SHENZHEN AIMS TO BE WORLD HUB OF INNOVATION

Shenzhen, a high-tech hub adjacent to Hong Kong, is expected to further grow into a center of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity with global influence and strong policy support from the central government, experts said.

They said they expect China's detailed plan to build Shenzhen into a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics will boost high-quality development in the city, further drive the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and set a model for other Chinese cities in economic transformation.

The new plan came as this year marked the 40th anniversary of Shenzhen's designation as China's first special economic zone. President Xi Jinping will attend a celebration in Shenzhen on Wednesday and deliver a speech to mark the anniversary, Xinhua reported on Monday.

The ChiNext index, which tracks Shenzhen's innovative startup-heavy board, rose 3.91 percent to 2,777.39 points on Monday.

"Over the past 40 years, Shenzhen has been transformed from a small fishing village into an international city full of charm, vitality, innovation and creativity," said Wang Changlin, president of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission. "However, there are still gaps in the levels of innovation, science and technology education and public service between Shenzhen and innovative cities with global influence.

"With a booming population and rapid economic development, Shenzhen also faces new constraints and problems in growth. To pursue high-quality development, it is necessary for Shenzhen, a modern metropolis with a population of more than 20 million, to rely on reforms to inject new impetus and overcome difficulties," Wang said.

"With the support of preferential policies outlined in the plan, Shenzhen will not only foster high-quality development, but also will play a key role in boosting the development of the Greater Bay Area and the nation."

Last year, Shenzhen's gross domestic product exceeded 2.6 trillion yuan ($385.5 billion), comparable to Singapore. The output of the high-tech industry in Shenzhen−mainly comprising electronics and information, biopharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, new energy and new materials businesses−rose 10.08 percent year-on-year, according to official data.

Under the three-step plan issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, reforms will be launched this year in fields such as market-based allocation of production factors, business environment optimization and the utilization of urban space. The first list of pilot reforms will be formulated and implemented this year.

By 2022, significant progress is to be made. By 2025, reforms are expected to achieve landmark results, and pilot reform tasks are expected to be basically complete by then.

"Over decades, Shenzhen has become the window and experimental field for China's reform and opening-up. The new plan marks a key move to deepen reforms and expand opening-up at a higher level," said Wang Yiming, former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

XI REAFFIRMS POVERTY RELIEF COMMITMENT TO SEMINAR

President Xi Jinping reaffirmed China's commitment on Monday to eradicating absolute poverty throughout the country by the end of this year and called for international cooperation in stepping up the global poverty reduction process.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark in a congratulatory message delivered to the International Seminar on Poverty Eradication and the Responsibility of Political Parties, which was held in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian province.

"We have the confidence and ability to secure full victory in the critical battle against poverty and realize the poverty eradication goal of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule," Xi said.

Noting that eradicating poverty, improving people's livelihoods and allowing people to realize common prosperity are essential requirements of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said they are also important missions of the Party.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in 2012, China has made poverty reduction a key task to fulfill in order to realize the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Party celebrates its centenary in 2021, and it has taken a series of major steps to declare war on poverty, Xi said.

"The problem of absolute poverty that has beset the Chinese nation for centuries will be settled," he said, describing the achievement as "greatly significant to human society".

Despite progress made in global poverty eradication, grave difficulties and challenges remain, Xi said.

"It is urgent for the international community to build consensus and work together to uphold multilateralism, maintain peace and stability and accelerate the process of global poverty alleviation," he said.

Around 400 participants, including experts, representatives of political parties from over 100 countries and those of international organizations, attended the event organized by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee.

In the keynote speech at the seminar, Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, said eradicating poverty is a prominent aspect of the Party's governance of the country.

Party leadership is the most important experience for China to make historic achievements in poverty relief and the fundamental support for winning the battle against poverty, Song said.

AGE OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY MAY BE LOWERED TO 12

A draft amendment to the Criminal Law was submitted to the bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, China's top legislature, for a second review on Tuesday.

Here are the highlights:

Draft amendment proposes age of criminal liability in China to be lowered to 12 in some special situations.

Draft amendment proposes holding "college imposters" in China criminally liable.

Draft amendment proposes harsher punishment for sexual assault of girls under 10.

Parents or other guardians who sexually assault their children aged 14 to 16 shall be sentenced to no more than 3 years in prison; those involved in serious cases could be sentenced to 3 to 10 years' imprisonment.

UNIVERSITY LOOKING INTO DEATH OF CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE STAFF IN US

The Beijing Language and Culture University has set up a task force to follow up on the death of a Confucius Institute representative the university had sent to Webster University in the United States, the university said in a statement on Sunday.

Liu Qiang, a teacher at BLCU's faculty of foreign studies, had been working as a representative of BLCU at Webster University's Confucius Institute since January 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri, where he died on Wednesday, the university said.

"We are deeply saddened by the death of Liu and have expressed condolences to his family members," BLCU said, adding that the university was closely monitoring the case and will send people to the US to follow up on it.

The university has urged police in St. Louis county to disclose more details about Liu's death and is keeping close contact with China's consulate-general in Chicago and Webster University.

The statement added that the case is under investigation and urged the public to refrain from spreading unsubstantiated information.

According to local newspaper St. Louis Post-Dispatch, citing St. Louis county police, Liu died after police and the FBI searched his home on Tuesday amid a child pornography investigation.

Webster University said it has no evidence or reason to believe that the reported investigation or Liu's death relates in any way to the Confucius Institute at Webster University or, more generally, to Webster.

Webster officials said in a statement on Saturday that it is saddened by Liu's death and will conduct its own investigation to determine potential evidence of harm.

Liu's sudden death has triggered an outcry on China's social media platforms, with many netizens demanding the St. Louis county police release more information about the cause of his death.

The hashtag "A Chinese Confucius Institute representative at a US university has died" has been viewed about 11.5 million times on Sina Weibo as of Monday.

FOREIGN TRADE GROWS IN Q1-3

China's foreign trade grew by 0.7 percent year-on-year to 23.12 trillion yuan ($3.42 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the country's exports increased by 1.8 percent on a yearly basis to 12.71 trillion yuan and imports declined by 0.6 percent to 10.41 trillion yuan.

China's foreign trade surged by 7.5 percent year-on-year to 8.88 trillion yuan in the third quarter of 2020, with exports soaring 10.2 percent to 5 trillion yuan and imports rising 4.3 percent to 3.88 trillion yuan. The total volume of exports, imports and the two combined have all reached a historical high during this three month-period.

China's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, its largest trading partner, stood at 3.38 trillion yuan from January to September, up 7.7 percent year-on-year and accounting for 14.6 of its total foreign trade volume.

Meanwhile, China's trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan reached 3.23 trillion, 2.82 trillion and 1.61 trillion yuan, up 2.9, 2 and 1.4 percent respectively.

China's trade with countries and regions related to the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 6.75 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, an increase of 1.5 percent on a yearly basis.

RESEARCH CHARTS ROAD MAP FOR CHINA'S CARBON NEUTRALITY VISION

New research suggests China's ambitious target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 is in line with the vision of the Paris Agreement to maintain a global temperature rise below 1.5 C.

The research charts pathways for China's long-term low-carbon development in different scenarios, including limiting the global temperature increase to below 2 and 1.5 C, which are set in the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change.

For China to achieve the target of net-zero CO2 emissions and a significant reduction of other greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – which is necessary to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 C – China will need to significantly raise the share of non-fossil fuels in its total energy mix to 86.1 percent from 15.9 percent in 2020, while reducing the proportion of coal to 5.4 percent from 57.4 percent.

In comparison, under the 2 C scenario – the Paris Agreement's alternative (and less ambitious) goal which means global carbon neutrality should be realized by around 2070, China will need to boost the share of non-fossil fuels to 73.2 percent.

The research, titled China's Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy and Pathway, proposed policies and strategies for China's low-carbon development in the next few decades.

It was conducted by some of China's top experts in environment and energy and was released by the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development of Tsinghua University on Monday.

He Jiankun, deputy director of China's National Expert Committee on Climate Change, said realizing a target of net zero CO2 emissions and reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2050 will pave the way for China to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping at the general debate of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly last month.

China also aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030, according to Xi.

A report compiled based on the research's findings said China is promoting an "ecological civilization" and shifting from quantitative growth to high-quality development, with the vision of building a "beautiful China" by the middle of the century.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health emergency, climate change is a more profound ecological crisis for the planet, it said.

XI INSPECTS SOUTHERN CHINA'S GUANGDONG PROVINCE

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Monday arrived in southern China's Guangdong province to begin an inspection tour of the province.

In the city of Chaozhou, Xi visited local cultural and historical landmarks, including an ancient bridge, an ancient gate tower and a street lined with ancient memorial archways, to check the restoration and protection of cultural relics, the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and the development of cultural and tourism resources.

He later visited Chaozhou Three-Circle (Group) Co., Ltd., an electronic component and communication device manufacturer, learning about the company's indigenous innovation, production and operation.

Whether enterprise growth, industrial upgrade or high-quality development of the economy, it all lies in indigenous innovation, Xi said. Now that we are going through profound changes unseen in a century, we should pursue a higher-level path of development that relies on ourselves, he added.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson, hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example. - George Bernard Shaw