Survey shows: 1.5 million people in the world have lost their loved ones due to the epidemic

According to the British "Guardian" report on the 21st, researchers calculated the new crown mortality rate and national fertility rate in 21 countries and found that more than 1 million children died of one or both parents within 14 months after the beginning of the epidemic; another 500,000 The child has experienced the death of a grandparent or caregiver at home. The results of the study were published in the medical journal "The Lancet". 　　 It is reported that countries with a high proportion of children losing their loved ones due to the epidemic include Peru, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. In addition, almost every country has a higher number of male deaths than female deaths, especially among middle-aged and elderly people. In general, the number of children who have lost their fathers is five times the number of children who have lost their mothers. 　　 One of the authors of the study, Dr. Flexman of Imperial College of the United Kingdom, said that immediate action is needed in this regard. The outbreak has caused more orphans to appear as a global emergency. Another author, Dr. Hillis of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that the country needs to provide special services and increase financial support for these bereaved children.

2021-07-22

Looking at the recovery of global trade from the main observations of the world

The Forecasting Science Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been predicting and analyzing the container throughput of the world's top 20 ports and their rankings for many years, reflecting the overall development of world trade and the development of trade in different regions to a certain extent. The reporter recently learned from Xie Gang, a professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Forecast Scientific Research Center and a member of the World Port Forecast Research Group, that the "2021 Global Top 20 Container Port Forecast Report" has been completed in stages. The current research shows that most of the world’s ports have recovered to At the level before the epidemic, the new crown pneumonia epidemic will also bring uncertain short-term impacts to some ports, but the impact will be small. The report at this stage shows that among the world's top 20 container ports, China accounts for 9 and 7 of them are among the top 10. The top 10 ports in order of ranking are Shanghai Port, Singapore Port, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, Shenzhen Port, Guangzhou Port, Qingdao Port, Busan Port, Tianjin Port, Hong Kong Port, Rotterdam Port. In addition, Xiamen Port ranked 14th and Kaohsiung Port ranked 16th. Shanghai Port is expected to have a container throughput of 4560 to 46 million TEUs (standard containers) in 2021, which is far ahead and maintains a relatively rapid growth rate. It is expected to increase by 4.8% to 5.7% year-on-year. In the future, Shanghai Port will maintain its top ranking for a long time. The second-ranked Port of Singapore is expected to have a container throughput of 38 million to 38.3 million TEU in 2021, with a year-on-year growth rate of 3.1% to ~3.9%. As China took the lead in controlling the epidemic and quickly resuming work and production, it played a role in boosting the recovery of the container transportation industry in 2021. Compared with 2020, the growth rate of China's port container throughput has increased to a greater extent. In addition, the demand for container transportation services in most ports in China will increase in 2021. Among them, Ningbo Zhoushan, Shenzhen and Tianjin ports have increased significantly. It is expected that container throughput in 2021 will increase by 8.2% to 10.0%, 9.3% to 11.2%, and 9.3% to 11.2% respectively. 9.0% to 10.6%. According to the calculation results of the model, the development of China's container transportation is still the center of gravity and foundation for the stable development of the world. The reporter noted that the world's top 20 container ports are concentrated in East Asia, Europe and North America. Only the Dubai Port of Jebel Ali in the UAE ranks 11th in West Asia. South America, Africa and Oceania are not listed ports. The report at this stage also shows that, based on regional analysis, with the exception of Asia's Kaohsiung Port maintaining negative growth, most of the world's port container throughput will show a recovery upward trend. On the whole, it is expected that the world’s top 20 container ports in 2021 will not change much from 2020. The specific changes in the port ranking are as follows: The Port of Los Angeles in the United States will surpass the Port of Kaohsiung in China, ranking 16th in the world, and the Port of Kaohsiung will retreat 17th place; The Port of Long Beach in the United States will surpass the Port of Hamburg in Germany, ranking 18th in the world, and the Port of Hamburg will retreat to the 19th place.

2021-07-20

China's foreign trade rises to record high

China's foreign trade climbed by 27.1 percent year-on-year to 18.07 trillion yuan ($2.8 trillion) during the first half of 2021, driven by robust demand due to the rapid recovery in major economies and the fast growth of cross-border e-commerce, statistics from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the nation's exports surged 28.1 percent year-on-year to 9.85 trillion yuan, and its imports grew by 25.9 percent to 8.22 trillion yuan. Compared with the same period of 2019, the nation's total foreign trade expanded by 22.8 percent. Between January and June, on a year-on-year basis, the nation's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 27.8 percent, while trade with the European Union increased by 26.7 percent, and with the United States it rose by 34.6 percent. Given the challenging and complex global economic situation, the trade figures further highlighted China's resilience as the world's largest trading country with a complete industrial chain, said Liang Ming, a researcher at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. About 40 percent of China's export-oriented businesses recently surveyed by the Ministry of Commerce reported year-on-year growth in new export orders, highlighting improvements in global demand and domestic players' growing earning strength, said Ren Hongbin, assistant minister of commerce. Ren said that China will further shorten the negative list covering foreign investment, promote more pilot zones for opening-up in the services sector and steadily boost the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment. Li Xingqian, director of the foreign trade department at the Ministry of Commerce, said that the structure of China's foreign trade has been optimized and upgraded. For example, the contribution of processing trade is gradually increasing. China's high-tech firms from the private sector and foreign companies have all performed well so far this year. The trade volume of China's private companies rose by 35.1 percent year-on-year to 8.64 trillion yuan in the first half of 2021, accounting for 47.8 percent of the nation's total exports and imports. The General Administration of Customs said that the foreign trade value of foreign-invested companies jumped by 19 percent to 6.61 trillion yuan during the six-month period. "With a higher base, the growth rate of the country's foreign trade may slow down in the second half of this year, but it is still expected to maintain rapid growth for the whole year," said GAC spokesman Li Kuiwen. The value of China's foreign trade rose nearly 27 percent in the second half of 2020, compared with the first half of last year. Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Business at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics, said that to further spur the growth of foreign trade in the coming months, China has introduced a number of policy measures, such as enhancing international economic and trade cooperation, fostering the growth of the Belt and Road Initiative, and facilitating new forms and models of foreign trade to advance the high-quality growth of its export sector. In terms of international market layout, he said the country has also started to guide companies to deepen trade ties with developed economies, actively expand trade with emerging markets such as those in Asia, Africa and Latin America, expand the scale of trade with neighboring countries, and stabilize their share of the international market.

2021-07-14

Xi, Kim vow to strengthen bilateral ties

Leaders exchange congratulations on 60th anniversary of friendship treaty President Xi Jinping hailed on Sunday the 60 years of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and vowed to work with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un to take bilateral ties to a new level. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark in exchanging congratulatory messages with Kim, who is general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission and the commander in chief of the DPRK's armed forces, on the 60th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. Xi said in his message that in 1961, leaders of China and the DPRK made the farsighted strategic decision to sign the treaty, which laid important political and legal foundations for consolidating the friendship the two peoples had forged with blood, and to promote long-term bilateral friendly cooperation. Over the past six decades, he said, China and the DPRK, have worked together and firmly supported each other in the spirit of the treaty. They have strengthened the traditional brotherly friendship between the two parties and countries, advanced the development of their respective socialist causes and upheld regional and global peace and stability, he added. Speaking of a number of meetings with Kim in recent years, Xi said they used the events to jointly work out blueprints for the development of party-to-party and state-to-state relations, enrich the China-DPRK friendship in the new era and reach consensus on a series of important issues. He underscored the profound changes in today's international landscape, and said he stands ready to work with Kim to strengthen strategic communication, chart the course for the China-DPRK relationship and lift the friendly cooperation between the two countries to new levels to bring more benefits to the two countries and their people. Xi also talked about China's grand celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the CPC's founding on July 1, while adding the DPRK people are making all-out efforts in solidarity to implement the decisions and measures unveiled at the eighth WPK Congress. He stressed that China firmly supports the DPRK in developing its economy, improving its people's wellbeing and vigorously advancing its cause of socialist construction. Xi said he is confident that the WPK and the DPRK people, under the leadership of Kim, will surely make new and greater achievements. Kim said in his message that the signing of the treaty demonstrated to the world the firm will of the two parties, as well as that of the governments and people of the two countries, to promote long-term development of the DPRK-China friendship, forged with blood, on a solid legal basis. Over the past six decades, the DPRK and China have written a proud history of friendship through mutual support and help, he said. He noted that in recent years, in the face of a complex and ever-changing international landscape, the comradely trust and friendship between the DPRK and China have grown stronger, and bilateral relations have advanced to a higher level. It is the unswerving position of the WPK and the DPRK government to strengthen and develop the friendly and cooperative relations of the DPRK and China, he said. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi exchanged congratulatory messages on the anniversary with DPRK's Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon on Sunday. They spoke highly of the development of the bilateral relationship over the past 60 years, saying that under the guidance of Xi and Kim, China-DPRK friendship and cooperation will consistently move forward in the new era.

2021-07-12

China tightens crackdown on capital market violations

EIJING -- China has tightened crackdown on illegal activities in the securities market to promote the high-quality development of the country's capital market. Efforts to improve the securities legislation mechanism will be enhanced, and criminal punishment and market discipline will be strengthened, according to an official document jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council. The document specifies targets for upgrades of the securities law enforcement and judicial systems by 2022 and 2025, respectively. The targets include curbing the frequent occurrence of major illegal and criminal cases, and making notable advances in the transparency, standardization and credibility of the securities law enforcement and judicial systems. Tang Xin, a professor with the School of Law at Tsinghua University, said the document will be a key factor in capital market legalization as it has set specific schedules for the formulation and revision of laws and regulations, and has provided supplementary measures to guarantee the implementation of the laws and policies. Due to system design shortcomings and the subsequent low cost of committing a crime, it was not unusual that some listed firms have taken advantage of the loopholes to engage in illegal acts such as financial fraud, insider trading and market manipulation. Thus the document calls for improved investigation, inspection and trial mechanisms. The country should strengthen its cross-border oversight of law enforcement and judicial cooperation, and step up efforts to build up the credit system in the capital market, according to the document. Setting out powerful and targeted measures, the document aims to purify China's capital market and bolster investor confidence, said Han Qian, a professor with the School of Economics at Xiamen University. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the document would provide an essential guarantee for comprehensively deepening capital market reform and promoting its high-quality development. The country will strictly and promptly investigate and deal with major criminal cases such as fraudulent issuance, market manipulation, insider trading, and fabricating and disseminating false information, he said. Over the next three to five years, China's securities regulators will strive to fully implement the tasks set out in the document and provide a solid legal guarantee for the development of the capital market, he added.

2021-07-09

Experts: China to remain haven for foreign investors

China's steady economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 has effectively stabilized global investment and cushioned Asia from the hit of the pandemic, experts said. However, going forward more efforts will be needed to energize domestic manufacturing investment and consumption and stabilize trade. A report released in June by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development showed that global flows of foreign direct investment had suffered a heavy blow from the pandemic. Global FDI flows fell by 35 percent in 2020, to $1 trillion from $1.5 trillion the previous year, the report said. In particular, FDI to developed economies slumped by 58 percent year-on-year, mainly due to pandemic-induced investment obstructions. Lockdowns slowed down existing investment projects, while the prospect of a recession led multinational enterprises to reassess new projects, the report said. According to the UN trade and development body, Asia was the only region that registered positive FDI growth, with China the largest overseas investor and the second-largest recipient of global investment in 2020. "China's quick recovery from the pandemic has made the country a popular destination for overseas capital, while the government's arduous efforts last year in removing foreign investment barriers, enabling an investment climate and expanding market access for foreign investors, have added to China's attractiveness for investors worldwide," said Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce's International Market Research Institute. In the long term, a global decline in FDI will hamper optimal allocation of resources and production factors, he added. The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement has cemented the region's stability and attractiveness as a well-connected, important global supply chain, Bai said. The UN trade report indicated that capital flow into Asia remained steady. FDI flows to countries in Asia increased by 4 percent in 2020, reflecting the region's resilience amid the global contraction in FDI. "Despite the pandemic, FDI to and from the region remained resilient in 2020. A developing Asia is the only region recording FDI growth, accounting for more than half of global inward and outward FDI flows," James Zhan, UNCTAD's director of investment and enterprise, said in a statement. The prospects for FDI in Asia this year are more favorable than the global average, due to the recovery in trade, manufacturing activity and a strong GDP growth forecast, Zhan said. Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, said China's effective pandemic control made its comparative advantage in the manufacturing sector more prominent last year. He said with developed economies likely to rev up in the second half of the year, demand will climb and China's foreign trade will keep growing. Its attractiveness as a destination for overseas capital will continue, Tu added. Domestically, policy measures are needed to energize domestic manufacturing and boost consumption to make growth more stable and balanced, some economists believe. Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist with Pingan Securities, said in a statement on Saturday that in the first six months of this year, economic recovery was mainly driven by services and investment in real estate, infrastructure and manufacturing. Consumption was one of the relative "weak links" in the recovery. He said that total social financing as well as M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, are likely to grow steadily.

2021-07-05