XI: POVERTY RELIEF KEY TO PROSPERITY GOAL

President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of poverty alleviation work to secure the country's development goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects during his two-day inspection tour of Shanxi province that concluded on Tuesday.

The local government should help the remaining poor people to get rid of poverty and work out more follow-up policies to help those who have moved out of the impoverished areas, Xi said at a symposium on Tuesday afternoon.

He instructed the officials to uphold a people-centered development philosophy, make solid efforts to improve people's lives, and promote the employment of college graduates, veterans, migrant workers and poor people in urban areas.

Immediately after he arrived in the province on Monday, Xi traveled to an organic day lily farm in Datong's Yunzhou district and talked with people working there. Local farmers plant day lilies and make a living from selling the edible plant.

"This is a promising industry, and we should protect and develop this industry to make it a good path for the farmers to get rich," he told the farmers.

The farmers told Xi that in recent years they have achieved a stable output of quality day lilies with a guaranteed market and price, helping lift a number of impoverished households out of poverty.

Yunzhou district used to be a poverty-stricken area, where growing day lilies had a long history but was not on a large scale. Now the total area of day lily cultivation has increased from around 1,000 hectares before 2010 to the current 10,000 hectares, generating a total revenue of 65 million yuan ($9.17 million) in the district last year.

"Last month, I traveled to a village cultivating black fungus in Shaanxi province. I said there that there is 'little fungus and big industry'. And you are also engaging in a big industry of planting day lilies," Xi told the farmers.

During the trip last month, he talked with villagers who were preparing for livestream marketing of their agricultural products, including black fungus. Online sales of fungus soared soon after the president's visit.

The Shanxi tour, which came only about 10 days ahead of the annual sessions of the national legislature and political advisory body, followed Xi's visits to Zhejiang and Shaanxi provinces in late March and April.

During these inspection trips, Xi has underlined the importance of poverty alleviation on a number of occasions, the key effort that is crucial to promoting all-around social and economic progress.

According to the agenda set by the Communist Party of China, the government will lift all poor people out of poverty by the end of this year. It would be the first time that China has eliminated extreme poverty in its history.

While visiting Fangcheng New Village in Datong's Xiping township on Monday afternoon, Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said that the CPC wholeheartedly seeks happiness for the Chinese people.

Bai Gaoshan, a resident of the village, told Xi that the life of his family has seen great changes after relocation amid local poverty alleviation efforts.

"Had it not been for the Party, I would not have lived a happy life now," Bai said. "We villagers sincerely thank the CPC."

Xi stressed that the CPC is dedicated to the happiness of the people, as no agricultural taxes or fees are levied, and by helping impoverished rural residents build their own homes, training them in skills and finding ways for them to live a better life.

While visiting the cave art site at the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Xi stressed the protection of the Yungang Grottoes as they are a "treasure of human civilization".

The Yungang Grottoes represent the characteristics of Chinese culture and the history of cultural exchanges between China and other countries, Xi said, adding that protection of the site should be a top priority.

61 SHARES ADDED TO MSCI INDEX SERIES

MSCI added 61 shares and removed 18 from the MSCI China-A Onshore Index Series. The world's largest index provider announced the results of a six-month deliberation on Tuesday, the National Business Daily reported.

The 61 shares include those in rising industries such as chips (Ingenic Semiconductor), new energy cars (PutailaiNew Energy Technology and Hanrui Cobalt), food (Sanquan Foods and Qiaqia Food), bio testing (Daan Gene), drugs (Apeloa Pharmaceutical and Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass), construction materials (Kin Long and 3trees), online education (Offcn) and games (Century Huatong).

MSCI said the biggest three shares are Offcn, Century Huatong and China Galaxy Securities.

MSCI also added 56 shares to and deleted 54 from its All-China Index Series, the top three of these being Offcn, Feihe Dairy and Century Huatong.

MORE IMPORTS FROM US TO BE EXEMPT FROM EXTRA TARIFFS

More imported US products will be exempt from extra Chinese tariffs starting May 19, according to the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, marking China's serious fulfillment of trade commitments with the United States.

China's exclusion of tariffs on some US chemical products, such as kaolin and medical sanitizer, will be effective for one year from May 19 to May 18, 2021, the commission said in a statement on Tuesday. Duties that have already been imposed can be refunded, and related companies can apply for refunds within six months.

This is the second list of US goods to be excluded from the second round of tariff countermeasures against the US Section 301 measure, according to a statement from the commission. Last year, China exempted the first group of US products included in its tariff list.

Experts said the move will facilitate trade between the world's two largest economies and help stabilize global trade flow during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although China's economy has also been hit hard by the outbreak so far this year, the country is committed to implementing the phase-one trade deal with the US in an orderly manner, said Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing.

Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, hopes China and the US will implement the phase-one trade deal seriously, and as a result buy more products from each other to boost their trade volumes, and ensure the global supply and industrial chains.

The governments on both sides can take more measures to release stimulus packages, cut the tariffs and remove all trade barriers, he said.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said the Commerce Ministry will thoroughly implement the incentive measures to boost foreign trade and investment. He urged all local governments to stabilize the growth of foreign trade and investment and optimize the business environment.

On Friday, Vice-Premier Liu He spoke by telephone with senior US officials. Both sides said that the two countries should strengthen macroeconomic and public health cooperation, and they should strive to create favorable conditions for implementing their phase-one trade deal.

China imported 256.18 billion yuan ($36.16 billion) worth of goods from the US in the first four months of 2020, dropping 3 percent on a yearly basis, but it was less than the 3.2 percent drop in its overall imports, General Administration of Customs data show.

In the meantime, China's trade surplus with the US decreased 21.9 percent to 446.1 billion yuan, according to the GAC.

DADA GROUP MAY RAISE $100M FROM US IPO

Dada Group, a Shanghai-headquartered on-demand delivery and retail company, filed on Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol DADA.

Dada Group operates JD-Daojia ("JDDJ"), one of China's largest local on-demand retail platforms by gross merchandise volume in 2019, and Dada Now, a leading local on-demand delivery platform in China by number of orders in 2019, according to market consultancy iResearch, the company said in the prospectus.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com held 51.4 percent shares of the company as its largest shareholder.

Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities and Jefferies are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

CHINA'S BRANDS SHINE IN GLOBAL MARKET

Chinese brands are shining in the global market and have played an important role in fighting the novel coronavirus.

Medical equipment from China has been installed in Baghdad, Iraq to help the country build nucleic acid testing laboratories.

Many innovative products with Chinese brands have been promoted to better meet the demand of China's consumption upgrade and national development to mark China Brand Day, which falls on May 10.

TRACK-LAYING PROGRESSES IN XINJIANG

Track-laying work has picked up steam on a major railway project in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, marking huge progress for a loop line circling the Tarim Basin in northwestern China, according to the country's top railway operator.

The 825-kilometer railway, linking Hotan prefecture with Ruoqiang county in the Mongolian autonomous prefecture of Bayingolin, saw track-laying work begin on Sunday, according to China State Railway Group.

With a designed speed of 120 km per hour, it will pass seven prefecture-level regions in Xinjiang and finally be connected to the Golmud-Korla railway, linking the city of Golmud in Qinghai province and the city of Korla in Xinjiang, the latest passage in and out of Xinjiang that is scheduled to open to traffic later this year.

With construction having started in 2018, the Hotan-Ruoqiang railway is expected to be put into operation next year. By then, a loop railway network circling the Tarim Basin will have taken shape, said China State Railway Group.

The loop railway will greatly cut travel time for local residents and play an important role in promoting regional socio-economic growth, the company added.

Construction of the Hotan-Ruoqiang railway is being carried out on the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert, where wind and sandy weather, as well as huge temperature differences between day and night, bring tremendous difficulties, it said.

Confronted with an intricate natural environment, the company set up a management and construction team with rich experience in desert railway construction, as well as a research team, said Zhang Gang, project manager of China Railway 14th Bureau Group.

"In order to ensure smooth progress, construction workers have been working around the clock to ensure no less than 2 km of track laying per day," he added.

Railway authorities also said they plan to finish the 520-km track-laying work and the construction of 19 stations by the end of this year.

The company has been purchasing construction materials and daily supplies locally. It has also hired a large number of residents to help lift them out of poverty, said Wang Jinzhong, Party secretary of the China Railway Hotan-Ruoqiang Group.

MOUNTAINS GET SEASONAL CLEANING IN TIBET

More than 6 metric tons of waste was collected in three weeks on three mountains in the Tibet autonomous region, the region's sports bureau said on Monday.

The region's mountaineering team, mountaineering association and the sports bureau participated in a ceremony held at the base camp of Qomolangma at an altitude of 5,200 meters on Monday to mark the annual spring cleaning activity.

This spring, Tibet suspended its climbing services for foreign teams due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the region continued the annual mountain cleaning.

The three mountains where the cleaning took place are Shishapangma, Cho Oyu and Qomolangma−the last of these is known as Everest in the West. All three mountains are above 8,000 meters in altitude.

This year's cleaning activity started on April 20 and in the three weeks, 3.78 tons of refuse was collected on Qomolangma, 1.83 tons on Cho Oyu and 0.425 tons on Shishapangma, the bureau said.

"The cleanup of the mountains of Cho Oyu and Shishapangma has already concluded, and we have done a partial cleaning of Mount Qomolangma," said Nyima Tsering, head of the sports bureau, adding they expect to finish the cleaning by June.

Tibet, located in the core zone of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, is considered a world tourism destination and a vital ecological safety barrier for the country, he said.

"Sticking to the bottom line of ecological safety and mountaineering environmental protection, we have been strictly following the regulations of mountaineering, and an environmental protection foundation has been established to ensure that what's pure remains unpolluted," said Nyima Tsering.

"Measures such as getting the rural residents trained in mountaineering waste disposal, controlling the number of climbers and upgrading ecological protection facilities have been taken to reach the goal of environmental protection."

Tibet has been enhancing the importance of environmental protection of the mountains and large-scale cleaning activities have been organized there in the past few years.

Waste from mountaineering expeditions−including food packages, beverage bottles, discarded oxygen cylinders, old tents and excrement−has been polluting the environment.

In spring 2018, about 8 tons of waste was collected on the three mountains, and about 10.67 tons was collected in 2019.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of China's first accurate measurement of Qomolangma's height, and a comprehensive campaign of remeasuring the height of the world's highest mountain is underway this week.

FORMER CSSC CHAIRMAN UNDER INVESTIGATION

Hu Wenming, former chairman of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has been under investigation for suspected severe violations of discipline and law, the top anti-graft body said Tuesday.

Hu, also former secretary of the leading Party members group of CSSC, is being investigated by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Indians declare victory too soon - Viswanathan Anand (in 2004)