भारतीय रोज़ नई ख़बरें – भारतीय रोज़ न्यूज़ भारत की सबसे अधिकारपूर्ण, समय पर और विश्वसनीय समाचार सलाहकार वेबसाइट है

Businesses embrace opportunities for innovation at Canton Fair as China pursues new quality productive forces despite Western protectionism

A visitor takes photos of an automated production line on display at the 135th session of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, on April 16, 2024. Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

Companies from both the domestic and overseas markets are flocking to the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, held in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, with their latest fashions on display to tap into the new opportunities for innovation as the world’s second-largest economy pursues industry upgrading for high-quality development in the new era.

While the US-led West pushes for protectionism by building a “small yard, high fence” around technologies and industry and supply chains, China’s open and cooperative stance in its development, as reflected at the Canton Fair, aligns with the world trend of globalization, experts and industry insiders said.

The Canton Fair should play a bigger role in expanding China’s high-level opening-up and promoting the building of an open world economy, Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday. He made the remarks when visiting an exhibition on the history of the Canton Fair, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

Li Qiang also toured the booths of multiple enterprises at the venue of the 135th session of the Canton Fair, which kicked off on Monday. The Chinese premier encouraged enterprises to continuously improve their research and development capabilities, and strive for digital, intelligent and green transformation, according to Xinhua.

On Wednesday, Premier Li held a symposium with overseas buyers attending the 135th session of the Canton Fair, during which overseas buyer representatives spoke about their experience in strengthening cooperation with China through the Canton Fair, noting that the fair has long played an important role in promoting trade exchanges and friendly relations between China and other countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Chinese experts said that the presence of Premier Li at the event sent a very important message to the world that China is always and will continue to stay open for global cooperation as the country is pursuing industrial transformation and upgrading.

The nation’s efforts on striving for industrial upgrades reflect on the proliferation of high-tech products showcased at the Canton Fair as the country is shifting from a labor-intensive manufacturer to a significant technology-driven industrial powerhouse, Li Youhuan, a research fellow at the Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“This transition signifies China’s capacity to offer a greater array of high-quality products with robust competitiveness and reliable supply chains to the global market,” the expert said.

Businesses have also captured the opportunities under this industry transformation.

“The Canton Fair was originally a place to source finished products and key components. But now it has become a dynamic platform for product development and innovation,” Talip Murat Kolbaşi, chairman of Arzum, Turkey’s leading electrical home appliances brand, said on Sunday during an opening reception for the 135th session of the Canton Fair.

“Most of our company’s most innovative products and best-selling goods are derived from the Canton Fair. We hope to further explore the international market through the Canton Fair platform,” said Murat Kolbaşi.

Intelligent and green products are playing leading roles at the Canton Fair. There are more than 8,700 exhibition booths set up by about 3,600 exhibitors related to electronics and home appliances, new energy, new-energy vehicles, smart mobility, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, the Global Times learned.

Behind the appearance of more and more intelligent sci-tech innovation products at the Canton Fair is that Chinese enterprises have gradually established the foundation and advantages to support the development of new quality productive forces.

Embracing global markets and establishing a more stable industrial chain and supply chain have become the direction of Chinese manufacturing enterprises doing foreign trade, industry insiders said.

“It’s important to come to the Canton Fair to get deals done, but it’s more important to look at industry trends. Chinese products and technologies are being updated and iterated very fast and are now leading the world,” Zhu Qiucheng, CEO of Ningbo New Oriental Electric Industrial Development, an exporter of pet furniture and home furnishing products, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Innovative pet products have always seen an increase in exports, said Zhu, adding that the company releases new products every two months to meet market needs.

“Productivity upgrading promotes the transformation and upgrading of China’s foreign trade, and the more difficult the external environment is, the more high-tech products can seize the foreign trade market,” said Zhu.

In recent years, the proportion of intermediate and capital goods on display has increased significantly. In the machinery exhibition area where capital goods are concentrated, the number of booths has increased by more than 50 percent in the past five years, the Global Times reporter learned.

China’s open stance on sharing opportunities arising from its industrial transformation sharply contrasts with the intensified actions taken by some Western countries, led by the US, which have implemented regressive and even negative measures in international trade, said Li Youhuan.

“As China continues to pursue opening up to the outside world, the role of the Canton Fair as a platform for global cooperation will only be strengthened. This will enable both domestic and overseas businesses to share greater benefits of joint development,” the expert added.

U.S. Senate votes to adjourn impeachment trial of Mayorkas

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted along party lines to adjourn the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the Republican-driven efforts to take down the Biden administration’s top border security official.

By a vote of 51-49, the upper chamber adjourned the impeachment trial after the two articles against Mayorkas fell on constitutional points of order, as Democrats argued they did not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

Exploring Beijing’s cultural treasures on International Day for Monuments and Sites

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Every year on April 18th, the world comes together to celebrate the International Day for Monuments and Sites, a day dedicated to honoring the rich tapestry of human history and heritage. Beijing is a city steeped in centuries of culture and tradition, boasting many iconic monuments and World Heritage Sites like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Join Rachel in taking a look at these famous sites and appreciating these cultural heritages.

Time-lapse video captures Chengdu’s ancient alley in all its glory

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Time-lapse video: Chengdu’s Kuanzhai Alley lit up in all its glory! This street, which has survived since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), retains much of its ancient charm. It’s a bustling 24/7 hub of wide lanes, narrow alleys and quaint courtyards.

AI recognition tech leads scientists to startling humpback whale discovery

Humpback whales, giant majestic mammals living in all oceans around the world, dive underwater for as long as 30 minutes before they surface for a breath, giving scientists a short window to observe them, not through their faces but their tails.

A humpback whale. /CFP

“That little set of barnacle scars looked like a snowman, so we named it ‘Frosty,'” said whale researcher Ted Cheeseman while showing CGTN the following picture during an interview.

Frosty, a humpback whale known from the west coast of the United States and Mexico. Humpback whale tails display unique pattern and shape allowing researchers to use AI image recognition to track thousands of whales. /Ted Cheeseman

Whale researcher Ted Cheeseman shows a picture of humpback whale named Frosty during an interview with CGTN. /CGTN

“They all have these individually recognizable tails,” Cheeseman said of the whale that could weigh over 40 tonnes and is named for the distinctive hump on its back.

For decades, scientists have been collecting humpback whale tail pictures and distinguish each individual through a set of features: the shapes along the edges, the unique patterns left by barnacle scars, etc.

Illustration of a humpback whale tail. /CGTN

But when the pictures pile up into the tens of thousands, they could bewilder even the sharpest eyes.

“Once the data sets got so big, it would take an hour per photo almost to figure out,” Cheeseman said.

That’s where AI fits into the picture.

Cheeseman and a group of whale scientists have been using AI photo recognition technologies through the website Happywhale.com, which Cheeseman co-founded, to record each humpback whale living in the North Pacific Ocean.

Researchers, citizen scientists and whale watchers are encouraged to upload whale photos upon a sighting into the database.

A photo composite showing an uploaded picture of a humpback whale named Frosty on the left and a match result found on Happywhale.com on the right. /Ted Cheeseman

Early AI integration teething pains

However, the process was not easy, as researchers had to start with an algorithm with only a 10 percent recognition rate. Eventually, with the help of AI training, that rate has reached 97-99 percent, which “is higher than most trained humans,” according to Cheeseman.

“The technology evolves. It’s become much easier to train. It’s become capable to do so with much smaller data sets with much easy, much more user-friendly tools. I find it very exciting,” the whale researcher said.

The upgraded algorithm enabled Cheeseman and other researchers to make an important discovery regarding the humpback whale population. Nearly 7,000, or 20 percent of the humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean, died between 2012 and 2021 due to the impact of marine heatwaves, according to their study published in late February by the journal Royal Society Open Science.

However, according to Cheeseman, despite the decline, the species’ population is still recovering after commercial whaling was banned in 1986 when many whale species were driven to the brink of extinction.

“I don’t think it’s a threat to the species …The population having recovered to, we estimate, 33,000 whales and then declining 20 percent, well, that’s severe, but it’s already on a recovery track,” said Cheeseman.

Still, researchers are concerned about the impact of climate change, particularly how future marine heatwaves could harm marine mammals.

A marine heatwave could have sweeping impacts on the ecosystem, from phytoplankton lacking nutrients all the way up the food chain to whales, sea lions and sea birds facing food shortages.

“It would have been through impacts on prey density,” John Calambokidis, a biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research Collective, a field research nonprofit organization, told CGTN.

“A heatwave today maybe the average temperature of the oceans in future times, whether that’s 20 years or 50 years and then a heatwave from there would be absolutely inhospitable to whole populations (of humpback whales),” Cheeseman said.

Researchers now hope that the system could be used to study the global population of humpback whales and other cetaceans in the world’s oceans.

(Cover: A breaching humpback whale in Nayarit, Mexico. /Nicola Ransome)

World Heritage Day: 10 must-visit archaeological sites in China

Archaeological sites bear witness to history and embody the inheritance of culture. As April 18 marks the International Day for Monuments and Sites, also known as World Heritage Day, we’ve selected ten archaeological sites in China that merit exploration.

Yuanmingyuan, Beijing. [Photo/VCG]

1. Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, Beijing

As the royal resort of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Yuanmingyuan, or Old Summer Palace, was widely considered the apex of Chinese gardening art. It was burned and rooted by invading Anglo-French forces in 1860.

First constructed in 1707, this former imperial garden, covering roughly 350 hectares in the northwest of Beijing, witnessed the rules of six emperors.

It was one of the first national archaeological parks on the list issued by the National Cultural Heritage Administration in 2010.

‘She-economy’ unleashes market potential at consumer expo

Visitors experience makeup products at the China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of South China’s Hainan province, on April 15, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

As previous consumer expos, “She-economy” has always been one of the hottest topics and a driving force to unleash consumption potential.

The “She economy” elements include a dazzling array of jewelry, different kinds of beauty care products and fashion week shows at this year’s China International Consumer Products Expo or CICPE, in South China’s Hainan province. Let’s take a look together.

China-US 4th meetings of economic and financial working groups signal ‘steady, phased progress’ in stabilizing ties

China US Photo:VCG

The economic and financial working groups of China and the US held their fourth meetings in Washington DC on Tuesday, shortly after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrapped up a high-stakes six-day visit to China last week, which led to new areas of consensus in the economic and financial fields. The meetings come ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s reported visit to China.

Observers said the dialogue, adding to a flurry of growing interactions between Chinese and US senior officials since the beginning of the year, showed that both sides attach high importance to bilateral economic ties. It also sent a positive signal on “steady and phased progress” in stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies.

As production capacity appeared on the agenda, observers also warned against the US taking a “two-dimensional” approach to China — that is, to maintain the overall stability of bilateral relations yet relentlessly suppress China’s emerging industries. Lately, this has centered on a bizarre narrative that labels Chinese clean technology exports with the “overcapacity” tag.

While dialogue to some extent helps prevent trade tensions from veering into conflicts, the ball is in the US court to stop politicizing economic matters and get relations back to the right track, they stressed.

During the fourth meeting of the economic working group, the two sides engaged in “in-depth, pragmatic and constructive” dialogue on how to implement the consensus reached earlier by leaders of both groups, the macroeconomic situations of both countries and the world, as well as balanced growth, according to a statement on the website of China’s Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.

The Chinese side also expressed concern about US trade and economic restrictions against China and responded further on the issue concerning production capacity. They also discussed arrangements for future communication, and both sides agreed to continue their dialogue.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

With regard to the fourth meeting of the financial working group, the two sides engaged in discussions on topics including each other’s monetary policies and financial stability, cooperation in financial regulation, institutional arrangements in financial markets, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, and other financial policy topics of mutual concern, according to a statement on the website of the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the country’s central bank.

Some of those topics were the new consensus on balanced growth and financial cooperation reached during Yellen’s visit to China last week. The two sides also agreed at that time on future meeting arrangements for the working group.

Chinese observers said that the fourth meetings are parts of a regular communication mechanism between China and the US, building on the San Francisco vision reached by leaders of both countries last year. It also underscored that both countries put great emphasis on bilateral economic relations, which are consequential not only for each other’s development but also to the global economy.

“As the US presidential election nears, the Biden administration is being hit with many pressures at home and abroad. So he has an urgent need to maintain ‘dynamically stabilized relations’ with China,” Diao Daming, a professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

While continued discussions signify a positive momentum in bilateral relations, observers pointed out that Washington’s China strategy is “two-dimensional” as the US on the one hand looks to deepen economic ties with China, yet on the other hand, it has been relentlessly cranking up trade tensions to suppress China’s tech industries.

Talks on production capacity appeared in the agenda of the economic working group’s meeting, as Chinese officials intensively criticized the “overcapacity” fallacy hyped by US and EU politicians.

Observers said that the claim of overcapacity is another card Washington recently put on the table to target China, which laid bare its hegemonic mindset as it is nervous about the rise of China’s advantageous industries, from new energy and artificial intelligence, telecommunication to steel.

There are more signs of escalating trade tensions. US President Joe Biden will call for tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum on Wednesday when he speaks to union members in Pennsylvania, NBC News reported.

Analysts said that the reported move is another practice of targeting Chinese enterprises under the guise of so-called “overcapacity,” though chances could be high that it merely aims to score political points during the election campaign and won’t translate into reality.

Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times that China’s steel and aluminum exports to US were not very large, and the tariff hike, if carried out, would inflict more damage on the US global business credit and local manufacturers than to the China suppliers.

A fair and non-discriminatory perception of China lays the basic framework for further exchanges between the two countries, and only under such premise can the two sides identify more areas of cooperation and resolve controversies, analysts said.

During talks with Federal Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed that the production capacity issue should start with economic laws and be viewed objectively and dialectically from a market viewpoint and a global perspective.

“Washington must bear in mind that Chinese exports are in line with WTO rules and the global trade pattern is determined by each country’s competitive edge,” Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai will tell lawmakers that the Biden administration is “taking a serious look” at US trade defense tools to deal with threats posed by China’s trade and economic policies, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Gao said that it is unlikely that a new tool will come out, considering the limited aces Washington holds. “It is also ironic that the US barks about ‘punishing’ China, which abides by WTO rules, with a tool that is set to be defiant to trading rules,” Gao added.

Bookshop in Seoul, a hub for South Koreans who wonder about China

The China Book bookstore in Seoul, South Korea Photo: Courtesy of Han Geon-hee

The “China Book” in Seoul is not the grandest, but is arguably one of the most comprehensive bookstores in South Korea, stocking publications about China since it was established in 1996.

It covers a wide range of the “China book” genre, with offerings such as Chinese literature and Chinese economy. When describing how committed the shop is to numerous elements of Chinese culture, its owner Han Geon-hee joked that rumor had it he was a Chinese spy stationed in South Korea.

Having taken over “China Book” from his father in 2004, Han, who was a musician in a band at the time, found himself too busy to be “a spy.” Running the store also allowed him to see how books can give rise to a cultural consensus among the people of China and South Korea.

‘A consolation’

From Chinese cartoon books to literary classics, the literary diversity at “China Book” caters to a variety of readers aged 18 to 80 years old.

Han told the Global Times that much of his clientele includes teachers, foreigners curious about China, as well as Chinese language learners who are predominately local students. Since 2017, the number of Chinese language learners in South Korea has surged to more than 10.6 million people; the demographic accounts for around one-fifth of the country’s total population of more than 51 million people.

“I’ve often heard South Korean customers conversing in store in Chinese, and discussing the difficulties of learning the language and sharing reference books,” Han told the Global Times.

Han’s sales-oriented bookshop has gradually been reshaped by people with similar interests gathering together to become a cultural salon. He has also discovered a niche of “Chinese contemporary literature” enthusiasts, keen on Chinese authors like Yu Hua.

He told the Global Times that books like Yu’s To Live are top sellers. With China’s fertility history as a background, Nobel-winning novelist Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum has been popular among South Korean readers for more than a decade.

Although Yu’s To Live is about the past, its realistic meaning remains current in South Korea. In 2023, a South Korean judge in Busan gifted a copy of the book to a homeless man. The move was seen by many netizens as a show of literature’s humanistic virtue come to life.

“The reason why Yu’s book can cater to both Chinese and South Korean readers is due to the two East Asian countries’ similarities and distinctions in their cultural-social developments,” cultural sociologist Chu Xin, told the Global Times.

Taking South Korean novelist and film director Lee Chang-dong as an example, Chu told the Global Times that the artistic tradition of borrowing ordinary people’s stories to reflect social phenomena has been widely celebrated by both Chinese and South Korean artists.

“I hope China Book will continue to bring consolations to South Korean readers who truly love Chinese culture and vice versa,” Han remarked.

South Koreans read books in an outdoor reading event in Seoul. Photo: VCG

Seek for collaboration

Han’s passion for the Chinese publishing industry has grown along with his bourgeoning business. In 2019, he attended the Beijing Book Fair with his brother. The fair is a large-scale annual book event that provides collaboration opportunities for domestic and overseas publishers.

Han said that he was fascinated by many good-quality Chinese books at the event, and the experience was entirely different from his previous visits to China’s bookshops.

“The fair is a good opportunity for me to meet publishers in China. And I have to say that the fair’s book landscape is just like China’s territory that is quite vast,” he told the Global Times.

Including the publishing industry, cultural exchanges between China and South Korea have blossomed, especially since 2022, when the two countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Including the Jiangxi Education Publishing House, a total of five Chinese publishers participated in a mutual translating project on China and South Korea’s literature classics. In the same year, at least 200 kinds of Chinese books across different genres were also displayed at the Seoul International Book Fair.

“In history, China and South Korea share many ethical and philosophical consensus, and then developed down different paths. Reading each other’s stories again can help us to build mutual trust and understanding,” Han said.

What signals are released in video call between Chinese, US defense chiefs?: Global Times editorial

Photo:VCG

On the evening of April 16, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun held a video call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the request of the latter. This marks the first communication between the defense chiefs of China and the US since November 2022, and represents the latest development in implementing important consensus reached by the two countries’ leaders. The call lasted for over an hour and focused on several major and sensitive issues between the two militaries, including the Taiwan question and South China Sea issue. According to the US side’s response, the call went relatively smoothly, with Pentagon officials stating that it was an “important step” in keeping lines of communication open between the two military powers. But it is definitely not the last step, “there will be more.”

The leaders of China and the US are committed to stabilizing and improving bilateral relations. The military domain is crucial for ensuring the implementation of the leaders’ consensus, stabilizing the development of the two countries’ relations and preventing major crises. Observers have noticed that the Chinese side’s official statement regarding this call mentioned “at the request” of the US. Recently, the US has engaged in several provocative actions in the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea, including the visit of the “naval chief” of the Taiwan island to the headquarters of US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, the quadrennial military exercises involving the US, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines, and the deployment of the Mid-Range Capability missile system by the US in the Philippines during joint exercises. Some opinions suggest that the timing of the US requesting this call is also aimed at gauging the Chinese stance and conducting some “firepower reconnaissance.”

China has made its stance clear and unequivocal: Its core interests will never be compromised, and the territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of China in the South China Sea must be effectively respected. In both the Taiwan Straits and the South China Sea, the US is an external force, and if it extends its hand too far in these directions and crosses the line, it will face resolute opposition from China. It’s well-known that the abnormal “freeze” in high-level military exchanges lasting for 18 months was one of the serious consequences triggered by Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. The US is well aware of this, and it should also understand China’s bottom line and red line.

Chinese people attach great importance to the concept of “the unity of knowledge and action.” While the US is discussing “crisis management” with China, it is also engaging in military cooperation with countries like the Philippines and Japan, with a clear intention of targeting China. If Washington continues to say one thing and do another, it is certain that what it wants is to maintain crackdown on China while demanding China promise not to resist, which is impossible. In other words, saying beautiful words to China while doing harm will not effectively set “guardrails.”

Washington’s credibility in communication and exchange with China still needs to be truly strengthened. This is also emphasized by China as “based on trust.” Many times, the starting point of US’ communication is not to meet China halfway, better manage differences and resolve conflicts, but rather make its allies more confident in how it handles relations with China, demonstrate the ability of the US to control US-China relations without losing control, thereby making its allies more confidently follow the US in fierce strategic competition with China. This also indicates that the comprehensive rebuilding of military mutual trust between China and the US is more challenging than the restoration of dialogue mechanisms.

The US wants to “manage crises” with China, and the most fundamental issue is to solve the problem of strategic perception, respecting China’s core interests and major concerns. It’s clear that Washington is now also “cautious,” wanting to repeatedly play the “Taiwan card,” but unwilling to draw fire onto itself, so it wants to control the Democratic Progressive Party, attempts to instigate the Philippines to stir up trouble in the South China Sea, but is worried about losing control of the situation. Therefore, it constantly sends out mixed signals. This contradictory mentality and opportunism are also reflected in the exchanges between the Chinese and American militaries. Of course, it is better to talk than not to talk. One of the benefits is to constantly make the US understand China’s bottom line and red line.

President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden emphasized during their recent phone call that two big countries like China and the US should not cut off their ties or turn their back on each other, still less slide into conflict or confrontation. This is not only China’s attitude, but also the expectation of the world. As the stable foundation of the development of China-US relationship, we hope to see substantial improvement in the military relationship. In particular, the US needs to show credibility, gain trust from China, and more importantly, gain trust from the world.