XI'S DISCOURSES ON COORDINATING EPIDEMIC CONTROL WITH ECONOMIC, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED

A compilation of discourses of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on coordinating epidemic control with economic and social development has been published by the Central Party Literature Press.

The book, compiled by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, is available nationwide.

The book begins with a speech Xi delivered at a meeting commending role models in China's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, and contains 43 key discourses of Xi from Jan 20, 2020 to Sept 23, 2020, some of which were published for the first time.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the CPC Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, has put people's lives and health first and led the Party, the military and Chinese people of all ethnic groups in the fight against the epidemic.

Xi has chaired multiple meetings, delivered speeches and issued a series of instructions on the matter.

Through arduous efforts, China has made major strategic achievements in battling COVID-19 and secured remarkable progress in coordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development.

The publication of the discourses is seen to be of great significance to promoting the spirit of combating the COVID-19 epidemic, completing the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and achieving the targets and tasks of poverty eradication.

XI SENDS CONGRATULATIONS TO KIM ON WPK'S 75TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a congratulatory message to Kim Jong-un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), on the 75th founding anniversary of the WPK.

In his message, Xi said that on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and in his own name, he extends warm congratulations and best wishes to Kim, and through Kim to the WPK Central Committee, all WPK members as well as the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

With glorious and time-honored revolutionary traditions, the WPK has in its 75-year brilliant course united and led the DPRK people to fight heroically and move forward bravely, thereby realizing national independence and liberation of the people and promoting the socialist cause to create great achievements, Xi said.

In recent years, under the strong leadership of the WPK Central Committee headed by Kim, the WPK and the DPRK people have unswervingly followed the path of socialism, focused on strengthening party building and economic work, united as one to address various difficulties and challenges, and actively conducted foreign exchanges and cooperation, making a series of key achievements, Xi noted.

As a comrade and friend, China is sincerely pleased with this, he stressed.

Xi said he believes that under the firm leadership of the WPK Central Committee headed by Kim, the WPK and the DPRK people will make persistent efforts and work hard to continuously push forward the progress of the DPRK's socialist cause, and greet the 8th Congress of the WPK with victory.

China and the DPRK are friendly neighbors linked by the same mountain and river, and are both socialist countries led by communist parties, Xi said.

The traditional China-DPRK friendship, forged and carefully nurtured by the older generation of leaders of the two parties and countries, has taken deep root and has been consolidated over the years, which is worth being cherished, Xi said.

In recent years, Xi recalled, he has held several meetings with Kim, and they have reached many important consensus on consolidating and developing relations between the two parties and the two countries, which has ushered in a new historical chapter in China-DPRK relations.

Xi said today's world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century which is interwoven with the COVID-19 pandemic, with international and regional situations evolving in a complex and profound manner.

China, Xi said, stands ready to work with the DPRK to maintain, consolidate and develop bilateral relations, and push for steady and enduring development of the socialist cause of both countries, so as to create more benefits for the two countries and peoples, and make new positive contributions to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

Xi also wished that the WPK would maintain continuous development and the DPRK's socialist cause would prosper.

DIGITAL CURRENCY STARTS TO CIRCULATE

The Shenzhen municipal government in Guangdong province and China's central bank jointly started issuing digital yuan red packets on Friday, bringing the general public closer to digital currency as China takes the lead in the field.

Individuals in Shenzhen are allowed to take part in a lucky drawing of 50,000 digital currency red packets-monetary gifts given during holidays or on special occasions-totaling 10 million yuan ($1.49 million). The value of each red packet is 200 yuan.

Winners of the drawing will be given instructions on how to open digital yuan wallets and receive their red packets. For about a week, from 6 pm on Monday to 12 am of Oct 19, the winners can pay using the digital currency red packets-much like paying in cash electronically-at 3,389 designated merchants in Shenzhen's Luohu district.

Participating merchants include supermarkets, retailers, restaurants and lifestyle services providers that have completed payment modifications to use a digital yuan system.

"The issuance of digital yuan red packets is an innovative attempt to boost consumption and domestic demand amid regular prevention and control of COVID-19. It is also a routine test in the process of research and development of the central bank's digital yuan," the cyber administration of Shenzhen said in a post on its Sina Weibo account on Thursday.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, is making steady advances in tests of digital yuan, said Fan Yifei, vice-governor of the PBOC.

Internal trials of the digital currency were conducted in a closed environment in Shenzhen; Chengdu, Sichuan province; Suzhou, Jiangsu province and the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province this year. Some of the payment scenarios related to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics also underwent tests.

In an article published in September by Beijing-based Financial News, a news outlet supervised by the PBOC, Fan said electronic payments, especially mobile payments, have developed rapidly in China. But the instruments still have much room for improvement, such as in the coverage of application scenarios, efficiency of payments and user privacy protection. In regions with sparse access to financial services, the public still relies heavily on cash and looks forward to a central bank-issued digital currency.

Still, tests are progressing rapidly. The PBOC stated that digital currency will mainly replace notes and coins in circulation and will adopt a two-tier operating system.

The PBOC will first issue digital currency to commercial banks and other financial institutions, which will then release it to the general public.

"In fact, digital currency may begin as a substitute for (bank notes and coins) but should not be confined to this. It will hopefully achieve profound changes in the monetary operation system," said Wang Yongli, former vice-president of Bank of China.

SPENDING OVER HOLIDAY HELPS BOOST ECONOMY

Confidence in China's economic recovery and a positive outlook on companies' profitability in the fourth quarter strengthened the bullish performance of the A-share market on Friday, which resumed trading after the eight-day holiday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.68 percent on Friday to close at 3272.08 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index climbed 2.96 percent to close at 13289.26 points. The technology-focused ChiNext index in Shenzhen increased 3.81 percent to close at 2672.93 points.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses reported a combined trading volume of 711.3 billion yuan ($106 billion) on Friday, up 31.7 percent from the previous trading day. The net inflow of northbound capital−the trading volume from overseas investors using the stock connect program between Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong−topped over 11.2 billion yuan. Northbound capital reported a net outflow for one week before the National Day holiday.

Shanghai-based market tracker Wind Info said that A-share listed electrical companies reported the most robust average daily increase, 5.95 percent on Friday, followed by the 5.26 percent increase for materials companies and 4.31 percent for automobile companies.

Positive consumption data collected during the Golden Week holiday from Oct 1 to Thursday indicates the strong recovery momentum of China's economy after the COVID-19 epidemic, analysts from Guotai Junan Securities wrote in a note. Companies' profitability has been improving and so is people's propensity to spend.

The analysts said that indicates that the Shanghai Composite Index is likely to hit the 3500-point mark in the year's coming months. Investors may find opportunities in consumption-related and technology companies, they said.

On Friday, the Ministry of Commerce said sales revenue of key Chinese retailers and restaurants reached 1.6 trillion yuan between Oct 1 and Thursday, with income from daily sales up 4.9 percent year-on-year.

A total of 609 A-share companies had released their third quarter earnings preannouncements by Thursday, among which 262 forecast positive growth. Among those companies, 88 said their net income doubled in the third quarter while 30 saw net income grow by 300 percent.

CONSUMPTION BOOMS DURING PROLONGED HOLIDAY

Domestic consumption witnessed rapid recovery during the prolonged eight-day holiday covering National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. Transactions via China UnionPay network reached 2.16 trillion yuan ($321.32 billion) from Oct 1 to 7, up 6.3 percent on a yearly basis.

Sales of major retail and catering enterprises totaled 1.6 trillion yuan on Oct 8, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with the same day last year.

XINJIANG'S BAYINGOLIN DEVELOPS COMPREHENSIVE TOURISM SECTOR

Bayingolin Mongolian autonomous prefecture has planned to integrate and improve local tourism resources to boost economic development while the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is establishing tourism demonstration areas.

Bayingolin has recently held a meeting on mulling plans to revitalize the tourism industry and reenergize rural areas across the whole prefecture, so as to increase the income of farmers and herdsmen in scenic spots.

With the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains as invaluable assets", the prefecture will focus on training personnel and developing boutique scenic spots to achieve comprehensive and high-quality development in the sector.

SUPPORT GIVEN TO JOB SEEKERS HIGH ON AGENDA

China will adopt new pro-employment measures and enhance its support for key groups of job seekers to meet this year's job creation targets, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Friday.

It was agreed at the meeting that since the start of this year, local governments and departments have implemented strong measures to support employment. The surveyed urban unemployment rate has since dropped steadily from its February peak.

"The employment situation remains stable overall. Yet we shall not let down our guard against potential risks. From January to August, 7.81 million urban jobs have been created. We are well-positioned to achieve the target of creating 9 million new urban jobs for the entire year," Li said at the meeting.

"At the same time we must recognize the challenges in employment prospects, the unemployment rate in certain groups of the population and in some regions remains high. Those employed have seen their incomes shrink," Li added.

It was urged at the Friday meeting that greater efforts are needed to support market entities and create jobs. Measures to relieve business burdens, secure jobs and expand employment need to be fine-tuned to better benefit small and micro-sized businesses and industries that are particularly hard-hit and recovering at a slower pace.

"In the first half, we focused on helping businesses to keep their payrolls stable," Li said. "Starting from now, our focus will be shifted to adding new jobs. We must not reduce the intensity of fiscal and financial support policies or the policies in improving the business climate. Great importance must be placed on the employment of college graduates this year."

Support for key groups of job seekers needs to be prioritized. College graduates will receive support for employment and business startups, and skills training will be provided to make them better prepared for jobs.

Market resources will be leveraged to create more job opportunities. Employment services will also be provided to college graduates who have yet to find jobs to support their transition from campus to career.

Employment services and support for entrepreneurial activities will be stepped up for rural migrant workers. Public works programs for poverty alleviation purposes will be expanded in both sectors of investment and geographical coverage. Assistance will be intensified for job seekers facing difficulties.

"While we work to ensure meeting the employment targets for this year, we must pay special attention to supporting businesses in difficulty. Helping market players survive is of great importance in keeping employment stable," Li said, adding that, "We also need to take well-focused steps to increase the number of new market players and create more jobs."

Vocational upgrade training will continue to be promoted. Authorities are required to meet their due responsibilities to encourage flexible employment and create more jobs via multiple means.

"As consumption serves as the primary driving force for growth, and consumer demand is more diversified, the space for flexible employment has increased accordingly. Departments need to introduce support policies for flexible employment," Li said.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. - Margaret Thatcher