XI CALLS FOR STRONG PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM

President Xi Jinping urged on Tuesday the building of a strong public health system and improving the nation's capacity for disease prevention and treatment to better protect the people's health.

The people's safety is the cornerstone of national security, and measures must be taken to prevent major risks in health areas, Xi said while presiding over a symposium attended by experts on fighting the novel coronavirus at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Seven experts in medicine, legislation and public administration, including renowned respiratory specialist and academician Zhong Nanshan, delivered speeches on such topics as improving the national disease prevention system, raising the capabilities of medical treatment and improving the legislative handling of public health. Xi talked with every expert and instructed related departments to resolve the problems they raised.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, expressed sincere gratitude on behalf of the CPC Central Committee to the experts for their great contributions in the fight against COVID-19.

In his speech, Xi said that in facing the novel coronavirus outbreak, the CPC Central Committee has made the people's lives and health its top priority and taken the strictest disease prevention measures.

China achieved great strategic outcomes in the fight against the disease, and the achievements demonstrated the outstanding advantages of the CPC's leadership and China's socialist system, he said.

Since the CPC's 18th National Congress in late 2012, the CPC has made steady efforts to develop the public health system and successfully prevented and dealt with outbreaks of many diseases, including H1N1 influenza and Ebola, Xi said.

Noting that the disease prevention and control system is of great significance for the protection of the people's health and the maintenance of social stability, Xi said that more reform measures must be taken to raise the efficiency of disease prevention.

He instructed national-level disease prevention and control institutions to enhance their capacity building and increase their technology and talent reserves.

Township hospitals and community medical agencies should intensify their responsibilities in disease prevention and consolidate the foundation of joint prevention in grassroots organizations, Xi said.

He said it's an urgent need to increase China's capability of disease monitoring and early warning amid the country's efforts to improve the public health system.

The country's surveillance system for pandemics and public health emergencies should be improved, the monitoring system for unknown diseases and abnormal health incidents should be improved and the accuracy of assessment should be raised, he said.

Xi instructed relevant departments to strengthen the building of laboratory test networks, raise the capacity of pandemic tests and increase the capability of workers at grassroots medical institutions.

In the fight against COVID-19, the government has mobilized the whole nation's medical resources and left no patients behind, he said, adding that from newborn babies to elderly people over 100 years of age are all taken good care of.

Xi stressed that carrying out an extensive health campaign is a successful practice for the CPC to deal with disease prevention work. Such a campaign promotes healthy and positive lifestyles.

The authorities should improve the people's living environment, advocate healthy lifestyles, educate the public about health and promote good eating habits, he said.

Xi said the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine is a prominent characteristic of COVID-19 treatment, and it is also an important practice for innovation in TCM.

He urged reforms to improve the approval system for TCM treatments, promote the development of TCM industries and increase the capabilities of TCM hospitals.

Xi also stressed the importance of improving the legislation of public health emergency laws, enhance scientific innovation and strengthen international cooperation on disease prevention and control.

LI WORKS TO PAVE PATH FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Premier Li Keqiang has called for heightened measures to reduce the financing costs of smaller businesses with steps to raise their lines of credit and allow them to use intellectual property rights as collateral to obtain loans.

Speaking during an inspection trip to Shandong province on Monday and Tuesday, Li urged financial institutions to allow startups to use intellectual property rights as collateral for loans and to consider

greenlighting lenders to take account of the quality of smaller companies' employees during the financing process.

Li visited Blue Intelligence Valley, a center for high-tech startups in Yantai, where he asked business executives about their operations and whether government relief policies have been fully implemented.

Li called upon banks to streamline the financing burdens of struggling businesses even at the cost of their own profits, saying that enabling businesses to ensure success for the future will also benefit the growth of banks.

In this year's Government Work Report, Li announced steps to extend policies allowing smaller businesses to postpone principal and interest payments on loans until the end of March next year and to increase inclusive finance lending from large commercial banks to small businesses by 40 percent.

Noting that the country will see a historic high number of new college graduates this year, Li expressed his hope that businesses will make more jobs available, especially to college graduates.

The premier visited an old residential community in Yantai's Zhifu district, where he heard reports on the renovation of aging communities.

Such renovation will not only improve living conditions, but also spur consumer spending on home remodeling and household appliances, he said.

He highlighted the need to encourage the participation of private capital to help speed up the pace of renovation.

Li asked owners of small shops and independent vendors about how their operations have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many said that their incomes have declined by about 30 to 40 percent.

Li assured the business owners that the government will give them more support, as independent vendor and small shop businesses are important sources of job creation.

Their business models are as much sources of vitality for the country as are high-end industries, and only by ensuring that the market, businesses and the self-employed survive and thrive can the country become more developed, he said.

US TO SUFFER MORE IF IT DECOUPLES WITH CHINA

The United States' stigmatization of and hostile actions toward China have, among other things, raised concerns that China might be isolated from the global supply chain and its economy decoupled from that of the US, especially in high-tech and trade.

After the US president threatened on May 14 to cut off all relations with Beijing "to save $500 billion", the US Department of Commerce on May 19 issued new rules to choke off Huawei's access to semiconductor chips, banning chipmakers, mostly in the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, from using US machines and software to manufacture semiconductors for Huawei. One day later, the White House issued a report, "US Strategic Approach to China", and the Senate adopted a bill, "U.S. Senate Foreign Company Accountability Act". On May 22, the US Commerce Department added another 33 Chinese companies and research institutions to its "Entity List".

In a report, "Breaking the China Supply Chain: How the 'Five Eyes Can Decouple from Strategic Dependency", Henry Jackson Society of the United Kingdom echoed the call of White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who had earlier proposed to "reshore"−that is, bring back−US businesses from China.

Yet the actual foreign investment in China is increasing. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has said foreign direct investment in April hit 70.36 billion yuan ($9.86 billion), up 11.8 percent year-on-year. This shows foreign investors are not leaving China. And a recent American Chamber of Commerce in China survey shows that more than 70 percent of its members have no plans to leave China and instead 40 percent plan to increase their investment.

The US high-tech ban on China targets 5G technology, cyber communications, semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence, in a bid to prevent China from challenging the US' dominant role in world trade. Such measures, though they will cause difficulties for Huawei and other Chinese companies in the short term, will result in just the opposite in the long run. Huawei has already made alternative arrangements, for example with its own Huawei Mobile Service, and China's investment of $1.4 trillion by 2025 to become self-sufficient in the high-tech sector could shift the global balance in high-tech.

As a matter of fact, the US ban will deal a fatal blow to its own high-tech industry, especially the semiconductor sector. The total world semiconductor chip market was worth $478.4 billion in 2018, with the Chinese market accounting for $158.4 billion, or 33.1 percent of the total, compared with US' $103 billion and Europe's $43 billion. The dependence of the top 10 US chipmakers on China varied from 23 percent for Intel, 52 percent for Broadcom, 63 percent for Qualcomm, to 80 percent for Skyworks Solutions. The loss of the Chinese market will threaten their survival.

SECURITY LEGISLATION NEEDED IN HONG KONG, LAM SAYS

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stressed on Tuesday that the central government will not sit by and watch the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region become a weak link in national security, in view of the blatant separatist trend of a year of often violent protests.

One day before she and high-level officials are to visit Beijing to offer views on the proposed national security legislation being drafted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Lam said on Tuesday that last year's social unrest brought the advocacy of "Hong Kong independence", intervention from foreign forces and subversive acts against the SAR government.

These acts, which endangered national security, cast the general public into a constant state of anxiety so that some people even argued Hong Kong stood under the rule of fear instead of the rule of law, she said.

It would be unreasonable for the central government, which has attached great importance to Hong Kong people's well-being, to sit by unconcerned, she said, adding that the city would become the weak link in national security, harming the interests not only of Hong Kong itself, but also the entire nation.

It is thus legitimate for the central authorities to legislate on national security for Hong Kong, Lam said, as such security is part of the country's sovereignty and the basis of governance, and considering the inadequacy of the SAR's laws in this area.

There is an imperative need for the legislation, she said, noting that Hong Kong is the only region in the nation without a national security law, and she couldn't envision one being locally legislated in the near future.

Lam criticized foreign sanctions leveled over the proposed national security law as tokens of a "double standard", as indicated by these countries' totally different handling of their own riots and the way they gloried in Hong Kong violence in the past year.

She added that these foreign governments will be hurting their own interests in Hong Kong.

Lam is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday with other officials, including Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu and Commissioner of Police Tang Ping-keung.

HAINAN BETS ON FTP TO SPUR CONSUMPTION

China's plan to transform Hainan into a free trade port is expected to spur local consumption and enhance competitiveness of duty-free products, while greatly stimulating tourism and aviation industry on the island, experts said on Tuesday.

The plan, which covers key measures regarding the implementation of the free trade policy system, includes exemptions of import duty, value-added tax and consumption tax on imported goods purchased by island residents. It also includes measures to increase the quota for offshore duty-free shopping to 100,000 yuan ($14,020) per person every year from 30,000 yuan and increase the number of categories of duty-free products.

Zhao Ping, director of the international trade research department at the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said earlier residents on the island were not eligible to purchase duty-free products without tickets to depart the island. The new plan will allow island residents to buy duty-free products.

Import duty and tax exemptions will significantly improve the competitiveness of duty-free products available in Hainan, said Zhao.

The higher quota for offshore duty-free shopping will cover more types of consumer products available on the island, attracting consumers from home and abroad and boosting local tourism, she said.

The plan also includes measures to boost tourism, including building a pilot zone for cruise tourism and a pilot zone for reform, development and innovation of the yacht industry.

"The new duty-free shopping policy will serve as a major driver to accelerate the transformation of

Hainan will also implement more opening-up policies for air transport. The central government will support Hainan in piloting the Seventh Freedom of the Air and build an international aviation hub.

The Seventh Freedom allows foreign carriers to operate flights between two countries without the need to touch down in the airline's home country. For instance, a Japanese airline will be able to operate flights from Hainan to Thailand.

An industry expert said after the lifting of controls, Hainan will enjoy the highest degree of opening-up in the domestic civil aviation industry.

By 2035, the government will encourage domestic and foreign carriers to increase their capacities and launch more flights that connect Hainan and other cities.

Haikou-based Hainan Airlines, China's fourth-largest carrier, said it will scout for business opportunities that arise from the higher degree of opening-up, and launch more international flights to major overseas destinations.

MISSION IN JULY TO PLACE ROVER ON MARS' SURFACE

China plans to launch a Long March 5 carrier rocket in July to send a spacecraft toward Mars that will land a rover on the red planet, according to the program's major contractor.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, a State-owned space conglomerate, said in a statement sent to China Daily on Tuesday that the Tianwen 1, or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, mission will fulfill three scientific objectives−orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, landing on the Martian surface and sending a rover to roam the landing site. It will conduct scientific investigations on Martian soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water.

If Tianwen 1 succeeds, the mission will become the world's first Mars expedition accomplishing all three goals with one probe, the company said.

Tianwen is a long poem by famous ancient poet Qu Yuan of the Kingdom of Chu during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the Chu Ci anthology, also known as Songs of Chu.

In the mission's first step, a Long March 5, the nation's biggest and most powerful rocket, will blast off at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province to transport the robotic probe to the Earth-Mars transfer trajectory before the spacecraft begins its self-propelled flight toward Mars' gravity field.

The farthest distance between the Earth and Mars is about 400 million kilometers while the nearest is 55 million km, depending on their position in orbit. A probe will travel about seven months before reaching Mars' atmosphere.

The space contractor said the probe consists of three parts−an orbiter, lander and rover−and they will separate in Mars' orbit. The orbiter will remain in orbit and the lander-rover combination will make an autonomous descent and landing.

The rover, set to be the world's seventh of its kind and the first from Asia, has six wheels and four solar panels and will carry six scientific instruments. It will weigh over 200 kilograms and work about three months on the planet, according to Sun Zezhou, the probe's chief designer at the China Academy of Space Technology.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, enemy to none. - Benjamin Franklin