PRESIDENT XI ON BONDS BETWEEN FAMILY, NATION

Today marks Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional occasion for family reunions in China, as well as National Day.

As President Xi Jinping once said: "A nation can do well only when its families do well."

Xi has always attached great attention to the nurturing of family values as well as a love for the nation.

While meeting with representatives to the first National Conference of Model Families in December 2016, Xi told a story about the importance of family education.

"When I was a child, my mother gave me a picture book series – The Legend of Yue Fei. One of its more than 10 volumes illustrates Yue Fei's mother tattooing four characters meaning 'serve the country with the utmost loyalty' across his back. The story deeply impressed me," said Xi.

"Family is the first school, and parents are their children's first teachers."

Xi himself had benefited a lot from the education he received from his parents.

In a letter congratulating the birthday of his father, Xi Zhongxun, who was a Communist revolutionary, Xi listed the qualities he learned from his father: "First, I learned from father how to be upright person; second, I learned from father how to do things; third, I learned from father's perseverant pursuit of his faith; fourth, I learned from father's devotion to the country; and fifth, I learned from father's simple and frugal lifestyle."

It is under his father's influence that Xi has developed habits of frugality. When having a meal, Xi Zhongxun would pick up the last grain of rice left on the table and eat it and sop up the broth left in the bowl with a steamed bun.

Xi also strongly opposed seeking privileges.

"Leading officials and cadres at all levels should teach their children to be law-abiding, frugal and self-reliant," he said.

Under the influence of his family tradition of self-discipline, Xi always told his relatives and acquaintances to "not engage in any commercial activities in places where I work, and not seek personal gains in my name."

Xi said parents should pass down sound moral values to their children from an early age, and guide them to develop integrity, so that they will be useful to the country and the people when they grow up.

FLAG-RAISING CEREMONY AT TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE MARKS NATIONAL DAY

On the morning of Oct 1, 2020, people from across the country gathered at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing to watch the flag-raising ceremony, celebrating the 71th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

CHINA'S CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR ACHIEVES 120 MONTHS OF SAFE FLIGHT

China's civil aviation industry had maintained a consecutive 120 months of safe flight operations as of August, according to the country's civil aviation authorities.

A steady nationwide development momentum has continued in the civil aviation sector, said statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

As of the end of August, the country's civil air transport sector had achieved a total of 85.8 million flight hours of safe operation, CAAC statistics showed.

In August, China's civil aviation industry handled a total of 862,000 flight hours of air transport. The figure represented a 20.3 percent decrease compared from that of last year, but a 10.9 percent increase than the volume in July.

The civil aviation industry achieved its stellar safety performance thanks to the persistent efforts of both authorities and carriers in the supervision, control and operation of safety measures, according to the CAAC.

ECONOMIST: 'DUAL-CIRCULATION' TO AID OPENING-UP

China's new "dual-circulation" development pattern does not mean seclusion, but rather is aimed at a higher-level of opening-up with better utilization of the country's comparative advantages related to international value chains, regional developments and the domestic market, a senior economist said.

Cai Fang, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new development pattern efficiently "combines opening-up and domestic development" in response to changing international and domestic situations.

"China used to have comparative advantages in developing labor-intensive industries with its abundant and cheap labor to export goods to the international market and benefit from globalization," he said.

"It is time for China to upgrade its development pattern, as the world economy has entered a long period of stagnation and is bothered by protectionism and an anti-globalization movement while, at the same time, China's labor costs are soaring and the domestic market is growing."

Cai's remarks came after China floated the dual-circulation economic development pattern that positions the domestic market as the mainstay while letting internal and external markets boost each other.

Analysts said the pattern is a viable solution for China to build up resilience against external uncertainties and share its opportunities for development with the rest of the world.

They said the pattern underscores a message of rebalancing the Chinese economy from an export-and investment-driven one to one more focused on domestic demand as a continuation of the government's stated goals in the past.

"The international division of labor is going deeper into global value chains, from the trade of simple goods," Cai said.

"As a manufacturing powerhouse for the world, China has comparative advantages not only in exporting goods, but also in some links of the international value chains, which can help further spur opening-up."

In addition, when one country loses its comparative advantage in labor-intensive industries, such industries will move to other economies. But with China, there is a second chance to keep those industries, according to Cai.

Due to its massive size, unbalanced regional development and various resource locations, the country is able to move industries in which its coastal areas no longer have comparative advantages to the inland regions, where labor is cheaper, he said.

He added that such relocations will give China more time to adjust to new situations while upgrading its economy. Moreover, China's growing domestic market is becoming its source of advantage on the demand side, Cai said.

"China has a population of 1.4 billion, of which 400 million are considered as middle-income, which means there's a huge domestic consumer market with rapid growth potential," he said. Therefore, he added, China's foreign trade partners and investors have attached more importance to the Chinese market.

COVID-19 VACCINE TO BE PRICED FAIRLY, MINISTRY SAYS

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday dismissed media reports that China's coronavirus vaccine products are being priced much higher than those produced by Western countries, saying that the reports are groundless.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, Wang said that as the vaccines are still being developed in different countries, how they will be priced is still unknown.

"But for the Chinese side, one thing is clear. That is, we will make the COVID-19 vaccine a global public good sold to the world at a fair and reasonable price," he said, adding that China will prioritize providing vaccines to developing countries in a variety of ways, including via donations and grant assistance.

According to the spokesman, China is pressing forward with its vaccine development in order to deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic.

At the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly in May, President Xi Jinping pledged that China's COVID-19 vaccine will be a global public product when it becomes available, and that the nation will ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

"China has made a clear commitment, and we always honor our word," Wang told reporters.

On Wednesday, the spokesman also responded to a forecast from World Bank that the country's GDP growth will be 2 percent this year.

China's growth is expected to be 7.9 percent next year based on the assumption of continued recovery and normalization of activity in major economies if a vaccine is released, it said.

"The report showed that the international community spoke highly of the progress China has made in economic and social development while taking measures to prevent and control the pandemic," Wang said.

It is expected that the accelerated recovery of the nation's economy will provide more opportunities for expanding economic and trade cooperation between China and foreign countries, give more impetus to the global recovery and also instill more confidence in people worldwide, he added.

LAM THANKS CENTRAL GOVT FOR SUPPORT IN NATIONAL DAY SPEECH

The nation has always stood staunchly by Hong Kong's side, whether the city is embracing opportunities for development or facing hard times, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said at a National Day reception on Thursday.

HK celebrated the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct 1 while fully respecting the anti-COVID social distancing rules currently in place.

In her keynote address, Lam cited the central authorities' help in combating the virus, including assistance in bringing back home Hong Kong people stranded overseas. She also spoke with gratitude about the central government's arrangement to supply medical protective equipment and its help in organizing a citywide virus testing program as also in the current contruction of a temporary hospital.

After a flag-raising ceremony, Lam, other high-ranking government officials from the special administrative region (SAR) government, as well as representatives from central government's agencies in Hong Kong, attended the reception at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

Noting that Hong Kong is recovering from a third wave of infections, Lam said the city has seen a return to stability in the past three months since the National Security Law was enacted and took effect in Hong Kong.

Lam said she and other SAR government officials were fearless in the face of "so-called sanctions" and "unfounded accusations" leveled by foreign governments which have criticized Hong Kong‘’s National Security Law.

Lam said her government will steadfastly safeguard national security and hoped that Hong Kong people would embrace opportunities brought about by national development.

PMI KEEPS RISING IN SIGN ECONOMY IN FULL RECOVERY

China's purchasing managers index figures continued to rise in September, showing that the country's economy is in full recovery, experts said on Wednesday.

"The upcoming National Day holiday may bring certain seasonal factors. However, the recovery trend of the economy is real, and the unbalanced situation of the economy has improved," said Guo Yongbin, an analyst with Everbright Securities.

The country's PMI for the manufacturing sector rose to 51.5 in September from 51 in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The reading remained well above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, indicating a steady recovery for the sector.

For the first time this year, the subgauges for new export and import orders for the manufacturing sector rose above 50, standing at 50.8 and 50.4, respectively, the NBS said.

The corresponding figures were 1.7 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points higher than in the previous month, thanks to the country's policies stabilizing foreign investment and the partial recovery of demand in the international market.

"With the current overall planning of epidemic prevention and control and continuing advancement in economic and social development, the country's economy remained in a steady recovery trend, and there have been increasing positive signals," said Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician with the NBS.

The subindex for production grew to 54 from 53.5 in August, while that of new market orders rose for the fifth consecutive month to 52.8, up from 52 a month earlier.

With the continuous recovery of supply and demand and the advent of the traditional peak production season, companies have increased their willingness to purchase and market activity has increased, Zhao said.

XI URGES GREATER GLOBAL GREEN EFFORTS

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for global efforts to continue green development and increase the potential for high-quality economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He made the remark in a video address to the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity, held under the theme "Urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development".

Xi stressed the need to keep an eye on the long run, remain determined and stay the course for green, inclusive and sustainable development at a time when the pandemic has wreaked havoc on global economic and social development.

"We should strive to find development opportunities while preserving nature and achieve win-win results in both ecological conservation and high-quality development," he said, adding that solutions can be found in nature.

Xi called on countries to uphold multilateralism to build synergy for global governance on the environment. He said that countries faced with risks and challenges to the environment worldwide share a common stake as passengers in the same boat and form a community with a shared future.

"Unilateralism finds no support, and cooperation is the right way forward," he said.

Xi also stressed the need to uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, given that developed and developing countries−at varying stages of development−have different historical responsibilities and practical capabilities for addressing environmental issues.

Developing countries' concerns over funding, technology and capacity-building should be accommodated, he said.

"We need to earnestly fulfill our commitments, focus on our targets and effectively reverse biodiversity loss to protect the planet we call home," Xi said.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty agreed to at the UN Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992. Its goals are the conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of nature and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of genetic science.

The 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will be held next year in Kunming, Yunnan province, with the theme "Ecological civilization: Building a shared future for all life on Earth".

Xi said that China, as host, is happy to share its experience of advancing biodiversity governance and ecological progress.

"I want to welcome you to Kunming, the beautiful 'Spring City', next year, to discuss and draw up plans together for protecting global biodiversity, and I look forward to the adoption of a comprehensive, balanced, ambitious and implementable framework of action," he said.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It is better to be approximately right, than precisely wrong. - Warren Buffett