Nigeria Times

By He Yin, People’s Daily

The report delivered by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on behalf of the 19th CPC Central Committee, to the 20th CPC National Congress, is seen by the international community as sign of China keeping pursuing its dreams and win-win cooperation with the rest of the world.

It is believed that the 20th CPC National Congress not only is significant to China, but also places important impacts on the rest of the world.

Foreign media organizations reported that Chinese modernization will shed light on other countries, and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which has been once again highlighted in Xi’s report this time, is crucial to global development.

They said the congress offers important political guidance for China’s development on the country’s journey toward greater prosperity, and draws a new blueprint for a better future to be jointly created by the Chinese people and the people in the rest of the world.

The world has further recognized that China’s development is a great cause that advances human progress. Since socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era in 2012, the cause of the Party and the country has scored historic achievements and gone through historic changes. The success jointly created by the CPC and the Chinese people has a far-reaching impact on the world.

From multiple perspectives, the international community analyzed China’s remarkable achievements made in the new era, to learn the country’s experiences in overcoming development challenges and realizing vitalization.

Foreign media organizations said that the CPC, with a responsible attitude, has led the country to achieve sustainable development, which demonstrates its political vision and wisdom. They believe socialism with Chinese characteristics and the Chinese governance system are a role model in seeking happiness for the people. Facts prove that, the cause of the CPC benefits not only the Chinese people, but also the world at large.

The Russian International Affairs Council said in an article published on its website that China’s economic miracle sets a good example for the countries that are still in search of their own development paths.

The global attention received by the congress indicated that the international community has further enhanced its confidence in China building itself into a modern socialist country in all respects.

China today is more than the country itself; it is very much a part of the world. The report delivered at the 20th CPC National Congress planed the development targets and major policies of the Party and the country in the next five years and even a longer period of time to come, and announced to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

The international community said that the decisions made at the congress have displayed a clear vision for China’s next-phase development, and the CPC will keep leading the Chinese people to march forward along the path to happiness and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is believed that China is more confident now in creating even bigger miracles.

China, on a new journey to build itself into a modern socialist country in all respects, is expected to create certainty and stability for the fast-changing world and expand the areas of mutually beneficial cooperation between itself and other countries.

The international community has further recognized China’s firm determination to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Changes of the world, of our times and of history are unfolding today in ways like never before. The world has once again stood at a crossroads, with its future course dependent on the choices of people of all countries.

Stressing that the world is grappling with unprecedented challenges, Xi said the CPC has consistently called on the people of the world to grasp and shape the future and destiny of humanity.

“When all countries pursue the cause of common good, we can live in harmony, engage in cooperation for mutual benefit and join hands to create a brighter future for the world,” he added.

China is always committed to the purpose of its foreign policy of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind, which fully mirrors the Party’s broad mind and sense of responsibility.

The international observers said the 20th CPC National Congress will guide China to keep safeguarding world peace and make the international order more just, and unite all progressive forces around the world to cope with major issues such as the wealth gap and climate change.

It is believed that the CPC will lead China toward another milestone and keep contributing to world peace, progress and prosperity. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is a greater vision that benefits the world with the Chinese Dream.

The CPC strives for both the wellbeing of the Chinese people and progress of the entire humankind. On the new journey ahead, the Party will keep expanding its global vision, obtain a keen understanding of the trends of human progress, and actively respond to the concerns of the people from all countries, so as to contribute to solving the common issues facing mankind. It will learn from all outstanding civilizations with a broad mind to build a better world.

China will steer the giant ship of its great rejuvenation, braving winds and waves, toward its destination. It will make even greater contributions to human progress.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, stressed the significance of promoting exchanges and mutual learning in the report he delivered to the 20th CPC National Congress.

Stressing that human society faces unprecedented challenges, Xi called upon all countries to hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and promote mutual understanding and forge closer bonds with other peoples.

He urged closer communication and dialogue between different civilizations so as to increase mutual understanding and mutual recognition. “All countries should respect different countries’ and peoples’ exploration of their own development paths, remove civilization misunderstandings through cultural exchanges, avoid civilization clashes by learning from each other, and replace civilization supremacy with coexistence of civilizations”, he added.

Diversity is what defines our world and makes human civilization fascinating. All civilizations are rooted in their unique cultural environment. Each embodies the wisdom and vision of a country or nation, and each is valuable for being unique.

The attitude towards different civilizations concerns the progress of human civilization and the peaceful development of the world.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, Xi has made a series of important proposals on exchanges and mutual learning to build a harmonious world and advance human progress.

He said China is willing to work with the international community to promote equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilizations, which demonstrated the unique and charming wisdom of China and its broad-mindedness.

Having gone through over 5,000 years of vicissitudes, the Chinese civilization has always kept to its original root. As the unique cultural identity of the Chinese nation, it contains some most profound pursuits of the Chinese nation and provides it with abundant nourishment for existence and development.

China, in the new era, is experiencing the greatest and most unique practical innovation in human history.

The CPC has led the people in pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, creating a new model for human advancement. Besides, China, pursuing a better future shared by all people around the world, champions the common values of humanity and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The country calls on the world to enhance exchanges and mutual learning, and strengthen popular support for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China believes countries need to respect each other and treat each other as equals, uphold the beauty of each civilization and the diversity of civilizations in the world, stay open and inclusive, draw on each other’s strengths, advance with the times and stress innovation-driven development.

International analysts commented that China, championing the peaceful coexistence of civilizations, has become a catalyst for global exchanges.

Though born on the soil of China, the Chinese civilization has come to its present form through constant exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations.

China in the new era is always committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning, injecting important impetus into the prosperity and development of cultural diversity.

The country held the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, an important platform for exchanges and mutual learning among Asian countries and even in the global context.

It calls on the world to carry forward the Silk Road Spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, to build the Belt and Road into a road connecting different civilizations.

China held the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting and the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, turning diversity and differences between countries into development momentum.

It also promotes the building of a community of cultural exchanges within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization framework, and upgrades BRICS cooperation under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges

These Chinese schemes aim to seek harmony and coexistence, expand the cultural connotation of international cooperation, and offer wisdom for mankind’s future development.

Klara Khafizova, Academician of the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences and renowned sinologist noted that exchanges and mutual learning will become more frequent under the guidance of China, and people will get closer.

The world today is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, and it has entered a new phase of uncertainty and transformation. The deficit in peace, development, security, and governance is growing. The world must promote exchanges and mutual learning, dispel estrangement, prejudice and hatred, spread the seeds for the idea of peace and foster a lush tree of common development, so as to keep the wheels of history rolling toward a bright future.

Each civilization is distinctive, and no one is superior to others, Those who fan up the ideas of “superiority of a civilization,” “clash of civilizations” or “conflicts between institutions” will never be supported. Countries need to be broad-minded and strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges, and be inclusive and always seek nourishment from other civilizations, so as to promote the common development of civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning and offer ceaseless impetus for coping with global challenges and promoting human progress.

China will open its arms wider to embrace the world and contribute the dynamic achievements of Chinese civilization to a better world in the future.

It will unswervingly promote exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations as a bridge of friendship, a driving force for human progress, and a bond for world peace, and write a new chapter of peaceful development of the world.

By Yu Sinan, People’s Daily

The scale of China’s core artificial intelligence (AI) industry has exceeded 400 billion yuan ($55.2 billion), and the number of related enterprises stands at more than 3,000.

Thanks to the booming demand brought about by massive data processing, as well as the testing ground provided by large numbers of application scenarios, China is now a global leader in terms of computer vision and speech recognition.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with other five relevant departments, recently issued a guidance on accelerating high-level AI applications to promote high-quality development. It aims to build major application scenarios and expand the application of AI technology, including conducting high-level scientific research.

Today, China is seeing rapid development in the AI sector, enjoying advantages in data acquisition, experiment prediction and result analysis. The AI technology has been employed in a number of disciplines such as life science, math, chemistry and space science.

The rich application scenarios are also in turn driving the development of AI technology, making industries more intelligent.

AI is widely employed in life science, especially protein structure prediction.

The structures of proteins are three-dimensional. The primary structure of a protein consists of a sequence of a chain of amino acids. The three-dimensional structure determines the functions of a protein in a cell. Many diseases derive from the abnormal structure of important proteins.

Therefore, only by drawing a “three-dimensional map” of important proteins can drug targets be located, which helps the development of effective medicines.

Traditionally, scientists observe protein structures through cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging, which are time-consuming, expensive and difficult. That’s why successful observation cases through traditional methods are rare.

However, amino acid sequencing is much easier. Predicting protein structure from the primary structure of proteins is exactly what AI is good at.

As the amount of biological data has surged and AI technology has evolved over recent years, scientists have made prediction models more precise.

For instance, the AI program AlphaFold caused a sensation in December 2020, when it dominated a protein structure prediction contest – its predictions were on par with experimentally determined structures.

It is reported that researchers have predicted the structures of over 200 million proteins of around a million species through AI technology, almost all proteins that have been recorded by scientists.

These structures will have a huge impact on structural biology and may even trigger a paradigm change in life science studies and improve mankind’s understanding of life.

The demand of the bio-pharmaceutical industry is an important driving force that pushes the application of AI in life science studies. It is learned that the number of medicines developed per $1 billion of investment has been on a constant decrease. The development of new medicines is becoming more difficult and takes longer. New methods of bio-pharmaceutical development are needed, and the expectations are high for AI.

Earlier this year, the National Supercomputing Center of China in Chengdu, Sichuan province, offered theoretical basis for cultivating high-yielding and high-quality wheat through a protein prediction model.

Targeted treatment is another area where AI is employed. Through machine learning, AI is able to decode people’s immune systems and the complex immunity mechanisms of some diseases, thus helping people understand diseases and develop medicines and therapies in a more efficient and targeted manner.

Experts said that it’s necessary to give full play to China’s advantages in its rich application scenarios of AI to promote higher-level development of AI. Building major application scenarios centering on high-level scientific researches will promote better development of Chinese AI technology and better drive China’s high-quality development.

By Wang Piyi

China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry has risen and grown strong in the past decade, becoming an important force driving the global upgrading of the automobile industry and a new signboard of China’s intelligent manufacturing.

According to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), nearly 4.57 million NEVs were sold in China in the first three quarters this year, surging 110 percent year on year and exceeding the whole-year figure in 2021.

China has ranked first in the world in terms of NEV production and sales for seven consecutive years. Last year, over half of the world’s total sales of NEVs came from China.

Xin Guobin, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said China has worked vigorously to develop the NEV industry, having issued more than 600 support policies at both central and local levels, covering technological innovation, application, safety supervision and other areas.

The country has established innovation centers for the development of power batteries and connected vehicles. The country has also supported enterprises in the industrial chain to expand R&D input and create new business models, generating strong internal impetus for NEV development.

In an attempt to make driving safer, smarter and more comfortable, Chinese carmakers have integrated new information technologies with automobile manufacturing, such as facial recognition-enabled door unlocking, driver assistant systems, and automatic warning systems, making driver-vehicle-traffic interactionpossible.

With such cross-border integration, NEVs are not merely a transportation tool but an intelligent mobile space.

Expert said that China’s NEV manufacturers’ exploration in intelligent and digital technologies has activated the industrial chain. These enterprises are blazing a trail to turn traditional manufacturing into service-oriented manufacturing, making individualized and customized products to be used in different scenarios.

Thanks to their strong capabilities in technological innovation, Chinese NEV manufacturers have witnessed rapid growth in vehicle exports and have gained better and better reputations from the global market. The CAAM recently said that 340,000 NEVs were exported in the first eight months of this year, up 97.4 percent year on year.

Chinese vehicles entered foreign markets years ago with their low prices, winning a pretty good share in Latin America and Africa. Today, China’s NEV exports are further expanding.

Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM, noted that nearly 10 Chinese carmakers are selling NEVs to Europe, and Chinese electric vehicles now account for 10 percent of those sold in European countries.

According to the China Automobile Dealers Association, Europe is a major export destination of NEVs for Chinese auto manufacturers. Last year, 49 percent of China’s NEV exports went to Europe.

Apart from that, China’s electric vehicles (EV) are moving to the higher end of the overseas market. Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO recently announced plans to extend its services to Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. The company entered Norway a year ago, and its EV model ES8 maintained the bestselling 6-seater and 7-seater SUVs in Oslo in the first nine months of this year.

William Li, founder and chairman of NIO, told People’s Daily in an interview that China is a world-class manufacturer when it comes to “intelligent,” “electric” and “automobiles.” The country is competitive in terms of its supply chain and human resources, he added.

According to Li, NIO will hit more high-end markets in developed countries and bring more intelligent and green experiences to users.

The automobile industry faces a huge opportunity of industrial upgrading in the era of 5G. Relevant enterprises will compete in making electric, connected and intelligent vehicles. On a new “race track,” Chinese NEV manufacturers are constantly improving product performance, intelligent technologies and comprehensive services, upgrading “made in China” to “created in China” and to “intelligent manufacturing in China.”

By Yu Yichun, Shi Yuanhao, People’s Daily

On a day in late June, some villagers in Makuyu village, Morogoro region of Tanzania, gathered around a cauldron, stirring the boiling soy bean milk in it. The aroma floated in the air, mixed with the smell of the crackling firewood.

Villager Ali was in the crowd, learning how to make soybean milk and other bean products. Many senior villagers and children were holding plastic bottles and cups in their hands, waiting to have a taste of the “Chinese drink.”

Ali took a sip and said with a smile, “Today is like a festival.”

A maize-corn intercropping program was launched in Makuyu and other three villages last October by China Agricultural University (CAU) and the government of the Morogoro region.

The program, at its initial stage, selected 100 demonstration households to learn intercropping techniques, with a follow-up plan to teach villagers to make soybean products upon harvest.

During a promotional activity of the program held in Makuyu village, Ali, for the first time, learned that soybean can not only enhance nutrient intake but also improve villagers’ income.

“It’s simple and practical, just like other techniques introduced by Chinese experts before,” he said.

Being confident in the program, the man planted around six mu (4,000 square meters) of soybeans. As of the end of February this year, the 100 households had planted a total of 420 mu of soybeans.

The harvest season for soybeans came in June. Seeing bags of harvested soybeans, Ali felt joy and happiness.

“I was worried about the crop because the dry season this year was a little bit longer than usual. It was beyond my expectation that the yield was nearly 500 kilograms,” Ali told People’s Daily.

With the assistance of Chinese experts, Makuyu village has undergone drastic changes over the past decade, which reinforced the determination of Ali and his fellow villagers to get rid of poverty.

In 2011, an agricultural program aimed at poverty reduction was launched by CAU, the government of the Morogoro region and Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture. It has promoted the compact planting techniques of maize in 10 villages and trained over 1,000 local households and some 40 agricultural technicians.

Tanzanian farmers measure the weight of crops in the unit of “bags.” A bag of maize weighs approximately 100 kilograms.

“In the past, we normally harvested seven or eight bags of maize from each acre. After Chinese experts taught us row spacing and the use of organic fertilizers, the yield has been lifted to 10 to 16 bags per acre,” Ali said.

The techniques taught by Chinese experts have helped improve the livelihood of Ali’s family, who have moved into a big house with eight rooms.

However, rising production means faster consumption of soil fertility. Li Xiaoyun, a docent with CAU in charge of the agricultural program, proposed to plant soybeans to recover and maintain soil fertility after ruminating on the issue.

The Morogoro region is one of the five major soybean production areas in Tanzania. However, the local soybean industry remained gloomy due to the extensive models of local agriculture and a lack of processing techniques for soybean products.

“Planting soybeans is profitable. The crop is able to fix nitrogen and make the soil more fertile. More importantly, as a nutritious crop, soybean is a great supplement to the maze-dominated local dietary habit which causes nutrient deficiency,” Li said.

Under the efforts of Li and his team, the maize-corn intercropping program kicked off.

Following the harvest of soybeans, Li and his team started teaching locals to make soybean milk.

Leah John Mwingira, a local agricultural official of Mvomero District Council of the Morogoro region, found that the Chinese drink was very popular among the locals.

“The warm drink is unexpectedly tasty. I like it,” said Obama, a 70-year-old villager from Mtegowasimba village. He was among the first to join the soybean program in the village, and has decided to plant another 10 mu of soybeans the next year.

“Soybean planting is not new in my village, but this is the first time for me to know that soybeans can be made into so many products,” said Nyambita Magoma, executive officer of Makuyu village.

“The villagers added local spice to the soybean milk, and are planning to make soybean coffee and soybean vegan meat,” he said, adding that soybean planting has brought new hopes to the locals.

By Zhao Yipu, People’s Daily

The Philippine-Sino Friendship Farm is located in Maluid Barangay of the municipality of Victoria, Tarlac province, the Philippines. Rice growing is a major business of the farm.

Villager Maniego, 94, who owns the six-hectare farm, often goes to the fields to check the growth of rice.

“I’ve been cooperating with the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) over the past more than a decade. I have grown many varieties of hybrid rice developed by Chinese experts, which improved the yield per hectare to nearly 11 tons from three to four tons in the past,” said Maniego.

“I raised the salary for my employees on the farm after the production was lifted,” he told People’s Daily.

The PhilSCAT was established in Nueva Ecija province, the Philippines in 2001. It focuses on the research, development and promotion of hybrid rice varieties.

The center has helped plant commercial hybrid rice on 514,400 hectares of paddy fields in the Philippines over the past 21 years, and set pilot demonstration programs of rice growing and seed production techniques in 29 Philippine provinces. It has benefited over 300,000 farming households and increased grain production by over 4.8 billion kilograms.

“We believe in China’s hybrid rice technologies and Chinese experts,” said Maniego.

Maniego spoke of his Chinese friend Ma Wendong, who offered technical guidance for his farm. “We used to check rice growth in the paddy fields together, wearing straw hats and barefooted,” he told People’s Daily.

Ma is a hybrid rice expert sent to the PhilSCAT by Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co., Ltd. (Longping High-tech)， which is named after Yuan Longping, known as the father of hybrid rice. Under Ma’s guidance, all six hectares of Maniego’s farmland are planted with hybrid rice.

Experts sent by Longping High-tech to the PhilSCAT have cultivated and introduced to the Philippines multiple high-quality hybrid rice varieties, including 18 that have been approved by the country’s agricultural authorities and entered the local market.

At the completion ceremony of the PhilSCAT Technical Cooperation Program Phase III, then Philippine Secretary of Agriculture William D. Dar noted that China’s hybrid rice technologies had steadily lifted rice production in his country, which was important for ensuring food security and improving farmers’ livelihood.

Besides, the PhilSCAT has introduced 449 sets of equipment to the Philippines for training, production and scientific research.

The PhilSCAT Technical Cooperation Program Phase III is undertaken by Central Luzon State University. In 2019, its employee Efraim Saturno went to China to attend a training program on hybrid rice technologies.

“I saw efficient mechanized agricultural production in Ningxiang, central China’s Hunan Province. All procedures were completed by machines, including seed production, sowing, growing and harvesting. It was very impressive,” Saturno said.

So far, the PhilSCAT has trained 15,000 people and sent 11 batches of Philippine technicians to China for training. It also offers suggestions for the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture and relevant institutions, promoting reforms on eight local mechanisms.

Edgar Orden, president of Central Luzon State University told People’s Daily that the university is a witness to the PhilSCAT’s development over the past 21 years, which saw the contributions made by Chinese agricultural experts to Philippines-China agricultural cooperation.

He said the Chinese experts’ contributions are important to the Philippines’ agricultural development, and Philippines-China agricultural cooperation is conducive to ensuring the Philippines’ food security.

By Liu Xuxia, Qu Song, People’s Daily

“It was an honor for me to be a guide for President Xi at the most important heritage site of Mexico,” said Jose Huchim, director of a museum in Uxmal, an ancient Maya city of the classical period located in present-day Mexico, during a recent interview with People’s Daily.

What Huchim referred to was a visit paid by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan to the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, Mexico, upon invitation from then Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on June 6, 2013.

“During the visit, President Xi noted that it was necessary to uphold an attitude of equality and humility to understand the essence of civilizations. His broad mind was respectable and admirable,” Huchim recalled.

Chichen Itza, located some 1,400 km east of Mexico City, dates back to the 5th century AD. It had once been the most prosperous city of ancient Maya as well as an important site of the Mayan city culture at its peak. It was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988.

On the day of the visit, Xi was greeted by Mexican children waving Chinese and Mexican national flags and singing Mexican folk songs. Local people also greeted the Chinese guests with a ceremony in a unique way of Mayan tradition.

Xi toured around the Quetzalcoatl Pyramid, ball court and the temple in the archaeological site. He learned about the ruins of Chichen Itza, the influence of Maya civilization on the Mexican culture as well as the protection and recovery work of the ruins. He also discussed the history and culture of China and Mexico with Pena Nieto.

There is a spectacle in Chichen Itza. Around the Spring Equinox and the Autumn Equinox, the sun strikes off the northwest corner of the Quetzalcoatl Pyramid, which served as a temple to a feathered serpent god in Mayan mythology, and casts a series of shadows, creating the illusion of the god descending the pyramid.

On the Spring Equinox, the serpent-shaped shadow descends to the bottom of the pyramid, which symbolizes the return of the god to the earth. On the Autumn Equinox, the shadow goes up to the temple on top, which heralds the guardian of the Mayan civilization will give a harvest to the people. What’s more interesting is that the two shadow movements last for exactly the same time.

“When I explained this phenomenon to President Xi, he was listening very carefully, admiring the astronomical and architectural achievements of the Mayan civilization. It encouraged me very much,” Huchim said.

Huchim, as a researcher of history and culture, is impressed by the importance attached by the Chinese leader to the protection of human civilization.

“I should thank him for his important contributions to promoting mutual learning and exchanges between civilizations,” Huchim told People’s Daily.

China and Mexico are both ancient civilizations and great cultural powers. The two cultures have far-reaching influence on the world as a result of their distinctive features and manage to maintain vitality through innovations. They have learned from each other, leaving a brilliant page in the history of world civilization.

“President Xi not only has a deep understanding of the Chinese culture, but also embraces other civilizations with an open mind. He believes that there is no such thing as a superior or inferior civilization, and civilizations are different only in identity and geography. He has stressed that the diversity of human civilizations drives the progress of mankind. It exactly showcases his caring for the world,” Huchim said.

Xi’s visit has promoted the Chinese people’s understanding of Mexican culture and made more and more Mexicans eager for Chinese culture, Huchim added.

The Exhibition of Mayas: The Language of Beauty was jointly held by the cultural departments of China and Mexico at the National Museum of China in Beijing on Nov. 13, 2014. It was the first major exhibition hosted by the museum on Central American civilizations after it reopened.

Xi and Pena Nieto, who was visiting China then, jointly attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

Xi noted the exhibition was a grand event of China-Mexico cultural exchanges. Exhibitions and other cultural activities would make cultural relics, historical sites and ancient books lively and revitalize the friendship between the Chinese and Mexicans.

In December 2018, Huchim was invited to an academic exchange in China with Chinese archaeologists, and visited the Sanxingdui Museum in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province.

He said China, employing high technologies in the protection of cultural relics, has made remarkable achievements, which has set a good example for other countries. He believes China and Mexico enjoy broad prospects in cultural and people-to-people exchanges, as both of them boast rich cultural and historical resources.

After the 2018 visit, Huchim participated in multiple academic exchange programs held by the Sanxingdui Museum, where he discussed the protection of the ancient Shu civilization of Sichuan province and the Mayan civilization.

“Different cultures and civilizations, while retaining their uniqueness, should tolerate and coexist with each other with an open-minded attitude so as to achieve common development and prosperity,” Xi said during his visit to Chichen Itza.

Huchim agrees with Xi’s remarks. “China follows a vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind when it comes to civilization. Though Mexico and China are far away from each other, they enjoy a profound friendship.”

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. We hope that the Chinese and Mexican cultures, as President Xi said, can take nourishment through exchanges and mutual learning, and grow vigorously as time goes by,” he noted.

By Xie Weiqun, People’s Daily

The Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone celebrated its third anniversary recently.

“I’ve done many things here that I have always wanted to do.” That’s a common comment made by many entrepreneurs in the Lingang new area.

The Lingang new area, spurring technological innovation by promoting innovation in its institutional building, is building itself into a modern area and a special economic function zone with enormous influence and competitiveness in the international market.

So far, 90 percent of the 78 missions assigned by the State Council in a framework development plan for the Lingang newarea three years ago have been completed. The central government of China, Shanghai’s municipal government, and the Lingang new area have launched over 260 policies, which helped generate 87 cases of institutional innovation, of which 36 were attempted for the first time in China.

SPS is a new material company based in the Lingang newarea. It is one of the few Chinese producers of a type of alumina fiber that is able to extend as long as 4,000 meters and work in an environment with a temperature of over 1,500 degrees Celsius. The metal fiber is widely used in aerospace, semiconductor, automobile and other high-end manufacturing industries.

“We became able to produce the fiber less than two years after we moved to the Lingang newarea. This October, we put into use an 80,000-square-meter new plant in the area, which is expected to further expand our capacity,” said Guan Ketian, senior vice president and chief technical officer of the company.

The Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone of the Lingang newarea is currently the sole special comprehensive bonded zone in China. To advance high-standard trade liberalization and facilitation, the bonded zone has systematically upgraded the procedures of customs supervision.

“Cargoes had to be declared at the Yangshan Port before entering the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone. Thanks to new supervision models, cargoes are permitted to enter the bonded zone without any declaration. This has benefited relevant enterprises, especially those that seek raw materials and customers outside China,” said Wan Jun, an official with Shanghai Customs.

According to Wan, the number of batches of cargo permitted to enter the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone increased six-fold in the first half of this year, compared with a year ago.

The Lingang newarea strives to build four core industries: integrated circuits, biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and civil aviation. Besides, it is also working to build competitive high-end equipment manufacturing and new energy vehicle industries and promote hydrogen energy and green development sectors for future development. The new area has established frontier industrial clusters that own core technologies.

Over the past three years, more than 300 projects of frontier technologies were inked in the special area, with a total investment of over 420 billion yuan ($58.14 billion). Such progress couldn’t have been made without the institutional innovation made by the Lingang new area.

Tax preference is a common feature of major free trade zones and ports around the world. Taking as a benchmark the world’s most advanced taxation policies implemented at other free trade ports, relevant departments of Shanghai have comprehensively studied the tax systems of Hong Kong, Singapore, Rotterdam, Dubai and other special economic function zones. They also visited over 200 enterprises in the Lin-gang Special Area to solicit opinions. Finally, a framework of tax reform measures was made, and a series of relevant policies were later announced by the State Taxation Administration.

Tax policies are one of the major reasons for SenseTime, a Hong Kong-headquartered artificial intelligence company, to place its supercomputing center and intelligent vehicle business in the Lingang new area.

“The reduced corporate income tax rate of 15 percent in the area will have a positive impact on the future development of our company. The rate of individual income tax, which also stands at 16 percent, is an attraction for talents,” said Qian Qianying, executive director of finance of SenseTime.

Tax policies are an important engine driving the rapid and high-quality development of the Lingang new area. Over the past three years, 63,000 enterprises have been registered in the special area, or 90 per day on average.

Besides, financial supervision departments have also made innovations in institutional building to facilitate enterprises, including piloting the foreign exchange management reform for cross-border trade and investment and the facilitation of cross-border settlement, investment and financing.

By Tian Hong, People’s Daily

The fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10 as scheduled.

This year’s CIIE, as a higher-level and more professional event to be joined by more participants, will witness a large number of launch events and serve as a better platform where global enterprises share development opportunities and pursue win-win cooperation.

More than 280 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry-leading enterprises have confirmed their participation in the event this year, of which nearly 90 percent are “old friends” of the CIIE.

Besides, the event will also be joined by the world’s top four grain producers, top three players in the seed industry, top 10 manufacturers of medical devices and largest 10 pharmaceutical companies.

On Sept. 22, 45 days before the fifth CIIE kicks off, a ping-pong robot manufactured by Japanese electronics manufacturer Omron, a “frequenter” of the event, acquired the ATA Carnet certificate – a “passport” for international exhibits – and became the first inbound exhibit of the fifth CIIE to have cleared customs through a sea port.

The robot, which will be joining the CIIE for a fifth time, was developed in 2013. It was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s first robot table tennis tutor. The seventh generation of the robot has been launched so far.

Apart from the “frequenter,””new friends” are coming to the event, too. This year, Iceland will participate in the CIIE Country Exhibition for the first time.

Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to China noted that Iceland and China have launched close cooperation on trade, tourism, innovation, technology, sustainable development, climate change, as well as green and geothermal energy. Iceland will bringing its seafood, alcohol, chocolate and cosmetics to the fifth CIIE, the ambassador added.

The CIIE includes a business exhibition, a country exhibition, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum and other supporting activities. As the world’s first import-themed exhibition held at national level, it has been developed into an important platform for China to share its development opportunities with the rest of the world over the past five years.

The business exhibition of the event has expanded its display area to 366,000 square meters last year from 270,000 square meters at the first session. It includes six exhibition sections of food and agricultural products, automobile, intelligent industry and information technology, consumer goods, medical equipment and healthcare products, and trade in services.

The first three import expos alone facilitated 622 foreign investment projects worth approximately $30.5 billion.

China has a huge market. Its opening up through the CIIE will place profound impacts on the world economy. The fourth CIIE saw deals reached for intended one-year purchases of goods and services totaling $78.42 billion, which followed $57.83 billion of intended deals inked at the inaugural expo in 2018, $71.13 billion worth of tentative deals at the second expo and $72.62 billion at the third. China’s robust consumption growth is seen by all merchants around the world. Any company wanting to sell its products to the vast Chinese market can’t afford to ignore the CIIE.

Today, the CIIE is not merely an exhibition. It is also hosting activities in different parts of China for targeted business matchmaking, turning exhibits into merchandises, and exhibitors into investors.

As a powerful platform with a convenient mechanism, the CIIE has witnessed the launches of a number of new products, technologies and services. In the first four sessions, participating enterprises launched over 1,500 new products, technologies and services.

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim received a fruitful return with a 200-million-yuan ($27.68 million) contract of intention signed when it attended the CIIE for the first time. Its products were officially launched in the Chinese market in less than a year after its second participation in the event.

Opening up is a distinctive feature of modern China. As an important platform that promotes Chinese-foreign markets integration, advances cross-industry collaboration, encourages innovation and synergizes Chinese and foreign market rules, the CIIE features good performance, good results and continued success. It makes the huge Chinese market a big opportunity for the world and demonstrates China’s firm determination to expand opening up at a higher level.

No matter how the international situation may change, China will only open its door wider to the world, which will release more dividends and bring long-term benefits to the rest of the world.