POSITIVE ENERGY URGED BETWEEN CHINA AND US

China on Thursday proposed a list of interactions with the United States on specifying cooperation, maintaining dialogue and properly handling differences as their relationship faces the most severe challenge since the establishment of diplomatic ties.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remark when addressing the China-US Think Tanks and Media Online Forum.

Wang suggested China and the US compile three lists that outline bilateral and global issues they could work on, detail issues on which they have disputes but expect can be resolved through dialogue, and identify the few tough issues that the two countries have little chance of agreeing on.

The two countries should properly manage tough disputes and minimize their damage to bilateral relations based on the spirit of seeking common ground while reserving differences, he said.

This is the second day in a row for senior Chinese diplomats to send positive messages on China-US ties, after Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said on Wednesday at a video dialogue that the trend toward China-US cooperation is unstoppable, urging the US to get its relationship with China back on track.

China-US relations have been deteriorating as the two countries have been at odds on issues such as dealing with the novel coronavirus, Washington's interference in issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan, and disputes in areas such as trade and technology.

Last month, China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Hawaii to discuss sensitive factors in bilateral ties.

China and the US should jointly explore ways for peaceful coexistence and release more "positive energy", Wang said at the forum.

Some people in the US with ideological biases are resorting to all possible means to portray China as an adversary and even an enemy, Wang said, adding that they relentlessly seek to frustrate and contain China's development, and impede interaction between China and the US.

He clarified that China never intends to challenge or replace the US, nor does it expect a full confrontation with the country.

While the US unscrupulously encircles and smears China around the world, and meddles in China's domestic affairs, it should not unrealistically demand that China show understanding and support for the US in bilateral and global affairs, he said.

Wang said he hopes the US will develop a more objective and coolheaded perception about China and formulate a more rational and pragmatic China policy.

"As long as the US is ready, we can restore and restart the dialogue mechanisms at all levels and in all areas," he said, adding that "only communication can dispel falsehoods, and only dialogue can prevent miscalculation".

MULTIPLE GOVT MEASURES BOOST FOREIGN TRADE FIRMS

The central government and local governments have launched a series of measures since the beginning of the year to assist small and medium-sized foreign trade companies, as the performance of certain SMEs was affected by raw material shortages and poor international logistics amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reported People's Daily.

For instance, the government accelerated the tax rebate process, and also increased the export tax rebate rate for 1,084 types of products to 13 percent and for another 380 types to 9 percent. The country has processed 632.4 billion yuan ($90.3 billion) of export tax rebates for enterprises through to May this year and shortened the processing time to eight working days.

China also reduced 20 percent of cargo port charges and port facility security charges from March 1 to June 30 and canceled the mandatory emergency response services and charges for non-tanker cargo ships, the report said.

These measures promoted recovery in China's goods export in April and May, as exports in April increased 8.2 percent to 1.41 trillion yuan, and in May grew 1.4 percent to 1.46 trillion yuan. The import and export of knowledge-intensive services increased by 8.7 percent in the first five months, accounting for 43.3 percent of the total import and export of services.

Due to the late resumption of work and insufficient capacity amid the pandemic, the Jiangxi Kama Business Bus Co Ltd once faced overdue delivery of 500 buses exported to the Middle Eastern market, according to Li Han, sales director of the company. Thanks to the quick issuance of temporary licenses for this batch of vehicles by the local traffic control department and the "one-to-one" online guidance for export tax refund filings by the local tax department, the company completed the order on time and received more than 17.71 million yuan in tax refunds.

To promote cross-border e-commerce transactions, the Ministry of Commerce increased test zones for cross-border e-commerce from 59 to 105 this year. Imports and exports through the cross-border e-commerce management platform of customs jumped 34.7 percent in the first quarter, while exports through market procurement soared 50.9 percent during the same period.

Trade volume of imports and exports through the cross-border e-commerce management platform of customs hit 71.7 billion yuan in the Jan-May period, up 20.9 percent on a yearly basis, the report said.

CHINESE EMBASSY ISSUES ALERT TO CITIZENS OVER PNEUMONIA OUTBREAK IN KAZAKHSTAN

Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan on Thursday issued an alert to its citizens in Kazakhstan over a pneumonia outbreak in the country.

Pneumonia in Kazakhstan has killed 1,772 people as of June this year, and for June alone, there're 628 deaths, which included those of Chinese nationals, said the embassy in a statement.

The fatality rate of this pneumonia was much higher than the COVID-19, the embassy added. The health ministry of Kazakhstan is now conducting research on this pneumonia and has not defined its nature.

Kazakhstan reported 1,962 new COVID-19 cases over the past day, setting a fresh record for new cases reported in a single day, according to state news agency Kazinform on Thursday.

As of Thursday, Kazakhstan has registered 53,021 confirmed cases and 264 deaths, with 34,931 recoveries, according to Kazinform.

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said that the situation with the coronavirus spread within the country is still serious, and it is still early to relax restrictions.

"We are, in fact, facing the second coronavirus wave coupled with a huge uptick in pneumonia cases," the president stated.

The Chinese embassy has called on Chinese citizens in the country to raise awareness and reduce outdoor activities.

STEPS PLANNED TO BACK FIRMS, EMPLOYMENT

China will take new steps to provide better services to market entities and further facilitate employment and business startups in an effort to improve the business environment and energize market players, the State Council's executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, decided on Wednesday.

The meeting sought to maintain stability in the six key areas−employment, financial operations, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and expectations−and to enhance protection in six other areas: jobs, basic living needs, business operations, food and energy security and stable industrial and supply chains.

It urged effective delivery of all relief policies on the fiscal, social security and financial fronts to support the more than 100 million market entities, and instituting reforms in building a world-class and market-oriented business environment governed by a sound legal framework, to further stimulate market vitality.

The Wednesday meeting adopted a guideline on further improving the business environment and providing better services to market players.

"The guideline is both reality-based and long-term-oriented. Its focus is providing better services for market players. Though no specific GDP growth target was set this year, related targets in other respects are specified, including adding 9 million urban jobs and sustaining the more than 100 million market entities, among others," Li said.

"If we can fully deliver the tax and fee cuts and fiscal funding support for this year, together with the interest concessions by financial institutions as appropriate by market principles, businesses can get through this trying time. These are also efforts for a sound business environment," he added.

Services for market entities will be improved. Full review of construction projects online will be expedited. In sectors with licensing requirements, a single operating permit will be explored that would be valid across regions and sufficient for getting business up and running in each sector. The average review period of trademark registration will be shortened to no more than four months.

Employment and business startups will be further facilitated. Platform companies will be guided toward lowering commissions, charges for barcode-scanning payment and other fees. Flexible employment will be promoted.

FLOODING DELAYS DATE WITH DESTINY FOR GAOKAO STUDENTS

When most candidates completed the national college entrance examination, or gaokao, on Wednesday, more than 2,000 others from Shexian county, Anhui province, were only halfway through their papers.

Heavy flooding triggered by torrential rainfall meant the exam, which has a significant bearing on students' futures, was seriously disrupted in the county.

On Thursday, the Shexian students completed their Chinese-language and mathematics papers, two days later than their counterparts nationwide.

The Ministry of Education said on Wednesday morning it had given approval for the county to hold the delayed exams the following day.

Backup exam papers, prepared every year to the same standard and with a similar degree of difficulty as the original ones, were taken by the Shexian students.

Since 1978, when the gaokao was reinstated, there has only been one similar incident.

In 2006, when severe flooding hit Jian'ou, a county-level city in Fujian province, local authorities were given approval to delay the two-day examination by six days. Originally scheduled for June 7 and June 8, the gaokao was taken on June 13 and June 14. More than 4,000 students were affected by the delay.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year, the ministry decided in March to delay the gaokao by one month.

ALIBABA HITS 5-YR GOAL OF $1T IN GROSS MERCHANDISE VOLUME

Chinese business giant Alibaba Group has completed its target set five years ago to achieve $1 trillion in gross merchandise volume this fiscal year, said Zhang Yong, the group's CEO, in a letter to shareholders on Friday.

The achieved volume is an important milestone to Alibaba, Zhang said, and it is setting a new target of servicing 1 billion Chinese customers to realize a 10 trillion yuan consumption scale on the group's platform within the next five years, and comprehensively move toward globalization.

By 2036, Alibaba wants to provide services to 2 billion global customers, create 100 million jobs, and help more than 10 million small and medium-sized enterprises to become profitable, Zhang said.

Alibaba will continue to insist on its strategies of "globalization, China domestic consumption, and big data powered by cloud computing", with globalization as the long-term battle, Chinese domestic consumption the cornerstone battle, and big data powered by cloud computing the battle for the future, according to Zhang.

Zhang reiterated the group's vision to be a good company for 102 years, and ultimate goal to create value for society, help find solutions for society's challenges, and convert Alibaba's resources into fuel for small and medium-sized businesses, which will in turn support the advancement of the whole society.

According to its latest financial report, the revenue of the group hit 509.71 billion yuan in the fiscal year of 2020, jumping 35 percent year-on-year, and profits reached 140.35 billion yuan, surging 75 percent over the same period last year.

PBOC AND DIDI TEAM UP TO TEST DIGITAL CURRENCY

China's central bank is reportedly partnering with several internet companies including Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing major, to test the use of its digital currency, as the nation pioneers the world in its efforts to experiment with virtual currency.

Didi said in a statement that it has inked a strategic partnership deal with the digital currency research institute of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, for research on the use of digital renminbi in the smart transportation sector.

The company said it was the first time that the PBOC's digital currency research institute had partnered with an internet company that has consumer-oriented application scenarios for digital currency. Didi, however, did not disclose any further details, while the PBOC's digital currency research institute made no comment on the matter.

Financial news media Caixin reported that on-demand food delivery and lifestyle services company Meituan-Dianping and livestreaming platform Bilibili have also been partnering with commercial banks for digital renminbi tests. Meituan-Dianping and Bilibili declined to comment.

Currently, most consumers use mobile payment methods such as Alipay and WeChat Pay to pay for internet companies' services. But analysts said the digital currency can offer a new option.

"Unlike Alipay and WeChat Pay that rely on the internet, the Chinese sovereign digital currency can be exchanged offline when two cellphones get close to each other," Mu Changchun, head of the PBOC digital currency research institute, said earlier.

Ma Xiaofeng, head of the blockchain research institute at Tongji University, said internet companies have a large number of users and their services are frequently used, providing the ideal test platform for digital currencies, which are chiefly designed to replace cash in circulation.

Didi said it currently provides ride-hailing, bike-sharing, car-rental and other services to about 550 million users. People familiar with the matter said Didi's finance unit is in charge of pushing forward the company's cooperation with the central bank.

The PBOC began studies on a digital currency in 2014. It started research and development on "digital currency and electronic payment," or DC/EP, at the end of 2017.

BRI NATIONS KEY DESTINATIONS FOR OVERSEAS INVESTMENT

Counties involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have become important destinations for Chinese companies' overseas investments, while building high-standard industrial parks will be important for promoting BRI development and international capacity cooperation, according to research by global professional service provider EY on Friday.

From January to May, China's nonfinancial overseas direct investment in BRI countries increased by 16 percent from a year earlier, which was 21.3 percentage points higher than the overall ODI growth, although the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major blow to the global economy, said the EY report.

It indicated the BRI is playing an increasingly important role in the internationalization of Chinese enterprises, said Jane Yang, government and public sector and infrastructure leader, EY Belt and Road Task Force.

"The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the gaps in infrastructure of health and telecommunication areas in these countries, which are expected to advance the development of the 'Health Silk Road' and 'Digital Silk Road' and inject new impetus into global economic recovery," said Yang.

The overseas industrial parks involved in the BRI have been developing rapidly since 2013. Most of the parks are jointly developed and promoted by governments and enterprises, which can provide enterprises with relatively advanced industrial infrastructure, preferential policies and optimized business environment, and better supporting services to reduce barriers for overseas investment, EY said.

Based on an analysis of 74 overseas industrial parks, the report found that these parks have spread across Asia, Europe and Africa, covering all six BRI economic corridors, and nearly 80 percent of the parks are in Asia, with Southeast Asia taking up the highest proportion.

From an industry perspective, the parks are dominated by traditional industries. Among all, the number of processing and manufacturing parks is the largest, accounting for more than 30 percent of the total. But the cross-border cooperation in technological parks and innovative research and development center parks are still at the early stage of development, it said.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. - Leo Tolstoy (in Anna Karenina)