Foreign internet influencers who were tagged as "propagandists for Communist Party of China (CPC)" in a report by a US government-funded think tank strongly hit back at such "hysterical" accusations, calling the report "comical and disappointing" while noting such move aims at trying to silence the truth about China.

They have appealed for the US government to stop funding such kinds of narrative campaigns and "witch hunts" against China that extend to China-based foreign vloggers.

On November 24, 2023, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released a lengthy report entitled "The role of foreign influencers in China's propaganda system." The report portrays them as a propaganda tool to promote or defend China's position, or to counter Western narratives, as part of the CPC's campaign to cultivate "a rising group of foreign influencers with millions of fans, which endorses pro-CCP narratives on Chinese and global social-media platforms."

Jerry Kowal, an American internet influencer and video blogger based in Shanghai with over 20 million followers on Chinese social media platforms, is one of the targets in the report.

Jerry updated with the Global Times that "there is pending litigation over the matter in multiple countries," after he publicly released a letter on December 6, 2023 that he has sent to the US Department of State, claiming that the US State Department may have used funding to unfairly attack US citizens in China via the far-right Australian think tank ASPI.

Andy Boreham, another popular Shanghai-based journalist tagged in the report, said it is quite hysterical to be portrayed as one of the "foreign propagandists" by ASPI, "which is actually the one producing fake and misleading propaganda at the behest of their foreign backers.

"Isn't it ironic?" he asked in an interview with the Global Times.

ASPI has long served as an anti-China vanguard. Its revenue data history shows that the US government is its major funding source. Analysts noted that this reflects the essence of such Western think tanks as tools for political manipulation, which spread false information, mislead the public, and poison public opinion.

This is not the first time that this particular "a thief crying 'stop thief'" tactic has been employed by the US government, which has been exposed more than once in its funding of negative news coverage of China to the tune of millions of dollars.

Under the disguise of the "free press" and "objective reporting," the US-led West is eyeing a chance to sponsor its media hit squads to reprise their roles as bounty hunters rather than journalists. This is part of the influence operation waged by some Western countries, the world's veteran players in swaying public opinion against China, analysts said.

The vloggers have called on the think tank staffers to experience the real China by coming themselves, to understand that it is absolutely possible for young "influencers" to have an amazing time in China and want to share it with the world.

Open letter to call off unfair accusations
In the report by ASPI, Jerry was mentioned over 12 times and was tagged as a propagandist who shows a "sympathetic perspective on Chinese policies and his criticisms of Western ones" especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the report states, he allegedly gained "unprecedented success in China's cyberspace" because of this.

In an opening letter, Jerry said he was disappointed to see that ASPI report mentions him as someone who "echo[s] propaganda talking points," which he said, "does not reflect who I am."

He added: "It's possible that ASPI's report might be impacting US domestic discourse. I wonder if consideration could be given to the precedent this sends when [the] US Department of State funds [the] ASPI, which then portrays US citizens, who have large followings on both Chinese and US social media, in a less than positive light."

Jerry is simply asking the US Department of State to cease further funding of the ASPI. "It's possible that a continued association with [the] ASPI might send very mixed signals about American values and might not be helpful for public diplomacy efforts."

A netizen's comment on X wrote: "It is amazing that a report like this can come out without even contacting the people they name. I am glad the letter was created - the whole thing stinks. People just want the truth and it is getting harder to get. Thank you for all you do."

While speaking to the Global Times, Jerry expressed his disappointment and indignation at how the entire matter was handled.

Not the sole stigmatized victims

"Not a speculator who touts China, but a media person who tells the truth." This is how Andy Boreham, New Zealand's columnist, journalist, and video creator, who works in Shanghai, defines himself on his X profile page.

This is precisely why Andy remains active and vocal on social media - to present China in an unbiased manner that should not be censored by Western media forces.

However, this has attracted attacks from the ASPI, who indiscriminately cast their shadow on anyone who speaks positively about China.

"I thought the report was just another example of a far-right wing, war-industry-funded piece of ill-informed, fear-mongering propaganda," Andy told the Global Times.

"According to ASPI, our lives here are absolutely hideous, repressed, and ugly, but we endure it all for money from the CPC. We cannot be telling the truth and must have been paid to trick the world into thinking China is anything but a dystopian, draconian, dangerous, dirty hellscape. It's laughable, and I don't expect anything more from them far-right wing warmongers," he said.

It is absolutely possible for young "influencers" to have an amazing time in China and want to share it with the world. That's what young people do these days. For ASPI to try and trick Australians into believing that anyone who says anything good about China has been paid by the CPC just goes to show how little they know about this place, and how invested they are in pulling the wool over the eyes of ordinary Australians so that their backers, including weapons manufacturers, the US State Department, and the Australian Defense Department, can make a pretty penny selling weapons to a scared population, Andy argued.

Jerry and Andy are not the sole victims of the West's spurious reports aimed at stigmatizing foreign influencers based in China who do not blindly align with the Western anti-China stance, but insist on reporting about a real and positive China.

Barrie VVeiss, a British media professional who moved to China in 2014, began to share what he sees and hears in China to the world while explaining the West to Chinese audiences on social media platforms shortly after his move. He created a website called Best China Info in order to break the information barriers between China and the West, and counter the anti-China stereotypes and prejudices in mainstream Western media.

He once was also a target of the ASPI. A BBC report in July 2021 listed him as one of the foreign vloggers presented as "China lovers" and cooperated with "state-owned outlets to spread China's rhetoric to the world."

"[These distorted reports] are not surprising," Barrie told the Global Times. According to Barrie, the BBC interviewed him via email before releasing that report, but did not include any of Barrie's answers or responses in the report. "Instead, they twisted the facts and further smeared me. I think they never intended to release my replies," Barrie said.

"More people need to see the real China by coming themselves, and if they can't for whatever reason, they need to hear about China from people who have been here and experienced it first-hand," Andy said. "That is what the ASPI and its far-right wing backers are trying to stop; they're trying to silence the truth about China. We shouldn't let them win."

A thief crying 'stop thief'

$500 million - that's the sum of money allocated by the US Congress to the disinformation campaign against China.

First reported by the American Prospect on February 9, 2022, a bill was passed by the US House of Representatives to allocate $500 million to media outlets for the purpose of producing journalistic content for overseas audiences that is critical of China.

Meant to "combat Chinese disinformation," the bill would direct funding to the US Agency for Global Media, a US-run foreign media service, as well as local outlets and programs to train foreign journalists.

Moreover, in September 2021, Danish scholar Jan Oberg exposed in an interview that the US has earmarked $1.5 billion to train Western media and journalists to write exclusively negative stories about China over the next five years.

In a previous interview with the Global Times, Oberg called such actions "mind-boggling" because they entirely undermine the West's own pride in free media, freedom of expression, and fairness in reporting different standpoints.

"The whole world would gain and grow tremendously if we chose cooperation and unity in diversity instead of permanent confrontation and dominance. But I seriously wonder whether the Occident can live without perceiving enemies constantly," he questioned.

The intention behind the actions of the US government and its institutions is clear - they want to use their perceived overwhelming public opinion and communication power to make the world accept the fabricated impression and narrative of China created by the US, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

Meanwhile, the US strongly opposes and prevents objective, balanced, and rational narratives of China from being widely accepted both domestically and internationally, Li said.

In other words, the US government and some think tanks attempting to use discourse power and communication as weapons in their comprehensive geopolitical competition with China. This can be seen as an important component of the US cognitive warfare against China, Li pointed out.

"I truly don't think anyone except the ASPI - of course at the behest of their war-industry funders and the US government - would stoop so low as to try and convince ordinary people that online 'influencers' showing the world the amazing time they're having in China is propaganda," Andy said.

Maybe the ASPI crew should come to China and see for themselves that this place is vibrant, fun, exciting, action-packed, and educational. I'm sure they would learn a lot! Hence, I would even be willing to show them around myself, he laughed.

A total of 23 rescued spotted seals were released into the waters off the coast of Dalian in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province on Tuesday as part of China's continuous efforts to protect the endangered species.

The seals were previously poached and sold, but have now been rehabilitated and marked for future protection, according to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The Global Times reporters visited the releasing spot and witnessed the process. A fishery law enforcement vessel arrived at a designated sea area near Dalian on Tuesday morning, carrying the spotted seals. The seals were released one by one into the sea through a special slide set up on the ship's side. They swam freely in the waves, returning to their natural habitat.

The spotted seal is a nationally protected animal in China and is classified as an endangered species. It is the only pinniped species that can reproduce in Chinese waters and is often referred to as the "panda of the sea."

The months of November and December are the migration and breeding period for wild spotted seals, and Liaodong Bay is an important habitat for them.

Thanks to enhanced protection measures the authorities have taken in recent years, the population of spotted seals in Chinese waters has reached approximately 2,000, while the global population is estimated to be between 400,000 and 600,000.

Genetic and ecological studies have shown that these 2,000 spotted seals have unique genetic genes and belong to a separate branch of independent evolution within the global population. This makes them of significant importance for the study and research on spotted seals.

To protect this rare animal, the Liaoning Dalian Spotted Seal Wetlands were established in 1992. Covering an area of 560,000 hectares with a coastline of approximately 370 kilometers, the wetlands focus on the protection of spotted seals and their ecological environment.

In January 2002, the Liaoning Dalian Spotted Seal Wetlands were included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. The list was indentified according to the Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty adopted on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar (thus commonly named Ramsar Convention). China joined the convention in 1992.

Now the wetlands have become a harmonious ecological haven with abundant biological resources, including various species of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and swimming animals. It is home to nationally protected species such as the spotted seal, finless porpoise, killer whales, false killer whales, common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and East Asian river dolphins.

Since 1992, researchers in Dalian have successfully rescued 388 spotted seals and released 299 of them back into the wild, according to media reports.

Global Times

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.

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.

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 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.