XI UNVEILS BEIDOU FULL-SCALE COVERAGE

President Xi Jinping announced on Friday that China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System has been completed and has started providing full-scale global services that day.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, declared the commissioning of the global navigation and positioning system's third-generation network at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

General Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, read a congratulatory letter at the ceremony on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and the top military commission, calling the commissioning of Beidou's full-scale global service a significant milestone in China's efforts to boost science and technology and strengthen its space industry.

The letter also said the move is a major contribution to the global public-service infrastructure as well as a remarkable strategic achievement of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Beidou is the country's largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, along with the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

"Beidou is the fruit of the determination and planning by the Party and the central government, of the concerted effort of numerous people involved in the program and of the enormous support from the Chinese people," Yang Changfeng, Beidou's chief architect, said on Friday.

More than 300,000 scientists, engineers and technicians from more than 400 domestic institutes, universities and enterprises have been involved in Beidou's development and construction. Dozens of distinguished scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering have taken part in the program, he said.

After in-orbit tests over the past month, the satellite, the 59th in the Beidou family and 30th in the third-generation series, recently started its formal operations, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

NEED FOR STRATEGIC POLICY ON ECONOMY EMPHASIZED

The economic policy laid out at a top leadership meeting highlighted Beijing's long-term strategic thinking with an emphasis on further deepening structural and market-oriented reforms to substantially boost domestic demand as China faces rising external uncertainties, economists said on Friday.

Despite the country's strong economic rebound in the second quarter, the top leadership acknowledged that the economic situation remains complex and serious and many challenges facing the country are mid- and long-term issues that should be seen from the perspective of a "protracted war".

The statement was made at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Thursday. The meeting was presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

The top policymakers also pledged to substantially expand domestic demand and accelerate the formation of a dual-cycle development pattern to drive China's growth. That means the country will rely on both domestic and international economic cycles, with the domestic cycle being the mainstay.

The meeting set the tone for China's economic policy in the second half of the year as the country faces growing external uncertainties amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The global economy is projected to fall into recession this year as the economy of the United States contracted by a massive 32.9 percent in the second quarter on a quarterly basis while the German economy shrank by 10.1 percent.

Experts said that the message from the meeting suggests that China is paying more attention to the longer-term structural issues and challenges while continuing with its existing policies to stabilize employment and corporate operations to cope with short-term shocks generated by the pandemic.

"Given the rising external uncertainties and the possibility of escalating tensions with the US, structural reforms to broaden the home market and boost domestic demand will help China offset some negative impact from a deteriorating external environment and shrinking external demand," Zhang Ming, an economist at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a research note.

FIVE YEARS ON FROM BEIJING 2022 BID, GAMES ALREADY LEAVING LEGACY

Five years have passed since Beijing's successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympiad, and already, the upcoming Games are leaving a legacy, both for the host country and for the wider Olympic movement.

Some Olympic Games come and go as quickly as they arrived, while some stick around in the memories of sports fans for generations. Los Angeles 1984, London 2012 and, of course, Beijing 2008 are all the Olympic Games that immediately spring to mind when anyone mentions the Olympic legacy.

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics was perhaps the most iconic games of the modern era. This edition of the Games was like nothing the world had seen before or since. With stunning venues and stadiums, memorable moments, as well as a whole generation of Chinese children inspired to take up sports, Beijing 2008 remains a significant part of recent Olympic legacy.

But with the 2022 Games under two years away, organizers are not content with just replicating the success of the 2008 Games; they want to leave a lasting legacy.

From creating a whole generation of winter sports enthusiasts to building an environmentally sustainable Games, the organizers gave themselves a real challenge, one that they are meeting head on as the Games approach.

In the face of significant challenges and obstacles, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, China has pushed ahead with the Olympic preparations.

Hosting an Olympic Games comes with costs attached. But the cost of hosting an Olympic Games is more than just monetary. Environmental costs have become an equally important part of hosting an Olympics in the modern age.

For Beijing 2022, a crucial part of the Games has been the recycling and reuse of Beijing 2008 venues.

The iconic 'water cube' swimming venue from 2008 has now become the 'ice cube,' a premier curling venue.

In Shougang, a crucial part of the Beijing competition zone for the Games, world-class facilities have been built from the disused steel that used to exist on the site.

Even the ice that the athletes will compete on has been considered. The games will be the first to harness the waste gas carbon dioxide to create the ice surfaces.

"Beijing 2022 puts sustainability high on its agenda and regards it as an indispensable element of staging a 'green, inclusive, open and clean' Games and implementing reforms introduced in the Olympic Agenda 2020," said Zhang Jiandong, Executive Vice President of Beijing 2022.

CLAIMS AGAINST CHINESE TECH FIRMS UNRAVEL

With the rise in what some call "techno-nationalism" in the United States, Chinese companies are facing national security accusations by the US on a broad front−from telecom giant Huawei to popular video app TikTok.

However, three of the four CEOs of major US tech companies that testified on Capitol Hill this past week said they had no knowledge of technology theft by China at their businesses. Their responses contrast with the relentless hunt by the US administration for culprits among Chinese tech companies.

The four CEOs−Tim Cook of Apple, Sundar Pichai of Google's parent Alphabet, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook−were asked on Wednesday at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing investigating the practices of major US technology companies whether they believed the Chinese government was stealing intellectual property from US companies.

"I know of no case of ours where it occurred," Cook replied to the question posed by Representative Greg Steube, a Florida Republican."I can only speak to firsthand knowledge."

During Cook's opening statement, he called iPhone maker Apple "a uniquely American company". But he also praised Shenzhen-based Huawei, which the US has worked to portray as a national security threat and has coaxed some of its allies to shun the company's gear, as a leader in 5G mobile technology.

"We also know that customers have a lot of choices and that our products face fierce competition,"Cook said."Companies like Samsung, LG, Huawei and Google have built successful businesses with different approaches. We're OK with that. Our goal is the best, not the most."

Pichar said: "I have no firsthand knowledge of any information stolen from Google", which runs the world's most widely used search engine.

Bezos, the world's richest person who runs an omnipresent e-commerce company, mulled the question out loud before answering that it was something "I've read reports of, but don't have personal experience."

Zuckerberg said the allegations of technology theft were "well documented", but didn't provide any specific examples.

He said the fastest-growing app in the world is TikTok, a social media video platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

"History shows that if we don't keep innovating, someone will replace every company here today. If you look at where the top technology companies come from, a decade ago, the vast majority were American. Today, almost half are Chinese."

Zuckerberg's testimony seemed at odds with his previously expressed ardor for China.

BEIDOU ALSO BELONGS TO WORLD

China has been striving to foster international cooperation in space-based navigation and positioning as well as applications for its Beidou system, said the China Satellite Navigation Office.

The Chinese government has worked with space authorities in Russia, the United States and the European Union to promote signal compatibility and frequency coordination among the Beidou, GPS,GLONASS and Galileo systems, aiming to bring more convenience and accessibility to users around the world.

The country has also been pushing forward Beidou's international standardization. Consequently, the Chinese system has been adopted by several international entities including the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Maritime Organization, the office said.

Globally, by the end of 2019, Chinese products based on the Beidou system had been sold to more than 120 countries and regions, playing a helpful role in a number of public sector fields.

Beidou had by then been used in land ownership investigations, smart agriculture and intelligent construction, as well as other applications in Asia, Europe and Africa.

For instance, Beidou has helped Russia improve its electric grid inspections, made operations more convenient for unmanned aircraft users in Cambodia, boosted management efficiency of many warehouses in Thailand and facilitated construction work in Kuwait, the office added.

He Mu, general manager of Aerospace Great Wall Satellite Navigation Technology, a China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp subsidiary serving as a contractor for Beidou's overseas promotion, said that his company is in cooperation with many nations to promote the use of satellite navigation and positioning services, localize Beidou-based applications, train local professionals and inject research and development capability into local enterprises.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a news conference on Friday in Beijing that Beidou belongs not only to China, but also the world, and serves people all over the globe. He said Beidou now has more than 100 million users in about 100 countries and regions.

China is willing to join hands with other nations in the space field and together share development benefits, Wang said.

SMARTPHONE MARKET ON TRACK FOR RECOVERY

China's smartphone market is on track for recovery amid a sharp rebound in economic activity, as the country's smartphone shipments posted a 25 percent quarter-on-quarter growth rate to reach over 90 million units from April to June, a new report said.

The recovery came as China is moving from export-driven growth to promoting the integration of the domestic and overseas markets, analysts said.

Market research company Canalys said though the Chinese smartphone market contracted 7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, it saw a steady recovery from the first quarter.

"A mature e-commerce channel in China is critical to the Chinese smartphone market recovery," said Jason Low, senior analyst at Canalys.

"Thanks to the significant marketing push and sales incentives offered by major e-commerce players like Alibaba, JD and Pinduoduo during the quarter, smartphone vendors saw stronger-than-expected results despite offline traffic being weak," Low said.

It is also noteworthy that 5G smartphones are thriving with 39 million units shipped in China in the second quarter of 2020, up 260 percent from the first quarter.

"The local brands are driving 5G penetration within their portfolios to support telecom operator efforts to transition existing 4G users to 5G,"Low said.

Market research company Counterpoint Research also showed in its latest report that one in three smartphones sold in China from April to June was a 5G phone.

Zhang Mengmeng, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, said Chinese smartphone vendors and telecom operators are actively pushing 5G smartphones by lowering prices of 5G devices as well as 5G data plans.

This has increased the adoption of 5G, with 33 percent of total smartphones sold during the quarter being 5G-supported devices, the highest adoption rate in the world.

That was a significant jump from 16 percent in the first quarter. The proportion was even higher in June, when more than 40 percent of smartphones sold were 5G capable.

Chinese vendors are keen to rapidly capitalize on the country's recovery to offset their losses in other major overseas markets, where the negative impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak may be more prolonged, the company said in its report.

BUILDING STRONGER DEFENSE CRUCIAL GOAL

China should advance modernization of its national defense and armed forces in order to build a strong country, said Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Xi made the remark while presiding over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Thursday, two days before China's Army Day.

To develop socialism with Chinese characteristics and realize the great national rejuvenation, efforts must be made to strengthen coordination between economic development and efforts to build a strong military, he said.

This will ensure that the modernization of national defense and the armed forces accommodates the national modernization process and the country's military capability matches national strategic needs, Xi said.

Stressing that building a strong national defense and armed forces is a goal that the CPC has assiduously sought, Xi said that China will achieve the targets and missions of strengthening the national defense and armed forces for 2020 and begin a new journey to fully transform the people's armed forces into a world-class one.

According to Xi's report to the 19th CPC National Congress, the national defense and military will generally achieve mechanization by the year 2020 with significantly enhanced informatization and greatly improved strategic capabilities.

Facing the accelerated evolution of profound changes unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic's deep impact on the global situation, Xi stressed that China's security situation is undergoing growing uncertainty and instability.

He said formulation of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for military development should be coordinated with national development planning and make reform of military policies and institutions a priority.

Xi underlined the importance of independent innovation in army-building, urging efforts to accelerate breakthroughs in key and core technologies, speed development of strategic, advanced and disruptive technologies and implement major strategic projects related to national defense technology and weaponry.

While high-quality, professional military talent with ability and integrity should be cultivated, Xi said efforts should be made to recruit excellent talent in various fields to throw themselves into the building of a strong army.

Xi also stressed civilian support for advancing the modernization of national defense and the armed forces, requiring central and State organs, Party committees and governments at all levels to help solve problems concerning the employment of army dependents, education of service members' children and the treatment of veterans.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

No man, however strong, can serve ten years as schoolmaster, priest, or Senator, and remain fit for anything else. - Scott Adams