भारतीय रोज़ नई ख़बरें

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has wrapped up a six-day trip to China, her second since July 2023.

Yellen’s visit, against the backdrop of intensifying China-U.S. economic, technological and trade competition, is considered a positive step towards stabilizing ties between the world’s two largest economies.

However, Chinese experts say the efforts may be impeded by unfavorable policies towards China by the White House amid U.S. presidential elections. 

‘Postive role’ in stabilizing China-U.S. ties

In China, Yellen visited southern coastal metropolis Guangzhou and the capital city Beijing. She held talks with high-ranking Chinese officials including Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier He Lifeng and Minister of Finance Lan Fo’an.

Focusing on the implementation of the important consensus between the two countries’ heads of state, the two sides had candid, pragmatic and constructive discussions on the macroeconomic situation of the two countries and the world. 

“Yellen’s visit to China has played a threefold positive role in stabilizing China-U.S. relations,” Yan Zhanyu, a scholar on international relations at China’s University of International Business and Economics, told CGTN.

“First, Yellen’s visit consolidated the strategic communication mechanism initiated by both countries during her last year’s visit to China in September, facilitating bilateral discussions on economic and financing policies,” Yan said.

Two significant new initiatives were launched during Yellen’s latest China trip: one is the Exchange on Balanced Growth in the Domestic and Global Economies; the other is the Joint Treasury-People’s Bank of China Cooperation and Exchange on Anti-Money Laundering.

“The launch of two new initiatives will facilitate the progress of working together on the common good and resolving differences in a pragmatic manner,” Gao Zhijun, an assistant research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a commentary to CGTN.

The technical nature of such exchanges will also mitigate political and ideological influences, ensuring both teams concentrate on the practical issues, Gao added.

What’s more, Yellen’s visit to China will also inject new vitality into the future development of China-U.S. relations as the trip has demonstrated positive signals of people-to-people exchanges, according to Yan.

In Guangzhou and Beijing, Yellen’s order at local restaurants went viral on Chinese social media platforms.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 7, 2024. /Xinhua

Chinese Premier Li Qiang meets with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 7, 2024. /Xinhua

Posibility of holding back ties

During this trip, Yellen had “extensive, frank, and productive” meetings with key Chinese officials and voiced firm opposition to China-U.S. decoupling on several ocassions, warning a bid to decouple from China would be “disastrous.”

However, Yellen also raised concerns over certain aspects of the Chinese economy, particularly overcapacity in emerging industries such as electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar energy.

“China is now simply too large for the rest of the world to absorb this enormous capacity,” she stated at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, pointing to potential global spillover effects.

Compared to her last visit, Yellen paid much more attention to this issue, according to Gao.

“Yellen’s visit to China is a demonstration of ‘good cop, bad cop strategy’ used by the U.S. in its hard-line strategy against China,” Yan said. It is an effort by the U.S. to maintains normal channels of high-level communication with China to stabilize economic ties, while conveying Biden’s tough policies against China, he noted.

“Amid the year of a U.S. presidential election, it is possible that the White House will deploy new sanctions to pressure the Chinese side to garner political support. This will hold back the progress of stabilizing the bilateral relationship,” said Gao.

(Cover: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference in Beijing, China, April 8, 2024. /CFP)

Beijing has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) public computing platform to meet the increasing needs of AI enterprises. The launch comes at a time when expanding the supply of computing power becomes a key focus for China as computational power needs mount with the rise of AI.

The platform, located in Yizhuang, Daxing district of Beijing, is the largest of its kind in the city. It will provide 3,000 petaflops of computing power to support the research, development and application of large-scale AI models, the Beijing Daily reported.

As a part of a broader strategy to develop domestic alternatives to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the new platform enables large language models (LLMs) of AI start-ups in Beijing to train their models quickly, said Yan Min, general manager of the Beijing Yizhuang Smart City Research Institute Group, which is the platform’s developer.

However, as the AI arms race intensifies, tech giants like Meta, Google and OpenAI may run out of data to train their models. According to Epoch, an AI research institute, by 2026, all the high-quality data could be exhausted.

High-quality data is the core element for the development of AI, Liu Gang, chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation AI Development Strategies, told the Global Times on Monday.

“China boasts its data center cluster, which provides assistance for the training of LLMs and the development of AI-related products.

“It’s important to firmly grasp the core of our own AI development. The more data that’s available to train a large language model, the better it would perform,” Liu said.

“China has a strong manufacturing industry, with huge datasets from these enterprises. This is one of our biggest advantages and also the most critical issue for our future industrial competitiveness,” Liu said.

Chinese experts have highlighted the importance of building critical computing power infrastructure to develop and train AI systems.

“AI has become an important driving force of the new round of technological and industrial revolution,” Yu Xiaohui, head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told the Global Times on Monday.

Although China ranks second in the scale of computing power globally, there are challenges such as an imperfect match between supply and demand, as well as regional disparities in computing power resources, Yu said.

To resolve such shortages, many regions in China are speeding up the development of the computing power industry. For instance, Shenzhen in South China’s Guangdong Province approved an action plan for accelerating the high-quality development of AI in June 2023. It vows to build urban level intelligent computing power platforms to coordinate the deployment and use of computing resources for AI projects.

China deployed a project called Artificial Intelligence for Science in March 2023, to promote the use of AI in cutting-edge research. Under the project, authorities will promote the innovation of AI models and algorithms for major scientific problems, develop platforms for typical research fields, and build a national open innovation platform for the next generation of AI public computing power, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Artificial intelligence the deciding factor in autonomous driving and manufacturing

Cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence is key to boosting the advantages of China’s new energy vehicle industry, auto experts and executives noted at an industry forum in Beijing.

Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that it is crucial to seize the opportunities presented by AI by promoting advanced driving-assist technology and advancing fully autonomous driving.

He made the remarks at the China EV100 Forum in Beijing earlier this month.

Ouyang, also a Tsinghua professor and vice-president of the China EV 100, said that the application of AI across the life cycle of NEV design, manufacturing, management and recycling is crucial to achieving better quality industry-wide, reduced costs and better efficiency.

China has led automotive electrification worldwide as the global penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicles is around 18 percent, while China’s has surpassed 35 percent.

BYD founder and CEO Wang Chuanfu said at the forum that as Chinese carmakers are strengthening the research and development efforts in NEVs, the number of new vehicle launches is rapidly increasing.

Wang noted that NEVs accounted for more than 48.2 percent of car sales during the week from March 3-10. He estimated that the percentage of NEVs will exceed 50 percent within the next three months, becoming dominant in the market.

Wang said: “Only by laying a solid foundation in electrification can we construct the skyscraper of automotive intelligence.”

As the world’s largest NEV producer, BYD has reduced prices on several models since March, with some priced lower than gasoline-powered vehicles in the same segment.

An Conghui, chairman of Geely Auto Group, said intelligent connected NEVs represent a more advanced form of productivity, not just a replacement for traditional fuel vehicles.

“Electric vehicles may appear to have fewer components than traditional gasoline vehicles — they actually contain billions of lines of code and hold countless diverse demand scenarios waiting to be explored,” he said.

An said Geely aspires to “become Volkswagen AG in the era of NEVs “because of its capabilities in global synergy.

Among Chinese carmakers, Geely ranks first in terms of globalization with a big number of brands, from its namesake Geely, Lynk & Co and Zeekr to Lotus, Polestar and Volvo.

EV startup Xpeng is considered the leading driving-assist solution provider nationwide. Its advanced driving-assist system XNGP had an 83 percent monthly active user rate as of February. It also excels in controlling costs for intelligent driving and aims to achieve a 50 percent cost reduction by the end of 2024 through technological innovation, according to CEO He Xiaopeng.

He said that the next decade will be about competition in intelligence. The turning point for advanced intelligent driving will arrive within the next 18 months.

He added that intelligent driving currently requires human intervention around 10 times per 100 kilometers on average, but this should drop to at least once in the future.

Xpeng’s AI driving large model will be integrated into vehicles in the second quarter of this year, the first mass-produced implementation of its kind in the auto industry.

He also announced at the forum that Xpeng will launch a new brand with vehicles priced at 100,000 yuan ($13,890) to 150,000 yuan, which will feature the company’s high-level intelligent driving-assist system, aimed at the younger generation.

Cars with similar prices might be developed into fully autonomous vehicles in the future, he said.

Xpeng’s success with XNGP was contested by Huawei. Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei’s smart vehicle unit, said at the forum: “Xpeng has shown excellence domestically in intelligent parking and driving, but we aim to innovate with our advanced intelligent driving system, and our cabin and driving experiences are acknowledged as top-notch.”

Yu Chengdong added that due to supply chain issues and other factors, Huawei’s intelligent driving system remains relatively costly, posing challenges for vehicles to be priced below 300,000 yuan.

Huawei’s smart car business, which lost 6 billion yuan in 2023, is expected to turn a profit this year, thanks to strong sales of high-end models codeveloped with partners like Seres.

Horizon Robotics founder and CEO Yu Kai said that competitive next-generation autonomous driving systems should be evaluated on their pass rate in standard scenarios, efficiency of passage and humanlike behavior to ensure comfort and familiarity for people.

The chipmaker seized a 35.5 percent share in the driving-assist segment in 2023, second only to Nvidia.

There are more than 110 models that sport their chips, with the number continuing to increase. Its clients include BYD and Li Auto, Yu Kai said.

Since the first season of the Netflix TV adaptation of Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy came out, it has sparked intense discussion in countries including Japan, the United States, France and Germany, where the books have made a lot of fans.

On Wednesday, the English translation of The Three-Body Problem, the first book in the trilogy and the focus of the adaptation, became the number 1 best-selling book in Amazon’s literary fiction section and rose to 11th place on the list of general bestsellers. Chen Feng, rights manager at China Education Publications Import & Export Co Ltd, the international agent for the trilogy, said that this is its best performance ever and that as of June, translations of the trilogy into 35 languages have sold 4 million copies worldwide.

Other work by Liu has also been translated into a number of languages, including novels like Ball Lightning and The Supernova Era, and short story collections To Hold Up the Sky and The Wandering Earth.

Hong Kong gathering brings region’s industry players together for cultural exchange and new projects

Phasit Wacharatham is keen to explore more coproduction opportunities with Chinese partners.

Phasit, founder and chief executive of Locman2011, a film-production company in Thailand, said he expects to see more coproduction in Asia’s film and TV industry. He was in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region last month for the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market, or Filmart, a cross-media, cross-industry trading platform.

“We met representatives of film production companies from Beijing, Nanjing and Hong Kong and discussed plans for future cooperation,” said Phasit, whose company works mainly with Chinese customers in film, streaming media, drama and TV commercials.

Filmart, held from March 11 to 14 and organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, attracted more than 7,500 participants from 50 countries and regions. There were 760 exhibitors from 27 countries and regions.

During the event, leading Chinese TV production companies such as Linmon Pictures announced plans for overseas projects, including Under the Skin, a Thai remake of a Chinese series, and the local series The Fairest Lady.

During Filmart Linmon Pictures also showcased the trailer for the Thai remake of its popular drama series Nothing but Thirty.

“I think there will be more coproduced films in the Asian market,” Phasit said, noting that there are already Chinese movies starring Thai actors and Singaporean movies filmed in Thailand.

Locman2011 has worked with Chinese partners to produce films such as Thai Flavor and Kuang Zhan, TV series such as The Doll Master, and commercials for Chinese brands, including the dairy company Yili Group and the technology company Huawei.

Before Phasit set up his own company in 2011 he worked with the Matching Studio Public Company, now known as Matching Maximize Solution Public Company, a media producer in Thailand, and has rich experience in working with industry professionals from various countries, China in particular.

“Over the next five years we hope to work with Chinese companies to coproduce works worth no less than 1 billion baht ($27.45 million),” Phasit said.

The production capacity of the Asian film market will further expand and there will be more collaboration between investors and film production houses, he said.

Asia plays an important role in the global film and TV industry, with China being the world’s second-biggest box office market and Japan being the third-biggest. India’s Bollywood movies have achieved global popularity, and movies from South Korea and Japan have gained international recognition by winning Oscars.

Revenue of the Asia-Pacific video industry is estimated to have reached $145 billion last year, a figure forecast to rise to $165 billion annually by 2028, the consultancy Media Partners Asia said in a report.

A Buddhist association from the island of Taiwan donated 30 lost relics to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) at a donation ceremony held at the National Museum of China (NMC) on Monday, showcasing the cultural bonds between the Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan.

Selected from precious lost artifacts collected from various sources overseas in recent years, the United Association of Humanistic Buddhism, Chunghua donated a total of 30 colored sculptures dating from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to the NCHA, according to a document that the NMC sent to the Global Times on Monday night.

About 250 officials and guests from both the mainland and the island of Taiwan attended the ceremony. They pointed out that these artifacts bear witness to the profound historical and splendid and diverse cultural heritage of China. This donation once again underscores the deep-seated love and profound reverence of the island’s people for Chinese culture, the document noted.

Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, expressed appreciation for the efforts of Taiwan compatriots from all walks of life in protecting Chinese cultural relics and inheriting and promoting Chinese culture.

He emphasized that compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are all Chinese people, and the magnificent Chinese culture is “our common foundation, pride, wealth, and soul.”

He called on compatriots on both sides to comprehend the overall situation of history, uphold national righteousness, firmly oppose “independence” and promote reunification, so as to unite and advance together and jointly promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland and create a better future for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The Taiwan guests said that Buddhist culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture and that the collection and protection of these artifacts represent the inheritance of Chinese culture.

This donation event reflects the inheritance of the patriotic feelings of the older generation of venerable monks such as the late Master Hsing Yun by the younger generation. In 2014, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order, donated a national first-level cultural relic, a Buddha head statue from the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), to the NCHA. The donation ceremony was held at the NMC in March 2016, attracting wide attention from all sectors of society across the Straits, according to the document.

The guests from the Buddhist association hope that the return of these artifacts will bring an opportunity for peace, harmony and unity across the Taiwan Straits. They also expressed their hope for more interactions, exchanges and visits between compatriots on both sides of the Straits, accumulating mutual trust and goodwill, and jointly promoting the revitalization of Chinese culture.

China has had over 1.09 billion netizens by the end of last year, 24.8 million more than the amount in 2022, a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center said on Friday.

The report showed that 2,577 websites and mobile phone applications optimized functions and provided barrier-free services for old and disabled users last year so that these people could benefit more from the internet.

Digital technologies have also been widely applied in public services, such as travel and healthcare, making more people live better lives, according to the report.

The numbers of netizens using online car-hailing and medical services increased significantly last year, up 90.57 million and 51.39 million respectively from December 2022, it said.

In addition, the rapid growth of the internet has stimulated consumption and promoted the sustainable development of the digital economy, it said.

As of December, for example, the number of users making online travel reservations reached 509 million, up 86.29 million from December 2022, it added.

Wang Changqing, an official from the center, said while introducing the report that live streaming platforms have become major channels to advance economic and cultural development.

For instance, in March last year, a large number of internet users watched basketball matches organized by Guizhou province through livestreaming platforms, attracting more people to visit the province and contributing a lot to local tourism, he added.