XI ARRIVES IN NAY PYI TAW FOR STATE VISIT TO MYANMAR

President Xi Jinping arrived in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday for a state visit to Myanmar.

It is Xi's first overseas trip this year, and the first visit to the Asian neighbor by a Chinese president after an interval of 19 years.

During his two-day stay, Xi is scheduled to attend a series of state events held by Myanmar President U Win Myint, hold talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, meet with Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Min Aung Hlaing, and exchange views with the leaders of Myanmar's parliament and political parties.

Xi will also join Myanmar leaders in a series of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the launching ceremony of the China-Myanmar Culture and Tourism Year program.

It is Xi's first overseas trip this year, and the first visit to the Asian neighbor by a Chinese president after an interval of 19 years.

President Xi said he looks forward to renewing China's close ties with Myanmar and discussing future cooperation during a trip to the Southeast Asian country.

He made the remark in a signed article titled "Writing a New Chapter in Our Millennia-Old Pauk-Phaw Friendship", published on Thursday in Myanmar newspapers ahead of his two-day state visit.

Pauk-phaw, which means siblings from the same mother in the Myanmar language, "is an apt description of the fraternal sentiments between our two peoples, whose close ties date back to ancient times", Xi said.

Myanmar was among the first countries with a different social system to recognize the People's Republic of China after its founding in 1949.

Xi said that the elder statesmen of the two countries have since made enormous efforts to develop China-Myanmar relations.

"Our relationship has been marked by mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual support. It has become a prime example of equality, win-win cooperation and common development between countries of different sizes," he wrote, noting that the close ties have delivered real benefits to people in both countries.

China has long been Myanmar's largest trading partner and its most important source of investment. Bilateral trade reached $16.8 billion in the first 11 months of 2019.

According to Xi, more and more agricultural and livestock products from Myanmar are making their way to Chinese kitchens, with fruitful cooperation taking place in infrastructure construction and many other fields.

The vibrant cultural, religious and personnel exchanges provide solid support for deepening the friendship between the two nations, he added.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of China-Myanmar diplomatic relations, Xi said it is important that the two countries carry forward their traditional friendship and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation to bring this relationship into a new era.

CPC LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS KEY ROLE OF PARTY BUILDING, INSPECTIONS

The importance of enhancing Party building and opposing formalism and bureaucracy were highlighted at a key meeting attended by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday.

Xi, who is also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, presided over the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The meeting was held to review a report from the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau on its hearing and studying of reports from leading Party members' groups of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

The meeting also reviewed two reports on the fourth round of disciplinary inspections launched by the 19th CPC Central Committee and the major inspection work in the past year.

During the meeting, the leading Party members' groups of the top legislature, the State Council, the top political advisory body, the top court and the top procuratorate were urged to follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and make effective efforts in all their work.

They were required to keep pace with the CPC Central Committee, focus on the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, fulfill their duties and ensure the implementation of the policies and decisions made by the CPC Central Committee.

They were also required to make Party building their top priority, implement the eight rules on frugality, strengthen thematic education on remaining true to the Party's original aspiration and keep their mission firmly in mind and to continue to oppose formalism and bureaucracy.

The fourth round of disciplinary inspections has achieved major outcomes and played the role of political supervision, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The related departments should rectify the problems found by the inspectors and enhance daily supervision, and this rectification would be an important way of evaluating the officials' work, the statement said.

The central and State institutions should take the lead in enhancing Party building, implement the policies of the CPC Central Committee, continue to resolutely fight corruption and enhance supervision over the exercise of power, it said.

CHINA'S GDP GROWS 6.1% IN 2019: NBS

China's year-on-year GDP growth reached 6.1 percent in 2019, compared with 6.6 percent in 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

Growth in the fourth quarter was 6.0 percent, the same as the third quarter.

The country achieved its economic growth target of 6 to 6.5 percent set for the whole year of 2019 and registered an annual GDP of 99.0865 trillion yuan ($14.4 trillion).

China's per capita GDP reached $10,276 in 2019, Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS said at the news conference on national economic performance.

Despite the easing, the national economy was generally stable in 2019 with main projected targets for development achieved, laying a solid foundation for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, said the NBS in a statement.

The country registered a 5.7 percent industrial output growth last year, compared with 6.2 percent in 2018.

Fixed-asset investments expanded by 5.4 percent year-on-year in 2019, versus 5.9 percent growth for the previous year.

Retail sales increased in 2019 by 8.0 percent year-on-year, down from 9.0 percent in 2018, the NBS said.

China's surveyed urban unemployment rate nationwide was 5.2 percent in December and was kept between 5.0 percent and 5.3 percent for the year, the bureau said.

The NBS also said that the economy faces mounting downward pressure, and the country will take coordinated steps to ensure steady economic growth, the bureau said in a statement.

CHINA'S MAINLAND POPULATION CROSSES 1.4 BILLION

The total population on the Chinese mainland surpassed 1.4 billion at the end of 2019, official data showed Friday.

The total population on the mainland reached 1.40005 billion at the end of last year, increasing 4.67 million from one year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The figure did not count the population in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions as well as Taiwan or Chinese living overseas, according to the NBS.

Meanwhile, the working-age population continued to shrink.

A breakdown showed that the country's working-age population, those aged between 16 and 59, shrank by 890,000 from one year earlier to 896.4 million, accounting for 64 percent of the total population.

The country's working-age population had been declining since 2013 when the NBS started to release the measurement to replace the previous count of people aged between 15 and 59.

The NBS data showed the number of people aged 60 or above expanded 4.39 million to account for 18.1 percent of the total population.

A total of 14.65 million babies were born in 2019, shrinking 580,000 from the previous year and continuing to decrease for the third consecutive year.

The country started to allow married couples to have two children in 2016, ending the one-child policy implemented for decades, to address rising concerns over the aging population.

CHINA: TIME OF XI RELEASED IN MYANMAR

The Myanmar version of China: Time of Xi, a documentary about China's governance, was introduced on Thursday in Yangon ahead of President Xi Jinping's state visit to the country.

Speaking at a ceremony marking its release, Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and minister of the State Council Information Office, said the documentary will help the people of Myanmar learn more about China's governance under the leadership of Xi and about the country's development experience.

The documentary was a hit in China and abroad after being broadcast on several global media platforms. It will be broadcast on Myanmar's Skynet TV from Thursday to Saturday.

The documentary comes to Myanmar as the two countries celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year. Its release was timed to coincide with Xi's state visit on Friday, Xu said.

Characterizing the documentary as highly significant in bilateral relations, he said it will further enhance people-to-people bonds.

Xu called on the two countries to step up their efforts to strengthen synergies in their development strategies by jointly building the Belt and Road and intensifying pragmatic cooperation in various fields that will push the comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level.

More than 100 officials from China and Myanmar attended the ceremony, along with media representatives.

The three-episode documentary, which presents Xi's vision of governance, was jointly presented by the China Intercontinental Communication Center and the Discovery Channel from the United States. It uses vivid stories to explain practices and achievements in the governance of China under Xi's leadership and provides deep insights about China's development path. And it shows why China is an inspiration to the world.

The first episode, The People's Republic, features stories about poverty reduction, healthcare reform, construction of high-speed trains and various other fields that relate to people's everyday life.

The second episode, Running China Now, presents case studies on China's supply-side reform, technical innovation and pollution management, among other endeavors the country is undertaking on the domestic front.

The final episode, All Aboard, features China's major global initiatives and undertakings.

The documentary includes interviews with a panel of experts and scholars, including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; US scholar Robert Kuhn; British scholar Martin Jacques; Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore; and Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo.

Kyaw Win, chairman of Shwe Than Lwin Media Co, said at the ceremony that he was impressed by China's poverty reduction and its efforts to fight corruption. Myanmar can learn from China's governance experience, as it deals with similar problems, he said.

Kyaw Win also called for media cooperation to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

During media exchanges, representatives of Chinese and Myanmar outlets held a roundtable discussing bilateral cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative on Wednesday.

A book of Xi's remarks on the BRI was introduced at the meeting.

WUHAN IN ALL-OUT EFFORT TO CURB OUTBREAK OF VIRUS

Authorities in Wuhan, Hubei province, have intensified efforts to prevent the spread of a virus that has caused a pneumonia outbreak in the city, resulting in one death so far.

Outside China, a second case linked to the virus has been reported in Japan, following a case in Thailand.

All outbound travelers from Terminal 3 of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, a major airport in Central China, have had to receive temperature tests before boarding flights since Wednesday, and those displaying fever symptoms are quarantined, the airport authority said on Thursday.

The airport authority said it had requested airlines to cooperate with affected travelers in refunding or changing tickets for free.

At Wuhan Railway Station, employees told China Daily on Thursday that they had received notification from the authorities to start checking travelers' temperatures.

In the waiting room of Wuchang Railway Station, another major railway station in the city, medical services were provided to passengers in need on Thursday.

Forty-one confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus had been reported in the city as of Wednesday night, including seven people who were cured and discharged from the hospital, six still in critical condition and one death, according to the Wuhan Health Commission.

The city authorities had traced 763 people who had close contact with the patients as of Wednesday night, and 313 of them were still under medical observation. Observation of the others had been discontinued, the commission said, adding that it has intensified monitoring and search efforts in hospitals and clinics across the city to identify suspected cases.

People confirmed to have the illness mostly displayed symptoms of fever and coughing at the early stage of the disease, it said.

Although investigations have shown no clear evidence that the new coronavirus can be transmitted between human beings, the possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, it said earlier.

HOUSING PRICES STABILIZE IN MAJOR CITIES

Housing prices stabilized in major Chinese cities last month as prices of new and pre-owned homes remained unchanged or grew at a slower pace from a year ago, suggesting that the property market is on the right track with stable land and home prices, said experts.

New home prices declined in 16 cities during December, while in the secondary market 26 out of the 70 major cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recorded monthly declines in pre-owned home prices.

"Local governments have actively carried out the central government's guidances for the real estate sector. They have stuck to their respective measures to stabilize local markets as well as establish a long-term mechanism," said Kong Peng, chief statistician of the NBS.

Fifty cities reported growth in new home prices during December, six more than the 44 in November, and nine less than December 2018. At the same time, 38 out of the 70 cities saw their pre-owned residential property prices grow, six more than the previous month, and nine less than a year ago.

"Thanks to promotions by property developers in the past few months, more cities reported price growth for new homes on a monthly basis in December," said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institution.

Yan said the growth in new home sales influenced pre-owned home prices and rose 0.1 percent month-on-month.

In the pre-owned home market of the four cities, average price growth was 0.4 percent, compared with November. Beijing and Shenzhen grew by 0.6 percent and 1 percent, while Guangzhou remained unchanged, whereas Shanghai edged down by 0.2 percent, according to the NBS.

Compared to last year, the four first-tier cities saw 3.8 percent and 1.7 percent growth in their new and existing home prices on an annual basis.