Inland regions' share of foreign trade grows

China's inland provinces and autonomous regions, which have found a new edge in foreign trade, are shaping up as potential competitors to three established eastern and coastal provinces, if first-half data are any indication, experts said on Thursday. Typically, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu in the coastal region account for about half of China's exports and imports. But central and western provinces such as Shanxi, Yunnan, Henan and Guizhou are rewriting China's trade script. Data released by the General Administration of Customs earlier this month showed that 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions released their foreign trade figures for the first half; 18 of them reported year-on-year growth rate higher than the national average. Among them, 12 provinces and autonomous regions were from China's central and western regions. The export growth rate of Shanxi and Yunnan provinces led the rapid increase in these two regions during the first half. Shanxi's first-half exports soared by 120 percent year-on-year. Yunnan's first-half exports surged nearly 117 percent year-on-year. Thanks to China-Europe freight train services, air cargo networks, growing involvement in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and industrial transfer from the eastern region in recent years, foreign trade of provinces in China's central and western regions achieved rapid growth in the first half, said Bai Ming, deputy director of international market research department at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. "They have been less affected by the COVID-19 epidemic than the eastern regions and have responded quickly to the resumption of work and production since the second quarter of last year," he said. Business opportunities have been generated by BRI-related growth and signatory countries' efforts to operationalize the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement from next year. Besides, many goods orders now flow into China's inland regions as countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia have stopped production because of the epidemic, said Zhang Jianping, director-general of the China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation, which operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce. Consequently, first-half foreign trade of Shanxi, Guizhou and Henan provinces grew by 108.4 percent, 69.7 percent and 60 percent year-on-year, respectively, according to Customs data. Although the provinces in China's inland regions are not as well developed as the eastern regions, provincial capitals such as Chengdu, Xi'an, Changsha and Zhengzhou have cultivated competitive industrial advantages, said Ren Xingzhou, a research fellow at the Institute of Market Economy, which is part of the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet. Combined with the central government's policy support, higher-level reform and opening-up, and their regional economic characteristics, the distinct advantages of the central and western regions have become more pronounced of late, including the improvement of technologies and the quality of management, relatively lower labor cost and growing amount of foreign direct investment. For instance, Henan province reported 60 percent year-on-year growth in its first-half foreign trade to 365.66 billion yuan ($56.4 billion), data from Zhengzhou Customs showed. The figure was up 72.7 percent from the same period of 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic. The United States, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained the province's top three trading partners. Supported by the country's complete industry chains and global goods demand, China's foreign trade expanded 24.5 percent year-on-year to 21.34 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year. January-July exports rose 24.5 percent year-on-year, while imports jumped 24.4 percent, according to latest Customs data. Even though China's economic growth still faces uncertainties due to the global spread of the pandemic and expensive international shipping costs, the volume of China's foreign trade, and its constituent exports and imports all posted record highs in the first seven months of this year, while their respective year-on-year growth rates reached 10-year highs, said the Ministry of Commerce in a statement.

2021-08-14

Direct freight route links China's Jinzhou port with Russia's Vostochny

SHENYANG - A direct maritime shipping route has been launched linking China's Jinzhou port with Vostochny in Russia. On Monday, a ship loaded with containers departed from the port of Jinzhou in Northeast China's Liaoning province. It is scheduled to arrive in Vostochny after navigating 1,200 nautical miles. The batch of containers will then be transported to several European ports by railway. This is the first time that the Jinzhou port has launched a direct sea route for container shipment since 1990 when the port opened to traffic. The new freight route is expected to promote the development of this port into a new land-sea passage in Northeast China.

2021-08-12

More than 24,000 people in Russia's Far East affected by floods

Original title: More than 24,000 people affected by floods in the Russian Far East TASS news agency reported that on the 11th local time, Russia has recently suffered a severe blow, according to the news released by the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Russian President in the Far Eastern Federal District, Transbaikal, Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Region and the Far Eastern Federal District of Khabarovsk. The flood affected more than 24,000 people, submerged more than 3,000 houses and 950 kilometers of roads, and damaged 102 bridges. In response, Trutnev, the plenipotentiary of the Russian President in the Far Eastern Federal District, asked the government to establish a reserve of construction and construction materials to provide assistance for the reconstruction of the houses of the victims. At the same time, he said that he would provide the necessary financial support. The state finance provided a one-time subsidy of 50,000 rubles (approximately RMB 4,400) to the people affected by the disaster, and a one-time subsidy of 100,000 rubles (approximately RMB 8,800) to the people who lost their homes. According to forecasts by meteorological experts, there are still heavy rainfall in many places, and floods in the Far East will continue. The water levels of many major rivers are in danger of rising sharply, and the affected area may further expand.

2021-08-11

The new crown virus continues to mutate. In addition to vaccines, what new drugs are there to treat new crown pneumonia?

            According to South Korea’s “Dong-A Ilbo” report, on August 3, a derivative virus of Delta mutant strain "Delta+" was detected for the first time in South Korea, which is more infectious than Delta. From last year to now, many strains of the new coronavirus have mutated. The constantly emerging variants of the new coronavirus have aroused widespread concern and concern. In the face of the cunning new crown virus, in addition to comprehensively promoting the coverage of the new crown vaccine, the development of new crown antibody therapeutic drugs has also attracted much attention. 　　 At 11 o'clock on March 23, local time in the United States, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on its official website that the oral new crown treatment drug PF-07321332 has entered the phase 1b clinical trial phase, which is the world's first oral new crown treatment drug to enter clinical trials. Pfizer said that in vitro studies conducted so far have shown that PF-07321332 is a protease inhibitor that can effectively combat the activity of the new coronavirus.       On July 16, Kaifeng Pharmaceutical announced that it had obtained the first Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Prokruamide in the treatment of COVID-19 in Paraguay. This is the first EUA obtained by Prokruamide in the world. The obvious advantage of Prokalamide in the treatment of new coronary pneumonia is that it can reduce the infection rate of the virus to cells and susceptible organs. It is significantly better than neutralizing antibodies and small molecule antiviral drugs for the treatment of specific new crown populations, and it is the best small molecule new crown treatment drug so far. 　　 On July 20, Tengsheng Biopharma announced that its subsidiary, Tengsheng Huachuang, has launched a clinical secondary trial of the new crown neutralizing antibody combination BRII-196/BRII-198 led by Academician Zhong Nanshan in China. At present, the United States has approved several neutralizing antibodies for emergency use. However, as the virus continues to mutate and the future travel ban is loosened, neutralizing antibodies, as an excellent treatment and prevention method to deal with the new coronavirus, are still a national strategic public health reserve resource. 　　 are all being vaccinated, what is the significance of the new coronavirus neutralizing antibody drugs? Zhang Linqi, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, mentioned in an interview with The Paper: “The new crown vaccine and antibody therapy are mutually supportive and coordinated supplements.” Vaccines need to induce the body to produce antibodies and other reactions to achieve the purpose of preventing the virus, but this During this period, a process is required, and the protection rate will not reach 100%. "At this time, the powerful effect of neutralizing antibody therapy and emergency prevention can be exerted," Zhang Linqi explained.      The research team of Professor Zhang Zheng from the National Center for Clinical Medicine of Infectious Diseases published a research paper titled "Antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 by mimicking ACE2 receptors" in the journal Nature Communications on January 11, neutralizing antibodies The neutralization mechanism has been studied in depth. Studies have shown that neutralizing antibodies and vaccines are effective methods for the treatment and prevention of new coronary pneumonia. 　　 On August 4th, according to Sinopharm Sino Biotech, the research team of Sinopharm Yang Xiaoming's research team recently discovered an effective monoclonal antibody against the delta variant, with a neutralizing activity IC50 of up to 5ng/ml. Recent supplementary research results show that the most active antibody 2B11 has a neutralizing activity that is highly consistent with that of the wild strain, indicating that 2B11 has a greater application in the short-term prevention and early treatment of new coronary pneumonia caused by the Delta mutant strain. value. At present, the clinical application of the 2B11 antibody is progressing in an orderly manner, hoping to be used as soon as possible in the prevention and control of the relevant domestic new crown epidemic

2021-08-05

5 gold per day! Tokyo Olympics ushered in "China Day"

Chinese athletes staged the China Moment at the Tokyo Olympics on August 2 and won 5 gold medals in a single day. The total number of gold medals in the Chinese delegation rose to 29. In today's competition, Wang Zhouyu of the women's 87 kg weightlifting class took the lead in sounding the golden horn of the Chinese delegation. At 16:27 Beijing time, she won the gold medal with a total score of 270 kg. Four minutes later, good news came from the gymnastics arena. Liu Yang and You Hao swept the gold and silver medals in the ring finals and won the 26th gold medal for the Chinese delegation. At 16:42, 15 minutes after Wang Zhouyu won the championship, Chinese player Zhang Changhong won the gold medal in the men's 50m rifle three-position final with a total score of 466.0, breaking the world record and achieving a perfect ending. For the Chinese shooting team. 45 minutes later, Rio Olympic champion Zhong Angel partner teammate Bao Shanju defeated the German team in the final of the women's track and field cycling women's team competition, adding another gold medal for the Chinese team. Winning 4 gold medals in one hour, the Chinese delegation has never had such a glorious experience in the history of Olympic games. But the climax has not yet dissipated. In the women's 87kg and above weightlifting final that night, Chinese star Li Wenwen won the gold medal with absolute advantage. At the Rio Olympics 5 years ago, the Chinese delegation won 26 gold medals after 17 days of hard work, ranking third on the gold medal list. In this Olympics, Chinese athletes won 29 gold medals in just 10 days, surpassing the total number of gold medals won by the Chinese delegation at the Rio Olympics. The five gold medals of Chinese athletes in a single day also opened up the total number of gold medals won by the Chinese delegation in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

2021-08-03

Chinese, Russian defense ministers vow solidarity

China and Russia will firmly safeguard the core interests of the two countries, uphold global equity and justice, and protect regional security and stability, according to Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. The two nations need to communicate about their stances, build consensus, intensify cooperation and coordinate actions in dealing with changes in the situation in Afghanistan and Central Asia and in suppressing terrorism, Wei said on Wednesday in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. The Chinese official was in Dushanbe for the meeting of defense ministers from member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, according to a statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry. Wei said China-Russia ties have remained strong amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and global geopolitical changes, and have become significant in terms of maintaining global stability. He noted that the extension of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, jointly announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link in June, demonstrated to the world the two countries' shared determination to uphold the treaty, bolster their friendship and extend strong support to each other. Wei urged both sides to strengthen comprehensive strategic cooperation and ensure the stable and smooth development of bilateral ties. During their meeting, Shoigu said cooperation between the two nations' militaries has continued expanding and rising to a new high, and it has produced remarkable achievements in recent years. Russia is willing to further boost military and defense technology cooperation with China, he said. Shoigu added that given the growing uncertainty in the regional security environment, Russia is paying a great deal of attention to the new situations in Afghanistan and Central Asia and values China's stance regarding Afghanistan. Russia will continue to work with China and other nations in the region to safeguard regional peace and stability, he said. In another development, during his meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on Tuesday, Wei said China will work with the Central Asian nation to advance comprehensive military cooperation. He said that considering the new situation in Afghanistan, China is willing to deepen anti-terrorism collaboration with Tajikistan to prevent cross-border terrorist acts and jointly fight terrorism. Rahmon said his country is grateful for China's support in the defense and security fields, and wants to join forces with China in cracking down on terrorism, separatism and extremism, and dealing with the new situation in Afghanistan.

2021-07-29