XI: STEP UP BATTLE AGAINST ILLEGAL DRUGS

President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to continue the tough fight against drugs and make new progress in drug control.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that drug problems at home and abroad, as well as related crimes, both online and offline, pose serious threats to people's lives and health and to social stability, therefore, unremitting, decisive and thorough anti-drug efforts should be continued.

Noting the nation's tough stance against drugs, he ordered Party committees and governments at all levels to adhere to the concept of people-centered development, improve the governance system on drug control and deepen international anti-drug cooperation to make greater contributions to maintaining social harmony and stability and protecting the people and their livelihoods.

Xi gave the instructions to a conference held on Tuesday to commend organizations and individuals engaged in the nation's anti-drug work.

The conference, which was held in Beijing via video and teleconference, recognized the prominent contributions of 100 organizations and 100 individuals to drug control in China since 2015. It was held ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls annually on June 26.

According to the office of the National Narcotics Control Commission, the number of newly discovered drug users in China in 2019 dropped by 11.9 percent year-on-year, marking a downward trend for the fifth consecutive year. The country has made significant achievements in drug control, with drug-related criminal activities effectively curbed in recent years.

In 2019, the number of new drug users under the age of 35 dropped by 64 percent from 2015, the office said.

In the past five years, China has uncovered 638,000 drug-related crimes, busted 32,000 organizations that produced and trafficked in drugs, arrested 780,000 suspects and seized over 400 tons of various drugs, it said.

The committee carried out special campaigns at border areas to control drug trafficking. Anti-drug authorities from 14 provinces jointly carried out a special campaign in which 13.5 tons of drugs and 3,221 tons of materials for manufacturing drugs were seized, it said.

The committee has also intensified its crackdown on the online drug trade. The authorities have uncovered a total of 29,000 online drug-related cases, arrested over 39,000 suspects, seized 12 tons of drugs and shut down 960 drug-related websites.

China has actively improved the mechanism of international cooperation in drug control, expanding areas and channels of cooperation. The country has carried out pragmatic bilateral cooperation in anti-drug work with key countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

A series of international anti-narcotic cooperation measures have been introduced with neighboring countries, including poppy replacement programs in Myanmar and Laos.

CHINA, INDIA AGREE TO EASE BORDER TENSION

China and India have agreed to take measures to ease tensions along the border area at commander-level talks between the militaries of the two sides, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The commanders reached the agreement on Monday in their first meeting since a clash between Chinese and Indian troops at the border area in the Galwan Valley on June 15. This is also the second commander-level dialogue between the two nations since they have been locked in border tension since May. The first dialogue was held on June 6.

Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily news briefing that the two sides "had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on the prominent issues" on border control and agreed to take necessary measures to cool down the situation.

Both countries also agreed to maintain dialogue and work together to promote peace and tranquillity in the border area, he said.

The meeting has shown that China and India hope to manage their differences and de-escalate tension through negotiation, he added.

Zhao denied speculation in media reports that said at least 40 Chinese troops had died in the June 15 clash, saying "it is false information".

In another development on Tuesday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on China, Russia and India to correctly face and properly handle the sensitive factors in bilateral relations and maintain the overall situation of their ties.

He made the remark in a videoconference of foreign ministers from the three countries.

China also supports Russia's hosting of a trilateral defense ministers' meeting to improve security cooperation among the three nations, Wang said.

"New Delhi and Beijing have shown commitment to a peaceful resolution. They started meetings at the level of defense officers and foreign ministers and neither has made any statement to indicate either will pursue nondiplomatic solutions," Asian News International quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

UAE TO HOST PHASE 3 TRIALS FOR CHINESE VACCINE

The world's first inactivated vaccine developed by a Chinese company to fight the novel coronavirus will carry out its phase-3 clinical trial in the United Arab Emirates.

China National Biotech Group Co Ltd, Sinopharm's vaccine and bioscience unit, held a video conference connecting Beijing, Wuhan and Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for the launch of the trial.

The UAE health ministry granted the approval document for the clinical trial during the video conference.

Since China has few confirmed COVID-19 cases, it could not meet the conditions for the phase-3 trial of the vaccine's safety and efficacy on a large scale, therefore CNBG sought overseas cooperation.

On June 16, CNBG announced the phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials of its inactivated vaccine had demonstrated good performance in safety and effectiveness on vaccinated volunteers. No subjects showed serious adverse reactions, the company said.

The company said a total of 1,120 volunteers were vaccinated during the phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials, all of whom produced high-tier antibodies. In the 18-to-59-year-old age group, those who got two doses of vaccine based on the 0-and-28-day procedure demonstrated 100 percent antibody positive conversion rate, while those who got two doses based on the 0-and-14-day and 0-and-21-day procedures showed 97.6 percent antibody positive conversion rates.

BEIJING TO CELEBRATE DRAGON BOAT ONLINE

All events to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in the coming days in Beijing will be held online to control and prevent the spread of local COVID-19 cases, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Wang Jiequn, an official with Beijing's publicity department, said at a news conference on Tuesday that 32 websites are participating in the "cloud festival" activities this year with a theme of "health".

The three-day holiday for the festival will start on Thursday.

Faced with the epidemic, Xu Hejian, spokesman for the municipal government, said Beijing will continue strict management of travel and suggested that people not leave the city if it's not necessary. Those who need to go out of the city should have had negative tests for nucleic acids.

Beijing reported 13 new local COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 249 since the first new local case was reported on June 11.

Among Monday's new cases, the youngest is 8 years old while the oldest is 57, according to Zeng Xiaopeng, director of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

All the cases are related to the Xinfadi wholesale market in southern Beijing's Fengtai district.

Another three cases from the soft-drink and snack-food giant PepsiCo Inc's food factory in Beijing were reported after eight employees of the company were confirmed as cases on Sunday.

Now with 11 cases, the company has suspended production and operation of the factory.

Another case reported on Monday is a deliveryman who works for the online catering platform Eleme. The 47-year-old delivered food for Eleme from June 1 to 17 with an average daily delivery of 50 orders from 7 am to 9 pm.

He was taken to a hospital on Sunday and was confirmed to have COVID-19.

A statement by Eleme on Tuesday said the company has suspended the work of those who had close contact with the man and sent them to designated quarantine sites.

It has also submitted data of the man's whereabouts over the past 20 days to local health authorities, the company said.

Beijing reported nine cases on Sunday, which was seen as a sign that the city's strict measures had contained the virus.

Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted by China Central Television on Monday saying that it is close to the end of cases in Xinfadi based on the existing information.

"The epidemic is controllable since it was discovered in an early stage and controlled with strict, multiple measures," he said.

TELECOM OPERATORS LOWER 5G PACKAGE THRESHOLD

Three major operators have lowered the threshold for 5G packages, making the cheapest 5G package only 69 yuan ($ 9.76), Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

China Mobile provides customers the largest discount at 31 percent, and the discounts provided by China Telecom and China Unicom are 30 and 20 percent, respectively.

The original price of China Mobile's personal 5G premium package is 128 yuan per month, and the discounted price will be 88 yuan per month with the condition users sign a 12-month contract.

The discounted price of China Unicom's 5G Refreshing Ice Cream package is 90 yuan per month with a prepaid fee and a 12-month contract.

The contract period of China Unicom is the longest at 24 months, and the discounted price is 103 yuan per month for the 5G premium package.

During the contract period, users of all three operators can only change to more expensive packages, and any termination of the contract shall be subject to liquidation damages.

Operators' price cuts on 5G packages are not aimed at "destroying competitors", but trying to attract 5G users and improve 5G network utilization, analyst Fu Liang said.

It is now the right time for operators to lower 5G package thresholds and attract more users to upgrade from 4G to 5G, as the price of 5G handsets is moving below 1,500 yuan and 5G network coverage continues to expand, Fu said.

As more and more people choose to use 5G packages, the Chinese market may witness the first wave of 5G consumption, which will stimulate more developers to launch 5G applications and speed up maturity of 5G industrial chain, said Wu Chunyong, founder of DWRH.net.

NPC STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN'S VIEW ON NATIONAL SECURITY LAW FOR HK

China's top legislature reviewed a draft law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

The draft law was submitted for deliberation at the 19th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress from June 18-20.

Establishing and improving at the national level the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security is a major measure to uphold and improve the system of "one country, two systems," said Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, at the closing meeting of the session on June 20.

WORLD INTELLIGENCE CONGRESS KICKS OFF IN TIANJIN

The fourth World Intelligence Congress kicked off in Tianjin on June 23, with focus on cloud computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence and the new growth points of the technology industry, offering updated application scenarios and solutions to China's economic development during the epidemic prevention and control period.

This year, new infrastructure has been playing a more and more significant role in China's digital economy. How to make full use of the new infrastructure construction, and how to inject new vitality to the digital transformation of various sectors, have turned out to be the hot issues of common concern in the meeting.

COURTS URGED TO FOCUS MORE ON DRUG FIGHT

China's top court demanded on Tuesday that courts nationwide pay more attention to drug cases in which defendants are accused of using new materials to make drugs, even though the country has seen a sharp decline of such cases.

Chinese courts concluded a record 139,000 first-trial criminal cases related to drugs in 2015, but the number has been dropping since 2016 amid joint crackdowns on drug crimes, according to Li Shaoping, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court.

Li said the figure decreased to 86,000 first-trial cases last year.

As he hailed the achievements in combating drug-related offenses, he also expressed concerns about some new problems, saying the fight against drugs "is still grim" and calling for judges to "keep harsher penalties for the crimes".

For example, cases in which defendants produced drugs with new materials have been increasing, he said, adding that some chemicals or medicines used for production, including ephedrine and hydroxylamine, have also been found to be abused, he said.

"Such drugmaking cases in the past were more often seen in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, but now they have started extending across the country," he added.

Drug smuggling in coastal and border areas, such as Guangdong and Yunnan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, remains high, while crimes related to psychoactive drug substances are also increasing, according to Li.

Furthermore, more drug-related crimes have been committed through the internet.

"Defendants have frequently used instant messaging tools, including WeChat and QQ, and online forums to exchange purchase information," he said.

As for those who have produced, smuggled, sold, bought or transported large quantities of drugs, as well as those who have committed violent crimes after taking drugs, "Chinese courts have always harshly punished them without hesitation," he noted.

For instance, Zhang Wei, a drug user from Xinshao county, Hunan province, was executed on June 17 after his death penalty sentence for intentional homicide was approved by the top court. He was given capital punishment because under the influence of drugs he killed a 7-year-old boy on Dec 21, 2016 and then threw the body in a field.

From 2015 to 2019, the annual felony rate of drug-related crimes was about 22.4 percent, much higher than the rate of defendants who committed other felonies, Li said. Under Chinese Criminal Law, the minimum punishment for felony convictions is five years.

CHALCO TO SOURCE BAUXITE FROM AFRICA

Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd (Chalco), a centrally administered State-owned enterprise, is set to send its first shipment from a bauxite mine in Boffa, Guinea soon, the company told China Daily in a written statement.

A large ocean-going ship laden with high quality bauxite from Boffa in Guinea, Chalco's first large-scale overseas aluminum project, is about to arrive at the Fangchenggang port in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the company said.

The project, a major cooperation project between China and Guinea that started construction in 2018, will be completed two months ahead of schedule. It will not only bring mutual benefits and win-win results for both sides but also become an important source of overseas bauxite resources for Chalco.

Bauxite is a rock which can be refined and is the main source in the world for aluminum.

Chalco is a leading company in China's nonferrous metals industry. It is engaged in the whole value chain by exploring and mining bauxite and coal. The company is active in the production, sales, research and development of alumina, primary aluminum and aluminum alloy products.

It is also involved in international trade, logistics, and power generation from both fossil fuels and new energy products.

Industry analysts believe the Boffa project plays a significant role in ensuring the company's sourcing of raw materials.

"China's mining companies have been going overseas to secure a stable supply of raw materials. Chalco, the largest State-owned aluminum producer, has entered into an agreement to develop the Boffa bauxite in Guinea, in order to increase its self-sufficiency in bauxite to 75 percent by the end of 2021," said Zhu Yi, a senior analyst for metals and mining at Bloomberg.

Zhu believes the full production ramp-up of the Boffa mine could lift Chalco's bauxite output by 80 percent by the end of 2021. The mine has an expected life span of 60 years with full-capacity annual production forecast at 12 million metric tons.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. - T.S. Eliot