XI, LEADER OF ROK SAY TIES GROW CLOSER

Productive cooperation between China and the Republic of Korea in fighting the novel coronavirus has set a model for global disease control, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday.

Xi made the remark in a phone conversation with his ROK counterpart, Moon Jae-in. The two presidents previously spoke about disease prevention and control in February.

Xi said China and the ROK have controlled the novel coronavirus through hard work, and they have helped and supported each other from the beginning of the outbreak.

The two nations have taken the lead in establishing joint prevention and control and have no imported cases from each other, Xi said.

The two nations facilitated exchanges of important personnel to aid disease prevention, guaranteeing the smooth operation of industrial chains, supply chains and logistics chains, Xi added.

China and the ROK agreed to open a fast-track lane on May 1 for key business, logistics, production, technical and service exchanges between them. It aims to help maintain and develop bilateral business and trade cooperation and keep industrial and supply chains running in a stable and smooth way.

China would like to continue to cooperate with the ROK on joint prevention and research in medicine and vaccines, Xi said, adding that they should continue to support the World Health Organization to play its role and enhance coordination under multilateral frameworks including the United Nations, G20, and ASEAN plus China, Japan and the ROK.

Calling China and the ROK friendly neighbors, Xi said that they now have more common interests in areas like common development, regional peace, multilateralism and free trade.

Moon spoke highly of China's progress in the COVID-19 fight and wished China's upcoming annual sessions of the top legislature and top political advisory body great success.

The ROK and China have taken similar measures on disease prevention and control, and the two countries have achieved fruitful outcomes, Moon said.

The opening of fast tracks has sent a strong signal of unity and cooperation, Moon said, adding that the ROK would like to deepen cooperation with China.

In a phone call with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday evening, Xi said Sri Lanka offered support for China at the critical time during the outbreak, which moved the Chinese people.

Friendship between China and Sri Lanka has been promoted during the COVID-19 fight, Xi said, adding that the two countries should push forward practical cooperation steadily and promote the high quality building of the Belt and Road.

The Sri Lankan president expressed gratitude for China's support of the country's economic and social development.

Sri Lanka would like to enhance cooperation with China in such areas as trade, infrastructure and jointly building the Belt and Road, he said.

XI SAYS PROTECTING HERITAGE CRUCIAL

President Xi Jinping's visit to the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi province, showed his persistent focus on protecting and exploring the value of cultural heritage to foster a stronger sense of cultural identity and enable further exchanges between civilizations, experts said.

At the Buddhist grottoes, Xi carefully reviewed the statues and wall paintings in the caves and niches and asked staff workers about the protection of the cultural heritage. It was part of his two-day inspection trip to Shanxi province, which concluded on Tuesday.

The protection of the Yungang Grottoes, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, is of major significance both for China and the world, he said.

The Yungang Grottoes represent the characteristics of Chinese culture and the history of cultural exchanges between China and other countries, Xi said.

The fact that historical cultural heritage assets are nonrenewable and irreplaceable resources means that protection should be a top priority, he said, adding that the development of tourism should avoid excessive commercialization.

It is important to make tourism a process in which people understand Chinese culture and their cultural confidence is bolstered, he said.

He also underlined the importance of conducting more in-depth exploration of the historical contents from the Yungang Grottoes in which different ethnic groups exchange and blend with each other, in order to enrich the sense of a shared community of the Chinese nation.

UNESCO said on its website that the Yungang Grottoes, which comprise 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China more than 1,500 years ago.

While influenced by Buddhist cave art from South and Central Asia, the Yungang Grottoes interpreted the Buddhist cave art with distinctive Chinese characteristics and local spirit, and they had a farreaching impact on Buddhist cave art in China and East Asia, the organization said.

Liu Qingzhu, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the reason Xi has placed much emphasis on the protection and exploration of cultural heritage is because of its central role in uniting the people.

"China has an uninterrupted, time-tested civilization of 5,000 years, and it is imperative that we further explore it beyond any doubt," he said.

He added that quite different from collectors who use cultural relics for purposes of display, the protection and exploration of cultural heritage assets must serve a country's development.

"Cultural heritage (resources) are reminders that people should not forget their cultural genes, and history can bind a nation's hearts together," he said.

He noted that the Yungang Grottoes, built with imperial instructions during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), show a high level of inclusiveness of foreign culture and recognition of Chinese culture.

Xi has always maintained that culture should serve as a bond to promote dialogue between different civilizations.

During his trip in August to Gansu province, where he visited the Mogao Grottoes and held a symposium with scholars from the Dunhuang Academy, Xi lauded Dunhuang culture as an outcome of the long-term integration of the Chinese and various other civilizations.

DEPUTIES PREPARE TO DISCUSS VITAL ISSUES

With motions in hand and suggestions in mind, Li Zongsheng, a lawyer from Liaoning province, will travel to Beijing next week for the annual plenary meeting of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

It will be the third full session of the 13th NPC, scheduled to start on May 22. As an NPC deputy, Li will attend the meeting with around 2,900 other national legislators, reviewing key work reports of the central government and top judicial organs, and bringing opinions from different sectors and different regions to the top leadership.

The NPC normally starts its annual meeting in early March, but it was postponed this year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The NPC is the highest organ of State power and the top legislative body in China. It supervises the government and judicial system and determines major State issues. It also elects the president, the chief justice and chief prosecutor.

Routine tasks at an annual NPC plenary meeting include reviewing the annual work report of the central government, which customarily contains the official annual gross domestic product target; reviewing the annual work reports of the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; and reviewing the annual plan for economic and social development and the central and local budgets.

This year, legislators will have an additional task: to deliberate on the country's draft civil code. Furthermore, issues related to epidemic control and public health may be a hot topic among legislators.

"To improve healthcare and the emergency response system by the rule of law, I've done sufficient research and talked with many local residents," said Li, the deputy from Liaoning. "I plan to submit suggestions and motions on amending laws on preventing infectious diseases and wildlife protection to the NPC this time."

He said to understand and study difficulties that people are struggling with and raise related motions or suggestions to help solve these problems is the obligation of an NPC deputy, as they come from and are elected by the people.

In 2018, a total of 2,980 people from across the country were elected as deputies to the 13th NPC. They include officials and representatives from various walks of life, including scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers and migrant workers. They serve a term of five years.

TRUMP'S CHINA REMARK REBUKED

US President Donald Trump stands next to coronavirus disease testing machines as he addresses a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak press briefing in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, May 11, 2020.

US President Donald Trump is facing another round of backlash from elected officials and rights leaders after his confrontation with a Chinese American reporter and later claim that Asian Americans are "angry" at China's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that Asian Americans are "VERY angry at what China has done to our Country" and "Chinese Americans are the most angry of all."

He made the remark in response to Monday's White House news conference, where he told Weijia Jiang of CBS News, a female Chinese American reporter, to "ask China" instead of him in response to his remark that the US had "prevailed" on virus testing. The president then abruptly ended the news conference.

"It's ridiculous that he continues to point the finger at China and to suggest that Chinese Americans are angry at China. He actually doesn't know anything about how Asian Americans or Chinese Americans feel," Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, told China Daily.

She said it's "ludicrous" for him to put out a statement like that one of many "inaccurate" statements he's made to deflect from the public crisis that he's in charge of managing.

Asian Americans have experienced a rise in prejudice and bias attacks since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the US.

Many people, including elected officials, scholars and activists, said it's a campaign strategy of Trump and his Republican allies to aggressively attack China, which puts Asian Americans in harm's way.

"It's very clear that Trump and his administration and other elected officials are trying to distract the American people from the bungling of this public health crisis management and trying to blame China," said Choi, adding that "it is irresponsible for him to continue down this path".

Choi's organization partnered with two other groups in California to launch a "Stop AAPI Hate" reporting center in mid-March to track coronavirus-related racial incidents.

The online site has received more than 1,700 reports from across the country, and more continue to come in every day, according to Choi.

The reports"actually say the opposite" to Trump's claim that Asian Americans are angry at China, said Choi.

MORE CHILDREN HAVE INTERNET ACCESS EARLY

The proportion of children who have access to the internet before they enter primary school is continuing to rise, according to a report released on Wednesday that calls for improved internet literacy education and more protection of minors.

The report, jointly published by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the China Internet Network Information Center, was based on a survey of 34,661 children and teenagers aged from 6 to 18 across the country.

It said 175 million minors used the internet in China last year, with the rate of internet access among children and teenagers reaching 93.1 percent. The rate in urban areas was 93.9 percent, while that in rural areas was 90.3 percent, with the gap between the two narrowing by 1.8 percentage points compared with 2018.

It found that 32.9 percent of primary school students had begun surfing the internet before they started school, and the rate was increasing.

That means there is a greater need for more internet skills education for families, better online content supervision and management and a targeted protection mechanism for minors.

With the internet now an indispensable part of daily life, it is important for adults to put it into perspective for minors and show them how to use it properly, said Wei Pengju, head of the Institute of Cultural Economics at Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.

"Many minors are using the internet frequently on a daily basis," he said. "If adults worry about the inappropriate use of the internet by minors, they should first think about whether their own use of the internet is reasonable or not."

"The internet platforms also need to provide minors with high-quality learning resources and block harmful content," Wang said. "Some short video platforms are making progress in that regard."

He said the obligations and responsibilities of the parents of minors using the internet are not clear enough, which often leads to parents blaming platforms or companies if they discover their children using the internet inappropriately.

"We must clarify the responsibility of the parents and give them a place in the protection of minors," Wang said. "Teachers and parents cannot just leave minors on their own when allowing them to use the internet."

As minors spend more time online, concerns have been expressed about how to protect their online security.

Wang said China has very systematic laws and regulations on managing the internet, but what really matters is their implementation.

JILIN CITY EXPANDS LOCKDOWN AFTER NEW CASES

The Jilin city government announced on Wednesday it would expand its lockdown measures to cover the entire city−restricting movement, halting most transportation and suspending public events, in order to contain a fresh cluster of COVID-19 infections that climbed to 21 cases by Wednesday morning.

Researchers dispatched by the National Health Commission and regional authorities are racing to identify the source of the infections. Genome sequencing on the earliest 15 cases since May 7−when the first case was detected−is also underway to help unravel the chain of transmission, the local government said.

The city, in Jilin province, reported six new locally transmitted cases on Tuesday. It also added one asymptomatic infection and one suspected case on the same day.

Fourteen of the cumulative domestic confirmed cases were found in Shulan, a city under Jilin city's jurisdiction that is categorized as a high-risk area. The remaining seven cases were detected in Jilin city's Fengman district, now at the medium-risk level.

All infected patients are receiving treatment at hospitals and are in stable condition, officials said. A total of 367 people who had close contacts with the patients were tracked down and placed under medical observation by Tuesday.

Although most of Jilin's urban area have seen no new infections, Vice-mayor Gai Dongping said the government has decided to step up its quarantine measures across the city in alignment with epidemic control requirements imposed on high-risk areas.

"The current epidemic situation in Jilin is very grim and complicated, and there is a dire risk of the virus spreading farther. Thus, the most rigorous action must be taken to halt the virus 'spread," she said at a news conference.

At 6 am on Wednesday, the city stopped allowing passengers to leave by train. The ticket hall of the station stood empty Wednesday morning as police officers were seen guarding the gate in hazmat suits.

According to Gai, people who intend to leave the city must show results of nucleic acid tests taken within 48 hours of departure and attest to their health status.

Pharmacies and clinics have stopped selling fever medications, antiviral drugs and antibiotics, and all people with a fever are now sent to designated hospitals for diagnosis.

Since May 7, when the first new case was detected, 2,389 residents of Jilin have been given nucleic acid tests as part of an ongoing screening program. "Close contacts of confirmed cases as well as people who came into contact with close contacts will all be placed under centralized quarantine," Gai said.

Also, on Wednesday, Jilin's education authority said all grades, including high school seniors who planned to go back to school on campus this week, should resume online classes.

The National Health Commission has sent three groups to the city, one for each of the three areas−virus control work, epidemiological studies and medical treatment.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle