PRESIDENT: PROMOTE HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE SECTOR

President Xi Jinping has underlined the importance of the private economy in the country's overall development and has urged efforts to unite people engaging in private business to promote the sector's healthy development.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark in an instruction delivered to a conference on united front work in the private sector, which was held in Beijing on Wednesday.

Calling the private economy a significant part of the socialist market economy, he urged efforts to unite people from the private sector around the Party and better promote the growth of the private economy.

It is an important task to unite and guide the people engaged in the private economy, Xi said, urging Party committees at various levels to strengthen leadership over united front work in the sector, and fully implement relevant policies and decisions of the CPC Central Committee.

He also instructed federations of industry and commerce to play their role in uniting private businesspeople around the CPC.

On Tuesday, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee issued a set of guidelines for strengthening united front work involving the private sector.

The Party's united front work concerning the private economy has been innovating and breaking new ground, the document said.

However, it said, as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, united front work is faced with a new situation and new tasks because the scale of the private sector has been expanding, risks and challenges have increased significantly and the values and interests of the people engaging in the private economy have become more diverse.

Strengthening united front work in the private sector is an important way to realize the Party's leadership over the private economy.

It is also significant to develop and improve the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and constitutes an important guarantee to promote high-quality development of the private economy, it said.

Mechanisms for communication and consultation between government and private businesses should be improved, the document said.

COUNTRY'S ODI STAYS ROBUST, SAYS REPORT

China continued to be the world's second-largest source of foreign investment in 2019, with its outbound direct investment standing at $136.91 billion, according to a report issued on Wednesday.

The report, jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said that the nation's ODI in 2019 had decreased by 4.3 percent year-on-year.

Analysts said that despite the contraction in the global economy, Chinese enterprises' ODI will not only contribute to host economies' taxation and employment in the short term, but also help to sustain market confidence to support their long-term economic development.

At the end of 2019, China's ODI stock−the value of investors' equity in and net loans to enterprises in overseas economies−reached $2.2 trillion, following the United States at $7.7 trillion and the Netherlands at $2.6 trillion.

Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing, said, "Chinese enterprises are engaged in a high level of economic activity abroad, providing new growth drivers for faster development in host economies."

"Under the current circumstances, Chinese enterprises' participation in local economic and social development is also important for global economic revival from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

Chinese enterprises can help host countries fight against COVID-19, through introducing China's experience and the medical protective resources that China has the capacity to produce, he said.

Wang Maobin, investment department chair at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that as the world's second-largest economy, China's ODI has maintained steady growth momentum in recent years.

These investments, based on commercial and win-win principles, always are mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

Although COVID-19 has had a severe impact on the global economy, China has showed strong economic recovery thanks to its successful measures to control the epidemic, and the flow of its ODI is expected to remain stable, he said.

According to the ministry, China's overseas enterprises made significant contributions to taxation and employment in the host economies, bringing remarkable win-win effects.

INVESTMENT GROWTH STAYS STEADY

China's investment growth is expected to maintain steady momentum during the rest of the year on the back of adequate funding and an increasing number of projects, the country's top economic regulator said on Wednesday.

The investment growth will be aided by the investment outlay in the central government budget, special local government bonds and the government bonds for COVID-19 control, said Meng Wei, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission.

The country will continue to expand investment in "new infrastructure" and other projects that bolster national development, such as 5G, data centers, urbanization, transportation, water projects and logistics infrastructure, said Meng.

More efforts will also be made to accelerate the proposed central government budget measures and speed up project construction, implementation of various policy measures to stimulate private investment and encourage private sector participation in investment projects for "new infrastructure "and strengthening of the weak links.

Dong Xiaoyu, a senior expert at Zhongguancun Development Group, said the country has made considerable progress in preventing and controlling the pandemic as well as in resuming work and production, and it now needs to take key measures to stimulate market vitality and spur growth.

"New infrastructure" construction and private sector participation in investment projects will help stimulate investment, boost market confidence and promote economic recovery, and also help meet the annual targets in this year's Government Work Report, Dong said.

Buoyed by the government's supportive policies and new or resumed projects, China's investment is gradually picking up. In August, China's fixed-asset investment rose by 8.4 percent on a yearly basis, marking the fifth consecutive month of positive growth, according to the NDRC.

The NDRC said it will continue to work with other departments to open China's doors wider to the outside world, continuously improve the investment environment and boost the confidence of foreign investors.

"We will lift all foreign investment restrictions beyond the negative list and provide equal treatment to all types of business in China," Meng from the NDRC said. "We are accelerating the push for the revision of the catalog of encouraged industries for foreign investment, greatly increasing the number of listed sectors where foreign investment is encouraged and allow more foreign companies to enjoy relevant preferential policies."

RAPID PROGRESS MADE IN DEVELOPING VACCINE

Research and development on COVID-19 vaccines in China is progressing rapidly, and they may be available for public use as early as November, a senior virologist said.

Five of the nine COVID-19 vaccines that have entered phase 3 clinical trials globally are being developed in China, and they have produced satisfying trial results, said Wu Guizhen, chief biosafety expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A vaccine usually has to complete three phases of trials before gaining market approval.

None of the people who have received candidate COVID-19 vaccines developed by China for emergency use have exhibited serious side effects or contracted the novel coronavirus, Wu said.

"It is expected that ordinary people can receive COVID-19 vaccination in November or December," she said. "We expect the vaccinations will remain effective for between one and three years."

Faced with a deadly pandemic, countries have been racing against time to research and develop COVID-19 vaccines. A vaccine can normally take more than a decade to develop.

Effective vaccines have been seen as a crucial weapon in containing the pandemic, which has resulted in nearly 30 million cases worldwide. Although it is effectively under control in China, some experts have called for vigilance to guard against new outbreaks in winter.

Three candidate COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by Chinese authorities for emergency use by groups at higher risk of infection, including some medical workers treating COVID-19 patients and people going overseas to work.

A technical guide released by the China CDC last week recommended that groups, including medical workers, employees at nursing homes, primary school teachers and students, the elderly and people with chronic diseases should receive flu vaccines.

XI INSPECTS CENTRAL CHINA'S HUNAN PROVINCE

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Wednesday inspected Central China's Hunan province.

In the village of Shazhou, Rucheng County, Xi visited places including a revolution-themed exhibition hall, a village service center, a clinic, a modern agricultural tourism demonstration base, a primary school, and the homes of villagers.

Xi learned about education on the history of revolution, poverty relief industries, and progress in consolidating poverty eradication.

NATION SEEKS MORE UNITY IN COVID-19, POVERTY FIGHTS

China is willing to step up cooperation with other countries in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official of the Communist Party of China said.

It is part of a broader effort to curb global poverty and fight other challenges facing developing countries, said Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the committee's publicity department.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the Forum on 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and China's Poverty Reduction Experience, a three-day online event held by China Global Television Network Think Tank that began being aired by the State broadcaster on Wednesday.

The event, whose 140 attendees include politicians from 39 countries and regions as well as heads of international organizations and think tanks, came as the world marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations this year and races to reach the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which include a target to eliminate extreme poverty worldwide in a decade.

While addressing the forum via a video link, Huang said sharing the nation's anti-poverty experience at this juncture has great significance.

China will end domestic poverty by the end of this year, which makes the nation a front-runner in reaching the 2030 goal in poverty reduction, Huang said.

He said China's experience showed survival and development are the most principal human rights. Poverty relief is a noble and practical job that should be carried out in line with each nation's situations and entails involvement of the entire society and global cooperation.

Huang said China wishes to work with other countries to improve the global public health system and contain the virus that has posed new challenges to global poverty reduction efforts.

Data from the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development show that the impoverished population in China has plummeted over the last eight years, from 98.9 million in late 2012 to 5.5 million by the end of last year.

"It is probably one of the most successful stories of modern times," said Leslie Maasdorp, vice-president and chief financial officer at New Development Bank, a multilateral bank established by the BRICS countries−Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

He said the fast economic growth that came after China embraced reforms and a market economy 42 years ago has underpinned the nation's extraordinary achievement in lifting so many out of rural poverty.

Even though economic growth has slowed down in the wake of the pandemic, the poverty relief targets are still "hardwired into the government's plans," he said.

CHINA'S SCIENCE ACADEMY PUMPS RESEARCH INTO SUPERCOMPUTING

The Chinese Academy of Sciences said it will strengthen research on supercomputing systems and key materials after seeing great scientific and technological achievements over the past six years.

"Given that China is facing a transformation in science and technology to meet the country's high-quality economic development standards and is dealing with pressure from high-tech companies from the United States, we hope to do more to help solve critical problems in these aspects in the following 10 years," CAS President Bai Chunli said.

He made the remarks at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday, adding the academy will concentrate on supercomputing systems and key material research, such as those on aircraft tires and bearing steel, in the second phase of an effort known as the Pioneering Initiative.

In 2013, President Xi Jinping asked the academy to be a pioneer in making great scientific and technological progress, producing more innovative talent, becoming an influential scientific think tank for China as well as a world-class research institution.

A year later, the Pioneering Initiative, consisting of reforms and plans, was launched to implement Xi's expectations by 2030.

This year marks the end of the first phase of the initiative, "and we've successfully accomplished the goals and tasks of the period, with a large collection of scientific and technological achievements in various industries, including quantum information and condensed matter physics," Bai said.

The achievements, which have played a bigger role in building an innovation-oriented country and a strong nation of science and technology, will be a solid foundation to fully accomplish the initiative, he added.

A statement provided by the CAS on Wednesday said that in the first phase of the initiative, the academy made 59 major scientific and technological achievements as well as landmark progress.

In January, for example, China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, passed national evaluation and officially began operation.

The telescope's superior sensitivity is expected to lead scientists to great scientific breakthroughs in research on astronomical phenomena, including pulsars, hydrogen in the Milky Way and neighboring galaxies, and fast radio bursts.

Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Bai also told media that the academy will continue to make more contributions to vaccine research to protect people's health and safety.

After the outbreak hit the country, about 3,000 researchers from the academy devoted themselves to technological prevention and control against the disease, with research on treating patients in critical situations through stem cell technology and remote collection of biological samples, according to Bai.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure but from hope to hope. - Samuel Johnson