Editor's Note:

The year of 2023 has witnessed important moves taken globally to deal with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its subsequent impact. On November 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden agreed to establish China-US government talks on AI. Earlier this month, representatives and companies from 28 countries as well as the EU signed the Bletchley Declaration, a "world-first" agreement on AI to tackle the risks of frontier AI models, during the UK's AI Safety Summit. In October, China put forward the Global AI Governance Initiative at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Also in October, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General launched an Advisory Board to explore ways to link various AI governance initiatives.

These moves marked the beginning of the world's united efforts in managing AI development. It will, however, be a long time before the results of such efforts are seen. Why have major countries and international organizations decided on a proactive approach toward AI development at this time? How will the Global AI Governance Initiative lead China to contribute more to the governance and development of AI technology? In which direction will AI likely take the whole human society and how should we prepare ourselves for such a reality? The Global Times spoke with three leading Chinese experts in the field of AI, who provided deeper insights into a human-AI integrated world.

Zeng Yi, Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of the Center for Long-term AI and a member of the UN High-level Advisory Body on AI:

In recent years, the application of AI has rapidly entered various sectors of society, especially in 2023, when the development of generative AI technology has reached unprecedented heights in terms of user experience and application scope. Promoting social and economic development aside, it has also brought various risks, such as a direct threat to social trust due to misinformation generated by AI; the challenges that AI may pose to social fairness and employment; and the potential safety risks and the negative impact on society following misuse, abuse, and malicious use of technology.

AI risks and safety issues are global challenges that no country can handle alone. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for the global governance of AI risks at the UN Security Council meeting on AI in July. In a follow-up step, the UN established a dedicated high-level advisory body, of which I am one of the two Chinese members, to address the global development and governance of AI.

China has proposed the Global AI Governance Initiative. The initiative is not only a positive response to global challenges, but also substantially supports the UN in coordinating the global governance of AI.

The initiative proposes that the development of AI should adhere to the principle of a people-centered approach, with the goal of increasing the wellbeing of humanity. AI draws inspiration from natural intelligence, especially human intelligence, and strives to develop technologies with learning, reasoning, decision-making, and planning capabilities to handle and solve complex problems. It is expected to assist humans and become an empowering technology that promotes social and ecological development. Therefore, the development of AI should aim to enhance common wellbeing while adhering to human values and ethics, and promote the progress of human civilization.

At the same time, the initiative also stresses that we should adhere to the principle of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit in AI development. This principle first reflects China's commitment to global sustainable development and the construction of a global community of shared future in order to share development opportunities, platforms, and benefits with the world. Countries with advantages in technological development should all share the fruits and experiences of development from a global perspective while enjoying the opportunities brought about by technological development.

AI has tremendous potential value. Currently, generative AI processes and predicts information much faster than humans can. We should harness its benefits, but also pay close attention to the challenges it brings. AI has never been neutral, and without an ethical safety framework, it lacks boundaries. It is crucial to construct a robust risk, safety and security detection framework.

China has always had a global perspective and international sentiment in the governance of AI, and has been committed to actively contributing its practical experience to global governance in this field. However, successful and effective governance of AI requires joint efforts from the international community at the global scale, sharing ideas, opportunities, experiences, ensuring safety and security by collective efforts.
Liu Wei, Director of the human-machine interaction and cognitive engineering laboratory with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications:

The main reason why the international community started to pay a lot of attention to the security issues of AI is because AI technology is advancing at an unexpected speed. With the emergence of ChatGPT, people feel that the automation level of AI products is increasing, posing the potential risk of loss of control. People worry that AI may lead to unexpected outcomes, especially when the technology is combined with certain critical security departments. For example, in the military field, if AI is combined with nuclear weapons, there is a high possibility of things getting out of control.

AI technology itself can also generate various complex risks, including economic, social, financial, cultural, and military, leading to a chain reaction in these fields. Many parts of the world are vigorously developing smart cities, smart homes, smart transportation, and smart buildings. However, if there are AI weapons, these smart technologies can become very dangerous.

As one of the pioneers in the field of AI, China has been injecting Eastern wisdom into the global governance system through practical actions, showcasing its vision and responsibility as a major country. The Chinese approach and Eastern wisdom are crucial for the management of future AI development.

The concept of "developing AI for good" may be problematic in the Western context. Technology is an objective existence in the material world, while "goodness" is an inevitable requirement of ethics and morality. Whether an inevitable requirement can be derived from an objective existence is a topic that is still up for debate in the West.

AI is the crystallization of human wisdom. Despite being labeled as "intelligent," it is, at most, an advanced tool created by humans. The development direction and utility of AI technologies are fundamentally determined by human perspectives, horizons, understanding, and means. The essence of "technology for good" is the goodness of "humans." Therefore, in terms of regulation, it is necessary to adhere to the concept of ethics first, establish and improve an ethical accountability mechanism for AI, and clarify the responsibilities and rights boundaries of AI entities.

In terms of research and development, it is necessary to ensure that advanced technological methods are always under responsible and reliable human control, prevent the generation of data algorithm biases, and make the research and development process controllable and trustworthy. In terms of usage, it is necessary to ensure personal privacy and data security, establish emergency mechanisms and fallback measures in advance, and provide necessary training for users.

The future direction of intelligent development should be "the coordinated development of the human-machine-environment system while operating at high speed." Here, "human" involves managers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, consumers, and maintainers among others; "machine" not only refers to the software and hardware in intelligence equipment, but also involves the mechanisms connecting various links in the industrial chain; "environment" involves the collaborative environment of "government, industry, academia, research, and business" in many fields. This judgment takes into account both the rationality and science of the West and the natural principles and ethics of the East, as well as the complementarity of humans and machines.

It is unlikely that AI will surpass human intelligence based on the existing mathematical system and design patterns of software and hardware. However, it might be possible in a human-machine-environment system in the future. The future of human-machine fusion intelligence lies in symbiosis, combining human wisdom with machine intelligence. The essence of human-machine interaction is coexistence, combining human physiology with machine physics.
Brian Tse, Founder and CEO of Concordia AI, a Beijing-based social enterprise focused on AI safety and governance and a policy affiliate at the Centre for the Governance of AI founded at the University of Oxford:

The world is entering a golden era of opportunity for international cooperation and the governance of AI.

China is indispensable in global discussions on addressing AI's risks and opportunities. In our recent 150-plus page report "State of AI Safety in China," Concordia AI analyzes the landscape of Chinese domestic governance, international governance, technical research, expert views, lab self-governance, and public opinion in addressing frontier AI risks. Based on the report, we believe China can make many invaluable contributions to global AI governance.

On domestic governance, China has moved faster than any other major jurisdiction in regulating recommendation algorithms, deepfakes, and generative AI. As countries seek to develop their own domestic governance frameworks to mitigate AI's worst risks, there is a golden window of opportunity for policymakers to exchange lessons and it would be immensely beneficial for China to share its regulatory insights with the rest of the world.

On the international stage, China can help empower the voices of countries in the Global South. Proliferation of frontier models has major dangers, but these cannot be addressed without engaging the Global South. Moreover, global inequality will be exacerbated if the Global South lacks AI solutions to pressing social and environmental challenges. As the first steps toward promoting greater equality, Chinese labs have been actively working to incorporate underrepresented languages in large language models. For example, China's National Peng Cheng Laboratory has constructed a diverse corpus dataset and data quality assessment toolkit, covering Chinese, English, and over 50 languages from countries and regions that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In technical AI safety, China has cutting-edge research and top talent to offer. China's robustness research has already garnered global recognition. Over the last year, Chinese research groups have also started exploring increasingly sophisticated frontier AI safety issues such as safety evaluations, red-teaming (a tool used in cybersecurity to test how an organization would respond to a genuine cyberattack), and scalable oversight.

As China and the US have agreed to establish China-US government talks on AI, we also suggest the two countries explore cooperation in the following areas:

First, China and the US should establish regular channels of communication involving policymakers, leading developers, and experts on AI safety. Currently, frontier AI capabilities are highly concentrated in a few large model research institutions and companies in China and the US. Therefore, China-US dialogue should consider involving the leading developers, gradually establishing mechanisms that serve common interests such as sharing information about emergent risks and safety incidents.

Second, China and the US should jointly strengthen research investment and cooperation in the field of AI safety. Recently, more than 20 top scientists in AI development and governance from countries including China, the US, the UK, Canada, and others from Europe co-authored a position paper and convened in-person to propose, among other things, that governments and companies allocate at least one third of AI R&D funding to ensure the safety and ethical use of AI systems.

Third, China and the US should agree on "bottom lines" for the development of frontier AI. For example, China and the US could jointly commit to banning AI from launching nuclear weapons, requiring human decision-making pre-launch.

Fourth, China and the US can learn from each other's AI governance and regulatory programs. Each country and AI lab is feverishly experimenting internally, trying to perfect a cocktail of AI governance policies for their unique situation. However, there are more similarities than many think; for instance, Senators Blumenthal and Hawley's Bipartisan Framework for US AI legislation proposes a national oversight body, licensing requirements, and safety incident reporting requirements to govern AI systems, similar to provisions in an expert draft for China's national AI law.

Fifth, China and the US should jointly explore and promote international frameworks and standardization norms. For example, China's National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (TC260) has released a standards implementation guide on watermarking generative AI and additional plans for drafting future generative AI standards. China's TC260, US National Institute of Standards and Technology, and international bodies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers can help formulate international standards to prevent the creation and distribution of deceptive AI-generated content.

Yet dialogues and actions between China and the US are only a part of the picture. As we enter into an era of rapid progress in AI development, it is imperative that countries around the world transcend their immediate differences to prevent catastrophic risks and harness AI for the betterment of humanity.

France's lower house of parliament approved a bill seeking penalties on fast fashion products on March 14. The bill calls for gradually increasing penalties up to 10 euros ($11) per individual item of clothing by 2030, as well as a ban on advertising for these products. The bill must head to the Senate before it becomes law.

According to their view, "The popularity of fashion retailers Shein and Temu has disrupted the retail sector while established players like Zara and H&M continue to largely rely on predicting shoppers' preferences."

The proposer of the bill, Anne-Cécile Violland, emphasized that it targets not only fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara, but also e-commerce platforms such as Temu, AliExpress, Amazon and Zalando that sell fast fashion products.

Although the standards and thresholds for the companies covered by this bill have not been clearly defined, it is generally believed that it targets fast-rising and widely watched companies like Shein and Temu.

Their common feature is the clothing and textile supply chain in China, which reacts more quickly and agilely. 

Once this bill is passed, fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara and their Chinese clothing supply chains, as well as platforms with a large number of clothing and fashion product merchants and sellers from China such as Temu, AliExpress, Zalando and Amazon will be affected. 

In recent years, with a strong industrial base and flexible supply chain model, Chinese-made fashion products are more diverse, updated faster, and have higher cost performance, attracting more purchases from French consumers and having an impact on the local retail industry in France. 

Agence France-Presse stated that a series of measures taken by the French National Assembly are particularly aimed at "large-scale manufacturers from China." 

An article published by French media, Les Echo, points out that the bill hides some potentially regrettable side-effects, unreasonable and naïve thinking, and less than legitimate motives. One side-effect is that the people who are ultimately impacted by this bill are not the "fashion victims" who are easily influenced by internet celebrities, but those from lower-income groups. 

It is also unreasonable and naïve because it is based on the assumption that a product that is 10 times more expensive must be at least 10 times more durable, but this is not always true in many cases. And finally, a clearly less than legitimate motivation is that this bill appears to be tailor-made to impact companies with connections to China's textile manufacturing supply chain. 

Zhao Yongsheng, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), said on March 15 that this bill clearly violates the "free trade" principles that Europeans have been advocating for many years and is a blatant step toward an "anti-globalization" approach, especially when it comes to France's trade policy toward China. 

Zhao further said that this bill, which lawmakers claim is aimed at curbing so-called "fast fashion," not only defies logic, but is also untenable from a legal standpoint. Replying on "closing doors" to foreign companies is an outdated approach in today's world and market. Instead, France should look inwards and evaluate the situation to effectively improve the competitiveness of their products.

In 2022, France was the second-largest importer of Chinese clothing.

Unlike the "new three" export products represented by electric passenger cars, lithium-ion batteries, and solar batteries, clothing is a traditional featured product among China's exports. 

In the field of clothing and fashion, well-known brands represented by Shein have emerged. Currently, Shein, Zara, Uniqlo, and H&M are among the top four global fashion brands. 

With the continuous upgrading of China's clothing and fashion industry, enterprises that leverage the Chinese supply chain, such as Shein, have become the rule makers and trend leaders of the entire industry, leading the entire domestic industry from the bottom of the global industry chain's "smile curve" to the brands and technology research and development that make up the other end of the chain.

This is also an important manifestation of the increasing influence of China's fashion industry globally. Additionally, a large number of Zara, H&M and even French retailer Decathlon's industrial chain suppliers are also located in China.

E-commerce platform companies represented by Temu, AliExpress, and TikTok Shop are also rapidly developing in markets such as Europe and the US, and products from the Chinese supply chain are quickly going global.

According to the 2024 State of Mobile report released by data.ai, a market analysis agency, Shein, Temu, and AliExpress ranked first, second, and ninth respectively in the global shopping app download rankings in 2023, while Amazon ranked third.

The lawmakers say the reason they are accelerating the introduction of restrictions on fast fashion companies is to "help offset their environmental impact." Shein stated that it produces clothes based on existing demand, which allows its rate of unsold garments to remain consistently in the low single digits, whereas traditional players can waste up to 40 percent.

Shein added that the only impact of the bill would be to "worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis."

The Chinese clothing and textile industry chain behind brands and e-commerce platforms such as Shein, Primark, Zara, and Temu has had a serious impact on French companies, which may be an important reason for the introduction of the bill by French lawmakers. This is not the first time that France has targeted China's advantageous industries.

In February, the French government announced the suspension of a plan to lease electric cars at affordable prices to low-income households. The program had only been implemented for six weeks. The plan is expected to be relaunched in 2025. 

French officials said the subsidy program was limited by the shortage of French electric cars and urged French automakers to speed up production. "There is huge market demand, but we don't have enough French products yet."

It is understood that electric cars eligible for this subsidy program must meet the latest "carbon footprint" and other relevant requirements set by the French government, which is believed to be aimed at excluding cheap Chinese electric cars. 

French National Radio reported earlier that many European and US electric cars would also be affected by the new regulations since they include parts made in China, which means there may be "very few" electric cars left to meet the new standards.

China subsequently launched an investigation into the price of brandy imported from the European Union, which was seen as a counterattack against the EU's investigation into the influx of cheap Chinese electric cars into Europe. France was the hardest hit, considering it accounts for 99.8 percent of all EU brandy exports.

While products from the Chinese clothing and fashion industry chain have rapidly grown in European markets such as France, especially luxury goods, perfumes, and cosmetics, other fashion brands products from France have seen a steady increase in sales in China. 

According to Bertrand Lortholary, the French ambassador to China, "France's exports of luxury goods to China have doubled in the past three years, including perfumes, cosmetics, fashion accessories, leather goods, jewelry, and wines and spirits." 

"Since 2021, China has become the main market for French cosmetics exports worldwide," he added.

The Chinese mainland will enhance its policy support system to provide greater and more targeted support to businesspeople and enterprises from the island of Taiwan in developing the new quality productive forces, Chen Binhua, spokesperson of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Developing new quality productive forces is an inherent requirement and a key focus for promoting high-quality development. Taiwan businesses are bound to be participants, contributors and beneficiaries in this process, Chen said.

The mainland will maintain consistency and continuity in policy implementation, building a policy support system with greater strength and more targeted measures, Chen said, noting that this includes strengthening the leading role of technological innovation, optimizing factor allocation, and assisting Taiwan businesses in aligning with the direction of a modern industrial system's construction.

During the just-concluded two sessions, the development of new quality productive forces was included in the Government Work Report for the first time. It called for fully leveraging the leading role of innovation, and deeply cultivating and strengthening emerging industries.

By proactively planning for future industries and driving industrial innovation through technological innovation, it will create more opportunities to strengthen industrial cooperation across the Taiwan Straits, Chen noted.

The industries on both sides of the Taiwan Straits complement each other's strengths, Chen said, adding that Taiwan enterprises have technical advantages in advanced manufacturing, new materials and biomedicine. They have a solid foundation in big data and artificial intelligence, as well as extensive experience in modern agriculture and modern services.

Taiwan businesses should seize the opportunities in developing new quality productive forces, actively plan for future industries, participate in the innovative development of the digital economy, benefit from the mainland's rural revitalization policies, and actively contribute to the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits, Chen said.

"Promoting the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits is a long-standing and consistent policy of the mainland," Wang Jianmin, a senior cross-Straits expert at Minnan Normal University in Fujian, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The mainland's economic development holds numerous business opportunities for Taiwan businesses. Despite certain interference from within the island and by external forces, the overall trend of cross-Straits integrated development will not change, Wang said, adding that Taiwan businesses are highly sensitive to opportunities and are expected to proactively seize the chances.

Additionally, the mainland, especially its coastal provinces, has provided significant policy support for Taiwan residents seeking to study and work in the mainland. There is a clear trend of more youth from the island coming to the mainland for employment and entrepreneurship, Wang said.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, from January to November 2023, the mainland approved 6,936 new Taiwan-funded projects, up 26.8 percent year-on-year, with actual use of capital from the Taiwan island amounting to $2.69 billion, an increase of 39.9 percent year-on-year.

The mainland economy remains promising despite external uncertainties, with a continued focus on consolidating the long-term positive trend. It will provide broader opportunities for Taiwan compatriots and enterprises to deepen their roots and participate in high-quality development on the mainland, Chen said.

Shanghai Disney Resort is to construct a new themed attraction, a reflection that foreign investors remain upbeat in operating in China.

The new themed attraction is to be located adjacent to the newly opened Zootopia, which is at the initial planning stage.

Resort shareholders and management continue to signal optimism about Shanghai Disneyland and look forward to providing more updates as constructions progresses, the Global Times learned from the resort on Monday.

The latest expansion plan demonstrates Shanghai Disney Resort’s commitment to providing new offerings and developing the resort into a multi-day tourism destination for tourists from near and far, said the resort.

Since the resort’s opening in June 2016, Shanghai Disneyland theme park has undergone two expansions, with the opening of Disney•Pixar Toy Story Land in April 2018, and the opening of a second new themed land, Zootopia, in December 2023.

Foreign investors are now accelerating expansion in the Chinese market. Apple is set to open a new store in Shanghai’s Jing’an district on March 21, marking its eighth retail outlet in the city, according to the company’s website.

US fashion brand Supreme plans to open its first store in China, which will be its 17th store worldwide, jiemian.com reported.

Renewed confidence in the Chinese market comes as the Chinese government is stepping up efforts to attract overseas investment.

The Government Work Report, submitted to the national legislature for deliberation on March 5, outlined efforts to attract foreign investment. For example, all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished, and market access restrictions in services sectors, like telecommunication and healthcare, will be reduced. Work will also be done to make China a favored destination for foreign investment, according to the report.

“As various economic incentives continue to be rolled out and implemented, we feel that Chinese economy is gaining momentum. In particular, in the context of China's high-quality development and the dual-carbon goals, we see rapid development of companies and markets that are in line with the megatrends, such as new energy, artificial intelligence and green building materials,” Alvin Hu, President of WACKER China, told the Global Times.

Data showed that China remains a major destination for foreign investment. A total of 53,766 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in 2023, marking a substantial 39.7 percent increase over a year earlier.

The structure of foreign investment also showed promising signs of improvement, with high-tech industries attracting 423.34 billion yuan in 2023, accounting for 37.3 percent of the actual use of foreign investment, a 1.2 percentage point increase from 2022.

A prominent Chinese economist and a national political advisor has debunked various negative claims about the Chinese economy, including suggestions about "peak China" and "Japanification," while highlighting China's unique advantages and its potential to surpass the US to become the world's biggest economy.

Justin Lin Yifu, dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body, said that under the current international and domestic economic conditions, China can reach a GDP growth rate of above 5 percent and a potential growth rate of 8 percent.

In a group interview on the sidelines of the ongoing two sessions with reporters from several media outlets, including the Global Times, Lin, the former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, offered firm and sound rebuttals to a series of recent negative claims about the Chinese economy from Western officials and media reports.

The interview came after China's Government Work Report set a GDP growth target of around 5 percent for 2024, underscoring Chinese policymakers' firm confidence in the country's economic recovery, despite the risks and challenges. Such a growth rate means the Chinese economy will remain the fastest-growing among major economies and the main contributor to global growth this year.

"Considering the international and domestic economic conditions, with a potential annual growth rate of 8 percent, it is entirely possible for China to achieve an economic growth rate of above 5 percent," Lin said, pointing to China's various strengths, including a high savings rate, abundant investment resources and resolve to develop its economy.

On China's growth prospects, Lin also pointed out that China, as a major developing economy, is still at the stage of industrial upgrading and still faces a big gap with developed countries, but this creates "a late-comer's advantage." During this catch-up stage, other economies such as Japan, South Korea and Germany achieved a growth rate of 8 percent or above, according to Lin. "If they can achieve that, China also has the potential to achieve it," he said.
While many around the world have highlighted China's vast potential, some Western officials and media outlets have been smearing the Chinese economy recently, with a variety of claims such as "peak China," asserting that the Chinese economy is on a downward trend toward "Japanification," and that it will not catch up with the US.

Lin said that such claims are based on the fact that China's economic growth rate has slowed down and on Japan's experience in the 1980s and 1990s, when its economy lost steam. However, there are key differences between China and Japan back then, Lin said, noting that Japan's technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and productivity improvement during that period had stagnated. China, however, is at the same starting line as developed countries in terms of the new economy. It also has a large pool of talent, a massive market and a complete industrial landscape, Lin noted.

"What happened in Japan will not happen in China. I believe that as long as we continue our technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and improve productivity levels, per capita GDP will grow faster than that of the US," Lin said during the interview.

Another assertion made by Western officials and media outlets is that China will fall into a "middle income trap." But Lin said that China's per capita GDP is already over $12,500, which is very close to the threshold of $13,000 for becoming a high-income nation. "As long as we make good use of the favorable conditions for technological innovation and industrial upgrading, I believe we can become a high-income country - if not in 2025, then 2026," he said.

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

China's declining population has also become a focal point in the Western media's smearing of the Chinese economy, with some reports even calling it "China's demographic catastrophe."

In the group interview, Lin dismissed such claims, saying that China used to rely on the size of the population, but it now focuses on the quality of the population, having stepped up investment in education.

"China is also facing the challenge of aging. For economic growth, the labor force is important, but more important is effective labor," Lin said. "I believe that under the guidance of the new development philosophy, China will put innovation first, its productivity level will continue to improve, and it will not grow old before it gets rich."

At the ongoing two sessions, the development of new quality productive forces and digital economy are the hot topics. 

Seven years ago, the Government work report first proposed "speeding up the development of the digital economy." Since then, the digital economy has become an important engine for China's green transformation and a new driver of economic growth. In September last year, new quality productive forces theory was initiated to promote China's high-quality development.

For a long time, the definition of productivity has been the ability of humans to conquer and transform nature. The massive gains in productivity caused by Industrial Revolution led to huge resource consumption and waste emissions, resulting in multiple global problems. Therefore, it is necessary to redefine the connotation of productivity to ensure human sustainability and the coexistence of humanity and the nature.

New quality productive forces are the ability of humans to adapt to and utilize nature, a capacity that follows the principles of symbiosis and harmony between humans and nature, continuously advancing civilization and enhancing public welfare. New quality productive forces emphasize the reliance on scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations to achieve resource recycling and conservation, optimize resource management, and effectively promote the development of productivity in the process of transitioning to the ecological civilization.

From a theoretical perspective in viewing productivity, the development of new quality productive forces must involve cultivating new quality laborers and developing new quality ecological, digital, and industrial productivity to imbue labor materials with new quality connotations. In the current green transformation, through the application of technological innovations, transforming and upgrading traditional industries, and promoting the integration of the digital economy and the real economy to create digital industrial clusters.

The world is experiencing a wave of technological revolution and a new industrial revolution, with emerging information technology and digital transformation reshaping the economic landscape. It has become a consensus to promote the development of new quality productive forces through technological innovation. Undoubtedly, the digital economy has become the "fulcrum" for developing new quality productive forces, and it is also the core content of the development of new quality productive forces.

The digital economy uses data as means of production, modern information networks and intelligent algorithm as labor tools, digital industrialization as the foundation for development, and industrial digitalization as application scenarios to promote a new economic form that facilitates long-term sustainable development. The rise of the digital economy can lead to the restructuring of production factors, the reshaping of the geopolitical economic structure, and the reconstruction of the global geopolitical landscape, profoundly changing the way humans live and develop.

A report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology revealed that the scale of China's digital economy is likely to reach 70.8 trillion yuan ($9.8 trillion) in 2025. With the rapid advancement of digital technology, the continuous expansion of the integration of digital reality, and the acceleration of the integration of digital intelligence, the digital economy will become a new driving force for economic growth and a core element in the cultivation of new quality productive forces.

Innovation, green development and intelligence are the most significant characteristics of the digital economy. 

The digital economy is an innovative economy. The resources allocated by the digital economy are more concentrated on knowledge and technological innovation. The scope of innovation subjects has diversified. The digital economy is a green economy. Scientific development and the specific application of technology are increasingly shifting toward ecologicalization. The digital economy is an intelligent economy, where algorithm proves to be the key. Through algorithms and AI, the digital economy allocates resources and driving the development of an intelligent economy.

The digital economy provides us with a fulcrum and entry point for developing new quality productive forces. As the contemporary primary productive force and green productive force, new quality productive forces are indispensable to usher in robust future development. By promoting the development of the digital economy, we can drive climate governance, ecological protection, economic development, cultural prosperity, technological innovation, and social harmony.

For the government, it is essential to develop efficient and collaborative digital governance, formulate policies to support the high-quality development of the digital economy, and establish a fair and standardized digital governance ecosystem. The government should help build smart cities and digital villages, nurturing new business models, and injecting great vitality into the economy.

China will ramp up efforts to attract foreign investment, including further shortening the “negative list” for foreign investment, and all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished, according to a government work report delivered by Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.

Highlighting the pursuit of higher-standard opening up and promoting mutual benefits, Li said that the country will promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional opening-up, and facilitate interplay between domestic and international markets.

“We will ensure the overall stable performance of foreign trade and foreign investment and foster new strengthens in international economic cooperation and competition,” Li said.

According to the report, market access restrictions in services sectors, such as telecommunications and healthcare, will be reduced. In addition, the country will expand the Catalog of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment and encourage foreign-funded enterprises in China to reinvest in China.

“We will ensure national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises and see that they can participate in government procurement, bidding, and standard-setting processes in accordance with the law and on an equal footing,” Li said.

China will also strengthen services for foreign investors and make China a favored destination for foreign investment and the country will make it easier for foreign nationals to work, study, and travel in China, Li said.

“These efforts confirm Chinese government’s commitment to further expanding opening-up, sharing development dividends with the rest of the world,” Li Yong, a senior research fellow from the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Continuously shortening the negative list for foreign investment represents the country’s increasing opening-up to foreign capital, while abolishing all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing showed that China, as a global manufacturing center, is not a closed system but welcomes capital from other countries to invest in the country, which will help upgrade global manufacturing for the benefit of the mankind, Li Yong explained.

The government work report set a growth target of around 5 percent for the Chinese economy in 2024, which is higher than assessments by international organizations.

Li Yong noted that the around 5 percent growth rate will shore up the confidence of foreign investors in China. “Foreign investors coming to China will not only contribute to China's economic growth, but also to their own growth, as the size of China's huge market will be unmatched by any other country.”

Moreover, the country’s continuous efforts to facilitate foreign investment will shore up investor confidence and assist the predictable and sustainable development environment for foreign investors operating in China, Li Yong said.

Over the years, the negative list for foreign investment has been continuously reduced. The first negative list for foreign investment in 2013 contained 190 articles, while the current version has been shortened to 31 articles and the version of Chinese free trade zones to 27 articles, Huang Shouhong, head of the State Council Research Office and the drafting group for the government work report, said on Tuesday.

Referring to last year's foreign investment, Huang noted that in 2023, China experienced a decline in the amount of actual use of foreign investment. As with any event, short-term fluctuations are normal and caused by a variety of factors.

“According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, if we exclude the factor of faster growth of investment transit areas, global foreign direct investment fell by 18 percent last year. At the same time, all countries are increasing their efforts to attract investment, so the competition for investment is becoming more intense,” Huang said.

China’s growth rate in attracting foreign investment fell by 8 percent in yuan terms last year, but it still ranked second internationally and first among developing countries, Huang said.

“At present, we face some disturbing factors in attracting foreign investment, but investors are rational and look for medium- and long-term returns. Foreign investors who have invested in China have seen a return on their direct investment of about 9 percent in recent years, which is at a relatively high level internationally. China remains a major destination for foreign investment globally, Huang noted.

“Recently, I have seen some foreign chambers of commerce reports which show that the vast majority of enterprises investing in China will not reduce their investment, and a high percentage of them will continue to make China their first choice or among the top three investment destinations in the world,” Huang said.

Yin Zheng, Executive Vice President of China & East Asia Operations, Schneider Electric, said in a note sent to the Global Times on Tuesday that China is promoting high-quality development and focusing on building new quality productive forces, creating greater development potential for China.

“Operating in China for 37 years now, Schneider Electric keeps investing in China with an optimistic perspective to China’s development. China is already the company’s second largest market in the world, one of the most important supply chain bases, and one of our four largest R&D bases. China has become an important source of innovation and development force for Schneider Electric,” Yin noted.

Chinese Embassy in Romania expressed deep regret and serious concern on Saturday about the decision by Romanian government to reject Huawei's submission for authorization of 5G telecom equipment, calling such a move undermine fair competition and the rule of law and will harm the interests of the Romanian people and China-Romanian economic and trade cooperation.

The remarks were made after the Romanian government issued on February 29 an official announcement in the government gazette, rejecting Huawei's submission for authorization of its 5G gear. The Romanian government claimed that this decision was taken "based on law 163/2021 regarding the adoption of measures related to information and communication infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for the implementation of 5G networks," which entered into force in June, 2021, according to media reports.

Since the enactment of the law, the Chinese Embassy in Romania has repeatedly conveyed its position to relevant parties such as the Romanian government, political parties, and the parliament, expressing serious concerns. "We firmly oppose the exclusion of any country or enterprise based on non-technical standards or discriminatory clauses and firmly oppose actions that undermine the principles of fair competition and the rule of law," the Chinese Embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

Huawei has been investing and operating in Romania for 20 years, strictly adhering to Romanian laws and regulations, and maintaining a good track record in network security.

Moreover, the company has actively participated in the construction of Romania's communication networks, committed to promoting information and communication technology cooperation between China and Romania, creating thousands of job opportunities, and making positive contributions to Romania's fiscal revenue, digital economic development, and information infrastructure construction, the Chinese Embassy said.

It is believed that if Romania provides a favorable market environment, Huawei can make a greater contribution to the development of information and communication technology in Romania, and Chinese investment in Romania will also expand further, benefiting Romanian people, said the embassy.

Conversely, failure to provide such an environment would result in substantial harm to the interests of the Romanian people and the economic and trade cooperation between the two nations, the embassy said.

Speaking on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Romania this year, the embassy said that the traditional friendship between the two countries and the achievements in economic and trade cooperation have been hard won. 

Cooperation between both sides, based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, is in line with the common interests of both countries. "We hope that Romania will consider long-term interests, adhere to the principles of fairness, justice, and non-discrimination, and create a favorable environment for Chinese businesses to invest and operate in Romania. It is essential to uphold practical cooperation between both sides with concrete actions," the embassy said.

The Chinese government will continue to firmly defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, the embassy noted.

A discussion about the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai being shortened to two and a half hours thanks to a new high-speed bullet train went viral on Chinese social media recently. Experts said the train is technically feasible, but the economic and safety aspects need further consideration before it is put into commercial service.

A high-speed CR450 electric multiple unit (EMU) train with an experimental speed of 450 kilometers per hour will reportedly be deployed on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway (HSR) in 2025 and may cut the travel time between the two cities to two and a half hours from over four hours, according to the South China Morning Post.

The news soon topped the trending list on Sina Weibo.

Some netizens said they are looking forward to the new bullet train, while some raised questions about the travel time.

The operation cost of HSR, including energy cost, abrasion of railway as well as the ticket price, will be increased if the speed of the bullet train is raised to 450 kilometers per hour, Zhao Jian, a professor from Beijing Jiaotong University, told the Global Times on Monday, emphasizing that the most critical issue is safety.

According to a report by the Science and Technology Daily, China State Railway Group Co (China Railway) announced in January 2021 that it would initiate a scientific research campaign for the CR450 EMU train, in order to foster a Fuxing bullet train product with high safety levels, environmental friendliness and intelligent functions adapted to the 5G era.

In June 2023, China Railway conducted a trial operation of a CR450 EMU train on the Fuqing to Quanzhou section of the Fuzhou-Xiamen HSR in East China's Fujian Province. The CR450 EMU train completed bridge and tunnel speed tests at 453 kilometers per hour and 420 kilometers per hour, respectively.

"The CR450 EMU train has been technically proven via multiple tests but it is necessary to further ensure the safety and reduce the operation cost before it enters commercial service, in order to match the transport demand along the route," said Zhao.

The Chinese-developed ARJ21 and C919 aircraft, which made their debuts at the Singapore Airshow, have started their demonstration flights in five countries, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) said on Tuesday.

Experts said the demonstration flights have a significant meaning for Chinese passenger aircraft going abroad, as the flights can get international customers and the public to take a closer look at Chinese commercial aircraft.

The demonstration flights, which will be carried out over two weeks, aim to verify the planes' adaptability for airports, suitability of ground service equipment, applicability of special flight procedures and economy of route payloads, laying a foundation to explore Southeast Asian markets, COMAC said.

The first demonstration flight of the ARJ21 started at the Van Don International Airport in Vietnam on Tuesday afternoon.

Made-in-China products would be thought of as low-end industrial products in the past, and it's not easy to establish a better brand image. But such demonstration flights will improve the world's impression of Chinese aircraft and help establish the brand image of the entire Chinese industry, including aviation, Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The C919 is the first trunk-line jet aircraft developed by China in accordance with international airworthiness standards, and it has independent intellectual property rights.

China's civil aviation regulator said at its annual meeting in January that it aims to promote the operation of the domestically manufactured C919 in more countries, as part of new moves to further lift air travel.

COMAC said it has established a Southeast Asian representative office and a regional warehouse for aviation materials in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province. The company is planning to establish nearby training bases based on customers' own maintenance, repair and operations.

As for why Southeast Asian countries were chosen for demonstration flights, Wang said that the Southeast Asian market is more compatible with the ARJ21 and C919 aircraft than other regions due to the distribution of archipelago and peninsula regions, which are more suited for the two jets.

Qi Qi, an independent market watcher, said that demonstration flights will help win more customers. The ARJ21 is now in service in Southeast Asian countries.

The ARJ21, which can carry 78-97 passengers with a range of 2,225-3,700 kilometers, performs well during take-off and landing in high-temperature and high-altitude settings.

So far, a total of 127 of this aircraft have been delivered since it entered commercial operation in June of 2016, transporting more than 11 million passengers, COMAC said. Two ARJ21 aircraft operated by Indonesia's Transnusa Airlines have been running on four routes from Jakarta to five cities, carrying more than 100,000 passengers.
The C919 completed its first commercial flight on May 28, 2023. COMAC has delivered four aircraft to its China Eastern Airlines. The planes are in service on the Shanghai-Beijing and Shanghai-Chengdu routes, and they have carried more than 130,000 passengers.

At the just-closed Singapore Airshow, China's Tibet Airlines and COMAC signed a deal for 50 aircraft suitable for high-altitude plateaus (40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 planes), making Tibet Airlines the launch customer.

Wang said that the operational capacity and efficiency of the aircraft are more important than the number of orders delivered.

Ensuring production capacity and operational efficiency are more important than anything else for COMAC at present, for these aspects will be the most powerful evidence to promote Chinese aircraft in the international market, Wang said.

COMAC has forecast that the global passenger aircraft fleet will increase from 24,264 now to 51,701 in 20 years. The Asia-Pacific fleet will increase from 3,314 to 9,701.