The Port of Guangzhou, the world's fifth largest port, unveiled a three-year action plan (2024-26) to shore up the construction of a global shipping hub, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The plan, issued on Monday, called for the port to achieve throughput of 700 million tons and a container turnover of 27 million standard containers by 2026. 

The port will also handle 800,000 standard containers under the sea-rail multimodal transportation, achieve a vehicle turnover of 1.6 million units and realize a total investment of 15 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in port and fixed-asset investment by 2026, according to the plan.

The move is aimed at fostering a port-centered economic zone, nurturing new quality productive forces, further consolidating the port's status as a global shipping hub and a new high ground for deepening reforms and opening-up in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The new action plan is the fourth of its kind since such plans were introduced in 2015. As of the end of 2023, the Port of Guangzhou has seen its throughput increase to 675 million tons and container turnover to 25.41 million units. From 2021 to 2023, the port added a total of 42 new ocean shipping lines to bring the total number of container shipping lines to 268.

The introduction of new growth drivers such as auto vehicle transportation and sea-rail multimodal transport has carved out new areas of growth engines during recent years.

Reports by the World Bank indicate that in sub-Saharan Africa, about 600 million people, or approximately 53 percent of the region's population, live without access to electricity. Hundreds of millions more in urban cities have only limited or unreliable electricity. Furthermore, fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy supply and infrastructure in Africa. This is because, after gaining independence, most of these African countries developed energy infrastructures focused on non-renewable sources, despite the continent being rich in renewable/green energy resources. Thus, the false narrative of overcapacity from the Western-led countries to counter Beijing's "made in China" drive on new energy vehicles, photovoltaics and lithium batteries is also an attempt to hinder Africa's green energy production. 

The Western-led overcapacity narrative is more about protecting their markets than focusing on global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. This comes at a time when fossil fuels continue to cause damage to our environment through carbon emissions. 

However, keeping its promise of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, China continues to make great progress in green energy production while exporting it to the world through the Belt and Road Initiative. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, China continues to dominate the solar industry in terms of solar PV installed capacity. 

This has influenced the growth of energy transitions to other countries and accelerated the reduction of the global carbon footprint. 

In Africa, reports indicate that China has built and financed, from 2010 to 2020, approximately 96 projects to add to the continent's power generation capacity. These green energy projects are increasing electricity supply, improving energy security, reducing dependence on petroleum imports and mitigating the effects of climate change not only in Africa but across the world.

For instance, Kenya, in East Africa, is leading in the deployment of solar energy power generation. The 50 MW solar power station plant in Garissa County is currently one of the largest photovoltaic electricity plants in Africa. The project, financed by the Chinese government through concessional loans from the Export-Import Bank of China, was completed by the China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Co-operation.

The Garissa solar power plant hosts approximately 206,272 solar panels and occupies an estimated 210 acres. As a sustainable development project, the solar plant is estimated to address the power demand of 70,000 households (approximately 350,000 people, equivalent to about 50 percent of the population of Garissa) in Kenya. The solar plant has also increased the share of renewable energy on the grid to 93 percent, setting the stage for cheaper electricity in Kenya. Similarly, the Garissa solar power plant has reduced over 43,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to Kenya's Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation.

In South Africa, Power China signed a contract last year to build, operate and maintain a 123 MW solar plant that will provide electricity to at least 82,000 households when completed. This project is the first large-scale ground photovoltaic power plant signed by a Chinese enterprise in South Africa. It will also provide approximately 300 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually to the South African power grid and offer relief to residents from the almost two-decade-long electricity supply crisis, commonly known as load-shedding. 

In Mali, Chinese company Sinohydro is also building a solar power plant in the village of Tiakadougou Dialakoro. The plant will have a peak capacity of 100 megawatts. In 2020, state-owned energy conglomerate China Energy Engineering Corp announced plans to develop 500 MW of solar generation capacity in Uganda in two phases by its China Gezhouba Group International Engineering subsidiary. In all these green projects, China continues to ensure that environmentally sustainable laws and policies are adhered to in the installations and generation of power through the PV/solar panels. 

This shift to sustainable, clean energy solutions especially on solar energy, presents an enormous opportunity for Africa to address the challenges of the energy gap throughout the continent, climate change and to attain the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals on affordable and clean energy. China, unlike other traditional partners, is on the right path to helping Africa realize the continent's potential to generate at least 300 GW of clean energy by 2030.

Undeniably, the debate on so-called China's overcapacity holds no ground. Africa needs the much-produced solar panels to boost renewable energy in its grids, reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. 

Several cities in China have opened their subway stations to personal advertising, exploring new business models and opportunities to increase revenue. This kind of innovation is expected to be a positive trend, meeting the public's personalized consumption needs and injecting vitality into the consumer market, experts said.

Subway advertising companies in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, Chengdu,Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and Zhengzhou,Central China's Henan Province, have pioneered personal advertisements in subway stations. These personal advertisements included resume displays, matchmaking and calls for supporting.

Currently, subway stations offering personal advertisements are generally spread across China's busiest cities, aiming to explore public demand and seize opportunities to boost revenue.

This innovative measure encourages service-oriented consumption and offers a new revenue stream for subway advertisement companies, and likely to be expanded to other cities if public demand shows positive trends, Li Changan, a professor from the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"We typically operate fan-supporting advertisements, with a particular focus on those related to sports events," Wei Bin, from, a Chengdu-based subway advertisement operator, told the Global Times on Sunday. "This product is relatively new, and currently, most people still view advertising primarily as a corporate activity," Wei said.

Since January, the Guangzhou Metro has introduced light boxes and electronic screens for personal advertisement, the advertisements published included birthday wishes, dating messages and job resumes, earning the nickname "large-scale creative showcase" from citizens,reported a China-based news platform XKB.com.

"The implementation of personal advertisement services in Guangzhou is a small-scale experiment this year, aimed at understanding consumer market demands and making informed decisions," a representative from a Guangzhou-based subway advertisement company, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Experts said that the future promotion of personal advertisements depends on public awareness of self-promotion. The large passenger volume has offered new and unique opportunities for advertisers.

A job seeker's advertisement at the bustling Zhujiang New Town Station in Guangzhou attracted more than 400 scans of his QR code within five days, including 50 companies across various industries, reported the Singaporean-based newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on Sunday.

Personal advertisements in the subway can also effectively promote personal entrepreneurial achievements, and personal entrepreneurs can use personal ads to promote their achievements, thereby boosting their income, Li said.

Currently, personal advertisements are still in their experimental stage in China, as the process is more complex than the public might expect.

"The relevant operators carry potential legal risks as well, mainly related to copyright and authorization issues such as font copyrights, image permissions, and graphic element copyrights. We are actively seeking solutions to these challenges, better supporting the consumer market," an insider surnamed Liu from the Zhengzhou Metro told the Global Times on Sunday.

Liu said that this initiative is being promoted across major cities in a bid to boost consumption and provide passengers with an interactive experience.

"We also aim to create a more relaxed and youthful subway atmosphere, highlighting the city's vibrancy and inclusivity, and enhancing its cultural appeal," Liu said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has encouraged Hong Kong entrepreneurs to better integrate into national reform and development and contribute more to Chinese modernization by giving full play to their strengths.

Xi made the remarks in a reply letter to representatives of Hong Kong entrepreneurs whose origin can be traced back to Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Beijing upgraded the emergency response for flooding to Level-III on Tuesday afternoon, and urged relevant departments to strengthen monitoring, respond to flood emergencies promptly, and report in a timely manner.

Beijing consecutively issued an orange alert for mountain flood disasters, an orange alert for geological disasters, a yellow alert for waterlogging, and a blue alert for floods, the first of its kind issued this year, on Tuesday. Authorities reminded the public to pay attention to the weather situation.

There is a high possibility of flash floods in the outlying Miyun and Pinggu districts of Beijing from 4 pm on Tuesday to 2 am on Wednesday. The public is advised to stay away from mountain torrents, suspend outdoor activities involving mountains and water, and take precautions, authorities said.

Meanwhile, there will be a risk of waterlogging in districts including Chaoyang, Fengtai, Tongzhou, Daxing and Shunyi during the two days.

As of 7 pm on Tuesday, the average precipitation in the city was 83.7 millimeters, with the urban area averaging 97.3 millimeters. There were 514 stations with precipitation of more than 50 millimeters, according to Beijing meteorological authorities.

China has a four-level emergency response system for flood control, with Level I being the highest level of response, and a four-level, color-coded weather warning system, with red indicating the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

All train services will continue to be suspended on Wednesday on the railway linking Huairou and Miyun districts, and the railway between Tongzhou and Miyun districts due to the impact of the heavy rainfall.

Heavy rainfall in Beijing has caused urban waterlogging in some regions, and emergency personnel are stepping up their efforts to carry out drainage clearance in the city.

The hashtag "heavy rainfall in Beijing" saw more than 4.38 billion views as of press time on Tuesday on Chinese-X like Sina Weibo, with many netizens calling for a safe trip with shared tips during the rain-affected day.

China will continue an anti-corruption operation codenamed Sky Net to push forward the construction of an integrated mechanism for tracking and recovering fugitives, according to a decision made at a meeting on Tuesday of China’s fugitive repatriation and asset recovery office under the Central Anti-Corruption Coordination Group, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The National Supervisory Commission has taken the lead in launching a special operation to track down and recover international fugitives for duty-related crimes. The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) will launch the "Fox Hunt" campaign, while the People's Bank of China will team up with the MPS to tackle disguised transfer of misappropriated assets overseas, according to the meeting.

The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate will jointly wage a campaign to restore stolen assets involved in cases whose criminal suspects or defendants escaped or died. The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee will partner with other authorities to address unregulated issuance and possession of relevant documents.

The meeting noted that China has been continuously deepening cross-border corruption governance and further progress was made in 2023. According to Xinhua News Agency, the Sky Net campaign recovered a total of 1,624 fugitives last year.

The meeting also called for the campaign to be reinforced, in order to win the long-lasting battle against corruption.

China's Sky Net campaign has been deployed since April 2015. It aims to track down fugitives suspected of involvement in graft, while preventing corrupt officials from fleeing abroad and recovering illegal gains.

China has set the deficit-to-GDP ratio for this year at 3 percent. The goal not only conforms to the current conditions of the overall recovery of the Chinese economy, but also helps control the government's overall debt levels and increase fiscal sustainability in order to reserve larger policy room for dealing with possible risks and challenges in the future, an official said on Tuesday following the release of the Government Work Report.

The deficit-to-GDP ratio is an important indicator that reflects a government's fiscal policy strength and potential fiscal risks.

Generally, there is a "red line" of a 3-percent fiscal deficit ratio, but it's not golden rule as many countries' deficit-to-GDP ratio may far outpace 3 percent or even reach double digits when needed, Huang Shouhong, head of the government work report drafting team and Director of the State Council Research Office, said at a press conference in Beijing.

China's deficit-to-GDP ratio has been kept at a reasonable and appropriate level over recent years, from considerations including supporting economic development, preventing fiscal risks and achieving fiscal sustainability, Huang said, noting that the country's deficit-to-GDP ratio has stayed under 3 percent for most of the past years, except in 2020 and 2021.

Huang said the central government set a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3 percent in the beginning of 2023, which was later raised to 3.8 percent, caused by the issuance of an additional 1 trillion yuan ($139.3 billion) in special treasury bonds.

"Although this year's deficit ratio is slightly lower compared with last year's after the issuance of government bonds, the overall level is appropriate," Huang said.

With the 3 percent planned fiscal deficit rate, the government deficit is expected to reach 4.06 trillion yuan ($560 billion) in 2024, with an increase of 180 billion yuan from 2023 levels, according to this year's Government Work Report.

It is expected that fiscal revenue will continue to resume growth this year, and the budget expenditure will likely reach 28.5 trillion yuan in 2024, increasing 1.1 trillion yuan from last year.

The death toll caused by the devastating earthquake that rattled Northwest China Monday night reached 134 as of Wednesday press time - 113 in Gansu Province and 21 in Qinghai Province. Rescue work is drawing to an end, and the focus will now turn to the treatment of the injured and the resettlement of those affected, Gansu authorities said at a press conference on Wednesday.

At present, more than 87,000 people have been temporarily evacuated and resettled in safe places, Gansu officials said at the press conference, revealing that 14,939 houses collapsed and 207,204 more were damaged during the quake, affecting 145,736 people.

A total of 78 trapped individuals have been rescued, with 6,653 people evacuated as of 6:00 am on Wednesday. Additionally, 360 tents have been set up, 683 hazardous areas have been cleared, and 47 tons of supplies have arrived at the disaster-stricken sites.

Several shelters were erected overnight in both Gansu and Qinghai. When the Global Times reporters visited shelters in Dahe village of Gansu Province and Jintian village of Qinghai Province, earthquake victims were living in tents newly set up.

"Every tent is equipped with electricity and stoves to keep us warm. We have food and material pouring in from all over the country. We don't need anything now," 54-year-old Li, who lives in Jintian village, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Vegetables, meat, bread and hot soup were served as lunch on Wednesday in the Jintian village shelter. When the food was ready, people in the tents waited patiently. "We let the PLA soldiers eat first. They helped us a lot," said Li.

Li Kai, an officer from the PLA's Western Theater Command, told the Global Times on Tuesday night that he helped transfer the victims and move their belongings, such as furniture and livestock. "Some of those people are not rich so we are doing what we can to reduce their losses."

After 10 hours of nonstop efforts, all damaged roads and highways leading to the disaster area, especially near the epicenter, were cleared and reopened, including all 24 severely damaged rural roads, so that relief and supply vehicles were able to access impacted communities, the Gansu transport bureau said at the press conference.

All routes within the Lanzhou Railway Bureau, which had been delayed significantly due to the impact of the earthquake, also resumed normal operations on Wednesday morning.

Damage to the main power grid in earthquake-stricken areas of Gansu and Qinghai had been fully repaired as of Tuesday evening, according to the State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company.

A total of 423 aftershocks have been recorded as of 8 am Wednesday, including 10 aftershocks measuring 3.0 magnitude or higher.

The China Geological Survey organized 33 experts to rush to the disaster-stricken areas in Gansu and Qinghai provinces on Wednesday. The working groups will cooperate with the emergency management departments and local governments to carry out on-site geological disaster investigation and surveys, aerial drone surveys, monitoring and early warning tasks, risk assessment and emergency disposal of hazardous material.

They will also conduct seismic analysis and research on the earthquake and submit materials for disaster relief use.

The strong earthquake triggered various secondary disasters. In Minhe county, Qinghai, which borders the epicenter in Jishishan county, two villages experienced sand boils shortly after the earthquake. A significant number of houses were buried and washed away by mudslides, resulting in 16 individuals going missing. Following the incident, the Qinghai Provincial Fire Rescue Team swiftly organized overnight rescue operations.

The houses of 36 families, totaling 177 villagers, were destroyed by sand boils in Jintian village, and 13 individuals are still missing, including a pregnant woman. A firefighter on-site told the Global Times that after overnight search and rescue efforts, as of Wednesday morning, four bodies had been discovered.

When asked why usually dry areas such as Jintian village, which is also far away from rivers and has seen no rainfall, suffered such a severe landslide, Wang Tun, head of a key earthquake early warning laboratory in China's Sichuan Province, told the Global Times that after a strong earthquake, due to the shaking of the Earth's crust, water-saturated sand and soil deep underground undergo a phenomenon called liquefaction. This liquefied sand layer is then forced through certain channels and reaches the surface directly.

A rescue worker at the scene told the Global Times that rescue work in Jintian village has been difficult as the mud makes it impossible for workers to walk, and a floating bridge made of wooden planks must be used to enter the location. Moreover, when excavating the soil, the mud flows like liquid. "Whenever you remove a spoonful of it, it immediately fills up again. There is simply no way to carry out rescue efforts."

The rescue worker said he and his teammate pulled an all-nighter on Tuesday night. "We switched shifts every two hours because the night was freezing at sub-zero temperatures."

China has dispatched its special envoy to the Middle East in a bid to bring the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas to an end. Peace activist, writer and teacher KJ Noh said the US response exposed its warmongering nature.

The US has unmasked its true nature by blocking efforts by China and other nations to bring peace to the Middle East, says a peace activist.

Chinese special envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun said on Monday he had already visited Qatar and Egypt and would now travel to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other countries in the region "to further strengthen coordination with relevant parties to promote ceasefire, end violence and mitigate the situation."

More than 5,700 civilians have been killed and some 18,000 injured in the besieged Gaza Strip by Israeli Defence Forces bombing since the armed wing of the Hamas movement launched a surprise attack into southern Israel on October 7. The victims include 2,360 children, almost 1,300 women and 300 elderly people.

Last week the US blocked UN Security Council motions moved by Russia and Brazil calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian territories and for civilians to be protected. Washington has also sent two US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups and a seaborne assault flotilla to the region to back up Israel.

Peace campaigner KJ Noh told Sputnik that Washington was directly opposed to Beijing's attempts to broker a peace deal between Israel, Hamas and other states and movements in the region.

"China is using its good offices, scrambling to do shuttle diplomacy to try and de-escalate and find a peaceful resolution," Noh said. "And the United States is saying: 'Don't even dare talk about de-escalation. Nobody mention a ceasefire'."

"It only wants to make sure that whatever Israel does, it does it with a minimum of PR blowback," he added. "And so it's trying to mitigate the PR damage rather than prevent the horrific war crimes and atrocities that are sure to happen and that are already happening."

The writer said this was a "mask-off moment" when the West's true nature was exposed to the nations of the global south.

"The US could plausibly mystify many countries by pretending to be something that it was not," Noh argued. "But when it came out all in favor of Israel's violence and was ignoring the ground realities as well as international law, then at that point you can't keep up the pretence any more."

"Even the quisling leaders of US allies have had to make a conscientious statement because the outrage on the street, the outrage globally is so extraordinary that they cannot but speak up against what the US and Israel are doing," he stressed.

Western media has tried to dismiss China's peace initiatives as an attempt to position itself as a geopolitical rival to the US — a narrative which Noh called "extraordinary".

"The notion that somehow peace is nefarious, that China is being unprincipled in that it's trying to work for peace — China is on the side of peace. That much is clear because that it stands to gain from peace," he said.

"Everybody benefits from peace. It just is because China's model is win-win cooperation," Noh said. "On the other hand, the empire benefits from war. The US is built on more genocide, primitive accumulation and geopolitical oppression and bullying."

The Zhongshan and Spain Exchange Festival kicked off in South China's Guangdong Province on August 2 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Spain, and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of ties between Guangdong and the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalonia. 

The month-long festival was co-hosted by the Consulate General of Spain in Guangzhou and Foreign Affairs Office of Zhongshan. 

A diplomat with the Consul General of Spain in Guangzhou said that cultural exchanges are the foundation, and she hoped that promoting exchanges between the two sides economically and in trade, among other fields, would be achieved through the exchange festival.

The festival hosted a series of activities to launch the "Encuentro conel Prado (Meet the Prado)" exhibition, Spain's merchandise festival, Spain's economic, trade, and tourism promotion, and food festival to further promote exchanges and cooperation between Zhongshan and Spain. Throughout the month of August, citizens in Zhongshan can sample the flavor of Spain.