XI STRESSES NATION'S COMPETITIVENESS

President Xi Jinping has highlighted the need to make the economy more competitive, innovative and able to resist risks as part of efforts to further bolster the real economy, especially the manufacturing sector, and improve the level of entire industrial chains.

Xi also urged steps to follow a new development philosophy and fully carry out the strategy to revitalize the country's northeastern area in a meeting with officials of Jilin province on Friday, wrapping up his three-day inspection tour of the province.

In promoting high-quality development of the economy, it is important to further reforms in the quality, efficiency and impetus of economic growth, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Xi urged stronger measures to develop new types of infrastructure and quicker steps to establish integrated innovation platforms between enterprises, universities and research institutions.

The government must quicken its steps to transform its functions and foster a business environment that is in line with market principles, the rule of law and international standards, he said.

Xi highlighted the need to follow a new path of development that enables higher quality, improved efficiency and a structure that fully unleashes the strength of the province so as to enable the across-the-board revitalization revitalization of Jilin for the new era.

The country must devise sound plans for development for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), and it is important to conduct in-depth research, analysis and make scientific decisions to ensure healthy economic and social development, he added.

Xi visited Siping on Wednesday before traveling to Changchun, the provincial capital, on Thursday, where he visited a neighborhood, the exhibition hall for the urban planning of Changchun New Area and China FAW Group Co, the birthplace of China's automotive industry.

In developing high-tech parks, it is important to focus on the country's strategic demand, pursue high standards in planning and construction, give priority to the planning and development of infrastructure and open up industry and supply chains, he said.

Xi spoke with newly recruited college graduates at FAW and inquired about the employment of college graduates this year.

He called for authorities at various levels to give high priority to helping college grads find jobs, adding that the graduates should transform their concepts on job selection.

Xi stressed the need to reinforce independent research and development of core technologies and key parts in promoting the high-quality development of China's auto industry and to enable independence and self-improvement of technologies while making domestic brands bigger and stronger.

With competition still fierce in the global manufacturing sector, it is important to seize opportunities and vigorously develop strategic, emerging sectors to catch up with global leaders, he said.

During the Friday meeting with provincial officials, Xi emphasized that the deepening of reform in State-owned enterprises must be moved forward, while more work must be done to support the growth of private businesses and stimulate the vitality of various market players.

The province must play an active role in the Belt and Road Initiative and develop itself into a window for China to open up to the country's northern neighbors as well as a hub for cooperation in northeastern Asia, he said.

US GIVEN RESPONSE, MUST SHUT CHENGDU CONSULATE

China informed the United States on Friday to close its consulate general in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, a move that officials in Beijing said they took in response to the US administration's decision to abruptly order the shutdown of China's consulate in Houston, Texas.

The diplomatic move represents a further deterioration in China-US relations as experts warned that Washington is clinging to a Cold War mentality as it attempts to contain China in an all-around way.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that the measure taken by China is a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act of the United States. "It conforms with international law, the basic norms of international relations and customary diplomatic practices," the statement said.

"The current situation in China-US relations is not what China desires to see, and the US is responsible for all this. We once again urge the US to immediately reverse its wrong decision and create necessary conditions for bringing the bilateral relationship back on track," the statement added.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas via video link on Friday, said the current difficulties in China-US relations have been created by the US in an attempt to thoroughly disrupt China's development process.

China still hopes to maintain a relationship with the US, in which there is no conflict, no confrontation and both sides respect each other for win-win cooperation, Wang said. In the meantime, China will firmly uphold its national sovereignty and dignity and resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights to development as well as the basic norms of international relations.

On Tuesday, the US administration demanded China close its consulate general in Houston within 72 hours. The Foreign Ministry described the act as "a unilateral provocation" launched by the US toward China.

Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news conference that some staff members of the US Consulate General in Chengdu have done some things not in conformity with their official identity.

They have interfered with China's domestic affairs and undermined the country's security interests, Wang said, adding that China has demanded the agency cease operations and all activities with specifics that are reciprocal to US measures toward the Chinese Consulate General in Houston.

China's move sends a clear message to the US that it has no intention of hampering its relations with the US, but it will firmly take countermeasures against US provocations, said Shen Yi, a researcher of international politics at Fudan University, in an interview with Global Times.

Wang Wenbin urged the US administration to abandon a Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices, stop negative remarks, words and deeds, and create conditions for bilateral relations to return to the right track.

SMALL TO MEDIUM-SIZED FIRMS WILL GET MORE SUPPORT

China adopted a new package of supportive policies to facilitate development of small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on leveraging monetary tools and encouraging qualified firms to go public, according to a document jointly issued by a group of central ministries and departments on Friday.

Key measures include guiding commercial banks to further increase credit for smaller businesses. The central bank can use re-lending and rediscount facilities to inject liquidity. It also can release more funds through adjusting the amount of cash financial institutions must reserve, or the reserve requirement ratio, said a document released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The market-oriented benchmark lending rate, the loan prime rate, should decide the real price of loans for small and micro firms, meaning interest rates will be diversified depending on the risk premium, said analysts, who expect policymakers to provide specific support for smaller businesses to stabilize employment.

Signs indicate that the central bank is withdrawing the special monetary stimulus that has been used to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic. Production has rebounded and fixed-asset investment has edged up since the second quarter. But SMEs, the segment that provides most jobs in China, remain a weak spot in the economic recovery, economists said.

The pandemic will drive the global economy into a deep recession this year, which will also add uncertainties for recovery in 2021. The long-lasting pandemic will spark some social issues, such as unemployment and inequality of development, which can also affect China's economy, Liu Yuanchun, vice-president of Renmin University of China, said at a seminar.

Instead of setting a short-term annual growth target, the government may need to consider a medium-term goal and choose the right policy tools. Both fiscal and monetary policies should leave enough buffers for the next two years, said Liu.

Zhu Min, head of Tsinghua University's National Institute of Financial Research, said the post-pandemic recovery, especially in financial markets, will depend on the central bank's determination to use monetary policy tools and the policy space it has. It also hinges on efforts to solve the problem of lack of coordination between fiscal and monetary issues to better serve the real economy, he said.

Supporting SMEs, especially through financial relief measures, is a crucial decision to reduce vulnerability and ensure a steady economic recovery in the coming months, economists said.

POLICE EYE HUSBAND AS SUSPECT IN WIFE'S DEATH

Local police announced late Thursday that they had detained a 55-year-old Hangzhou man surnamed Xu, who is suspected of killing his wife who has been missing for almost 20 days.

His wife, a 53-year-old surnamed Lai, was reported missing on July 6 and was believed to have been killed by Xu, the Hangzhou police said in a notice. She works as a cleaner at a local accounting firm.

Lai's mysterious and bizarre disappearance has gone viral on the internet for about a week, as all surveillance cameras around her residence provided no clues of her whereabouts, causing heated debate on the web, with netizens discussing the details of the case, pondering what might have happened to Lai.

Xu, an army veteran, made a report to the police 36 hours after he "found his wife missing", and has manifested "an extremely sober and calm" attitude in TV interviews afterward.

On Friday, several relatives of Lai, choked with tears, were found around the septic tank of her residential community, where articles involved with the case were reportedly found by the local police.

The police had previously launched a thorough inspection of the community's sewage and piping system, underground parking lots and balconies, and interviewed the neighbors as well.

The Hangzhou police said they are still working on the case and will inform the public about the details "in the near term".

'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.

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.

RURAL EDUCATION ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED

In a lukewarm breeze on May 19, 1990, hundreds of farmers in Anhui province paused from their work during the busy springtime planting season.

In groups of two or three, they headed to a dilapidated ancestral temple in Nanxi township, Jinzhai county.

For decades, the ancient wooden structure had sheltered one of a number of teaching sites hidden deep in the Dabie Mountains on the border of Anhui, Hubei and Henan provinces.

On this pleasant day 30 years ago, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to inaugurate a new classroom building at Jinzhai County Hope Elementary School, the township's first proper educational facility.

Hundreds of students in school uniform sat in neat rows. Local officials and other speakers addressed the crowd in front of the two-story, reinforced concrete building. Red, yellow and pink flags tied to rails on the building fluttered in the breeze.

The event might not have appeared to be a game-changer at the time, and neither did it attract much media attention.

However, in hindsight, it marked a turning point for China's underfunded rural schools, which in the 1980s and '90s were struggling with rising student dropout rates caused by rural poverty.

The school was the country's first rural educational institution named after Project Hope, a program endorsed by the central government. Some of the students received Hope Scholarships for about 200 yuan ($28 at today's exchange rate).

Launched in 1989 by the China Youth Development Foundation in Beijing, the program was part of a broader effort to help rural schools that were considered key to the social mobility of a largely impoverished population in country areas.

With the first Hope school marking its 30th anniversary, the foundation now has 20,000 such institutions nationwide and has provided scholarships to about 6 million rural students.

In the 1990s, advertising for the program appeared on national television, depicting young children reading avidly in dimly lit rural classrooms.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. - Japanese Proverb