Frans: "The Chinese are richer than we are"

China no longer needs us 

In July 2018, Neolix unveiled the world's first mass-produced Level 4 AI autonomous vehicle, priced at $43,000. Now, costing $14,000, it is licensed in Germany and world wide. With 1,000 vehicles on the road, and 6.2 million km of safe driving, they have provided 2 million deliveries to 300,000 users. Read full article →

Domestic air travel hits pre-pandemic levels in April. The recovery for international travel continued to lag behind. Read full article →

The National Administration of Financial Regulation (NAFR) was officially set up on Thursday. It will send 2,000 teams to inspect 2,500 banking institutions, and 800 teams to supervise 800 non-banking institutions this year. Read full article →

Fiscal revenues expanded 12% YoY to $ 1.2 trillion in 2022. Fiscal revenues are taxes, fees, products and royalties collected by the State to finance the public sector. .Read full article →

Pearl River Steel Pipes won a $370 million order for the world's longest oil pipeline from Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. The 1,500 kilometer pipeline will require 260,000 tons of steel pipe. The highly controversial project is being developed by CNOOC, the Chinese oil giant, and France’s TotalEnergie. Read full article →

Vladivostok to serve China’s vast Northeast region, above, after Russia relented and now provides the most convenient deepwater sea outlet, the port of Vladivostok, above. Read more →

China is the world’s largest vehicle exporter for the first time in Q1, shipping 1.069 million vehicles vs. Japan's 1.047 million. April exports reached 376,000, up 3.3% MoM, and up 170% YoY.  Read more →

Daily chip output hits 1 billion units, up 3.8% in April. Chip imports from South Korea and Taiwan are down 21% YTD. Read more →

China-India trade reached $115 billion last year, compared to US-India trade of $119 billion. Read more →

Value-added industrial output rose 5.6% YoY in April, 1.7% above March. Manufacturing output rose 6.5%, while production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water rose 4.8%. SOEs' output rose 6.6% while the private sector grew 1.6%. Read more →

Exports to ASEAN up 24%, Africa 37%, and Latin America 11.2% – compared with a 11% growth in overall exports. Read more →

Beijing proposed the New Land Grain Corridor, connecting China with Eurasia, in 2012. Tariffs, quotas and logistic problems are almost solved and, beginning in October, China will import more wheat and barley from Russia and reduce its reliance on grain imported from western countries including Australia, the US, Canada and France. Read more →

The first images from Fengyun-3G, China's first precipitation measurement satellite in a low inclination orbit, were released on Monday. Captured by six payloads on FY-3G they show the three-dimensional structure of precipitation at different levels. Read article →

Qingdao Port broke the record by handling 1,192 TEUs (shipping container equivalents) in 24 hrs., beating global counterparts by 19%.  Read article →

"Autonomous driving is bullshit!" If you can't even automate factory production lines, how can you do autonomous driving? Autonomous driving is much harder, tens of thousands of times harder," says Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD. Read article →

The country that spawned two global coronavirus pandemics in the last two decades is laying tracks for a future one here. / Reuters / China financed the China-Laos Railway, a high-speed link from its southern border to the capital of Laos. It cuts a 422-kilometer swath through forested terrain that is home to dozens of species of bat, some of which host viruses similar to the one that caused the current pandemic. Read article →

The eleven provinces with positive natural growth have more positive attitudes towards fertility in their traditional cultures, regardless of their economic development. So the current fertility support policy should focus more on devising a new fertility culture other than reducing the cost of childbirth. Guangdong's two-child policy was in place in rural Guangdong until 1998, and was replaced by the one-and-a-half-child policy (if the first child is a girl). Consequently, the birthrate in Guangdong has always stayed high. Guangdong's "Chaoshan culture" also places greater emphasis on family and progeny. Read more →

China has few reliable sources of tax revenue.  It’s heavily reliant on the VAT, corporate income tax, and transaction taxes. US and European countries get a lot of revenue from the individual income tax, and use it to fund welfare. China's long standing political decision is that they’re not going to substantially tax household incomes. And that creates some constraints for them in terms of what they can do with government revenue. Read more →

PBOC cut all salaries in 2023 as part of a broader drive to reduce income disparity. Read more →

The Supreme People’s Court issued ‘Typical Cases Heard by the SPC's Intellectual Property Court in 2022,’ 20 cases selected from 3,468 technology-related IP lawsuits and monopoly disputes closed in 2022.” Read more →

KWM calls China's AI draft regulations “a nimble attempt at regulation in prompt response to the risks and impacts currently presented by generative AI”. It analyzes the regulations in detail and how they fit into China’s existing tech regulatory framework and compares China’s regulatory approach to the EU’s AI Act and the US’s Act of 2022. Read more →

China issues first gene-editing safety certificate for high-oleic soybeans. The certificate was given to BellaGen, the first company to start editing plant genes on an industrial scale, and will be valid until April 2028; unlike genetic modification, editing modifies only the genes of a given crop itself and not of other species. Read more →

A June 1951 US Air Force Staff Study on chemical & biological warfare stated "1. BW & CW offer a tremendous military potentiality against the overwhelming manpower superiority of the Soviet Union. 2. It may be necessary to use BW against the Chinese suddenly”. Besides clandestine forms of funding their secret weapons, this article examines other ways in which the BW program was kept secret, including the use of unwritten orders, the false labeling of weapons during shipment, and extraordinary security procedures taken during the movement of such materials. Read full article →

On this Day in 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton Apologized to Chinese Leader Zemin for Bombing Belgrade Embassy. It was the only target that the CIA designated in the course of the EU's invasion of Yugoslavia. Read full article →

November 1996: “British officials stated, repeatedly, that London is determined to bring about the breakup of China. Sir Leon Brittan MP in Beijing, at conference sponsored by the PRC, threatened his hosts with strategic destabilizations of its environment if China did not abandon its commitment to building a trans-Eurasia land bridge to western Europe and the Middle East.” Read full article →

Britain declared war on China on this day in 1857 to protect its drugs trade. Britain was the largest drug trafficker the world has seen and, in order to safeguard their trade, they bombarded Chinese cities and razed historical sites. Read full article →

Why do the 'ghost city' stories perpetuate? Perhaps it’s because people in western countries are unable to comprehend the implications of China’s massive and urbanizing population. Just Henan province alone has 100 million people, which is equivalent to nearly one-third of the entire population of the United States (325 million) and four times the population of the whole of Australia (24 million, the same as just the Chinese city of Shanghai). Or perhaps it’s a way of masking jealous fears about the future in western countries, for example in response to the rise of ghost towns in the tragically decaying world of America’s industrial heartlands. Or perhaps it’s just plain old stereotyping, with “Westerners … so convinced China is a dystopian hellscape they’ll share anything that confirms it.”  Read full article →

White House development support for renewable energy has been limited and inconsistent. The Wind Energy Systems Act of 1980 was quickly reversed by the Reagan administration, with federal R&D funding falling to minimal levels by 1988  and the lead taken by Denmark and Germany. Then Chinese government support allowed China to develop a large wind energy industry. During the crisis of over-capacity in PV manufacturing, the Chinese state continued providing significant support to its manufacturers, in contrast to the much more limited US state-by-state approach, which resulted in global dominance by the Chinese manufacturers. Read full article →

Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” did anything but destroy Tehran’s influence in the region. In Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq the influence of the ayatollahs grew. After a while, Iran also found ways to smuggle its petroleum to small private Chinese refineries supplying only the domestic market. Since those firms had no international presence or assets and didn’t deal in dollars, the Treasury Department had no way of moving against them. In this fashion, President Trump and congressional Republicans ensured that Iran would become deeply dependent on China for its very economic survival — and so also ensured the increasing significance of that rising power in the Middle East. Read full article →

The Chinese government has sent a notice to multiple embassies and international organizations, asking them to remove inappropriate signs from their premises, referring to pro-Ukraine posters displayed by embassies of Canada, Poland and Germany. The memorandum asked foreign missions not to use the outer walls of their buildings for “political propaganda” and to “avoid causing conflicts between states," and that they are “obligated to follow Chinese laws and regulations.” Read more →

China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, denounced the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan as an “unnecessary consumption of the hardworking Australian taxpayers’ money” at a press conference. “I think it’s ironic for Japan, a loser in the second world war, to talk about safeguarding the international system established at the end of the second world war. Between China and Australia, we don’t have historical skirmishes. We didn’t whatsoever ever threaten Australia. We didn’t bomb Darwin like Japan did. We didn’t kill Australians like Japanese did. We didn’t torture the Australian prisoners in a way that is extremely unacceptable.” The planned Quad summit in Sydney was cancelled on Wednesday after the US president, Joe Biden, cut short his regional travel without warning Canberra. Read more →

Hungary received US$7.6 billion in BRI investment last year — more than any other country — despite a multiyear downward trend in Chinese investment in Europe, and an additional $3 billion last week. Says Global Times, "Hungary is the only European guest of honor country." Read more →

Preparing for the China-Central Asia Summit in Xian, Shaanxi province, this weekend, President Rahmon visited Kazakhstan and President Mirziyoyev traveled to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and elsewhere. Presidents Japarov and Tokayev are in constant contact. Presidents Rahmon and Japarov are working through bilateral issues and President Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan has traveled to China three times in the last 12 months. President Xi seems ubiquitous, recently traveling to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to discuss business.  Read more →

The backdrop of China’s Central Asia Summit is rapidly expanding trade relations driven by fossil fuel imports that topped $50 billion in April, almost as large as China’s trade with the U.S. Read more →

Xi said the summit marks the official inauguration of the bi-annual China-Central Asia Summit Mechanism, next to be held in Kazakhstan in 2025. Xi said that they are considering establishing a permanent secretariat in China and talked about transport, commerce, investment and industry, agriculture, energy, customs and people-to-people exchanges as priority areas. Read more →

• Accelerate trade facilitation and investment agreement upgrades to raise trade volume to new heights.
• Boost cross-border freight volume, support the construction of a cross-Caspian Sea international transport corridor, upgrade ports, develop China-EU freight train hubs, and encourage businesses to build warehouses in Central Asian countries.
• Build a China-Central Asia energy development partnership, accelerate the construction of Line D of the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline, increase oil and gas trade, develop energy cooperation across the industrial chain, and boost cooperation in new energy and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
• Promote green innovation cooperation, citing soil treatment, water-efficient irrigation, and the establishment of high-tech businesses and information technology parks.
• Formulate plans for cooperation with Central Asian countries in reducing poverty through science and technology. Chinese-funded businesses will be encouraged to create more local jobs. China will finance $3.72 billion of financing support and free assistance.
• Help Central Asian countries improve their law enforcement, security, and defense capacity building in an effort to safeguard regional peace to make good use of the mechanism of coordination among Afghanistan's neighbors and jointly promote peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
• Strengthen exchanges with Central Asian countries in modernization concepts and practice, synergize development strategies, and make joint efforts to promote modernization of the six countries. Read more →

Arab Youth Survey: “Three-fourths (73%) want to see the US disengage from the region. China, Turkey and Russia are now the region’s preferred allies..the default position of looking to the West in times of crisis is being eroded by new allegiances to China, Russia and Turkey.” Read full article →

China's earlier industrialization gave us inflation-killing, cheap manufactures. Russia gave us the cheap energy that kept western economies (just) competitive, and (almost) inflation free. A ‘Frictionless Ease’ at that point characterised the movements of goods, capital, people – everything. Today however, it is Friction and Impediment that is prevalent. The ‘turn’ began with the US determination to not allow an Asian ‘heartland’ to supplant it. But the shift has acquired its own powerful momentum, now generating severed trading blocs that are determined to shake free from ‘old hegemonies’. In place of ‘Frictionless Ease’, we have economic de-coupling: sanctions, asset seizures, legal protection degradation, regulatory discrimination; Green Agenda and ESG discrimination; national security ‘ring fences’, and narratives that cast swathes of hitherto mundane economic activity into borderline ‘treachery’. Simply put, there is friction … everywhere. Read full article →

US interference in Thailand’s media & information space, education system, and political system has reached critical mass, allowing US-sponsored opposition parties to sweep elections;  so-called “pro-democracy” parties are led by corrupt billionaires including a convicted criminal and fugitive behind the worst human rights abuses in Thailand’s history; the US-backed opposition is openly anti-China, has called for canceling arms deals, infrastructure projects (including the high-speed railway), and rolling back ties with Beijing in favor of pivoting to the West, which offers no alternatives to China’s tangible contributions to Thai and regional development as well as economic prosperity. Read full article →

"The battleground won’t be in the Global South, where the US has very much lost to China, especially in Africa and Latin America. It won’t be in the Indo-Pacific either, where few countries want to take sides. It will be in Europe, where the US has most of its allies and where China is the largest trading partner. Gradually, the transatlantic alliance will relax. Even if America’s decline is gradual, it cannot afford a global military presence. It will have to retreat from around the world, including from the Middle East and Europe, to focus on the Indo-Pacific, where the US sees China as a long-term threat. Read full article →

China does not challenge US

Long Yongtu

When I was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, I met a British delegation and its head told me, "When we visit places, we do not look for preferential policies; we mainly look for stable policies. We can calculate how much money we can earn with preferential policies and how much we can earn without them. Even if your policies are not preferential, we will sign a contract as long as we can earn money. But if your policies are uncertain and full of variables, even if they are preferential, we dare not make up our mind."

The importance of certainty can be seen from the perspective of economic affairs alone. Therefore, the current international situation presents a great challenge to us. There are three main reasons for the uncertainty. 

1. The three-year pandemic brought China's communication with foreign countries nearly to a standstill. Face-to-face communication between people, businesses, and especially high-level officials of different countries has largely ceased. China's relationship with the United States and some other countries is fragile and delicate, and the lack of face-to-face communication for several years has resulted in mutual distrust. The lack of mutual understanding and mistrust brings about information asymmetry, resulting in misinterpretations, misjudgments, and misunderstandings. Over the past three years,  these issues have accumulated, serving as an essential reason for the uncertainty of the current situation.
2. The Ukraine crisis. The suddenness of the crisis caused global concern. The biggest impact of the Ukraine crisis is that it united the Europeans and pushed them toward the U.S., which has changed the world's geopolitical landscape. Europeans were originally divided, but in the face of the Ukraine crisis, they united and sided with the United States, which is a great challenge for China. In addition, China's position on the Ukraine crisis has been misinterpreted. China wants to take a relatively balanced position by adhering to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the UN Charter and considering and addressing the major national security concerns of some countries. But this position has been misunderstood by Western countries and some developing countries, putting us in an awkward position on the Ukraine issue. Of course, this situation has improved recently after a series of efforts made by Chinese leaders. After the recent visit of [French] President Macron and some other European leaders to China,  China's position has been understood more accurately. Undoubtedly, the crisis in Ukraine has indeed led to a misunderstanding of China's perception by many countries, which has brought a lot of uncertainty. The Ukrainian crisis is still ongoing, and there is a lot of uncertainty about when negotiations will take place, whether negotiations will be successful or not. All of this uncertainty has caused significant problems for the world.
3. The China policy of the U.S. has greatly changed in the past few years. The U.S. has been tough on China, disregarding any international rules. The U.S. imposes precise sanctions on Chinese companies, attempting to exclude China from the global industrial chain, especially in vital sectors like semiconductors, and to crack down on our high-tech companies. China-US relations have always been a crucial part of China's foreign relations, and because of the lack of trust between the two countries, the U.S. suppression of China's economy over the past few years has indeed been a significant uncertainty in the current international situation.

Head-of-State Diplomacy of Utmost Importance

What can be done in the face of such a complex situation? China now wants to exert influence on the Ukraine crisis, but it is hard to predict the outcome. Moreover, it is hard to say whether the current China policy of the US will continue in this way. What can be done now is to reduce the misinterpretations, misjudgments, and misunderstandings over the years in the face of this uncertainty. Therefore, under such circumstances, special attention should be paid to strengthening mutual communication, gradually establishing or re-establishing mutual trust, and strengthening face-to-face exchanges and cooperation between people, businesses, and countries. I would like to emphasize in particular that head-of-state diplomacy is the most important.

In 2017, just under 100 days after Trump took office, the Chinese leader flew to Florida and had an exemplary China-US dialogue with him at Mar-a-Lago, which was a great success. Trump said at the time that the meeting led to an extraordinary friendship between the two leaders and achieved fruitful outcomes. Without the good personal relationship between the two leaders from the beginning, it would have been difficult to tell what the four years of the Trump administration's crackdown on China wold have been like - it might have been more than just a tariff agreement. The Economic and Trade Agreement between the Government of the  People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America, in fact, was disadvantageous to the US, but Trump agreed to sign it.

Therefore, this head-of-state meeting played a crucial role in maintaining the basic stability of U.S.-China relations during the four years of the Trump administration and demonstrated the importance of head-of-state diplomacy. In the face of the current uncertainty in China-U.S. relations, unremitting efforts should be made by China, starting from the grassroots level of diplomacy, and continuously engaging in communication, accumulation, and the creation of a favorable atmosphere at all levels. In the current situation, if head-of-state diplomacy is achieved through the efforts of both China and the United States, global uncertainty may be greatly improved.

Recently, President Macron underscored EU strategic autonomy during his visit to China. This is significantly affecting the geopolitical imbalance caused by the Ukraine crisis. From this perspective, I think it is essential to strengthen communication and build trust. If head-of-state diplomacy can be achieved, the world may be able to get out of the current predicament. Of course, it is still difficult and not entirely up to China, but China still needs to persist in its efforts.

Market-Based, Rule-Based Globalization Will Far Outdo Value-Based Globalization 

Globalization is critical for China’s opening up to the outside world and for every enterprise. Without globalization, China’s opening up would lack a fundamental and relatively stable international environment, and China’s enterprises would be unable to fully leverage global resources and markets.

The reason that China needs to open up is to utilize two markets and two sets of resources. [Note: “two” refer to domestic and foreign.] The reason that China engages in globalization is to improve production efficiency and meet consumer choices by utilizing global markets and resources. REN Zhengfei once used Huawei as an example to illustrate globalization, saying, “What is globalization for us? Huawei uses the world’s best components and production equipment to produce the best products, this is globalization.”

However, globalization is encountering great difficulties today. Before World War II, the basic principle of globalization was the law of the jungle: the big fish eats the little fish, and the winner takes all. After World War II, the Western countries led by the United States learned the lessons of World War I and World War II and began to engage in multilateralism, establishing the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, as well as a set of international rules. Therefore, globalization in the decades after World War II is, in simple terms, a rule-based and market-oriented globalization because these rules are designed to regulate economic activities in the market.

The problem now is that the U.S. is abandoning the multilateral system it has led, leaving international organizations like the WTO completely marginalized and unable to play their roles. 

Moreover, the United States has already abandoned the most basic rules of international trade and economics. For example, the most-favored-nation treatment requires the United States to treat all countries equally, and thus, how can a separate policy be explicitly applied to China? The principle of national treatment means that all enterprises, whether Chinese or foreign, private or state-owned, should be treated equally. How can the United States impose completely different sanctions against several Chinese companies? I participated in the negotiations for China’s accession to the WTO for so many years. The United States, as a "teacher", taught me so much, and now you "teachers" are taking back everything you taught, which is very ironic. But that's the reality. Of course, the people participating in the negotiations back then are not the same as the Americans in power today, but they are all from the US.

Now, because the United States wants to abandon the multilateral system and international rules that it has led to, globalization is at a crossroads. One way is to follow the US:  abandon the existing multilateral system and multilateral trade rules,  establish a whole set of hegemonic systems - to establish so-called values-based globalization, engage in alliances for democracies and small exclusive circles, and build "globalization" based on those circles. The most critical purpose of this “globalization” is to exclude China. The other way is to adhere to the multilateral system and multilateral rules that have been in place since World War II. As these multilateral rules and systems have been tested for decades, supporting the current system and regulations are legitimate and stand on the moral high ground.

So in such a situation, China must not subvert the existing order, China must preserve it and continue to promote globalization based on the existing rules. Of course, it does not mean the existing rules are perfect, as the WTO and many other international organizations can not keep pace with the times on many issues. For example, though now cross-border e-commerce development is so fast, a globally applicable system of rules for cross-border e-commerce is not established. This is not about inability, but because of the intervention from the US. Moreover, some new elements should be added to the current order, for example, the Belt and Road Initiative, which injects fresh momentum into a new round of globalization. President Xi’s proposal of a community with a shared future for mankind actually sets the direction for the new globalization. Globalization is indeed at a crossroads, as the United States is changing it to so-called values-based globalization, but China continues to insist on market-based and rule-based globalization. I believe that market-based and rule-based globalization will definitely be able to outdo value-based globalization because the latter is completely politicized and cannot withstand any market forces. Confidence should be put in this regard.

Having Confidence in the Improvement of the China-U.S. Relationship 

China-US relations are indeed very challenging at the moment, and the US has been particularly tough in terms of the economy, which happens to be the ballast stone of China-US relations. In such a situation, many people are very pessimistic about China-US relations. Some senior scholars studying China-US relations have argued that China has no hope of improving relations with the U.S. I was shocked when I first heard this, but I believe that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China still holds hope for improving China-U.S. relations.

In early April this year, General Secretary Xi visited Guangdong Province and delivered an important speech about openness. General Secretary Xi stated, “China's policy of reform and opening up will remain unchanged over the long term. China is ready to collaborate with any nations that are interested in engaging in mutually beneficial cooperation to advance the shared prosperity and development of the global economy.”

Some of these words were intended for the American audience, meaning that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China still holds hope for improving relations with the United States. 

But it is unknown if the Chinese and Americans have truly absorbed this message. I hope the Chinese people take it to heart because some Chinese companies have started to avoid doing business with Americans and investing in the United States due to perceived high risks. If this trend continues, with Chinese enterprises believing that China has lost its ties with the US, China is actually actively promoting decoupling, which is a very dangerous trend. China must firmly believe that the economic and trade relations with the United States cannot stop, and China must make every effort to strengthen them. This is a critical point, and I hope everyone learns from General Secretary Xi’s words.

Strengthening relations start from several aspects. 

First, it is important to strengthen the political foundation of China-U.S. relations. From Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping to President Xi Jinping, several generations of Chinese leaders have established the hard-won political foundation of China-U.S. relations. Previously, the foundation of China-US relations used to be the three joint communiqués. After President Xi met with President Biden in Indonesia last November, President Biden committed to “four no’s and one no intention’s.” [Note: 四不一无意]. President Biden reaffirmed that a stable and developing China is in the interest of the United States and the world and that the United States respects China’s system. “Not seeking to change China’s system” is the most important aspect, and the Communist Party of China’s governance is our most significant core interest. “Not seeking a new Cold War, not seeking to oppose China by strengthening alliances, not supporting “Taiwan independence”, and not supporting two Chinas, nor one China, one Taiwan, and no intention of engaging in conflict with China.” 

I think these words should be communicated to the Chinese general public, enabling them to see the U.S. not solely through its sanctions on Huawei and then disavow all the political foundation of China-U.S. relations. Of course, we need to “listen to what the U.S. says and watch what it does,” [Note: 听其言观其行] but this is, after all, a political statement from the highest level of the U.S., and at that time President Xi immediately affirmed that he underscored President Biden’s message about the “four no’s and one no intention’s.” 

“China does not seek to change the existing international order or interfere in the internal affairs of the United States, and has no intention to challenge or displace the United States.” I think this statement by President Xi should be widely publicized by our media to the American people, as few people in the United States know that China’s top leader has made such a statement. 

“China does not seek to change the existing international order,” and what is the core of the existing international order? It is that the United States is the boss [Note: 老大]. China clearly states that it does not seek to change the existing international order or interfere in the internal affairs of the United States, and has no intention to challenge or displace the United States. The politicians in the US have heard this, but they pretend not to. Therefore, on the issue of how to strengthen the political foundation of our two countries, we should publicize more. China does not need to believe in all Americans’ words, but the United States, as a major power, is also unwilling to pay the price of blatantly giving up its commitments in front of the world. Therefore, I think efforts should be made in this regard: if the Americans are to make statements that go against the political foundation of China-US relations, China should point it out and resolutely fight back; if the United States makes some positive statements, China also needs to guide the situation to create an atmosphere for improving China-US relations.

In addition, the Taiwan question has also been troubling China-U.S. relations. The Taiwan question serves as the political foundation of China-U.S. relations and also China’s red lines. However, the Taiwan question does not encompass the entirety of the China-US relations. The China-US relationships encompass a wide range of areas, from politics and economy to military and culture. I think it is necessary to stay alert for a small number of Western politicians, media outlets, and some Taiwan independence activities who are deliberately creating trouble and tensions, attempting to sway the public opinions on the Taiwan question disrupting cross-strait relations, interfering with the overall situation of China-U.S. relations, hindering China’s diplomatic efforts, and impeding the great process of China’s national rejuvenation.

Second, the economic foundation of China-US relations should be strengthened.For decades, China-US economic and trade relations have formed a situation like passengers riding on the same boat. Currently, when Americans talk about decoupling, they themselves feel powerless. Just a few days ago, United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said that the decoupling between the United States and China would be disastrous. Even the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, talked about the decoupling with China after she visited China, and she said “Three No’s”: Decoupling from China is “not viable, desirable, or even practical.” Reality will tell the United States and the West that decoupling from China will come at a heavy cost for them. 

I have dealt with Americans for so many years. Although they talk a lot about political slogans, ideology, and values, what they ultimately value is the actual economic benefits. I remember in the negotiations of China’s accession to WTO accession, if China made it clear to the United States what benefits they would get by accepting this clause, the next day they would say “yes.” If you do not give them a clear explanation of what benefits they can get, even if you are servile to them, they will not agree.  I have great confidence in this aspect. Do not pay too much attention to the high-profile statements of U.S. politicians and legislators because they ultimately value the actual interests. 

China is no longer the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago when China’s GDP was only 17% of the U.S. total, but now it’s 80%. So we must have confidence in strengthening the economic foundation between China. Americans prioritize their interests, and China’s huge market and economy can benefit the U.S. In addition, China needs to use the multilateral system to restrain the United States. The United States can not act recklessly because Americans also have to face various countries worldwide. 

Third, the foundation of public opinion in China-U.S. relations should be strengthened. In the past few years, there have been many misunderstandings due to poor communication between the two sides, leading to changes in public opinion on both sides. According to surveys in the U.S.,70 percent of Americans now have a negative view of China. Similarly, Chinese public opinion towards the US on social media is also quite tough, encompassing numerous misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and ample room for improvement. 

Therefore, efforts should be made to improve the public sentiment between the two countries, which I still have confidence in. China and the United States have no historical grievances. We even fought side by side in World War II. The Americans took the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship and built first-class institutions like Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Peking Union Medical College Hospital for China. Most Chinese people still have a favorable view of the United States, and many are willing to send their children to study there, indicating a fundamental recognition of the United States. The fundamentals for public opinion on both sides are still solid. Twenty years ago, I accompanied President Jimmy Carter to the Zhijiang Airport in Hunan Province to attend the unveiling of the statue of General Claire Lee Chennault of the Flying Tigers, and President Carter made a noteworthy statement, “The United States and China share a deep connection forged by blood and flesh.” So this fundamental of public opinion is there, and it is possible for us to make efforts

In fact, the United States contributed to China’s reform and opening up, and this is undeniable. China has maintained a significant trade surplus with the U.S. for a long time, and a large portion of China’s foreign exchange reserves comes from this surplus. The U.S. has made significant investments in China, contributing to China's economic growth in recent years. In the negotiations for China’s accession to WTO accession, it would have been nearly impossible to reach an agreement without the United States, Moreover, if the United States had acted in bad faith, the negotiations would have been hopeless. But after the U.S. took a positive attitude toward China’s accession to the WTO, the whole negotiations went very smoothly.  A significant part of the final agreement on our accession to the WTO came from the China-US agreement. We must recognize the role played by the United States in China’s reform and opening up and not forget this history. Now the economic and trade relations between China and the United States are also very close. Thousands of American and Chinese enterprises interact frequently every day. There are hundreds of thousands of Chinese students studying in the United States, with about ten million parents behind them, all willing to see the improvement of China-US relations. Moreover, people of Chinese heritage in the U.S. and around the world, as well as small and medium-sized countries worldwide, are willing to see an improvement in China-US relations. The two countries should not create difficulties for them to choose sides. Therefore, the greatest effort and sincerity should be made and shown to improve bilateral relations. A favorable public sentiment atmosphere needs to be created to provide more space and flexibility for China-US diplomacy. China and the US need to make continuous efforts to improve bilateral relations.

Dealing Well with China’s Domestic Affairs

Lastly - and I’ll be brief - in the face of current uncertainties, as President Xi has said, China needs to focus on its own things. The two most important aspects are: first, ensuring the continued development of the Chinese economy and maintaining social stability, and second, upholding openness. Only when the Chinese economy develops and society remains stable can the country provide a vast market for the world. Just like the relationships between people, China needs to establish a situation where engaging with Chinese people is beneficial, especially in dealing with Americans. If dealing with Chinese people is not profitable for Americans, they will not have the sincerity to engage with us. However, the "profit" lies in the development of the Chinese economy, and it is China’s responsibility to provide these benefits. Therefore, China needs to do its own things well and continues to open up. There are so many things China can do in this regard.

Currently, China is developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. If Hainan Free Trade Port is included in the scope of the Greater Bay Area, a new situation may arise because the Greater Bay Area is a powerful driving force for China's economy. 

If Hainan focuses solely on zero tariffs in its free trade port, I believe its significance would be limited. But if it can be integrated with the Greater Bay Area, so that Hainan Free Trade Port has close ties with Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong, then it will be different. 

For example, Guangdong could designate a small piece of land like the Leizhou Peninsula or Northern Guangdong as a free trade processing zone, fully enjoying Hainan's zero-tariff policy. This would be significant because zero tariffs are crucial for export trade processing as it would lower costs for the import of components and equipment. 

If Hainan can also become a separate tariff zone under the WTO, similar to Hong Kong, issue its currency or even use Hong Kong dollars as its currency, which Professor ZHENG Yongnian has proposed, and implement full capital account liberalization with free capital movement, it would greatly accelerate the internationalization of the RMB. 

Therefore, by including Hainan in financial and monetary cooperation with Hong Kong or having the Hong Kong Monetary Authority oversee Hainan's currency and capital markets, the situation would be different. 

Moreover, there is an island next to Sanya. If it is rented to Macao for 50 years to develop the gambling industry, Hainan's tourism industry would be boosted immediately.

In short, how to incorporate Hainan Free Trade Port into the Greater Bay Area and give it a truly independent tariff system, independent currency policy, and independent financial policy is an excellent research topic.

Establishing a free trade port is a significant decision by the central government, and the world is watching whether China can do it well. China does need to emancipate its thinking and make progress on these issues. There are many things China can do to deepen reform and opening up, and as long as China can do them well, there are no difficulties that China cannot overcome. China still needs to have confidence in addressing and facing the current economic uncertainty.
 

Long Yongtu was Chief Negotiator for China’s resumption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) contracting party status and its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In February 1997 he was appointed Vice Minister and Chief Representative for Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the predecessor to the current Ministry of Commerce. Long was Secretary-General of the Boao Forum for Asia from 2003 to 2010. He is the Chair of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG). Long gave this public speech on April 22, 2023. Pekingology.

1. Talent at the Top: Only the brightest, most idealistic people are are admitted to politics–a policy unchanged in 2200 years.
2. Data in the Middle: policies are implemented, tracked, and optimized based on terabytes of data. The PRC is the world's largest consumer of public surveys.
3. Democracy at the Bottom: ordinary people, all unpaid amateurs, assemble twice a year to check the stats and sign off on new legislation. Policies need a minimum of 66% support to become law. That's why 95% of Chinese say the country is on the right track.

The ISC (Needham) Report

The Report of the International Scientific Commission for the Investigation of Facts Concerning Bacteriological Warfare in Korea and China (the ISC report), published at the height of the Korean War, validated claims by North Korea and China that the US had launched bacteriological warfare (biological warfare, BW) attacks against both troops and civilian targets in those two countries over a period of several months in 1952.
   

The most vilified document of the 20th Century.

The report’s release in September, 1952, brought a withering international attack. It was roundly denounced by American and British politicians of the highest rank, ridiculed by four star generals, accused of fraud by celebrated pundits, misquoted by notable scientists, and scorned by a compliant Western press. Charges were made against the quality and truthfulness of its science. Its “unstated” political agenda was denounced. The ethics of interviewing captured US pilots was excoriated and its authors were publicly flayed as communist dupes. The report was red baited in the US halls of Congress and deemed unpatriotic to read, and therefore went unread and deliberately forgotten over the years, which has been the fate of Korean War history in general. In subsequent decades, volumes placed in American university library collections were quietly and permanently removed from circulation.
   
When the rare copy came up for auction, it was discretely purchased and disappeared from public view. This critical 67 year old truth commission document from the Korean War was slipping towards oblivion. For these very reasons, historians and truth seekers should exalt the wondrous rebirth of the ISC Report from near extinction with the publication of this new electronic edition. We welcome the sunshine that re-publication brings to a shadowy and suppressed chapter of American Cold War history. (from the introduction by Thomas Powell) 800 pages.  $9.99.