China’s Belt and Road Initiative ushers in ‘Globalization 2.0’: experts
By Jiang Jie 16:37, April 12, 2017
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is drawing on a new type of regional strategy that can lead to “Globalization 2.0,” said a renowned Chinese expert on international relations.
According to Zhang Yunling, director of the academic division of International Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), humanity entered the era of “Globalization 1.0” after World War II, focusing on connecting the world via multilateral and regional cooperation. Prior to 2008, Globalization 1.0 has indeed promoted rapid economic growth, but the anti-globalization trend is always waiting, ready to strike, as imbalanced development between regions and communities is inevitable, Zhang noted.
The Belt and Road Initiative, on the other hand, offers a distinctly Chinese way of looking at global governance and cooperation.
“We try to improve the geographic advantages forged after industrialization in the West, which favors oceanic powers ... By connecting interior land, we are re-constructing these geographic advantages so that inland regions can also profit,” Zhang explained.
“It should be emphasized that the Belt and Road Initiative is not a project. It is an initiative, a method. It is not only about routes drawn on a map, but also about suggesting a direction and covering neighboring regions,” Zhang emphasized.
The remarks were made at a press conference in Beijing on April 12, where CASS unveiled its latest publication with Social Sciences Academic Press (SSAP). Xie Shouguang, director of SSAP, said at the conference that the publication is especially significant since the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is scheduled to be held in May.
The forum will take place in Beijing on May 14 and 15. It will explore ways of addressing regional and global economic issues, generate fresh energy for interconnected development, and help the Belt and Road Initiative deliver greater benefits to all the people and countries involved, Xinhua News Agency reported.
“The versions of globalization led by the East and the West are different. The West tends to be more aggressive, while the East emphasizes inclusiveness. That makes homogeneity one of the key factors in cooperation, but we are trying to show that heterogeneity does not necessarily get in the way of cooperation,” said Ren Jingjing, another expert with CASS.
SOURCE:People's Daily
'Internet Plus' to fuel brand-building for Chinese agricultural products
Chinese farmers should view product promotion through the lens of “Internet Plus," said an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on April 12.
“Innovation has always been key in brand-building. We have long passed the time where farmers only toiled on their land. In our era, ‘Internet Plus’ must be highlighted. China is the world’s largest consumer of meat and crops, with an annual consumption of 50 kilograms and 450 kilograms per capita respectively. It is time that we promote our brand overseas,” said Song Chengmin, a macroeconomic management official with the NDRC, at a conference on agricultural branding in Linyi, Shandong province.
The conference was held by the Linyi government and the People’s Tribune on April 12. Its theme was the proposal made by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 to strengthen brand-building for agricultural products.
Hu Xiaoyun, director of the China Academy for Rural Development at Zhejiang University, pointed out that it remains difficult to sell many Chinese agricultural products at high prices, even though they are equal in quality to their overseas counterparts.
“Even at some high-end venues in China, we are served foreign tea instead [of Chinese tea]. This is heartbreaking because tea originated in China and we see a huge amount of tea production every year,” Hu said.
In fact, China is not short of agricultural brands, but is enmeshed in an age of “wilderness,” according to Dang Guoying, a researcher with the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Dang told reporters on the sidelines of the conference that a large crowd of small Chinese brands cannot win out against Western giants. To spur domestic agricultural development, authorities should encourage brand-building rather than offering blueprints.
“On top of the agenda is our mission to find a carrier to hold the brand. It is usually giant agricultural cooperatives that do this job in the West. There are reportedly up to 1 million co-ops in China, which is in fact bad for brand-building,” Dang explained. Echoing the NDRC official, Dang also agreed that access to the internet could bring down the cost of agriculture.
“With the help of the internet, some less developed regions have become known in other regions, and business deals have been made. This pattern could promote basic infrastructure construction,” Dang said, adding that a beneficial cycle could be perpetuated in rural areas to boost sales as well as brand-building.
SOURCE:People's Daily
State Council to promote pilot program for land planning at provincial level
Updated: Apr 12,2017 5:10 PM
The State Council approved an inter-department joint meeting system for land planning at the provincial level, as an effort to push forward pilot work in space planning in provinces.
According to the document, the joint meeting should promote the pilot program in provinces and study major issues encountered in the process under the lead of the State Council.
The joint meeting should also evaluate work results and promote successful practices. Meanwhile, it should study laws and regulations involved in space planning, and undertake other tasks from the central government.
Currently, the joint meeting is composed of the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Land and Resources, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, State Forestry Bureau, State Oceanic Administration, and State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.
In the future, the joint meeting may bring in other members as needed.
Kenya thankful for China's food donation
Kenya is the latest beneficiary of a series of food donations from China that have been provided to African countries to help the continent mitigate food insecurity resulting from changes in weather patterns.
Beijing has announced a donation of 21,000 metric tons of rice worth Ksh2.25 billion ($21.9 million; 20.5 million euros; 17.5 million) to be distributed to hunger-ravaged Kenyans in 23 counties. The first shipment of food is expected to arrive in Kenya in about a month.
According to Henry Rotich, Kenya's treasury secretary, approximately 3 million Kenyans in both rural and urban areas are at risk of starvation.
The Chinese government responded to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's appeal in February for food aid from the international community, after declaring drought in the country a national disaster.
According to the national treasury, approximately 3 million Kenyans in both urban and rural areas are affected. Children under 5 years and expectant and lactating mothers are highly vulnerable to malnutrition.
"I wish to thank the government of China for the quick response to the president's appeal," Rotich said. The grant will go a long way toward supplementing the ongoing government efforts addressing the food crisis."
Rotich says the Kenyan government is working with the Chinese government on long-term mitigation measures like irrigation programs in drought-prone areas.
Liu Xianfa, the Chinese ambassador to Kenya, says the donated rice will be able to support 1.4 million people for a month on average.
"China has always paid attention to the drought situation in Kenya. For the past three years, we have been mobilizing the Chinese community in the country to support drought victims through food and water donations.
Since late last year, the Chinese government has donated rice to several African countries to help them mitigate the food crisis. Beneficiaries include Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Sierra Leone.
Toward the end of February, Beijing donated 5,983 tons of rice worth Ksh22 billion ($6.1 million; 5.7 million euros; 4.9 million) to Uganda to support drought-stricken people in the country.
About 10.9 million Ugandans are experiencing acute food shortages, while 1.6 million have no food at all, according to Uganda Food Security Outlook for June through January.
Food security is attributed to prolonged severe drought, which has affected crop production, leading to increased food prices.
In September, the Chinese government donated 19,000 tons of rice worth $24.6 million to Zimbabwe. About 4 million people in the country are in need of food aid.
It also promised to donate 10,000 tons of urea fertilizer to be distributed to the farmers who were to take part in a government maize production program to produce 2 million tons of grain.
Handing over the donation, Chinese Ambassador Huang Ping was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying the grant was a fulfilment of the drought-relief pledge made to affected African countries by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held in South Africa in December 2015.
"Today's event testifies to the strong ties between China and Zimbabwe as all-weather partners, especially in the area of food security and agriculture," Huang said.
Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone Wu Ping told Agriculture Minister Monty Jones recently that China will donate 6,300 tons of rice, equivalent to 126,000 50-kilogram bags of rice.
By the end of last year, China donated 6,000 tons of rice to be distributed to 271,266 households in 16 of 24 districts affected by drought in Malawi.
SOURCE:China Daily
Economic Watch: China, New Zealand cooperation offers win-win model
BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The ground-breaking cooperation agreement between China and New Zealand on the Belt and Road Initiative -- the first with a developed Western country -- came like a lovely breeze across the South-Pacific amid the global chill of rising protectionism.
During Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's four-day official visit to the Oceanian country, the first visit by a Chinese premier in 11 years, Li and his New Zealand counterpart, Bill English, witnessed the signing of the agreement Monday in Wellington .
China and New Zealand will explore the possibilities of bilateral cooperation in various fields to promote interconnectivity between the two countries, Li said at a joint press conference with English at Premier House.
The move offers a win-win model of globalization and sets an example of bilateral cooperation for other Western countries, Liu Qing, head of the Asia-Pacific department at the China Institute of International Studies, told Xinhua.
It shows New Zealand's commitment to embracing the vast opportunities China offers, which are important to the development of globalization, Liu added.
The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along, and beyond, the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
The initiative has won support from over 100 countries and international organizations, with the signing of nearly 50 inter-governmental agreements of cooperation.
The value of infrastructure projects rose 47 percent to nearly 500 billion U.S. dollars in 66 countries and regions that fell under the initiative in 2016, according to accounting firm PwC.
New Zealand is a "natural extension" of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, so China welcomes New Zealand's participation in building the Belt and Road, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Lutong said in a published article in Chinese.
China will invite New Zealand to attend a high-level meeting within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative in May to deepen dialogue and exchange, expand consensus and engage in win-win cooperation, Wang said.
New Zealand has always been a front-runner among developed countries in cooperating with China, Liu Qing said.
New Zealand was the first Western developed country to conclude bilateral negotiations on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, to recognize China's full market-economy status, to sign and implement a bilateral free trade agreement with China, and to join the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member.
New Zealand was also the first country to sign both film and TV cooperation deals in 2010 and 2014 respectively with China, and New Zealand was the first country to have two Chinese cultural centers.
Liu Qing believes that Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries will help upgrade bilateral economic and trade ties in sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, telecommunications and services.
Pan Gang, President of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, China's leading dairy producer, agreed.
At the opening ceremony of the second phase of its Oceania Production Base on the South Island of New Zealand on Saturday, Pan said that the Belt and Road Initiative has provided new opportunities for companies of both countries in dairy cooperation in broadening the consumer market and increasing production capacity.
Dairy cooperation is just one example of fruitful bilateral economic cooperation. Over the past three years, China has become New Zealand's largest export destination, trade partner and import source, with bilateral trade exceeding 20 billion New Zealand dollars (14 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up nearly 5 percent year on year.
Both sides are working steadily toward the goal of 30 billion New Zealand dollars (21 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020, set by the leaders of both sides.
In addition, Belt and Road cooperation between the two nations will also benefit countries of the South Pacific at large to share in regional connectivity, said Liu Qing.
Through the Belt and Road platform, countries of the South Pacific can strengthen infrastructure connectivity including shipping, aviation and the Internet, as well as construction of ports and roads, he added.
"The Belt and Road Initiative is very important to connecting countries and creating more opportunities for exchanges of goods and services," said Hans-Paul Burkner, chairman of the Boston Consulting Group.
Burkner said the initiative can push globalization to a new level, as it can connect more countries in Asia and beyond to the world economy.
Indeed, as China and New Zealand celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year, they will continue to press ahead with more practical cooperation and strengthen global and regional confidence, Liu Qing said.
SOURCE:Xinhua News Agency
Leaders talk Belt & Road plan with Xi
President invites Nepal, Madagascar and Micronesia to join trade initiative
Chinese PresidentXi Jinping (R) meets with Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Beijing, capital of China, March 27, 2017.
Nepal, Micronesia and Madagascar are welcome to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping separately told leaders of the three countries on Monday.
While meeting with Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Xi said that the two countries should seize the opportunities to work together on the Belt and Road Initiative to push forward cooperation in such areas as interconnection, free trade, agriculture, production capacity, energy and earthquake reconstruction.
The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Xi in 2013, aims to revive the ancient land and sea trade routes of the Silk Road with a focus on infrastructure.
Mentioning that China and Nepal have maintained close contacts in all levels of government and political parties, Xi called for ongoing efforts to further develop friendly ties between the two countries.
China and Nepal should continue to build upon political trust and support each other on major issues related to shared interests, Xi said. The two countries should expand two-way investment and promote fair bilateral trade, he added.
The Nepalese prime minister expressed gratitude for China's long-term support, especially the assistance with reconstruction following Nepal's deadly 2015 earthquake.
Dahal also affirmed his nation's commitment to the one-China policy and said the country will never allow any force to engage in anti-China activities in Nepalese territory.
Nepal supports the Belt and Road Initiative, and it is willing to cooperate with China in areas including trade, investment, transportation, infrastructure, tourism and aviation, he said.
Also on Monday, President Xi told Madagascan President Hery Rajaonarimampianina that China supports Madagascar's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative and the nation can help bridge a link to Africa.
China is willing to establish a comprehensive cooperative partnership with Madagascar, Xi said.
In the past 45 years, the two countries have respected each other and supported each other on issues of key interests and concerns, Xi said.
China will support Madagascar in infrastructure construction, human resources and investment and trade efforts, he said, adding the two countries should cooperate in fields such as agriculture, fisheries and security and legal affairs.
The Madagascan president said his country expects to promote economic and social development through deepening cooperation with China.
After the meeting, the two presidents were on hand as cooperative documents were signed, including a memorandum of understanding on jointly working on the Belt and Road Initiative and others related to trade and infrastructure.
Xi also said on Monday that China and Micronesia should fully tap into their potential and press ahead with two-way cooperation in fields including tourism, agriculture, fisheries and infrastructure.
He told Micronesian President Peter M. Christian the two countries enjoy common or similar views on international and regional issues and explained China is ready to strengthen coordination on key issues such as climate change.
China supports Micronesia to further play a role in regional affairs and is ready to step up dialogue and communication on issues involving Pacific island countries, Xi added.
Christian said his country staunchly upholds the one-China policy and stands with China regarding major issues such as climate change and globalization.
Xi noted that, after the two countries established a strategic partnership of mutual respect and common development in 2014, they have deepened political trust and strengthened cooperation and have made important progress.
China views Micronesia as a good friend and a good partner among Pacific island countries, Xi said. He said China is willing to continue with high-level communication.
Christian said Micronesia's relationship with China has achieved robust development since the diplomatic ties were established 28 years ago.
Following their talks, the two presidents witnessed the signing of bilateral agreements on economic and technological cooperation.
SOURCE:Xinhua News Agency
Minister: No approval given to GMO grains
Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu (center) attends a news conference of the two sessions in Beijing, March 7, 2017. [Feng Yongbin/China Daily]
China hasn't approved any planting of GMO (genetically modified organism) grains, said a top agricultural official Tuesday.
Agricultural Minister Han Changfu made the remarks during a news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing legislative and political advisory meetings.
The safety of GMO technology can be ensured, says Zhang Taolin, deputy agricultural minister, at the conference.
Many international authorities, such as WHO, the European Commission and International Council for Science, have done long-term tracking, evaluation and supervision on GMO safety. Results show that GMO products that have passed safety test and approved by governments are as safe as non-GMO products.
The government's stance on GMO is consistent and clear - bold in research, careful in popularization and strict in management, said Zhang.
SOURCE:MOA
GM food research to continue amid prudent approach, official says
China will continue to encourage GM food research and take prudent steps in marketing procedures, a leading agriculture official said on Tuesday.
Vice-Minister of Agriculture Zhang Taolin told a news conference that the country will continue to support GM food research by enabling the development of domestic technology and indigenous innovation.
It will continue to follow the previously designed roadmap of GM technology development, which allows the commercial marketing of non-edible crop varieties first, before allowing the marketing of varieties that are indirectly edible.
The marketing of directly edible varieties will come last, he said.
China has still to approve the marketing of GM grains. To date, agricultural authorities have only approved the marketing of domestic GM papaya and cotton.
Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said at the news conference that the ministry will continue to crack down on the illegal cultivation of GM crops that have not been approved for commercial cultivation.
In 2015, authorities destroyed more than 66 hectares of corn-seed farms in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Gansu province. In Hainan province, authorities destroyed more than 6 hectares of GM corn.
SOURCE:China Daily
Campaigns target farm pollution and waste
Targeted campaigns will be launched to curb pollution and animal waste on livestock and poultry farms as well as the excessive use of fertilizers in the horticultural sector in an attempt to bolster the environment in rural areas, the minister of agriculture said. Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, the minister, Han Changfu, said that the ministry will kick off a campaign this year to treat the pollution and waste products from livestock and poultry farms to improve the rural environment.
All the excrement from large-scale farms will either go through special treatment or be reused as resources, he said.
The excessive use of fertilizers in the horticultural sector, especially fruit and vegetables, will also be targeted and use of organic fertilizers will be encouraged, he said.
More than 40 percent of fertilizers in China are used in the horticultural sector, according to the ministry.
By 2020, the use of fertilizers in the cultivation of fruit, vegetables and tea across the country will be reduced by 50 percent, Han said.
The ministry will also launch a campaign to reduce the use of plastic mulches (mainly used as coverings for compost). Authorities will encourage farmers to use thicker mulch sheets to make them easier to be recycled through machinery, he added.
Livestock and poultry farms produce more than 3 billion metric tons of wastewater each year, according to the ministry.
SOURCE:China Daily