Editor's Note:

The Philippines has recently been hyping up accusations against Chinese fishermen using cyanide to fish around the water area of Huangyan Dao (also known as Huangyan Island), presenting itself as a victim. However, the Global Times found that the Philippines is actually a large practitioner and exporter of cyanide fishing.

It is evident that destructive fishing practices, such as cyanide fishing, are still prevalent methods of capturing marine resources in the Philippines. These practices threaten marine habitats, particularly the coral reefs - crucial habitats of most reef fishes, and jeopardize the sustainability of local fishing livelihood.

Despite existing law enforcement governing these illegal, destructive fishing practices, the lack of effective regulations still fuels the lingering of these practices in the Philippines.

Chinese marine experts noted that in fact, Chinese fishermen have never been primary users of cyanide fishing, and do not have such a historical tradition and practical habits. The Philippines' move is a typical "cognitive war" against China, playing a game of "catching thieves by shouting a 'thief.'"

In an investigates piece, the Global Times has listed seven "sins" of the Philippines' malicious hype of cyanide fishing to expose the truth and unveil the tricks behind its propaganda war.

Fact One: The Philippines was one of the earliest inventors of cyanide fishing, dating back more than 60 years.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), cyanide fishing began in the 1960s in the Philippines to supply the international aquarium trade.

Sodium cyanide is a toxic chemical compound that many fish collectors in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia (the largest exporters of tropical fish) crush and dissolve in squirt bottles to spray on the fish - and the reef and all the other marine life in the vicinity. Stunned, the target fish can then easily be scooped up, according to an article published by National Geographic magazine in 2016.

It does, however, kill the coral reefs where the fish breed and live. Still, the mostly poor rural fishermen, who are paid by the number of fish they catch, say they cannot afford to think of the future. Most of them have used the cyanide to maximize their profits, as revealed by a piece published in the Los Angeles Times in 1988.

A Filipino fisherman will get earning of a top-price live coral trout for 5 times than the price of a dead fish. This makes live reef fishing very attractive. But the trade is encouraging the use of cyanide. With a hook and line, it can take a whole day to catch 2 decent-sized fish. With cyanide you can catch dozens, the WWF's article in 2003 revealed.

Philippines' live reef-fish exports are one of the biggest sources for the international market. Up to a tonne of live fish is flown out of the islands each day, the article said. Although cyanide fishing is illegal in the Philippines, cyanide is allegedly brought in surreptitiously on the private planes that whisk away boxes of live fish each morning.

Fact Two: The Philippines remains a major cyanide fishing country in the world, with a significant number of Filipino fishermen using cyanide for fishing each year.

Researchers found that cyanide fishing, though not common as before, is still being practiced in Philippines, according to a piece published on Manila Bulletin in June 2023.

A team of researchers from the Philippines found that in many parts of the country, illegal fishing is still rampant, particularly destructive fishing practices (DFPs). Fisheries involving DFPs cause direct ecological damage to the corals. These fishing activities threaten both natural habitats and aquatic resources, according to the team's academic paper published on Acta Natura et Scientia, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, in September 2022.

The weak enforcement of the existing laws and regulations fuels these activities, compromising the productive coral reef areas in the Philippines, said the paper.

Fact Three: Large-scale cyanide fishing in the Philippines has caused irreparable damage.

Since the beginning of use of cyanide fishing, over a million kilograms of toxic sodium cyanide have been spurted onto the Philippines' coral reefs to stupefy and collect ornamental aquarium fish species fated for the aquariums and pet shops in Western countries like North America and Europe, the fore-mentioned Philippine researchers found out.

Coral reefs of the Philippines have been threatened by cyanide fishers for the past years. Researchers estimated that in every 100 fish collectors that use cyanide, about 11 million coral heads are being squirted by cyanide, the paper further noted.

In addition, cyanide is highly dangerous to humans once inhaled, absorbed across the skin, or ingested.

Cyanide kills coral polyps and algae, turning many coral reefs — the "rainforests of the oceans" — into marine deserts. "A square metre of reef is destroyed for every live fish caught using cyanide," says biologist Sam Mamauag of the International Marinelife Alliance (IMA) in the Philippines.

Once the coral is dead, the entire ecosystem collapses. The long-term result has been devastating. The cyanide that has slowed and stunned millions of Philippine tropical fish for export each year also has killed as much as 95 percent of the coral reefs, the piece in the Los Angeles Times stated.

"I'll openly admit that I was using cyanide for years," an industrial insider Erna Rafols in the Philippines was quoted as saying in the piece for Las Angeles Times. "I've been in this business for three years now, and I can tell you everyone is doing it. I was supplying my fishermen with drums and drums of cyanide, smuggling it in, paying people off, and it was no problem at all."

But Rafols and other exporters have openly said that environmental laws "are easy to flout in a nation where even celebrated murders routinely go unsolved."
Fact Four: The Philippines has failed to control illegal fishing, and its authorities and politicians have turned a blind eye to it out of economic interests.

The Philippines has banned cyanide fishing, yet it still happens on a large scale. Enforcement isn't strong enough. Rafols has revealed that the police and military officers in Philippines who are supposed to prevent dynamite and cyanide use are directly involved in it.

The fore-mentioned academic paper found that aside from national laws and regulations, municipal ordinances throughout the country also exist. However, in most cities, these ordinances are not being implemented or are weakly enforced.

Fact Five: The US and Europe are the main markets for the precious fish caught using cyanide in the Philippines.

Unknown to many of the millions of Americans who enjoy home aquariums, most of the tropical fish they buy are heavily laced with cyanide.

Since the 1970s, corporations in Manila that provide the majority of fish to American and European markets have found that by using industrial sodium cyanide in offshore ocean reefs, they can bring thousands of fish to the surface and increase their profits.

Up to 90 percent of the 11 million tropical fish that enter the US each year are caught illegally with cyanide, according to a 2008 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This willful ignorance and persistent trade are the ultimate drivers of the ongoing destruction of the global marine environment caused by cyanide fishing.

"The weak control of illegal trade by Europe and the US has led to so many people to engage in this illegal fishing for their livelihoods in Philippine. The US and Europe are the forces behind such illegal fishing," Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

Fact Six: In recent years, the Philippines has repeatedly hyped up cyanide fishing cases against neighboring countries while remaining silent on its own lack of control.

The Philippines has targeted neighboring countries including Vietnam and China in promoting cases of cyanide fishing and arresting their fishermen, which experts said is a typical case of "accusing others of one's own faults."

The Philippines' fishing bureau spokesperson has accused Chinese fishing vessels of using cyanide to destroy Huangyan Dao recently. The bureau said it hadn't conducted a formal study of the total damage but said it was a "serious concern."

But the Philippine coast guard on February 18 said it hadn't found any evidence of Chinese fishermen using cyanide and couldn't confirm the fisheries bureau's accusation in an interview with GMA News.

"The Philippine government first raised this accusation, which was then quickly clarified and denied by the country's coast guard, in an attempt to cool things down. This inconsistency exposes the true nature of the Philippines' false propaganda in this 'cognitive war'," Yang believes.

Fact Seven: The Philippine authorities have acknowledged that the hype surrounding cyanide fishing is serving their planned "second arbitration" against China, revealing the role of this cognitive warfare.

Philippine authorities have recently stated that it will build up a case against Chinese fishermen if the government finds legal basis on their alleged use of cyanide to damage the Huangyan Dao.

"It is obvious that the Philippines is hyping up the so-called illegal fishing by China at this time, only to gather evidence for its planned lawsuit and compensation claim. This is believed to be one of the tricks behind Manila's seeking of legal options against China over its alleged destruction of coral reefs within the Philippines' 'exclusive economic zone (EEZ).' This clearly shows that the Philippines' long-planned so-called South China Sea environmental lawsuit is a drama full of scheming, fabricating charges, and creating lies," Yang told the Global Times.

"If certain Filipino politicians truly care about the development and prosperity of the South China Sea, the livelihood and health of coastal residents, and the coral, fish, shrimp, turtles, and seaweed in the South China Sea, China's advanced marine environmental protection practices and governance experience can serve as a model for the Philippines to learn from and as a source of assistance," the expert said.

Editor's Note:
Friendly exchanges between China and Africa have enjoyed a long history and have deepened in recent years, covering various fields such as politics, the economy, and culture. The Global Times is launching a China-Africa Rhapsody series, aiming to showcase the profound human connections and development visions between the two peoples by sharing the true stories of Chinese people in Africa and African people in China. From touching stories of China-Africa cooperation to exciting collisions of youthful ideas, to debunking fallacies concocted by some Western sources about the China-Africa collaboration, this series hopes to promote closer cooperation and deeper understanding between the peoples of China and Africa.

In this installment, we look skyward, focusing on the inspiring narrative of China's remarkable advancements in aerospace technology and how they are not only propelling its own ambitions in vast universe, but also are igniting the dreams of young Africans in aviation and space exploration. As China strides forward in its aerospace endeavors, it simultaneously extends a collaborative hand to Africa's youth, fostering an environment in which their aspirations in aviation can take flight. This synergy of growth and cooperation highlights a mutual journey toward technological mastery and shared dreams, bridging the gap between continents and cultures through the universal language of sky aspirations.
Peter Prosper Oshoname from Nigeria has one wish: To see more African astronauts journey into space.

Oshoname expressed his wish through his painting, depicting an image of an African astronaut with a circular emblem of half the Nigerian and Chinese flags on top of her head. The background demonstrates the vastness of the universe with resplendent African motifs and Chinese symbols.

In May 2023, the art piece was sent into China's space station via the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft, along with nine other artworks embodying the beautiful dreams of young Africans.

"The circle has no edges, continuously and endlessly rotating. I painted the flags of both countries within a circle to represent harmony and friendship. The different patterns and textures of the circles aim to represent the dreams, diversity, and creativity of African youth," Oshoname explained.

He said that the artwork only includes one character to symbolize the unity of Africa and China, and the joint efforts by both peoples to plant the seeds of space dreams in every child's heart.

Oshoname's painting making its debut at China's space station is a microcosm of space cooperation between China and Africa.

In recent years, with the promotion of mechanisms such as cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, much practical progress has been made in aerospace cooperation between the two sides, making greater contributions to the construction of a high-level China-Africa community of shared future and the building of a better world.

Fruitful cooperation has been achieved in satellite exports, satellite resource sharing, space technology exchange, and the construction of space infrastructure. What's more, Chinese space technology has played an important role in the economic and social development of African countries and the improvement of people's living standards in the continent.

During an exclusive interview with the Global Times, South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele said that space cooperation with China "is part of what our leaders said about taking our relations to new heights," and it can enable human beings to monitor but also understand what has happened on other planets.

Growing dreams

In September 2023, 10 paintings created by African youths made their debut at the very first art exhibition on China's space station. They were selected in a competition that received more than 2,000 paintings from 42 African countries, the Global Times learned at the competition's awards ceremony.

Director-General Wu Peng of the Department of African Affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at the event, said that the art exhibition is a vivid example of China's long-standing commitment to sharing development achievements and opportunities with Africa.

"In today's complex world with intertwined challenges and accelerated changes, the collective rise of developing countries is unstoppable," Wu said. "The youth represent the future and hopes of nations, as well as the driving force behind China-African cooperation. Your aspirations for a better life and your pursuit of the development of China-Africa relations are a continuous source of strength for the inheritance of the traditional friendship between the two sides."

At the event, the Shenzhou-16 crew also extended their greetings to African friends much to the delight of those in attendance. Behind them hung the paintings inside the space station cabin, as they gave detailed introductions of each painting, including the artist, their country of origin, as well as the meaning of the artwork, and the beautiful aspirations it carries.

Gui Haichao, the first civilian taikonaut to ever journey to space, could not help but smile cheerfully the entire time as he immersed himself in the joy that the colorful paintings brought him. Next to him was Shenzhou-16 commander Jing Haipeng, who gave two thumbs-up to the brilliant ideas of African youths, and took out his own photo at one point to share his thoughts and understanding of the paintings, the Global Times saw at the event.

Taking the launch of these youth's symbolic dreams into space as a starting point, the potential for China-Africa space cooperation will be "as broad as the starry sea," said Jing as he showcased the paintings some 400 kilometers above Earth.

"Join us in exploring the vastness of space and unraveling its mysteries to build our shared home," declared Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, with heartfelt emotion to local students at the Chinese aerospace tracking station in Swakopmund, Namibia. On August 19, 2019, Liu, along with fellow astronaut Chen Dong, embarked on a five-day visit to Namibia, initiated by an invitation from Namibian President Hage Geingob.

This visit, highlighted by the Chinese astronauts' delegation, marks their second journey to Namibia, demonstrating the profound friendship and the high regard in which China holds relations and cooperation with Namibia. Liu and Dong's current visit further cements this special bond.

During their visit, Liu shared insights into an astronaut's training, work, and life, hoping to inspire Namibian youth about space exploration. Chen conveyed the delegation's goal to introduce the developments in China's aerospace industry and plant the seeds of dreams in the hearts of Namibians and, by extension, African youths, with hopes of seeing them in space in the future.

The Namibian students were thrilled. Among them, a 12th grader found inspiration in Liu and said: "Liu is a source of pride for women. With effort, we can also achieve our dreams," according to a Xinhua report.

Cultivating talent

In addition to sowing the seeds of aerospace dreams among the youth, China is actively collaborating with Africa to cultivate talents in related fields.

China places high importance on providing high-quality training for African scientific researchers, especially in areas such as satellite design, manufacturing, launching, and control. Since 2014, China has funded graduate students from countries like Algeria, Egypt, and Ethiopia, providing intellectual support for the autonomous development of aerospace technology in Africa.

Michael Appolinary Malima from Tanzania exemplifies China's role in nurturing African talent in the aerospace field. Having graduated in 2022 from Shenyang Aerospace University in Northeast China's Liaoning Province with a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Malima, 25, returned to Tanzania for an internship at an airline, ensuring the maintenance and airworthiness of the fleet.

Malima's educational journey offers insights for African students aspiring to study in China. Before arriving in China, he completed 13 years of mandatory education, including two years in science, a prerequisite for studying aerospace engineering.

Despite facing challenges, Malima found his experiences in China refreshing and enlightening. His course was taught in English, but foreign students could also choose Chinese language classes.

Malima's experience shows it is achievable. He graduated with first-class honor, a significant accomplishment given the global conditions during his final study years.

"Provided all things go well, I plan to pursue further studies in aerospace engineering and place my focus on aerospace materials as these tend to lead to the discovery of other materials for various applications both within and outside the earth's atmosphere," he told the Global Times.

He stressed that the cooperation brings awareness to Africans on the opportunities available in the aerospace industry while creating a larger market for aerospace products and growth for both sides.

Building future

Beyond fostering young dreams, China-African aerospace collaboration is significantly boosting African nations' modernization through climate monitoring, disaster prevention, communication technology, and more. These tools effectively tackle extreme weather, food shortages, and environmental fragility.

In December 2023, China helped Egypt send a remote-sensing satellite, the MISRSAT-2, into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gobi Desert, which will be used in Egypt's land and resource utilization, water conservancy, agriculture, and other fields.

The satellite is a landmark project of in-depth cooperation between China and Egypt in the field of high-tech aerospace engineering and is of profound significance in aerospace cooperation between the two countries, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

In developing the satellite, China helped Egypt develop and build a satellite assembly integration testing center, and the successful implementation of the MISRSAT-2 project made Egypt the first country in Africa to have complete satellite development and final assembly and testing capabilities.

Moreover, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) underscored intensified cooperation in aerospace technology to propel African applications and infrastructure, enhancing social development and living standards.

As the largest developing country, China shares its developmental experience and advanced technology generously, fostering inclusive growth in Africa.

"The new government, with a clear bias and ideological perspective, will cause serious harm to Argentina's economy," said former Argentine ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja in an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Thursday.

He criticized the decision of Javier Milei, Argentina's newly elected president, not to join the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) framework and emphasized the importance of the New Development Bank established by BRICS countries for Argentina in building a new financial system based on production and development. He found the Milei government's decision "puzzling." In addition, this decision also offends important partner countries that strongly supported Argentina's BRICS membership, damaging Argentina's national interests, he said.

In August 2023, the BRICS summit in South Africa undertook a historic expansion, welcoming six new members: Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Argentina. The membership was originally scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2024.

However, on December 30, 2023, Milei announced that Argentina would not join the BRICS.

According to media reports, Milei has sent a letter to the leaders of the BRICS nations, stating that the current timing for Argentina to join the organization is "inappropriate." Analysts said that the purpose behind the Milei's government's decision is to seek financing from the US through the IMF or private investors.

Milei's decision came at a time when Argentina is facing a deepening economic crisis, and it has sparked criticism from numerous professionals in economic and diplomatic sectors within Argentina. Narvaja is among the critics.

Narvaja served as Argentine ambassador to China during the presidency of Alberto Fernandez, a left-leaning government that actively sought membership of the BRICS for Argentina. The Fernandez government believed that joining the BRICS would present a significant opportunity for Argentina to enter emerging markets.

Narvaja told the Global Times that if Argentina could join the expanded BRICS, it would boost the country's economic development.

He emphasized that many economies within the BRICS and Argentina have highly complementary economic structures. Moreover, the combined economic scale of the BRICS is surpassing that of the G7, with more than 50 countries worldwide expressing willingness to join the bloc, which is led by emerging economies.

Narvaja said that in the past few years, the BRICS nations have played a crucial coordinating role during times of crisis. This includes providing supplies and vaccines to other countries and offering loans to emerging economies through the New Development Bank. With the expanded membership, the BRICS will encompass 45 percent of the world's population, and over 80 percent of new consumers will originate from these countries.

Meanwhile, the BRICS nations possess abundant natural resources, including oil, gas, and strategic minerals, contributing around 44 percent of global crude oil production. All these factors are highly significant for Argentina's economic prospects, he said.

"The New Development Bank is crucial for Argentina in building a new financial system based on production and development. It can provide financial instruments, including counter-cyclical funds and development loans, which could bring many benefits to Argentina. The proposal to conduct investments and trade in local currency will also play a significant role in the global economy," the former Argentine diplomat told the Global Times. He noted that Argentina requires substantial infrastructure investment and needs to increase exports and foreign exchange income, so the new government's decision to reject joining the BRICS framework is truly perplexing.

At a time when Argentina needs foreign exchange to meet debt obligations and investment to enhance its potential export capacity, this move is truly astonishing, Narvaja said. "This harms our country's interests," he added.

"Many of our production sectors and local economies are heavily reliant on trade with China. China is also a major investor and lender for Argentina's infrastructure," he emphasized.

Moreover, apart from the economic aspect, China and Argentina mutually support each other on many crucial political issues, he noted.

China is currently Argentina's second-largest trading partner, the primary market for agricultural product exports, and the third-largest source of investment. Bilateral trade between China and Argentina reached approximately $25.5 billion last year, and despite adverse conditions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade has defied the odds and increased by 54.7 percent over the past six years. In 2022, the Fernandez administration officially joined the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and in 2023, it signed a cooperation plan with China under the framework of the BRI. Analysts widely believe that Argentina's collaboration with China contributes to the upgrading of its infrastructure and facilitates the repayment of debts to the IMF.

Editor's Note:

"Cognitive Warfare" has become a new form of confrontation between states, and a new security threat. With new technological means, it sets agendas and spreads disinformation, so as to change people's perceptions and thus alter their self-identity. Launching cognitive warfare against China is an important means for Western anti-China forces to attack and discredit the country. Under the manipulation of the US-led West, the "China threat theory" has continued to foment.

Some politicians and media outlets have publicly smeared China's image by propagating false narratives such as the "China economy collapse theory" and "China virus threat theory," in an attempt to incite and provoke dissatisfaction with China among people in certain countries. These means all serve the seemingly peaceful evolution strategy of the US to contain China's rise and maintain its hegemony.

The Global Times is publishing a series of articles to systematically reveal the intrigues of the US-led West's cognitive warfare targeting China, and expose its lies and vicious intentions, in an attempt to show international readers a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of China.

This is the seventh installment in the series.
The US' recent escalated tech war against China, which attempted to cut China off from high-end chips, has inadvertently harmed its own chip giants. The US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo attended the annual Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) in California on December 2, asserting a need for more funding for her department to stop China from catching up on cutting-edge semiconductors. She also told Bloomberg on Monday that the US will take the "strongest possible" action to protect its national security, when asked how the Commerce Department will respond to a recent "chipmaking breakthrough" in China.

Weeks ago, the US' leading chip designer Nvidia reportedly forecast a "significant drop" in its China sales in the fourth quarter, due to an upgraded US chip ban announced in October.

China has "consistently accounted for approximately 20 to 25 percent of data center revenue," according to the Nikkei. Responding to the tightened controls, which ban Nvidia from exporting its A800 and H800 GPUs to China, Nvidia said it is developing newly compliant chips for the Chinese market. The new chips will comply with the controls but will probably be less competitive, industry insiders pointed out.

The US is waging a long, lose-lose "chip war" against China. Following a raft of controls announced in October 2022 on exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, the US Commerce Department, in October this year, updated and broadened its export controls to stop China from acquiring advanced computer chips.

Worse still, apart from directly clamping down on Chinese market and chip enterprises, the US has also carried out vicious "public opinion sanctions" against China's semiconductor industry in recent years, so as to tarnish the image of Chinese tech companies, and to diminish China's progress in the chip field through various cognitive warfare tactics, the Global Times found.

An in-depth look at much of the US media's coverage of China's semiconductor industry in the last few years reveals a list of underhanded tactics employed in the US' chip field warfare against China.
Defamation

Making groundless Intellectual Property (IP) theft accusations against Chinese tech companies, such as "stealing chip designs" and "stealing manufacturing tech," serve US' defamation attempts against China. With lies and rumors, they try to mislead the public that China's rise in the chip field has mainly been achieved by "stealing" US technology, so as to manufacture a motive to support the US government's chip blockade on China.

In recent years, reports of Western tech companies charging their former Chinese employees for stealing secret chip tech have appeared in US media coverage from time to time, giving readers a false impression of Chinese companies' or employees' frequent theft of technology.

Most of these stories only contained one-sided sources, and lack follow-up reports. No independent investigations were conducted nor was the Chinese side reached for a response, further amplifying the voices attacking China, the Global Times found.

Fox Business, for instance, reported in January 2022 that cutting-edge Dutch semiconductor circuit manufacturer ASML accused one of its former Chinese employees of stealing its technology. Without any balanced sources, the story concluded in a politically loaded sentence: "In recent years, many Chinese nationals living in the US have been accused of stealing business practices and trade secrets on behalf of Beijing."

The Chinese company involved, Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Limited (DJEL), later denied the claim in a statement in February 2022. But none of the US media outlets mentioned the denial in related coverage.

China's scientific and technological achievements are not made through theft or robbery, noted then Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian in February 2020, responding to a question raised by media sources about China's comment on the US side's accusation of "stealing US scientific achievements."

Statistics showed that between 2009 and 2019, Chinese scientists published 2.6 million papers in international journals, ranking second in the world, mentioned Zhao. He criticized that certain people in the US "have ulterior motives in cooking up China's so-called theft of US scientific and research outcomes."

Belittlement

Sometimes, US media's reports on China's chip industry take on an arrogant tone. They revel in China's high-tech enterprises' seemingly "difficult" situation under the US' sanctions, so as to depict China's "dependence" on imported chips, and dismiss the achievements China has made in the field of cutting-edge technology.

The latest US expansion of export controls on advanced chips "will make it difficult for China to develop in that sector," stated the VOA on October 19.

Chinese industries will "hit a wall" in 2025 or 2026 if they can't get next generation chips or the tools to make their own, the Associated Press quoted a tech industry consultant Handel Jones as saying in an April 4 article. China "will start falling behind significantly," the article claimed, which was later echoed by many other US media outlets.

Some naysayers even maliciously linked China's efforts in chip development with its temporary slowdown in economic growth, trying to portray China as a country that no longer has the strength, at least economically, to break through the US' edge-cutting chip blockade.

Contrary to the gloomy outlook forecasted by some US media outlets, Chinese insiders reached by the Global Times said they are optimistic about the future of the country's chip industry.

And some data may prove their optimism to be well informed. Nearly half of all machinery equipment tenders by Chinese foundries from January to August 2023 were won by local manufacturers, according to an analysis of 182 tenders by Huatai Securities in September, Reuters reported on October 18. It also cited a report by CINNO Research, which showed that equipment-related revenue among China's top 10 domestic equipment manufacturers grew by 39 percent year-on-year for the first half of 2023, representing $2.2 billion in sales.

"There is definitely huge progress happening in the Chinese semiconductor equipment space, as reflected in the strong revenue growth metrics," Reuter quoted a semiconductor analyst as saying.

Fearmongering

Contrary to the previous trick of belittling China's achievements in the chip field, US media and politicians are also accustomed to fear-mongering, exaggerating China's chip development and its impact on the world, especially on the US-led West.

The "China chip threat theory" has become a favorite fearmongering tactic frequently employed by the US government and media sources. They extensively report the rise of China's chip tech, but distort China's international image and frame Chinese high-tech companies as shady operatives, exaggerating the consequences of the loss of the US chip monopoly, while portraying the blocking and suppression of China as reasonable behavior.

For example, according to an article titled "Think tank urges US to get even stricter with China over chips" published in the American Journal of Transportation in October, the Washington-based Silverado Policy Accelerator claimed that China is building up massive production capacity of foundational chips. "Now, Silverado warns, the Asian superpower is showing signs of undercutting prices of its Western competitors in this market."

The Global Times found that the US officials and media sources even intentionally associate chips with the military and defense industry, and politicize the purpose of Chinese chips, calling on their domestic enterprises and other countries to join forces against China.

As early as 2021, the Financial Times reported that the National Security Commission, a US congressionally mandated commission concluded that the country could potentially lose its advantage in the semiconductor industry due to the rapid development of China's chip industry.

According to the Financial Times, the co-chairman of the commission stated that the US currently enjoys a "two-generation lead" over China in terms of semiconductors, but urgent action is needed to prevent the loss of this edge.

The 756-page report issues by the commission outlines how artificial intelligence can assist the US and consumers in various fields but warns that with China's investment in advanced technology, the potential of artificial intelligence is transforming into a "moment of strategic vulnerability."

However, such baseless slander only starkly reveals the ambitions of the US government.

At the RNDF, Raimondo stated that US companies will need to adapt to the priorities of US national security, including in export controls on semiconductors implemented by the US Department of Commerce, the VOA reported.

According to the VOA, previously, after the US Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict exports of more chips designed by companies such as Nvidia to China, Raimondo explained that the new measure is aimed at hindering China's military development. "The updates are specifically designed to control access to computing power, which will significantly slow the PRC's development of next-generation frontier model, and could be leveraged in ways that threaten the US and our allies," she said.

The US media establishment, politicians, and business figures have consistently shown hostility and malice in their statements regarding China's chip industry, Fu Liang, a Beijing-based tech analyst, told the Global Times.

Fu noted that for a long time, there has been much chatter about the threat of Chinese chips to the US economy and technological leadership without concrete evidence, and a flagrant abuse of the concept of "national security" in order to maintain their hegemonic rule.

US pays the piper

"Overly broad, unilateral controls risk harming the US semiconductor ecosystem without advancing national security as they encourage overseas customers to look elsewhere," stated the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) on October 17, in a response to the updated export control.

Just as per the SIA's worries, the US' semiconductor curb targeting China, as well as the cognitive warfare it launched against China in the chip field, has led to more harm to its own chip companies rather than being beneficial, Chinese industry observers told the Global Times.

In the long run, the US itself will have to pay the piper, they noted.

Even though Nvidia will design new chips for the Chinese market, the chips may no longer have an advantage over their Chinese counterparts under the US sanctions, said Xiang Ligang, a veteran analyst in the telecom industry. "We all know that it's not impossible for China to produce its own AI chips," he told the Global Times.

The US' upgraded controls on advanced chips may lead Chinese companies to switch to domestic chips, which will stimulate the development of domestic AI chips, and eventually push the Chinese market away from US exporters, said Xiang.

Since the series of cognitive battles waged by the US have extended to the chip field, Fu noted that it is inevitable for politicians and the media establishment to cooperate with government sanctions in order to safeguard US interests against the current backdrop of China-US technological competition.

"However, this extreme pressure measure has not achieved the desired effect," Fu said.

Observers pointed out that although the US government's suppression of China's semiconductor industry will continue, US companies still value the Chinese market. Only through win-win cooperation in technology can confidence be injected into global development, they said.

Jim Brainard saw the Yangtze River for the first time on a fine autumn day. The wide and vast river reminded the US official of the Mississippi River, which he knows well as being equally magnificent and almost boundless.

Brainard is the Mayor of Carmel, Indiana. He was also the head of a delegation of six US city mayors from the American heartland areas along the Mississippi River. Earlier this month, the delegation visited Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as the nature reserves on Shanghai's Chongming Island at the river's estuary.

"The Yangtze River is a beautiful part of China, and it is similar in some ways to our Mississippi water area," Brainard told the Global Times during his stay in Shanghai. "The two rivers are important to both of us, to both countries."

For centuries the Yangtze River and Mississippi River, the mother rivers of China and the US respectively, have nurtured a rich variety of life and brought communication and development.

During the 12-day trip in China, the delegation, along with several US scholars in the environment and hydrology fields, had deep conversations with their Chinese peers on both countries' experiences in river protection and watershed area development, as an effort to build "bridges" of cooperation and friendship between the two big rivers.

The hope of the China-US relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted on Wednesday during his Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trip in San Francisco.

"I welcome more US governors, Congressional members, and people from all walks of life to visit China," Xi said.

Xi's words and his recent visit to the US inspired people in the two countries who yearn for more exchanges, from government officials and scholars, to ordinary people, as the China-US relationship - one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world - is gradually improving through not only head-of-state diplomacy, but also the frequent sub-national and people-to-people exchanges, observers sai
A sense of affinity

Brainard and many members of the US mayors' delegation felt a sense of affinity during their trip to China, although they'd never been to this distant Eastern country before. "The rivers and valleys are very much the same," Brainard said in a speech he delivered at the Yangtze-Mississippi Forum held in Shanghai on November 6.

The word "similarity" was mentioned by many Chinese and American officials and scholars at the forum. Yangtze River is "similar in many ways to the Mississippi - broad, flat, and used for transport," said Gabriel Filippelli, executive director of the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute who also attended the forum.

In an interview with the Global Times, Filippelli recalled what he saw at the Yangtze River for the first time as a tourist years ago: He traveled near the river on his entire trip, over it, and visited various related waterways along the way. He felt that the Yangtze and Mississippi shared a similar appearance, and played a vital role in the history and development of both countries.

Many Chinese environment and hydrology scholars who've been to the US also feel a sense of affinity when seeing Mississippi River in person.

Zhang Weiguo, a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC) at East China Normal University, participated in a cooperative project at the Louisiana State University (LSU) in December 2019. During his one-week stay, Zhang visited the Mississippi River with his US colleagues, where he saw a body of water as wide as the Yangtze River, riverside wetlands, deciduous trees with some of their branches reaching into water, alligators basking on warm mud, and crayfish caught by local fishermen, which "tasted similar to the Chinese ones," he recalled.

"I heard that crayfish are originally from Louisiana. And now they are widely farmed in China as well, especially along the Yangtze River," Zhang told the Global Times.

"From the very small crayfish case, I felt that the two rivers, although far away from each other, have a lot of connections."
Broader, more inclusive communication

In Shanghai, the US mayor delegation and some US scholars visited the city's Chongming Island. On what is dubbed as China's third-largest island, they visited a national nature reserve, a Chinese sturgeon protection base, a domestic sewage treatment station, and the Qingcaosha Reservoir that supplies fresh water to 13 million residents in Shanghai.

Brainard said that they had wonderful time on learning about China, as well as its efforts in protecting rivers and restoring the wetlands. He believes there are many joint efforts China and the US can make in protecting their rivers.

"We need to do much work to improve the quality of water in the Mississippi River and keep agricultural chemicals from polluting the river. China needs to do the same thing as well. I hope that we can learn from each other on what does and doesn't work, and collaborate on making both our famous rivers more sustainable," Brainard.

Nina Lam, E. L. Abraham Distinguished Professor of Department of Environmental Sciences at the LSU, also participated in the Chongming visit. There Lam had the chance to see the Yangtze River again.

"It (the river) is always beautiful," she told the Global Times after the visit. "I was especially impressed with the transportation infrastructure such as the bridge, tunnel, and roads built to link the island with the inland."

Lam recalled that the first time she saw the Yangtze River was in December 1985, when she was collaborating with the then Nanjing Institute of Geography on a project using a geographic information system (GIS) approach to study the cancer mortality patterns in China.

China and the US have long cooperated in the academic field of river, estuary, and delta related researches. The SKLEC and its predecessor institutes, for instance, have had academic exchanges with the LSU since the 1980s, when China had just launched its reform and opening-up, according to Zhang. Their cooperation covered physiognomy in the beginning, and later ecological wetlands and estuaries. It will involve broader and more comprehensive aspects, Zhang added.

"Industrialization occurred earlier in the Mississippi River basin than it did in the Yangtze River basin, and the two rivers and estuaries face similar challenges partly caused by human activities like excavation of canals," Zhang told the Global Times. "Therefore, some experiences by the US in dealing with the Mississippi are worth learning from for us."

The academic exchanges between SKLEC and LSU continued online during the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, scholars and young students from the two sides have engaged in deep cooperation, said Zhang.

To increase exchanges between our two peoples, especially between the youth, China is ready to invite 50,000 young Americans to China through exchange and study programs over the next five years, announced President Xi in a speech delivered at the Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the US, on November 15.

Many Chinese and US scholars and students reached by the Global Times applauded the broader exchanges between the two countries. "I believe that the communication between China and US, just like the two big rivers, will be broader and more inclusive," said Zhang.

A shared future

At the Yangtze-Mississippi Forum in Shanghai, officials and scholars from various countries witnessed the unveiling ceremony for the International Research Center for Rivers and Deltas, an institute at the ECNU to strengthen transnational academic cooperation in the field of rivers and deltas.

The new center will serve as an international collaboration platform so that people can discuss sustainable development methods in river basins and estuarine areas, said He Qing, director of SKLEC.

"Watersheds and estuaries are an inseparable system," He told the Global Times after the forum. "It is of great significance for global people living in different natural ecological environments and population densities to learn from each other."

Echoing He, some US scholars said they expect China and the US, as well as other countries involved, to have more transnational cooperation on river, estuary, and delta protection.

"As far as I know, there have been many cooperative projects between delta researchers in the two countries. However, very few studies have been on the human side, and even fewer on analyzing the delta as a coupled natural-human system," Lam told the Global Times.

"This type of research is difficult to carry out, thus cooperation between the two countries and learning from each other's experiences and perspective will definitely help, leading to much improved understanding of the deltas and solutions to their challenges," she added.

Speaking of the Yangtze and Mississippi rivers, Filippelli suggests that more cooperation can take place on climate resilience and green economic development between the leaders and scholars of the two countries.

"In particular, opportunities exist to share common approaches to mitigating the impacts of flooding, and share the science and practice of urban greening initiatives for environmental improvements and public health," he told the Global Times.

Finding the right partners can help in finding new solutions not only for local problems, but also to help "inform and reengage us on the national level and bilateral level between our two countries," Daniel Delk, deputy Consul General of the US in Shanghai, said at the forum. "I'm excited about the opportunities that may come not this day, but in the months and years ahead, to form new partnerships," he said.

According to the forum's organizers, a similar forum that will also focus on the Yangtze River and Mississippi River is going to be held in the US in 2024. At that time, the American side will invite related Chinese guests to the US.

As Xi noted in his November 15 speech, the foundation of China-US relations was laid by two peoples. The anticipated reunion on the Mississippi River is a vivid example of the continued improvement in subnational and people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, observers pointed out.

China and the US share a community of shared future, in terms of the frequent economic exchanges between and the common environmental responsibilities shared by the two countries, Zhang said.

As a scholar in the environment and river deltas, Zhang said he is pleased to see China and US spend joint efforts in addressing challenges including economic development and global climate change. "I'm looking forward to more cooperation and exchanges between the two countries, which will benefit the whole of human society," he said.

China's economy starts off 2024 on strong footing, with an array of key indicators in the first two months beating market expectation by a wide margin, fueled by a spending spree in the Spring Festival holidays, ramped-up efforts in building new quality productive forces and the effects of macro policies implementation. Observers said the upbeat data offer an encouraging sign that the world's second-largest economy is not only consolidating the recovery momentum but also picking up pace.

The industrial output grew 7 percent year-on-year in the first two months, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, well above the 5 percent forecast from analysts polled by Reuters. It is also the fastest since March 2023.

The strong start in 2024, which presages a raft of bright spots ranging from high-tech to consumption of this year's growth path, also rebuts squarely recent skepticism and badmouths on Chinese economy hyped by certain Western media. It projects great confidence in China's economic trajectory toward a growth rate of around 5 percent in 2024, a goal set by this year's Government Work Report that Chinese officials believe - albeit faced with external and internal headwinds - will come to fruition "with earnest endeavors."

In January-February period, retail sales expanded 5.5 percent from the same period last year, versus a Reuters forecast of 5.2 percent, while fixed-asset investment also gained 4.2 percent in year-on-year terms, surpassing market estimates of 3.2 percent.

"With the macro policies taking effect, China's national economy has continued to recover and turn for the better in the first two months," NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office on Monday.

Recovery momentum

"The positive macro-economic indicators reflect that the country's GDP growth rate in the first quarter of this year will be higher than 5 percent, and that the economy is bottoming out after facing constant growth pressure seen in the past 10 years or so," Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday.

For the first time in a number of consecutive months, the overall gauges on industrial, service and investment all topped the forecasts and displayed a considerable level of gains. And those headline indexes point to a strengthening recovery momentum that is buoyed by restorative growth and, more importantly, multiple new positive factors beyond, according to analysts.

For example, the 5.5-percent jump in the retail sales in the first two months, which though seem to be a moderate number taking account of last year's high base effect, shed light on the indigenous vigor and potential of China's massive consumer market, particularly in entertainment, tourism, cultural, sports and vehicle categories.

During the eight-day Spring Festival holidays in February, nationwide domestic tourism reached 474 million trips, an increase of 19 percent compared with pre-COVID level in 2019, while total expenditure amounted to 632.7 billion yuan, up 7.7 percent from the same holiday period in 2019.

It is forecasted the spending boost will prevail throughout the year, as more stimulus policies take effect and the "pandemic-scarring effect" continues to diminish. China last week unveiled a plan to promote large-scale renewal of equipment and the trading-in of consumer goods, opening up a market worth trillions of yuan and further giving consumption a leg up.

Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday the economic recovery has also shown signs of tilting toward a more "even and balance" mode at the beginning of the year, especially in the demand side, whose recovery - though still lags behind the supply side - has been in a quick catch-up.

Fixed-asset investment, which grew 4.2-percent in the first two months, has "bottomed out" despite a drag by property sector, according to Tian, while ascribing the turnaround partly to the issuance of additional 1-trillion-yuan special treasury bonds in the fourth quarter.

In January-February period, investment in high-tech industries rose 9.4 percent year-on-year, a drastic rise that aligns with this year's economic blueprint laid out during the two sessions, which put the development of new quality productive forces as a core mission.

To reinforce and fast track the recovery in the demand side, Tian suggested that Chinese policymakers to "frontload" part of special-purpose bonds in the first half of 2024.

The Government Work Report stated that China plans to issue ultra-long special treasury bonds starting this year and over each of the next several years. One trillion yuan ($139 billion) of such bonds will be issued in 2024.

In 2023, fixed-asset investment staged a growth of 3 percent, NBS data showed.

In terms of supply, Liu Aihua said at the press briefing that industrial production will continue to play a ballast role in the national economy. She highlighted new drives from China's elevating innovation capacity amid manufacturing upgrade and transformation, in addition to traditional edges such as a complete industrial chain as well as the sheer size of the market.

Confidence behind the target

Following the set-up of an annual GDP growth target in early March, Chinese doomsayers have been gone to great lengths to raise doubts on the likelihood of the country to achieve a 5-percent goal. So the highly-anticipated economic data at the start of the year also timely draws out an objective and comprehensive picture on China's economic course, proving that the country is running on abundant engines - which certain Western media outlets ignore, that arguably outweigh unfavorable conditions, analysts said.

While acknowledging a bunch of downward pressures including "complex, severe and uncertain external environment and insufficient domestic effective demand," Liu stressed that China has conditions and enough support to hit the around 5-percent GDP growth target, and will realize the goal "through earnest endeavors."

Liu said Chinese authorities attach great importance to the challenges that could pose barriers to development. They also stand with great confidence and maintain strategic focus to cope with difficulties, promote sustained economic recovery, and translate the expected economic development goals into reality.

Han Baojiang, a professor at Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the Global Times that Chinese policymakers are sober and they have articulated clear approach to economic development. "As long as we improve our economy, enhance people's livelihoods, and ensure employment, it is probably the most effective way to deal with all challenges."

Cao also voiced full confidence that the country will realize this year's GDP growth target of around 5 percent, though he said more effort is needed to focus on high-quality development.

To shield against potential headwinds, Cao suggested that authorities should continue to promote the transition in overall economic structure, focus on developing new quality productive forces, like new industries to be propelled by artificial intelligence.

Analysts warned against the property downturn, which they said is likely to persist for some time this year. In the first two months, China's property investment dived 9 percent year-on-year, NBS data showed.

Also, the increasingly volatile external environment calls for Chinese policymakers to reach more into the toolbox to stabilize and shore up internal demand, according to Tian. Liu said the country's solid economic fundamentals, the accumulation of many positive factors and the government's stimulus measures will continue to propel the economy to rebound and improve.

Tian predicted that China will continue making an "immense" 30 percent contribution to the world economy on condition that the 5-percent GDP growth goal is achieved, making it the second-largest only after the US.

The China-Laos Railway has facilitated over 30 million passenger trips since its operation in December of 2021, official data showed on Thursday, highlighting China's deepening cooperation with the neighboring countries under BRI.

As of Tuesday, the railway had transported a total of 30.2 million passenger trips and 34.24 million tons of cargo, with cross-border shipments exceeding 7.8 million tons, according to China Railway. This robust performance is showing a thriving trend in both passenger and freight transport along this strategic route.

The China-Laos Railway is experiencing a continuous rise in passenger volume. In the Chinese section, daily passenger trains have increased from 35 to 51, with daily passenger traffic peaking at 103,000 from the initial 20,000, China Railway said.

The Laotian section also expanded its daily passenger trains from four to 12, with daily passenger throughput peaking at 12,808 from the previous 720.

Travelling with the China-Laos Railway is a wonderful and exciting experience, as the railway now offers multi-language services and cost-effective tickets, and it has greatly facilitated our travel, a tourist surnamed Kong, told the Global Times on Thursday.

During this year's Spring Festival travel season, tourism along the China-Laos Railway has boomed. The total number of passengers transported along the entire line reached 2.96 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 39 percent.

The China-Laos Railway shows strong and steady growth in cross-border freight transportation. From January 1 to March 12 this year, the railway completed cross-border freight transportation of 1.064 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 33.9 percent.

China welcomes a move by Hungary to facilitate visa for Chinese citizens visiting the country for investment and cooperation purposes, and welcomes visa facilitation by more countries, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry (FM) said on Tuesday.

The announcement by Hungary related to issuing 5-year, multiple-entry visas for Chinese citizens on business trips is another example of the high-level development of China-Hungary ties, and China welcomes the move," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a routine press conference on Tuesday in Beijing.

Wang noted that bilateral cooperation have yielded fruitful results under the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership.

After China implemented a pilot policy which include visa-free entry for Hungarian tourists and business people, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto recently announced that Hungary would issue long-term visas to Chinese citizens visiting the country for investment and business cooperation.

"We believe these new measures will further strengthen people-to-people exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and promote high-level development of the bilateral ties," Wang said. "China also welcomes more countries to offer visa facilitation for Chinese citizens to boost cross-border travel and cooperation."

China announced last week that it will adopt a visa-free policy for Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg on a trial basis, starting on March 14.

This followed visa-free entry trial for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia, effective from December 1, 2023.

As human society steps into the era of artificial intelligence, it is believed that with intensified and collective efforts, China will carve out a technological path that aligns with its national conditions, enable the safe development of General Artificial Intelligence (AI) and benefit the whole humankind, a Chinese national political advisor said during the two sessions.

General AI has emerged as the strategic high ground in global technological competition. “To win this crucial technological race, which is of paramount importance to our nation, the key lies in nurturing the talent,” Zhu Songchun, director of the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said at a group interview held by the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee on Sunday.

General AI stands as a typical representative of the new quality productive forces. The “general” in General AI refers to AI’s ability to perform an infinite number of tasks in daily physical and social scenarios, autonomously discover tasks as if it has a “mind of its own,” and possess autonomous value-driven motivation, Zhu said.

Zhu introduced “Tongtong,” the world’s first prototype of a general intelligent humanoid robot being showcased in Beijing. “She has the complete neural and value system of a three or four-year-old child and is currently undergoing rapid iterations. In the future, she will be integrated into various aspects of our lives, such as pouring tea and providing warm companionship,” he said.

Behind the most ordinary abilities in daily life are actually the core technical issues that General Artificial Intelligence needs to research, Zhu said, emphasizing that achieving General AI hinges on giving machines a “mind of their own.”

During this year’s two sessions, AI has emerged as one of the hottest topics. The annual Government Work Report released on Tuesday also highlighted that a stream of innovations emerged in frontier areas such as AI and quantum technology in 2023.

While for major tasks in 2024, the Government Work Report stressed to step up research and development and application of big data and AI, launch an AI Plus initiative, and build digital industry clusters with international competitiveness.

China’s AI industry has entered a period of rapid development. According to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the core AI industry in China reached a scale of 508 billion yuan ($70.69 billion) in 2022, an increase of 18 percent year-on-year. Preliminary statistics indicate that the scale reached 578.4 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 13.9 percent.

China's integrated circuits (IC) or semiconductor chips export surged by nearly 30 percent in the first two months of 2024 amid the country's efforts to climb up the global technological ladder, despite mounting assaults by the US and its allies to slow down China's technology rise. 

IC exports reached 160.71 billion yuan ($22.33 billion) during the first two months of 2024, with an annual increase of 28.6 percent, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday. 

IC exports were among a number of high-tech products that have experienced robust growth during the January-February period. 

Beside IC, the exports of automatic data processing equipment increased by 7.3 percent year-on-year to reach 195.45 billion yuan and auto exports soared by 15.8 percent from the same period last year to reach 111.89 billion yuan. 

The robust growth of high-tech products reflect that China's efforts in transforming and upgrading its industries is paying off , and the tech suppression by a number of Western countries have largely failed and have actually boosted China's tech competitiveness as the country put more efforts in achieving self-sufficiency in high-tech products such as chips, analysts said. 

China's chip self-sufficiency rate may increase to 30-35 percent as many domestic chipmakers have expanded manufacturing since the US launched its tech war against China several years ago, said Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said at a press conference held during the ongoing two sessions that China's economy was off to a good start in the first quarter this year, with preliminary economic indicators such as electricity use, exports, and bank loans pointing to a strong recovery of the economy.