Xi, Merkel aim for stronger ties

  China Daily | 2018-05-25

Germanycan gain from role in new opening-up initiative, he says

Germanyis invited to seize opportunities created by China's new round of opening-up, and the two countries should cooperate more on industries of the future, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It's the German leader's 11th visit to China.

China and Germanyshould set an example of win-win cooperation, take the lead in strengthening China-Europe relations, promote building a new type of international relations and overcome their ideological differences while enhancing cooperation, Xi said.

The president pointed out that the two sides should continue with high-level exchanges, enhance the top-level design of bilateral ties, encourage exchanges in all areas and make full use of all ways to continue dialogue.

The two countries should make joint efforts to expand markets and jointly develop a third-party market, Xi said, adding that people-to-people exchanges should also be boosted.

Chinawould like to work with Germanyto push the improvement of global governance under a multilateral framework, Xi said, adding that the two countries should enhance coordination on hot issues.

Xi said that Chinaappreciates Germany's support of the Belt and Road Initiative, and German enterprises are welcome to participate.

Chinafirmly supports the unification of Europe and hopes that the European Union remains united, stable, open and prosperous, Xi said, adding that China would like to work with Europeto uphold multilateralism.

China and Europe should send more clear and confident signals to the international community and push stable development of the global situation to benefit all sides, Xi said.

Calling Chinaan important member of the international community, Merkel said China is a significant German trade partner.

Germanywould like to seize the opportunities presented by China's opening-up, expand trade and investment cooperation with China and boost people-to-people exchanges, she said.

The two countries should enhance communication and coordination on global affairs and strengthen cooperation under multilateral frameworks such as the G20, she said.

When Premier Li Keqiang met with Merkel on Thursday, he called for two-way opening-up to expand bilateral cooperation.

German companies are welcome to continue sharing benefits brought by an opening Chinese market, and Germany and other European countries are expected to create fair and open environments for Chinese companies to invest in, he said.

The premier also called for strengthening cooperation in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, new energy automobiles and autonomous vehicles, and exploring the potential in research and development of smart manufacturing.

The Chinese government supports sending interns to each other's countries to learn professional skills and promote craftsmanship, he said.

Chinarecently released a series of measures for opening-up and will further reduce market access thresholds, and lower shareholding ratios of foreign companies in fields such as automaking and finance, he said.

Chinese companies are welcome to invest in Germany, which supports advancing the China-EU bilateral investment treaty, Merkel told Li.

Also on Thursday, Li and Merkel attended a meeting of the Chinese-German Economic Advisory Committee with business representatives from both countries.

Noting that this year marks the first in which the re-elected governments of both countries are taking place, Li said that it is of great significance for business leaders of both countries to speak face-to-face on bilateral cooperation.

China and Germany, as the largest economies in Asia and Europe, bear responsibility in their cooperation to fight against protectionism and unilateralism and to protect trade and investment facilitation, Li said.

Merkel said the committee is maturing and has provided a good platform for candid communication for both countries.

She said that bilateral business investment in both countries shows good momentum and that she hopes both countries will provide equal market access to investments for each other.

China's tariff reduction excites foreign carmakers

Chinadaily 2018-05-25

The Mercedes-Benz logo is seen at an auto expo in Beijing, April 25, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

Foreign carmakers commented positively after China announced decision to lower tariffs on imported cars.

"All the undelivered cars will be priced in line with the latest import duty irrespective of the time for customs clearance, and some inventories are available now at the adjusted prices," Tesla said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Tesla took the lead in reducing prices for Model S and Model X in the Chinese mainland as a response to tariff reduction. The intended cuts will reduce the final price of imported cars by 8 percent to 15 percent, predicted CITIC Securities.

The Model X 75 D for example was sold out immediately at an experience store in Shanghaiafter its price was reduced by over 70,000 yuan, The Paper reported.

Volvo cut the price of its imported cars as well to attract more customers. Its flagship sports utility vehicle model XC90 has a maximum price cut of over 100,000 yuan, said the company on Thursday.

Other foreign automakers also responded right away. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche said respectively that they will evaluate the current suggested retail price in response to the government policy.

Toyotasaid "we will cut the price of imported vehicles and deliver more competitive products to Chinese customers".

The reductions may be more favorable to German automakers since one-third of cars imported to Chinain 2017 were built in Germany, making the country ahead of its rivals, Financial Times said.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz were the top two brands in sales volume of imported cars last year, said China Automobile Dealers Association.

According to statistics from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers in January, Chinaproduced more than 29 million vehicles and sold 28.88 million in 2017, and it imported over 1.2million vehicles, some 4.2 percent of total sales.

Xi calls for high-quality growth through developing Yangtze River economic belt

Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-27 

Stabilizing China-India military ties people's shared aspiration: National Defense Ministry

Xinhua| 2018-04-26 2

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Stabilizing military relations between China and India and maintaining peace in the border areas are the shared aspirations of people from both countries, according to Wu Qian, spokesperson with China's Ministry of National Defense, on Thursday.

"Despite some difficulties and obstacles in the bilateral military relationship, we are willing to deepen understanding, enhance mutual trust, properly handle differences, and incessantly accumulate positive energy for the healthy and stable development of military ties under the guidance of the important consensus reached between leaders of both countries," Wu told a press conference.

China to be bolder in opening up financial sector: central bank governor

Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-09

Zhou Xiaochuan (C), governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), Yi Gang (R), deputy governor of the PBOC and Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of the PBOC and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, attend a press conference on financial reform and development on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China will be bolder in opening up its financial sector, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the central bank, said here Friday.

"We have studied most of the policies and will look for opportunities to advance the progress," Zhou told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC).

China will open up its financial sector to foreign investment through measures including making market entry standards the same for both Chinese and foreign banks.

China has made progress on currency convertibility in the past five years by introducing stock and bond connect programs between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, which are all part of the country's financial opening up, he said.

He also pointed out that the opening up of the financial sector includes not only widening market access for foreign investors, but also the global expansion of China's domestic financial institutions and promotion of global use of yuan.

"The globalization of the yuan will be a gradual process," he said, noting that the central bank will work to enhance connection between China's capital market and other markets, and at the same time push for the convertibility of capital accounts.

Meanwhile, granting equal treatment to both domestic and foreign investors does not mean loosening regulation, said Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, at the same occasion.

Foreign financial institutions will be under the same prudent regulation as Chinese ones to forestall risks and protect financial stability.

"Internet of Things" for China's Agriculture

China's latest plan for agriculture is to substitute big data and artificial control for traditional farming methods.

On January 10,2018 Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong announced the launch of regional pilot "Internet of things agriculture projects." 

The "Internet of things" (物联网) is the network of gadgets and sensors that are connected through the Internet, collect and compile vast amounts of data and can be controlled remotely from computers or mobile phones. Applications are mainly for remote-controlled greenhouses, animal traceability systems, and monitoring of transportation and storage facilities.

The pilot projects are in Tianjin, Shanghai, and Anhui. Mr. Yu made the announcement during a trip to Shanghai where he visited the Bio-tag Ltd. Co. which makes electronic tags for animals, the Shanghai Infrastructure Agriculture Internet of Things Base, a vegetable company, the Shanghai Internet of Things Service Center, the animal traceability electronic service center, and the Plant Growth Perception Demo and had discussions with experts and company executives.

Vice Minister Yu said that the recent "agricultural work meeting" in Beijing recommended relying on science and technology-support and innovation-drive to follow the path of modern agriculture with Chinese characteristics. The "Internet of things" strategy will be "government-guided" and "market-driven." Policies supporting technology and innovation will support the Internet of things strategy, said Mr. Yu. The strategy emphasizes "system design" and a concept of "whole system, all factors, whole process."

Tianjin's agriculture commission's description of its projects gives some clues about what "Internet of things" agriculture is. The project is described as part of the municipality's transition from traditional agriculture to information-ization and intelligent development. Other buzz words include "science and technology planning," "small and medium enterprises," "high-tech companies," and "metropolitan-style agriculture."

Over the past two years, 14 Tianjinprojects have received public investment of 3.34 million yuan ($547 million) and private investment of 27 million  yuan ($4.4 million) in research, demonstration and use of "Internet of things" in agriculture. Four key projects illustrate the applications of "Internet of things".

First is a system for climate control in greenhouses. An intelligent engineering system designed for artificial control of greenhouse temperature and air collects data and sends out warnings when temperature falls dangerously low in the cold winter months. A second project is aimed at improving food safety by monitoring microorganisms in milk at each stage "from cow to table." The dairy monitoring is said to increase transparency and improve the reputation and competitiveness of dairy companies.

A third project addresses problems in the chicken industry by again collecting and storing data on the various stages of the supply chain. The chicken project also plans to set up a system for remotely offering advice to farmers on disease diagnosis and prevention. This is supposed to raise profits for companies and attract more farmers to raise chickens and earn more money.

The fourth project addresses problems with growing vegetables in plastic-covered hothouses. This will use the latest micro-power wireless technology to collect data from temperature and humidity sensors and early detection of pests. Vegetables will be tracked and monitored visually in transportation and storage using GPS, RFID, sensing, and GIS to facilitate scheduling.

China has a long love affair with technology and engineering solutions for agriculture. They have been building space-age agricultural facilities since the 1980s and much of this technology was used in Beijing's food safety system during the 2008 Olympics. Treating the food system like a space program may achieve impressive results but such systems fall into disuse once officials have lost interest, equipment breaks down and no one knows how to use it properly. Agriculture is a complex activity and there is no substitute for a farmer who knows his land and his customer.

Economic outlook expected to be bright in 2018

Chinadialy |  2018-01-19

Evergrande Group Chief Economist Ren Zeping made a speech at a forum held in Beijing on Jan 18, 2018. [Photo by Song Jingli/chinadaily.com.cn]

China's economy this year will grow by between 6.5 percent and 6.8 percent year-on-year, Fan Hengshan, vice secretary of National Development and Reform Commission, predicted on Thursday.

"I am afraid the economic growth in 2018 might be difficult to exceed the 6.9 percent growth rate recorded in 2017, which was unexpectated," Fan told participants at the "New Order, New Power" forum held by news portal Hexun.com.

But Fan said he was optimistic about the economic outlook, as effects of major reforms these two years would continue to surface in 2018.

Like Fan, Evergrande Group Chief Economist Ren Zeping also shared his high expectations for the country's growth.

Ren reemphasized his opinion that Chinais now at the starting point of a "new" recovery cycle as the global economy is recovering and China's outdated capacity has been eliminated.

He said that at the beginning of 2017, there were hot debates on the "new cycle" prediction between economists, which indicated there were divided opinions on how the economy would develop.

However, the country's actual growth realized last year has shown that the new cycle has really come into being and that was due to three things done right by the country's decision makers, Ren added.

"The leadership has figured out where the problems were and correspondingly came up with the right solution, which was the supply-side reform," said the economist.

"In addition, the execution has been very strong," he said, citing the anti-air pollution campaign as an example.

Xi thought proposed to be included in Constitution

Xinhua |  2018-01-19

The second plenary session of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, presided over by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, is held in Beijing, capital of China, from Jan. 18 to 19. [Xinhua/Xie Huanchi]

BEIJING -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Friday proposed to write Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the Constitution. 

Major theoretical achievements, principles and policies adopted at the 19th CPC National Congress should be incorporated into the upcoming revision to the Constitution, according to a communique issued after the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, which was held in Beijing Thursday and Friday.

A proposal from the CPC Central Committee on the revision to the Constitution was adopted at the meeting.

New achievements, experiences and requirements of the development of the Party and nation should be embodied in the revised Constitution, according to the communique.

"We should keep pace with the times and improve the Constitution while maintaining its consistency, stability and authority," the document said.

The CPC Central Committee stressed "holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and fully implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress" in amending the Constitution. 

The amending process should take Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, according to the communique. 

The top legislature will also review amendments to laws on the Red Cross Society, maritime environmental protection, water pollution and small- and medium-sized enterprises.