Nigeria Times

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Chinese President Xi Jinping held phone talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26. The two sides exchanged views on China-Ukraine relations and the Ukraine crisis.

The international community paid high attention to the phone talks and fully recognized China’s objective and fair position on the Ukraine crisis and the country’s efforts in promoting talks for peace

Xi said China’s readiness to develop relations with Ukraine is consistent and clear-cut, and no matter how the international situation evolves, China will work with Ukraine to advance mutually beneficial cooperation.

Xi stressed that on the Ukraine crisis, China always stands on the side of peace, and its core stance is to facilitate talks for peace.

China will send the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to Ukraine and other countries to have in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Xi said.

Zelensky thanked China for providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and welcomed China’s important role in restoring peace and seeking diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Since the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis, China has been actively speaking out for peace and facilitating talks for peace. Xi has put forward four principles, called for joint efforts in four areas and shared three observations on Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Ministry has released a 12-point position document on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, including respecting the sovereignty of all countries and resuming peace talks.

China’s efforts to promote peace talks are broadly understood and recognized by the international community.

This March, Xi paid a state visit to Russia and had an in-depth and candid exchange with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two heads of state signed joint statements, stressing that responsible dialogue is the best way for appropriate solutions.

The Russian side highly praised China’s objective, impartial and balanced position, and expressed that Russia has carefully studied China’s position paper, and is open to talks for peace. Russia welcomes China to play a constructive role in this regard.

China’s objective and fair position on the Ukraine issue and efforts to promote talks for peace are recognized and supported by both Russia and Ukraine.

A prolonged Ukraine crisis serves no one’s interests. An early ceasefire will serve the interests of all parties concerned and also the whole world, and political settlement is the only right way out.

In April this year, Xi held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Beijing. During a trilateral meeting with Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Xi reiterated that China independently decides its position based on the merits of issues, and China’s position on Ukraine boils down to supporting talks for peace.

Von der Leyen and Macron said they appreciate China’s efforts to promote a political settlement and look forward to China playing a more important role. They also said that they are prepared to work with China to find a way to facilitate talks for peace.

When Xi and Brazilian President Lula da Silva held talks in Beijing, the two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. They appealed to more countries to play a constructive role for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The two presidents agreed to stay in communication on the issue.

China believes that with rational thinking and voices now on the rise, it is important to seize the opportunity and build up favorable conditions for the political settlement of the crisis.

China did not create the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to the crisis. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible major country, China would not sit idly by, nor would it add oil to the fire, still less exploit the situation for self gains.

China’s position is clear-cut and consistent. Between peace and war, it chooses peace. Between dialogue and sanctions, it chooses dialogue. Between lowering the temperature and fanning the flames, it chooses the former.

Everything China does is aboveboard. China does not have selfish political interests or engage in geopolitical manipulation. Instead, China is sincerely committed to promoting peace talks and a ceasefire.

However, while China works for peace, certain countries have done everything possible to obstruct peace talks, and even fabricated all kinds of rumors and fallacies to attack and smear China. Such practices are out of their selfish geopolitical interests and completely against the historical trend.

Justice lies in the heart of people. The world can clearly see who is fueling the fight and who is advocating peace talks.

A review of history shows that conflicts in the end have to be settled through dialogue and negotiation. The more difficulties there are, the greater the need to keep space for peace. The more acute the problem is, the more important it is not to give up efforts for dialogue.

As long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

China will continue to stand firm on the side of peace and dialogue, and on the right side of history. It will work together with the rest of the world to play a constructive role in its own way for the political settlement of the Ukraine issue.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

Japan has continuously made erroneous words and deeds to hurt its relations with neighboring countries. The so-called joint communique issued after a Group of 7 (G7) foreign ministers meeting in Japan grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs and maliciously smeared and discredited China. which reflected the group’s deliberate desire to block and contain China.

Besides, Japanese politicians also made erroneous comments on the Taiwan question which concerns the post-war international order.

Such remarks and deeds of the Japanese side are strategically short-sighted, politically wrong and diplomatically unwise, and will only make regional countries more vigilant about Japan’s strategies.

As a country in Asia, Japan has frequently “invited the wolf into the house” over the recent years. Its diplomatic strategies are becoming dangerous.

As the United States claimed to “shape the strategic environment in which China operates,” Japan accelerated the adjustment to its diplomatic and security policies. Last December, it officially approved three updated security and defense-related documents, including the new National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program, declaring that Japan should have “counterstrike capability,” or “enemy base strike capabilities.”

According to the three documents, Japan intends to increase its defense spending between fiscal years 2023 and 2027 by 1.6 times from that between 2019 and 2023. The total defense spending in fiscal year 2027 will be aimed to account for 2 percent of the country’s GDP.

This means that Japan, which had once launched wars of aggression, has totally discarded its exclusively defense-oriented policy, which completely deviates from the philosophy of peace in the Japanese constitution.

Seeing China as the “greatest strategic challenge,” Japan distorts facts on the Taiwan question, the issue of Diaoyu Island and the South China Sea issue, and keeps fanning the so-called “China threat.” It takes this as an excuse to break free from the post-war order and is moving further down the path of military expansion.

Since this year, the country has made frequent moves to expand its military strength. Its defense budget for fiscal year 2023 jumped 26 percent from a year ago, and it announced a decision to develop a new missile force to obtain the capability of striking targets more than 1,000 kilometers from Japan. It also plans to deploy hypersonic weapons and develop submarine-launched hypersonic missiles with a range of 3,000 kilometers.

It is Japan who seeks military breakthroughs under the excuse of so-called “surrounding security threat” that is making real threats against regional security.

To loosen constitutional restrictions on military, Japan has constantly elevated the importance of U.S.-Japan alliance in its diplomatic strategies. The country believes that it could seek speculations in the “Indo-Pacific Strategy” of the United States and even introduce the NATO to the Asia-Pacific region by cooperating with the United States. This is serious strategic confusion.

History has proved that the United States is indeed the one that’s always steering the U.S.-Japan alliance, and to maintain its own hegemony and interests is always its goal in handling its relations with Japan.

Japan deeply knows the harms of the U.S. hegemony. The United States once launched seven trade and financial wars against Japan. In September 1985, the United States forced Japan to sign the Plaza Accord, which was believed to have paved the way for Japan’s “Lost Decades.”

In 1986 the United States and Japan inked the Semiconductor Agreement and renewed it five years later. After the agreement terminated, the U.S. semiconductor industry expanded its market share to around 30 percent in both the global and Japanese markets.

Over the recent years, the United States has not only increased tariffs on steel, aluminum and beef imported from Japan, but also claimed Toyota vehicles to be a national security threat against the United States.

These all indicate that Japan, though an ally of the United States, can never escape U.S. extreme oppression once it shakes up American interests.

Japan had long been addicted to the daydream of “Departure from Asia for Europe,” which finally led it to the wrong path of militarism that caused deadly disasters to the people in regional countries and brought unbearable results to the Japanese people.

Today, regional countries are generally concerned that Japan may repeat its mistakes given its current military expansion.

China-Japan relations are of crucial importance for regional peace and stability as well as the development of Japan itself. However, some forces in Japan are blindly following the wrong policies on China of the United States and working with the U.S. side to stir up troubles on issues concerning China’s core interests, which seriously undermines the political foundation of China-Japan relations and the basic trust and good faith between the two countries.

On April 24 and 25, a delegation of lawmakers from Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture submitted a resolution to the Defense Ministry, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Ministry, which voiced concern over the three updated documents on Japan’s security and defense policies, calling on the Japanese government to follow the principles it reached with China in relevant political documents, develop friendly relations with China, and engage in peacebuilding through dialogue and diplomacy. The Japanese government should listen to the voices of peace and justice made by all relevant parties.

If Japan is still addicted to seeking private interests through exacerbating tensions in the region, which is no different from “pulling chestnuts out of the fire,” it can never gain the so-called strategic freedom or the identity of a major country, but only bring to itself unbearable outcomes.

Only by coming to a correct perception of history, taking a hard look at itself, exercising caution in its words and deeds, and adhering to the path of peaceful development, can Japan be trusted by its neighboring countries in Asia and the international community.

By Wang Ke, Shi Zhe, People’s Daily

As a series of policies took effect, China has witnessed expanding scenarios and improved expectations in consumption, which led to a rebound in market sales and a steady improvement in service consumption, according to its Q1 consumption data.

The country’s consumption, in general, is showing positive signs of recovery.

The retail sales of consumer goods totaled around 11.49 trillion yuan (about $1.66 trillion) in the first quarter, up 5.8 percent year-on-year. The revenue of the country’s catering sector increased by 13.9 percent from a year ago.

The Q1 growth was obviously higher than the growth in Q4 of 2022, said Hong Yong, associate researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

In March this year, the retail sales of consumer goods registered a year-on-year growth of 10.6 percent, 7.1 percentage points higher than that in the January-February period, he said, adding that these figures indicated a recovering and improving consumption of China.

He told People’s Daily that multiple factors contributed to the recovering consumption. A slew of policies have been issued this year to promote consumption, and stable employment has been maintained, which has laid a solid foundation for the steady recovery of residents’ income and consumption, Hong explained.

In the first quarter, China’s per capita disposable income stood at 10,870 yuan, up 5.1 percent year-on-year in nominal terms, with 0.1 percentage points higher the previous year. After deducting price factors, the figure grows 3.8 percent year on year, 0.9 percentage points faster than the whole-year figure of 2022.

Consumption is playing an increasingly prominent role in driving economic growth. In the first three months, final consumption contributed to 66.6 percent of economic growth, which is a remarkable improvement from last year. It serves as the most important factor driving economic growth among the three major demands.

“Demands of Chinese consumers are more diversified and personalized. Only by developing more new products can we better meet their demands,” said an executive of dairy company Hoeslandt China at the recently held third China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE).

The launches of new products at the CICPE mirrored a new trend of consumption upgrades in China.

The Q1 data indicated an encouraging momentum of rebound in the Chinese consumption market, and China’s consumption still maintained strong resilience, great potential and huge vitality, said Zhang Jixing, deputy director of the market research department of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term consumption growth remain unchanged, and so does the general trend of consumption upgrade, he added.

Commodity sales maintained a steady recovery in Q1. With the gradual release of residents’ consumption potential, the consumption of upgraded goods picked up speed and that of everyday commodities kept growing.

In the first quarter, retail sales of goods increased 4.9 percent from the previous year. Nearly 70 percent of the 18 categories of retail sales above the designated size achieved year-on-year growth. In particular, the retail sales of jewelry and cosmetics went up 13.6 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

Both online and offline consumption saw faster growth. As market circulation improved, online consumption kept a growing momentum. In the January-March period, the online retail sales of physical goods nationwide increased 7.3 percent year on year, continuing to maintain rapid growth. Besides, offline consumption was also on a steady recovery.

Zhang believes that consumption, as a major engine driving economic growth, will play a bigger role in the future. In terms of medium- and long-term development, China is at a phase of rapid consumption upgrade with bright prospects, he explained.

“It’s great that I can experience the traditional culture while watching the beautiful flowers,” said a man named Hao Wei when visiting rape flower fields in Jining, east China’s Shandong province.

A series of themed activities such as poem exhibitions and immersive stage plays were launched around the rape flower fields to give better experiences to tourists.

According to statistics, the consumption of services, including tourism services, has significantly recovered. In the first quarter, in-person consumption in the catering, entertainment and tourism sectors grew fast. The revenue of the country’s catering sector increased by 13.9 percent from a year ago to more than 1.21 trillion yuan. Statistics from e-commerce service platforms Meituan and Dazhong Dianping indicated that the number of reservations for domestic accommodation, transportation and tourist site tickets for the upcoming May Day holiday had tripled compared with the same period in 2019 as of April 10.

By Sun Guangyong, People’s Daily

Natawut is a Thai employee of a plant under a Chinese refrigeration equipment supplier located in the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone in the core area of Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor over 100 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.

The air condition parts and other products manufactured by the plant are sold to not only Thai customers, but also countries and regions in other ASEAN countries.

Natawut, from central Thailand, speaks fluent Chinese and has a Chinese name Wang Dashan. It was under the assistance from the Luban Workshop, a vocational training program jointly implemented by China and Thailand, that he turned from an impoverished student to an engineer and became a department manager of the Chinese refrigeration equipment supplier.

In March 2016, the world’s first Luban Workshop was jointly unveiled by China’s Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technology College and Thailand’s Ayutthaya Technical College. It marked that China started sharing vocational education resources with other countries.

This first-ever Luban Workshop combines academic education and vocational training, uses advanced teaching equipment and offers courses in both Chinese and Thai languages. It has established 15 practice areas where students can learn to operate various types of machines.

Natawut was enrolled in the Thai Luban Workshop the same year, where he gradually learned that Luban represents not merely a name of a great Chinese craftsman, but the pursuit for craftsmanship and excellence.

Over the past seven years, the students of the Luban Workshop at Ayutthaya Technical College have delivered remarkable performance, winning a number of vocational competitions at the national level and even the ASEAN-level.

“They are proud of being students of the Luban Workshop,” said Mayuree Sriraboot, principal of Ayutthaya Technical College, adding that the workshop not only improves Thai students’ language and vocational skills, but also offers them with broad development opportunities.

“Through learning in the workshop, they have been acquainted with Chinese technologies, products and techniques, and developed skills that match the requirement of Thai enterprises. They are competitive in the job market,” the principal said.

Mechatronics, which Natawut majored in, enjoys broad application in industry. After graduating from the Luban Workshop, he worked as an assistant engineer.

“In the Luban Workshop, I learned both knowledge and operational skills. Students there need to learn the operation of machines, solve practical problems and acquire vocational skills,” Natawut told People’s Daily.

Thanks to the skills and experiences he gained from the vocational training program, Natawut got many job offers. Finally he chose a Chinese enterprise in the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone.

“It is in the Eastern Economic Corridor, the future of Thailand’s economic development,” he explained.

It is learned that since the Luban Workshop at Ayutthaya Technical College was established in 2016, it has trained 1,227 local students and sent 301 of them to China for vocational education.

Besides, the Luban Workshop also accepts students and teachers from vocational schools in other ASEAN countries and has trained a total of 12,000 people from these countries.

The Thai Luban Workshop improves Thailand’s vocational training, further enhances Thai-China education cooperation, and builds closer friendship between the two peoples, said Tanu Vongjinda, secretary-general of the Thai Vocational Education Commission.

He hopes the Luban Workshop can train more professionals, drive technical innovation and upgrade, and make a contribution to the Thai government’s 20-Year Strategy, a project also known as Thailand 4.0.

By Feng Hua, Liu Shiyao, People’s Daily

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences on April 24 jointly released a series of global images of Mars obtained during China’s first Mars exploration mission.

These color images are based on 14,757 image data acquired by a remote-sensing camera on the Tianwen-1 orbiter. Scientists identified a large number of geographical entities near the landing site from high-resolution images of Mars.

The International Astronomical Union has named, according to relevant rules, 22 of the geographical entities after the historical and cultural villages and towns in China with a population of less than 100,000.

The scientific exploration data obtained by the Tianwen-1 mission will make a contribution to human’s in-depth knowledge of Mars.

In 2022, China set a new record with 64 rocket launches, achieving remarkable results in its major aerospace projects.

The country has completed the construction of its Tiangong space station, and for the first time discovered the Changesite-(Y), a kind of colorless transparent columnar crystal, on the moon.

It completed the space-segment construction of its Gaofen project, the backbone network of its high-resolution Earth observation system, and a comprehensive solar observation network has been formed following the launches of the Xihe and Kuafu-1 satellites.

Besides, the country has launched a terrestrial ecosystem carbon monitoring satellite for its carbon peaking and neutralization efforts.

These remarkable achievements record China’s unremitting pursuit of the aerospace dream.

Exploring the universe is a dream of the Chinese people and a common pursuit of all mankind. Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA, noted that China, following the principle of equality, mutual benefit, peaceful utilization, and inclusive development, has initially built a model of international cooperation in the space industry with cooperation agreements as the guide, cooperation mechanisms as the backbone and cooperation outlines as the focus.

The model has formed a good situation with government guidance and the participation of all parties, Zhang added.

Over the past 30 years since the CNSA was established, China has signed 136 cooperation documents with 43 countries or regions and 6 international organizations. It has inked space cooperation outlines with 9 national space agencies, and established 17 space cooperation mechanisms. 

China has actively worked with international scientists to analyze data on lunar and Mars explorations in the new era. China’s Long March rockets have completed 52 commercial launches for 22 countries, regions and international satellite organizations, sending some 70 satellites of various types into orbits.

The CNSA-led China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites program, Double Star space mission, China-France ocean-observing satellite and astronomical satellite programs, as well as China-Italy seismo-electromagnetic satellite project have become highlights of international aerospace cooperation.

China will strive for steadier and greater progress in space exploration. According to Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, the fourth phase of China’s lunar exploration program, including the Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7, and Chang’e-8 missions, is in progress.

Wu said that China plans to launch the Chang’e-6 probe around 2024 in an attempt to collect some 2,000 grams of lunar samples from the far side of the moon and return them to Earth. Besides, the Chang’e-7 probe is expected to be launched around 2026, which is intended to land on the moon’s south pole and conduct detailed surveys to explore traces of water.

Wu noted that China will work to make breakthroughs in key technologies of the Chang’e-8 mission, and jointly promote the establishment of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) with relevant countries, international organizations and partners.

The Chang’e-8 mission, which is expected to be launched around 2028, will complete the basic structure for the ILRS on the moon’s south pole together with the Chang’e-7 mission. There would be a lunar orbiter, lander and rover as well as a range of scientific detection devices, Wu added.

This year, the Tiangong space station has officially entered a phase of application and development, where Chinese astronauts will be on permanent duty according to the mission.

It is reported that China will launch the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft and Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship this May, and the Shenzhou-17 is expected to take off in October. During the two manned space missions, astronauts will conduct extravehicular activities and carry out science and technology experiments in space, popularize science education and carry out other space activities.

China will make steadier steps in its future space exploration. The country’s heavy-lift carrier rocket mission, the Tianwen-3 mission that plans to return samples from Mars, and the development of a defense system against near-Earth asteroids are all in progress. It plans to launch the Tianwen-2 mission around 2025.

In terms of planetary exploration, the country is steadily working to advance missions to collect samples from a near-Earth asteroid and explore a comet.

Before 2035, China will establish a comprehensive national system for positioning, navigation and timing services that is more integrated and intelligent based on the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, which is expected to lay a solid foundation for intelligent and unmanned development in the future.

By Yang Yan

Lu Ban isan ancient Chinese woodcraft master who represents the Chinese tradition and spirit of craftsmanship.

The Luban Workshop, a Chinese vocational training program, is exactly named after this outstanding Chinese man. It aims to nurture workmen around the world that are highly skillful, professional and innovative.

The program was initiated and firstly implemented by the government of Tianjin municipality. Following the spirit of craftsmanship of Lu Ban, it shares with other countries China’s vocational education models and vocational skills, and cultivates competitive local skilled talents.

It energizes the cooperation between Chinese schools and foreign educational institutions, enterprises and governments, paving a new path of development featuring joint contribution and shared benefits.

On March 8, 2016, the Tianjin Bohai Vocational Technical College, sponsored by Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry (Group) Company Limited, set up the first Luban Workshop outside China in the Ayutthaya Technical College Thailand. The workshop has increased the number of majors from one to six, and all of the six majors have been endorsed by the Thai Ministry of Education and included in Thailand’s national education system. In the following two years, over 2,000 students received vocational training there.

Besides, the Chinese vocational training program has also been launched in more than 20 countries including the UK, Egypt, Cambodia, Portugal, Djibouti and Kenya, shaping a multi-tier international vocational training system that covers vocational middle and high schools, as well as application-oriented bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.

As a new international cooperation project of vocational education, the Luban Workshop is based on the outstanding achievements of China’s vocational education reform and development, and carries the advanced Chinese vocational education philosophy. It has systematic training for overseas teachers, adopts standards and equipment in line with frontier technologies, vocational skill competitions and qualifications, and offers bilingual courses, so as to ensure that all workshops under the program aim at the same goal and are standardized.

The Luban Workshop conforms to the demand for industrial development in host countries and has nurtured a big number of local skilled workers that are urgently needed in these countries’ economic and social development.

According to incomplete statistics, over 50 majors have been offered under Chinese-foreign cooperation within the framework of the program, training 9,000 students with degrees for host countries and training 18,000 people for local communities. Many young people in host countries have secured high-quality jobs.

Practices have proved that the Luban Workshop has significantly improved the capability of vocational education in host countries, thus realizing win-win results.

Joe Mucheru, head of the Kenyan Ministry of Information Communications and Technology, believes that the cloud computing and information security training developed by the Luban Workshop is vital for Kenya’s development of information technologies.

Afifa Shajia Awais, education attache of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, said Pakistan needs massive technicians in artificial intelligence, cyber security and intelligent technology to assist the country’s industrialization, and the Luban Workshop is exactly an example of Pakistan-China cooperation.

Luban Workshop is not just a unilateral education provider, but involves two-way exchanges such as student exchange and mutual recognition of academic qualifications.

By launching short-term mutual visits and exchanges between Chinese and foreign teachers and students, and through international skills and vocational competitions, the program has constantly deepened cooperation between Chinese and foreign young students and teachers.

Academic events based on the program, such as forums on Chinese-foreign vocational education cooperation, have also promoted the reform and development of international vocational education from different perspectives.

Besides, Chinese and foreign teachers under the program have jointly carried out studies on international vocational education and worked to develop relevant resources to comprehensively improve their capability in vocational training. Friendship, which derives from close contact between the people, holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. Over the past seven years, the Luban Workshop has been committed to mutual learning, serving socioeconomic development of host countries and promoting international capacity production. It has built a bridge of cultural and people-to-people communication between China and foreign countries, and witnessed numerous stories of friendship. In the future, the program will keep playing an important role and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

By Wang Junling

The exports of excavators can indicate the development of the engineering machinery industry and even the manufacturing industry. Since this year, the exports of Chinese excavators have been on a constant rise, becoming a highlight of the sluggish world economic recovery.

According to a survey that covered major Chinese manufacturers of excavators launched by the China Construction Machinery Association, China exported 28,643 excavators in the first three months this year, up 13.3 percent year on year. In particular, the exports of some leading players doubled, and the number of orders they receive is still rising.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that China is currently able to produce 22 categories of engineering machinery, and is one of the countries with the widest range of products. It is the world’s largest producer of excavators, cranes, loaders and other major engineering machinery.

What has contributed to the rapid growth of China’s exports of excavators is the high-quality development of Chinese manufacturers.

Wu Yuanfeng, vice general manager of an earthmoving machinery company under Chinese machinery manufacturer Zoomlion, told People’s Daily that the exports of Zoomlion’s flagship excavator model jumped over 200 percent from a year ago in Q1 this year, and this great performance was attributed to the company’s strong investment in R&D and manufacturing techniques.

“We have built the first whole-process intelligent excavator manufacturing base in Changsha, central China’s Hunan province, which lifts the average production capacity by nearly 70 percent and reduces the production cycle by 65 percent when compared with the traditional plants,” Wu noted.

He said medium- and large-sized excavators produced by Zoomlion have won high recognition from overseas clients thanks to these machines’ great performance in operating power, construction efficiency, energy conservation and adaptability.

In Q1 this year, the excavator exports of Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co., Ltd., headquartered in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, increased 16 percent year on year. In particular, the exports of heavy-duty excavators above 30 tons surged 80 percent, he added.

The company’s improved customer service is an important reason for its success with clients from abroad, said Lin Shencai, international business director of the company’s excavator department.

According to Lin, LiuGong Machinery has seven sales divisions that cover 102 countries globally, and every division has its own sales channels and after-sales service system. These divisions all offer 24/7 services.

“Our excavators have an average trouble-free time of more than 1,700 hours. We also sell graders, bulldozers, loaders and other earthmoving products and boast a worldwide after-sale network that provides comprehensive support for customers,” Lin told People’s Daily.

As the world faces downward economic pressure, economies in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions are enhancing their investment in infrastructure and mining to stabilize economic growth, which is an important reason for the rise in the overseas demand of excavators and other engineering machinery, said Zhou Minliang, a researcher with the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese enterprises have seized the opportunity from overseas markets thanks to their reliable technological capability, good reputation and quality service system, Zhou added, to achieve the growth of domestic excavators and other products exports.

Wan Zhe, a research fellow at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University, believes that the popularity of Chinese excavators overseas mirrors the worldwide recognition of Chinese manufacturing, as infrastructure is a foundation for a region’s economic and social development. Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has been widely welcomed in countries along its route and other regions, and the close Belt and Road cooperation has created a sound external environment for the exports of Chinese excavators, Wan added.