XI: FORGE AHEAD WITH REFORM, OPENING-UP

President Xi Jinping reaffirmed on Wednesday China's commitment to forging ahead with reform and opening-up as he outlined a new vision for Shenzhen 40 years after it was set up as the country's first special economic zone.

In a speech delivered at a celebration marking the 40th anniversary in Shenzhen, Xi urged the city to develop into a pilot zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics and set an example for cities of a modernized socialist nation.

He said reform will not come to a standstill and opening-up will only go further.

"Reform and opening-up must be moved forward at a higher level, and new advances must be made in work on the fronts of special economic zones", said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Xi outlined the new historic mission for Shenzhen in the new era, saying that the city must bolster its capacities and levels to implement the new development philosophy, strive to deepen reform and expand opening-up in a comprehensive manner and promote the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In addition, the city should enrich the new practice of "one country, two systems" and take the lead in achieving socialist modernization, he said.

In his speech, Xi also recalled the decision-making process for setting up the special economic zones 40 years ago, which also include Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong province and Xiamen in Fujian province.

Their establishment was a great pioneering act for the Party and the country to promote reform, opening-up and socialist modernization, Xi said.

Shenzhen has become a new city built by the Party and the people after reform and opening-up and is also a marvelous illustration of socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Hailing the city's development as a miracle created by the Chinese people, he mentioned that the city's GDP surged to 2.7 trillion yuan ($401 billion) in 2019 from 270 million yuan in 1980 in what he described as "a historic leap from a backward border town to an international metropolis with global influence".

The successful use of special economic zones, including Shenzhen, has proved that the strategic decision of the CPC Central Committee is absolutely right, he said, adding that the development of SEZs must be continued at a better and higher level.

PLA WARNS US TO STOP STIRRING UP TROUBLE IN TAIWAN STRAITS

The Chinese military urged the United States to stop indulging in rhetoric and negative actions related to the Taiwan Straits, senior colonel Zhang Chunhui, spokesman of the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command, said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry transited through the Taiwan Straits. The PLA Eastern Theater Command dispatched maritime and Air Force units to monitor the vessel's entire passage, Zhang said.

"Recently, the US has been routinely sending the wrong message to Taiwan separatist forces and has severely damaged peace and stability in the region," he said.

"We solemnly warn the US to stop stirring up trouble in the Taiwan Straits with its rhetoric and actions," he said. The PLA Eastern Theater Command would remain on high alert, and will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits region, he added.

CHINA'S CPI GROWTH SLOWS TO 19-MONTH LOW OF 1.7%

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, grew 1.7 percent year-on-year last month, the lowest level in 19 months and down from 2.4 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The CPI growth moderated as food prices continued to soften last month. The rise in pork prices slowed to 25.5 percent year-on-year, sharply down by 27.1 percentage points from a month earlier, as pork supply was further restored, the NBS said.

The rise in non-food prices edged down to zero year-on-year in September, versus a 0.1 percent growth a month earlier, with the prices for transportation dropping while those for medical care and education rising.

The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.5 percent year-on-year last month, the same as August, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, the country's producer price index, which gauges factory-gate prices, fell by 2.1 percent on a yearly basis in September, versus a 2.0 percent decline in August, with the slide in petroleum-related prices widening.

SCHOOLS GOING TOO FAR WITH NEW ADMISSION POLICY

Changzhi city in Shanxi province is planning to make myopia and obesity part of the criteria for passing the high school entrance examination.

Those with perfect vision will get five points, those with medium myopia four, and those with acute myopia three points. Similarly, those with lower body mass index will get more points than those with higher ones. The local authorities said they want to encourage middle school students and their parents to pay more attention to health. Though the intention is good, whether it will achieve the desired results is debatable.

Myopia and obesity are not always linked to a child's habits; genes also play a part. Two students might be studying for the same length of time under the same light conditions every day, but only one of them might develop myopia. Those 3-5 points could unfairly cost the student with myopia his seat. The authorities in Changzhi say they will take congenital myopia into consideration, but that may not be enough.

Second, it is not the responsibility of parents alone to ensure their wards don't develop myopia. There is widespread consensus among ophthalmologists that lack of outdoor activity is the main factor causing myopia in young people, because the eyes get easily tired staring at short distances, while lack of exposure to sunlight leads to deficiency of vitamin D, which is good for the eye.

Too much homework and overuse of electronic gadgets such as smartphones and tablets also push up myopia rates in children. Schools can address two of these three causes by arranging for more physical exercise classes and giving less homework. At home, the parents can encourage students to sleep early and not spend too much time on electronic gadgets.

Education authorities should consider asking schools to limit homework and increase the time students spend on outdoor activity, instead of passing the responsibility on to parents.

QINGDAO REMAINS ON ALERT AS 6 NEW CASES CONFIRMED

Qingdao, Shandong province, is still on high alert as the city reported six new confirmed COVID-19 cases, all of which were known to be positive for the coronavirus but who had no symptoms, according to the city's health authority on Wednesday.

The city has reported 12 confirmed cases since Sunday. Four patients are in serious condition, Chen Wansheng, deputy director of the general office of the city government, said on Wednesday.

By 6 pm on Wednesday, the city had collected and tested over 8.8 million samples and released more than 5.4 million results, with no additional positive results besides the 12 cases, the health authority said.

Acceleration of the effort to test every resident is underway, it added. Sample collection work from the city's five urban districts was expected to be completed by the end of Wednesday.

During a work meeting on Tuesday evening, Qingdao Party Chief Wang Qingxian called for the whole city to maintain a "state of war" spirit to fight the virus.

Experts said that the epidemic in Qingdao, which re-emerged over the weekend, will not likely develop into a large-scale outbreak.

"The mass nucleic acid testing effort is playing a crucial role in helping us learn how the epidemic evolves," said Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during an interview with China Central Television on Tuesday evening.

More accumulated information in the Qingdao case has shown that the latest epidemic originated in hospital and is unlikely to develop quickly like those in Beijing's Xinfadi market in June and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in July, Wu said.

Wu mentioned one of the confirmed cases-a taxi driver who has drawn wide attention. He was asymptomatic at first and became a confirmed case on Tuesday.

According to Wu, a patient is expected to be infectious for one or two days before displaying symptoms, and for five days after that. The taxi driver was isolated in time, and he is not believed to be very infectious, Wu said.

The Beijing government suggested on Wednesday that people from Qingdao not come to the capital if it's not necessary, and those who have to come need to show a negative nucleic acid test result from the previous seven days.

Xu Hejian, spokesman for the Beijing government, said at a news conference on Wednesday that people who came to the capital from Qingdao should follow related community epidemic prevention and control measures after arrival, such as providing regular health condition reports.

Gao Xiaojun, spokesman for the capital's health authority, said Beijing had traced five close contacts of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Qingdao by Tuesday, and the test results for all five were negative.

ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE IMPROVES IN POOR AREAS

Healthcare resources in rural and impoverished areas in China have become more accessible and evenly distributed in recent years, though more efforts are needed to ensure the long-term provision of standard services in these regions, health and poverty relief officials said on Wednesday.

"All 832 poverty-stricken counties in the country now have at least one public hospital, and every township or administrative village is equipped with one health clinic along with qualified medical workers," said Wang Jianjun, a senior official with the National Health Commission.

Poor residents suffering common and chronic diseases are able to access timely healthcare in nearby health institutions, and they can receive treatment for a growing number of severe illnesses closer to their hometowns, according to Wang.

"Data shows that over 10 million impoverished households have managed to shake off poverty thanks to assistance offered in the healthcare sector," Wang said during a forum that was held ahead of National Poverty Relief Day on Saturday.

Driving this positive trend is the massive mobilization of national resources to provide assistance to poor regions, according to officials.

About 1,000 top-tier hospitals across the country have recently dispatched over 80,000 medical workers to poor regions. County-level health institutions have sent about 100,000 such workers to assist lower-level health clinics, according to Wang.

To cultivate and retain more medical professionals in rural areas, Zhu Hongming, deputy director of the commission's primary health department, said that the commission is exploring new methods to encourage more young college graduates to become rural doctors and to boost subsidies for them.

"In Yunnan province, the monthly subsidy for rural doctors has gone up from 300 to 500 yuan ($44 to $74). The increased amount is mainly used to enroll them in endowment insurance programs," he said.

Zhu added that this year, a total of 600 million yuan from central finance will be allocated to invest in improving grassroots medical services, primarily for upgrading medical equipment and renovating facilities.

"By improving their income and working conditions, we believe healthcare teams in rural areas will be more stable," he said.

GRID PRICE PARITY SOUGHT FOR WIND POWER FIRMS

As subsidies for China's offshore wind power projects are to be removed by the end of 2021 to allow clean energy to compete with coal on price, insiders are appealing to the government to come up with transitional policies to enable the sector to smoothly transit the period.

Renewables have received subsidies since 2011. With gradual reductions in manufacturing costs, China has been reducing the amount of subsidies to renewable energy providers so as to ensure wind and solar generators can achieve "grid price parity" with traditional energy feed-stocks such as coal.

Wang Ziyue, an analyst with China Wind Research affiliated with BloombergNEF, said the removal of subsidies is expected to increase competition in the sector.

"Most of the offshore wind projects might not make profits without subsidies except for some that enjoy the country's best wind resources," said Wang. "The removal of subsidies in more than one year will pose challenges for the country's wind turbine makers," Wang said.

"The next five years are crucial for the industry to achieve grid parity, and the government, design institutes, developers and turbine makers should work closely to come up with an integrated design and intensive development of scale strategy to achieve a reduction of costs with optimization in design, technological innovation and scale advantages."

To ensure the sector smoothly transits the period with reduced to eliminated subsidies, he also suggested supportive transitional policies from the government.

"As the cost of electricity continues to fall, we expect to see more offshore projects in some markets. The growing power demand, the need to decarbonize the economy and decreasing costs will help accelerate the adoption of offshore wind power," Wang added.

Yi Yuechun, vice-president of China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, said the development of offshore wind power projects requires sufficient scale, and it's necessary to ensure steady newly added installed capacity each year for its sustained development.

Yi said local government support or investment subsidies are still necessary in the upcoming two or three years so as to achieve grid parity in the offshore wind power sector in 2025.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Who makes the past, a patterne for next yeare, Turnes no new leafe, but still the same thing reads, Seene things, he sees againe, heard things doth heare, And makes his life, but like a paire of beads.  - John Donne