This is an era filled with vitality and hope, where every landscape tells a different story, and every city reveals its unique charm. It is these diverse aspects that come together to form the grand tapestry of China. The Global Times is launching an "Impressions of the New Era" column, which is dedicated to showcasing the unique development and changes across the nation through a series of vivid and emotionally rich pictures. From the majestic mountains and rivers of the north to the hustling and bustling cities of the south, from the fishing villages along the eastern coast to the remote townships in the far west, this column hopes to take our readers to different places to explore their unique allure. We will capture the characteristics of each place through our lenses, whether it's the vitality of technological innovation, the inheritance of traditional culture, or the changes in people's lifestyles. It is not only a presentation of China's diverse regional landscapes, but also a fresh record of the nation's great transformation in the New Era. Life today is not what the people of Daliyabuyi village could have imagined a few years ago.
Daliyabuyi is one of the most special villages in Yutian county, Hotan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The village used to be a lone island in the heart of the Taklimakan Desert, where people had been living a forgotten life for centuries.
Daliyabuyi, meaning "Along the River" in Uygur, is named after the Keriya River, which signifies "drifting." The river originates from the Kunlun Mountains, while Daliyabuyi is located at an oasis at its end.
In 1895, the ancient history hidden deep in the desert and the ancient civilization by the Keriya River were discovered by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin.
There are no records of the origins of the people of Daliyabuyi. Some believe their ancestors chose a life of isolation to avoid war; others say they were indigenous desert dwellers; they are also considered descendants of the famous ancient Loulan Kingdom.
Regardless, Daliyabuyi stands alone in the desert. It is surrounded by an uninhabited desert area of more than 200 kilometers in size. In the past, it took 20 days riding a donkey for villagers to trade in the county town of Yutian.
Even in recent decades, it took two days by pickup truck to reach the county, recalled Kuerbanhan Maitirouzi, a native of Daliyabuyi. "When I was young, we could not eat vegetables or fruit regularly, only on the rare occasions when supplies arrived, could we have pilaf with carrots."
Since 2017, with the organization and help of the regional government, the village of Daliyabuyi began to relocate entirely.
Today, the newly established Daliyabuyi Township is located an hour's drive from Yutian. Over 360 households, totaling 1,400 villagers, have moved into small newly built houses.
The home of Bulakehan Maitikasimu is clean and tidy, adorned with beautiful wallpaper and bouquets. Now, her home has running water, electricity, its own toilet and kitchen, underfloor heating, a television, and wifi, the Global Times reporters saw.
Her nephew and niece attend the local primary school. The village's health clinic has four doctors, providing basic medical care to the villagers at any time. The village's small store lights up at night, selling a variety of snacks and fruit.
The old village has also been preserved. Besides some villagers grazing sheep there, tourism has started to develop.
"This is a life I could not have imagined as a child," said Kuerbanhan, the first college student in the village. "Sometimes I feel like a 70-year-old woman because a century's worth of change has been witnessed by a young person in her 20s."
Since 2012, China has witnessed an extraordinary economic transition, with historic achievements in all aspects of the economy from its size to quality. Such an unparalleled feat does not just happen, especially during a tumultuous period in the global geo-economic landscape and a tough phase in China's economic transformation and upgrading process. It was Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era that guided the country in overcoming various risks and challenges, and in keeping the China economic miracle alive.
As China embarked on the quest to become a great modern socialist country amid global changes unseen in a century, Xi's economic thought has been and will continue to be the guiding principle for development in China for years to come, and have great significance for the world. What is Xi's economic thought? What does it mean for China and the world?
To answer these questions, the Global Times has launched this special coverage on Xi's major economic speeches and policies, and how they are put into practice to boost development in China and around the world. At the start of 2024, China's opening-up push made a distinctive stride in the financial sector. On January 25, UK-based multinational bank Standard Chartered was approved to set up business in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province. Days before, Chinese authorities said that 10 more foreign-funded institutions had been approved as lead underwriters or underwriters of debt financing instruments for non-financial enterprises.
These are just a couple of examples of a series of financial opening-up measures in the first month of 2024. The arrival and expansion of a growing number of global financial institutions in the Chinese markets not only highlight China's commitment to opening up its finance industry to international players, but also underscored massive interest among these institutions in China's vast financial market and the massive potential it holds.
Such confidence comes from the Chinese leadership's emphasis on transforming the country into a financial powerhouse. In October 2023, the top-level Central Financial Work Conference, which was attended by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed that it is imperative to accelerate the building of a nation with a strong financial sector.
On January 16, at a study session on promoting high-quality financial development at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (the National Academy of Governance), attended by leading provincial and ministerial-level officials, Xi elaborated on that goal, sending fresh and strong signals on the transformation of China into a financial powerhouse as part of its efforts to pursue the high-quality development of the financial sector, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
With such an emphasis on the top leadership and strenuous efforts to follow, China's finance industry is set for a period of rapid development and safeguarding the country's status as a financial and global economic powerhouse, analysts predict.
Such an ascendance, coupled with continued opening-up, will offer greater opportunities to the world, while the participation of global financial giants will also reinforce China's financial industry development.
Commitment to opening-up
"We will fully give play to the network advantage of Standard Chartered across the globe, especially markets along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to actively support the global development of local companies [in Anhui] and help foreign enterprises set up businesses in the province," Zhang Xiaolei, head of Standard Chartered China, was quoted as saying in a press release sent to the Global Times.
The expansion of Standard Chartered in the Chinese market came just days after Chinese regulators approved US-based asset management firm AllianceBernstein's application for a license to run its wholly-owned mutual fund business in China.
"AllianceBernstein will provide Chinese investors with domestic investment products and solutions, and help tap investment opportunities in China's local market," the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times.
China's National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors said on January 18 that 10 more foreign-funded institutions have been approved as lead underwriters or underwriters of debt financing instruments for non-financial enterprises, in a major step toward further financial opening-up. The newly approved institutions include HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Credit Agricole.
The trend of global financial firms showing an interest in the Chinese market comes in the wake of robust opening-up market policies in China.
The country has implemented over 50 financial opening-up measures in recent years, including removing caps on foreign ownership in banking and insurance institutions, lowering quantitative thresholds for foreign investment, and continuously expanding the breadth and depth of financial opening-up.
Currently, 24 foreign Global Systemically Important Banks have been established in China and nearly half of the world's top 40 insurance companies have entered the Chinese market. Meanwhile, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved more than 20 foreign-controlled and wholly foreign-owned securities, futures, and fund firms since China lifted foreign ownership limitations for such firms in 2020.
Striving for great goal
Sustained high-level opening-up is part of China's great goal of becoming a financial powerhouse. The Central Financial Work Conference elevated the importance of financial work to a higher strategic level by setting a goal, for the first time, to build the country into a nation with a strong financial sector. "The financial sector is the lifeblood of a nation's economy and a crucial component of a country's core competitiveness," it stressed.
At the study session on promoting high-quality financial development, Xi emphasized that a country with a strong financial sector should have a strong economic foundation, and lead the world in economy, technology and comprehensive national strength.
Such a nation should also have a series of key core financial elements, such as a strong currency, a strong central bank, strong financial institutions, strong international financial centers, strong financial supervision, and a high-caliber pool of financial talents, he said.
Since the important speech, officials from various central government departments and local governments across the country have moved swiftly to outline specific policy measures to bolster the financial industry. The central bank, for example, vowed to continue to promote structural reform on the incremental side of finance, optimize the structural layout of financial institutions and financial markets, and accelerate the construction of a modern financial system with Chinese characteristics.
The rise of the Chinese economy and transformation of China into an economic power need support from a strong financial sector, Lian Ping, chief economist and head of the Zhixin Investment Research Institute, told the Global Times, noting that building a strong financial sector will be the target for the industry in the foreseeable future.
Since the beginning of 2023, China has rolled out a series of reform and opening-up measures in the financial sector. Of milestone significance in the reform of China's capital market, was China rolling out its across-the-board registration-based IPO system in February 2023. The development of the Beijing Stock Exchange entered the fast lane of development amid the country's ramped-up efforts to strengthen financial support for technological innovations.
In 2023, Chinese policymakers also strengthened support for the development of multiple financial centers including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province. The National Financial Regulatory Administration was also officially set up on May 18, 2023, marking an important step in the country's institutional reform in financial supervision.
Data shows that China has made great strides in its financial sector, with more than 4,000 banking institutions in total and five banks assessed as global systemically important banks, and the scale of its equity, bonds, and insurance market is the second-largest in the world.
"Currency comes first among all the core financial elements because it's an important element of a modern economy. Currency is not only a medium of exchange and unit of account, but also functions as an international reserve," Zhao Xijun, co-president of the China Capital Market Research Institute at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.
From the perspective of the yuan, its internationalization has entered a key stage, he said, noting that steadily boosting the yuan's internationalization to strengthen the currency's status equivalent to China's standing as the world's second-largest economy is an important part of building a strong financial sector.
Amid the world's de-dollarization campaign, many countries such as those in the BRICS and Saudi Arabia have increased use of the yuan. The yuan retained the status of the fourth most active currency for global payments by value in December 2023, with a share of 4.14 percent, according to the latest data released by SWIFT, a global provider of financial messaging services.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the share of the yuan in global foreign exchange reserves stood at 2.69 percent by the end of 2022, with the amount totaling $298.4 billion, ranking fifth among major currencies.
Vast potential remains
While China's financial industry has achieved sound development, there is still great potential, as it lags behind that of advanced economies, analysts have noted.
There is a gap between China's financial sector and that of developed countries in areas including product function, market expansion capability, service quality, and risk-control capability, Lian said. Lian said that the realization of building a financial powerhouse means leapfrogging improvements in aspects including the yuan's free convertibility under the capital account, the internationalization of the Chinese financial institutions, the opening-up of the domestic capital market, and the sale of international financial centers in the Chinese mainland.
"In history, only two countries can be considered financial powerhouses - the UK in the past and now the US. I believe China will be the third financial powerhouse in the future, with strenuous exploration and remaining firmly committed to an economic path with Chinese characteristics and boosting reform and opening-up," Wu Xiaoqiu, dean of the China Capital Market Research Institute, said at a forum in Beijing on January 18.
Wu said building China into a financial powerhouse should embody Chinese characteristics, including the CPC's unified leadership over financial work, the promotion of the development of inclusive finance, and the support of financial development with sci-tech innovations.
The vast potential for China's financial industry is also underscored by growing interest among foreign financial institutions in the Chinese market.
Colm Kelleher, Chairman of the Board of UBS Group AG, speaking at UBS's 24th Greater China Conference on January 9, said "China continues to be the world's second-largest economy and wealth creation hub and is a key market for UBS."
"We remain committed to our onshore growth strategy, and we are in a unique position to provide access to China to international investors, as well as to support Chinese companies and investors who want to go global," he said.
With the completion of the first trial voyage of China's first domestically built drilling ship, the Mengxiang (Dream in English), the country officially became another country in the world - following the US and Japan - to possess its own professional ocean drillship, which is dubbed as the aircraft carrier in marine science.
With this ship, Chinese scientists will certainly make greater contributions to international deep ocean drilling, Tuo Shouting, director of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)-China Office, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.
On December 27, 2023, the Mengxiang completed its trial voyage in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary in South China's Guangdong Province, marking a step forward for China's deep-sea drilling research.
The ship sailed 500 nautical miles. The performance and various indicators of its main power and other marine systems all met relevant standards.
With a length of 179.8 meters and a width of 32.8 meters, the Mengxiang can travel 15,000 nautical miles and sustain itself for 120 days without returning to port.
The ship, featuring high stability and structural strength, can operate in unlimited navigational areas worldwide and drill as deep as 11,000 meters in the sea.
Boasting a world-leading marine drilling capacity, the ship will drill through the Earth's crust and into the upper mantle, contributing to the exploration of the Earth's history and dynamics.
The mantle, accounting for four-fifths of the Earth's volume and three-fourths of its mass, is full of scientific mysteries waiting to be explored by scientists.
Construction of the Mengxiang kicked off in November 2021 and is planned to be comprehensively completed in 2024. The ship was officially named Mengxiang on December 18, 2023, when it started its trial voyage.
"The vessel not only carries the dream of the Chinese people to build a maritime power, but also carries the dream of global scientists to 'penetrate the Moho discontinuity and enter the upper mantle,' and carries the dream of human beings to develop deep Earth resources," Li Jinfa, director of the Geological Survey under the Ministry of Natural Resources, told media when explaining the name of the vessel.
To make greater contributions
China has been a participant in the IODP for a long time. With the completion of the construction of the Mengxiang, China will be able to independently organize expeditions, just like the US, Japan and Europe, Tuo Shouting said.
He expected that, with the vessel, China can play a more significant role in international deep-sea drilling.
The IODP is an international marine research collaboration that explores Earth's history and dynamics using ocean-going research platforms to recover data recorded in seafloor sediments and rocks and monitor subseafloor environments. The program now has more than 20 member nations.
China started to participate in the program as an associate member in 1998 and became a full member in 2014.
Currently, China sends eight to nine scientists every year to attend the voyages of the US drillship JOIDES Resolution to join global scientists to conduct research.
According to Tuo, the most prominent achievements of Chinese scientists in previous missions are the four ocean drilling expeditions in the South China Sea, through which Chinese scientists made a series of breakthroughs in the deep parts of the South China Sea, proposed new understandings related to climate change and basin formation, and challenged the traditional Atlantic model theory.
The achievements have helped China win the international leading position in deep-sea research in the South China Sea, Tuo said.
Due to the phased end of the IODP in 2024 and the planned retirement of the US vessel Resolution the same year, Europe and Japan are organizing and initiating the next phase of program. Therefore, China is also preparing to launch its own scientific plan and seeking to cooperate with Europe and Japan to jointly organize expeditions, Tuo said.
He revealed that China has already been compiling an IODP-China executive science (2025-2035) and the completion of Mengxiang will provide key equipment support for China-led expeditions in the future.
China-initiated ocean drilling will greatly enhance the country's innovation capabilities in deep-sea scientific research and observation, and development of intelligent equipment, Tuo said.
Moreover, ocean drilling has long been a "rich man's club" in the developed world, but the waters at the heart of many scientific problems lie within the exclusive economic zones of developing countries. China will actively expand international cooperation partnerships and build a Belt and Road ocean drilling alliance through cooperation with developing countries, especially those associated with the Belt and Road Initiative. This will promote China's platform to carry out expeditions globally and help more developing countries enter the field of deep-sea research, Tuo stressed.
"The IoT (Internet of Things) is not simply a technological trend; it's a transformative force reshaping the economy in a new, interconnected era. The challenge for Greece, as for many other countries that do not lead the race but hope to not fall behind in this new reality- is to balance advancements and threats, particularly in the realm of security," said Evgenios Kalpyris, Greek Ambassador to China, in a speech on Monday when attending the opening ceremony of the 2023 World Internet of Things Convention in Beijing.
Ambassador Kalpyris shared relevant Greek development initiatives and fruitful achievements in terms of applying IoT in real estate, energy management, smart cities, digital agriculture, and industrial innovation.
He noted that, under the Greek Government's systematized regulatory and financing efforts, a significant economic transformation is under way. "One of the most recent and most promising Greek economic sectors to employ IoT is real estate," where companies partner with technology specialists to increase the efficiency of their businesses and create smart and sustainable buildings. Innovative real-estate applications process sensor data to lower consumption of resources, thus improving portfolio valuation while protecting the environment, Ambassador Kalpyris added.
Ambassador Kalpyris also intimated that the IoT project, Paros Island in Greece is underway, aiming to create "Europe's first smart island." It aims to redefine the relationship between cities and its citizens through advanced technological solutions, enhancing urban mobility.
The forum, themed "New IoT, New Economy, New Era," aims to promote the economic transformation and upgrading of all countries in the world, jointly building a Smart World supported by the IoT and embracing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Sikkim Urja Limited's 1,200-megawatt hydroelectric project Teesta-III at the Chungthang dam on river Teesta gave way on October 4, killing at least 94 people in the downstream areas of Sikkim and West Bengal. The devastation has reignited wide worries surrounding two of three India-built mega hydropower projects under construction in Bhutan, local newspaper The Hindu reported on October 15.
The collapse reinforced long-held doubts about India's large-scale hydroelectric projects under construction in Bhutan. India's assessment of the fragile geological zone in the Himalayas appears to have been inadequate, leading to significant safety risks, local media criticized.
Analysts told the Global Times that a series of infrastructure accidents in the India-China border area in recent years have exposed India's seeming inability to carry out infrastructure construction under the complex geological conditions in the Himalayas. However, in recent years, India has been attempting to "monopolize" infrastructure projects in some South Asian countries, which also shows India's attempt to counter China in the region.
India's capacity collapses again
Although the glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) triggered the latest dam collapse, many Indian media outlets believe that catastrophe was more likely man-made.
Environmentalists have been criticizing the decision-making process of constructing a large number of hydropower projects in the geologically fragile southern foothills of the Himalayas, while politicians have also pointed out corruption issues during the projects' construction and operational management, especially flaws inherent in the duty alert mechanism.
Such doubts have raised concerns in Bhutan, which shares the southern foothills of the Himalayas with Sikkim.
"We need to re-look at the geological survey of the (Puna-I) dam because many things have changed in 15 years. There have been many reasons for the delay, including technical issues and COVID-19. The (soil) stabilization measures have not yielded the results they wanted. No expert will go on to do a project that is not technically, scientifically feasible," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lotay Tshering told The Hindu.
A note issued by the Bhutan's Central Electricity Authority (CEA) in February on the Puna-I, which was started in 2008 and is expected to be commissioned in 2024-25, said that "project commissioning is being delayed due to movement/subsidence of right bank hill mass in the dam area. Treatment/stabilization of the right bank and completion of dam work [is in] progress. The option of providing a barrage in the upstream and abandoning of the dam is being studied," according to the report.
Regarding the Puna-II, meant to be commissioned in 2023-24, the note said: "Poor geological strata and shear zone being encountered at [the] left bank and foundation of [the] dam and HRT (head race tunnel, a tunnel connecting water intake at [the] dam site to [the] power house for generation of hydroelectricity). Remedial measures are [in] progress."
The governments of Bhutan and India have tasked the Technical Coordination Committee (TCC) with reviewing and proposing a path forward for the 1,200mW Punatsangchhu Hydroelectric Project (Puna-I) dam. One of Bhutan's primary concerns revolves around the dam's safety and stability, given the potential significant downstream impacts of any dam failure on lives and properties, according to a report by Bhutan's national newspaper Kuensel.
Lin Minwang, deputy director at the Center for South Asian Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that India has made significant progress in infrastructure construction along the China-India border in recent years, but its infrastructure capabilities still cannot be compared with China's. Overall, the quality and construction capabilities of India's infrastructure are still relatively poor.
"In recent years, accidents have frequently occurred in the construction of bridges and tunnels by India along the border. Especially in some disputed areas, accidents of various kinds are common, and the construction quality is worrying. In fact, India lacks the ability to build large-scale infrastructure in the complex and fragile geological environment of the Himalayas," said Lin.
International landslide experts have pointed out it was a blunder to start a dam at the location that seems to be on the debris of past landslides.
Lin believes that India's massive construction and blind leap in the border areas are an "image project" by the Indian government. On one hand, it aims to deliberately create an image of India's strong resistance against China along the border to gain popularity in the upcoming elections. On the other hand, it is India's leverage to counter China in South Asia.
"However, it is evident that these construction projects are largely rushed, which inevitably leads to problems in construction quality. Several previous accidents are proof," said Lin. Hard to find right partners
Despite its outdated infrastructure capacity, India's attempts at cornering the market in some South Asian countries, especially in the field of hydropower sector, where it has essentially monopolized the market, have been relentless. This has made it nearly impossible for some South Asian countries to introduce infrastructure companies from countries other than India into their own markets.
In the "13th Five-Year Plan" announced by the Bhutanese government, which is scheduled to start in 2024, almost all hydropower infrastructure projects will be undertaken by India.
"Among South Asian countries, whether it be Bhutan or Nepal, their choice of cooperation partners in their own infrastructure construction is largely restricted by India through legal or policy means," Lin explained. "India may even directly interfere in the internal affairs of these countries, demanding that they prioritize India in the bidding process for infrastructure projects or block them from commissioning bidders from other countries."
Specifically, in hydropower projects, taking Nepal as an example, India has proposed that it will not purchase electricity generated by hydropower stations built by other countries. However, India is actually a country with a severe shortage of electricity and energy, but it still uses this method to restrict the free development of Nepal's hydropower industry and force Nepal to reject the participation of other countries in its hydropower development, Lin said.
Lin suggested that Chinese infrastructure companies also often face pushback from India when entering the market in South Asian countries.
Chinese companies, for example, may be required by their international partners to have an Indian company as the project supervisor. These Indian supervisory companies tend to set unreasonably high standards for the projects and deliberately make it difficult for Chinese companies.
"Although Chinese infrastructure companies can typically cope with this, it will inevitably increase unnecessary costs. India often uses this method to hinder the entry of Chinese projects in South Asia," Lin said.
Strict control becomes commonplace
According to Bhutan's 2023-24 budget report, the 10 projects in the pipeline include the 600mW Kholongchhu hydroelectric project, Kuensel reported. Several projects, represented by the Kholongchhu hydroelectric project, are being carried out through a joint venture between India and Bhutan.
An anonymous expert on South Asian affairs told the Global Times that although these hydropower projects are officially managed through joint ventures, the engineering team, technical personnel, and even the management team are all Indian.
Lin further pointed out that the electricity generated by Bhutan's hydropower plants is not only used to meet Bhutan's own needs but also sold to India, allowing India to implement a strategy of total economic dependence by Bhutan. In addition, India has also exercised strict control over Bhutan's importation and exportation of goods, military defense, and other fields.
And in terms of diplomatic issues, India's interference in Bhutan is now commonplace. India controls Bhutan's foreign policy through various means. On the one hand, India limits Bhutan's establishment of diplomatic relations with other countries. Although India has repeatedly stated that Bhutan is an independent sovereign country, it remains incredibly vigilant regarding Bhutan's development of foreign relations and even opposes Bhutan's contacts with other countries, according to Sun Xihui, an associate research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Moreover, New Delhi interferes in China-Bhutan border negotiations. China has resolved most of its land border issues through negotiations since the 1950s, but is yet to complete its border talks with Bhutan, largely because India insists on representing Bhutan in the negotiations, while China hopes to directly engage with Bhutan, Sun noted.
The 25th Round of Boundary Talks between China and Bhutan was held in Beijing on October 23 and 24. The two sides held in-depth discussions on the boundary negotiations and noted the progress made through a series of Expert Group Meetings held since the 24th Round of Boundary Talks in 2016. The two leaders of the delegations commended the Expert Group for the work done and agreed to build on the positive momentum.
This meeting brings expectations for the establishment of official diplomatic ties between China and Bhutan.
Observers believe that despite the strong desire for diplomatic relations between the two countries, it is still difficult for China and Bhutan to complete border negotiations and establish diplomatic relations in the short term due to India's significant interference in Bhutan's internal affairs. However, it should be noted that this meeting undoubtedly injects new momentum into the successful completion of border negotiations and the promotion of the diplomatic processes between the two countries.
The Chinese capital market has shown signs of improvement, with an increase in active trading sentiment in fund products and a return of foreign inflows. Experts attribute the positive developments to recent regulatory efforts aimed at protecting investor rights and strengthening market regulation, adding that these measures are paving the way for long-term, high-quality growth in China's capital market.
Chinese real estate investment trusts (REITs) are experiencing a resurgence in market sentiment, with multiple cases of "single-day sellouts."
A clean-energy REIT product managed by Harvest Fund announced the early completion of its fundraising due to strong investor demand on Tuesday. Last week, an expressway REIT product under E Fund Management, ended the subscription earlier than the originally planned date due to strong demand from investors.
The Anxin Changxin Enhanced Bond Fund, issued by Essence Fund, was established on Tuesday with a net subscription amount of about 8 billion yuan ($1.12 billion) and had more than 15,000 total subscribers during the fundraising period from February 26 to March 6, making it the largest fund of the year, the China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday.
Foreign money is trickling back in. An analysis by UBS Securities on Thursday said that the firm maintains a positive stance on A shares, with an optimistic and proactive attitude. With regulatory intervention and the overall improvement in liquidity, it expects the short-term rebound in the A-share market to continue.
On March 3, Goldman Sachs released a report stating that governance reforms focusing on valuation and shareholder returns will attract foreign capital, while maintaining a high rating for Chinese A shares. Morgan Stanley's latest report on March 5 indicated that global funds are returning to the Chinese stock market.
Recent positive changes reflect investors' high confidence in the market and its prospect of healthy development, experts said.
Following the eight-day Spring Festival holidays, the market has continuously risen, with the Shanghai Composite Index standing above the 3,000-point mark as of Tuesday's closing.
Several sectors have started to quietly rebound from their lows, and the market's profit-making potential is becoming more evident, Yang Delong, chief economist at the Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The A-share main indexes experienced some fluctuations in Tuesday's trading. By the closing bell, the Shenzhen Component Index was up 0.51 percent and the ChiNext Index had increased 0.83 percent. A total of 3,700 stocks saw gains.
Total trading volume reached 1.15 trillion yuan, marking the second consecutive day it exceeded 1 trillion yuan. Northbound funds net buying hit 4.244 billion yuan.
Experts attributed the confidence to a steady stream of policy support by Chinese securities regulators to stabilize the market.
During a press conference on the sidelines of the just-concluded two sessions, Wu Qing, head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), emphasized the importance of prioritizing investors, combating financial fraud, and encouraging listed companies to engage in cash dividends and buybacks.
These measures are beneficial for boosting investors' confidence and the high-quality development of the Chinese capital market, Yang said.
The CSRC's focus on improving the quality of listed companies, promoting long-term investment concepts, enhancing basic systems, establishing more effective market regulation mechanisms, encouraging higher quality services, and implementing stricter regulatory enforcement all show the latest regulatory philosophy, Tao Chuan, an economist with Suzhou-based Soochow Securities, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In particular, the CSRC has vowed to "take action decisively" when the market experiences "irrational and violent fluctuation, liquidity dries up, there is market panic or a severe lack of confidence, and other extreme situations," which helps to rebuild investor confidence in the capital market, Tao said.
In response to a recent notice from the State Council and People's Bank of China (PBC), China's leading payment platforms Alipay and Weixin Pay have introduced a series of measures to improve payment services for foreign nationals. This initiative marks China's latest effort to facilitate easier access for foreigners visiting the country.
Following the notice issued by the central bank and the State Council on Thursday, Alipay announced enhancements to its services for foreigners, including increased transaction limits, the ability to link international bank cards, and the introduction of new services such as multi-lingual support. It also supports 10 overseas online wallets to directly use Alipay's services.
Similarly, Weixin Pay, one of China's major payment platforms, updated the process for foreign users to link international bank cards by simplifying identity verification and registration requirements.
The changes have led to a significant increase in transactions through Weixin Pay with international cards, with the number of daily transactions in February 2024 rising nearly fivefold compared to pilot phases of the services.
These measures stem from China's central bank and State Council's latest efforts to improve online payment services and reflect China's commitment to implementing a high-level of opening-up.
On March 1, PBC announced measures to guide Chinese payment platforms to increase the single transaction limit for foreign nationals using mobile payment services from $1,000 to $5,000 and the annual transaction limit from $10,000 to $50,000, as part of efforts to enhance payment convenience.
On Thursday, the State Council revealed plans to improve payment services for international consumers at various tourism and entertainment venues, both online and offline. The central bank also stressed to continue enhancing mobile payment convenience for foreigners and to optimize the environment for using bank cards and cash.
The new measures are expected to significantly ease consumption by foreigners in China, a country known for its widespread adoption and large scale of mobile and online payment systems. According to data from Bank of China, from February 9 to 14, the China UnionPay and NetsUnion Clearing Corporation processed 15.38 billion online payment transactions, amounting to 7.74 trillion yuan ($1.08 trillion), reflecting a year-on-year increase of 15.8 percent and 10.1 percent respectively.
In a related move to attract more foreigners to China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Thursday that from March 14 China will waive visa requirements for citizens from six European countries, including Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. It is expected to further boost tourism and promote China's ongoing efforts toward greater openness.
The US and its Western allies' relentless crackdown against Xinjiang's cotton industry since 2020 has failed, as the industry has been maintaining sound development momentum, and is seeing rising competitiveness not only in the Chinese market but also internationally, Liang Yong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a member of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, one of China's eight noncommunist political parties, told the Global Times. Liang is also the director of Xinjiang cotton industry development leadership office.
"Despite a drop in China's textile and clothes exports to the US that are made with Xinjiang cotton, China is still the world's largest cotton consumer as well as textile and clothes exporter. China is also the world's largest cotton importer," Liang said.
According to Liang, the competitiveness of Xinjiang's cotton industry has been rising year by year, fueled by tech innovation and the promotion of large-scale cultivation. In 2023, the overall mechanization rate for cotton harvesting hit 89 percent in Xinjiang, compared with 21 percent in 2014.
Also, the Xinjiang cotton per unit yield averages 143.85 kilograms per mu (0.067 hectares), which is twice that of the US and almost the same level as in Australia. In 2023, the output of Xinjiang cotton was 5.11 million tons, representing 91 percent of the national yield, and one-fifth of global output, the national political advisor said.
Liang said that in the next step, the office will work on setting up a homegrown cotton quality tracing system and certification system as well as building a number of homegrown brands. Meanwhile, he said that the Xinjiang cotton industry is actively expanding into overseas markets, in particular markets in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries, to promote the stability of the global textile supply chain.
Liang has also submitted a proposal for this year's two sessions titled "building a joint cotton market with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) members." According to the proposal, which he shared with the Global Times, the Xinjiang region, along with neighboring India and Pakistan as well as five Central Asian countries, are the main cotton producers in the world and they together represent nearly 60 percent of global cotton output.
He suggested a number of measures that could lay a foundation for building the joint market, including studying import and export tariff policies concerning cotton and textile products, as well as setting up a mutual recognition mechanism among SCO members for products such as cotton and cotton yarn.
"Setting up a joint cotton market with other SCO members is an effective way to counter the US-led crackdown and increase market demand. It will also elevate the global influence of China's cotton industry, while deepening economic and trade ties," Liang explained.
"Xinjiang has a geographic advantage as it borders eight countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, India and Pakistan. The region is also home to about 20 border ports, including 17 land border ports and three aviation ports. The majority of China-Europe freight trains also pass through Xinjiang," Liang added.
In November, the Xinjiang Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the first in China's northwestern border regions, officially started operation.
Liang believes that this geographic edge, plus the relatively cheap cost of production and policy support, will create conditions for Xinjiang to become the center of China's western textile industry cluster, which mainly exports to Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia and Europe. "Such a scene is foreseeable in the next five years," Liang said.
In 2023, the value of textile products exported from Xinjiang rose 34.6 percent to 107.59 billion yuan, according to data provided by Liang.
Xinjiang is also speeding up the building of a Silk Road Economic Belt core area. It is expected that under the BRI, Xinjiang will further leverage its advantageous industries and accelerate regional cooperation to make itself a bridgehead in China's westward opening-up process, Liang said.
A root cause of why the US-launched smear campaign against the Chinese economy has become hysterical lies in the fact that only by vilifying China can the US-led West find an excuse for its unjust actions and attacks against the Chinese economy.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article on Sunday with a sensational headline "The World Is in for Another China Shock." Its narrative sounded contagious and suited to the taste of political elites in Washington, especially when they resort to protectionist measures against ordinary Chinese goods.
Some Western media outlets are seeking to create a climate of public opinion in which the Western economy falls victim to China's "dumping" of cheap goods, so as to pave the way for further protectionist measures such as anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese products.
With the WSJ serving as a vanguard, the US delivers a great deal of propaganda about "China flooding global markets with cheap goods," and uses that propaganda as a camouflage for its protectionist measures against China. It's an old trick by the US that should be condemned.
In recent years, Chinese industries have made steady progress in high-end manufacturing segments, including electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, wind turbines and more. China's rise has increasingly raised concerns from some Western politicians, observers and media outlets. It's no surprise when they adopt protectionist trade measures to suppress Chinese enterprises, but they should not expect China to yield to these disgraceful acts.
It should be noted that China enters the global market with a peaceful and cooperative manner in line with global trade norms. China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. China is a staunch supporter of free trade.
The price advantage of Chinese goods can be attributed to multiple factors, including a complete industry chain, relatively low labor costs, and scientific and technological innovation. None of those seem to be factors related to China's "dumping of cheap goods."
The WSJ wrote in its article that the US and the global economy experienced a "China shock" - a boom in imports of cheap Chinese-made goods - in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and now, "a sequel might be in the making" as China doubles down on its exports. The author has a far more negative attitude toward the sequel's impact on the Western economy. This view is almost universal in the West at present.
Why is the West so much more afraid of the "sequel" that it needs to resort to protectionist measures to curb China's development? This reflects a lack of confidence by the West. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the West experienced an upward growth cycle, taking an open mind toward globalization. However, after the 2008 financial crisis, and especially in more recent years, the Western economy has faced a series of challenges.
Amid the rise of anti-globalization sentiment and trade protectionism, some Western governments pin their hopes on putting up trade barriers to protect their own industries, although such measures will hinder industrial upgrading and the cultivation of emerging sectors.
It's a shame that some Western analysts claim "Chinese companies are flooding foreign markets with products they can't sell at home." The opposite appears to be true. Thanks to China's commitment to high-quality development and continuous progress in technological innovation, Chinese goods are increasingly competitive in the global market. Chinese ingenuity, diligence and adaptability have ensured sufficient supply of everything from daily necessities to high-quality tech products, allowing Chinese manufacturing to make great contribution to stabilizing global trade during a challenging time. China is by no means exporting excess capacity or dumping products they can't sell at home.
Meanwhile, the Chinese market is big enough to accommodate players from China, the West and other countries at the same time. Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that foreign investment is welcome in China and the door to China will only open further.
China is the top trading partner for many countries in the world. The country is also a key market for many major international companies. There are many opportunities that foreign companies can take advantage of, including the large and fast-growing consumer market and investor-friendly policies. One thing is clear: China is important for multinational companies that want to be globally competitive.
Engaging with the Chinese market is seen as an opportunity rather than a risk. To the world economy, China is a contributor, rather than a saboteur that makes it suffer losses, or a "China shock."
