Nigeria Times

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

An American journalist recently made public a series of “Twitter Files” that exposed the U.S. government’s involvement in social media platforms and their deceptions in publicity.

As a matter of fact, the U.S. government has long been spreading fake information and weaving a net of rumors to manipulate public opinion, demonize other countries and maintain U.S. hegemony. It is completely a “lie maker.”

Fabricating and spreading fake information is a common practice of the U.S.

During the Cold War, the United States launched the Operation Mockingbird, which enlisted at least 400 journalists and 25 large organizations around the world to fabricate fake news and manipulate public opinion.

In 2003, only with a test tube of undetermined white powder, or what some describe as “washing powder,” the country accused Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction and provoked the Iraq War. In 2016, it galvanizes Syria’s White Helmets into making fake videos and spreading misinformation in an attempt to smear the Syrian government. Besides, it resorted to a “presumption of guilt” against China when tracing the origins of COVID-19.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted that “We lied, we cheated, we stole…It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”

Over the recent years, the U.S. has launched frequent public opinion and cognitive warfare to maintain its hegemony, taking fake information as a tool to oppress and contain other countries. It instigated color revolutions around the world, oppressed other countries’ enterprises in the name of so-called national security, and fabricated big lies about China’s Xinjiang such as “genocide” and “forced labor.”

The country has time and again whitewashed its subversion and infiltration efforts, bullying and robbery practices and trampling on lives, calling them “democratic progress,” “maintaining justice” and “safeguarding human rights.” This fully exposed the country’s hegemonic, domineering and bullying mentality.

Gordon Adams, professor emeritus with American University, noted that “concealment, deception and outright lies have characterized U.S. national security policy for decades.”

Framing other countries with fake information in cyberspace has become a weapon of the “New Cold War” of the U.S.

A study by Australia Institute, a Canberra-based think tank, identified 5,752 accounts that spread mis- and disinformation regarding the novel coronavirus in 2020, many of which were bot-like accounts that had connections to the U.S.

To spread fake information, the U.S. establish a rumor network by launching covert influence operations and other similar strategies.

According to the report “Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations”, which was jointly issued by the Stanford Internet Observatory and Graphika, a social media analytics firm, accounts used in covert influence operations created fake personas and posed as media outlets to disseminate news materials of low credibility, and smeared and attacked relevant countries in a targeted manner in at least seven languages, including Russian, Arabic and Urdu.

The fabrication and spreading of lies by the U.S. have led to a constant decline in trust in the country among the international community, including the American public.

According to a survey by Gallup and Knight Foundation, half of U.S. respondents disagree with the statement that national news organizations do not intend to mislead, misinform, or persuade the public.

Another survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania also indicated a 50 percent drop in the world’s trust in the U.S. from 2016, the largest decline in the world.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul said during a hearing last year that the American government is the world’s “greatest disseminator” of misinformation.

Fabricating and spreading lies would never expand U.S. influence, but only lead to the bankruptcy of the country’s credibility. The country should stop fooling the world and quit smearing other countries.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

“Chinese path to modernization” is a keyword for the international community to understand China.

It was raised and expounded during the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and its rich connotation and significance for the world have been profoundly explained by Chinese President Xi Jinping on a series of bilateral and multilateral occasions.

Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, stressed again the importance of correctly understanding and vigorously advancing Chinese modernization while addressing the opening of a recent study session at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

International personages called the Chinese path to modernization a major innovation in the development of human society, saying it has provided a brand-new model of modernization for the world and boosted the confidence of more countries in independently exploring their own paths to modernization.

Since the beginning of modern times, modernization has remained the historical trend of world development, and to achieve it is a common aspiration for every nation.

It is a huge achievement of the Chinese people made through countless hardships at an enormous cost under the leadership of the CPC, as well as a path that will turn China into a strong country and lead it to national rejuvenation.

Based on China’s decades of exploration and practice since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, especially since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, as well as the new breakthroughs made in theory and practice since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC has succeeded in advancing and expanding Chinese modernization.

Chinese modernization is socialist modernization pursued under the leadership of the CPC, and the leadership of the CPC decides the nature of Chinese modernization.

The CPC has led the Chinese people in pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, which demonstrates the Party’s responsibility in leading the development of the times, its belief in remaining faithful to the people, and its vision of striving for the common good.

The modernization process of a country needs to follow the general rule of modernization, but it shall be suited to its realities and characterized by features unique to its context.

Chinese modernization is characterized by the common features of modernization in all countries and is also unique to the Chinese context.

It is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development. These five features, which were recorded in the report to the 20th CPC National Congress, profoundly reveal the connotation of Chinese modernization.

Chinese modernization has become more clear, science-based, and practical, showing a strong appeal in the global sphere.

China has completed a process of industrialization that took developed countries several centuries in the space of mere decades, bringing about the two miracles of rapid economic growth and enduring social stability. This has opened up broad prospects for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and explains why Chinese modernization is so appealing.

Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC and the Chinese people have striven in unity to eradicate absolute poverty and finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, thus completing the First Centenary Goal. These were feats that will be forever recorded in the Chinese nation’s history, and feats that will profoundly influence the world.

What type of modernization a country follows is decided by its history, traditions, social system, development status, external environment, and other factors. Different national conditions lead to different paths to modernization.

Chinese modernization is deeply rooted in the fine traditional Chinese culture, mirrors the advantages of scientific socialism, draws inspiration from all of human civilization’s outstanding achievements, represents the direction of the progress of human civilization, and demonstrates a new vision that’s different from Western modernization. It is a new model for human advancement.

Chinese modernization dispels the myth that “modernization is equal to Westernization,” presents another picture of modernization, expands the channels for developing countries to achieve modernization, and provides a Chinese solution to aid the exploration of a better social system for humanity.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, noted that Chinese modernization reflects the insight of China into achieving modernization through a new path and offers a new model of modernization for mankind, especially for developing countries.

China will strive to promote the overall progress of mankind through Chinese modernization and create new opportunities for the world through its further development, with a view to adding more stability and certainty to a volatile world, Xi said.

A China marching toward modernization will bring more opportunities to the world, inject stronger momentum for international cooperation, and make greater contributions to human progress!

By Zhou Zhou, People’s Daily

Souvenirs with Chinese elements decorate an entire wall in the office of Essam Sharaf, former Prime Minister of Egypt. These souvenirs, including paper cuttings, Chinese calligraphy works, Peking Opera masks, as well as trophies and certificates that he received in China, carry his fond memories of years of friendly exchanges with China.

“I visited China for the first time in 2005 as Egypt’s Minister of Transport and saw the rapid economic development of the country. So far, I’ve made some 30 visits to China and the continuous development of the country impressed me so much,” said Sharaf.

He noted that China’s development is about not only the ever-changing urban construction, but also the improving living standard of the Chinese people.

“Today, China has developed into a strong and modern civilized country. Unquestionably, this couldn’t have been achieved without the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC),” Sharaf told People’s Daily, adding that the CPC follows a people-centered development philosophy and the Chinese people trust and support the leadership of the CPC.

People-centered development philosophy is the secret to the CPC’s success in governance, as it builds social consensus and fuels progress, he said.

As one of the earliest Egyptian readers of the book “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China”, Sharaf attended a promotion seminar for the Egyptian edition of the book in 2014.

He said readers of the book can learn about the achievements and experiences of China in recent years, and understand the careful consideration and grand vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping in national governance.

Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China has eradicated absolute poverty and accomplished building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, embracing the bright prospect of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts, Sharaf told People’s Daily.

“It is the people of a country that are best placed to judge whether the development path they have chosen for themselves is suitable.” This point in the book has left a deep impression on Sharaf.

He said China doesn’t copy the development models of other countries, but firmly follows the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which sets a good example for other developing countries.

He believes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative proposed by Xi as well as other global public goods provided by China are conducive to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Chinese initiatives and actions not only chart the course for improving global governance and multilateral development, but also inspire developing countries to strive for prosperity, he said.

Sharaf is a staunch supporter of the BRI, and has attended hundreds of discussions and seminars on the initiative in Egypt and other Arab countries, as well as in some European countries.

In his eyes, the biggest influence of the BRI is that it establishes a global cooperation mechanism, champions multilateralism under fair governance and upholds the principle of globalization featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

“The Silk Road was once a bridge of East-West exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. At present, economic globalization is facing headwinds. Rising populism, exclusivism, as well as unilateralism, protectionism and hegemonism are posing threats to global peace and development. The joint construction of the BRI revitalizes the ancient Silk Road and brings it new missions. It helps participating countries break the isolation and unite together more closely,” Sharaf remarked.

Over the past decade, the BRI has been joined by more and more countries. So far, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with over 150 countries. A series of practical cooperation projects have been implemented and investment keeps expanding.

“I can see the prospects that the BRI is creating for global development with its fruitful achievements,” Sharaf said, adding that the BRI is in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and provides huge opportunities for Egypt-China cooperation.

The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, the central business district in Egypt’s new administrative capital, as well as other cooperation projects, play an important role in promoting Egypt’s economic and social development and in improving the livelihood of the Egyptian people, he added.

In his point of view, the Green Silk Road, the Health Silk Road, the Digital Silk Road and the Innovation Silk Road under the framework of the BRI cover wider areas of development.

“The significance of the BRI is more prominent when the world is making concerted efforts to fight COVID-19,” he said.

Since the onset of the pandemic, BRI countries have joined hands to fight the disease and reinforced cooperation in economic recovery, which helps tackle challenges, Sharaf noted.

China’s efforts to promote high-quality BRI development are conducive to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and will bring new prospects for advancing international cooperation and achieving common development, he said.

Jeffrey D. Sachs

On February 21,  the UN Security Council held a public meeting on the Nord Stream Pipeline Destruction and its follow-up investigation. I made a video speech at the meeting. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26, 2022 constitutes an act of international terrorism and represents a threat to the peace.  It is the responsibility of the UN Security Council to take up the question of who might have carried out the act, in order to bring the perpetrator to international justice, to pursue compensation for the damaged parties, and to prevent future such actions. 

The consequences of the destruction of Nord Stream 2 are enormous.  They include not only the vast economic losses related to the pipelines themselves , but also the heightened threat to transboundary infrastructure of all kinds: submarine internet cables, international pipelines for gas and hydrogen, transboundary power transmission, offshore wind farms, and more.  The global transformation to green energy will require considerable transboundary infrastructure, including in international waters.  Countries need to have full confidence that their infrastructure will not be destroyed by third parties.  Some European countries have recently expressed concern over the safety of their offshore infrastructure.  For all of these reasons, the investigation by the UN Security Council of the Nord Stream explosions is a high global priority. 

The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines required a very high degree of planning, expertise, and technological capacity.  The Nord Stream 2 pipelines are a marvel of engineering.  Each section of pipe is rolled steel of over 4cm thickness, and with a pipeline internal diameter of 1.15 meters.  The pipe is encased in concrete of 10.9 cm thickness.  The weight of each section of concrete-encased pipe is 24 metric tons. The Nord Stream pipelines contain around 200,000 pipes.  The pipelines sit on the sea floor.  Destroying a pipeline of heavy rolled steel, encased in concrete, at the depth of 70-90 meters, requires highly advanced technologies for transportation of the explosives, diving to install the explosives, and detonation.  To do so undetected, in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden, adds greatly to the complexity of the operation.  As a number of senior officials have confirmed, an action of this sort must have been carried out by a state-level actor.  

Only a handful of state-level actors have both the technical capacity and access to the Baltic Sea to have carried out this action. A recent report by the Washington Post revealed that the intelligence agencies of the NATO countries have privately concluded that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia carried out this action.  This also comports with the fact that Russia had no obvious motive to carry out this act of terrorism on its own critical infrastructure.  Indeed, Russia is likely to bear considerable expenses to repair the pipelines.  

Three countries have reportedly carried out investigations of the Nord Stream terrorism: Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.  These countries presumably know much about the circumstances of the terrorist attack.  Sweden, in particular, which its divers investigated  the crime scene. Yet  Sweden has kept the results of its investigation secret from the rest of the world.  Sweden has refused to share its findings with Russia, and turned down a joint investigation with Denmark and Germany.   In the interest of global peace, the UN Security Council should require these countries to immediately turn over the results of their investigations to the UN Security Council. 

There is only one detailed account to date of the Nord Stream destruction, the one recently put forward by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, ostensibly based on information leaked to Hersh by an unnamed source.  Hersh attributes the Nord Stream destruction to a decision ordered by US President Joe Biden and carried out by US agents in a covert operation that Hersh describes in detail.  The White House has described Hersh’s account as “completely and utterly false,” but did not offer any information contradicting Hersh’s account and did not offer any alternative explanation.

Senior US officials made statements before and after the Nord Stream destruction that showed the US animus towards the pipelines.  In January  2022, Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland tweeted, “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” On February 7, President Biden said, “If Russia invades… again, then there will be longer Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.” When asked by the reporter how he would do that, he responded, “I promise you we will be able to do it.” On September 30, 2022 immediately following the terrorist attack on the pipeline, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the destruction of the pipeline is “also a tremendous opportunity.  It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy ”.  In January 2023, Under-Secretary Nuland declared to Senator Ted Cruz, “I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”

Such language is not at all appropriate in the face of international terrorism.  I hope that the US together with all other Security Council members will condemn this heinous act of international terrorism and join together in an urgent UNSC-led investigation of this international crime in order to determine the truth.  The truth is not yet known by the world, but it is knowable.  

More than ever, the world depends on the UN Security Council to do its work to stop war. The world will be safe only when the permanent members work together diplomatically to solve global crises.  The UN Security Council provides the unique global venue for that peace-affirming work.  More than ever, we need a healthy, functioning UN Security Council carrying out the mission assigned to it by the UN Charter. 

A UN Security Council objective investigation of the Nord Stream terrorism, in which all countries contribute what they know, is important for the global confidence in this body and most importantly, for global peace and sustainable development. 

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

The United States is the most economically polarized among Western countries. It has long been stuck in the conundrum where the rich get richer and the poor become poorer.

According to the latest data from its Census Bureau, the U.S. Gini coefficient hit 0.494 in 2021, setting a new record. The yawning wealth gap has become a chronic malaise of American society, leaving an indelible stain on the country’s democracy and human rights record.

Since the 1970s, income inequality and wealth disparity in the U.S. have continually deepened. According to a Federal Reserve’s latest report, the total wealth of the richest 1 percent reached a record $45.9 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, more than that of the bottom 90 percent combined.

A Bloomberg report said that more and more wealth is getting to the top of the “pyramid,” which is the latest signal of the widening wealth gap in American society.

Currently, 37 million American people are still living below the poverty line. A survey by Pew Research Center suggested that one-in-four U.S. parents say there have been times in the past year when they could not afford food their family needed or to pay their rent or mortgage.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz commented that the U.S. has become a wealthy country full of poor people and a huge gap is dividing its upper class and other classes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified economic inequality in the U.S. Excessive money supply and large-scale fiscal spending drove up stock and housing prices, bringing enormous benefits to wealthier asset owners. According to a Fed report on household wealth, the total wealth of the richest 1 percent increased by more than $12 trillion, or more than a third, during the course of the pandemic.

Besides, the economic recession triggered by the pandemic has led to massive job losses and further deterioration in the economic situation of low-income earners. The website of The Atlantic said that low-income people in the U.S. would usually delay seeing a doctor when they became ill, not because they did not want to recover, but because they had no money at all.

What’s more ironic is that during the pandemic, it was difficult for those in need to reach the relief measures of the U.S. A UN human rights expert said that U.S. responses to COVID-19 have fallen people in poverty.

The economic polarization has exacerbated social injustice in the U.S.

In the country, access to higher education is disproportionately skewed toward the rich, while the low-income group has no equal access to education. A study found that at 38 elite colleges in the country, more students came from the top 1 percent of the income scale than from the entire bottom 60 percent.

A report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that more than 580,000 people were homeless in 2020, with 226,000 sleeping outside, in cars or in abandoned buildings.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association said the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest percentiles increased to 15.51 years in 2021.

Problems including growing ethnic conflicts, frequent urban riots and serious violent crimes in the country are all closely related to the widening wealth gap.

The wealth polarization in the U.S is inherent to its own political system and the interests of the capital that its government represents.

Over a hundred years ago, Republican Senator Mark Hanna said of American politics: “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.”

Under the influence of money politics, the American government is more willing to serve a small group of rich people, rather than the interests of the majority of voters.

A study by the American think tank Niskanen Center showed that Members of Congress are usually more responsive to the opinions of the rich than the poor in their districts. Low-income constituents have a hard time holding their representatives accountable.

Singaporean scholar Kishore Mahbubani pointed out that the U.S. is functioning as a plutocracy instead of a democracy. A democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, while a plutocracy is a government of the one percent, by the one percent, for the one percent, he added. In the U.S., the world’s number one capitalist country, polarization between the rich and the poor is crying out for attention. U.S. democracy, which cannot find a solution to the wealth gap, is unquestionably hypocritic. The country should reach out to the people at the bottom, face up to the grim reality of the ever-widening wealth gap at home and take earnest measures to solve the problem.

By Ding Yiting, People’s Daily

Assisted by a group of new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and internet of things (IoT), China’s construction industry is becoming more intelligent.

For instance, within 70 seconds, a smart robot can complete binding at nine points on a reinforcement cage of a bay window; prefabrication makes building houses as easy as building toy blocks; and with building automation systems that can sense body movement, indoor temperature  and lighting are automatically controlled.

At present, China is working to promote advanced construction equipment and smart construction, so as to improve the quality and safety of buildings.

At a construction site in a middle school in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, some 50-meter-tall tower cranes were busy lifting materials. “Every crane comes with a ‘black box’ that connects the crane to a smart platform. The device monitors in real time the working conditions of the crane to ensure safety,” said Lu Lijun, who’s in charge of the construction site.

At the construction site, there were also five data-collecting robots with caterpillars. “They are “Scan-to-BIM” robots that we independently developed,” Lu told People’s Daily. These robots can plan their routes and avoid obstacles. They measure buildings within 60 meters at 360,000 points per second to two-millimeter accuracy.

For a long time, the Chinese construction industry has been relying on resource factors and massive investment. It was bothered by extensive production models, low efficiency and high energy and resource consumption.

Smart construction can help promote the high-quality development of the industry.

Developing smart construction is conducive to stabilizing growth and expanding domestic growth. In Changsha, central China’s Hunan province, the prefabricated building industry has seen its annual output exceed 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion), and more than 400 major enterprises are engaged in the sector.

An official with the city’s municipal department of housing and urban-rural development said that the technology-driven smart construction industry correlates with many other industries and thus helps promote synergetic development. It not only draws investment, but also creates a consumption market for new-gen information technology, the official added.

Developing smart construction is also an important measure that advances the green and low-carbon transition.

In a smart office building in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province, the sky ceiling is automatically controlled in accordance with the weathers. Besides, the building also has rooftop photovoltaic panels and an underground power storage facility that regulates charging and discharging in real-time. These devices save around 1.86 million kWh of power and cut 1,027 tons of carbon emissions for the building each year.

Last year, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development designated 24 cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, and Chongqing, to carry out a three-year pilot program for smart construction, in the exploration of new paths for the transformation and development of the construction industry.

Focusing on typical application scenarios in digital designing, smart production and smart construction and three other aspects, the pilot project aims to accelerate technological innovation and improve the development quality and benefits of the construction industry. It also strengthens digital management of the quality, safety, schedule, and cost of engineering projects, so as to increase the benefits and quality of construction and reduce the consumption and emissions of it.

On a screen of an exhibition hall in a resettlement program under the phase-III expansion project of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in south China’s Guangdong province, a BIM (building information model) animation was being played, which showed how prefabricated walls, beams, and columns should be put together.

Full preparations must be made before prefabricated buildings are constructed, said Yi Chao, chief engineer of the resettlement program with China Construction Fourth Engineering Division Corp. Ltd.

He took a nursing home of the program as an example, saying it was through modeling in BIM software that constructors avoided possible collisions of gigantic prefabricated parts.

In addition, the resettlement program also tailored a city information modeling and smart construction platform that displays the progress, quality, and other information of the program on a mobile app. Thanks to the application of advanced technologies, the construction period for every storey was reduced by six days on average, Yi said.

An official with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development told People’s Daily that the country would strengthen enterprise-led integration among industries, universities, and research institutions, implement a batch of strategic, comprehensive, and forward-looking projects to tackle major technological challenges, and fasten the cultivation of world-class construction enterprises.