XI STRESSES BUILDING DOMESTIC AUTOMOBILE BRANDS, IMPROVING COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE EFFICACY

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday stressed the importance of mastering key and core technologies and building strong domestic automobile brands.

Xi was visiting the R&D headquarters of automaker FAW Group in Changchun city during his inspection tour in northeast China's Jilin province.

He learned about the automaker's technological research and development as well as the latest models of its auto brand Hongqi, which means "Red Flag."

Xi said he was impressed by FAW's achievements in terms of technological innovation and indigenous brand development.

The global automobile manufacturing industry is marked by fierce competition and growing trend of informatization and going smart, posing both challenges and opportunities to Chinese automakers, he noted.

"We must ensure key and core technologies are in our own hands, and aspire to build strong domestic automobile brands," Xi said.

CHINA TO CLOSE US CONSULATE GENERAL IN CHENGDU

The Chinese Foreign Ministry informed the United States Embassy in Beijing on Friday that China has decided to withdraw its permission for the establishment and operation of the US consulate general in Chengdu, according to a statement released on the ministry's website.

The Chinese side has also made specific requirements on the ceasing of all operations and events by the consulate general, it said.

The measure is a legitimate and necessary response to Washington's previous unwarranted move of abruptly asking China to close its consulate general in Houston, added the statement.

China's move conforms with the international law and basic norms governing the international relations, and customary diplomatic practices, it said.

The current situation faced by China-US relations is not what China desires to see and the responsibility rests entirely with the US side, it said.

The Chinese side, once again, urges the US side to immediately retract its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bilateral ties to return to normalcy, the statement said.

'GOLDEN ERA' FALLS PREY TO NEW COLD WAR

Five years ago, Britain's then chancellor George Osborne spoke of his ambitions to usher in a gilded period of China-United Kingdom relations while aboard a bullet train in Chengdu, Sichuan, where he was courting Chinese investment in planned high-speed rail lines.

Weeks later, the UK's then prime minister David Cameron and President Xi Jinping toasted the "Golden Era" over pints at a country pub in Buckinghamshire.

Fast forward to today, and it is fair to say that the glister of the Golden Era is clouded by issues over Hong Kong and Huawei that have put the two nations at loggerheads amid the UK's tilt away from China in favor of closer connections with the US.

This week, on a visit to London, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised the UK for its decision to ban Huawei from building 5G infrastructure, a measure the US has lobbied for aggressively.

Pompeo had earlier given European leaders the ominous ultimatum to choose "Washington or Beijing", leaving little room for neutrality in what some commentators are labeling as a new Cold War.

Martin Jacques, former senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University, said the UK has "given way to US pressure".

"I am not optimistic about the future of UK-China relations," Jacques told China Daily."The situation has regressed a long way since the optimism engendered in the UK-China relationship by the Cameron-Osborne government."

Christopher Bovis, a professor of international business law at Hull University, said Britain should proceed with "extreme caution" in order to avoid damaging the UK-China trade environment for "years to come".

"The UK is trying to align its trade policy with the US post Brexit," Bovis told China Daily. "Such an attempt reflects adversely on Sino-UK relations and poses a threat to Chinese investment policy in the UK."

The UK has further soured relations with China by suspending an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, in response to China's passing of the National Security Law for the special administrative region.

Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming said the UK should not interfere in China's internal affairs, and "must bear all consequences for damaging bilateral relations".

GLOBAL COMPANIES STEP UP INVESTMENT IN CHINA

Foreign businesses are stepping up their investment and forming more local partnerships to reinforce their strong commitment to China and cash in on the country's vast market potential and dynamic growth momentum, experts said.

Dassault Systemes, a French industrial software company that creates 3D models for multiple industries, said it has been strengthening its "In China, for China, with China" strategy since the COVID-19 epidemic, especially as the Chinese economy has shown strong resilience.

The company, which relocated its Asia-Pacific headquarters to Shanghai, is looking to triple the number of employees in China to around 2,000 over the next five to 10 years, according to Sylvain Laurent, executive vice-president of Dassault.

"We are now definitely in an acceleration phase, as the demand from customers across China is huge,"Laurent said. He noted that the dynamism from local partners such as the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China and Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard is fueling their capacity and pace for growth.

"Shanghai has recognized the value of Dassault and the role of technology as a key enabler for growth. They also recognize our capacity and our (role as) a catalyst to attract new companies for the future," he said.

The Rockefeller Art Foundation of the United States announced recently that it would set up its China headquarters in Shanghai, just a year after the organization's debut in the country. A grand investment of $2 billion over the next four to five years is also in the pipeline. The investment amount does not include the industry-related investments upon project completion, said Hui Xin, China CEO of The Rockefeller Art Foundation.

"The pandemic or the current turbulence in Sino-US ties has not shaken our resolve to (invest here)," said Hui. "We are still firmly committed to having our roots in China and serving Shanghai. As China's economic development reaches a certain stage, people will naturally seek high-quality art and cultural works, and that's where we perceive our opportunities are," he said, adding that foreign businesses also need talent from China for promoting a "benign mutual cycle" for information flows.

Appen, an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Sydney, Australia, is doubling down on its $200 million investment in Shanghai largely on the growing prospects of AI development in the country, according to senior vice-president and China general manager Tian Xiaopeng.

"The best things about investing in Shanghai are that we are able to collect, train and speed up training of the data to ensure the accuracy, reliability and safety of data and better adoption of AI in China," said Tian.

MAJOR INTL SPORTING EVENTS CANCELED IN CHINA

Rolex Shanghai Masters and WTA Finals in Shenzhen together with all the 11 ATP and WTA's events scheduled in China this year have been canceled over the coronavirus, according to announcements respectively issued by the ATP and WTA on Friday, the sport's two governing bodies.

The ATP have cancelled the Shanghai Masters, the China Open in Beijing, the Chengdu Open and Zhuhai Championships.

The WTA said that all seven tournaments that were scheduled in China on the WTA's 2020 provisional calendar will not be held.

Along with the Shanghai Rolex Masters, several other major international sports events in Shanghai will also not be held this year, the events' co-organizer Shanghai Juss Sports Development (Group) Co Ltd announced after joint research and discussion with related parties.

The events include Shanghai Longines Global Champions Tour, World Snooker Shanghai Masters, Shanghai Diamond League.

The Chinese sports authority released its "plan of resuming sports events based on science and order" on July 9, announcing that China will not hold any international sporting events in 2020 apart from trial events for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics considering the COVID-19 epidemic is still serious worldwide.

REFORMS TO FUEL SPEEDY GROWTH OF STATE FIRMS

China will push for "targeted integration" in the areas of grain storage, edible oil processing and maritime engineering within its centrally administered State-owned enterprises in the second half to improve their efficiency and the nation's grain security, according to the country's top State assets regulator.

One of the government's key tasks in the second half is to guide and facilitate central SOEs' steady business growth, take actions to improve product and service quality as well as develop more growth points in the domestic market, said Peng Huagang, secretary-general of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

The official said SASAC will optimize central SOEs' resources to develop both global and domestic markets, ensure the supply of basic goods and commodities, maintain the safety of industry and supply chains and strive to achieve quality and efficient economic growth in the second half.

SASAC will also adequately increase its encouragement and support for the stable growth of central enterprises, innovation activities and major projects in terms of performance appraisal and salary distribution, he added.

Local governments have already announced their plans to reorganize and introduce mixed-ownership reform into their SOEs to better optimize the structure of State assets and maximize social capital to diversify their marketing and financing channels.

In addition to announcing earlier this month the reorganization plans of mining enterprises Shandong Energy Group Co Ltd and Yankuang Group Co Ltd, the Shandong provincial government also unveiled last week restructuring plans for Shandong Hi-speed Group Co Ltd and Qilu Transportation Development Group Co Ltd, two locally-administered SOEs specialized in investment, construction, operation and management of transportation infrastructure.

The Heilongjiang provincial government will conduct mixed-ownership reform in 170 projects, especially in vital sectors and key enterprises in its SOE system over the next three years, it said in a recently released SOE reform plan.

Dong Yu, deputy dean of the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said SOEs must have a value proposition for the local economy and must communicate it clearly to local business communities.

With the new round of reform, they cannot be seen as an extension of the government exploiting local resources for the benefit of the national economy. This misperception will be confronted and addressed proactively during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), Dong said.

The SOEs having a strong need to enter overseas markets due to new trade initiatives and strong domestic competition from private sector, and those whose sales are being reshaped by digital technology should step up their efforts in market-oriented reforms, said Jiang Yu, assistant researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORT SECTOR SEES SOLID INCREASE

China's transport industry saw steady recovery as investment in its infrastructure rose 6 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year to top 1.45 trillion yuan ($207 billion), according to the Ministry of Transport.

The country's investment in the construction of roads and waterways rose 7.8 percent to 1.08 trillion yuan during the January-June period, accounting for over 60 percent of the annual target set for this year, ministry spokesman Sun Wenjian told a news conference on Thursday.

Investment in railway infrastructure hit 325 billion yuan over the past six months, while civil aviation infrastructure reached 40.1 billion yuan, representing more than 40 percent of their annual targets, he added.

By Thursday, construction had resumed on all of the 625 key transport projects, and 430 new road and waterway projects had been launched to cushion the economic blow of the coronavirus, he said.

Sun noted that the country will continue to expand investment in the transport sector and promote the construction of major transport projects including the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and Beijing-Xiong'an expressway.

The ministry also encourages the private sector to fund transport infrastructure, and barriers to market access should be leveled to maintain a fair competitive order, he added.

With the resumption of economic activities and social life, passenger trip volume, though still at a low level compared to the same period last year, has seen an upturn after the epidemic-induced setback, he said.

In the first half of the year, 16.9 billion passenger trips were made via public transportation in the country's 36 major cities, a year-on-year decline of over 48 percent.

But the figure in June reclaimed about 69 percent of last year's volume and was over 37 percent higher than the end of the first quarter.

The country witnessed similar decreases in intercity passenger trips during the period, which slumped 54.8 percent to 3.96 billion, he said.

'PEARL' LAKE SHINING AGAIN AFTER PROTECTION PROJECTS

In the heart of Weining Yi, Hui and Miao autonomous county in Guizhou province lies Caohai, the largest natural freshwater lake in Guizhou province.

At an elevation of more than 2 kilometers, the 25-square-kilometer lake has been dubbed "a pearl in the plateau".

The "pearl", home to more than 200 kinds of birds, including the endangered black-necked crane, hasn't always shone. It once shrank to only 5 sq km due to reclamation. After gaining its current size, it was threatened by unrestrained tourism and untreated domestic sewage.

Things have improved since 2015, when the county started a campaign to repair Caohai's environment.

According to local officials, the county has paid local farmers for 4,000 hectares of water, wetland and farmland to carry out protection projects, including wetland restoration and building foraging habitats for birds.

Further, the county banned tourism at the lake in 2019.

Xia Chaowen, an official of the management committee of the Caohai national nature reserve which covers 120 sq km, said visitors used to take the farmers' boats to tour the lake, resulting in litter, alarmed birds and damaged aquatics. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides used by the farmers posed another hazard to the water, Xia said.

The county has also moved more than 2,300 households from the lakeside.

Located next to the county's traditional communities, Caohai can be easily affected by human activities. Before the overhaul campaign started in 2015, residents living around the lake used to discharge sewage directly into the water.

As a result, the county built a sewage treatment plant on the upper stream of Caohai, processing 8,000 metric tons of sewage every day on average, as well as 19 smaller ones around the lake.

During an interview in June, Hong Huining, deputy head of the major treatment plant, showed the media how sewage is treated in her factory.

The wastewater becomes clear and odorless after a number of steps to remove impurities. In the end, the water runs through an artificial wetland filled with different plants used to further absorb harmful substances before being discharged into Caohai.

Positive results have surfaced after five years of restoration efforts.

Li Zhenji, an official of the environmental monitoring department under the Caohai reserve management committee, said 246 kinds of birds were recorded in the region this year, 18 more than in 2010.

The overhaul campaign has improved biological diversity in Caohai, leading to a more stable and stronger biological system, according to Li.

Plants such as water fern, which used to "grow wildly" over Caohai due to deteriorated water quality and disrupted growth of aquatic life, can hardly be seen in the lake now, while some other plants rarely seen in the past have become more common in recent years, according to Li.

Located next to Yunnan province and near Sichuan province, Caohai is part of the Yangtze River system. It is located at the upstream of the Hengjiang River, which is a branch of the Jinsha River.

As a result, protecting Caohai is not only important for Guizhou, but also for the environments of neighboring Yunnan and Sichuan, according to Li.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's. - Jean Paul Richter