China’s sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth broke Chinese film’s five-year box office record on th
In recent years, a rising number of people have realized “the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.” It was more pronounced in 20
18. Some phenomena that people are familiar with are changing direction. The head winds globalization is facing is one example.
Implied meanings of certain words describing key concepts are going the opposite way. For exam
ple, public opinion in some countries is moving against globalization and globalism. Why does this happen?
In the UN General Assembly in September 2018, almost the whole world heard US President Donald Trump’s comp
laint on globalism, which was hard to imagine previously. Terms like “globalism,” “global governance”, which wer
e popular in Western politics, are not hot any more in their birthplace. Is this a time to abandon globalism?
It is expected that “globalization,” “globalism” and “global governance” will see a winter prior to their revival. Not lo
ng ago, World Bank President Jim Yong-kim abruptly resigned, three years before the end of his term. The reason w
as said to be Trump’s dislike for the World Bank and his belief that the international lender is
that China should be involved in international disarmament efforts. “We would of course be glad if such talks were held not j
ust between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China,” said Merkel at the 55th Munich Security Conference.
Her remarks were clearly directed against Washington and Moscow’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee,
who was also present at the conference, reiterated that “we [China] are opposed to the multilateralization of INF.”
The INF treaty concerns Europe and Germany’s interests. The US took the lead in abandoning INF, resulting in the collapse of the arms control system.
It is understandable that Berlin is anxious, but Merkel’s hasty call for Beijing is rath
er inappropriate. Her words disrespect China’s interests and wishes, and objectively encourage Washington to quit irresponsibly.
Since Myanmar embarked on its political transition, political elites in the country have championed that peace is the premise for econo
mic and social development. In the first two years of the government led by National League for Democracy (NLD), Nay Pyi Taw devoted a lot
of efforts to promoting national reconciliation with the hope of making a major breakthrough and consolidating public su
pport. Regrettably, results are not satisfactory. The NLD government is currently locked in a stalemate over national reconciliation.
It has also performed poorly in boosting the economy and improving people’s lives. Main economic in
dicators suggest that since the NLD government assumed power, Living standards haven’t su
bstantially improved, and more economic problems have surfaced to plague the country. One of the main rea
sons why the NLD lost seats in the 2018 elections is the government’s lackluster economic performance. If the ec
onomy doesn’t improve, it will inevitably affect the NLD’s potential for victory in the 2020 election.
Therefore, the NLD government is now attaching increasing importance to economic and livel
ihood issues. It has issued a string of policies to attract foreign investment. Take the new Mya
nmar Companies Act. Under the law, foreigners are permitted to take up to a 35 percent stake in local companies and bu
sinesses with foreign stakes of more than 35 percent will be classified as a foreign company, which facilitates co
operation between foreign investors and local businessmen and will help attract more foreign investment.
conflicts will injure both sides, he added.Xi called China-US ties one of the world’s most important
bilateral relationships, and the two countries have wide common interests a
nd shoulder important responsibilities in safeguarding world peace and promoting global prosperity.
Maintaining the healthy and stable development of the China-US relationship is in line with the fundamen
tal interests of the people of both countries, and it is also the common wish of the international community, Xi said.
Xi mentioned his latest meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders
Summit in Argentina in December, saying that the two leaders reached important consensuses.
The two countries should promote building stable, cooperative and coordinative Chi
na-US relations, Xi said. The two sides should enhance communication, focus on cooperation a
nd handle disputes to promote economic and trade cooperation, Xi added.
of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues, Xinhua reported. The two sides said they will step up their work
within the time limit for consultations set by both heads of state, and strive for consensus.
Vice-Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin headed the talks.
After tit-for-tat exchanges of hefty import tariffs, China and the US agreed in December to halt new ta
riffs for 90 days to allow for talks. Since then, the world’s two largest economies have conducted i
ntense negotiations on a wide array of topics, such as trade and structural issues.
Wei Jianguo, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Ex
changes, said China and the US have maintained close contacts in recent m
onths, which reflects their positive desire to solve genuine problems and foster cooperation.
Wei, a former vice-minister of commerce, underlined the importance of conducting rule-based negotiations and seeking win-win solutions.
Diao Daming, associate professor at Renmin University of China’s School of International Studies, said the world’s two la
rgest economies can deliver positive results in future trade talks to allay global concerns.
she would not keep quiet in exchange for various conditions and the Western media is backing her stand. The Swedish Mi
nistry of Foreign Affairs said it already launched an internal investigation into Lindstedt, who had been appointed for an
other position in the Swedish government in March. Lindstedt has now been recalled to her country.
Is Angela Gui telling the truth? The Chinese Embassy in Sweden has responded that China has never and will never authorize
anyone to be in contact with her. China handled Gui’s case in accordance with the law and legal p
rocedures. People need to be aware of Angela’s unique position as Gui Minhai’s daughter; and, considering her lack of ex
perience in distinguishing complex issues, it is necessary for people to be cautious about her story.
However, the role of Ambassador Lindstedt is also part of this. If she did arrange a meeting between Angela Gui a
nd the Chinese businessmen not authorized by Beijing, then we can make the following analysis.
First, there are domestic groups in Sweden that hope the relationship between Sweden and China will not be a
ffected by Gui’s incident in the long term. They are willing to facilitate public discussions between Stockholm and B
eijing on this matter. Ambassador Lindstedt herself is a representative of such groups.
lies that the Chang’e 4 probe served as a pioneer in the history of human lunar exploration.
According to the IAU naming rules, the landing site name has the prefix of Statio in Latin. And so far onl
y two places have such a prefix, the first being the landing site of Apollo 11, Statio Tranquillitatis.
Zhinyu, Hegu and Tianjin are the names of stars in China’s ancient star chart, as the three pits in the lunar crater formed a shape similar to these three celestial bodies.
Mount Tai is one of the five most famous mountains in China in East China’s Shandong province and stands 1,545 me
ters tall above sea level. The central peak, Mons Tai, in the lunar crater measures 1,565 meters in height from its base.
In August 2010 and October 2015, China had applied to name the landing sites of Chang’e 1 and Ch
ang’e 3, and gained approval, and in January this year, China applied to the IAU for the five new names.
So far, a total of 12 lunar features have been named by China.
Naming entities on lunar surfaces started in the 17th century in Europe, and in the 20th century, the U
nited States and the former Soviet Union had the most names due to their lunar explorations.
unty usually set up black tents at the foot of Mount Qomolangma, providing tourists accomodation as a means of earning money.
Though ordinary visitors can’t go beyond the monastery, it won’t affect them from appreciating the mountain.
“The new tent camp for ordinary tourists can still allow them to clearly see the 8,800-meter-plus mountain,” Kelsang said.
Travelers who have a climbing permit can go to the base camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Kelsan
g said the mountaineering activities have been approved by the regional forestry department.
Decades after the epic climb to the world’s peak, Tibetans at the f
oot of Mount Qomolangma have conquered poverty by receiving professional and am
ateur mountaineers and tourists, who have also posed an environmental challenge to the mountain.
To conserve the environment surrounding Mount Qomolangma, China c
arried out three major clean-ups at an altitude of 5,200 meters and above last spr
ing, collecting more than eight tonnes of household waste, human feces and mountaineering trash.
Stock markets in China edged up on Tuesday as market sentiment was partly boosted by the news about the upcoming Bay Area blueprint.
