The Week of Italian Cuisine in the World kicked off on Monday, with the aim to promote exquisite Italian cooking, the Mediterranean diet, Italian agri-food products and wine. In the 2023 edition, as in past years, the week will be further enhanced by activities organized by the Italian Embassy in China together with the Italian business community operating in China. 

Several Italian restaurants in Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao have been preparing special menus and typical dishes for Chinese friends and expatriates residing in China to enjoy throughout the Italian cuisine week that is set to run until November 19. Beijing's ABBOCCA restaurant, for instance, has provided a special selection for homemade fresh cheeses called "TRILOGY," which includes mozzarella, stracciatella, and ricotta, and has been dubbed a tasty journey through salty and sweet to stimulate all senses complete with fresh basil leaves, cherry tomatoes.

Even since the eruption of the recent Israeli-Palestine conflict, China has taken a proactive role in de-escalation, collaborating with the international community to spare efforts to bring an end to the fighting, safeguard civilian lives, and provide humanitarian aid.

In recent days, the Chinese Government's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun has made relentless trips to Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Jordan in a diplomatic effort to de-escalate the situation and ease hostilities. 

Meanwhile, in response to the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the China International Development Cooperation Agency has pledged an additional 15 million yuan ($2.05 million) in emergency humanitarian supplies. This aid aims to assist those affected by the conflict, in addition to previously allocated $1 million in cash assistance through the Palestinian National Authority and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.

During a meeting with Zhai on Sunday in Amman, the capital of Jordan, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini, noted that the UNRWA regards China as an important partner, thanks China for its long-standing political support and financial assistance to the UNRWA, appreciates China's emergency humanitarian assistance to Gaza since the conflict, and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as soon as possible.

UNRWA, which was founded in 1949, is mandated to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. The organization relies on voluntary contributions to finance its operations.

At the Wednesday media briefing, China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that "China has no selfish interests in the Palestinian-Israeli issue. We stand for the protection of civilians, a ceasefire and an end to fighting, the opening of humanitarian relief corridors, the prevention of a greater humanitarian crisis, the resumption of political dialogue and negotiation, and the return of the Palestinian issue to the right track of the two-state solution so as to achieve lasting peace and stability in the Middle East."

"As [China assumes] the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month and a responsible member of the international community, China will continue to work with the international community to ease the situation, protect civilians, advance humanitarian assistance, and resume peace talks," he said.

China urges the US to correct unjust harassment and repatriation of Chinese citizens entering the US and China will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens, Chinese Foreign Ministry said in response to the Washington Post’s recent special report on the unwarranted harassment, interrogation and repatriation of Chinese students and scholars by US border officials which grabbed headlines. 

The Washington Post recently published a special report of interviews with six Chinese students and two visiting scholars who were unreasonably harassed, interrogated, and deported upon their arrivals at the US airports, detailing the experiences of some individuals, which have attracted attention domestically in the US.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in response during a Wednesday briefing that China has repeatedly expressed its firm stance on the unwarranted harassment, interrogation, and deportation of Chinese citizens by the US, especially students and scholars.

The US’ frequent discriminatory, political, and selective law enforcement measures against Chinese students seriously violate their legitimate rights and interests, and disrupt normal personnel exchanges between the two countries. The practice contradicts the US' stated support for and facilitation of cultural exchanges between the two nations and runs counter to the shared desire of the people from both countries to engage in friendly exchanges. 

We urge the US to carefully listen to the voices from all sectors of both countries, stop poisoning the public sentiment that affects bilateral relations, correct the wrongful practices of unjustified harassment, interrogation and deportation of Chinese citizens, thoroughly investigate the relevant cases, give the victims a fair explanation, Lin said, noting that China will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens. 

A number of Chinese localities have set out detailed plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology and relevant ecosystems this year, a move that observers said shows that China is leveraging its "whole-nation" system advantage to fast track the technology's development amid a white-hot global race.

It also comes as the Government Work Report launched the AI Plus Initiative, while highlighting efforts to develop new quality productive forces for the first time.

Qingdao, a city in East China's Shandong Province, plans to build itself into a highland in AI hashrate and algorithm applications.

According to the plan, the city aims to create 20 influential leading AI firms, about 30 AI innovative platforms, more than 100 AI application demonstration zones and seven AI hashrate centers to "further improve the local AI-related ecosystem," the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In mid-March, the Industry and Information Technology Bureau in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, which is also known as China's "Silicon Valley," issued an action plan to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.

The plan draws up 20 "strategically newly emerging industry clusters," including AI, and it vows to support their growth "with extraordinary strength and the city's whole resources."

The Shenzhen authorities have released two lists on the application of AI technology in a combined 41 urban scenarios, including digital, culture and public services, the Xinhua report noted.

In February, Wang Zhonglin, governor of Central China's Hubei Province, pledged at an AI-themed meeting that the province will speed up the technology's development with "extraordinary measures" and "a stronger sense of urgency, mission and responsibility," said another Xinhua report.

Wang took note of Hubei's technological edges in several fronts, including innovation prowess, a solid industrial base and abundant applications, which he believes could reinforce the city's role in AI development.

With the recent market hit text-to-video AI model Sora and AI chatbot ChatGTP, some Chinese cities could embrace the opportunities brought by AI large language models' revolutionary tide and make this core to their development plans.

Liu Jie, Party chief of Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, mentioned Sora twice at the city officials' first meeting in February, stressing that the city - which is home to a number of technology companies such as Alibaba and NetEase - should innovate and seize the opportunity in the new round of AI development, news website 21jingji.com reported.

Liu suggested measures to shore up hashrate development, including launching "hashrate vouchers" that bring down the cost, creating more conditions for developing universal AI large language models as well as vertical and specialized AI large language models, the report said.

Observers said that those efforts underscore that China has been spearheading a top-down effort that could help itself quickly climb up the tech ladder and close gaps with certain foreign peers. One of China's biggest advantages in the AI sector lies in the country's system advantage, which makes it more efficient in mobilizing and deploying relevant resources in technological research and development, they stressed.

Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of 360 Security Technology, voiced confidence that Chinese firms could narrow the gap with the US industry within one or two years, due to China's strong advantage in rapid learning capabilities.

He told the Global Times that 2024 may become the "year of application" for China in the field of AI.

In late February, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council held a meeting on promoting the reform of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), stressing the importance of pushing forward the transformation and upgrading of central SOEs through technological empowerment, including AI.

China's ambassador to the US Xie Feng said that the cooperation between China and the US makes for a better future, urging the US government to stop using a microscope to examine the Chinese economy, for it doesn't solve one's own challenges.

Xie also said the two giant economies so closely intertwined and a forced "de-coupling" by Washington could be too expensive.

Xie's remarks was made in a speech at the US' session of the "Opportunities in China" Global Media Dialogue on Wednesday, according to the official website of the Chinese embassy.

Viewing e-vehicles as "iphone(s) on wheels" or describing cargo cranes as "Trojan horses" only gets one into a never-ending cycle, because "overstretching national security leads to excessive anxiety," Xie noted.

If "de-risking" is all about China, it means lost opportunities and lose-lose outcomes. After all, with over 70,000 American companies investing in China and the two economies so closely connected, a forced "de-coupling" can be costly, Xie said.

Xie's speech was made amid the backdrop that the US is escalating its restless assault on Chinese companies, often citing the so-called "national security risks," and, the US is planning to invest billions in domestic manufacturing of cargo cranes to replace ones made in China.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a recent interview that "cars these days are like an iPhone on wheels… You connect your phone and you might receive the text message… Imagine a world with 3 million Chinese vehicles on the roads of America, and Beijing can turn them off at the same time."

However, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co (ZPMC), a major maker of ship-to-shore cargo cranes, said in a statement on Sunday that its cranes do not pose a cybersecurity risk to any port, while the US government allegations about its products, not supported by the facts, could easily mislead the general public.

China's Foreign Ministry refuted recent remarks by high-ranking US officials denigrating Chinese-made cars, noting they are creating a false narrative, which clearly reflects Washington's practice of always politicalizing economic and trade issues.

In the speech, Xie highlighted the bright prospects of the Chinese economy and underscored that confidence is more important than gold and that cooperation makes a better future for both peoples.

The Chinese people are confident in growing the GDP by around 5 percent this year. China's development has its best days lying ahead, he said, adding that China is building up a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment.

Regarding enormous business opportunities in China, Xie said China remains a popular destination for global investment, citing data that last year shows the number of foreign-invested companies in China increased by 39.7 percent. Paid-in investment from France, the UK and the Netherlands grew by 84.1 percent, 81 percent and 31.5 percent, respectively.

"China is ready to work with the US side to garner stronger momentum for cooperation and build a breakwater to protect bilateral relations," Xie said.

Senior executives from US chipmaker Micron Technology recently met with officials from Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and vowed to further enhance their investment in the Chinese market. It comes after the firm reached a legal settlement with chip producer Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co.

Chen Chunjiang, vice governor of Shaanxi, along with other government officials met with the Micron executives including CFO Mark Murphy, Micron said on Monday, adding that the company will keep investing in China, and will assist with industrial upgrading.

Chen expressed appreciation for Micron's investment and development in Shaanxi, and exchanged views on China's semiconductor market and Micron's local operation. Ma Xianping, an official from Xi'an Hi-tech Industries Development Zone, also expressed enthusiasm for Micron's development strategy in China.

The US-based semiconductor producer announced in June last year that it would invest 4.3 billion yuan in its packaging and testing plant in Xi'an, including purchasing a local company and building new factories, in order to meet demand from local clients, according to Micron's social media account.

Micron in December 2023 reached a global settlement agreement with Fujian Jinhua. It had taken legal action in 2017 against Fujian Jinhua and another Taiwan-based firm, United Microelectronics Corp, accusing the two of stealing the company's memory chip trade secrets.

On February 27, 2024, a US District Judge in San Francisco found Fujian Jinhua not guilty following a non-jury trial, clearing the Chinese company of economic espionage and other criminal charges. Fujian Jinhua had been blacklisted by the US Commerce Department for more than five years.

China's Government Work Report of 2024 emphasized that state-owned enterprises, private businesses, and foreign-funded companies all play an important role in China's modernization drive, and vowed to further attract foreign investment.

Foreign investors are now accelerating expansion in the Chinese market. Disney announced on Monday it will build a new themed attraction at the Shanghai Disney Resort and the preparations have started. Apple also announced it will open a flagship store in Shanghai with investment exceeding 83.4 million yuan ($11.61 million). It will be the second-largest apple store worldwide, after the one on Fifth Avenue in New York.

China's Government Work Report has set a GDP growth target of around 5 percent for 2024. Considering the international and domestic economic conditions, with a potential annual growth rate of 8 percent, it is entirely possible for China to achieve an economic growth rate of above 5 percent.

China has enough room for elevation of technological innovation, industrial upgrade and productivity level. The country has a high savings rate, abundant investment resources, and a commitment to develop its economy.

China, as a major developing economy, is still in a process of industrial upgrade and still faces a big gap with developed countries, but this creates a latecomer's advantage. During this catch-up stage, other economies such as Japan, South Korea and Germany achieved a growth rate of 8 percent or above. If they can achieve that, China also has the potential to achieve it.

Compared with those countries, China also has another advantage in the new economy, represented by artificial intelligence and digital economy. China is placed at the same start line as those developed countries, but it has demonstrated a significant advantage in tech innovation involving new economy.

There are three reasons. First, China has abundant human capital. With a population of 1.4 billion, China possesses a vast pool of talent who possess entrepreneurial spirit and technical skills.

Second, China has already become the world's largest economy based on purchasing power parity calculations. That means any technological innovation or new product development can swiftly enter the domestic market and benefit from economies of scale. Even when competing with developed countries, China can surpass them in economies of scale thanks to its enormous domestic market size.

Thirdly, China has the best industrial supporting capability of almost any economy globally.

'China peaked' rebuttal

Some foreign scholars have made claims over "peak China" claim or asserted that the Chinese economy is already on a downward trend toward "Japanification." However, there are key differences between China and Japan back then. Japan experienced relative stagnation in technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and productivity improvement, with no emergence of new industries after the 1980s and 1990s.

In contrast, China has the advantage of being a latecomer. It can utilize the gap with developed countries to introduce, digest, absorb, and then innovate new technologies, and make them a source of industrial upgrade. Across the new economy, China is starting from the same place as developed countries, with a large pool of talent, massive market, and comprehensive industrial infrastructure. So the situation that occurred in Japan is unlikely to occur in China.

As long as we continue our technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and improve productivity levels, per capita GDP will grow faster than that of the US.

China's per capita GDP is already over $12,500, which is very close to the threshold of $13,000 for becoming a high-income nation. As long as we make good use of the favorable conditions for technological innovation and industrial upgrading, I believe we can become a high-income country - if not in 2025, then 2026.

With a growth rate of between 5 percent and 6 percent and a potential annual growth rate of 8 percent through 2035, and 3 percent and 4 percent from 2036 to 2050 with a potential growth rate of 6 percent, China's per capita GDP will hit half that of the US by 2049.Considering China's population is four times that of the US, China's economic size will then be twice that of the US. China will become the world's largest economy and contribute the most to the world economic growth every year.

Population turning point

China's population has reached a turning point and is currently facing the challenges of an aging population. In the 1990s, Japan also experienced population aging issue and an economic growth slowdown. When it comes to economic growth, labor force is important, but what matters more is effective labor, which is the product of both the quantity and quality of labor force.

China has anticipated challenges around an aging population, and has significantly increased its investment in education. Consequently, the education years of the younger workforce have significantly improved. So from the perspective of effective labor, we used to talk about demographic dividend, but now it's the dividend of quality.

Among the 53 countries in the world that are currently facing an aging population, there are 27 countries whose per capita GDP, upon entering the aging population phase, has already reached half or more of that of the US, meaning they are already developed countries. The remaining 26 countries, upon entering the aging population phase, still have a per capita GDP below 50 percent of that of the US, indicating they are "getting old before getting rich," and are in a catch-up phase.

For the first group of countries, in the decade before entering the aging population phase, their economic growth rate only experienced a slight decline, but their per capita GDP remained largely unchanged. This is because their education levels stay basically the same before and after entering the aging population phase, as they already had high levels of education.

Therefore, the increase in human capital was limited. For the second group of countries, their economies still improve after entering aging population phase. This is because their labor force's education level is also increasing, leading to an increase in effective labor, which is beneficial for technological innovation and industrial upgrade.

I believe under the guidance of the new development philosophy, China will put innovation first, its productivity level will continue to improve, and it will not grow old before it gets rich.

The article is based on an interview with Justin Lin Yifu, dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body.

Deputies from East China's Jiangsu Province who interacted with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a deliberation at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, told the Global Times on Thursday that they had been deeply inspired and vowed to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Tuesday participated in a deliberation with his fellow deputies from the delegation of Jiangsu Province at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's national legislature, the Xinhua News Agency reported.  

During the deliberation, Xi stressed the importance of developing new quality productive forces according to local conditions.

Xi called for focusing on high-quality development as the top priority, urging efforts to step up innovation, foster emerging industries, adopt forward-thinking plans for developing future-oriented industries and improve the modernized industrial system, according to Xinhua.

Scientific and technological innovation has become an important driving force for China's development and the term "new quality productive forces" has become a buzzword at the ongoing two sessions. 

And the guidelines presented by Xi have served to enlighten NPC deputies from Jiangsu Province, with many saying that they are inspired by Xi's emphasis on developing new quality productive forces, which is set to inject new growth momentum to the Chinese economy.

Shan Zenghai, an NPC deputy and chief engineer of Chinese construction equipment giant Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), told the Global Times on Thursday that he is heartened by Xi's direction on guiding Jiangsu to develop new quality productive forces and become a base, and forge industrial clusters of new and emerging industries.

"The encouragement from top leadership greatly boosted our confidence in sticking to innovation-driven growth, bolstering the real economy and promoting high quality development," Shan said.

Chen Wei, an NPC deputy and the President of Jiangnan University, told the Global Times on Thursday that Xi's direction on making science and technological innovation a pillar in nurturing new quality productive forces has mapped out a blueprint for colleges to serve the country's economic and social development.

Promoting the in-depth integration of innovative factors, industrial chains, capital and talent represents key tasks for colleges, including encouraging scientists and researchers to walk out of laboratories and to the assembly lines, Chen said.

Zhou Bin, another NPC deputy and Party chief of Yancheng city, told the Global Times on Thursday that Xi's guidance carved out new space for development and the city has focused its development on new industrialization since the new year with the aim to construct modern industrial system.

The city will focus on nurturing "little giants," or industrial enterprises that have unique niche in the market, high-tech enterprises and listed firms.

The concept of new quality productive forces refers to a new form of productive forces derived from continuous sci-tech breakthroughs and innovation that drive strategic emerging industries and future industries in a more intelligent information era.

The development of new quality productive forces is currently accelerating across China. 

East China's Jiangsu Province is a manufacturing and exports powerhouse. It is also home to a vast number of private companies and a key destination of foreign-invested companies in China. The province has set a growth target of over 5 percent for 2024, after recording a growth of 5.8 percent in 2023.

Sales of iPhones in the Chinese market posted a double-digit year-on-year decline in the first six weeks of 2024. Analysts said the US tech company is struggling in the competition with rising Chinese rivals.

According to market research organization Counterpoint Research, iPhone's sales in the Chinese market declined by 24 percent in the first six weeks of 2024, and it ranked No.4 behind three Chinese brands - Vivo, Huawei and Honor.

Counterpoint said that the fall was due to stiff competition in the high-end market from a resurgent Huawei, while Apple was squeezed in the middle market by brands such as Vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi.

In Apple's official store on Chinese e-commerce platform Tmall, the price of the latest iPhone 15 with 128G storage reached 4,999 yuan ($694.37), much cheaper than the price of 5,999 yuan at the official website of Apple, a move seen as to attract more Chinese consumers on the online channel.

Apple had a roughly 13 percent year-on-year decline in sales in the greater China region in the first quarter of 2024 fiscal year that ended December 30, 2023. Quarterly earnings rose 2 percent year-on-year to $119.6 billion, according to the company's results released on February 1.

Represented by the sudden launch of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro series, various Chinese Android-oriented smartphones showed largely-upgraded performance and production capacity, Liu Dingding, a veteran industry observer, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Liu noted that the price advantage and approximate quality of domestic brands compared with iPhones affect consumers' decisions.

Counterpoint said that although the iPhone 15 is a great device, it has no significant upgrades from the previous version, so consumers feel fine holding on to older-generation iPhones for now.

In January, a total of 31.78 million cell phones were shipped in China, up 68.1 percent year-on-year, and 82.6 percent were domestic brands, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, indicating strong growth momentum of Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

More than half of the world's manned deep diving missions have been completed by China's three deep-sea manned submersibles, Jiaolong, Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior) and Fendouzhe (Striver) during the past three years, Ye Cong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chief designer of Fendouzhe, said on Monday.

The remarks were made as China's top political advisory body, the CPPCC National Committee, opened its annual session on Monday in Beijing. On the occasion, CPPCC representatives and NPC deputies from all walks of life gather at the annual two sessions, discussing important matters pertaining to the nation's development and needs of the people.

The deep-sea manned submersibles are a significant example of the nation's achievements in homegrown tech innovation as well as China's active participation in helping the world to better understand, protect and explore the deep sea.

Over the past four years, Fendouzhe has completed a total of 230 dives, 25 of which were deeper than 10,000 meters, allowing 32 people to reach the seabed at 10,000 meters below the surface to carry out operations, Ye said.

Fendouzhe is China's first manned submersible that can reach the deepest part of the world's oceans for scientific research and exploration. In 2020, Fendouzhe made history on November 10, 2020, when it successfully landed on the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the deepest point of the Earth, reaching a depth of 10,909 meters and setting a new record for the Chinese manned deep-diving mission, according to Ye.

The submersible also achieved the first live video interaction from a 10,000-meter seabed location.

From 2022 to 2023, Fendouzhe completed its first scientific research mission around Oceania. The dive locations included the Kermadec Trench area of the southwest Pacific Ocean and the Diamantina Trench in the southeastern Indian Ocean, with a total of 63 dives, setting record for a single-voyage dive, according to Ye.

Many foreign scientists have also participated in the deep-sea exploration using Chinese submersibles, Ye said, an example of China's deep-sea exploration has been open and inclusive for international cooperation.

Just now, Fendouzhe is doing deep-sea exploration at Sunda Trench or the Java Trench in the Indian Ocean, as part of the cooperation between China and Indonesia, Ye said.

During the past three years, more than half of the world's manned deep diving missions have been completed by China's three deep-sea manned submersibles, Jiaolong, Shenhai Yongshi and Fendouzhe. The three submersibles have made more than 1,100 dives so far, Ye said.

In an interview with the Global Times on Monday, Ye said that the achievements on deep-sea scientific research are inseparable from the country's advanced shipbuilding industry, which leads the world.

"Only with the solid foundation can we better support the development of our deep-sea scientific exploration and the improvement of our tools," Ye said.

When asked by media about deep-sea explorations, Ye emphasized the importance of taking into account of their potential environmental impact on maritime ecosystem. "We are equally concerned about the environmental ramifications and believe that comprehensive assessments and analyses are imperative," Ye said.

Regarding explorations in the future, he said: "We will strive to extend our works in more deep-sea areas, including the polar areas. Also, we will carry out systematic work and build a detection operation and development system from space to the sea surface, and from underwater to the seabed, in order to improve our perception of the entire ocean system," Ye said.

"As marine science and technology workers, we must continue to sum up experiences from the extreme deep dives of Fendouzhe, climb to the peak of deep-sea science and technology, and continue to make new contributions to the better understanding, protection, and development of the ocean system for the mankind," Ye said.