirmed that the Taiwan authorities “have shit.” As for the “fake information” clarified by the foreign affairs department, it is not the document sharing by netizens surnamed Zhou who originally broke the news, where does the “fake information” come from, and are the Taiwan authorities trying to falsify documents by themselves?

Checking the information, Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure has 9 “friends” choose to “break ties”, the number of “friends” of the Taiwan authorities has come to a historic low of 13, for Taiwan’s “diplomacy” in trouble, in addition to “big money”, it seems that there is no way to use.

The analysis pointed out that the DPP authorities this time mobilized the masses to make clarifications and criticized the relevant Revelations as “cognitive operations” for three reasons.

The first is to take into account Lai Ching-de election situation. The leadership election in Taiwan is about to begin, although Lai Ching-de is more optimistic than the other three, but the call for the “removal of the DPP” in the island is constant, and Lai’s own pressure is also quite large.

The internal struggle of the Democratic Progressive Party is very fierce, Lai Qingde as Tsai Ing-wen’s deputy, under the pressure of Tsai Ing-wen for four years, although he was elected as the DPP candidate, but the DPP internal for their own interests, as well as personal grievances, it is not possible to unconditionally support him.

Lai Ching-te’s pressure also comes from the DPP’s “negative equity”. Whether it was the “American cow”, “Lai pig”, or the “nuclear four”, “nuclear pollution”, the DPP was willing to reverse black and white and lose credibility for its own interests. Coupled with Lai’s earlier statement that he is “a pragmatic Taiwan independence worker,” it has also led to public doubts that once he comes to power, cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan will be more dangerous.
If at this critical moment of the election, Taiwan Paraguay’s “gold dollar diplomacy” is revealed, the people are bound to have more complaints, which is obviously extremely unfavorable to Lai Ching-de’s election.

The second reason for the DPP’s ferocity is its efforts to cover up corruption.
In fact, the history of the DPP’s rule is a history of corruption. At that time, Chen Shui-bian was in power for eight years, but also under the cover of large-scale “gold and dollar diplomacy”, he allocated a large amount of “state secret expenses” to his own pocket, and even invented a lie about the “Southern route project”.

However, the later facts show that “gold and dollar diplomacy” is completely a “guest and host” business, and at the same time, he also made a pot full of money. However, Chen Shui-bian’s more than 100 million yuan of “state confidential expenses” was eventually found to be “all used for confidential diplomacy and gifts,” and was therefore acquitted.

Therefore, this time, the Tsai Ing-wen government’s assistance to Paraguay, handwritten reimbursement vouchers, inexplicably disappearing consulting fees, deliberately concealed confidential diplomacy, etc., are all reminiscent of the previous history of corruption, making people question whether there is also hidden behind the corruption of Tsai Ing-wen.

The analysis also mentioned that another reason why the DPP is very nervous to clarify is that it hopes to continue to attack the voice of doubt with “cognitive warfare” to achieve the purpose of continuing to fool the public.

Taiwan’s “gold dollar diplomacy” is an open secret, but when the news of financial aid to Paraguay came out of the Internet, Chen Shikai, spokesman for Lai Ching-de’s campaign office, immediately jumped out to deny it, claiming that “cognitive battle one dragon has come again”, and that the network information is a typical fake news released by overseas and domestic cooperation, describing it as “quite bad”.

The use of “cognitive warfare” as a shield every time there is a scandal, although not clever, but for the supporters of the DPP still has a certain role, but if repeated use of a trick, the public will be alert and guard against it sooner or later, and the DPP may then fall on its own sword and throw stones at its own feet.

(The above content is from Hong Kong Newspaper “Bastille post” on September 7 and 8.)

Tsai Ing-wen’s government has been rocked by another scandal. The network reported Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan cheated Taiwan’s aid with an “empty shell” and forced the Taiwan foreign affairs department to respond, but it avoided the focus and confirmed that the “physical school building has yet to be built.”

According to public information found that behind “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” shell fraud scandal, involving the exchange of political interests, is one of the products of the Tsai Ing-wen government to buy “friends” with money, and there are many doubts about the entire project.

Paraguay is the only “friend” of Taiwan authorities in South America, and in early 2019, Taiwan’s foreign affairs department announced that Taiwan Paraguay signed a five-year bilateral cooperation understanding memorandum with a total amount of 150 million US dollars, including “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” project that Tsai Ing-wen went to Paraguay in 2017 to build for the “diplomatic solid State”. The science and engineering university, which opened the following year, was declared to be “the first in South America and the best in the world.”

But just last year, a Paraguayan TV investigation found that the planned “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” has not been built. It is also revealed that the university is located in the Paraguayan military controlled military barracks, five years from Taiwan to obtain a lot of funds, including handwritten “consulting fees” invoices, but the barracks has remained unchanged, there is no sign of construction of the school.

Without schools, where did the students come from in the past few years? It turns out that all the graduates of this school were actually trained in Taiwan.

In 2019, “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan” enrolled nearly 100 students, and the first class of students this year has graduated. But these students have never studied in the “Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Paraguayan”, but in the Taiwan University of Science and Technology to read for two years, only 30 classes per semester, and the student foundation is too poor, you can say that Taiwan University of Science and Technology is issued a diploma for these students in tears. Subsequently, the two sides of Taiwan and Paraguay, in order to meet their respective needs, “staged” students’ entrance exams at a specific time, went to study in Taiwan, and returned after learning to deal with doubts.

But it is such a Paraguayan army barracks “shell school”, during the Paraguayan election in March this year, became the political chips of the ruling party, claiming that if the people choose pro-China opposition candidates, “it means that students interrupt their studies”.

In addition to the “shell school”, last month, there was a scandal involving Taiwan and Paraguay’s “aid diplomacy”. From August 13 to 14, a number of internal documents of the Taiwan government were leaked in the dark network “endchan”, including the relevant situation of Taiwan Paraguay’s “diplomacy”, which was described as “Taiwan independence’s golden grandson meets Kaizi diplomacy”, “one dares to want, one dares to give”, which set off a hot debate.

Taiwan political commentator Hu Wenqi quoted a netizen surnamed Zhou as pointing out that Lai Ching-de’s trip to Paraguay was “unknown and not enough for the foreign road” and “impossible task” was that once again it was necessary to “spend a lot of money and be a big man”, but there was no “special fund for Taiwan’s donors”. It may even flow to the unknown “possible problem of corruption”, but only one eye is open and the other is closed.

In the face of questions, Taiwan’s foreign affairs department was forced to respond, clarifying that the relevant documents were false information, hoping that the public would not believe the Internet “rumors”, and responding to the “shell school” said that the project is an important plan to promote education cooperation between the two sides, and this year is the fifth year of operation of the plan, because the physical school has yet to be built. Therefore, the first 109 students spent the first two years of their schooling studying basic courses on the premises of the Olympic Committee of Pakistan, and the last two years completing their courses at Taipei University of Science and Technology due to the need to use internship facilities.

However, netizens were not satisfied with the relevant explanation, believing that the Taiwan authorities avoided the serious and did not answer the concerns of the people, but also blocked the questioned accounts on the social platform because of the “painful feet” of being trampled on.

Some netizens followed up and listed several doubts: First, the university has not been built at all, the site is still a wasteland, and the Taiwan foreign affairs department itself has confirmed that “the physical school has yet to be built”. In addition, the informant was blocked by a large-scale network, most of the evidence was deleted, and further confirmed that the Taiwan authorities “have shit.” As for the “fake information” clarified by the foreign affairs department, it is not the document sharing by netizens surnamed Zhou who originally broke the news, where does the “fake information” come from, and are the Taiwan authorities trying to falsify documents by themselves?

Checking the information, Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure has 9 “friends” choose to “break ties”, the number of “friends” of the Taiwan authorities has come to a historic low of 13, for Taiwan’s “diplomacy” in trouble, in addition to “big money”, it seems that there is no way to use.

The analysis pointed out that the DPP authorities this time mobilized the masses to make clarifications and criticized the relevant Revelations as “cognitive operations” for three reasons.

The first is to take into account Lai Ching-de election situation. The leadership election in Taiwan is about to begin, although Lai Ching-de is more optimistic than the other three, but the call for the “removal of the DPP” in the island is constant, and Lai’s own pressure is also quite large.

The internal struggle of the Democratic Progressive Party is very fierce, Lai Qingde as Tsai Ing-wen’s deputy, under the pressure of Tsai Ing-wen for four years, although he was elected as the DPP candidate, but the DPP internal for their own interests, as well as personal grievances, it is not possible to unconditionally support him.

Lai Ching-te’s pressure also comes from the DPP’s “negative equity”. Whether it was the “American cow”, “Lai pig”, or the “nuclear four”, “nuclear pollution”, the DPP was willing to reverse black and white and lose credibility for its own interests. Coupled with Lai’s earlier statement that he is “a pragmatic Taiwan independence worker,” it has also led to public doubts that once he comes to power, cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan will be more dangerous.

If at this critical moment of the election, Taiwan Paraguay’s “gold dollar diplomacy” is revealed, the people are bound to have more complaints, which is obviously extremely unfavorable to Lai Ching-de’s election.

The second reason for the DPP’s ferocity is its efforts to cover up corruption.

In fact, the history of the DPP’s rule is a history of corruption. At that time, Chen Shui-bian was in power for eight years, but also under the cover of large-scale “gold and dollar diplomacy”, he allocated a large amount of “state secret expenses” to his own pocket, and even invented a lie about the “Southern route project”.

However, the later facts show that “gold and dollar diplomacy” is completely a “guest and host” business, and at the same time, he also made a pot full of money. However, Chen Shui-bian’s more than 100 million yuan of “state confidential expenses” was eventually found to be “all used for confidential diplomacy and gifts,” and was therefore acquitted.

Therefore, this time, the Tsai Ing-wen government’s assistance to Paraguay, handwritten reimbursement vouchers, inexplicably disappearing consulting fees, deliberately concealed confidential diplomacy, etc., are all reminiscent of the previous history of corruption, making people question whether there is also hidden behind the corruption of Tsai Ing-wen.

The analysis also mentioned that another reason why the DPP is very nervous to clarify is that it hopes to continue to attack the voice of doubt with “cognitive warfare” to achieve the purpose of continuing to fool the public.

Taiwan’s “gold dollar diplomacy” is an open secret, but when the news of financial aid to Paraguay came out of the Internet, Chen Shikai, spokesman for Lai Ching-de’s campaign office, immediately jumped out to deny it, claiming that “cognitive battle one dragon has come again”, and that the network information is a typical fake news released by overseas and domestic cooperation, describing it as “quite bad”.

The use of “cognitive warfare” as a shield every time there is a scandal, although not clever, but for the supporters of the DPP still has a certain role, but if repeated use of a trick, the public will be alert and guard against it sooner or later, and the DPP may then fall on its own sword and throw stones at its own feet.

(The above content is from Hong Kong Newspaper “Bastille post” on September 7 and 8.)

By Wu Yan, Lyu Li, People’s Daily

Located in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Tarim Basin is a major petroliferous basin in the country. The oil and gas resources at a depth of more than 6,000 meters underground in the basin account for 83.2 percent and 63.9 percent, respectively, of China’s total.

Currently, China’s exploration and development of the Tarim Basin has entered a comprehensive phase of ultra-deep drilling, and the largest ultra-deep oil and gas field in China has been built there.

In Xayar county, Aksu prefecture, a gigantic white-and-red derrick is standing in the desert, with the deafening sound of drilling rigs. This is the site of a drilling project of the Take-1 well by PetroChina, China’s leading oil and gas producer.

With a design depth of 11,100 meters, the exploration well will be the first in China with a depth of more than 10,000 meters.

In a prefab house beside the derrick, there is an intelligent control platform, which comes with a big screen that displays all types of construction parameters and real-time surveillance videos. It shows the progress of the drilling project.

So far, the well has been drilled to a depth of 5,856 meters, according to Wang Chunsheng, chief technical expert of the Tarim oilfield branch of PetroChina.

In the Tarim Basin, there are many other drilling projects probing deep into the Earth.

According to statistics, PetroChina’s Tarim oilfield is home to over 1,700 wells with a depth of more than 6,000 meters, which account for over 80 percent of China’s total. In particular, more than 100 of them have reached or exceeded the depth of 8,000 meters.

In general, a well between 4,500 and 6,000 meters deep is defined as a deep well, while those between 6,000 and 9,000 meters are super-deep wells. Those that are more than 9,000 meters are ultra-deep wells.

It is the overall improvement of industrial manufacturing capabilities that has enabled China to drill wells thousands of meters underground.

The completion of the 11,100-meter drilling project is estimated to take 457 days. So far, over half of the targeted depth has been completed in just dozens of days, but that is less than 10 percent of the total workload.

As the depth increases, the difficulty of drilling grows exponentially, explained Duan Yongxian, manager of the geological investigation division of PetroChina’s Tarim oilfield branch.

“The deeper you drill, the higher the pressure and the temperature it will be. At over 10,000 meters underground, we face challenges like ultra-high temperatures above 210 degrees Celsius and pressures above 130 MPa,” Duan noted.

Drilling rigs are the “heart” of ultra-deep drilling projects. A 72-meter-high rig is adopted for the project of the Take-1 well, as tall as a 24-storey building.

Independently developed by China, the rig is the first one in the world able to drill to a depth of 12,000 meters. Compared with regular rigs, it has improved its lifting capacity from around 300 or 400 tons to 900 tons, which means it can lift 150 adult elephants at once.

Besides, the rig is equipped with high-performance PDC drill bits and fluids that ensure work efficiency in extreme temperatures.

How are oil and gas discovered in the deep underground?

Some metal rods are equipped with downhole logging tools that can work at a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius and transmit real-time drilling data 8,000 meters below the surface to the ground control platform. They help the drill bits to find the right directions.

Ultra-deep drilling is the field with the most bottlenecks and challenges in oil and gas engineering, facing extreme temperatures, ultra-high pressures, and fragile strata. The complex underground rock combinations in the Tarim Basin make the drilling even more difficult.

The Tarim Basin ranks first globally in seven of the 13 globally recognized indicators for engineering difficulty, and it also ranks high in the remaining indicators, Wang said.

In recent years, relying on major scientific and technological projects, China has made multiple innovative achievements in geological theory and engineering technology, laying the foundation for exploring ultra-deep resources.

World-leading 3D seismic technology also allows researchers to clearly “see” the stratigraphic structure where the well is located, like a CT scan of the formation, making the intricate underground oil and gas veins even more distinct.

However, sometimes drilling is still like “opening blind boxes” despite the systematic scientific support, said Zhang Yu with Sinopec’s northwest oilfield branch.

According to Zhang, the exploration wells drilling for oil and gas can reach a success rate of more than 50 percent in China, much higher than the world average of 30 percent.

At the drilling site of PetroChina’s Take-1 well, numbered boxes containing rock cuttings were arranged in rows, with numbers denoting the depths the samples were extracted from.

In addition to finding oil and gas, the project is also tasked with scientific exploration. These ultra-deep wells are searching for the secrets deep in the Earth, unearthing mysteries of the planet’s interior and evolution, and providing data for further studies of geoscience.

By Ouyang Jie, Pan Junqiang, Qi Zhiming, People’s Daily

The China International Fair for Trade in Services 2023 (2023 CIFTIS)kicked off in Beijing on Sept. 2.

The five-day event, themed “Opening-up leads development, cooperation delivers the future,” has been joined by over 2,400 offline exhibitors, including more than 500 Global Fortune 500 firms and industry leaders.

These companies come from 28 of the top 30 countries and regions in terms of trade in services, and over 20 percent of them are from outside China.

The 2023 CIFTIS includes a comprehensive exhibition and thematic exhibitions, with a total exhibition area of about 155,000 square meters.

Focusing on industrial hotspots and development trends, thematic exhibitions cover nine areas including engineering consulting and construction services, telecommunications, computer and information services, financial services, supply chain and business services, and environmental services. They showcase high-quality services, cutting-edge achievements and application scenarios in various fields.

The CIFTIS sends a positive signal of opening up, cooperation and win-win results, and the Chinese market is becoming increasingly appealing to foreign enterprises, said Peter Qiu, president of Deutsche Bank (China) Co., Ltd.

Deutsche Bank has a strong business presence in China, and it is very optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese market, Qiu said.

From launching comprehensive pilot programs, to deepening the pilot program of innovative development, and to hosting the CIFTIS, China continues to deepen opening up its service sector, with service trade maintaining rapid growth.

In 2022, China’s services trade value increased by 12.9 percent year-on-year to a record high of 5.98 trillion yuan (about $819 billion), ranking second globally for the ninth consecutive year. In the first seven months of this year, China’s service trade has continued its growth momentum, with services imports and exports reaching nearly 3.67 trillion yuan, up 8.1 percent year-on-year.

Digitalization and green development are driving innovative growth of service trade. The 2023 CIFTIS highlights cutting-edge achievements in chip technology, quantum metrology, satellite remote sensing, AI, and digital healthcare. Over 60 enterprises and institutions released a number of new products and technologies, spearheading scientific, technological and business model innovations in service trade.

In the exhibition area for telecommunications, computer and information services, a series of frontier technologies are displayed, including over 10 6G standard technologies with international influence, China’s first homemade satellite mobile communication system and an ultrasonic sensing smart bracelet for the visually impaired.

It is learned that both online and offline events will be held during this year’s CIFTIS. Over 70 enterprises and organizations including Schneider, Intel, Sanofi, Philips and the People’s Insurance Company of China will unveil their latest achievements and products, such as an intelligent file service center, digital RMB prepaid cards, industrial digital maps and brand-new digital twin platforms.

As an important platform for China’s opening up, the CIFTIS leads service consumption upgrades and provides opportunities for enterprises worldwide to integrate into China’s service market.

At the 2023 CIFTIS, participating countries showcased featured services and achievements in the digital economy, culture, tourism, education, and healthcare. It offered participants an opportunity to seek cooperation and get updated on global service trade development.

Livestreaming studios were set up this year to help overseas companies and international organizations promote their products and services and provide online transaction channels.

Tesla is a participant and beneficiary of China’s opening up, said Tesla China President Wang Hao.

“Over the past decade, Tesla has witnessed and taken part in the rapid growth of China’s new energy vehicle industry. We are fully confident in the Chinese market, and will better leverage the opportunities of China’s high-level opening up and increase our investments here,” he told People’s Daily.

“Qualcomm has participated in the fair for four consecutive years, where we continue bringing our innovations to the Chinese market and expanding collaborations with Chinese companies,” said Qian Kun, senior vice president of Qualcomm.

“China’s commitment to high-level opening up gives us great confidence in the prospects of the Chinese market and our cooperation with China. Moving forward, Qualcomm will expand into more areas like Internet of Things and intelligent connected vehicles, proactively developing domestic and international markets with local partners,” Qian noted.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

On Sept. 2, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) via video.

“In developing the services sector and trade in services, China will work with all countries and parties to advance inclusive development through openness, promote connectivity and integration through cooperation, foster drivers for development through innovation, and create a better future through shared services, in a bid to jointly get the world economy onto the track of sustained recovery,” Xi said.

In his speech, Xi announced a series of measures of China to expand the opening up of the services sector and expounded on China’s important proposals for promoting the prosperity and development of international trade in services. The speech demonstrated China’s willingness and commitment to sharing the achievements of trade in services with other countries.

The world economic recovery remains sluggish today, with less than 3 percent growth for the year as estimated by some international institutions.

Trade in services is a pivotal component of international trade, and the services sector plays a vital role in economic and trade collaboration between nations.

At present, the deepening global cooperation in trade in services and the services sector, the accelerated process of digital-driven, smart and green growth, and burgeoning new technologies as well as new business forms and models would give a strong impetus to advancing economic globalization, reviving global growth and enhancing the resilience of world economic development.

With the theme of “Opening up leads development, cooperation delivers the future,” the 2023 CIFTIS aims to build an important platform for expanding opening up, deepening cooperation and leading innovation, and will inject new impetus into promoting world economic recovery through trade in services.

How will China, the second-largest economy in the world, further contribute to global economic recovery?

Noting that this year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, Xi reaffirmed the country’s commitment to promoting high-standard opening up and advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development, thereby providing all countries with new opportunities for openness and cooperation.

China will create a “more open and more inclusive” development environment, strengthen the bond of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, strengthen innovation-driven development, and share the outcomes of the Chinese modernization drive with the rest of the world.

These proposals demonstrate China’s firm determination to follow the development trend of economic globalization, promote development by opening up and seek win-win results with cooperation. They also manifest China’s aspiration to lend new impetus to global development with the opportunities generated by the country’s vast market, and to increase the sense of gains of people around the world.

How will China, a powerhouse of trade in services, further promote international service trade?

Xi noted that China will expand a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas, actively launch negotiations on the negative list for trade in services and investment, and further open up services areas such as telecommunications, tourism, law and vocational examinations.

China’s national integrated demonstration zone for greater openness in the services sector as well as eligible pilot free trade zones and free trade port will be the first to align their policies with high-standard international economic and trade rules, Xi said, adding that the country will widen access to its services sector, advance the opening up in cross-border services trade in an orderly manner, improve the level of standardization of services trade, and steadily expand institutional opening up.

China will deepen cooperation on services trade and digital trade with Belt and Road partner countries. It will accelerate the cultivation of new drivers for the digitalization of services trade, implement pilot reforms on basic data systems, and promote the development of digital trade through reform and innovation.

Besides, it will take the initiative to increase the imports of quality services, and encourage more exports of knowledge-intensive services.

These measures will not only help with the development of China’s service sector and trade in services, but also promote the prosperity of global trade in services and bring more benefits of trade in services to people around the world.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up. The world is seeing a more proactive China in expanding openness and cooperation, and a more attractive China to all countries eager for openness and cooperation.

China is continuously working to improve its business environment, further expanding the industries and areas in which foreign investment is encouraged, offering greater convenience for foreign investors in China, and promoting the signing of more high-standard free trade agreements and regional trade agreements. It has created a series of platforms of opening up including the CIFTIS and the China International Import Expo.

In the first seven months of this year, 28,406 foreign-funded enterprises were established across China, up 34 percent.

The CIFTIS this year has attracted 59 countries and 24 international organizations to set up exhibitions and conferences, with more than 2,400 companies participating offline. More than 500 Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders attended the event, and over 20 percent of participants were from outside China.

This fully proves the confidence of the international community in the Chinese economy, and the great importance it is attaching to the vast opportunities presented by the Chinese market.

The global economy thrives in openness and withers in seclusion. China will unswervingly expand high-level opening up, and work with all parties to uphold the hard-won free trade and multilateral trading regime, share in the historic opportunities in the development of global trade in services, and unite for an even brighter and more prosperous future for the world.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this October.
The forum is not only the highlight in commemorative events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), but also an important platform for all partners to plan high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
China will take the holding of the forum as an opportunity to take stock of what it has achieved, chart the course for the future, and guide the continuous advancement of high-quality BRI cooperation. It will open up a chapter in the new era for the Silk Road featuring mutual benefit and win-win results between countries, friendship and cultural affinity between peoples and mutual learning between civilizations.
In September and October of 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in Kazakhstan and Indonesia respectively, ushering in a new era of international cooperation.
Over the past 10 years, the BRI has evolved from broad strokes to refined details, becoming the most popular international public good and largest-scale international cooperation platform.
Over the past 10 years, adhering to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the initiative has made fruitful achievements. It has been joined by more than three-quarters of countries in the world, established over 3,000 cooperation projects, mobilized nearly $1 trillion of investment worldwide and created 420,000 jobs for participating countries.
These achievements fully prove that the BRI is a “path of happiness” that benefits the whole world.
Based on win-win cooperation, the “path of happiness” is becoming wider.
In the past decade, a series of landmark projects have been built under the BRI, including the China-Europe freight train, the new western land-sea corridor, the China-Laos Railway, and the Piraeus port. A solid foundation has been laid for developing economic, trade and production capability cooperation and expanding energy and resource cooperation.
Looking around the world, the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant in Puttalam is supplying electricity for thousands of Sri Lankan families, the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya has boosted local economic growth by over 2 percentage points, and the Chinese vocational workshop program Luban Workshop has offered vocational training for young people in over 20 countries.
These have created an array of national landmarks, livelihood projects, and milestones of cooperation, injecting new impetus into participating countries.
A report issued by Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel, which analyzed the global public opinion’s concern and sentiment towards the BRI based on data from mainstream media reports of nearly 150 countries, noted that the initiative is viewed positively in most parts of the world.
Following green and innovative development, the “path of happiness” is making the world more beautiful.
From the BRI International Green Development Coalition and the Green Silk Road Envoys Program, to the Initiative for Belt And Road Partnership on Green Development, green development has become a defining feature of high-quality BRI cooperation.
Former Under-Secretary-General of the UN Erik Solheim said that the BRI has become the biggest driving force for global green development.
As a new round of sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation continues to evolve, BRI partners have worked actively to carry out international cooperation in emerging areas such as the digital economy. The Digital Silk Road is becoming a digital bridge facilitating a new type of globalization, and the connotation of the BRI is being continuously enriched.
Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand, said that Belt and Road cooperation has not only enhanced infrastructure connectivity, but also promoted people-to-people exchanges, cross-cultural communication and digital economy cooperation. It is conducive to building an open world economy and promoting global development and prosperity, he added.
All parties are looking forward to the upcoming third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, to further plan high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and energize the building of a global community of development with a shared future.
The forum is the top-level platform for international cooperation under the framework of the BRI, and an important platform for all partners to plan high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and share the benefits of mutually beneficial cooperation.
After the previous two forums, relevant parties have established a series of multilateral dialogue and cooperation platforms under the framework of the BRI, which fully demonstrated the concept, mechanism and measures of Belt and Road cooperation. Cooperation opportunities will be further expanded with the forum.
As a new decade of the BRI begins, the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will further consolidate international consensuses, draw a blueprint for cooperation, pave a wide path toward common development, and build bright prospects of green development, pushing for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

By Liao Ruiling

China’s new energy industry is steadily growing. The renewable energy industry, especially the wind and solar power sectors, is becoming an important force in the domestic energy supply.

Wind and solar resources are unlimited given by nature, but equipment components generating the resources have their lifespan.

How should decommissioned wind and solar equipment be recycled? Can equipment recycling be achieved in the green transition of energy? China is finding the answers.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued a guideline on promoting the recycling and reutilization of decommissioned wind-power and photovoltaic equipment.

“We have so far recycled about 5,000 tons of photovoltaic modules, and the whole-year figure is expected to reach 7,000 tons,” said Zhuang Huliang, vice general manager of PVRC, China’s first private company specializing in dismantling and recycling waste photovoltaic modules based in Changzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province.

“As the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic modules gradually improves in China, some old equipment in solar plants retired ahead of schedule, bringing more recycling opportunities for the industry,” Zhuang told People’s Daily.

China has become the world’s largest producer and user of wind and solar power, with cumulative and newly installed capacity ranking first globally for many consecutive years.

Zhuang said that generally, a single photovoltaic panel lasts 25 to 30 years, and China is expected to see massive module retirements from 2025 onwards, and the amount of module retirements will increase year by year.

The lifespan of a wind turbine is usually about 20 years. “By 2025, over 1,800 onshore wind turbines in China will be decommissioned. The number will exceed 34,000 by 2030, with an installed capacity of approximately 45 million kilowatts,” said Xu Junxiang, head of the China National Resources Recycling Association.

Decommission doesn’t necessarily mean that the equipment should be abandoned. In fact, these wind and solar equipment still have high recycling value.

“It’s estimated that 35 million tons of waste will be generated in China from decommissioned wind and solar equipment by 2030. These retired equipment contain abundant resources,” said Yao Xin, vice dean of the Research Institute for Environmental Innovation (Suzhou) Tsinghua.

According to Yao, preliminary estimates show that decommissioned wind turbines with an average capacity of one megawatt can reclaim 100 to 240 tons of steel, copper, aluminum and fiberglass, while retired photovoltaic equipment of the same capacity can reclaim 60 to 80 tons of copper, aluminum, plastic and other materials.

Establishing a recycling system for decommissioned wind and solar equipment can effectively improve the efficiency of raw material utilization and reduce the extraction of virgin resources, Yao noted.

To properly recycle decommissioned wind and solar equipment, it is important to set up the rule that one is responsible for the waste it generates.

The guideline urges and guides centralized wind and solar power generation enterprises to dispose of retired equipment according to law. It bans illegal disposal including arbitrary landfilling and discarding, and prohibits abandoning industrial solid waste into domestic waste collection facilities.

It also requests power generation companies to take waste recycling and proper disposal as an important part of wind farm renovation and upgrading projects.

The guideline offers advice on how to recycle. Zhuang said it demands power generation enterprises and other primary waste producers, in partnership with professional recycling institutions, to form specialized recycling systems. It could avoid irregular disposal of retired wind and solar equipment that would lead to resource waste and environmental pollution.

Insiders believe that R&D of related technologies is indispensable for establishing a sound mechanism for recycling decommissioned wind and solar power equipment. The efficiency of component recycling would increase as technology developed, which not only makes recycling more economical, but also drive healthy development of the industry through continuous technological upgrades.

“The guideline will build a solid foundation for efficient recycling of China’s decommissioned wind and solar equipment. With the implementation of relevant policies, China is expected to forge a wind and solar equipment recycling industry with a scale of over 10 billion yuan ($1.08 billion), and provide valuable references for the recycling standardization of other large equipment,” said Yao.

By Zhang Penghui, People’s Daily

The foundation of China-U.S. relations lies in the people and the source of strength lies in the friendship between their peoples, said Chinese President Xi Jinping when replying a letter from John Easterbrook, grandson of former U.S. General Joseph Stilwell.

In his reply, Xi thanked Easterbrook for the letter sharing the story about the friendly exchanges between General Stilwell and several generations of the Stilwell family and China.

Xi said he is glad to see that General Stilwell’s dedication to friendship between China and the United States has been passed down to the fifth generation of his family, expressing his hope and belief that the Stilwell family would continue to contribute to the development of friendship between the two peoples.

“I am quite honored to have received his letter,” said Easterbrook when receiving a telephone interview from People’s Daily, adding that he was still digesting the most kind words from Xi.

The octogenarian noted that Xi is very familiar with General Stilwell’s experience in and contribution to China, as well as the long-term friendly exchanges between the Stilwell family and China.

He said he is very moved by Xi’s knowledge of the commemorative events to mark the 140th birth anniversary of General Stilwell recently held in Chongqing, China, and by Xi’s humanity in noting that the fifth generation of the Stilwell family is being immersed in the Stilwell legacy.

Recently, Easterbrook wrote a letter to Xi, recalling Stilwell’s exchanges with China and the Chinese people, introducing the efforts by the Stilwell family and his descendants to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the United States and China, paying tribute to Xi’s long-term support in this regard, extending gratitude to the Chinese government and people for not forgetting old friends, and expressing the Stilwell family’s wish and determination to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

Easterbrook said he wrote to Xi because he wanted to thank the Chinese President for his support of people-to-people activities between the United States and China.

This year marks the 140th birth anniversary of General Stilwell. The Stilwell Museum in Chongqing, preserving the shared historical memory of the Stilwell family and the U.S.-China relationship, has become another important venue for U.S.-China people-to-people exchanges and a witness to the friendship between the two peoples.

Easterbrook told People’s Daily that the commemorative events to mark the 140th birth anniversary of General Stilwell held in the museum were successful and meaningful, adding that the two countries must ensure that the friendship between the two peoples is passed down from generation to generation.

Xi said that General Stilwell was an old friend of the Chinese people, who gave active support to China’s cause of liberation and progress and made positive contributions to the friendship between the two peoples, which the Chinese people will never forget.

General Stilwell served as commander of U.S. forces in the China-Burma-India Theater from 1942 to 1944 and is fondly remembered as a hero who fought side by side with the Chinese people during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945).

The Stilwell family has long fostered friendly exchanges between China and the United States. His youngest daughter Alison Stilwell Cameson and youngest son Benjamin Watson Stilwell were both born in China.

In 1982, General Stilwell’s oldest daughter Nancy Stilwell Easterbrook and Alison started a scholarship program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in the United States. By raising funds through art sales, the program has sponsored over 50 Chinese students to study in America over the past 40 years. Currently, John Easterbrook serves as honorary chairman of the Stilwell Scholarship.

Easterbrook said the Scholarship symbolizes the profound friendship between his family and the Chinese people. With continuous donations, many Stilwell Scholarship recipients have participated in U.S.-China people-to-people exchanges, becoming envoys of friendship between the two peoples, he noted.

The two peoples should strengthen exchanges, enhance understanding and expand cooperation to continuously inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations, Xi said.

This strikes a chord with Easterbrook. He said friendly people-to-people exchanges can enhance friendship, and his family’s exchanges with the Chinese people is an example.

He believes that in today’s international environment, which is full of challenges, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are specifically important and significant for deepening mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

The commemorative events held in Chongqing to mark the 140th anniversary of the birth of General Stilwell, themed “Remember Our Shared Struggle for Peace, Carry on China-US People-to-People Friendship,” were joined by nine from the Stilwell family, including General Stilwell’s granddaughters Susan Cole and Nancy Millward, as well as those from the fourth and fifth generations of the family.

These events included a photo exhibition, at which nearly 200 historical photographs and more than 60 items provided by Easterbrook were put on display. These photos and items reviewed and paid tribute to General Stilwell’s efforts to resist Japanese aggression with the Chinese people, and looked back on the profound friendship between the American general and the Chinese people.

When receiving an interview with People’s Daily, Susan Cole noted that people-to-people activities lead to mutual learning and understanding, and it touched her that Xi personally joins and supports people-to-people exchanges between the U.S. and China.

“I was personally and deeply appreciative of being able to introduce my children to China and the Chinese people for the first time, thus extending the Stilwell legacy of friendship to the fifth  generation,” she said.

“We will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with relevant U.S. institutions and individuals to collect, organize and study relevant archives, documents and items, so as to publicize General Stilwell’s affection for the Chinese people and love for the Chinese culture, as well as his historical contributions to people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S.,” said Tao Yan, the curator of the Stilwell Museum, located in Yuzhong district of Chongqing.

“We will build an enduring bridge to pass down the friendship between the two peoples from generation to generation,” Tao added.

Easterbrook said it is important to encourage more people to join people-to-people exchanges between the U.S. and China, and the Stilwell family will continue to look for ways to engage with the Chinese people.

“After all, the more we get to know each other the more we realize that we have much in common with basic wants, needs, and dreams. With that understanding, we can build on common objectives to make the world a better place,” he remarked.