China's paleontology research team has recently identified a new genus and species of tyrannosaur that marks the first deep-snouted tyrannosaur discovered in southeastern China, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The research was conducted by four paleontologists from the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, and they named the new species "Asiatyrannus xui" in honor of Xu Xing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has been dedicated to dinosaur research and has long supported the academic and popular science work of the museum.
Zheng Wenjie, deputy director of the Earth Sciences Department and a researcher at the museum, explained that the dinosaur, given the name "Asiatyrannus xui", lived during the Late Cretaceous period, which dates back 66 to 72 million years ago, according to Xinhua.
The fossil specimen includes an almost complete skull as well as tail vertebrae and hind limb bones. This dinosaur belongs to the more advanced Tyrannosaurinae subfamily within the Tyrannosauridae family. The related academic paper was published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.
Zheng noted that tyrannosaurs are a large family classified under the superfamily Tyrannosauroidea. They first appeared around 165 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic and went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, which is about 66 million years ago. Within the superfamily, the Tyrannosauridae family members were the top predators in Asia and North America during the last 20 million years of the dinosaur era.
Many people think tyrannosaurs have large heads. Zheng explained that based on snout characteristics, tyrannosaur heads can be divided into two types.
Most Tyrannosauridae dinosaurs have deep-snouted heads, with relatively short skulls front to back and higher vertical distances between the upper and lower jaws, making them appear somewhat "square." The skulls of Tyrannosaurus and Tarbosaurus are examples of this type. Asiatyrannus xui measures 47.5 centimeters in length and also belongs to the deep-snouted type.
Another group of Tyrannosauridae dinosaurs has long-snouted heads, with narrow snouts, and these dinosaurs are classified under the branch called Alioramini.
In the central Asian Gobi region, scientists have discovered deep-snouted tyrannosaurs and long-snouted Alioramini living at the same time. The former are larger, possibly occupying different ecological niches. In southeastern China, however, the body size comparison is reversed.
Asiatyrannus xui, which lived at the same time as the long-snouted Qianzhousaurus, was relatively small, while The Qianzhousaurus, estimated to reach a length of about 9 meters, was much larger.
The newly discovered Asiatyrannus xui, although an immature dinosaur, had passed its fastest growth stage with a body length of only about half that of Qianzhousaurus. They likely occupied different ecological niches and employed different hunting strategies to avoid direct competition.
China Eastern Airlines received its seventh C919 plane on Monday. The delivery marks the third C919 aircraft received by the air carrier, the world's first C919 customer, this year.
At 16:25 on Monday, the C919 with the aircraft number B-919H flew from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, as the plane is officially joining China Eastern Airlines' fleet.
On May 28 this year, the first anniversary of the commercial operation of the C919, China Eastern Airlines' fleet welcomed the sixth C919. This was also the first of the 100 C919 aircraft ordered by the airline.
China Eastern is currently the world's largest user of the home-made C919 aircraft.
On September 28 of 2023, China Eastern Airlines and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) signed an agreement to order additional 100 C919 large passenger planes.
At present, the C919 aircraft operate four regular commercial routes between cities of Shanghai to Chengdu, Beijing, Xi'an and Guangzhou.
The airlines said that more new routes are expected with the delivery and introduction of new C919 aircraft.
As of Sunday, China Eastern Airlines' C919 fleet has completed a total of 3,031 flights, facilitating nearly 405,000 passenger trips.
Suparna Airlines, known in Chinese as Jinpeng Airlines said it will receive its first C919 aircraft in the fourth quarter of this year, making it be the first private company in the world running home-made C919.
Domestic flagship carriers like Air China and China Southern Airlines have also placed additional orders for 200 C919 planes. At present, the global orders placed for C919 have exceeded 1,000 planes.
For nearly a century, Merck, the German scientific and technological giant, has woven its legacy into the fabric of China's healthcare industry. As global uncertainties loom, the company's dedication to the Chinese market remains unshaken. Peter Guenter, CEO of Healthcare at Merck, offers a compelling vision for China's pivotal role in global pharmaceutical innovation, propelled by artificial intelligence (AI).
"The Chinese local pharmaceutical market has developed incredibly over the last 10 to 20 years. The changes are remarkable, with the industry migrating from copying small molecules to innovation," recalls Peter Guenter, whose voice tinged with admiration. Reflecting on his early visits to China, Guenter remembers a time when the local industry was predominantly focused on generic small molecule drugs. Today, the landscape is totally different, transformed by cutting-edge innovation. Technological advancements, especially in areas like antibody-drug conjugates, have catapulted China to the forefront of pharmaceutical progress. Furthermore, China's efforts in upstream innovation, such as target discovery, are gaining significant momentum.
Technological Revolution in Healthcare
Guenter says the technological revolution reshaping the healthcare landscape is akin to the discovery of the human genome. "In the last 5 to 10 years, we have seen the emergence of many new technologies making certain biological targets druggable. We can reach them with medicines that would have been impossible with small or large molecules," he explains. Innovations like mRNA technology, pivotal in developing COVID-19 vaccines, and cell and gene therapies are pushing the boundaries of what's possible, offering more targeted and effective treatments. From reprogramming a patient's own cells to fight cancer to repairing genetic defects, these advancements are opening new frontiers in medicine.
AI and big data analytics are further enhancing drug research, speeding up discovery processes, and improving target identification. Merck is deeply engaged in these areas, leveraging these technologies to bring new treatments to the market more efficiently.
"The sheer volume of data is the secret sauce," Guenter states with conviction. Merck's collaborations with companies like BenevolentAI and Exscientia, which use AI to identify potential drug candidates, exemplify how AI accelerates the discovery process. By analyzing biological targets provided by Merck, these partnerships generate promising drug candidates faster than traditional methods.
Challenges and Opportunities in China
However, Guenter is candid about the challenges that remain. "In the pharmaceutical industry, we work with long innovation cycles. If we don't have predictability of a certain framework and that framework will remain in place for the foreseeable future, we struggle," he says. Incentivization measures, such as tax breaks for R&D, available in many European countries, are crucial for sustaining innovation and are also present in China.
China's significant role in the global pharmaceutical market is undeniable. As the world's second-largest pharmaceutical market, it offers ample opportunities for Merck to introduce its innovations and source local breakthroughs for global distribution. Yet, the high costs of drug development, estimated at a minimum of $2 billion to bring a new medicine to market, necessitate adequate pricing to recoup investments and fund further research. This balance between rewarding innovation and ensuring accessibility under universal healthcare systems is a global challenge, one that China is well-equipped to navigate.
In China for China
Merck's commitment to China is unwavering. "We believe we live in a complex world with a lot of geopolitical tensions. But we do believe in working together," Guenter says. Over the past decade, Merck has invested around 6 billion yuan in China, growing from 22 employees to 4,500. The company's diverse activities in healthcare, electronics, and life sciences reflect its holistic investment strategy. Local collaborations with Chinese biotech firms have been fruitful, and Merck aims to expand these partnerships further.
As China grapples with an aging population and rising incidences of cancer and diabetes, Merck stands as a committed partner, determined to help create, improve, and prolong lives. Guenter's personal resolve shines through in his reflections. "Whether we like it or not, sooner or later, we are all patients ourselves. When I'm in a meeting with many people, and they ask me, 'Peter, why are you in this business?' I ask the audience one question: 'How many of you have a friend or family member who was lost to disease? Please stand up.' And then everybody stands up. I say, 'That's why I'm in this business. It's as simple as that.'"
This deeply personal connection to the mission underscores Merck's commitment. Through fruitful collaborations with local biotech firms and a steadfast focus on innovation, Merck aims to expand its partnerships further, ensuring that its efforts benefit both Chinese patients and patients around the globe.
"Our commitment to China is clear. We will continue to grow, and we will continue to invest in the country," Guenter says.
China's Nasdaq-style sci-tech innovation board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, also known as the STAR Market, celebrated its fifth anniversary on Monday. It has helped more than 570 technology companies raise 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion), with 60 percent of them driving import replacement efforts, as a key driver of China's new quality productive forces.
The STAR Market has helped 573 companies in sectors such as information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment, new energy, new materials, energy conservation, environmental protection and strategic emerging industries to go public, the China Media Group reported.
These companies have a total market capitalization of 5 trillion yuan. Their IPOS raised 910.8 billion yuan, and secondary rounds of financing raised 158.1 billion yuan, totaling more than 1 trillion yuan.
Thanks to consistent and significant investment in research and development, 30 percent of companies on the STAR Market have made groundbreaking products or projects, while 60 percent are leading the way in replacing imported products with their own innovative technologies. The STAR Market has attracted a significant number of cutting-edge companies in the semiconductor and biotechnology industries. There are 114 chip companies, covering the entire industrial chain of the semiconductor sector, and 111 companies in the field of biomedicine.
This influx of innovative companies has helped solidify the STAR Market's reputation as a hub for groundbreaking technologies and advancements.
Qian Yujun, president of UBS China and chairman of UBS Securities, told the Global Times on Monday that the STAR Market has supported more than 500 technology companies in the past five years, showcasing its effectiveness in attracting and fostering innovation in the technology sector and the overall economy.
"These companies have showed a notable increase in research and development investment after their IPOs, leading to significant improvements in their operating income and profits. This demonstrates the positive impact provided by the STAR Market in empowering technology innovation," Qian said.
According to a resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China will establish a mechanism for ensuring funding increases for industries of the future; improve the policy and governance systems for promoting the development of strategic industries such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, aviation and aerospace, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, biomedicine and quantum technology, and steer emerging industries toward sound and orderly development.
China will also improve the functions of the capital market to give balanced weight to investment and financing, prevent risks and tighten regulation to promote the sound and stable development of the capital market as well as facilitate the entry of long-term capital into the market.
This year, China's reform of the capital market has accelerated with several measures.
In June, China's top securities regulator rolled out new measures to further reform the STAR market to better serve sci-tech innovation and promote the development of new quality productive forces. The measures include giving priority to the listing of enterprises making breakthroughs in new industries, new business patterns and new technologies.
In April, the State Council released a new guideline, widely known as the State Council Nine-Point Guideline, to boost the high-quality development of the capital market through 2035.
The high-quality development of China's capital market has prompted foreign institutions to accelerate their presence in the Chinese capital market. BNP Paribas launched its securities unit in China on July 16 with registered capital of 1.1 billion yuan, according to company information website Tianyancha, making it the fourth securities firm with full foreign ownership in China.
EU car companies should take advantage of the significant opportunities in the Chinese market, as the nation vows to advance high-level opening-up and further relax market access, Chinese officials and experts said, following the conclusion of China's third plenary session this week, which unveiled a number of reforms and opening-up measures.
These remarks were made amid bilateral talks on the EU imposing additional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles (EVs). The high tariffs have raised concerns among EU member countries and leading industry players about the possibility of a "trade war" between the two major trading partners.
In a meeting between China's Minister of Commerce (MOFCOM) Wang Wentao and Oliver Blume, chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, in Beijing on Friday, both sides exchanged views on the development of the German car company's business in China.
Wang stated that the recently concluded third plenary session emphasized that openness is a distinctive feature of Chinese modernization and that adhering to the fundamental national policy of opening-up is essential. "This will create a favorable business environment in China for enterprises from all countries, including Volkswagen," the minister said.
European automotive companies such as Volkswagen advocate for fair competition and strongly oppose the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, a stance that China appreciated, Wang said.
The commerce minister expressed the hope that Volkswagen and other European automotive companies will continue to play an active role, encouraging the European Commission and the governments of Germany and other member states to work with China. On the basis of respecting facts and rules, he urged them to speed up the consultation process and reach an appropriate solution as soon as possible to prevent the escalation of trade frictions.
Despite trade tensions, China remains welcoming of more European companies coming to China to win new business. China's door of opening-up will only open wider and it is believed that the EU car companies will vote with their feet in terms of where they want to invest, Yang Chengyu, an associate research fellow from the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
It is hoped that both parties can reach a satisfactory result from negotiations on EV talks as soon as possible for the benefits of both sides, Yang said.
The high tariffs targeting Chinese EVs have been met with serious concern among the international business community, including the key industry players within the bloc, for its foreseeable impact on the normal trade activity.
On Thursday, Volvo cut its full-year retail sales forecast, blaming European tariffs on EVs made in China that will hit one of the Swedish automaker's key electric models until it shifts production to Belgium, Reuters reported.
While reporting better than expected second-quarter results that sent its shares up 6 percent in morning trade, Volvo lowered its forecast for sales growth this year to 12-15 percent from 15 percent, the report said.
Experts said that this is a clear example of how additional tariffs may backfire.
Previously, Hungary voiced its opposition against the EU's decision to impose extra tariffs on China-made EVs, as European officials and businesspeople continued to express their dissatisfaction of the EU actions.
Major German carmakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen also criticized the planned tariffs and voiced their support for fair competition and free world trade.
China's achievements in the EV sector are mainly fueled by technological innovation, a robust supply chain, and a highly competitive domestic market, rather than by subsidies, experts said, calling the EU to listen to the voices of their own industry insiders and reflect their stance as an open region for cooperation.
Nearly one-third of the EVs exported from China to the EU are actually brands owned by European companies, such as Volvo, BMW, and Volkswagen, Wang Yiwei, a professor from the School of International Relations at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times, noting that this is also why leading car companies like those from Germany are opposed to the EU's actions, and why Germany abstained from voting on this issue.
The current approach of imposing heightened tariffs on Chinese-produced EVs is driven by populism and violates principles of free and fair competition, the expert said.
Trade and investment are deeply intertwined and cannot be resolved simply through tariffs, Wang said, urging the EU to listen more carefully to their own voices within the bloc before making any decisions.
In contrast with the EU's protectionist move, China has always taken an open stance in welcoming cooperation and competitions of world players.
In addition to meet with China's commerce minister, Blume also met with China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong, who said during their meeting that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of the automotive industry and continues to promote the high-level opening-up of the automotive sector.
China's industrial system is complete and the automobile market has huge potential, Jin said. He welcomed Volkswagen AG to continue to delve into the Chinese market and provide consumers with more high-quality products to choose from.
China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it had organized relief efforts to flood-stricken areas in central and southern China amid broad government efforts to mitigate flood damage.
So far, more than 6,500 tons of relief materials including essential supplies have been dispatched to Huarong county, while some 8,000 tons of materials were sent to Pingjiang county, spokesperson He Yongqian told a press conference on Thursday.
Huarong and Pingjiang are two counties located in Central China's Hunan Province that were heavily battered by floods.
He, MOFCOM's newly appointed spokesperson, said that the ministry is making every effort to ensure the supply of essential supplies in areas affected by heavy rains and flooding in Hunan, Central China's Henan Province and East China's Shandong Province.
The ministry has activated emergency response measures and is guiding key areas in the organization of relief work to guarantee essential supplies for people in the disaster-stricken areas, He said.
The ministry is engaged in daily monitoring of the supply and demand situation at key areas, monitoring the price fluctuations of daily necessities such as grain, oil, meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables as well as preprepared food and bottled water.
Some 700 key enterprises in Hunan and neighboring provinces tasked with providing supplies have ramped up their material inventories, with stock for essential supplies being lifted10-30 percent above normal levels.
Chinese government departments are engaged in an all-out relief effort. The Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday that it has allocated an additional 848 million yuan ($118.9 million) to support flood rescue efforts, prioritizing water infrastructure repair and removal of hazards.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on the same day that since the dike breach at Dongting Lake in Hunan, the ministry has deployed workers, trucks and generators to engage in emergency repairs, and has managed to maintain normal telecommunications coverage outside the waterlogged areas.
Also on Tuesday, the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee allocated 231 million yuan for rescue and disaster relief work across nine provincial-level regions, including Hunan and East China's Anhui Province.
Daughter of the founder of Chinese beverage giant Wahaha Group has reportedly resigned as vice chairman of the company, according to media reports on Thursday.
According to a resignation letter circulating online, Zong Fuli, daughter of the late Wahaha chairman Zong Qinghou has decided to resign from her positions as vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group, effective July 15.
In the letter, Zong Fuli said that some shareholders have raised questions about the management of Wahaha Group following the passing of chairman Zong Qinghou and this has made it impossible for her to continue performing her management responsibilities.
According to the letter, Zong said she has submitted her resignation letter to the company and all shareholders, urging them to promptly appoint a new general manager in accordance with the company's regulations to ensure the normal operation of the group and protect the interests of the company, customers, and employees.
Several subsidiaries of Wahaha Group told the Global Times on Thursday that the legal person remained unchanged and they have not heard of Zong Fuli, vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group, stepping down from her position at the group headquarters, in response to her rumored resignation.
A Wahaha dairy subsidiary in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province told the Global Times on Thursday that Zong Fuli remained the company’s legal person and they have not heard of any official notice from the headquarters about her stepping down.
Another Wahaha food subsidiary in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region told the Global Times that they have not received any official notification regarding Zong Fuli’s resignation.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shangcheng district, Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, where Wahaha is based, told Jiemian News that they are currently verifying about the resignation from Zong Fuli.
Regarding the resignation rumor, a source close to Wahaha Group told thepaper.cn on Thursday that the situation is true, but the incident was sudden and the company's senior executives were not aware of it beforehand. Currently, the shareholders and management team of the company are in further discussion to handle the situation.
Zong Fuli probably faces challenges in handling integration with the major state-owned shareholders, the existing management model, and the management team during the company's transition. It is crucial to explore and establish a new institutional framework that aligns with the interests and beliefs of all parties involved. This is definitely not an easy task, said Yang Yiqing, executive president of Business Seminar Zhejiang told thepaper.cn.
Public information shows that Wahaha Group was founded in 1987. It has developed into one of the world's leading food and beverage production companies, and is among the top 500 Chinese enterprises and the top 500 private enterprises in China.
On February 25, Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at the age of 79.
Zong Fuli, his daughter, was born in 1982, is currently the vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group. The position of chairman of Wahaha has been vacant since Zong Qinghou's passing.
As the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will be convened on Monday, the world is watching how the pivotal gathering, also known as the third plenum, will identify priorities for comprehensively deepening reform, map out a blueprint for its long-term economic development and open up a new chapter in the country's march toward Chinese modernization.
The plenum is being convened at an important juncture, observers said, as internally, China, while remaining on a steadfast journey toward the secondary centenary goal, is now at the critical stage of shifting gears to high-quality development mode. Externally, "profound" changes have taken place in international environment amid Western blockade against China's rise, US-instigated camp confrontation and rising geopolitical tensions. Those complex circumstances call for the CPC leadership to have a fresh assessment of the situation and formulate top-level design to sail through the choppy water, economists said.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the upcoming plenum will primarily examine issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization, noted a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in June chaired by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.
A wide range of reform focused policies are anticipated to be high on the agenda, including the creation of new quality productive forces, steady support to private economy, coordination on development and security, as well as firm commitment to opening-up, among other items, which observers said will pave the way for achieving the country's overarching goal of Chinese modernization.
While negative voices in the West have spared no efforts to discredit China's reform efforts or push bearish views on Chinese economy, the monumental gathering is a timely rebuttal to those smearing campaigns, observers said, as it offers a vivid manifestation of the CPC's courage and confidence to spearhead with "systemic, holistic, forward-looking" reforms even as "changes unseen in a century unfold rapidly across the world."
The inborn reformer spirit of the Party, which has ushered the country - since the third plenum in 1978 - into decades of miraculous rise and fueled the launch of comprehensively deepening reform, is also set to decisively lead China to embark on a relentless journey to defy headwinds and create another economic miracle, scholars said.
This optimism is derived from China's institutional advantages, which are underpinned by the CPC's governing capacity to unite the whole nation closely in working out correct solutions to challenges, foreign observers said. A clear and predictable development path of the world's second-largest economy, under the CPC leadership, will also channel stability and give a much-needed positivity to a floundering world.
Historic significance
As reform is the hallmark of third plenums, the latest one is not an exception. Some analysts anticipated the event to bear historic significance and usher the country into "deeper water" of reform areas in light of the new global and domestic situations.
Typically, each gathering produces a landmark reform agenda concerning every aspect of the economy.
For example, in 1978, the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee decided to conduct the reform and opening-up policy that paves way for China's decades of startling economic rise. Also, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, convened in 2013 under Xi's leadership, was also hailed as a milestone as it marked the dawn of a new era of reform.
The CPC leadership has sent out resounding reform signals on several occasions ahead of the plenum.
"Reform is the driving force for development," Xi said, while chairing in May a symposium in Ji'nan, capital of East China's Shandong Province, attended by representatives from both business and academia. The crucial role of reform was also highlighted in this year's Government Work Report.
While the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee will carry on the tradition of inheriting reform, Cao Heping, an economist from Peking University, told the Global Times that taking account of the complex domestic and international landscape that is strikingly different from the previous two "third plenums" in 2013 and 2018, it is of great urgency that the upcoming gathering provides a fresh assessment of the new situation, especially on those "important emerging issues that have yet been discussed but require immediate solutions."
"The outside pressure is increasing … and it is also necessary to acknowledge that the Western developed countries will continue the policy of protectionism, destruction of production chains and creation of technological barriers [targeting China] over the coming decades," Alexander Lomanov, deputy director for Scientific Work under the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations at Russian Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.
It is therefore of utmost importance that third plenary session charts out a top-level design for the country's economic path and updated reform priorities, Lomanov added. He also suggested China to accelerate the reform and opening-up measures to address a myriad of challenges, for example doubling down efforts in opening-up and expanding the circle of new partners.
According to Cao, the plenum also plays a "bridging role" as it offers the window opportunity for deepening reforms based on the social-economic progress made since the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022.
The report to the 20th CPC National Congress delivered by Xi in October 2022 positioned realizing the second centenary goal and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization as the Party's central task, according to a Xinhua report. China accomplished its first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2021.
Observers said that one of the focal points of the plenum is to effectively promote the Chinese modernization through reforms in a variety of sectors including economic development, innovation, as well as high-level opening-up.
Zhang Xixian, a professor from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times that China is now at the stage of transforming from quantity-driven growth to high-quality development, a process that sees the rise of new growth drives but is also confronted with increasing downward pressure ranging from structural slowdown, property downturn to weak consumer demand.
China is scheduled to release its first-half GDP figure in mid-July. With an expansion of 5.3 percent in the first quarter, the world's second-largest economy started 2024 strongly and is on a firm track to achieve its goal of expanding at a rate around 5 percent this year.
"We will see deeper, broader and thorough reform steps being announced at the top-level to consolidate the growth momentum and inject new strong impetus into the high-quality development path, while also diluting those rising uncertainties," Tian Yun, an economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times.
He exemplified by fiscal reforms, which could restructure the financing responsibility between central and local governments, and stepped-up reform measures to boost China's technological self-sufficiency in pursuit of economic security.
As the development of social productivity is a key step in achieving Chinese modernization, Zhang also anticipated more scientific planning on the development of new quality productive forces, such as leveraging national strengths in boosting the development of emerging areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data while also upgrading traditional industries across the economy through technological innovation.
In 2024, developing new quality productive forces was written into the Government Work Report for the first time.
Institutional advantage
China should take resolute steps to remove the ideological and institutional barriers hindering the advancement of Chinese modernization, and double down on its efforts to resolve deep-seated institutional challenges and structural issues, Xi said at a symposium in Shandong in May.
Observers said that the remarks underscored that new breakthroughs in economic system reform will also be placed at the center of the plenum. This could include a systemic perspective to approach the relationships between the government and the market, the economy and society, as well as coordinating the protection of national security with economic development.
"The plenum can be expected to affirm the 'decisive' role of the market in the resources allocation," Lomanov said, noting that this equates to an assurance on the legal institution of China's socialist market economy, which is key to bolstering business confidence.
According to Cao, there will be also be new signals on the Party's unswerving support to the private economy, and a further institutional guarantee that state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private businesses, and foreign-funded companies all play an important role in China's modernization drive.
China has started drafting a law on promoting the private economy, and the legislative process will be accelerated, Chinese media reported in February.
Ahead of the meeting, several Western media outlets have been peddling pessimistic views, claiming that China's reform is "stagnating."
Some also attempted to play down the expectations on the upcoming gathering and alleged that it would only generate small reform steps. Analysts said that the convening of the third plenum also timely debunks those badmouths, demonstrating that China is not retreating, but rather is fully committed to the Party's reformer spirit, and is in a nonstop process of forging ahead with deepening reforms to address challenges.
There are multiple reasons to be optimistic about the prospects of reforms under the CPC's leadership, said experts.
According to Chinese and foreign economists, the CPC, with its commitment to internal reform, efficiency in decision-making and capacity in turning blueprints into concrete actions, has ensured the sustained success of economic reform over past years.
Over the past decade, more than 2,000 reform measures have been put in place, the Xinhua News Agency reported, which enabling the country not only to eliminate extreme poverty, but also seeing its economic scale more than double to become a major global engine of growth, among other remarkable achievements.
Looking forward, the CPC's leadership will further flex its institutional advantages to stabilize social expectations and enhance top-down cohesion in the assiduous journey toward Chinese modernization.
"The CPC's ability to correctly assess the situation in the economy, proceed from the interests of the people, and defend these interests with all its strength, is particularly important [in carrying out reforms]," Lomanov said, adding that the leadership of CPC also makes it possible to "organically combine national security and economic development without mutual conflict between these goals."
According to analysts, it is worth noting that how CPC leadership, during the upcoming plenum, will put in place new solutions to address headwinds and march confidently on a path to Chinese modernization. And this roadmap also offers a model for other developing countries to pursue their own paths of modernization.
"China's development creates favorable prerequisites for the creation of a new type of international relations based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, free from intimidation and pressure," Lomanov stressed.
The steady expansion of an economy that already accounts for 18 percent share of the global economy is in itself invaluable in a time when the world growth is shadowed by rising geopolitical conflicts and risks of recession, analysts said.
China's national carbon emissions trading market celebrated its third anniversary on Tuesday, marking a significant milestone in the country's efforts to combat global climate change.
According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, as of Monday, the market had seen a total trading volume of over 460 million tons of carbon emissions quotas and a total trading value of nearly 27 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), China Media Group reported.
The market has played a crucial role in promoting the green transformation of electricity enterprises, with the price of carbon dioxide emissions per ton increasing from around 40 yuan in the very beginning to around 90 yuan per ton now, after reaching a historical high of over 100 yuan.
This increase in carbon prices has incentivized many thermal power generating enterprises to enhance energy conservation and emission control, analysts said.
“Price is a crucial signal for the carbon market. If prices are rising, it suggests increased trading activity and China is making progress in promoting a low-carbon industrial transition,” Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The national carbon emissions trading market was launched on July 16, 2021, covering approximately 5.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, accounting for over 40 percent of the total emissions nationwide. This makes it the world's largest carbon market in terms of greenhouse gas emissions trading.
The establishment of a national carbon market is viewed a key policy tool for actively and steadily advancing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, reflecting China's proactive response to curb climate change, analysts said.
China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
In this year's Government Work Report, it is highlighted that efforts will be made to expand the industry coverage of the national carbon market.
In the first half of this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released draft guidelines for carbon emissions accounting, reporting, and verification for the aluminum smelting and cement companies, which marks a continuous expansion of the market’s coverage.
