Nigeria Times

By Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

At 10:00 am, a new demand popped up on freight dispatching platform Yunmanman, asking to send a batch of auto parts to Horgos, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from Yuhuatai district in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu province.

In less than two minutes, the order was taken, and relevant information was simultaneously sent to the truck driver.

“The scheduling system for car-hailing services works to find available drivers near passengers, but that for freight services must rely on big data and cloud computing to match the demand and supply sides in a more targeted manner. It acts intelligently in a wider geographical range,” said Wang Dong, chief technological officer of Yunmanman.

Wang took the Jiangsu-Xinjiang order as an example. After the platform received the consignor’s demand, it checked the length, load capacity, compartment type and other information of trucks available at that time to see whether they were capable of shipping auto parts. It then made matching and recommendations based on truck drivers’ experiences and the consignor’s preference.

Thanks to the application of big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies, it takes just minutes to match a truck driver with a consignor on Yunmanman.

As a homegrown firm in Nanjing, Yunmanman has extended its services to more than 300 cities and connected over 100,000 logistics routes. By reducing empty miles of trucks, the platform makes the logistics industry more efficient and cuts energy consumption and carbon emission, gaining both economic and social benefits.

Benefiting from sci-tech innovation funds, office rental assistance and other favorable policies, Yunmanman has attracted more talents and upgraded its technologies, Wang told People’s Daily.

This year, the R&D team of the firm, making innovations in both business models and technological development, has realized minute-level matchmaking. It has improved the informatization and efficiency of the freight logistics sector and lowered the sector’s general cost and rate of empty miles, Wang added.

“Software and information technology services is a main battlefield for the innovation of a new generation of information technologies, as well as a core engine driving digital economy,” said an official with Nanjing’s municipal bureau of industry and information technology.

As a renowned hub of the software industry, Nanjing is part of a national-level advanced manufacturing cluster for software and information technology services, witnessing robust growth in the industry, the official added. In the first quarter of this year, the revenue of software businesses in the city grew 13.6 percent to 175.84 billion yuan ($24.31 billion).

Currently, leading enterprises are driving the development of the whole industrial chain in Nanjing, which helps expand the coverage of application fields and enhance the cluster effect, the official said.

Recently, an automobile manufacturer in Jiangning district of Nanjing kicked off digital transformation by introducing a digital platform that helps promote interdisciplinary research and development from Nanjing-based software company Glaway Soft.

“As industries develop, intelligent upgrading and digital transformation remains an important way for enterprises to boost high-quality development,” said general manager Yu Dingfang of Glaway Soft.

According to him, with the help of a series of policies, the company has developed some 20 industrial software products that cover the full life cycle of products to mobilize small- and medium-sized enterprises to achieve digital, auto, and intelligent upgrading.

Nanjing has rolled off a series of supporting policies to build a better environment for the development of the software industry. So far, the market of the industry has reached 740.8 billion yuan in Nanjing, or 56.3 percent of Jiangsu province’s total.

The city is now home to about 4,000 major software enterprises and has built a cluster with national-level industrial parks as the core and supported by provincial-level software parks.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

The Japanese government obviously got excited after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a comprehensive report on the disposal of nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, taking the report as a shield that keeps off opposing voices against its plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

However, this carefully worded report failed to fully reflect views from experts that participated in the review. The conclusion was not shared by all experts and failed to review the justification and legitimacy of Japan’s ocean discharge plan. The attempt of the Japanese side is doomed to end up in vain.

The report cannot give legitimacy to Japan’s plan of discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.

Japan’s unilateral decision to dump nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific is based entirely on minimizing economic cost, and will transfer risks to the whole world. Japan is the only beneficiary of the decision, while other countries in and near the Pacific will be forced to shoulder risks and spend huge amount of resources in coping with possible negative situations.

When the Japanese side requested the IAEA to review its discharge plan two years ago, it has excluded other safer and better plans. The IAEA only reviewed the plan that the Japanese side submitted.

The report said that the responsibility for justifying the decision to discharge the treated water falls to the Japanese government, which is significantly important for stakeholders. Japan’s discharge plan was not recommended or endorsed by the IAEA.

The report cannot fully prove that it’s safe and harmless to discharge nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to the ocean.

The nuclear-contaminated water contains over 60 radionuclides, and there is not yet effective technology to treat many of those radionuclides. The effectiveness and maturity of Japan’s Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) has not been evaluated or certified by a third party, and the facility has repeatedly malfunctioned.

According to data released by Japan, over 70 percent of ALPS-treated nuclear-contaminated water failed to meet the discharge standards. Japan’s discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water will last as long as 30 years or even longer. How can it prove the long-term reliability of the ALPS? Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has a record of manipulating data and concealing accidents. How can the review based on statistics and information provided by this company assure the international community? The report said that the conclusions on safety was reached based on Japan’s discharge plan and will establish a long-term mechanism that monitors the discharge, which exactly proves the long-term risks of discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.

The report cannot exempt the Japanese side from its due responsibilities and obligations under international law.

The international community is concerned about Japan’s discharge plan because it fears that Japan would transfer the risks of nuclear contamination to the rest of humanity, which is inconsistent with Japan’s obligations under the international law.

Some long-lived radionuclides may spread with the ocean currents. What impacts will they have on the ecological balance of coastal waters of Japan’s neighboring countries? Whether will they form a bio-concentration and pose potential hazards to food safety and human health with the mitigation of marine species and the food chain? No one has given convincing answers to these questions, be it the Japanese side or the IAEA.

Besides, such discharge violates Japan’s obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment as outlined in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international law and the provisions against dumping radioactive wastes from man-made structures at sea in the London Convention. The Japanese side cannot deny the fact that such discharge is suspected of violating its international obligations no matter how it whitewashes its intention.

The Japanese side is trying to hype the voice that distrusting the report is harming the authoritativeness of the IAEA. However, the biggest harm to the organization’s authoritativeness came from Japan’s efforts to limit the organization’s authorization in reviewing the discharge plan, which finally led to incomplete and conditional conclusions of the report.

A recent poll in Japan shows that 40 percent of the respondents oppose discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. A joint survey by South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo and Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun also revealed that more than 80 percent of South Koreans disagree with Japan’s discharge plan.

Experts and citizens from Pacific island countries, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and Peru have staged frequent protests against the discharge plan, and the Chinese people are strongly opposing Japan’s practice.

Regrettably, Japan has turned a blind eye to this and stubbornly announced that it would start discharging the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean as scheduled this summer. It slandered other countries’ legitimate concerns and even mentioned water discharge from normal operation of nuclear power plants and dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean in the same breath. This clearly is not what a responsible country does.

Japan has the responsibility and obligation to offer an explanation to the world on its discharge plan, which is a major issue that concerns the public interests of the international community.

It should be clear that the IAEA report cannot quiet the doubts of the world about its discharge plan, or become a “shield” or “greenlight” for the plan.

The country should faithfully fulfill its moral responsibility and obligations under international law, stop pushing forward the ocean discharge plan, fully study alternatives to the ocean discharge, carry out full consultation with neighboring countries and other stakeholders, and earnestly dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, safe and transparent manner.

By He Cong, Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 6 inspected the Purple Mountain Laboratories and NARI Group Corporation in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, to learn about the progress in making major scientific and technological breakthroughs, developing advanced manufacturing clusters and promoting high-quality development.

Over recent years, Jiangsu province has accelerated the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, promoted in-depth cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutions, strengthened the construction of major sci-tech and innovation platforms, and supported top scientists to lead original and pioneering sci-tech research, so as to break through bottlenecks in key and core technologies and ensure that key areas and links can fall within its own hands.

The Purple Mountain Laboratories is a major sci-tech innovation platform jointly built by Jiangsu province and Nanjing in 2018. It focuses on the basic and frontier research of future internet and endogenous security. It gathers over 1,000 researchers and has achieved a series of world-leading results in future internet, B5G/6G communication and cyber security.

Recently, the facility developed a batch of core cyber technologies, including the world’s first major breakthrough in wide-area deterministic network system.

“We will keep our efforts to advance original and pioneering sci-tech research,” said Liu Yunjie, academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director and chief scientist of the Purple Mountain Laboratories.

Apart from the Purple Mountain Laboratories, Jiangsu province has built a series of other major innovation platforms such as the Suzhou Laboratory and the Taihu Laboratory of Deepsea Technological Science.

Last year, the province’s total R&D investment reached 330 billion yuan ($45.55 billion), and the number of invention patents owned by every 10,000 people in the province stood at 41.2. Besides, there were more than 37,000 high-tech firms in the province.

Jiangsu will give full play to its advantages as a hub of sci-tech institutions and a strong industrial province, to strengthen innovation in all links including basic research, technological breakthrough, as well as outcome translation and commercialization, concentrate its strength to strive to make major breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, and build itself into a center of technology with global influence.

By Yao Xueqing, Bai Guangdi, People’s Daily

Jiangsu province in east China has made ceaseless efforts to foster green production and promote green lifestyles over recent years, integrating a green philosophy into everything from architectures to transportation, and to production.

By the Yangtze River in the Jiangbei New Area of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, there is a building that looks like a giant wooden house which covers 2,400 square meters. The wooden structure, which looks cozy and trendy, has a top covered by large numbers of solar panels. It’s cool inside on hot summer days even without the air conditioning on.

The “wooden house” is the service center of a residential complex for talents working in the city. The biggest highlight of the structure is that it is self-sufficient in energy.

Zhu Kan, deputy director of the green architecture center of Nanjing Yangtze River Urban Architectural Design Co., Ltd., the designer of the “wooden house,” told People’s Daily that the structure features ultra-low energy consumption.

It was built with thermal-insulation wood materials and in the wall cavity, there are fire- and heat-resistant stone wool boards that keep the structure cool in the summer and warm in the winter, Zhu said.

According to estimation, energy demand of the service center is only about 70 percent of that of similar buildings, which means that the structure can save 316,000 kWh of electricity and 1,600 tons of water on an annual basis, equivalent to reducing 274.4 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Apart from saving energy, the service center is also a supplier of energy. The 864 solar panels which span 1,800 square meters on the top of the building make a micro grid that boasts a total installed capacity of 345 kW and an annual generation capacity of 270,000 kWh. The micro grid powers not only the building itself, but also the charging poles in the residential complex. The clean electricity generated by the facility each year is able to charge more than 5,000 electric vehicles.

“It’s a prefabricated building, and the construction of it was like building blocks. Parts needed were fabricated in factories and then transported to the site for assembly,” said Zhu, adding that it was efficient and reduced environmental pollution.

It is learned that Jiangsu province has built a batch of similar structures featuring ultra-low energy consumption. Constructed in green and low-carbon ways, they boast higher efficiency of energy utilization and lower carbon emissions.

At 8:00 am on a Monday, when traffic was the busiest of the day, Chen Taizhou, bus driver of Line 1 of Jiangsu’s Wuxi, drove a bus from Wuxi’s central bus station to the destination Yuantouzhu, a local scenic tourist region.

“It was all jammed in the peak hours a few years ago, and I had to wait at traffic lights at almost every crossroads. Passengers always complained about it,” said Chen, referring to a 5-kilometer section that crosses 10 intersections in the downtown.

However, things have changed since last September. Chen found that he was seeing more green lights and less red ones when driving through the section, and the cycle length of red lights became shorter.

The change came from Wuxi’s innovative attempt to promote green transportation and public transit with the Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Chen’s bus is powered by new energy and looks very tech-ish. On the top of it there are two antennas, which help realize precise positioning of the vehicle with the differential positioning technology. Besides, the bus is also equipped with a smart gateway that transmits real-time data of the vehicle, including speed, mileage and positioning information.

Three bus routes in the city now enjoy transit signal priority (TSP) at some 30 crossroads thanks to the application of the internet of vehicles, said an official with the municipal bureau of industry and information office of Wuxi.

According to the official, these buses now make 1.03 less stops during a single trip and their average waiting time at each crossroads has been reduced by 54 seconds, or 36.1 percent.

Apart from Wuxi, other cities in Jiangsu province also launched TSP services and green bus routes, including Suzhou and Suqian. With better experiences, green public transport is seeing more and more passengers.

In a factory of Globe Group in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, one of the leading Chinese manufacturers of new energy gardening machinery, solar panels were seen on the top of workshop buildings. Apart from the solar power facility, the factory also employs clean production techniques. It has established a resource recycling mechanism and is constantly optimizing the structure of energy consumption for better green development.

Senior vice president of the company Zhuang Jianqing told People’s Daily that the company, using government subsidies, launched green transition for its production, building two unmanned workshops, updating 50 automated production lines and introducing 240 robots. Besides, it has also established a circulating water treatment system. Thanks to these efforts, the factory has expanded its capacity by four times while being environmentally friendly.

Over recent years, Jiangsu province has accelerated the green transition of traditional industries and increased its support for environmental protection, clean production and green service industries, building a batch of green high-tech factories featuring low energy consumption and low pollution.

By Huan Yuping, People’s Daily

The term “de-risking” has been replacing “decoupling” these days, becoming a new argument of some Western politicians when they talk about economic relations with China. It is used to prettify their negative policies aiming at de-sinicization.

The so-called “de-risking” is in essence the politicization and ideologicalization of economic and trade issues. It is against laws of economics, disturbs the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains, and finally impedes the recovery of the world economy.

“De-risking may feel more diplomatic than decoupling.” The New York Times just told the truth.

The high-profile “decoupling” strategy launched by the last U.S. administration has been approved to be totally unrealistic. Though the current U.S. administration claimed it has no intention to contain China, its scheme to undermine China-U.S. economic relations through political means remains unchanged. Therefore, some in the United States created new rhetoric as the “decoupling” strategy has lost its support.

The qualifier of “not seeking ‘decoupling'” is added to “de-risking” because the latter shall sound different and thus be more misleading. However, the so-called “de-risking” is just “old wine in a new bottle.”

First of all, policies under “de-risking” still aim at technological blockade, investment review and transfer of supply chains. A high-ranking official of the U.S. government recently said in a speech that the United States wants to de-risk and diversify its relationship with China, not decouple. However, the official, at the same time, made reference to the approach of “small yard, high fence” to critical technology .

What’s more, the true intention of “de-risking” is still containing China and serving White House’s wrong policies on China. U.S. magazine Foreign Affairs noted that the strategy of de-risking aims to limit China’s abilities in strategic sectors that have national security implications, reduce Beijing’s leverage over the West by eroding Chinese dominance of the market for certain essential inputs.

In today’s world, countries should be dependent on each other, and such interdependence doesn’t mean insecurity. “De-risking” is indeed “diplomatic,” but it cannot lift the United States out of the predicament in the country’s economic relations with China. On one hand, the White House is aware that “de-coupling” hurts its own interests and remains unrealistic; on the other hand, it is not willing to abandon its obsession of taking China as an “imaginary enemy” and is seeking “de-coupling” in another form. Such a self-contradictory mindset would only confine the United States in a cage that it has built.

Free trade and division of labor are the result of growing social productivity, and the formation and development of the global industrial and supply chains an outcome of economic globalization and market economy. To strengthen division of labor and collaboration among countries amid economic globalization leads to common progress.

China makes opportunities, not risks. China is the world’s second largest economy, biggest manufacturer, and largest trading country in goods. As a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, it is continuously powering global growth.

The World Openness Report 2022 showed that China has made progress in its high-level opening up and constantly improved its openness index, becoming a key variable for economic globalization.

Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator of the Financial Times, belies that de-risking trade with China is a risky business.

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund warned that “de-risking” is political manipulation that hurts the stability of global industrial and supply chains, and impedes global sci-tech progress and economic development. What the international society should be watchful about and resist is the promotion of de-sinicization in the name of “de-risking,” he said, adding that the trend of “de-risking” could see countries turn inward at the expense of global growth.

“There is a danger that the global economy could fragment into blocks,” the economist noted.

One of the goals of the United States in hyping the strategy of “de-risking” is to mislead its allies and then form a clique that contains China in the realm of economy. However, U.S. allies are clear and vigilant about the fact that such political calculation would hurt their own interests.

According to a poll launched by the European Council on Foreign Relations in 11 EU countries, 43 percent of respondents see China as “a necessary partner,” and there are more respondents believing cooperation with China would bring opportunities than those who think it creates risks.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stressed that European countries should view China more objectively, and both “decoupling” and “de-risking” would be a suicide committed by the European economy.

The biggest risk stems from non-cooperation and the biggest hidden security threat is non-development.

As the world is facing increasing instability and uncertainty, every country has its own security concerns. However, abusing the concept of national security and taking it as an excuse for promoting protectionism and containing other countries would only make risks riskier and lead to more and bigger problems.

The historical trend of economic globalization has never changed. Today, the rapid advance of new technologies such as digital technology and artificial intelligence, is creating more favorable conditions for economic globalization. The world should not, and cannot return to a state of seclusion or isolation.

Cooperation is the only way out and the best way to deal with difficulties and challenges. Countries should follow the trend of history, cement the consensus on development, and continue their efforts to build an open world economy. They should oppose the politicization of economic issues and work together to keep global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, and deliver the fruits of globalization to different countries and groups of people in a more equitable way.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and delivered an important speech via video conference in Beijing on July 4.

It was an important multilateral diplomatic action taken by China to better engage with Eurasia. Xi’s remarks at the meeting injected important impetus into building SCO consensus for development and building an SCO community with a shared future.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind put forward by Xi. Over the past decade, facing the changes of the world, of the times and of history, the SCO has always been at the forefront of the times, upholding this very vision and the Shanghai Spirit to build an SCO community with a shared future.

Xi summarized the experiences and achievements of SCO, charting the course for it to keep building an SCO community with a shared future.

The organization has followed its fine tradition of standing together through thick and thin, as passengers in the same boat should do, acted out the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, embraced the development philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared growth, carried forward the spirit of good-neighborliness, and advocated equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness between civilizations, upheld international fairness and justice, and opposed hegemonic, high-handed, and bullying acts, Xi said in the speech.

SCO countries reiterated that to jointly build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equity, justice and win-win cooperation and a community with a shared future for mankind is of important practical significance. It once again proved the strong influence and vitality of the vision.

Xi places high importance on the SCO. He always stresses the importance of upholding and carrying forward the Shanghai Spirit, and pursuing the organization’s development as it pursues common development for humanity.

The Chinese President has attended multiple summits of the organization since 2013, drawing a blueprint for its development and guiding it toward long-term and stable development.

At previous SCO summits, he called on relevant parties to strengthen cooperation and get together for self improvement, and see each other in a common endeavor and a community with a shared future and interests. He also encouraged SCO countries to follow the Shanghai Spirit to build a community with a shared future for the region.

He always stresses the importance of solidarity and collaboration and has raised a series of initiatives for deepening SCO cooperation, winning active response and support from relevant parties.

The world today is undergoing both transformation and upheaval; changes unseen in a century are unfolding at a faster pace; human society faces unprecedented challenges. Unity or split, peace or conflict, cooperation or confrontation — these are the questions raised again by the times.

Responding to the questions, Xi said that “The people’s wish for a happy life is our goal, and peace, development and win-win cooperation are the unstoppable trends of the times.”

To respond to the call of the times, the SCO must keep in mind its founding mission, and stay in unity and coordination to bring more certainty and positive energy to world peace and development.

Xi said that the SCO should keep to the right direction and enhance solidarity and mutual trust, maintain regional peace and safeguard common security, focus on practical cooperation and expedite economic recovery, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning and forge closer bonds between the peoples, and practice multilateralism and improve global governance.

These important suggestions and new cooperation initiatives proposed by Xi demonstrated China’s sense of responsibility as a major country in deepening SCO cooperation in various fields.

As a comprehensive regional cooperation organization that covers the widest area and largest population in the world, the SCO is committed to upholding mutual respect and the principle of equality among all countries regardless of their size. It firmly safeguards and practices true multilateralism, and has blazed a new trail of international relations that features partnership over alliance and cooperation over confrontation, becoming a pillar force in advocating international fairness and justice.

This time, the SCO officially welcomed Iran as a full member and signed the memorandum of obligations on the membership of Belarus. This manifested the vitality of the SCO family, and demonstrated relevant parties’ recognition to the SCO’s important contributions to deepening good-neighborliness, protecting the common interests of SCO countries, promoting long-term peace and stability of the region and the world, and advancing sustainable development.

A just cause finds great support, and a journey with many companions gets far. As long as all relevant parties keep moving in the right direction of promoting solidarity, mutual trust, development and cooperation, the SCO will definitely grow from strength to strength. A growing and expanding SCO will surely make global governance more just and equitable, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.