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VOL.63 NO.23 JUNE 4, 2020 CONTENTS

EDITOR’S DESK BUSINESS

02 A New Blueprint 40 Export Barometer
Seeks Rebound
THIS WEEK Iconic small trade hub explores
new markets and strategies
42 Market Watch
COVER STORY
16 High on the Agenda
Priorities in national CULTURE
governance outlined 46 Fit Youth, Strong Nation

12
18 A Matter of Life and Death Creating more Ķtness regimens in
2020 goal to uproot poverty schools and outside
remains unwavering COVER STORY
20 Setting the Tone EXPAT’S EYE
Takeaways from the Two Sessions A Steady Hand on the Tiller 48 National Unity Deßned
A visitor lauds all China coming
WORLD China remains committed to people together to Ķght COVID-9
26 COVID-19 and Cybersecurity and their livelihood
Global cooperation needed to
curb a rising menace
28 A Friendship Here to Stay WORLD
69 years of China-Pakistan ties P.22 | Understanding China
NATION The principles behind its
34 A Community of Social Governance international relations
Where everyone plays a role to
ensure harmony
BUSINESS
OUT OF POVERTY P.38 | Upgrading Western
36 Paving the Way
The Maonan ethnic group
Development
embraces afßuence New guideline for opening up
a lagging region

NATION
Cover Design: Cui Xiaodong P.32 | A Necessary Task
Why Hong Kong needs laws
‹ó%HiMinJó5HYiHZóaOOóriJhWVórHVHrYHGó
for national security

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ó%5($.,1*ó1(:6óªó6&$1ó0(óªó8VinJóaó45ócRGHórHaGHr
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2 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

 THIS WEEK

XINHUA
&,7<:,'(ó7(67,1*
A resident of Wuhan, the city in central China hit hard by the novel coronavirus disease
outbreak, has her throat swab sample taken for nucleic acid test for the virus on May .
Wuhan has conducted nucleic acid tests on all its residents to detect asymptomatic cases
and control the disease.

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 3

THIS WEEK SOCIETY
Harvest Season
A farmer harvests wheat in a village in $ozhou, a city in Anhui Province in east China, on May 25
Circus Show
Canadian entertainment company
Cirque du Soleil announced on
May 26 that it would reopen its
resident show The Land of Fantasy
in Hangzhou in east China on June 3,
its Shanghai of³ce said
This is the ³rst Cirque du Soleil
production to be reopened since the
company ceased worldwide opera-
tions due to the novel coronavirus
epidemic
Premiered last August in
Hangzhou, The Land of Fantasy , is
the only Cirque du Soleil resident
show in Asia, co-presented with
Chinese real estate enterprise
Hangzhou Suntiandy )roup
The show tells the story of two
³ctional Mingdoms, Petra and Aria,
through multi-dimensional char-
acters, a surreal storyline and high-
energy action and acrobatics
4 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
According to Diane Quinn, the
chief creative of³cer of Cirque du
Soleil, extra precautions are being
taMen to ensure the audience«s
safety $esides disinfecting the entire
theater twice a day, Cirque du Soleil
also limiting the number of viewers
per show and seating them apart to
ensure social distancing
Maiden Flight
The A4C, China«s ³rst unmanned
helicopter for plateau regions,
completed its maiden ´ight recently
in the eastern province of Jiangxi on
May 20, sources with the developer
said
After taMe-off and before land-
ing, the vehicle ´ew for about 20
minutes, according to its developer,
a helicopter research institute in
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, under
the Aviation Industry Corporation
XINHUA
of China
Modeled on the unmanned
helicopter AR500$, the AR500C
has a maximum taMe-off weight of
500 Mg, a taMe-off height of 5,000
meters and a service ceiling of 6,700
meters It can ´y ³ve hours on a
single charge, with a maximum level
´ight speed of 170 Mm per hour and
a cruising speed of 165 Mm per hour
It will be used for reconnais-
sance and communication relays
The AR500C also has a wide range
of applications in ³elds such as elec-
tronic interference, search support
and security and ³re control
Government Platform
China«s national integrated online
government service platform has
around 33 million registered users,
according to a recent report
1f the country«s 04 million
netizens, about one in three has
become users of the platform, said
the report, based on a third-party as-
sessment of the online government-
service capabilities of provincial-
level governments and maLor cities
The e-government service of³ce
of the )eneral 1f³ce of the State
Council entrusted the e-government
service research center of the
National Academy of Governance to
compile the report
Put into trial operation in last
November, the platform has become
an important channel through which
members of the public and enter-
prises access government services
The report also noted problems
found in the online services offered
by provincial-level governments,
including insuf³cient regulations
and a lacM of synergy in providing
services
Environment Plan
Ecological and environmental pro-
tection will not be relaxed in the next
³ve years, Minister of Ecology and
Environment Huang Runqiu said on
May 2
“In the 14th Five-Year Plan
(2021-25) period, we will continue
to improve ecological and envi-
ronmental quality by reducing
pollutant emissions, and vigorously
promote ecological protection and
restoration,” he said on the sidelines
of the annual session of the national
legislature
The industrial structure would be
further adjusted, the transformation
toward low-carbon development ad-
vanced, a green lifestyle promoted,
and the public would be provided
with more eco-friendly products, he
said
Ecological and environmental
protection goals set for the 13th Five-
Year Plan period (2016-20) are being
accomplished in a smooth manner,
he added
$y the end of 201, the average
concentration of PM25, a major
particle matter pollutant, in cities that
previously did not meet air quality
standards dropped 231 percent from
the level of 2015, he said
http://www.bjreview.com
 THIS WEEK
Disabled People

XINHUA
Guidelines have been issued on
guaranteeing the basic wellbeing
of disabled people amid normal-
ized novel coronavirus disease
(C18ID-1) prevention and control,
the China Disabled Persons«
Federation said on May 25
Jointly issued by the federation,
the Ministry of Finance and three
other authorities, the guidelines
include speci³c requirements to
guarantee disabled people«s basic
livelihood and employment, as
well as to help lift the economically
disadvantaged out of poverty
According to the guidelines,
local authorities should Meep a
close eye on the living conditions
of disabled people affected by the Recycling Garbage
epidemic They should also support
A circular economy base in Mentougou, a district in $eijing, on May 25 As $eijing has implemented garbage sorting,
local nursing institutions for people
garbage reuse gets more attention
with disabilities as the latter resumes
normal operations
Local authorities have been
asMed to taMe a wide range of
measures to help disabled people re- with common and chronic diseases also sought improved systems and tunnel linMing the islets of Zhoushan
main in employment These include and cooperate with third parties measures to protect the privacy of and the coastal area of Ningbo,
negotiating with employers and to provide drug delivery services, patients seeMing medical services Shi Chao, project manager for the
encouraging them to maintain worM- the circular issued by the general online offshore drilling of the tunnel, said
ing relations with disabled people affairs of³ce of the National Health The tunnel is an important
Commission said
The online services are expected
Undersea Railway facility for the 77-Mm high-speed
railway line connecting Ningbo and
Online Treatment to ease the pressure of medical Offshore drilling has been com- Zhoushan and will end the history of
Health authorities have pledged to institutions of´ine and contribute to pleted in Zhejiang Province in east the Zhoushan islands being without
advance the development of online epidemic prevention and control China for the construction of the railway lines
diagnosis and treatment as well as The circular also stressed the country«s ³rst undersea high-speed According to the maritime affairs
Internet-based hospitals importance of oversight of online railway tunnel bureau of Ningbo, online approval
Hospitals are required to medical service and called for the Construction worMers ³nished and inspection were adopted amid
introduce online diagnosis and treat- construction of provincial-level drilling on May 23, laying the founda- the novel coronavirus epidemic to
ment services for revisiting patients platforms to monitor the services It tion for the 162-Mm Jintang undersea ensure the construction«s progress
XINHUA

Peak Posture
Chinese surveyors pose for a group photo atop Mount Qomolangma
on May 27 The team summited the highest point of the planet to
conduct a series of surveys
The event marMed a crucial step in China«s mission to re-measure
the height of the world«s highest peaM Scientists believe it will enhance
human Mnowledge of nature and help boost scienti³c development

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 5

THIS WEEK ECONOMY
Consumption Up
Consumption is on a recovery path
in China and further measures are
underway to boost consumption
upgrade and optimize supplies,
Ning Jizhe, Vice Minister of the
National Development and Reform
Commission, said at a press confer-
ence on May 24
Earlier data showed China«s
retail sales of consumer goods went
down 75 percent year on year in
April, recovering from a drop of 15
percent in March
“The data showed the trend
of expanding consumption and opti-
mizing structure had not changed,
and I believe the retail sales data will
Port Project
A bulM carrier docMs at a newly built coal berth of Caofeidian Port in Tangshan, Hebei Province in north China,
on May 22 The coal wharf of Caofeidian Port is an important transport junction to ensure coal supply for power
plants in south China The ³rst part of the project«s Phase Three has been put into use, with its annual transport capacity
expected to reach 50 million tons after being ³nished
6 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
be better in May,” Ning said
As part of efforts to spur
consumption recovery, China will
further push upgrading of auto
consumption and encourage circu-
lation of used cars, with tax support
policies for purchases of new energy
vehicles, according to Ning
More efforts will be made to
boost service consumption in areas
including tourism and elderly care
China will also quicMen the pace to
foster new types of consumption
such as digital and information
consumption and step up new
infrastructure construction on 5G
networMs and data centers to sup-
port consumption growth in related
areas, Ning said
China will worM to improve the
consumption intent and capabilities
of domestic residents and support
the recovery and development of
consumer service sectors, according
to a government worM report submit-
ted to the national legislature for
deliberation on May 24
Broadened Entry
Total assets of foreign banMs and
insurers in China had exceeded 5
trillion yuan ($7022 billion) amid
the expansion of a two-way opening
up of the banMing and insurance
sector, China«s top banMing regulator
said on May 24
$y the end of the ³rst quarter,
foreign banMs had established 41
XINHUA
foreign-funded corporate banMs, 115
branches and 14 of³ces in China,
with total assets reaching 35 tril-
lion yuan ($501 billion), data from
the China $anMing and Insurance
Regulatory Commission (C$IRC)
showed
During this period, overseas in-
surers had set up 64 foreign-funded
insurance institutions, 124 of³ces
and 1 insurance agencies in China,
with assets amounting to 146 trillion
yuan ($204 billion)
The commission has accelerated
the examination of foreign investors«
marMet entry applications, citing the
fact that the country had approved
an increase of 5 billion yuan ($13
billion) in investment by foreign
banMs and insurance institutions
The C$IRC previously unveiled
revised management regulations to
ease foreign banMs« access by allow-
ing them to establish branches and
foreign-funded corporate banMs at
the same time, eliminating require-
ments on total assets
The commission pledged it
would further implement opening-
up measures and maMe more efforts
to ease marMet access, scale up
foreign-invested ³rms« business
scope and improve the business
environment, so as to offer more
convenience for foreign ³nancial
institutions in China
Positive Signals
A recent survey conducted by the
German Mechanical Engineering
Industry Association (VDMA) showed
that China«s economy is “sending
positive signals,” the association said
on May 25
“As many as 62 percent of the
local members surveyed qualify
their business situation as satisfac-
tory, the remaining 13 percent even
assess the situation as good,” VDMA
chief economist Ralph Wiechers said
in a statement
The association said that
mechanical engineering companies
whose customers primarily serve the
Chinese marMet are liMely to do bet-
ter than their export-oriented peers
http://www.bjreview.com

Accelerated Construction
An employee of China Construction Third Engineering $ureau Co Ltd worMs
at the construction site of the Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport
in Guiyang, Guizhou Province in southwest China, on May 24 Terminal 3
of the airport is under construction
in the foreseeable future
“The Chinese economy is
picMing up again, even though the
situation there has not yet com-
pletely eased,” Wiechers said
The VDMA has been conducting
regular surveys among its members
since the pandemic broMe out The
most recent one, in which 724 com-
panies tooM part in early May, showed
that nine out of 10 saw themselves
as being affected by the economic
consequences of the pandemic
Meanwhile, the association noted
a slight easing of tension on the
supply side Many mechanical engi-
neering companies reported that the
dif³culties with supplies from China
in particular are easing, according to
a separate statement from the VDMA
on the survey results
IPO Reform
China Securities Regulatory
Commission (CSRC) plans to opti-
mize the issuance and underwriting
of initial public offerings (IPOs)
http://www.bjreview.com
XINHUA
under the reform of the registration-
based IPO system in ChiNext, its
Nasdaq-style board of growth
enterprises
The CSRC recently started to
solicit public opinion on a special
regulation, expecting to regulate IPO
activities in the registration system of
ChiNext, and protect the legitimate
rights and interests of investors
With the experience gained
from a previous pilot at the sci-tech
innovation board, the regulation is
designed to enhance inclusiveness
and ´exibility
It includes targeted measures in
terms of risM control and protection
for small and medium investors
and adds bacMup systems in case of
major risMs
To boost the ef³ciency of
issuance, it retains the current IPO
pricing mechanism, allowing IPOs
of less than 20 million shares and
with no share publicly offered by
shareholders to set prices directly
The CRSC pledged to promote
the IPO issuance and underwriting
system on the sci-tech innovation
board, so as to improve cooperation
and integration with different boards
China decided in late April to
pilot the registration-based IPO
system at ChiNext to replace its
approval-based one in a bid to bet-
ter cultivate new industry start-ups
and bolster the real economy
Lower Costs
The C$IRC along with other ³ve
departments unveiled a guideline
to further reduce ³nancing costs for
enterprises, according to an of³cial
circular released on May 25
The move aims to better facili-
tate the high-quality development of
the real economy, while protecting
companies« right to be informed,
maMe their own choices and trade
fairly, the circular said
Under the new guideline which
came into effect on June 1, banMs
should further cut fees and specify
charges to lower the ³nancial
Nighttime Vitality
A bartender maMes a presentation for live-streaming at a night fair of Sinan
Mansions in Shanghai, east China, on May 24 The night fair with food stalls,
an open air museum and art exhibitions has been opened to boost nighttime
economy in the city
THIS WEEK
burden on enterprises Practices such
as forcing companies to deposit a
part of their loans or maMe deposits
as preconditions for credit, as well
as bundling ³nancial products, are
prohibited
$anMs are encouraged to carry
out credit audits in advance to boost
lending ef³ciency, according to
the document In an effort to Meep
companies« borrowing costs at an
appropriate level, they shall not raise
credit enhancement requirements or
hiMe loan rates unreasonably
The guideline emphasizes that
banMs should stop providing zombie
enterprises with credit support and
instead ensure suf³cient loans are
accessible to companies with capital
needs
In addition, efforts will be
undertaMen to enhance the manage-
ment of third-party institutions
in the lending process, improve
credit enhancement procedures
and strengthen internal control and
supervision
XINHUA
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 7
THIS WEEKWORLD

XINHUA

¼
¼

ITALY UNITED STATES

Visitors at the Colonna Palace, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo bumps
one of the oldest and largest elbows with New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
private palaces in Rome, on May President Stacey Cunningham at the opening bell
23. The palace reopened recently ringing ceremony at the NYSE in New York on May 26.
with strict precautionary The NYSE partially reopened its iconic trading floor
measures in view of COVID after a twomonth closure on that day

INDIA
A member of the National Disaster Response Force chops
an uprooted tree fallen on a road in Kolkata following the
landfall of cyclone Amphan on May 24
XINHUA

8 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

 THIS WEEK

¼
GEORGIA
A meltblown nonwoven cloth mask
production line from China is put into
operation in Tbilisi on May 25
XINHUA

XINHUA
XINHUA

¼
PAKISTAN
Rescuers at work in a residential area
in the southern port city of Karachi
after a Pakistan International Airlines
plane crashed there on May 22. There
were two survivors while  bodies were
removed from the debris

RUSSIA
President Vladimir Putin holds an online
meeting with Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu on May 26. Putin announced
the postponed military parade
to mark the 5th anniversary of the
Soviet victory against the Nazis
XINHUA

in World War II would be held on June 24

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 9

THIS WEEK PEOPLE & POINTS
¾ MACAO CASINO MOGUL PASSES AWAY AT 
Stanley Ho Hung-sun, Macao casino patriarch, died in Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region on May 26 at the age of 9.
He dominated the gaming industry in Macao Special Administrative Region after win-
ning a monopoly license in 96. As the business expanded, Ho achieved great success in
gaming, air transportation, real estate, shipping, banking and tourism. SJM Holdings, which
he founded in 2002, now controls 20 casinos and three hotels in Macao.
The renowned businessman was one of the Ķrst entrepreneurs to
Protecting Individual
invest in the Chinese mainland in the 90s. Ho served as a member
of the Standing Committee of the ninth, 0th and th national com- Privacy
mittees of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference,
China’s top political advisory body. Beijing Youth Daily
In November 209, Ho returned a red bronze horse-head statuet
a long-lost national cultural relic that he bought for .9 million May 26
overseastto the National Cultural Heritage Administration in BeiMing During the prevention and control of the
to mark the 20th anniversary of Macao’s return to the motherland. novel coronavirus, a lot of personal data,
including addresses, contact information,
ID numbers and medical proĶle has been
collected. How to protect the use of per-
sonal data becomes a pressing question
in China.
The lack of a unified and dedicated
New Forms engineers, intelligent manufacturing techni-
cians and industrial Internet technicians.
law has made it difĶcult to curb the illegal
collection and use of personal informa-

of Employment With more scientific and technological

Xinhuanet.com
May 24
During the pandemic, emerging economies
based on advanced technologies including
the mobile Internet, big data, cloud comput-
ing and mobile payment, have created a
large number of new Mobs and new forms of
employment.
In 209, the Ministry of Human Resource
and Social Security announced two batches
of new Mobs, including artificial intelligence
innovation, more new Mobs will emerge in
the digital economy, intelligent manufactur-
ing, and healthcare sectors. New Mobs will
help curb economic fluctuations and keep
employment stable. Therefore, the govern-
ment should roll out preferential policies to
encourage people to participate in Internet
Plus industries and training should be offered
to prepare them for the new Mobs.
The new pattern has changed the em-
ployment landscape. Thus, policies should
be continuously improved and regulations
rolled out to safeguard the interests of both
employees and employers.
tion in a country with the world’s largest
population of Internet users.
To strengthen the protection of
individuals’ right to privacy, the National
People’s Congress, China’s top legisla-
ture, will formulate a law on personal
information protection this year, ac-
cording to the annual work report of its
standing committee.
The government should also come
up with measures and penalties to build
a secure and comprehensive law net-
work.
Emphasis should be placed on the

“The Canadian side should “China’s medical supplies today cannot be

immediately correct its mistake, described as abundant. However, our basic
release Meng Wanzhou and ensure principle is, while ensuring a balance of
her safe return to China domestic supply and demand, we will do
as soon as possible, so as to our best to help those countries and
avoid any continuous harm to regions in need, especially those who
ChinaCanada relations.µ assisted us at the outset.µ
=haRó/iMian, spokesperson for the Ministry of 0HnJó'RnJSinJ, Vice President of the China Chamber of
Foreign Affairs, commenting on the Huawei CFO Commerce for Import and Export of Medicine and Health
being dragged into an extradition case Products, talking about China’s medical supplies in an
in Canada, on May 26 interview with the Global Times on May 25

10 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

 THIS WEEK
Law to Protect Medical Workers
The Beijing News
May 26
China’s Ķrst fundamental and comprehensive law on primary medical and health care has

XINHUA
taken effect since June . It aims to protect medical staff from being threatened or inMured
by patients.
It’s frequently reported that patients and their families attacked doctors. According to
the Chinese Medical Doctors’ Association, 66 percent of the surveyed doctors experienced
conßicts with patients in 20.
To provide a safe working environment for doctors and nurses, it is essential to
improve the medical system and distribute medical resources in a more balanced and rea-
sonable manner. In this way, patients’ medical needs can be better satisĶed and disputes
between doctors and patients will decrease. The health administration should establish a
sound medical service system and a tiered diagnosis and treatment system.
Hospitals should take on the responsibility to protect employees. Public security or-
gans should formulate early warning mechanisms to enhance their emergency response
capacity. In addition, it is necessary to promote a culture of respecting doctors through
publicity and education.

Advanced technologies, including G and

big data, are used in a market in Hangzhou,
=heMiang Province in east China, on May 
¾ CHINESE CLIMBERS SUMMIT QOMOLANGMA
classification of personal information
according to different scenarios. For
instance, in response to public health
emergencies, data such as name, date of
birth, address and other necessary per-
sonal information should be identiĶed as
a particular type of information with spe-
cific protection. Genetic, biological and
medical data should enMoy a higher level
of security.
Tsenor, head of the Chinese mountaineering team and leader of the Chinese surveying
team, summited Mount Qomolangma on the morning of May 2 along with seven other
members.
It is the 6-year-old’s fourth time on the summit. In 99, Tsenor, then a student at
China University of Geosciences, was selected as a substitute for an expedition to the
top of the world for the Ķrst time. Ten years later, he participated in a
victorious torch relay for the 200 BeiMing Summer Olympic Games on
the peak.
With the data, scientists will perform comprehensive calcula-
tions. After data analysis and processing, they will carry out further
theoretical studies and repeated veriĶcations to determine the height
accurately, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
It will take two to three months for scientists to calculate and
release the exact height of Mount Qomolangma, according to the
ministry.

“China has now become a top forum for patent “The COVID crisis has
litigation. This is not by accident, as the Chinese created a difficult time for
Government, unlike the current U.S. Government, all countries. However, how a
realizes that a strong patent system and country responds to the crisis
innovation go hand in hand. To this end, China has can make a large difference
set up laws and procedures that make the U.S. in its future fortunes.µ
patent system appear antiTuated and hollow.µ &arOó)H\, a professor of international
(ricNó5REinVRn, a managing partner at Dunlap, business at Finland’s Aalto University,
Bennett Ludwig, a U.S. law ½rm, making a comparison between talking about pandemic response
the two countries’ patent systems in an article published in an interview with Xinhua
by CGTN on May 26 News Agency on May 2

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 11

 The Third Session of the th National People’s Congress opens at the Great Hall of the People in BeiMing on May 22
COVER STORY

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12 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com
 by the virus, it highlighted the maMor measures
to be taken to cope with the new situations and
upcoming challenges. Employment, keeping
enterprises afloat, poverty alleviation and un-
surprisingly, COVID-9 prevention and control,
were the buzzwords in the report.
-REVóRYHró*'3
The government has set no speciĶc target for
economic growth this year. “This is because
our country will face more factors that are dif-
Ķcult to predict in its development due to the
great uncertainties regarding the COVID-9
pandemic and the world economic and trade
environment,” the premier said at the session.
Last year, China’s GDP reached 99. trillion
work”, he said, “which means everybody has
paychecks coming in regularly, and hopefully,
that’s going to lead to increased consumption.”
“Besides the impacts of the epidemic, the
decision to focus on Mobs can be attributed
to the shift in the economy from high-speed
growth to high-quality development, as the
government will further focus on stabilizing em-
ployment and improving people’s wellbeing,”
Wen said.
Liu’s suggestion is that in the future as well,
China does not have to necessarily set a speciĶc
goal for economic growth. Instead, an employ-
ment target as well as requirements regarding
the consumer price index, risk prevention and
control, environmental protection and resident
yuan . trillion, representing a 6. percent
increase over the previous year, according to
the report. However, the COVID-9 outbreak
dealt a heavy blow to China’s economy, which
contracted by 6. percent year on year in the
Ķrst quarter, the Ķrst decline since 992, when
the official quarterly growth data was first
released.
But although there is no specific goal for
economic growth, employment remains a
highlight, Liu ShiMin, Deputy Director of the eco-
nomic committee of the National Committee
of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative
Conference, the top political advisory body,
said in an online interview. The word jiuye, or
employment, was mentioned 9 times in the
report.
Liu said setting no economic growth
target is both due to the special reasons and
income should be set to achieve high-quality
and sustainable development.
However, local governments should still
set specific economic growth targets accord-
ing to their conditions, he added. “In this way,
a healthy dose of competition will still exist
among different regions. After all, regional
competition has long been a key driving force
for China’s economic growth.” In addition, the
Central Government can offer corresponding
policy support for different provinces, munici-
palities and regions based on an assessment of
their development.
.HHSinJóEXVinHVVHVóafORaW
“To ensure employment and people’s wellbe-
ing, we must instill confidence in over 00
million market entities; and we must do our
utmost to help enterprises, particularly micro,
an attempt to explore new ways for develop-
ment. “If the employment rate reaches an
appropriate level or stable employment can be
ensured, from the perspective of the economy
it means that social resources would be fully
small and medium-sized enterprises MSMEs,
and self-employed individuals to get through
this challenging time,” Premier Li said.
Taxes and fees will be further cut, which
will save enterprises more than 2. trillion yuan
used,” he said. . billion throughout the year. Measures,
Wen Bin, chief economist with China including reducing electricity prices for industrial
XINHUA
7
here are several new things about
the 2020 Report on the Work of
the Government that Chinese
Premier Li Keqiang delivered at the
Third Session of the th National
Minsheng Bank CMB, told Beijing Review that
stabilizing employment is a priority task for
the government this year as the epidemic has
led to fewer new urban Mobs during the past
months compared with the corresponding
period last year. According to the Ministry of
Human Resources and Social Security, 2.29 mil-
lion urban Mobs were created in the Ķrst quarter
and commercial businesses, and lowering rates
for broadband and dedicated Internet access
services, will be taken to reduce their produc-
tion and operating costs.
Also, the government will increase Ķnancial
support to keep business operations stable,
allowing MSMEs to postpone principal and in-
terest repayments on loans till the end of next
People’s Congress NPC, China’s top legislature, this year, shrinking by 90,000 year on year. March.
on May 22. This year, China aims to create over 9 mil- In addition, the deĶcit-to-GDP ratio this year
Due to the novel coronavirus disease lion new urban Mobs, keep the surveyed urban is proMected to be more than .6 percent, with
COVID-9 outbreak, the session had been unemployment rate at around 6 percent, and a -trillion-yuan 0 billion increase in the
postponed by more than two months and the the registered urban unemployment rate at country’s deĶcit over last year. On top of this, 
report had been revised several times to adapt around . percent. trillion yuan of government bonds for COVID-9
to the changing landscape. With its length Michael =akkour, founder and CEO of  control will be issued. “Most of the 2 trillion yuan
slashed by half, it became the shortest of its
kind and probably the most modiĶed one in the
past four decades. However, it carried no less
weight.
While it mentioned no speciĶc GDP growth
target due to the global uncertainties caused
http://www.bjreview.com
New Digital, a business consultancy, echoed
Wen. Keeping employment close to the pre-
crisis levels and boosting consumption are two
maMor priorities for the Chinese economy to
come out of the COVID-9 crisis, he told Beijing
Review. The need is “to get everybody back to
20 billion will be used to protect MSMEs
because keeping market entities aßoat is saving
Mobs,” Liu told Beijing Review.
=heng ChuanMiu, an NPC deputy from
Guizhou Province, southwest China, is also
general manager of =unyi Shenqu Musical
V
V
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 13
Instrument Production Co. Last year, his com-
pany made 600,000 guitars, 90 percent of
which were exported to the U.S., Japan, Brazil
and Spain. However, the pandemic has dealt a
heavy blow to the global guitar industry.
“In the past, we produced ,00 guitars
every day. Now the number has been slashed
to about 00,” =heng said. To survive the dif-
Ķcult time, he has turned back to the domestic
market and is adapting to domestic needs. At
present, overseas orders account for only 20
percent of the company’s orders and it has
resumed Must 60 percent of its production
capacity.
The preferential policies released in the
report are a shot in the arm for enterprises like
=heng’s company. “These measures, including
fee and tax cuts and Ķnancial support, will help
keep MSMEs afloat and employment stable,”
he told Beijing Review.
As an NPC deputy, he has focused on fur-
ther support for micro and small enterprises.
“Micro and small enterprises have contributed
to rural economic development, creating Mobs
for rural residents and accelerating urbaniza-
tion. These companies are now encountering
difficulties and challenges amidst the

&hina·Vó1óinó5HYiHZó:iWhó7aVNVóanGó7arJHWVófRró
2019 in Review
Economy
GDP CPI Around Surveyed Total retail sales of Per-capita
grew by grew by .2 mln unemployment consumer goods disposable personal
6.% 2.9% new urban Mobs rate was below exceeded income topped
were added
.% 0 tln 0,000 yuan
yuan
Financial Support Poverty Reduction People’s Life
Tax and fee cuts totaled Rural poor population Permanent urban The number of students in compulsory
was reduced by
2.6 tln residents exceeded education receiving living allowances
yuan, 11.09 mln, increased by
almost
60%
well beyond the target of and the poverty 40%
and enrollments at vocational
headcount ratio fell to of the population colleges grew by
2 tln yuan 0.6% for the ¼rst time
1 mln

Targets for 2020 Tasks for 2020

No speciĶc targets for CPI increase Raise deĶcit by Achieve Increase inclusive Ķnance lending of large commercial
economic of around  tln yuan additional cost banks to micro and small business by more than
growth .% savings of
this year
over last year
more than 0%
Issue 2. tln yuan for investment from the central
government budget
 tln yuan
Surveyed urban of government for enterprises Provide more than  mln
unemployment rate of bonds for during the year vocational skills training opportunities
COVID-9
around 6% Over 9 mln control
and increase enrollment in vocational
new urban Mobs Earmark colleges by
Issue 600 bln 2 mln
. tln yuan yuan
Registered urban
unemployment rate of of special local Increase high-standard Begin the renovation of
for investment cropland by
around .% government bonds,
from the
9,000
a .6 tln yuan . mln hectares old urban
central
residential
government
communities
increase over budget
last year Compiled by BeiMing Review; designed by Pamela Tobey

14 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

COVID-9 outbreak,” he said.
Therefore, he suggested building more in-
cubation hubs to help these businesses set up
more factories. Also, he said different chambers
of commerce should be established to create a
more enabling environment for them.
NPC deputies from big companies, espe-
cially those in tourism, are seeking to transform

COURTESY PHOTO
their business models to tide over the current
difĶculties. “Tourism is one of the hardest-hit in-
dustries in the epidemic,” Huang Xihua, General
Manager of Guangdong Provincial Tourism
Holdings and an NPC deputy from Guangdong
in south China, told Beijing Review.
In the Ķrst quarter, the added value of the
Huang Xihua center, an NPC deputy from Guangdong Province in south China and General Manager
of Guangdong Provincial Tourism Holdings, live-streams to promote products and services of her company
in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on May 

COURTESY PHOTO
hotel and catering sectors fell by . percent
year on year, according to the National Bureau
of Statistics NBS. The report said the Central
Government will “support the recovery and de-
velopment of the food and beverages industry,
brick-and-mortar shops, culture, tourism, do-
mestic services and other consumer services,
and promote the integration of online and of-
ßine consumption.”
Huang believes digital technologies,
including cloud tourism and live-streaming,
will be a new way to integrate online and
offline tourism. In fact, in the past months,
she and her company tested the waters of
online tourism to survive. “From president to
staff, we all started to sell our products online,
learning how to promote our services by live-
streaming,” she said. “We do our best not to
fire any employee because every employee
has a family to feed.”
She suggested more support be provided
for online tourism and regulations rolled out as
soon as possible to improve the industry.
.HHSinJóaócRPPiWPHnWó
Last year, remarkable achievements were
made in poverty alleviation: China’s rural poor
population was reduced by .09 million and
the poverty headcount ratio fell to 0.6 percent,
according to the report.
However, there are still . million poor
rural residents, according to the NBS. “This
is a huge number, and most of them are
living in abMect poverty,” wrote Ning Jizhe,
Vice Minister of National Development and
Reform Commission in a recent article in
BeiMing-based Qiushi Journal. He said the epi-
demic has made it more difĶcult to increase
the poor population’s income. What’s worse,
the risk of people falling back into poverty is
increasing.
“Eliminating poverty is an obligatory task we
must complete in order to build a moderately
=heng ChuanMiu left, an NPC deputy from Guizhou Province, southwest China, and General Manager of =unyi
Shenqu Musical Instrument Production Co., tries out a newly made guitar at his factory in Guizhou on April 2
grant workers from these areas have stable
Mobs. Programs will be launched to boost the
consumption of products from poor areas,
and support businesses involved in poverty al-
leviation to resume operation. Also, agricultural
production will be bolstered, increasing the
area of high-standard cropland by . million
hectares.
8nVhaNHnóSRViWiRn
The pandemic has sent the world economy
into severe recession, disrupted industrial
and supply chains, caused a contraction in
international trade and investment and vola-
tility in commodity markets, the report said.
In the Ķrst quarter, China’s total import and
export of goods decreased by 6. percent
year on year, and the actual use of foreign
capital decreased by 0. percent, accord-
ing to the NBS.
“More efforts are needed to drive up for-
eign investment and trade. They should include
enhancing financial support for foreign trade
enterprises, expanding international markets,
drawn up for cross-border trade in services.
Last but not least, preparations will be made
for the Third China International Import Expo
to expand import.
“China is one of the largest importers of
goods of every kind, whether natural resources,
raw materials, consumer products, technology
products or fashion apparel,” =akkour said.
He thinks China’s role as a manufacturing
hub is not going to erode in any signiĶcant way
any time soon. “Chinese businesses are moving
up the value chains to produce products with
higher value added and higher margins, and are
more innovative and technologically driven,”
he said, adding that the trend has been acceler-
ated by COVID-9.
“As long as stable employment and con-
sumer prices can be ensured and poverty
alleviation is continued, China is expected to
complete building a moderately prosperous
society in all respects, for which this year is
the deadline, despite slower GDP growth,”
Wen said. Q
Ge Lijun, Wei Hongchen and Li Xiaoyang
prosperous society in all respects,” the premier
said. China will take stronger steps to imple-
ment poverty reduction measures.
Greater energy will be spent to ensure
poor counties and villages as well as rural mi-
http://www.bjreview.com
exploring cross-border e-commerce and boost- contributed to this report
ing pilot free trade zones,” Wen said.
According to the report, the negative list
for foreign investment will be significantly Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to linan#bMreview.com
shortened, while a negative list will also be
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 15
 COVER STORY

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‘P
eople,” “economy,” “public health sys- to fight the novel coronavirus disease “We are willing to protect people’s life
tem” and “national defense and the COVID-9 outbreak. The people theme and health at all costs,” Xi said. “We mobilized
military”tthese were the key topics showed respect for them. from around the nation the best doctors, the
emphasized by President Xi Jinping, also General Xi said, “The Party has no special inter- most advanced equipment and the most
Secretary of the Central Committee of the ests of its own but always puts the people’s needed resources to Hubei and Wuhan, go-
Communist Party of China CPC and Chairman interests Ķrst. This is the prominent charac- ing all out to save lives.” Hubei Province in
of the Central Military Commission, during this teristic of our Party as a Marxist party.” central China, with Wuhan as its capital, was
year’s Two Sessionstthe annual sessions He stressed that people are the main hardest hit by the coronavirus, accounting
of the National People’s Congress NPC, the source of confidence for the Party and the for the vast maMority of infections and casual-
top legislature, and the National Committee fundamental goal for the Party to unite and ties in the country.
of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative lead the people in revolution, development Under the uniĶed leadership of the CPC
Conference CPPCC, the top political advisory
body. Xi discussed these topics while partici-
pating in meetings of lawmakers and political
advisers.
During the Two Sessions every year, Xi
Moins the discussions of NPC deputies and
CPPCC National Committee members. His
remarks provide guidance for the govern-
ment’s work and exemplify his thoughts on
national governance.
and reform is to ensure a better life for them.
“The CPC will never waver in pursuing this
goal,” he said.
Xi’s people-centric philosophy has been
manifest in this year’s COVID-9 prevention
and control. After the outbreak of the epi-
demic, he personally oversaw and directed
the response from the very beginning,
stating clearly that people’s life and health
should be made the top priority.
Central Committee, the whole country has
participated in the Ķght against COVID-9.
They followed epidemic control plans in a
strict manner and became the fundamen-
tal strength in the combat.
(cRnRPicóSrRVSHcW
China aims to become a moderately pros-
perous society in all respects and eradicate
absolute poverty in 2020. This year also

PHRSOHcHnWHrHGóó
ShiORVRSh\ó

XINHUA
On the first day of the annual
legislative session on May 22, Xi
met deputies from Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region in north
China. Last year, he focused on
ecological protection at the meet-
ing with deputies from the region;
this year, he emphasized people.
Serving the people is the gov-
ernance concept of the CPC. Xi has
elaborated on the “people first”
concept on multiple occasions.
The reiteration of the approach this
time was due to both the domestic
and international situations.
Internationally, U.S. politi-
cians such as Secretary of State
Michael Pompeo have been try-
ing to sow discord between the
CPC and the people. Therefore it
is especially important to reafĶrm
the Party’s commitment to keep-
ing a strong bond with the people.
Domestically, the CPC has led the President Xi Jinping Moins a panel discussion with NPC deputies from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China, in BeiMing
Chinese people to work in concert on May 22

16 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com


marks the end of the th Five-Year Plan
President Xi Jinping speaks at a plenary
XINHUA
meeting of the delegation of the People’s
Liberation Army and People’s Armed Police
Force during the Third Session of the th
NPC in BeiMing on May 26
PXEOicóhHaOWh
Xi stressed fortifying the public health pro-
tection network at a panel discussion with
lawmakers from Hubei on May 2.
China being a country of over . billion
people, safeguarding public health security,
preventing maMor public health crises and
protecting people’s health and safety is a
responsibility that allows no relaxation, he
said.
Though the public health and medical
service systems played key roles in dealing
economic operation now faces relatively with the epidemic, he admitted that some
206-20.
But the epidemic has significantly dis-
rupted the Chinese economy, with economic
growth in the Ķrst quarter down 6. percent
year on year. Although production and work
have resumed and economic activities have
rebooted now, there are still many uncertain-
ties. Therefore this year’s Report on the Work
of the Government set no speciĶc target for
economic growth.
On May 2, Xi attended a meeting of po-
litical advisers from the economic sector. He
called for analyzing the domestic economic
situation from a comprehensive, dialectical
and long-term perspective, urging efforts to
foster new opportunities amid challenges
and make new advancements amid changes.
Focus should be put on leveraging China’s
potential and role as the world’s largest mar-
ket, clarifying the strategic direction of supply-
side structural reform, and consolidating the
basic trend of steady economic growth with a
sound momentum in the long term, he said.
Xi underlined the importance of
enhancing the fundamental status of ag-
riculture, ensuring stability and security in
areas essential to people’s livelihood and
social and economic development, and
accomplishing the targets and tasks of
completing building a moderately prosper-
ous society in all respects and winning the
battle against poverty.
China’s economy is in a pivotal stage
for transforming the growth model, improv-
ing the industrial structure, and fostering
new growth drivers, Xi said, adding that the
http://www.bjreview.com
heavy downward pressure due to difficul-
ties and challenges caused by intertwined
structural, institutional and cyclical prob-
lems, which have been compounded by the
COVID-9 outbreak.
Despite rising instability and uncertain-
ties in the world, Xi pointed out that China’s
economy is still characterized by ample po-
tential, strong resilience, ample maneuvering
room and sufĶcient policy instruments.
China has the largest industrial sys-
tem in the world with the most complete
categories, strong production capabilities,
complete supporting sectors, as well as over
00 million market entities and a talent pool
of 0 million people, Xi said. It also has a
super-large domestic market of . billion
people and massive potential in investment
demand.
Moreover, Xi highlighted the significant
role of new growth areas and drivers such
as the digital economy, intelligent manufac-
turing, industries related to life and health,
new materials and other strategic emerging
industries.
In addition to domestic pressure, China
also faces an anti-globalization sentiment,
protectionism, unilateralism and rising geo-
political risks abroad. Xi called for unwavering
efforts to make economic globalization
more open, inclusive and balanced so that
its beneĶts are shared by all, and to build an
open world economy.
His remarks demonstrated China’s firm
resolve to further reform and opening up
and champion globalization.
weak links and inadequacies were also ex-
posed, urging prompt efforts to Ķx them.
He also listed the priorities for improve-
ment including reforming the disease
prevention and control system; boosting
epidemic monitoring, early warning and
emergency response capacity; perfecting
the treatment system for maMor epidemics;
and amending public health emergency laws
and regulations.
0iOiWar\óSrHSarHGnHVV
Although the COVID-9 epidemic response
is a not a wartime military action, it has been
a test for the Chinese armed forces’ capacity.
Over 0,000 medical workers from the mili-
tary were dispatched to Hubei to treat the
infected.
Xi spoke highly of their contributions to
the Ķght at a plenary meeting of the delega-
tion of the People’s Liberation Army and
People’s Armed Police Force on May 26.
He said the epidemic has profoundly
impacted China’s security and development
and directed the military to think about
worst-case scenarios and scale up training
and battle preparedness. He urged them to
be ready to promptly and effectively deal
with all sorts of complex situations and
safeguard national sovereignty, security and
development interests. Q
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to lanxinzhen#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 17

A residential community for relocatees from unlivable mountainous areas in Kelan County, Shanxi Province in north China, on May 20
COVER STORY
$ó0$77(5ó2)ó
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7hHóGHciViYHórROHóRfóSRYHrW\órHGXcWiRnóinó&hina·VóóWarJHWVó%\ó-Rhnó5RVV
The author is a senior fellow
at Chongyang Institute for
Financial Studies, Renmin
University of China, and
former director of
economic and business
policy for mayor of London
7
he centrality of poverty reduction to
China’s state policy was once more
strongly emphasized by the Report on
the Work of the Government to this year’s full
session of the National People’s Congress,
China’s top legislature. The novel coronavirus
outbreak has evidently struck a heavy blow to
18 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
the Chinese economy, and the pandemic’s
indirect international consequences are creat-
ing the greatest global economic downturn
since the Great Depression, which will weigh
negatively on China throughout this year. For
this latter reason, as is well known, China took
the unusual step of not setting an economic
growth target for 2020. But the commitment to
eliminating poverty was emphatically retained
within the government’s program.
China had already made immense progress
on its route to eliminating absolute poverty be-
fore this year began and the pandemic struck.
According to this year’s Report on the Work of
the Government, China has reduced the rural
XINHUA
poor population by . million, and greater
efforts would be made to eliminate poverty in
all remaining poor counties and villages. OfĶcial
data shows China had more than . million
people living in poverty as of 209.
It is clear that there will be ßexibility with re-
gard to economic goals in 2020, but no retreat
from the target of poverty elimination will be
accepted.
+XPanócRnVHTXHncHV
The domestic significance of China’s achieve-
ments in poverty reduction is evident, but it can
be seen even more clearly by placing it in an
international contexttbecause the decisive
http://www.bjreview.com
immediate problem facing the overwhelm-
ing maMority of people in the world remains
inadequate income, and for a large number it
remains poverty.
It is important to understand that the issue
of low income and poverty should not be envis-
aged only in narrow economic terms. It is quite
literally a matter of life and death in its human
consequences.
According to the latest internationally com-
parable data, for 20, a person living in a low-
income country, by World Bank classification,
lives only 6 years compared to  years in a
high-income economy. This is similar to the gap
seen in advanced countries between poorer
and richer parts of their cities. Consequently,
not merely do those living in poverty have fewer
real practical choices in life but they literally die
many years younger than necessary.
China’s poverty line, as used in the Report
2020, it will have reduced it by 00 percent.
It is certainly gratifying to see that some
other countries have begun to make progress
in reducing the impoverished population, but
China’s contribution to the global anti-poverty
campaign is vastly greater than that of any
other country. China has taken over Ķve times
as many people out of poverty as India, almost
seven times as many as Indonesia, and over
20 times as many as the entire Latin American
region.
These trends also have a decisive effect
on the issue of human rights. The lives of the
people lifted out of poverty in China have
been vastly improved and their real choices in
life greatly widened. This has contributed far
more to humanity’s wellbeing than the absurd
Western deĶnition of human rights.
'iffHrHnWóSaWhVó
world cannot mechanically copy China as the
conditions in every country are specific, but it
can learn from China’s development path. As
President Xi Jinping said at the 9th National
Congress of the Communist Party of China in
20, socialism with Chinese characteristics
“offers a new option for other countries and na-
tions who want to speed up their development
while preserving their independence.”
%aViVóRfórHMXYHnaWiRn
Immediately after the founding of the People’s
Republic of China in 99, China achieved an in-
crease in life expectancy which was the greatest
recorded in a maMor country in human history.
This was of decisive significance because it
is well known that average life expectancy is
the best indicator of overall social conditions.
It sums up in a single figure all positive high
consumption level, good education, quality
on the Work of the Government, is domestically These trends in poverty reduction also have of healthcare and environmental protection
deĶned. But to make international comparisons a decisive significance for Mudging whether a and negative factors low consumption level,
a uniform international standard must be used. socialist or a capitalist path is correct for de- lack of education, bad healthcare and poor
The World Bank’s deĶnition of poverty is expen- velopment. This issue is rather easily settled environmental conditions. But despite these
diture of .9 a day at 20 international prices by noting that if it was capitalism which took outstanding social achievements, the Chinese
purchasing power parity. Using this criterion,
the first available internationally comparable
data for the world and for China is for 9 and
the most recent for 20talthough China it-
self has made even further progress since then.
Between 9 and 20, China reduced
the number of those living in internationally
deĶned poverty by 6 milliontout of a world
total reduction of nearly . billion. Therefore,
China accounted for  percent, or almost
three out of four, of the people taken out of
poverty in the world.
Between 9 and 206, the latest World
Bank data shows China reduced the number of
people living in internationally deĶned poverty
within its borders by 99. percent. By the end of
Workers make toys at a poverty-relief workshop in =hangMiaMie, Hunan Province in central China, on May 2
http://www.bjreview.com
people out of poverty, the great reduction in
poverty would have taken place in all capitalist
countries but these, as already seen, account
for a small proportion of the number of those
taken out of poverty in the world. It is socialist
China which is overwhelmingly responsible for
global poverty reduction.
Furthermore, while China’s is by far the
greatest reduction in the number of those living
in poverty in the world, other socialist countries
have also made outstanding progress. Viet Nam
reduced the number of those living in poverty
by 9 percent between 992 and 206.
To understand the scale of this, China has
lifted more people out of poverty than the
entire population of the EU. The rest of the
XINHUA
economy remained at a low level of develop-
ment in 99-.
In contrast, China’s economic growth
during more than 0 years of reform and
opening up after 9 is the greatest in the
whole of human historytas measured by
speed of economic development, by the
number of people whose lives were improved
by this development, by the proportion of
humanity which directly benefited from it,
and by the sustained speed of increase in
living standards. But as already seen, it was
also marked by the world’s greatest poverty
reduction. Such an economic development
is the basis of the reMuvenation of the Chinese
nation, of the improvement in China’s social
conditions, and of China’s immense contri-
bution to the improvement of the overall
conditions of humanity.
The statement that China’s economic
achievement is the greatest in human his-
tory in terms, not only of improvement of the
conditions in China but of improvement of the
overall condition of humanity, is therefore not
one made by an “overheated” Chinese nation-
alist. Nor are they “polite words” uttered for
the Chinese media. In serious matters such as
China’s national reMuvenation, there is no virtue
in exaggeration, no virtue in optimism and no
virtue in pessimismtthere is virtue only in
realism. The statement that China’s economic
development, including centrally its role in pov-
erty reduction, is the greatest in human history
is simply a statement of fact. Q
Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey
Comments to yanwei#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 19
COVER STORY

ó6(77,1*ó7+(ó721(
7ZRó6HVViRnVóRXWcRPHVóanGóWZRóJRaOVófRró&hina·VóHcRnRPicórHcRYHr\ó
%\ó0ichaHOó=aNNRXr

The construction site of a tunnel in Fuzhou, FuMian Province in southeast China, on May 26

what we have learned from the results of the
Two Sessions, a look at China’s post-COVID-9
The author is an op-ed recovery thus far, and two key factors that will
contributor to help determine the speed and scope of China’s
Beijing Review and rebound.
founder and CEO
of  New Digital (cRnRPicórHcRYHr\
The Two Sessions departed from tradition
in many ways this year. Perhaps the biggest
piece of news was that the government did
One of the most enduring images of
China during the COVID-9 outbreak was the
blue skies across maMor industrial cities and
regions, the clarity and duration of which had
not been seen in years. This was great news
for Chinese people and the environment but
also a stark indicator that China would have
to restart production.
There are many encouraging signs that
life, business, and economic normalization is

7
he annual sessions of China’s top leg-
islature and political advisory body,
commonly known as the Two Sessions,
have always been a global media event for the
setting of the annual growth target and the
government’s agenda and policy priorities for
the year.
This year’s meetings were not only critical
to China’s leaders and citizens, but also of maMor
not set a growth target for the year. This
is due to the uncertainty created by the
COVID-9 pandemic. Last year, the target
was between 6 percent and 6. percent and
the economy grew by 6. percent.
The second big takeaway was the an-
nouncement of a package of policies aimed
at stabilizing the economy and spurring
employment including a deĶcit increase of 
taking place. The Ķrst sign of recovery is that
factories, both large and small, are humming
with activity again. While it is apparent that in
China, and elsewhere around the world, there
will likely not be a V-shaped recovery and
there may be ups and downs for the next six
to  months, signs of change are obvious.
Perhaps no sector of the economy suf-
fered more than manufacturing as plant after
interest to global companies, politicians, trade trillion yuan 0 billion over last year and plant was shut down to stop the spread of
groups and other institutions. As the world looks issuance of  trillion yuan of government the epidemic. While many ofĶce workers in
to China for results of the battle against the bonds for COVID-9 control. The country also big cities were able to work remotely, factory
novel coronavirus disease COVID-9, its cur- plans to issue . trillion yuan 2 billion workers suffered from loss of income and
rent economic state and what the future holds, of special local government bonds this year, the country suffered from lack of exports.
there are three key areas of especial interest: up .6 trillion yuan 22 billion from 209. According to China’s National Bureau of
20 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

Statistics, industrial output grew by .9 per-
cent in April after an .-percent drop in the
Ķrst three months. By any measure, China is
still the factory of the world and its economy,
global supply chains and consumers around
the world depend on Chinese exports. This
is especially important at a time when global
companies are considering reshoring and
diversifying their manufacturing maps.
Another bright spot is consumption. A key
goal of the 2th and th five-year plans for
20- and 206-20 is to shift a significant
percentage of China’s growth and GDP to con-
sumption and services. This has been a highlight
of the last 0 years of China’s economic growth.
Research we have completed recently
regarding consumption, e-commerce,
pace of openings, products and brand as-
sessment points to long-term growth in all
sectors of consumption with stable employ-
ment numbers.
Retail sales of consumer goods fell by
. percent in China in April, but compared
to the decline in spending and retail sales in
other parts of the world, Chinese consumers
http://www.bjreview.com
have kept the economy from further plunge.
The role that services are playing in the
recovery is notable as well. Services rang-
ing from cloud computing, restaurants and
banking to marketing are recovering. These
are generally provided by large corporations,
both domestic and foreign, who are better
positioned to both endure difficulties and
spur recovery.
The bigger worry for China is the tens
of thousands of small businesses that may
struggle to stay open, stay profitable and
keep people employed.
Keeping people employed is key to
maintaining stability and domestic harmony,
not to mention regaining the momentum
of building a society based on President Xi
Jinping’s vision of the Chinese dreamtthat
of a prosperous, stable country where each
generation does better than the previous,
and which through influence created by
investment, wealth and outreach will play an
increasingly maMor role on the world stage.
The biggest threat to that future is mass
unemployment.
:haW·VónH[W"
Getting people back to work will be the most
critical action item on the 2020 and 202
agenda for the Chinese Government.
During the Two Sessions, Premier Li
Keqiang said the government will take
strong measures to stimulate employment.
Anything that will get businesses stable, re-
opened, and fully staffed is paramount.
New companies that meet the needs of
A host promotes an agricultural product during a live-streaming session in Liuyang, Hunan Province in central China,
on May 
a post-COVID-9 world in Ķelds such as medi-
cine, business, transportation and food safety,
among others could be big winners over the
next decade at home and abroad. New digital
commerce and smart-living technologies and
biomedicine companies are also key to build-
ing the new economy, and could become
forces for multi-decade growth and Mob cre-
ation, rather than simply trying to settle for
returning to the pre-virus state.
The evolution of e-commerce and digital
commerce and the industries they created, led
by Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, Huawei, Xiaomi
and Pinduoduo, not to mention sub-industries
like key opinion leaders on e-commerce
management, have transformed the way
consumers look for, buy and consume the
maMority of products and services and has
been a Mob growth engine for almost 20 years.
Now is the time to focus on further devel-
opment of world-class digital commerce and
technology companies as generators of Mobs.
The next six to  months will be chal-
lenging for almost every business and
government in the world. Therefore, not only
is it important for China and other countries
to work internally on a restart and return to
growth, but also to work together on this
global problem that requires both domestic
and global solutions. Q
Scan here to watch video
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XINHUA
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 21
WORLD

8nGHrVWanGinJó&hinaó
+RZóZiOOó&hinaóinWHracWóZiWhóWhHórHVWóRfóWhHóZRrOGóinóWhHónHZóHra"ó%\ó7RnJó;in

XINHUA
State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at a press conference via video link on the sidelines of the Third Session of the th National People’s Congress in BeiMing
on May 2

:
ith China entering a new era of devel-
opment, the transformative changes
and tremendous progress taking
place in the country have been attracting ever
increasing attention from the rest of the world.
But though reports on China abroad have been
exponential, the messages are confusing. While
China’s development is regarded as an oppor-
tunity by some, others view it as a challenge or
even a threat.
Since the th National Congress of the
has been established. Xi Jinping Thought on
Diplomacy is the crystallization of these new
thoughts and approaches.
At its center are 0 key concepts, which are
the essence of China’s diplomacy in the new
era, extracted and distilled from its long-held
principles and decades of practice. Together
they constitute the foundation of the idea
and practice of maMor-country diplomacy with
Chinese characteristics.
power in international relations will only induce
chaos or even war. Unilateralism and power
politics lead to nowhere. The return of the law
of the Mungle means regression of civilization. A
zero-sum mentality and beggar-thy-neighbor
policy are recipes for failure. It is imperative to
rise above the outdated categorization of coun-
tries into hierarchical groupings or blocs. The
world is becoming increasingly multipolar and
globalized and instead of carving out spheres of
influence, an open and inclusive world should
Communist Party of China CPC in 202,
China’s diplomatic activities have been fruit-
ful, covering high-level visits, economic
cooperation, cultural exchanges, public
diplomacy and non-governmental activities.
A comprehensive framework coordinating bi-
lateral, multilateral, regional and global affairs
22 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
'iSORPac\óinóWhHónHZóHraó
The goals of maMor-country diplomacy with
Chinese characteristics are first, to be respon-
sible for national reMuvenation, and second, to
contribute to human progress.
History shows that the pursuit of hegemo-
ny, alliance and confrontation and the abuse of
be the new pursuit.
The evolution of world history and the trend
of international situation has three important
implications for China’s development and its
relations with the world:
First, the law governing the rise and fall
of great powers in world history shows that
http://www.bjreview.com

aggression and expansion by force will eventual-
ly end up in failure. Chinese reMuvenation cannot
follow the path adopted by the Western powers
characterized by overseas war and expansion.
Second, against the background of glo-
balization, the opportunities for China and the
rest of the world are intertwined. As President
Xi Jinping said, “The world’s prosperity and
stability is China’s opportunity while China’s de-
velopment is an opportunity for the world. The
success of the path of peaceful development
relies largely on our ability to promote the mu-
tual cross-fertilization of China’s opportunities
and those of the world, and to make progress
through positive interaction and win-win coop-
eration between China and other countries.”
Third, China should participate in world
affairs and assume global responsibilities. To
quote Xi, “We should continue to expand mutu-
ally beneĶcial cooperation with other countries,
participate in global affairs with a more positive
attitude, work with other countries to cope with
global challenges, and strive to make contribu-
tions to world development.”
All this makes China’s relationship with
the world clear: China has taken on the re-
sponsibility to pursue happiness for its people,
reMuvenation for the nation, and peace and
prosperity for the whole humanity, linking the
Chinese dream to the dreams of other people
around the world.
&hina·VóSaWh
Having experienced bitter sufferings in the
past, China knows well the value of peace and
development, and sees it as its sacred duty
to promote the peaceful development of the
world. It is committed to an independent for-
eign policy of peace, and is willing to engage
in friendly cooperation with other countries
on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful
Coexistence, and will never pursue hegemony
or seek expansion.
China firmly defends its sovereignty and
territorial integrity, its legitimate right to devel-
opment, and its dignity and place in the world
which the Chinese people have worked so
hard to earn. China’s commitment to peaceful
development does not mean it will abandon
its legitimate rights and interests or sacrifice
its core national interests. China is not to be
cowered by threats or subdued by pressure. No
http://www.bjreview.com
country should ever expect China to trade off
its core interests or swallow any bitter fruit that
undermines its sovereignty, security and devel-
opment interests.
9iViRnófRróWhHóZRrOGó
Where is the world heading? What kind of world
should we shape? In answer, Xi put forward the
initiative of Mointly building a community with a
shared future for humanity, an open, inclusive,
clean and beautiful world that enMoys lasting
peace, universal security and common prosperity.
Building a community with a shared future
for humanity is the crystallization of innovations
in the theory of maMor-country diplomacy with
Chinese characteristics. This lofty goal has been
written into the Constitution of China and the
CPC Constitution. It is also endorsed in the doc-
uments of important regional and international
organizations including the UN.
Building a community with a shared future
is a well-rounded, systematic proposal. Its es-
sence is described in Xi’s report to the 9th CPC
National Party Congress in 20, laying out a
five-pronged overall approach and plan that
covers politics, security, development, culture
and the environment.
Building a community with a shared future
does not mean conformity to the same values
by all countries or the implementation of unilat-
eral proposals pushed by one country or a small
minority of countries, nor does it mean the
establishment of a single unitary actor around
the globe, or the replacement of one system or
culture by another.
Rather, it calls for countries with different
social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures
and levels of development to align their goals
and interests, enMoy equal rights and share
responsibilities in international activities for the
progress of humanity as a whole.
6RXrcHVóRfóVWrHnJWh
O Boosting confidence in China as a major
socialist country with distinctive Chinese features
The strength of China’s development road
and its foreign policy lies in its independence,
taking control of one’s own destiny rather than
copying others or living on handouts. It lies in
the leadership of the CPC, whereby the Party
plays an overarching role to bring together
the resources of the whole nation. It lies in the
WORLD
philosophy of governing for the people and by
the people, oriented toward the people’s wish
for a better life and relying on the people for big
undertakings.
Finally, the strength lies in the policy of
reform and opening up, enabling China to keep
abreast of the times and progress with the rest
of the world through openness and cooperation.
It has been proven that socialism with dis-
tinctive Chinese features represents the biggest
strength, the most salient characteristic and
the greatest opportunity for China’s external
affairs, and is the underpinning driving force to
ensure their success. The CPC and Chinese are
fully conĶdent of offering Chinese inputs to the
global exploration of better social systems.
O The CPC Central Committee’s overall
leadership in China’s external work
Since the th CPC National Congress, the
CPC Central Committee has enhanced the role
of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs,
previously known as the Central Foreign Affairs
Leading Group, and convened a meeting on
neighborhood diplomacy and two central con-
ferences on work relating to foreign affairs to
improve the top-level design, strategic planning
and coordination on external affairs.
It has adopted and improved maMor regula-
tions on foreign affairs management, advanced
institutional reforms on external work and
coordinated the efforts of various departments
and regions. All these endeavors have provided
powerful political support for China to over-
come difficulties and forge ahead in external
work.
O Upholding the right approach to justice
and gain
China does not put its interests above oth-
ers’. On the contrary, it believes that a country
should never sacriĶce the greater good for ma-
terial interests. It pursues both the greater good
and shared interests, and puts the greater good
Ķrst when necessary.
Politically, China stands for fairness and
Mustice. In its economic cooperation with other
countries, China follows the principle of mutual
beneĶt and common development. When deal-
ing with international affairs, it upholds integrity,
amity, Mustice and morality, acting in good faith
and valuing friendship.
Particularly, this approach must be applied
in China’s relationship with the neighboring
V
V
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 23
WORLD
countries and other developing countries. Xi
stressed, “More consideration should be given
to accommodate the interests of those neigh-
boring and developing countries who have long
been China’s friends and face daunting devel-
opment challenges.”
6harinJó&hinHVHóZiVGRP
O A new blueprint for human progress
The vision of building a community with a
shared future for humanity is China’s proposal
to the international community in response
to the maMor changes in today’s world. It tran-
scends the differences between nationalities,
political parties and systems, reßects the big-
gest common interests of all countries and
the common values of mankind.
This represents China’s global vision of
pursuing both its own development and
the development of the world, and dem-
onstrates that China’s diplomacy has come
to the forefront of the times, and China is
ready to shoulder its responsibility as a ma-
Mor country.
O A new thought on international relations
A new type of international relations is
China’s answer for the 2st century and its
key principles are mutual respect, fairness
and Mustice, and win-win cooperation. ǂ
China believes in equality among all
countries, respects the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of other countries, and
the social system and development path
independently chosen by the people of each
country.
China stands for fairness and Mustice.
On the international stage, China speaks for
Mustice, opposes hegemonism or bullying,
calls for handling international affairs based
on the merits of each case and for settling
issues through extensive consultation.
China stands for common, comprehen-
sive, cooperative and sustainable security,
holding that disputes should be settled
through dialogue and consultation and
that common threats should be addressed
through international cooperation in the
interest of sustaining global peace and com-
mon security.
China pursues mutually beneficial
cooperation. It is committed to replacing
confrontation with cooperation, monopoly
with shared beneĶts, calling for the principle
of win-win cooperation to be integrated into
all aspects of political, economic, security
and cultural cooperation among nations.
O A new type of global partnership
Since the th CPC National Congress,
China has been striving to build a global net-
work of partnerships. The principle is non-
alignment, equal, peaceful and inclusive.
Those who share the same ideal and follow
the same path can be partners; those who
24 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
seek common ground while reserving differ-
ences can also be partners.
Transcending the traditional model of
international relations, which is characterized
by alliance or confrontation, and the Cold
War mentality of “either with us or against
us,” these partnerships are not dominated
by any party, or draw lines of division, and are
still less directed against any imaginary en-
emies or third parties. It presents the world
with a new modality for developing state-to-
state relations.
O A new mode of economic globalization
Economic globalization is a historical
trend. Erecting walls will not resolve global
challenges, blaming others for one’s own
problems does nothing but create hatred
and confrontation. Tariffs and trade disputes,
which upset global industrial and supply
chains, serve only to undermine the multilat-
eral trading regime and global economic and
trade order, and may even plunge the world
into recession.
The solution to the problems occurring
in globalization lies in its further advance-
ment. Facing the growing backlash against
globalization and the serious challenge of
rising protectionism and unilateralism, Xi has
sent out a clear and consistent message of
China’s firm commitment to safeguarding
multilateralism and free trade, calling for
promoting economic globalization based on
mutually beneĶcial cooperation and building O A new guideline for global governance
an open world economy. China has been promoting reform of the
Advancing the Belt and Road Initiative in global governance system to make it fairer
accordance with the principle of extensive and more equitable, inclusive and balanced.
consultation, Moint contribution and shared Its essence lies in both procedural and sub-
beneĶts is the overarching design for China’s stantive democracy.
opening up and international cooperation, Procedural democracy means each
and has developed into an open and inclu- and every country is equal, no one is
sive platform of international cooperation, a privileged, and international affairs shall be
widely welcomed public good for the global truly discussed and decided by all involved.
community. International relations shall be based on
Over the past seven years, China’s trade in international rule of law and Mustice, the bed-
goods with other Belt and Road participating rocks of which are the principles enshrined
countries has exceeded . trillion, and direct in the UN Charter, including respect for
Chinese investment in these countries has national sovereignty, peaceful resolution of
topped 0 billion. disputes and non-interference in countries’
According to a World Bank report on Belt internal affairs.
and Road economics, once the transport The essence of substantive democracy
corridors are fully completed, travel time is reßected by a Chinese adage: “A Must world
along the corridors will shrink by 2 percent, should be pursued for the common good.”
trade will be up by 2. to 9. percent, peo- China maintains that global affairs should
ple’s real income will increase by .2 to . be run together by countries in the world,
percent, and .6 million people will be lifted and that all people, irrespective of their na-
out of extreme poverty in the participating tionality, social status and walk of life, should
countries. be able to beneĶt from global governance.
The initiative, highly compatible with Particularly, it reßects the need to increase
the UN’s 200 Agenda for Sustainable developing countries’ representation and
Development, is a manifestation of China’s strengthen their voice in international
commitment to sharing interests with oth- affairs.
ers, and making globalization more open, The global governance reform that China
inclusive, balanced and beneĶcial to all. takes part in is not about overturning the
http://www.bjreview.com

XINHUA
Han Xiaofei, Economic and
Commercial Counselor of the
Chinese Embassy in Senegal,
and Abdoulaye Bousso, Director
of Senegal’s Health Emergency
WORLD
are all over the world. It has reached 6 free
trade agreements with 2 countries and re-
gions, and signed cooperation documents with
 countries under the Belt and Road Initiative,
with more than 2,000 proMects launched and
tens of thousands of Mobs created in these
countries.
China fulfilled its commitment on
tariff cuts upon Moining the World Trade
Organization as early as in 200. Its overall
tariffs level has now gone down to . per-
cent, lower than that of the overwhelming
maMority of developing countries. China has
also fulĶlled its international obligations and
honored its commitments under the Paris
Agreement on climate change ahead of
schedule.
Over the years, China has provided a vast
amount of assistance to other developing
countries through concessional loans, tech-
nical, personnel and intellectual support, and
proMects directly benefiting local communi-
ties. The China International Development
Cooperation Agency was set up to contribute
more to international development efforts.
&hina·VóSOHGJH
current system and starting all over again.
China remains committed to upholding the
international system underpinned by the
UN and the international order anchored
upon international law. China stands for re-
form and improvement, not reinventing the
wheel.
$ócRnVWrXcWiYHórROH
O Peace and security
The world has become more peaceful
and safer thanks to China’s development.
China has provided peace, security and a
happy life for its citizens, or one Ķfth of the
world’s population. That itself is a maMor con-
tribution to world peace and development.
While safeguarding its own peace and
security, China is also contributing its wis-
dom, solution and strength for world peace
and stability. It safeguards the UN-centered
international order and is the second largest
funding contributor to both the UN and UN
peacekeeping operations, not for once repu-
diating its funding obligations.
Of the Ķve permanent members of the UN
Security Council, it has dispatched the largest
number of peacekeeping personnelt9,000
to 2 UN peacekeeping operations. The
0-year -billion China-UN Peace and
Development Fund supports efforts to safe-
guard peace and development worldwide.
http://www.bjreview.com
Operations Center, attend a
China-Africa video conference
on COVID-9 in Dakar, Senegal,
on March 
China applies a Chinese approach to
hotspot issues and non-traditional secu-
rity issues such as counter-terrorism, anti-
narcotics, disaster relief, cybersecurity and
climate change. Dedication to peaceful
dialogue for win-win cooperation has con-
tributed to China’s progressing diplomacy for
handling common challenges.
O Development and opportunity
According to the International Monetary
Fund, China contributed as much as  per-
cent to global GDP growth between 2009
and 20. China’s development has been a
source of confidence for the international
community.
As the largest trading partner of over
0 countries, China’s development and
progress has delivered enormous beneĶts to
other countries. With a population of . bil-
lion, a workforce of 900 million and a talent
pool of 0 million with higher education or
professional skills, China will remain the fast-
est growing maMor export market, one of the
most popular investment destinations, and a
source of growth, stability and vitality for the
global economy. In the next  years or so,
China will estimatedly import 0 trillion of
goods and 0 trillion of services.
O Openness and cooperation
China has, through reform and opening
up, embraced the world. Its trading partners
The novel coronavirus disease COVID-9
has wrought havoc across the world. When
life eventually returns to normal, we must
not forget the lessons learned.
The key takeaway is that pandemics
require a collective and united response.
Whatever our nationalities, our interests are
closely entwined and so are our futures.
China has been building a health com-
munity in the Ķght against COVID-9. Acting
with openness, transparency and responsibil-
ity, it has assisted the countries in need, and
pledged to provide 2 billion over two years
to help affected countries, especially devel-
oping countries.
China will work with the UN to set up
a global humanitarian response depot and
hub, establish a cooperation mechanism
for its hospitals to pair up with 0 African
hospitals, and accelerate building the Africa
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
headquarters.
It will, together with other Group of
20 members, implement the Debt Service
Suspension Initiative for the poorest countries.
The COVID-9 vaccine being developed in
China will be made a global public good when
available. This will be China’s contribution to
ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability
in developing countries. Q
The author is an op-ed contributor to Beijing Review and
a senior expert on international studies
Comments to yanwei#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 25
WORLD

&29,'1óanGó
and the DHS have also reportedly blamed
China for seeking “valuable intellectual
property and public health data… related to
vaccines, treatments, and testing” illicitly.
Since the outbreak of COVID-9, China
has been the target of unfounded accusa-

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inónHZónRrPaOóWiPHVó%\ó0aó%R
cyber resilience. A survey done by Barracuda
Networks, a U.S. company providing secu-
The author is a rity software, indicated that almost half of
research fellow at the companies around the world had suffered a
Collaborative Innovation cybersecurity issue amid COVID-9.
Center of South China In the Western media, China has fre-
Sea Studies at NanMing quently been accused of state-sponsored
University, east China cyber espionage on Western govern-
ments and private industries. The UK’s
National Cyber Security Centre and the U.S.
tions. At Ķrst, the Chinese Government was
accused of covering up the spread of the
virus. Later on, when COVID-9 became a
pandemic, the United States ran a conspir-
acy theory that the coronavirus might have
come from a lab in Wuhan, the city in China
where the domestic outbreak was first re-
ported. President Donald Trump ordered all
U.S. intelligence agencies to gather informa-
tion on the origins of COVID-9, which is a
strong hint that China will undergo scrutiny.
All of these accusations prompted hack-
ers to attack Chinese government networks.
In April, Reuters reported that hackers
attempted to break into “Chinese state orga-
nizations at the center of BeiMing’s efforts to
contain the coronavirus outbreak” and col-
lect intelligence. In the future, China could
suffer more attacks due to being scapegoat-
ed for the COVID-9 outbreak.
No country wants cooperation in cyber-
security more than China. Without global

7
he novel coronavirus disease Department of Homeland Security DHS action, the whole world faces greater threats
COVID-9, which has put almost the
entire Western world on lockdown,
has triggered a spike in cyberattacks and
cybercrimes. The European Commission
has raised the alert level, urging strong
26 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
Mointly alleged in May that state-backed hack-
ers from China, Russia and Iran were trying
to steal coronavirus research from Western
universities and scientiĶc facilities.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
and challenges.
$WWacNVóRnórHPRWHóZRrNHrV
There have been extensive reports that busi-
nesses as well as individuals are increasingly
http://www.bjreview.com

LI SHIGONG
PrRWHcWiRnóPHaVXrHV
Unlike the West, China is a latecomer in both
establishing a special force and introducing
legislation to protect its cyberspace. Unlike
the United States, which has established a
uniĶed military and civilian cyber command
as one of the  unified commands of the
U.S. Department of Defense, China has a
fragmented institutional response toward
cybersecurity threats.
It was as recently as in 20 that the
People’s Liberation Army had the Strategic
Support Force to deal with information and
WORLD
All these threats and challenges cannot
be addressed by the ICT sector alone. The
government must step in to provide funding,
regulations and legislation to address these
concerns.
Under the post-COVID-9 new norms,
certain numbers of the workforce will be
expected to work remotely. Their protec-
tion has to be not Must technological but also
needs to include new regulations and legisla-
tion that will focus on big businesses as well
as small and medium-sized businesses and
individuals.
For instance, before the outbreak, only
communications technology ICT challeng-
es from abroad. The same year, China issued
its first military strategy for the information
age and recognized that the form of war was
accelerating toward informationization.
In addition, the Ministry of State Security
and other intelligence units also deal with
cyberattacks from overseas.
2 percent globally worked remotely on av-
erage. This number rose to 60 percent as of
March , according to accounting service
provider Deloitte. Yet, the Barracuda survey
indicated that  percent of enterprises
globally intended to reduce spending on
cybersecurity due to Ķnancial strain. The pro-
tection of non-governmental organizations
Two laws, the State Security Law 20 and and international organizations should also
becoming victims of cybercrimes focusing
on personal data theft, and on critical infra-
structure and remote workforce. China is no
exception.
Security software Ķrm McAfee found that
the number of attacks on Microsoft Remote
the Cybersecurity Law 206, are the corner-
stones of China’s cyber legislation. Article 2 of
the State Security Law provides for a cyber and
information security safeguard by “…increasing
network management, preventing, stopping
be included in the new laws and regulations.
It is anticipated that they will face more
cyberattacks as well to glean information,
especially on their strategy, as well as public
organizations, such as hospitals and universi-
Desktop Protocol RDP, a system that en-
ables remote workers to log on to their ofĶce
computers and access business networks,
increased signiĶcantly during COVID-9, with
2 percent of the stolen RDP certificates
coming from Chinese users. With the vast
maMority of companies remote-working since
the outbreak, a breach will cause severe
Ķnancial consequences for the Chinese busi-
ness sector.
A report by business consultancy KPMG
in May said organized crime groups were
seeking to monetize the fear, uncertainty and
doubt many people feel during the pandemic
through cybercrimes. COVID-9-themed
phishing, which attempts to obtain personal
information through fraudulent means and
other kinds of fraud, have skyrocketed.
According to a report issued by Qihoo
60, one of the largest cybersecurity firms
in China, from January to March, there was a
-percent spike in cybercrimes compared to
the same period in 209. Personal protection
equipment fraud accounted for  percent of
the reported crimes. In addition, there were
financial scams, phishing campaigns, fraudu-
lent websites and conferencing platforms, and
mobile malware.
http://www.bjreview.com
and lawfully punishing unlawful and criminal
activity on networks such as network attacks,
network intrusion, cybertheft, and dissemina-
tion of unlawful and harmful information.”
The Cybersecurity Law is the most com-
prehensive legislation safeguarding China’s
ICT with 9 articles. They cover areas from
personal information protection to Internet
operator security protection to restrictions
on the transfer of personal information and
business data overseas.
However, experts say while the law pro-
vides a basic legal framework for cyberspace
governance, it should be supplemented by
regulations.
*OREaOóHffRrWVónHHGHG
Besides traditional cybersecurity risks, new
threats are emerging, such as increased risks
from remote working/learning and state-
sponsored cyber espionage against public
health sectors and research and develop-
ment industries.
In addition, many industries such as food
suppliers and the logistics industry have now
become essential sectors of socioeconomic
development. However, they are ill-prepared
for cyberattacks.
ties, for their knowledge.
Governments, businesses and individu-
als are ill-prepared for cyberattacks and
cybercrimes. Law enforcement is slow and
companies and individuals are left mainly
to their own resources when facing cy-
bercrimes. All these problems will worsen
because the gravity and intensity of these
crimes is increasing due to COVID-9.
Cybersecurity is going to become one of
the most pressing issues for the ICT industry
and national security. Unfortunately, Must as
there is no vaccine for COVID-9 at present,
there is also a lack of global cooperation and
coordination in the Ķght against cyberattacks
and cyber espionage, which tempts certain
organizations and individuals to explore the
vulnerable cyberspace in crisis.
No country is exempt from cyber threats
and challenges. Instead of Ķnger-pointing at
one another, lawmakers and policymakers
worldwide need to come together to address
the issues created by COVID-9 unitedly in
the days to come. Q
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to yanwei#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 27
WORLD

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cRRSHraWiRnóanGócRnnHcWiYiW\ó%\ó1aJhPanaó$ó+aVhPió

Minister =ulĶqar Ali Bhutto was the last visiting

foreign leader received by Chairman Mao in
May 96, despite his frail health at the time.
In April 20, President Xi Jinping paid a
The author is Pakistani historic state visit to Pakistan, elevating the
ambassador to China Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative
partnership and giving further impetus to the
5
eßecting on the monumental Mourney
traversed by Pakistan and China over
the past decades calls to mind the
Chinese proverb “finding a soul mate who
knows one’s heart is far harder than striking
gold.”
On the international stage, where cease-
less change is the only certainty along the
long road to harmonious interdependence, I
marvel at the wisdom of successive genera-
tions of our two nations in forging a bond
stronger than steel, and bequeathing this
invaluable legacy to those to follow. Our
forebears have done well by us.
7hHóJHnHViV
In 90, Pakistan became the first Muslim
country to recognize the People’s Republic of
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC as the
flagship proMect of his visionary Belt and Road
Initiative.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has paid three
visits to China since taking office in August
20, each time taking Pakistan and China
further along the road to a closer community
of shared future in the new era and adding
further substance to the depth and breadth of
the cooperation.
The high-level contact between Pakistan
and China goes far beyond symbolism or
rhetoric. It underlines the unshakable trust
and understanding that is the hallmark of our
relationship, and the consensus of our lead-
ers provides essential guidance for continuing
along our shared path toward the common
goals of peace and prosperity.
The Pakistan-China friendship is based on
mutual respect, enabling it to withstand the
vicissitudes of history and grow irrespective
of international, regional and even domestic
developments. The seeds sown and tended
China PRC. The establishment of diplomatic
ties followed a year later under handwritten
instructions from Chairman Mao =edong to the
Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The first high-level contact, between
Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra
and Chinese Premier =hou Enlai on the side-
lines of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in
9, initiated a tradition of frequent exchanges
that endures to this day.
Premier =hou visited Pakistan a record four
times, a feat in bilateral relations reflected in
the name of the main avenue running through
Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave. In BeiMing, Prime
28 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
by successive generations of Pakistanis and
Chinese have thus bloomed into the all-weather
strategic cooperative partnership that we have
today, enMoying broad-based support from all
segments of society.
At a time of a profound transformation in
the international system and unprecedented
challenges for humanity, the continuing vitality
of Pakistan-China relations is a stabilizing inßu-
ence in the region and beyond.
Following decades of economic revitaliza-
tion and guided by her longstanding principles
of mutual respect, equality and win-win co-
operation, Pakistan sees a stronger China as a
force of good in the world. China, in turn, sees
a strong, safe and prosperous Pakistan as a
source of strength and stability.
6WanGinJóWRJHWhHr
After the novel coronavirus outbreak was first
discovered, China implemented the unprec-
edented lockdown of the hardest-hit province
of Hubei, especially Wuhan as its capital. While
others withdrew their citizens from the affected
areas, Pakistanis there stayed put. We have
thus chronicled first-hand the heroism of the
Chinese nation, and especially of the people in
http://www.bjreview.com
 WORLD
top The expressway section of
XINHUA
the Karakorum Highway proMect phase two,
a proMect of the China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor, in Pakistan, on November , 209
Chinese medical experts visit a hospital for
COVID-9 patients in Rawalpindi, Pakistan,
on April 
and China have withstood all trials, reinforced
the mutual confidence of both peoples, and
provided an example for the rest of the world.
With the virus Ķnding its way eventually to
my country, China’s assistance has been both
timely and generous. From medical teams to
ventilators to personal protection equipment, a
sustained air bridge between our two countries
has ensured that supplies reach those who
need it on the frontlines.
These ßight operations are living up to our
forebears’ legacy: Pakistan’s national airline was
the Ķrst outside the Soviet bloc to ßy to China
at the height of the Cold War. In 9, it was
Pakistani diplomats and aircraft that ferried
then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to
BeiMing for that fateful meeting with Chinese of-
Ķcials that set the stage for then U.S. President
Richard Nixon’s historic visit the following year.
During the severe acute respiratory syndrome
The CPEC and the broader Pakistan-China
economic partnership have infused renewed
vitality into our socioeconomic development
in the short span of a few years. The focus of
the CPEC’s early-harvest phase on energy and
transportation infrastructure has set the stage
for Pakistan’s economic revitalization through
efficiency of communications, removal of
bottlenecks and creating a conducive business
environment through the development of in-
dustrial parks and special economic zones.
This industrialization drive will not neglect
the traditional mainstays of our economy such
as agriculture and textiles and will give full play
to investors and business people from Pakistan
and elsewhere.
As we look beyond the storm of the global
pandemic, the CPEC’s next phase of even
higher-quality development will encompass
new areas such as science and technology and
agriculture. Meanwhile, 2 socioeconomic de-
velopment proMects across all parts of Pakistan
would create necessary conditions for enabling
the multiplier effects of the large-scale invest-
ments, ensuring that no one would be left
behind.
$óPRGHrnóPiracOH
As Prime Minister Khan noted in his Ķrst speech,
Wuhan and Hubei, and are proud to have stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with them during this dif-
Ķcult time.
At the height of the pandemic in March,
Pakistani President Arif Alvi arrived in BeiMing
with the singular purpose of expressing solidar-
ity with China in its people’s war against the
disease. Speaking of Pakistan’s assistance for
China, President Alvi said Pakistan did not need
a back-up plan for its friendship with China.
Reciprocating that sentiment, President Xi
recalled the Chinese proverb that Ķre is the test
of gold. Throughout the global ordeal, Pakistan
http://www.bjreview.com
SARS outbreak in 200, Pakistan International
China’s success in rescuing 00 million people
Airlines continued to fly to BeiMing. The lesson
out of poverty is a miracle worth emulating.
from history is clear: Pakistan would never let
China, for its part, has readily shared its experi-
China face difĶculties on its own.
ence and best practices for Pakistan’s benefit.
6harHGórHVSRnViEiOiW\ China has stepped forward to assist Pakistan in
harnessing the potential of our dynamic popula-
Faced with the novel coronavirus pandemic that
tion, thus realizing the fruits of our demographic
respects no borders and makes no distinctions
dividend. Both sides are stepping up efforts to
between nations, Pakistan deplores efforts to
ensure that the results of our economic en-
politicize the issue and stigmatize China. Rather
gagement are in keeping with the needs of our
than a witch hunt, Pakistan wishes we seize the
people and the development path chosen by
opportunity for forging stronger mechanisms
Pakistan.
for cooperation. Such calamities will recur in the
In the town of Gwadar, the port and free
globalized world and we have a shared respon-
zone have already become operational, creat-
sibility to ensure we are prepared.
ing opportunities for employment, investment
As the world recovers and we set about
and commerce. At another level, Gwadar
restoring normalcy, China’s principled approach
will complement our other ports and make
and dignity in the face of antagonism will serve
Pakistan an increasingly efficient and attrac-
as a stark contrast to the behavior of others.
tive trans-shipment hub between and among
Amid shrill warnings of deglobalization,
China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
trade conßicts and decoupling, China’s experi-
The emergence of Gwadar as a hub of regional
ence in fostering greater cooperation and
commerce and logistics will multiply economic
connectivity promises a far more attractive
opportunities for the broader region.
alternative for the world. Seven years after its
Looking back at the past 69 years of shared
unveiling, the Belt and Road Initiative has made
weal and woe, Pakistan’s confidence in this
considerable progress toward our shared vision partnership has been well placed and well
of the future.
earned. Looking forward to the milestone 0th
In Pakistan, its signature proMect, the CPEC, anniversary in a year’s time, there may be many
has steadily delivered tangible results and di-
uncertainties in the world, but the Pakistan-
rectly benefited the local people. The ,000- China friendship is here to stay. Q
km corridor starts from the city of Kashgar in
northwest China and terminates at Gwadar in
southwest Pakistan, connecting the overland
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Silk Road Economic Belt with the 2st-Century Comments to yanwei#bMreview.com
Maritime Silk Road.
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 29
NATION POLICY ANALYSIS

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:RrriHVóaERXWóWhHó&HnWraOó*RYHrnPHnWóinWHrfHrinJóinó+RnJó.RnJ·VóaXWRnRP\ó
arHóPiVXnGHrVWanGinJVó%\ó/anó;in]hHn

$
t the closing meeting of the Third Session Ordinance and the Public Security Ordinance, they be established at the state level. This has to
of the th National People’s Congress are derived from regulations under British rule be done to consolidate national security in Hong
NPC, the top legislature of China, on and have long been dormant. Because of the Kong and deter hostile forces.
May 2, deputies adopted a decision to make lack of legal support, there is no specialized
national security laws for Hong Kong Special agency under the SAR government to collect ,nWROHraEOHóacWV
Administrative Region SAR. The decision on intelligence on national security and prevent The Basic Law stipulates that “Hong Kong SAR
establishing and improving the legal system and external interference in Hong Kong’s internal is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of
enforcement mechanisms for Hong Kong SAR
to safeguard national security was tabled on
May 22 for deliberations. The aim is to ensure
that the “one country, two systems” principle is
not undermined.
The decision will entrust the Standing
Committee of the NPC to formulate relevant
laws at the state level. The proposed legislation,
which targets acts endangering national secu-
rity such as secession and subversion, will help
create a social environment where law-abiding
citizens can enMoy their rights to the full.
The SAR government is also expected to
complete its national security legislation under
Article 2 of the Basic Law, the constitutional
document for the SAR, at the earliest.
XINHUA
affairs.
Hong Kong has become defenseless when
it comes to guarding national security. It’s prob-
ably no exaggeration to say that it has the worst
legislation and enforcement mechanisms on
safeguarding national security in the world. This
is a maMor factor behind the increasingly ram-
pant activities damaging national security.
It is urgent to establish laws and enforce-
ment mechanisms for national security in the
SAR, as required by the Constitution and the
Basic Law. When national security is under serious
threat and yet Hong Kong is unable to establish
the required laws, it’s necessary and urgent that
China PRC.” “One country, two systems” is the
basic principle for governing Hong Kong SAR
established in accordance with Article  of the
Constitution of the PRC, which says, “The state
may establish SARs when necessary.”
However, since Hong Kong returned to the
motherland on July , 99, the opposition and
external forces have schemed with each other
to incite protests and violence. The former aims
to seize the right to govern Hong Kong from
the Central Government and the Hong Kong
SAR Government while the latter attempts to
create obstacles for China’s development and
subvert state power.

1HHGófRróVHcXriW\óVWaWXWH
The Basic Law, in keeping with the “one coun-
try, two systems” policy, has given Hong Kong
legislative power to draft laws for preventing ac-
tions detrimental to national security.
Article 2 stipulates that Hong Kong shall
enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of trea-
son, secession, sedition, subversion against the
Central Government, or theft of state secrets;
and to prohibit foreign political organizations or
bodies from conducting political activities in the
SAR. Political organizations or bodies in the SAR
are also prohibited from establishing ties with
foreign counterparts.
It is Hong Kong’s constitutional responsibil-
ity to establish laws to implement Article 2
and ensure that residents carry out their civic
duties. The local society of Hong Kong has a
fundamental consensus on supporting the
establishment of laws to implement Article 2.
However, due to obstruction by the opposition,
the making of such laws has been delayed till
today.
Many of Hong Kong’s current laws to deter
the crime of harming national security, such
as certain provisions in the Crime Ordinance, Vice Premier Han =heng center attends a deliberation of deputies from Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at
the Official Secrets Ordinance, the Society the Third Session of the th National People’s Congress in BeiMing on May 2

32 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com


During last year’s protests, rioters attacked
the Liaison Office of the Central People’s
Government in Hong Kong and defiled the
national emblem, calling for “Hong Kong’s
independence.” Some resorted to terrorism by
hurling gasoline bombs and planting explosive
devices.
Those that regard China with animosity
enhanced interference in Hong Kong affairs
amid the turmoil. The U.S. Government and
senior Congress officials appeared from be-
hind the scene on front stage to put pressure
on the Central Government and the Hong
Kong SAR Government and support the pro-
testers. Last November the U.S. Senate passed
the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and
Democracy Act. These moves have proved
that the U.S. is the biggest supporter and ma-
nipulator of the Hong Kong turmoil.
Lai Chee-ying, founder of the Hong Kong-
based newspaper Apple Daily, said the violence
A resident signs in a street campaign to support national security legislation for Hong Kong in Hong Kong on May 2
http://www.bjreview.com
NATION
in Hong Kong was carried out in the interests
of the U.S. He even said U.S. President Donald
)RXnGaWiRnVófRróSrRVSHriW\
Since Hong Kong’s return in 99, the policies
Trump is the only one who can save Hong
of “one country, two systems” and the “people
Kong. Taiwan secessionists have also Moined
of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong” have
in to demonize “one country, two systems.”
been thoroughly implemented. There were
They have passed on rioting experiences and
voices disparaging the principle and claiming
provided funding and training to Hong Kong
there would be no freedom or human rights
protesters.
after the return. However, the facts speak for
At a time when the world is combating the
themselves.
novel coronavirus pandemic, the Hong Kong
The SAR has remained open and diverse as
opposition camp has continued to incite local
an international metropolis the way it used to
residents to participate in riots and even threat-
be. It has continued to enMoy top ranking in the
ened to put bombs in public areas.
world in terms of competitiveness and freedom
Such behavior has seriously harmed
due to its stable prosperity and key role in inter-
China’s sovereignty and national security,
national Ķnance, shipping and trade. Hong Kong
and is intolerable to the Chinese Government
people enMoy unprecedented democratic rights,
and people.
and the level of democracy in the election of
It is necessary for China’s top legislature
the region’s chief executive and Legislative
to improve the legal system and enforcement
Council has been increasing.
mechanisms for Hong Kong to safeguard na-
The region has also faced many challenges.
tional security.
With the Central Government’s support, the
SAR government and all sectors of society have
XINHUA
worked hard to overcome the difĶculties. Hong
Kong’s progress since its return shows that “one
country” is the foundation of “two systems” as
well as a precondition for the region’s prosperity.
Attempts to shake this foundation would only
leave Hong Kong in chaos.
Some are worried that the Central
Government would interfere in the region’s
autonomy. The Central Government has a con-
stitutional duty to protect national security. The
SAR government is also obligated to enact a law
on national security in accordance with Article
2 of the Basic Law. However, more than 20
years since Hong Kong returned to the mother-
land, the SAR government has failed to fulĶll this
obligation due to obstruction by the opposition
camp.
Hong Kong residents have long com-
plained about, and even been outraged by, acts
endangering national security and sovereignty.
It is their hope that the Central Government
and the SAR government can take action. The
decision matches public opinion in Hong Kong.
The Central Government will not stand by in
the case of attempts to subvert state power or
interference by hostile external forces. Q
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to lanxinzhen#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 33
NATION

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6RciaOó*RYHrnancHóó
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amicably, which became known as the mediated and the monetary compensations
“Fengqiao experience.” paid through mediations amounted to 6 mil-
The essence of this method is to have the
The author is an associate people engage in discussion, operation and
professor at the Party administration of civil affairs, to resolve minor
School of the CPC Central issues through mediation in the village, and to
Committee National settle larger disputes through town-level me-
lion yuan 2. million. This ability to resolve
conflicts at the grassroots level and the ac-
cumulated experience have enabled China to
maintain and guarantee its social security.
To control the novel coronavirus disease
Academy of Governance diation. Over the past 60 years, the Fengqiao COVID-9, the Chinese Government ordered
experience has been promoted across China, all workplaces and schools to close till the situa-
forming a grassroots governance model. tion improved. Those in the hardest-hit regions

7
he Chinese society of . billion citizens
is a large one. How is this society run?
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 9th
Central Committee of the Communist Party
For example, Yang Guangming, founder
of the mediation center of the Fengqiao po-
lice station, is a well-known mediator. Since
200, he has handled more than 2,00 cases
with the help of over 00 volunteers from all
such as Wuhan in Hubei Province in central
China had to self-isolate much longer than oth-
er parts of the country. The lockdown inevitably
led to some emotional distress and outbursts.
On March , the central steering group
of China CPC in October 209, which made a walks of life. With their combined efforts, 9 overseeing COVID-9 epidemic response in
maMor decision on how to uphold and improve percent of the cases have been successfully Hubei was greeted with “protests” by some
the system of socialism with Chinese character-
istics and advance the modernization of China’s

XINHUA
governance system and its capacity, throws
light on this.
The committee agreed that social gov-
ernance is an important aspect of national
governance. It is necessary to strengthen and
innovate social governance and improve the
social governance system that combines the
leadership of the Party, the responsibility of the
government, democratic consultation, social
coordination, public participation, legal protec-
tion and sci-tech support.
It is necessary to build a community of
social governance in which everyone is re-
sponsible, everyone undertakes their due
obligations, and everyone enMoys the beneĶts. It
is also necessary to ensure that people live and
work in harmony while society remains stable
and orderly, and to take the Safe China initiative
to a higher level.

7hHó)HnJTiaRóH[SHriHncH
The town of Fengqiao, located in =heMiang
Province in east China, was originally little
known. However, it became famous in the
960s due to the system its residents created A volunteer in Wuhan, Hubei Province in central China, checks the temperature of a gas delivery man at the entrance of a
to resolve differences among themselves community on April 

34 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com


people in Wuhan and a video clip recording
their shouts went viral. However, an investiga-
tion later showed they were actually protesting
against parking fees, which they thought were
too high, and leaky roofs, which were not
repaired promptly. The shouts were their dis-
satisfaction with the property management
company. They were not throwing a tantrum
at the government or community volunteers.
Wu Xiaoqiong, a volunteer in the commu-
nity, said she could understand the situation.
“Anyone can become a little resentful if they are
stuck at home for so long. We can’t blame the
residents. Instead, we should improve our work
and take better care of them,” she said.
Soon after the incident, the district as well
as city administrations called on the com-
munity’s property management company,
community workers and volunteers to address
residents’ concerns and the dispute was re-
solved without further escalation.
(PHrJHnc\óPanaJHPHnWó
In social governance, maintaining public se-
curity is the top priority of the government.
The 209 plenary session made careful ar-
rangements for the construction of a national
public safety system and mechanism. It had a
special emphasis on building an emergency
management system with unified command,
A medical worker shows patients how to do baduanMin, a traditional Chinese exercise, at a hospital in Wuhan
on February 2
http://www.bjreview.com
specialized and regular staff, quick response
capability and effective coordination at different
levels.
Prior to this, the Central Government
reshuffled its departments and established
the Ministry of Emergency Management, a
new emergency management system with
Chinese characteristics.
This top-down public safety management
system has made China’s response to maMor
public safety incidents structurally different
from those in Western countries. In China, the
whole country makes coordinated efforts to
ensure that strategies are implemented.
After the COVID-9 outbreak, China’s
central and local governments activated the
response mechanism for maMor public health
emergencies and established a unified and
efficient command system with President Xi
Jinping personally directing the Ķght against the
outbreak.
A central leading group was also formed
to deal with the epidemic as well as a Joint
Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State
Council, the cabinet, composed of 2 units. Due
to these efforts, China was able to control the
outbreak domestically in two months.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director
General of the World Health Organization,
praised the quick action on a scale rarely seen in
XINHUA
NATION
the world, which demonstrated the advantage
of China’s system. He also said other countries
should learn from China’s experience in Ķghting
the outbreak.
*raVVrRRWVóVHrYicHV
The plenary session also proposed that the fo-
cus of social governance and services be shifted
to the grassroots level so that more people,
materials, funds, and other resources could be
concentrated on the frontline of an emergency
and primary-level social organizations could
provide more targeted and customized services
to the public.
On January 2, Wuhan was put on a lock-
down to curb the spread of the disease. This
was the Ķrst time in human history that a mega-
city with a population of over  million had
been isolated because of an epidemic.
All markets were closed in Wuhan, the resi-
dential communities were strictly managed and
people were quarantined at home. In these cir-
cumstances, how was the supply of basic living
materials ensured? The answer lies in the work
of grassroots community organizations, which
helped people purchase food, water and other
necessities, and helped maintain social order
and stability.
On March 0, during his inspection tour in
Wuhan, Xi visited a residential community and
praised community workers and volunteers
for their hard work and contribution. For more
than a month, they had tirelessly provided
door-to-door services, helping the residents
deal with problems and offering them psycho-
logical counseling.
Another valuable experience in China’s
prevention and control of COVID-9 was the
establishment of temporary hospitals to re-
ceive conĶrmed patients with mild symptoms
and separate them from uninfected people.
Eleven temporary hospitals were built in Wuhan,
providing about 0,000 beds. These became
big families for patients. Within the temporary
treatment centers, patients with mild symp-
toms assisted in the treatment of other patients
and the management of the centers. Medical
staff held birthday parties for the patients and
danced with them. Those efforts not only cured
the disease but also warmed hearts. Q
Edited by Ding Yi, an assistant research fellow with the
Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, and
=hao Qing, an assistant editor with the academy
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to wanghairong#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 35
OUT OF POVERTY

XINHUA
PaYinJóWhHó:a\
$nóHWhnicóPinRriW\óJrRXSóinó&hinaóVXccHVVfXOO\óVhaNHVóRffóSRYHrW\ó
%\ó<Xanó<Xanó ó/ió1an
An aerial view of the seat of HuanMiang Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi =huang Autonomous Region in south China on May 

+
uang Bingfeng came to BeiMing as a dep- in the county, Huang told Xinhua News Agency. largest bottleneck for the development of
uty to the National People’s Congress Wei =henling, Deputy Procurator General HuanMiang. The karst scenery there is spectacu-
NPC annual meeting with good news
from his hometown. On May 9, HuanMiang
Maonan Autonomous County in Guangxi
=huang Autonomous Region shook off poverty,
adding Maonan to the list of ethnic groups in
the country to beat back poverty.
Some Maonan people wrote a letter to
President Xi Jinping, sharing the Moy of poverty
elimination and expressing their determination
to continue to build their hometown. Xi replied
to the letter, encouraging them to take this as a
new starting point for a better life.
Since China launched its poverty elimina-
tion campaign, many ethnic minority groups
have shaken off poverty. However, since many
of these ethnic minorities are located in re-
mote areas with poor transportation, the battle
against poverty requires a greater effort.
+RSHófRróNarVWóarHa
Residing in a karst and mountainous area in
of Liuzhou Municipal People’s Procuratorate
in Guangxi, is the only Maonan member in the
National Committee of the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative Conference National
Committee. Wei was  years old when
HuanMiang was set up.
“Village and town roads used to be winding
and bumpy,” Wei told local media in Guangxi.
“The mountains made transportation very dif-
Ķcult and it was extremely hard for us to get out
of there.”
Wei left her hometown to enroll in Sun
Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, capital city
of Guangdong Province in south China. When
she told people she was Maonan, most people
would say they had never heard of the ethnic
minority group.
“Being an ethnic group with such a small
population, living in isolated mountains, it was
hard for us to be noticed,” Wei said. This largely
changed after the government invested more
lar and is a World Natural Heritage Site along
with six other karst areas in south China. But
due to the inconvenient transportation, the
number of tourists in the HuanMiang karst area is
signiĶcantly smaller than in the other areas. For
years, HuanMiang’s economy has been the least
developed in Guangxi.
HuanMiang therefore adopted various mea-
sures in its campaign against poverty. OfĶcials
in different local departments were assigned to
work in villages. They lived with villagers, learned
about their needs and difficulties and helped
them to develop their own industries such as
breeding silkworms, cattle and hogs.
Qin Liu, 2, who was working in the meteo-
rological bureau in HuanMiang, took the initiative
to go to Guan’an Village in May 20. She vis-
ited every household, listening to their issues
and taking detailed notes on the conditions of
every household.
She then applied for 00,000 yuan
south China, the Maonans, with a population of
about 00,000, have been inconspicuous for a
long time. HuanMiang, the only Maonan autono-
mous county, was established in 9. Back
then, the poverty rate was as high as  percent
36 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
in her hometown, especially in recent years.
Now all towns and most villages are connected
by asphalt roads.
But for Huang, this is not enough. The
absence of an expressway has long been the
,000 in supportive funds from the govern-
ment and set up a cooperative to raise ducks.
To explore distribution channels for the ducks,
Qin went to fairs in bigger cities and quickly
opened up the market. Meanwhile, the local
http://www.bjreview.com
 OUT OF POVERTY

government helped residents living in extreme- sunny. I never dreamed of living in a house like now, my husband is working in a property man-
ly remote areas resettle in HuanMiang. this before.” agement company and also earns about 2,000
Tan Sumiao, who moved into her new After relocation, the local government took yuan a month,” Tan said.
house in the county’s relocation site from a far- steps to Ķnd Mobs for the relocated people. She “The net income of Maonan people in-
off township, said she spent only 0,000 yuan was hired by a factory producing electronics creased from ,0 yuan 00 in 20 to
,00 for the new house. “I lived in a very old and earns about 2,000 yuan 29 a month. ,6 yuan ,60 in 209, while the fiscal
house in the township. It was dark even in the “I didn’t have any savings before. My family revenue of the local county government in-
daytime,” she said, “The new one is bright and depended only on the farmland for food. But creased from  million yuan 6 million in
20 to 60 million yuan 90 million in 209,”
Huang told Beijing Review.

XINHUA
8niTXHófHaWXrHV
Maonan tradition and folk culture has been skill-
fully preserved while the county forged ahead
with poverty alleviation. Since the Maonans do
not have a writing system, they pass down their
legendary stories and customs through dance.
The Nuo dance, or Feitao in the Maonan
language, is the traditional theatrical perfor-
mance of worship. In 200, Feitao was included
in China’s national intangible cultural heritage
list and has been staged in many countries in-
cluding Germany, Thailand and Japan.
Another Maonan national intangible cul-
tural heritage is the weaving skills shown in
Maonan bamboo hats. Tan SuMuan, 0, is now
the inheritor of the weaving technique of coni-
cal bamboo hats. The hat is considered by locals
as a treasure and token of love among young
suitors.
Tan SuMuan has specialized in the craft for
over 20 years, setting up a hat weaving base
Maonan villagers plant Chinese medicinal herbs in HuanMiang Maonan Autonomous County on May  and helping over 20 households get rid of pov-
erty with the skill. “Some primary schools in the
county combine the Maonan and Mandarin
XINHUA

languages in teaching, using folk songs and

dances in class,” Huang said.
HuanMiang will improve its poverty-pre-
vention mechanism, develop more specialty
industries, provide follow-up services for poverty
alleviation and build relocation housing to boost
income growth in sustainable ways, according
to Huang.
The NPC deputy told Beijing Review he
submitted three proposals this year: pushing
forward the construction of the Libo-Desheng
Expressway that passes through HuanMiang,
adMusting the Ķscal system and policies in less-
developed areas, as well as raising standards
and subsidies for rural road construction.
The Guiyang-Nanning High-Speed
Railway under construction will run through
HuanMiang. “It is scheduled to be completed
in 202,” Huang said. “Local people will then
be able to board express trains in the county.
This was totally inconceivable a few years
ago.” Q

Tan SuMuan, an inheritor of the bamboo hat weaving technique of the Maonan ethnic group, makes a hat at the th Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
Comments to yuanyuan#bMreview.com
Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province in south China, on May , 209

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 37

BUSINESS

8SJraGinJó:HVWHrnó
'HYHORSPHnW
&hinaóXnYHiOVónHZóJXiGHOinHóRnóZHVWHrnóGHYHORSPHnWóWRóHnhancHóRSHninJóXSó
innRYaWiRnóinóWhHórHJiRnó%\ó:anJó-Xn

&
hinese policymakers on May  issued a

XINHUA
guideline on advancing the new pattern
of western development in the new era,
which calls for winning the “three tough battles”
against maMor risks, poverty and environmental
pollution, improving innovation capability and
building a modern industrial system in the
country’s western region.
The development of the western region re-
mains unbalanced and inadequate and lags far
behind the eastern region, making it arduous
to further reduce poverty. The western region
is still a weak link in completing the building of
a moderately prosperous society in all respects
and achieving socialist modernization, the
guideline says.
The guideline requires a notable improve-
ment in ecological, business and innovation
environment as well as opening up of the west-
ern region by 2020 and the completion of the
building of a moderately prosperous society in
all respects together with the rest of the coun-
try.
By 20, the western region will basically The Milin Tunnel in the Lhasa-Nyingchi section of Sichuan-Tibet Railway is put into use on April 
achieve socialist modernization, with its public
service quality, infrastructure connectivity and develop the region and improve the infrastruc- Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area initiative
people’s living standards roughly the same as ture. After years of development, the country and the program on the BeiMing-TianMin-Hebei
those in the eastern region, so that various is now initiating high-quality development and coordinated development. Through strength-
regions can better complement and integrate further improving the business environment, ening infrastructure construction, developing a
with each other in terms of development, and which is included in this guideline,” Fu said . modern manufacturing industry and strategic
ethnic minority and border areas become pros- That is to say, the western development emerging industries and enhancing financial
perous, safe and stable where man and nature now focuses on improvement in economic support to the real economy, it will promote
can coexist in harmony. structure and growth quality, indicating a shift of high-quality development in the western re-
orientation of the decision makers toward the gion so as to Ķll the gaps and achieve balanced
+iJhHróGHYHORSPHnWóTXaOiW\ó development of the region, Fu said. regional development. The guideline also aims
The State Council has approved four plans on “The guideline signals the country’s intent at enhancing the core competitiveness of the
the western development since January 2000. to expand the space for national development western region based on its unique advantages,
Compared with the previous documents, the in the face of the novel coronavirus outbreak Yin Yue, chief market analyst with the Yuekai
latest one highlights the importance of im- and strengthen the weak links,” Wang Jun, chief Securities Institute, told Jiemian.com.
proving the quality of development, Fu Yifu, a economist of =hongyuan Bank, was quoted as
researcher with the Suning Institute of Finance, saying by Shanghai Securities News. 5XOHEaVHGóRSHninJóXS
told Jiemian.com. The guideline connects the western The guideline states that under the framework
“Previous plans mainly focused on how to development strategy with the Guangdong- of the Belt and Road Initiative, the western
38 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

region should intensify the opening up through
measures such as setting up multi-level inland
opening-up platforms, accelerating open devel-
opment of border areas and developing a highly
open economy.
Regarding participation in the Belt and
Road Initiative, the guideline proposes turning
XinMiang Uygur Autonomous Region into a core
area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and sup-
porting Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan
Province in southwest China and Shaanxi
Province in northwest China to become open
development hubs. It also calls for improving
the construction of Beibuwan Port in Guangxi
=huang Autonomous Region in south China,
setting up a cluster of ports with international com-
petitiveness, and accelerating the development of a
modern marine industry.
“China’s opening up is expanding from
coastal areas to inland and border areas.
Boosted by a new round of western develop-
ment policies, the western region is changing
from being a latecomer to a frontline of open-
ing up,” Cui Fan, a professor with the School
of International Trade and Economics at
the University of International Business and
Economics, told Shanghai Securities News.
Fu said previously the key point of opening
up was the ßow of goods and essential factors
of production, but now, with the economy
entering a higher stage of development, legisla-
tion and supervision need to be consistent with
international trade and investment rules, to
improve trade and investment facilitation.
http://www.bjreview.com
“The country may encourage some cities in
the western region to build ntest Ķelds’ with an
institutional system that can be later replicated
in other regions,” he said.
Data from the Ministry of Commerce
shows that the western region has played a
leading role in the country in attracting foreign
investment. In 20, China saw a growth of 0.9
percent in actually utilized investment, while the
growth in the western region reached . per-
cent. In the Ķrst  months of 209, the capital
inßow in the entire country grew by 6 percent,
while that in the western region rose by . per-
cent.
(nhancinJócRnnHcWiYiW\
Since infrastructure is a driving force for regional
economic development, the western region
needs to improve its infrastructure to ensure
stable growth and promote regional connectiv-
ity.
The guideline calls for reinforcing the
planning and construction of infrastructure.
According to it, construction of maMor proMects
such as the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, Shanghai-
Chengdu High-Speed Railway, Chongqing-
Kunming High-Speed Railway and Xining-
Chengdu Railway should be accelerated, while
the development of high-speed railways and
regular railways should be coordinated.
The guideline also requires strength-
ening construction of comprehensive
passenger transport hubs and freight hubs,
improving the layout of national logistics
BUSINESS
hubs and raising the efficiency of logistics.
Construction of airports and aviation hubs
is to be enhanced, and general aviation is to
be better developed.
In addition, the information network cover-
age in rural and remote areas will be increased,
and a number of large-scale irrigation proMects
will be planned.
Fu said the infrastructure in the western
region has been remarkably improved in
recent years, but still lags behind that in the
eastern region. Besides railways, highways and
airports, the guideline also says the develop-
ment of logistics and telecommunications will
be accelerated, which will facilitate connectiv-
ity between the eastern, central and western
regions and boost economic growth in the
western region.
Yin believes investment in infrastructure
will propel economic growth in two ways: It will
increase local investment, and facilitate trans-
formation of the local economic growth model.
“Through enhancing the construction
of east-west and north-south transportation
corridors, different economic regions will be
more closely connected. It will be conducive to
interactions between industries and facilitate
economic and cultural exchanges, to transform
the economic growth model,” he said. Q
Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey
Comments to wangMun#bMreview.com
Vehicles move goods at the
container wharf of Qinzhou Port
in Guangxi =huang Autonomous
Region in south China,
XINHUA
on November 2, 209
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 39
BUSINESS

([SRrWó%arRPHWHró
6HHNVó5HERXnG
:RrOG·VóEiJJHVWóVPaOOóWraGHóhXEóH[SORrHVónHZóZa\VóWRórHcRYHrófrRPóSanGHPic
%\ó=hanJó-iaTi

:
ang Minfeng’s tools and hardware
company in Yiwu, a city in =heMiang
Province, east China, is searching for
ways to survive the economic impact of the
Wang’s company, which both makes and to the outbreak situation and trend.”
sells hardware, has a storefront in the Yiwu Both experts also think the Belt and Road
International Trade City complex. It resumed market is another market with potential to tap
work as soon as the market complex reopened. into. “With the effort put into its construction,
novel coronavirus disease COVID-9 pan-
demic.
Wang started the business even before
the Yiwu International Trade City, the world’s
largest small commodity trade hub with
He said in February, demand was scarcely
affected. The total order value during that
month actually went up slightly, compared
with the same period last year. However, the
late return of some employees caused delays
the Belt and Road has created more space for
foreign trade,” Hong said.
According to customs data, China’s foreign
trade with economies related to the Belt and
Road Initiative rose .2 percent on a yearly basis
more than 0,000 tenants, was established in
200, the year China Moined the World Trade
Organization. It survived the severe acute
respiratory syndrome outbreak in 200 and
the global Ķnancial crisis in 200, but now he
thinks neither compares to the havoc wreaked
by COVID-9.
“We faced challenges from the domestic
supply side at the beginning, and now, difĶcul-
ties from the overseas demand side,” he sighed.
“This year could be the hardest for foreign trade
companies.”
Yiwu, a barometer for the health of Chinese
exports, has taken a hit, with data from the city’s
customs authority showing its export value de-
creased by . percent year on year in the Ķrst
quarter of the year. The total import and export
value declined by . percent.
The Yiwu International Trade City, a mas-
sive complex of over . million square meters,
began to face a signiĶcant lack of demand since
April as the pandemic swept across the globe.
Like Wang, many other micro, small and me-
in production and a 0-percent drop in output
compared to February 209.
When the virus began to be contained in
China and production gradually resumed, other
countries began to be ravaged. Wang said the
mass shutdown worldwide resulted in a drop in
demand starting in April. Only a big order in April
from Libya thanks to an acquaintance saved the
company from registering a 90-percent annual
drop in revenue. However, Wang said that was a
lucky break and unlikely to happen regularly.
In the last week of April he grew concerned
that the company would have no production
tasks by mid-May and without demand to sus-
tain production, he would have lay off some
workers. “The order shortage has a very big
impact on MSMEs like us,” he said.
6iOYHróOininJV
But while the supply chain and consumption are
affected by the pandemic, there is some good
news, according to Hong JunMie, head of the
School of International Trade and Economics
to 2.0 trillion yuan 29.6 billion during the
Ķrst quarter.
The two experts also highlighted the impor-
tance of the Internet. =hang said businesses can
promote products and services faster through
e-commerce platforms. Hong said online mar-
keting, e-commerce and new technologies
“can be applied to address difĶculties in Ķnding
business channels in new markets and help to
establish a direct connection with customers.”
Wang’s company, which has wholesale and
supermarket clients in Africa, South America,
the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe, is
now turning to the Chinese market. He began
to advertise products domestically and re-tailor
them for Chinese consumers.
However, as he pointed out, developing
new products usually takes a long time. For a
company that had been entirely outfitted for
businesses overseas, turning domestic is not an
easy turn.
2SSRrWXniW\óinócriViV
dium enterprises MSMEs in Yiwu that mainly
sell to overseas customers, are trying to find
new ways and buyers to keep their head above
water.
'rRSóinóGHPanG
Yiwu reopened its market relatively early, on
February , with strict safety measures. To fa-
cilitate work resumption, the local government
sent out charter vehicles and trains to pick up
workers from outside the city, and provided
at the University of International Business and
Economics.
Hong said the domestic market is big
enough in itself and it is always there for trade
companies to explore. His suggestion to foreign
trade companies, particularly MSMEs that are
vulnerable to risks, is to include the domestic
market into their targets.
=hang Jianping, a senior researcher at
the Chinese Academy of International Trade
and Economic Cooperation at the Ministry of
For some businesses in the Yiwu International
Trade City, this difficulty may stop them from
turning domestic altogether.
Liu Junming, who owns a sanitary ware busi-
ness located in the complex, said although his
company started looking inward even before
the outbreak, he has no plans to increase the
size of domestic business from the current 2-
 percent since this kind of transition is not
something that could be done in merely one or
two months.
free accommodation and reimbursed flight Commerce MOFCOM, echoed him, saying, Instead, Liu is counting on new media
tickets to attract foreign merchants and more “The companies should diversify their market and online platforms to help increase sales.
business. options after evaluating market risks according In March, the company began to develop
40 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com

Trucks queue up at the logistics transfer station of Yiwu Port in Hangzhou, =heMiang Province in east China,
on March 
Buyers make their purchases observing safety measures at the Yiwu International Trade City in Yiwu,
=heMiang Province, on April 9
hundreds of short video clips showcasing
its products in government proMects, hotels
and hospitals worldwide. The videos are cus-
tomized for clients in various countries and
promoted locally.
Liu said he has received positive feedback
on the multimedia promotion campaign.
Though he could not link the video viewer-
ship directly to the orders placed, he said more
potential clients have got to know about his
products this way. That was exactly the effect
http://www.bjreview.com
XINHUA
XINHUA
his company intended to achieve. “In a crisis lie
opportunities,” he said.
He regards the current trend that people
go online and use mobile phones as a silver lin-
ing and recommends that companies upgrade
their ways of communication accordingly.
Now he is preparing for a new product launch
through WhatsApp, a social media which while
little known in China, where WeChat reigns, is
popular outside.
But despite the new campaign, the total
BUSINESS
order value through mid-May registered only
about 0 percent of what it was a year ago, and
most of the orders have been small. The drop
in demand has also led to a decrease in the
company’s production resumption rate from
0 percent in late March and early April to 60
percent in May.
Seeing the pressure of cash flow on the
companies, the city government is offering
those registered in Yiwu a two-month interest
exemption for loans and a reduced interest rate
for future loans. The trade hub also launched
a policy to exempt its tenants’ rent for two
months.
Liu said the policies are helpful and the two-
month rent waiver can enable his company to
run for 0 days. However, companies should
rely mainly on their own efforts.
/RRNinJóahHaG
According to the latest data, China’s foreign
trade in goods inched down 0. percent year
on year in April, narrowing from a drop of 6.
percent in the Ķrst quarter, with exports rising .2
percent from the same period last year.
However, MOFCOM officials said days ago
that foreign trade is still under considerable
downward pressure despite improvement in
April trade data.
Hong suggests the companies should have
faith, be on alert for risks amid the global crisis,
and get used to the new normal of dealing with
the virus.
For small business owners like Wang,
things seem to be looking up. Although little
has changed on the accounting sheet as of
mid-May, he has seen more inquiries recently.
Delivery of his company’s products to some
countries previously on lockdown has also
resumed.
Wang thinks by offering medical help and
funding to many countries during the pan-
demic, the government is making more people
in the world learn about China and its products,
which would help to shore up trade after the
pandemic is brought under control globally.
Also, he is looking forward to the China
Import and Export Fair in mid-June to bring him
more business. The oldest trade fair in China
held twice a year in the bustling trade city of
Guangzhou in south Guangdong Province will
be held online this summer, the Ķrst time since
it was launched in 9.
Until then, he is encouraging himself
and other MSMEs to concentrate on staying
aßoat, following the dictum: “Survive, and all
will be well.” Q
This is an edited excerpt of an article published in
China.org.cn
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to dengyaqing#bMreview.com
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 41
BUSINESS MARKET WATCH

PRVWPanGHPicó:RrOGó1HHGVó%HWWHró
*OREaOi]aWiRnó1RWó/HVV

E
ven at a time when the novel coronavirus medical and technological supplies back to the non-conventional security challenges such as
disease COVID-9 pandemic is sweep-
ing the world, beef from New =ealand,
red wine from Chile, and detergent from
Germany remain Must a click away for Chinese
customers.
This offers a glimpse of how globalization has
led to the creation of a highly integrated global
web of interdependence and altered the way
United States, others like Shannon K. O’Neil,
a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign
Relations, argued that governments and board-
rooms should add redundancies to the global
manufacturing processes.
Information technologies have also been
considered key to rendering future global sup-
ply chains more resilient. The World Economic
the COVID-9 pandemic.
The fourth task is to make globalization
more inclusive for all. The pandemic has further
revealed that globalization has not turned out
to be a rising tide lifting all boats, and that it
could further widen the global gap between the
rich and the poor.
In a WEF research report earlier in May,
of living in many parts of this closely connected
global community.
The pandemic has Molted global supply
chains and halted much of cross-border travel. It
has also exposed once again some of globaliza-
tion’s deep-seated deĶciencies, and prompted
many in the academia, politics and media to
debate whether this marks the beginning of an
end to this historic process.
It is not the Ķrst time that globalization has
been questioned or assaulted in times of turbu-
lence. Between the 200 global Ķnancial crisis
and this pandemic, globalization came under
sharp attack, fueled by rising waves of trade
protectionism and economic nationalism.
Nevertheless, being a natural process driven
by the combined forces of technological break-
throughs, as well as the free ßow of people and
profit-thirsty capital, globalization has brought
Forum WEF suggested in an article published
on its website in April that companies should
stop recording data like ships’ cargo on paper,
and start digitizing their supply chain processes
so as to make sure critical information can al-
ways be available.
Whatever the proposalstreshoring,
multi-sourcing or digitizing, China, with its com-
prehensive industrial advantages, will remain a
critical part of any future global supply chain.
“I don’t think China’s role as a maMor source
of manufacturing is going to be eliminated.
They will continue to be so,” Morris Cohen, a
professor at The Wharton School, told Deutsche
Welle in April.
Secondly, the international community
should Mointly enhance global economic gover-
nance and further boost global free trade.
In mid-April, the International Monetary
which focuses on epidemics like HN in 2009,
Middle East respiratory syndrome in 202, and
=ika in 206, and traces out their distributional
effects in the five years following each event,
the Gini coefĶcient, a commonly used index of
inequality, has gone up by nearly . percent on
average.
In the United States, the world’s largest
economy, the outbreak-induced recession has
kicked millions of the most economically vul-
nerable Americans out of their Mobs, while many
are facing a dire choice between protecting
their health and Mobs.
The pandemic offers decision-makers
worldwide a chance to bridge those wealth
and health gaps through refashioning policies
like reordering tax codes, introducing universal
healthcare coverage, and promoting common
development through international coopera-
down trade and commerce barriers, shrunk
production costs, stimulated technological
cooperation, integrated global markets and
Ķnancial systems, created inestimable Mobs and
wealth, and raised living standards throughout
the world over the centuries.
These upsides of globalization are unmis-
takable, and will not be wiped out by a single
global crisis. ArMun Appadurai, a U.S. globaliza-
tion studies expert, argued in an opinion piece
recently published by the Time magazine that
“globalization is here to stay,” and deglobaliza-
tion efforts are no more than “wishful thinking.”
Thus the international community, instead
of trying to turn inward and break away from
Fund IMF proMected that the global economy
is on track to contract sharply by  percent
in 2020 due to COVID-9, probably the worst
recession since the Great Depression in the
90s.
To forestall that nightmare scenario,
governments should at the moment better co-
ordinate their macro-economic policies so as to
maintain market stability, prop up employment,
conduct stimuli proportional to the ongoing
pandemic, and restore global growth through
such multilateral economic platforms as the
Group of 20.
Also, they should give even stronger sup-
port to the rules-based multilateral trading
tion in regions like Africa and the Middle East so
as to make sure that the dividends of globalization
can be shared by all global villagers.
Following the 200 global financial crisis,
globalization encountered a maMor setback. Yet
despite all the second-guessing about it at that
time, countries worldwide rose to the occasion
and Mointly steered the global economy through
the uncharted waters and back onto the track
of recovery.
The world will never be the same when this
pandemic comes to an end, and neither will
the process of globalization. The human race
has every reason to repeat what they did in the
aftermath of the 200 Ķnancial crisis and work
each other, should come even closer and make
globalization work better for everyone.
The Ķrst task should be for countries world-
wide to make global production and supply
chains more risk-resilient. This pandemic will not
be the last one. Other unknown risks and new
challenges are likely to emerge in the future.
While some Washington politicians are talk-
ing about reshoring the production of critical
42 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
system with the World Trade Organization WTO together to help this unstoppable trend take a
at the core. Right now, because of Washington’s
intentional obstruction, the WTO’s Appellate
Body, which has arbitrated international trade
disputes over the past 2 years to ensure fair-
ness, has been left inquorate.
The third task should be strengthening
international cooperation so that countries
worldwide can better respond to their shared
turn for the better. Q
This is an edited version of an article published by Xinhua
News Agency
Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey
Comments to dengyaqing#bMreview.com
http://www.bjreview.com
 MARKET WATCH BUSINESS
180%E56ó
  yuan

Mergers and Acquisitions Market Top Five Sectors in Mergers and Acquisitions Cases
April April

Number of Cases Chain and retail .9%

M&As among domestic companies Machinery manufacturing .0%
IT 0.2%
Automobile 9.%
 Clean technologies .%

Chinese companies’ overseas M&As Others 9.%

2

M&As by foreign companies


Top Five Sectors in Mergers and Acquisitions Value
April
Total value mln yuan
M&As among domestic companies
Automobile .%
,66.9

Chinese companies’ overseas M&As

Architecture/engineering 0.6%
2. Biotech and healthcare 0.%
Chemical raw materials and processing .%
Chain and retail .0%
M&As by foreign companies
Others 2.%
,06.6
(Source: Zero2IPO)

Revenue of China’s online game
market reached nearly
16 billion
China’s investment in new
infrastructure such as G networks
and data centers may reach
17.5 trillion
E-commerce giant Alibaba’s revenue
in its fourth quarter ending March 
reached . billion yuan, marking
an increase of

yuan in April, surging 2. 22 percent

percent year on year. The growth,
hitting an all-time monthly high for
April, came despite a drop in users as
the country’s efforts on work
resumption Ķltered through, signaling
big market potential in the game
sector.
yuan for the 2020-2 period,
as local regions ramp up spending in
the sector. Since authorities unveiled
guidelines to increase spending on
new infrastructure, more than 20
provincial-level regions have mapped
out plans, with Shanghai eyeing to
invest about 20 billion yuan in the
coming three years.
year on year. The company’s net
income attributable to ordinary
shareholders for the fourth quarter,
however, dropped  percent year
on year to .6 billion yuan. The
company ascribed it primarily to a
net loss in investment income.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

http://www.bjreview.com JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 43

CULTURE
ó iWó<RXWhó
)
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)acinJóGHcOininJóSh\VicaOóVWaPinaóaGYiVHrVóXrJHóiPSrRYinJó
VSRrWVóanGóH[HrciVHVófRró\RXnJVWHrVó%\ó/ió4inJ
$
s a former athlete, Wen Yang is a Ķtness
fanatic. Following the principle of catch
’em young, the BeiMing resident, who now
runs a garment business in the capital, is par-
ticular about his son’s physical exercises. Seven
years ago, when the boy became a primary
school Ķrst grader, Wen felt the physical training
at the school was insufficient. So he, with the
support of other parents, set up a football club
where youngsters can continue physical exer-
cises after class.
He thinks although children today have
more entertainment means and a better
quality of life, still they are not as happy as his
generation, who had a lot of time to do things
among teenagers. Wen suggests increasing
physical activities as a remedy. Having worked
in the sports sector for many years, he knows
the signiĶcance of encouraging young people
to exercise to improve both their physical and
mental Ķtness.
$OarPinJóWrHnG
China today faces the issue of rising bad health
among teens with the primary indicators of
physical health declining for over 20 con-
secutive years and  percent of children and
adolescents facing health risks in various de-
grees, according to Cheng Hong, a member of
the National Committee of the Chinese People’s
coronavirus disease has given people a lesson
in health education, highlighting the impor-
tance of physical Ķtness and a strong immune
system. “It is essential to take this opportunity
to raise their health awareness, especially for
teenagers,” she added.
She also suggested building a national plat-
form with big data to monitor children’s physical
fitness while enhancing physical education in
schools.
“Physical decline is a global trend. It started
in developed countries in the 960s and in
China in the 990s,” =hong Bingshu, head of
Capital University of Physical Education and
Sports in BeiMing, told Beijing Review. But de-
outdoors with friends. “The leisure activities of
today’s youngsters tend to be more sedentary
and electronic device-based, putting health at
risk,” Wen told Beijing Review.
In recent years, myopia, obesity, diabetes
and other problems have become common
Students attend a physical education class at a primary school in Shanghai on May 2
46 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
Political Consultative Conference CPPCC, the
top political advisory body. Cheng broached
the subMect during this year’s Two Sessions, the
annual meetings of the national legislature and
the advisory body.
She said that the outbreak of the novel
XINHUA
spite its late entry in China, the trend has been
growing faster here than the world average.
Today, changes in lifestyle and diet have also
caused changes in people’s health. Besides, the
academic burden on students is reducing their
physical activity time. Physical activities and a
Two children Mump rope in the Temple of Heaven
in BeiMing on April 6
http://www.bjreview.com

scientiĶc way of living are necessary to improve
teen health, =hong said.
The government has issued guidelines and
organized activities to grow people’s awareness.
For instance, in August 209, the State Council,
China’s cabinet, released an outline to develop
China into a strong sports country by 200.
The document called for improving physical
education in schools and making it a part of the
government performance assessment system.
It also suggested building a social physical activ-
ity network, like winter and summer camps,
where teenagers could develop skills in at least
two sports.
6SRrWVóHGXcaWiRnó
Wen is delighted to see how football can change
youngsters. For instance, he has seen spoilt
students become independent after attending
football training. They learn to solve problems on
their own or through cooperation and analyze
what should be done for further progress.
“Through football games, teenagers can
understand that competition means putting all
your effort to achieve your goal. Also, they teach
young people to respect their competitors and
the rules. That is the spirit of sports,” he said.
Since most of today’s Chinese teenagers
are the only child in their families, they need to
learn how to work together with others, as well
as strengthen interpersonal communication,
=hong said. “Also, their experience during the
games can encourage them to overcome set-
backs in life,” he said.
The Chinese Government has been encour-
aging the promotion of football for many years.
=hong feels the government should provide
subsidies to introduce quality sports institutions,
such as football schools, in communities to
XINHUA
Students play football during a physical education class at Lulinpu Middle School in Anxiang County, Hunan Province
in central China, on May 2
http://www.bjreview.com
provide physical education.
Exercise can also help relieve young peo-
ple’s academic pressure, according to Li Fuyi, a
career planning coach at Tsinghua University.
People who exercise regularly are found to
be less likely to suffer from depression, Li told
Beijing Review.
During the Two Sessions, over 00 CPPCC
members from FuMian Province, southeast
China, made a Moint proposal to establish more
diversiĶed evaluation standards for the educa-
tion system and bolster physical Ķtness.
“The tendency of employers to have a
strong preference for individuals with diplomas
from key universities must be reversed, and the
level of fitness must be included during their
assessment of candidates,” Wu =himing, head
of the FuMian branch of the China Vocational
Education Association and one of the advisers,
told China Daily.
Wu proposed including physical exercises in
senior high school and college entrance exams
to ensure they carry the same weight as aca-
demic subMects.
However, =hong begs to differ. He thinks
mandatory exams will lead to new problems in
the popularization of physical education and
sports. For example, schools may then teach
only the content for the tests, making the cur-
riculum rigid. It would then have a detrimental
effect on students’ interest in exercise, which is
the purpose of physical education on campus.
“For instance, in Shanghai, students can
choose speciĶc sports from Munior school. This
model can be borrowed by other education
administrations,” =hong said. He suggested
students could follow one or two sports con-
tinuously, which could become their hobbies or
skills for the rest of their life. He also felt schools
CULTURE
should organize contests because teenagers
can get a sense of achievement through them.
&RPPXniW\óaSSrRach
With the increasing emphasis on physical
education, there is a rising demand for quali-
Ķed coaches. That is a maMor challenge Wen is
facing. He wants to recruit coaches with high
professional and individual qualities for his foot-
ball club but it is hard to Ķnd such people.
According to Li, two maMor sources of teach-
ers are retired athletes and physical education
graduates. They have the advantage of practical
experience and theoretical knowledge respec-
tively. However, they may have shortcomings
in other aspects. Therefore, training programs
should be designed for potential coaches. Still,
improving youngsters’ physical fitness needs
the participation of parents and society as well,
not Must schools, because the key time for activi-
ties is after class, =hong said.
This year, Yang Yang, China’s first Winter
Olympic gold medalist and a CPPCC member,
suggested developing community sports in
her proposal. Today, most of the public sports
facilities in communities are designed for adults,
with few suitable for young people, she told The
Beijing News. “But many children, especially at the
preschool phase, find their interest through their
daily life,” she said.
Sports facilities can be varied according to
local conditions, =hong said. A small public area
is sufĶcient for children to play football. “From
this perspective, there is huge potential in our
communities to build public sports facilities for
teenagers,” he said. Q
Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar
Comments to liqing#bMreview.com
XINHUA
JUNE 4, 2020 BEIJING REVIEW 47
EXPAT’S EYE
National Unity Defined
%\ó%Hn%XOaXnó'RRZXHVH
Overseas students practice tai chi at the Changchun University of Chinese Medicine in Changchun, Jilin Province
in northeast China, on April 2
,
had to end my travel in south China
earlier during the last winter vacation be-
cause of the outbreak of the COVID-9
epidemic. At that point, the realization of
a war against the virus dawned on me. But
what had not yet dawned on me was the
weight of what I would discover over the fol-
lowing months.
On the day of my return to BeiMing
where I live, the once bubbly, lively streets
of the capital city were deserted and quiet.
Shops were locked down, ßights canceled
and offices closed. I witnessed the whole
country shut down in a matter of days and
the sentence that dominated every conver-
sation was, “Stay indoors, and go out only
when it is absolutely necessary, to prevent
the spread of the new virus.” The spread of
the virus became the headline of news me-
dia, and even while locked in at home, the
vibe was palpable. I was about to witness
the greatest display of national unity.
I was not the only one whose plans were
interrupted by this “unwanted national visi-
tor.” The whole nation was in a war on a
common enemytan epidemic. Businesses,
48 BEIJING REVIEW JUNE 4, 2020
XINHUA
schools, relaxation parks and recreational
centers, all shut down. Plans for the lavish
celebration of the Spring Festival I had so
much heard about and could not wait to
witness were hushed into a mere whisper.
My fantasies and great expectations were all
gone in the twinkling of an eye.
In the midst of the restrictions on
movement, some residents had sleep-
less nights and troubled days for various
reasons. Some tried their best to keep life
running as normally as possible in the face
of the lockdown, finding ways to manage
the epidemic, some looked for a cure, and
some Must stayed at home, waiting for the
day when it would all be over. Whatever the
way, the aim was the sametcontaining
the virus. The cooperation from the highest
to the lowest levels of society in setting up
structures to test and prevent the spread of
the virus has been really commendable and
incomparable.
My school, BeiMing Jiaotong University,
and indeed every school resorted to very
effective online teaching platforms. My uni-
versity kept a close watch on us. Those who
were in or out of China, on campus or out of
campus needed to ensure that they were all
doing well and comfortable. The university
also provided necessary services for the stu-
dents living on the campus.
Restaurants and supermarkets ex-
panded online platforms, and home delivery
services continued in order to keep business
going and provide necessary service to the
people who had to stay at home. In every
sphere of society, I saw an unequaled dis-
play of creativity in getting things done and
bringing services to the people. So, even
though the streets were empty, the nation
never grounded to a halt.
Watching how my host nation fought
and won the Ķght against the coronavirus, I
picked up a few lessons.
First of all, if we unite as one, we can
overcome any challenge.
Secondly, every individual has a part
to play during a pandemic, no matter how
little. Some people treated the infected
people, some created apps to keep daily life
running, some made donations in various
forms to various quarters, and some Must
stayed at home. Whatever the contribution,
it was positively significant toward fighting
the pandemic. Residents were willing and
cooperative enough to produce the desired
result.
And lastly, I learned that faith in the lead-
ers can be a strong force. The people trusted
the leaders and followed them. Without
trust, the instructions and restrictions put in
place by the authorities to curtail the virus
could not have been carried out promptly,
and this war would have taken a longer time
and also recorded higher fatalities, making it
even more difĶcult to manage.
I count it a great privilege to be part of
this national victory. If indeed I was asked
where I would rather be in this trying sea-
son, I would still choose to be in China to
witness firsthand this great display of na-
tional unity. Q
The author is a Nigerian studying at BeiMing Jiaotong
University
Copyedited by Bridget Mutambirwa
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