Nigeria Times

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

China and Honduras signed a joint communique on March 26 on the establishment of diplomatic relations.

According to the communique, the two governments have decided to recognize each other and establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level, effective from the date of signature of the communique.

Honduras has thus become the 182nd country to have diplomatic relations with China.

This fully proves that adhering to the one-China principle is a correct choice that follows international justice and meets the trend of the times. It is in line with the prevailing trend and supported by the people.

The one-China principle is recognized by Resolution 2758 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1971. It is a prevailing consensus of the international community and a basic norm in international relations.

There is but one China in the world. The government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. This is an indisputable historical and legal fact.

Honduras chooses to stand with 181 countries in the world, recognize and undertake to adhere to the one-China principle. It severs the so-called “diplomatic relations” with Taiwan, establishes diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China and undertakes that it shall no longer develop any official relations or official exchanges with Taiwan. The decision conforms to the general trend and desires of the two peoples.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Honduras is fair and square, which is a historical trend that no person or force can stop.

Honduras made the political decision to recognize and undertake to adhere to the one-China principle and establish diplomatic relations with China without any precondition, which fully serves the fundamental and long-term interests of the country and its people. It is also a choice to stand on the right side of history and the side of the vast majority of countries.

In recent years, China has established or resumed diplomatic ties with Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nicaragua and other countries.

China and Honduras have opened a new chapter in bilateral relations. The establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries has removed political obstacles hindering their cooperation. By following the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, China stands ready to enhance friendly cooperation with Honduras in various fields.

The two sides will strengthen their synergy and coordination, speed up consultations on important bilateral agreements and cooperation mechanisms, reach agreements at an early date, and quickly build the “pillars” of bilateral relations.

Honduras is welcome to support and join the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promote exchanges and mutual learning as well as practical cooperation within relevant frameworks.

Honduras said it is ready to work with China to further enhance bilateral relations, advance bilateral cooperation in various fields at full speed, and strengthen communication and coordination in multilateral fields so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Honduras will not only benefit the two peoples, but also have important significance in strengthening solidarity and cooperation among developing countries and promoting greater democracy in international relations.

The United States has been trying to hinder other sovereign countries from developing normal diplomatic relations with China recently. Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party authority has frequently made irresponsible remarks, which further exposed its attempts to seek U.S. support for its independence agenda.

China urges the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and earnestly deliver on its leaders’ commitment of not supporting “Taiwan independence” or “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”. It has this stern warning for the Taiwan authorities that “Taiwan independence” separatist activities go against the will and interests of the Chinese nation, reverse the course of history, and will be a dead end.

China-Honduras relations have set sail. With the joint efforts of the two sides, the ship of the China-Honduras friendship will surely ride the wind and cleave the waves, and sail toward a bright future with the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations.

It is believed that more and more countries will choose to recognize and undertake to adhere to the one-China principle, and make the political decision to establish or resume diplomatic ties with China.

By Gu Chun, People’s Daily

In Yusangang village, Liandu district, Lishui, east China’s Zhejiang province, there is an 18-meter-high greenhouse which is unique compared to other kinds.

A beehive-type structure made of rebars is seen in the greenhouse, on which a wire-mesh passage spirals up. On the two sides of the passage, rows of boxes with various types of plant roots and stems are hanging in the air.

“These are sweet potatoes,” said Xu Weizhong, technical chief of facility agriculture with an academy of agricultural sciences in Lishui, lifting a well-grown root of the plant in the greenhouse, which was nearly half a meter long.

In front of the sweet potatoes stood some peach trees with shorter roots and trunks as thick as two fingers. According to Xu, these trees would yield fist-sized peaches a year later. On the top of the structure, there were also rows of giant rice that could grow to two meters high.

The stems and roots of these plants are connected to sensors, which could detect the dry humidity and inform the sprayers to various sprinkle nutrient solutions automatically. which are tailored for different plants. Solutions could be collected separately through water pipes at the box bottom and then sterilized and recycled.

“This is aeroponics. With this technology, plants can grow in the air without fertilizer or soil. The growth is managed by intelligent devices,” Xu told People’s Daily.

This technology has been acknowledged by many Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, and is a new method that truly helps farmers increase their income, he added.

Aeroponics is a technology of high value. Rapid propagation, a branch of aeroponics technology, is evaluated to be worth 140 million yuan.

Aeroponics has been widely applied in deserts, offshore farms and extremely cold mountainous regions, bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to residents in these places. It has also made vegetable growing possible in the Sahara desert, the Alpine regions of Russia as well as other places with harsh environmental conditions.

Combining aeroponics, greenhouse facilities, computer control and other innovative technologies, Xu won the second prize of China’s State Scientific and Technological Progress Award in 2009 with his project of the urban-type facility cultivation model.

After graduating from an agricultural college in Lishui in 1990, Xu started growing trees on barren hills that he contracted. He began exploring a way to realize the rapid propagation of plants through the control of temperature, humidity and lighting.

In 2001, he finally developed the non-tube rapid propagation technology. With this technology, farmers can grow over 1,000 peach trees on merely a mu of land, or around 667 square meters, which could yield fruits within a year.

The promotion of the technology brought Xu economic benefits that supported him in establishing his own research team and expanding R&D investment. His research team targeted every technology that could satisfy farmers’ demands.

Over the recent years, he has declined offers from many research institutions and enterprises, and kept staying in his hometown, because he wants to study deeper in agricultural research.

Apart from aeroponics, he has developed many other intelligent cultivation technologies, and invented China’s first domestic controlling computer for greenhouses, winning lots of certificates over the years.

Xu’s aeroponics technology has benefited a lot of farmers, including Chen Binye from Guangdong province. In a phone call, the man told Xu that thanks to the technology, it’s easy for Chen and his wife to cultivate crops on 100 mu of land compared to only five mu in the past, and the yield has more than tripled.

Xu provides free training for farmers every year to impart to them cultivation techniques of flowers, vegetables, fruits and grains, which has been joined by more than 10,000 people.

Xu’s team has promoted aeroponics technology to the market nationwide for free. So far, the technology has been introduced to more than 3,000 enterprises and scientific institutions, and employed by over 200,000 farmers.

Xu also livestreams agricultural training on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice,” is the idol of Xu. Xu said he also wants to devote his entire life to agricultural studies, so as to benefit more farmers.

By Chungda Drolkar, People’s Daily

“Both fetal heart monitoring and B-scan ultrasonography showed that the baby is healthy,” said Tsering Yangzom, a 27-year-old mother-to-be who was receiving pregnancy care in a township clinic in Yulmed, Luntse county, Shannan, southwest China’s Tibet autonomous region.

According to the woman, she had to go to Luntse or downtown Shannan for pregnancy care, but now it has become much more convenient as relevant services are available where she lives.

The township clinic is a two-storey building that comes with a clinical lab, an internal medicine department and a preventive medicine department. Commonly used drugs are readily available there. It is staffed by seven medical workers, including general practitioners and nurses.

In the hall of the clinic, there is an intelligent health check-up machine. Patients can go through regular check-ups by simply tapping their ID cards on it. Then the machine would print health reports for patients automatically.

Qiu Jianliang, head of the clinic, has been working there for 10 years.

“It is very difficult to find the exact cause of a person’s chest pain in the past. Now we have electrocardiograph machines which could help doctors with diagnosis and quickly detect heart problems,” said Qiu.

According to him, the clinic also offers B-scan ultrasonography, regular blood testing and urinalysis. The automated external defibrillator (AED) and other auxiliary medical devices could monitor, assess and automatically treat patients with life-threatening heart rhythms.

Thanks to the improved health and transport facilities, residents in Yulmed township can have minor illnesses treated locally, and those critically ill can also be diagnosed and transferred to better hospitals very quickly.

Qiu told People’s Daily that the township’s roads to the outside were closed for around six months each year in the past due to severe weathers and poor infrastructure, which was challenging for treating critically ill patients.

“Nowadays, we can send them to county and city hospitals with ambulances at the earliest time possible,” Qiu said.

Tobgye is a 56-year-old resident suffering from severe arthritis in Yulmed township. Last year, he had a surgery in Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region, which greatly relieved his pain. He always visits the township clinic to fetch drugs.

“I had 85 percent of the surgery expense reimbursed, and the drugs I take now are mostly covered by my health insurance,” Tobgye told People’s Daily.

The improvement of medical conditions in Yulmed township is a miniature of the development of township clinics in Tibet autonomous region.

Today, an urban-rural medical service network that covers all levels has been established in the autonomous region, and the autonomous region’s basic healthcare, disease prevention and control, maternity and child health and mobile healthcare systems are also improving.

Now, every township clinic in Tibet is equipped with 3.4 practitioners on average, and all administrative villages in the autonomous region have at least one clinic.

Kelsang Yudron, head of Tibet’s health commission, said that Tibet is working to stabilize and optimize rural medical staff, build capable medical teams that meet villagers’ demands, and comprehensively improve the primary-level healthcare capabilities of the autonomous region, so as to provide residents with safe, effective, convenient and affordable basic health services and ensure equalized access to basic public health services.

Next, Tibet will focus on deepening reform of medicine and healthcare system, make the distribution of quality medical resources more balanced, improve the capability of primary-level medical services, optimize public health services and ensure medical services for key groups including seniors, children and women, Kelsang Yudron noted.

Besides, the autonomous region will keep promoting the inheritance and innovative development of traditional Tibetan medicine, build stronger medical teams and advance high-quality development of the health sector, Kelsang Yudron added.

By Shi Fang, Yu Feiyang

“‘See’ the colors of the world through sounds, and enjoy the beauty of art by listening. Welcome to the ‘Ever Shining Cinema’. Today we are going to present to you The Wandering Earth…”

It was the opening remarks made by a volunteer of “Ever Shining Cinema”, a public-service project aimed at interpreting movies for visually impaired people, at a movie activity held in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

With her eyes closed and head slightly raised, Ma Deli from Dechang county, Xichang city, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of southwest China’s Sichuan province, listened to the narration for the movie attentively. She didn’t want to miss any detail.

When hearing a thrilling episode, she clutched the armrests nervously.

Ma runs a blind massage parlor. She seldom went out after she completely lost her sight, let alone to the movies.

When she heard that the association of persons with visual disabilities in Sichuan province would show a barrier-free movie, Ma immediately decided to approve a day off to “see” the movie with the staff.

The barrier-free movie was prepared by a team of volunteers of the “Ever Shining Cinema” project initiated by the Communication University of China (CUC). The team has handled every link from the production to the screening of the barrier-free movie.

Founded nearly five years ago, the project has recorded volunteers of more than 500 CUC teachers and students. They have produced over 500 barrier-free movies of various genres, including animation, science fiction, as well as realistic and historical movies.

So far, the “Ever Shining Cinema” project has held public-service activities and promotions in China’s 31 provincial-level regions, and brought barrier-free movies and TV shows to 2,244 special education schools across the country.

Research suggests that able-bodied people perceive up to 80 percent of all impressions by means of their sight. However, there are more than 17 million people with visual impairment in China. How to make movies, which mainly relied on light and color, understood by visually impaired people was the first problem the project had to solve.  

At first, teachers at the CUC wanted to use sound editing to narrate the movie in about half an hour. The idea was abandoned after in-depth discussions among members of the volunteer team.

“Audiences usually enjoy a movie in a cinema, where they can feel the ups and downs of the story. People with visual impairment should also be able to enjoy a movie like that,” said Zhao Xijing, associate researcher at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, CUC.

At last, the “Ever Shining Cinema” decided to add detailed descriptions of the movie scenes during the intervals of the original dialogues and sounds, explaining the scenes and the emotions and meanings behind them. 

“The name of the project, ‘Ever Shining Cinema’, means helping people with visual impairment seek light and gain hope,” said Fu Haizheng, deputy head of the research institute for barrier-free communication of the CUC.

“Barrier-free movies don’t merely describe movie scenes. More importantly, they help people with visual impairment understand the meanings of the scenes. It takes great effort to present an audio feast,” said Hu Fang, a postgraduate at the CUC.

“We watch every scene of a movie more than 10 times before we can convert it into a narrative script. We need to pause a movie at least 3,000 times to make a barrier-free version of it,” said Li Yiying, a doctoral student at the CUC who participated in the production.

The production process includes such links as the selection of movies, narrative writing, review and revision of script, recording, editing and sound mixing. According to Li, it takes more than a month to produce a barrier-free version of a 2-hour movie, and the narrative script usually contains more than 20,000 Chinese characters.

In addition to the production, thoughtful services for the special audience should be prepared at the venues where the movie activities are held.

In an effort to provide a good movie experience, volunteers of the “Ever Shining Cinema” project pay close attention to every detail.

They walk the entire route several times and make a thorough work plan before every movie activity, considering the convenient drop-off points for visually impaired people and noticing obstacles they might encounter along the way.

When a barrier-free version of the movie Operation Red Sea was presented at a cinema in Chaoyang district of Beijing, more than 100 volunteers formed a 100-meter-long passage with their bodies to ensure the safety of the audience. Visually impaired viewers were guided all the way from where they got off to their seats.

Thanks to the “Ever Shining Cinema” project, many people with visual impairment got the first movie ticket in their lives. Their movie tickets are specially designed and printed.

“When I saw them carefully fondling the movie tickets and laughing or shedding tears during a movie, I knew all our efforts were worthwhile,” said Li Chaopeng, a doctoral student at the CUC.

“Volunteers’ narration has brought us the infinite charm of movies and enabled people with visual impairment to enjoy public cultural services,” said He Chuan, deputy head of China Association of Persons with Visual Disabilities.

Volunteers of the “Ever Shining Cinema” project produce 104 barrier-free movies every year to make sure people with visual impairment can enjoy two new movies a week on average, which is equal to or even more than the average number of times able-bodied people watch movies a week.

In September 2022, the public-service project launched on-demand services of barrier-free movies on cable TVs in China, covering more than 200 million households across the country.

By Jin Xin, People’s Daily 

　

“Machine learning is a kind of statistical learning in which the computer builds a model based on statistics and then uses the model to predict likely future outcomes.” “Statistics, algorithms and computing power are three major factors of machine learning.”

Recently, Ma Di, a university student in Beijing, has been taking the open course entitled “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Practice” every day through a platform called Chinadata.cn, which helps the general public improve digital literacy and skills.

The platform is created to encourage key universities, research institutes and social organizations to share digital resources such as online courses, teaching tools and application cases, with the general public.

“Providing courses on digital applications in various aspects in a systematic manner makes the platform a useful tool for improving people’s digital literacy,” said Ma.

Improving digital literacy and skills for the general public is a key measure to meet the requirements of the digital era. In recent years, Chinese governments at various levels have rolled out effective measures to improve digital literacy and skills of the general public and solidify the social basis for the development of the digital economy.

“When farmers start to promote agricultural products through livestreaming, they have new tasks besides their farm work, including analyzing the needs of their viewers and finding a selling point for their products.”

Liang Xiaoyong (a pseudonym), a farmer in Huitong county, central China’s Hunan province, was watching an online lecture about how to create wealth from high-quality agricultural products via an agriculture education app on his smart phone.

The Cyberspace Administration of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and other relevant departments have taken active measures to promote full coverage of the app in rural areas in Hunan, trying to boost supply of digital resources for rural areas and improve farmers’ ability to use digital tools.

Last August, Hunan provided 4,186 courses and learning resources on digital literacy and skills for the general public free of charge, helping more people embrace a digital way of life at an accelerated pace.

The “Smart Education of China,” a public online service platform launched by the Ministry of Education, is the world’s largest pool of education resources. The national e-commerce public service website built by the Ministry of Commerce offers resources in various sectors, including e-commerce news, development index, information about exhibitions and training courses. The learning community for industrial workers built by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions serves as a platform which promotes online and offline learning and also includes a skill evaluation and assessment system.

These platforms have enriched the supply of education and training resources, pushed for the sharing of digital resources, ensured equal access to digital resources and made digital resources benefit for all.

In February this year, the Cyberspace Administration of China and other 12 departments jointly ranked 78 units as the country’s first batch of digital literacy and digital skills training bases, including science and technology museums, schools, research institutes and vocational skills training bases.

These training bases with distinctive features form a digital literacy and skills training network that covers the entire country and serves the general public.

The Hangzhou Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum is the first large-scale science and technology museum in the world with low carbon as its theme. Stick to the topic of low-carbon lifestyle and smart life style, it displays more than 100 science exhibits that are interesting and interactive. The Beijing-based Internet security company Qihoo 360 has built a cloud platform for cybersecurity education that is able to provide one-stop cybersecurity education services. Shanghai’s East China Normal University has independently developed a teaching platform which promotes computer science among the general public and provides teaching services such as online training.

Besides training bases for the general public, systems for training high-level professional personnel in digital technologies are also being built across the country.

With the help of the office of the cyberspace affairs commission of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin city, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, has built a collaborative education base with relevant companies.

The base provides a sound education and experimental environment for more than 2,000 students. It provides them with resources including computing hardware platform with Ascend and Kunpeng processors, openEuler system, database openGauss, and all-scenario AI computing framework MindSpore.

With continuous improvement of Chinese people’s attention and participation in digital transformation, relevant practices have gradually penetrated into the everyday life of the public.

The health authorities of Nanxun district, Huzhou city, east China’s Zhejiang province, have used a 5G-based intelligent community health information management platform to monitor the health condition of patients on a regular basis.

The platform can help track and monitor patients’ health indicators, including blood pressure, blood sugar and heart rate, send warning messages to patients when it detects abnormal data. A message was sent to Cui Jie (a pseudonym), a senior female citizen of Nanxun district, as soon as the intelligent platform detected her blood pressure abnormality.

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As digital resources become increasingly rich and the application scenarios of digital technologies continuously expand, the digital literacy of Chinese people will continue to improve, more people will benefit from the digital civilization.

By Xiao Xinxin, People’s Daily

During his three-day visit to Russia starting on March 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin had sincere, friendly and fruitful talks on the bilateral ties and major regional and international issues of mutual interest, and reached new, important common understandings in many fields.

In March 2013, Xi chose Russia for his first trip abroad as Chinese president. Ten years later, Xi again picked Russia for his first overseas visit following his re-election.The visit is a trip of friendship, cooperation and peace.

On the streets of Moscow, it’s easy to see Chinese signs in public places, merchants speaking Chinese to greet customers, as well as Chinese brand vehicles. These Chinese elements are a  vivid epitome and witness of the continuously upgrading China-Russia ties.

“Old friend” is a term for more and more Russians to address China. Messages and articles about Xi’s visit to Russia are seen on many Russian newspapers and magazines.

A student named Sophia from Moscow State University told People’s Daily that Xi’s visit will bring more vitality to China-Russia ties and make China-Russia friendship even closer.

Head-of-state interaction is the compass and anchor of China-Russia relations. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state of the two countries, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era has maintained strong momentum for development. The two countries’ political mutual trust, strategic coordination and pragmatic cooperation have reached new heights. They have set a good example of good-neighborly friendship and win-win cooperation between major countries and neighboring countries.

Today, our world, our times and history are changing. China and Russia have worked together to fulfill their responsibilities as major countries and played a leading role in bringing stability to a world of change and disorder. They have always maintained strategic focus, remained committed to promoting a multi-polar world, championed and practiced true multilateralism and played a constructive role in promoting world peace and global development.

The two countries have delivered remarkable performance in pragmatic cooperation. In the first two months of this year, bilateral trade between China and Russia increased 25.9 percent year on year to nearly $33.69 billion. China and Russia have continuously synergized the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union, witnessed progress in cooperation in both traditional and emerging fields.

Besides, the two countries are also seeing closer sub-national cooperation, frequent people-to-people and cultural exchanges, as well as the development of the Years of Sports Exchange. The social foundation for China-Russia friendship has been further strengthened.

As a Chinese saying goes, a partnership forged with the right approach defies geographical distance. To develop a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era is a long-term strategic choice made by the two sides.

Both China and Russia are at a key stage of development and vitalization. The cooperation between the two countries enjoys huge potential and promising prospects.

It is believed that the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era between China and Russia will keep advancing at a high level, better benefit the two countries and the world at large.

By Yu Hongjian, Xiao Xinxin, Xie Yahong, People’s Daily

China and Russia are each other’s largest neighbors and major emerging markets, and the cooperation between the two countries boasts strong resilience, ample potential and wide space.

Over the recent years, the two countries have constantly expanded their cooperation in green development, which not only benefits the two peoples, but also injects positive energy into regional and global development.

Russia’s first electric vehicle plant, with a designed annual production capacity of 100,000 units, was put into operation in September 2022. Its spare parts are supplied by Chinese manufacturers.

At the end of 2022, the once-renowned carmaker Moskvich restarted production. Its major products are electric and hybrid vehicles, China is a main provider of new energy technologies for the Russian brand.

In recent years, Chinese auto manufacturing sector, new energy vehicle (NEV) technologies and carmakers have gained an increasingly high reputation in Russia. The automobile industry has gradually become a new highlight of China-Russia cooperation.

According to a sales manager surnamed Anashkin of a car dealer under a Chinese automaker in Moscow, the Chinese automaker’s latest models were hitting the Chinese and Russian markets simultaneously, the cars’ appearance and performance are both competitive.

“Many models have been sold out. We only accept preorders now and are replenishing our inventory,” he said.

The NEV sector, in which China enjoys technological advantages, will be one of the important fields of cooperation between China and Russia in the future.

Russian news agency Sputnik said in a report that China is promoting green development and the harmonious coexistence between human and nature, improving environmental protection through reducing pollution and implementing measures to protect and restore environment.

Citing Sergey Sanakoev, deputy chairman of the Russian-Chinese Friendship Society, the report noted that China has been pursuing ecological progress in an increasingly active manner over the recent years, adding that the country takes concrete actions to improve the environment and is witnessing a significant rise in the production and supply of electric vehicles.

China’s exports of vehicles and auto parts to Russia saw a big rise and the sales of Chinese vehicles in Russia kept expanding. There were 1,041 car dealers selling Chinese vehicles in Russia as the end of 2022.

Apart from expanding cooperation in the NEV sector, China and Russia are also taking joint efforts to promote green economy, pollution treatment and biodiversity conservation.

On Dec. 1, 2022, the committee for cross-border water quality inspection and coordination between China and Russia kicked off its 18th meeting. Both the Chinese and Russian side vowed to make concerted efforts in joint actions of cross-border water quality inspection in 2023. The water quality along the border of the two countries has remained stable over the recent years, and the ecology environment in border areas has been gradually improved.

China and Russia will keep deepening cooperation on the protection of rare and endangered wildlife and migratory birds, enhance cooperation between nature reserves from the two sides, jointly build ecological corridors and carry out joint studies on giant panda protection and breeding.

Over the recent years, China and Russia have reaped fruitful results in regional ecological cooperation under multilateral frameworks, laying a solid foundation for maintaining regional ecological balance and sustainable development.

Kranina, a senior researcher with China Economic and Social Research Center, the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told People’s Daily that China has adopted a series of practical measures to develop green infrastructure, energy, transport and finance. “China’s experience in sustainable development is worth learning from,” she said.