Editor's Note:

"Cognitive Warfare" has become a new form of confrontation between states, and a new security threat. With new technological means, it sets agendas and spreads disinformation, so as to change people's perceptions and thus alter their self-identity. Launching cognitive warfare against China is an important means for Western anti-China forces to attack and discredit the country. Under the manipulation of the US-led West, the "China threat theory" has continued to foment.

Some politicians and media outlets have publicly smeared China's image by propagating false narratives such as the "China economy collapse theory" and "China virus threat theory," in an attempt to incite and provoke dissatisfaction with China among people in certain countries. These means all serve the seemingly peaceful evolution strategy of the US to contain China's rise and maintain its hegemony.

The Global Times is publishing a series of articles to systematically reveal the intrigues of the US-led West's cognitive warfare targeting China, and expose its lies and vicious intentions, in an attempt to show international readers a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of China.

This is the seventh installment in the series.
The US' recent escalated tech war against China, which attempted to cut China off from high-end chips, has inadvertently harmed its own chip giants. The US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo attended the annual Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) in California on December 2, asserting a need for more funding for her department to stop China from catching up on cutting-edge semiconductors. She also told Bloomberg on Monday that the US will take the "strongest possible" action to protect its national security, when asked how the Commerce Department will respond to a recent "chipmaking breakthrough" in China.

Weeks ago, the US' leading chip designer Nvidia reportedly forecast a "significant drop" in its China sales in the fourth quarter, due to an upgraded US chip ban announced in October.

China has "consistently accounted for approximately 20 to 25 percent of data center revenue," according to the Nikkei. Responding to the tightened controls, which ban Nvidia from exporting its A800 and H800 GPUs to China, Nvidia said it is developing newly compliant chips for the Chinese market. The new chips will comply with the controls but will probably be less competitive, industry insiders pointed out.

The US is waging a long, lose-lose "chip war" against China. Following a raft of controls announced in October 2022 on exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, the US Commerce Department, in October this year, updated and broadened its export controls to stop China from acquiring advanced computer chips.

Worse still, apart from directly clamping down on Chinese market and chip enterprises, the US has also carried out vicious "public opinion sanctions" against China's semiconductor industry in recent years, so as to tarnish the image of Chinese tech companies, and to diminish China's progress in the chip field through various cognitive warfare tactics, the Global Times found.

An in-depth look at much of the US media's coverage of China's semiconductor industry in the last few years reveals a list of underhanded tactics employed in the US' chip field warfare against China.
Defamation

Making groundless Intellectual Property (IP) theft accusations against Chinese tech companies, such as "stealing chip designs" and "stealing manufacturing tech," serve US' defamation attempts against China. With lies and rumors, they try to mislead the public that China's rise in the chip field has mainly been achieved by "stealing" US technology, so as to manufacture a motive to support the US government's chip blockade on China.

In recent years, reports of Western tech companies charging their former Chinese employees for stealing secret chip tech have appeared in US media coverage from time to time, giving readers a false impression of Chinese companies' or employees' frequent theft of technology.

Most of these stories only contained one-sided sources, and lack follow-up reports. No independent investigations were conducted nor was the Chinese side reached for a response, further amplifying the voices attacking China, the Global Times found.

Fox Business, for instance, reported in January 2022 that cutting-edge Dutch semiconductor circuit manufacturer ASML accused one of its former Chinese employees of stealing its technology. Without any balanced sources, the story concluded in a politically loaded sentence: "In recent years, many Chinese nationals living in the US have been accused of stealing business practices and trade secrets on behalf of Beijing."

The Chinese company involved, Dongfang Jingyuan Electron Limited (DJEL), later denied the claim in a statement in February 2022. But none of the US media outlets mentioned the denial in related coverage.

China's scientific and technological achievements are not made through theft or robbery, noted then Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian in February 2020, responding to a question raised by media sources about China's comment on the US side's accusation of "stealing US scientific achievements."

Statistics showed that between 2009 and 2019, Chinese scientists published 2.6 million papers in international journals, ranking second in the world, mentioned Zhao. He criticized that certain people in the US "have ulterior motives in cooking up China's so-called theft of US scientific and research outcomes."

Belittlement

Sometimes, US media's reports on China's chip industry take on an arrogant tone. They revel in China's high-tech enterprises' seemingly "difficult" situation under the US' sanctions, so as to depict China's "dependence" on imported chips, and dismiss the achievements China has made in the field of cutting-edge technology.

The latest US expansion of export controls on advanced chips "will make it difficult for China to develop in that sector," stated the VOA on October 19.

Chinese industries will "hit a wall" in 2025 or 2026 if they can't get next generation chips or the tools to make their own, the Associated Press quoted a tech industry consultant Handel Jones as saying in an April 4 article. China "will start falling behind significantly," the article claimed, which was later echoed by many other US media outlets.

Some naysayers even maliciously linked China's efforts in chip development with its temporary slowdown in economic growth, trying to portray China as a country that no longer has the strength, at least economically, to break through the US' edge-cutting chip blockade.

Contrary to the gloomy outlook forecasted by some US media outlets, Chinese insiders reached by the Global Times said they are optimistic about the future of the country's chip industry.

And some data may prove their optimism to be well informed. Nearly half of all machinery equipment tenders by Chinese foundries from January to August 2023 were won by local manufacturers, according to an analysis of 182 tenders by Huatai Securities in September, Reuters reported on October 18. It also cited a report by CINNO Research, which showed that equipment-related revenue among China's top 10 domestic equipment manufacturers grew by 39 percent year-on-year for the first half of 2023, representing $2.2 billion in sales.

"There is definitely huge progress happening in the Chinese semiconductor equipment space, as reflected in the strong revenue growth metrics," Reuter quoted a semiconductor analyst as saying.

Fearmongering

Contrary to the previous trick of belittling China's achievements in the chip field, US media and politicians are also accustomed to fear-mongering, exaggerating China's chip development and its impact on the world, especially on the US-led West.

The "China chip threat theory" has become a favorite fearmongering tactic frequently employed by the US government and media sources. They extensively report the rise of China's chip tech, but distort China's international image and frame Chinese high-tech companies as shady operatives, exaggerating the consequences of the loss of the US chip monopoly, while portraying the blocking and suppression of China as reasonable behavior.

For example, according to an article titled "Think tank urges US to get even stricter with China over chips" published in the American Journal of Transportation in October, the Washington-based Silverado Policy Accelerator claimed that China is building up massive production capacity of foundational chips. "Now, Silverado warns, the Asian superpower is showing signs of undercutting prices of its Western competitors in this market."

The Global Times found that the US officials and media sources even intentionally associate chips with the military and defense industry, and politicize the purpose of Chinese chips, calling on their domestic enterprises and other countries to join forces against China.

As early as 2021, the Financial Times reported that the National Security Commission, a US congressionally mandated commission concluded that the country could potentially lose its advantage in the semiconductor industry due to the rapid development of China's chip industry.

According to the Financial Times, the co-chairman of the commission stated that the US currently enjoys a "two-generation lead" over China in terms of semiconductors, but urgent action is needed to prevent the loss of this edge.

The 756-page report issues by the commission outlines how artificial intelligence can assist the US and consumers in various fields but warns that with China's investment in advanced technology, the potential of artificial intelligence is transforming into a "moment of strategic vulnerability."

However, such baseless slander only starkly reveals the ambitions of the US government.

At the RNDF, Raimondo stated that US companies will need to adapt to the priorities of US national security, including in export controls on semiconductors implemented by the US Department of Commerce, the VOA reported.

According to the VOA, previously, after the US Department of Commerce announced plans to restrict exports of more chips designed by companies such as Nvidia to China, Raimondo explained that the new measure is aimed at hindering China's military development. "The updates are specifically designed to control access to computing power, which will significantly slow the PRC's development of next-generation frontier model, and could be leveraged in ways that threaten the US and our allies," she said.

The US media establishment, politicians, and business figures have consistently shown hostility and malice in their statements regarding China's chip industry, Fu Liang, a Beijing-based tech analyst, told the Global Times.

Fu noted that for a long time, there has been much chatter about the threat of Chinese chips to the US economy and technological leadership without concrete evidence, and a flagrant abuse of the concept of "national security" in order to maintain their hegemonic rule.

US pays the piper

"Overly broad, unilateral controls risk harming the US semiconductor ecosystem without advancing national security as they encourage overseas customers to look elsewhere," stated the US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) on October 17, in a response to the updated export control.

Just as per the SIA's worries, the US' semiconductor curb targeting China, as well as the cognitive warfare it launched against China in the chip field, has led to more harm to its own chip companies rather than being beneficial, Chinese industry observers told the Global Times.

In the long run, the US itself will have to pay the piper, they noted.

Even though Nvidia will design new chips for the Chinese market, the chips may no longer have an advantage over their Chinese counterparts under the US sanctions, said Xiang Ligang, a veteran analyst in the telecom industry. "We all know that it's not impossible for China to produce its own AI chips," he told the Global Times.

The US' upgraded controls on advanced chips may lead Chinese companies to switch to domestic chips, which will stimulate the development of domestic AI chips, and eventually push the Chinese market away from US exporters, said Xiang.

Since the series of cognitive battles waged by the US have extended to the chip field, Fu noted that it is inevitable for politicians and the media establishment to cooperate with government sanctions in order to safeguard US interests against the current backdrop of China-US technological competition.

"However, this extreme pressure measure has not achieved the desired effect," Fu said.

Observers pointed out that although the US government's suppression of China's semiconductor industry will continue, US companies still value the Chinese market. Only through win-win cooperation in technology can confidence be injected into global development, they said.

Jim Brainard saw the Yangtze River for the first time on a fine autumn day. The wide and vast river reminded the US official of the Mississippi River, which he knows well as being equally magnificent and almost boundless.

Brainard is the Mayor of Carmel, Indiana. He was also the head of a delegation of six US city mayors from the American heartland areas along the Mississippi River. Earlier this month, the delegation visited Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as the nature reserves on Shanghai's Chongming Island at the river's estuary.

"The Yangtze River is a beautiful part of China, and it is similar in some ways to our Mississippi water area," Brainard told the Global Times during his stay in Shanghai. "The two rivers are important to both of us, to both countries."

For centuries the Yangtze River and Mississippi River, the mother rivers of China and the US respectively, have nurtured a rich variety of life and brought communication and development.

During the 12-day trip in China, the delegation, along with several US scholars in the environment and hydrology fields, had deep conversations with their Chinese peers on both countries' experiences in river protection and watershed area development, as an effort to build "bridges" of cooperation and friendship between the two big rivers.

The hope of the China-US relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted on Wednesday during his Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trip in San Francisco.

"I welcome more US governors, Congressional members, and people from all walks of life to visit China," Xi said.

Xi's words and his recent visit to the US inspired people in the two countries who yearn for more exchanges, from government officials and scholars, to ordinary people, as the China-US relationship - one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world - is gradually improving through not only head-of-state diplomacy, but also the frequent sub-national and people-to-people exchanges, observers sai
A sense of affinity

Brainard and many members of the US mayors' delegation felt a sense of affinity during their trip to China, although they'd never been to this distant Eastern country before. "The rivers and valleys are very much the same," Brainard said in a speech he delivered at the Yangtze-Mississippi Forum held in Shanghai on November 6.

The word "similarity" was mentioned by many Chinese and American officials and scholars at the forum. Yangtze River is "similar in many ways to the Mississippi - broad, flat, and used for transport," said Gabriel Filippelli, executive director of the Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute who also attended the forum.

In an interview with the Global Times, Filippelli recalled what he saw at the Yangtze River for the first time as a tourist years ago: He traveled near the river on his entire trip, over it, and visited various related waterways along the way. He felt that the Yangtze and Mississippi shared a similar appearance, and played a vital role in the history and development of both countries.

Many Chinese environment and hydrology scholars who've been to the US also feel a sense of affinity when seeing Mississippi River in person.

Zhang Weiguo, a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC) at East China Normal University, participated in a cooperative project at the Louisiana State University (LSU) in December 2019. During his one-week stay, Zhang visited the Mississippi River with his US colleagues, where he saw a body of water as wide as the Yangtze River, riverside wetlands, deciduous trees with some of their branches reaching into water, alligators basking on warm mud, and crayfish caught by local fishermen, which "tasted similar to the Chinese ones," he recalled.

"I heard that crayfish are originally from Louisiana. And now they are widely farmed in China as well, especially along the Yangtze River," Zhang told the Global Times.

"From the very small crayfish case, I felt that the two rivers, although far away from each other, have a lot of connections."
Broader, more inclusive communication

In Shanghai, the US mayor delegation and some US scholars visited the city's Chongming Island. On what is dubbed as China's third-largest island, they visited a national nature reserve, a Chinese sturgeon protection base, a domestic sewage treatment station, and the Qingcaosha Reservoir that supplies fresh water to 13 million residents in Shanghai.

Brainard said that they had wonderful time on learning about China, as well as its efforts in protecting rivers and restoring the wetlands. He believes there are many joint efforts China and the US can make in protecting their rivers.

"We need to do much work to improve the quality of water in the Mississippi River and keep agricultural chemicals from polluting the river. China needs to do the same thing as well. I hope that we can learn from each other on what does and doesn't work, and collaborate on making both our famous rivers more sustainable," Brainard.

Nina Lam, E. L. Abraham Distinguished Professor of Department of Environmental Sciences at the LSU, also participated in the Chongming visit. There Lam had the chance to see the Yangtze River again.

"It (the river) is always beautiful," she told the Global Times after the visit. "I was especially impressed with the transportation infrastructure such as the bridge, tunnel, and roads built to link the island with the inland."

Lam recalled that the first time she saw the Yangtze River was in December 1985, when she was collaborating with the then Nanjing Institute of Geography on a project using a geographic information system (GIS) approach to study the cancer mortality patterns in China.

China and the US have long cooperated in the academic field of river, estuary, and delta related researches. The SKLEC and its predecessor institutes, for instance, have had academic exchanges with the LSU since the 1980s, when China had just launched its reform and opening-up, according to Zhang. Their cooperation covered physiognomy in the beginning, and later ecological wetlands and estuaries. It will involve broader and more comprehensive aspects, Zhang added.

"Industrialization occurred earlier in the Mississippi River basin than it did in the Yangtze River basin, and the two rivers and estuaries face similar challenges partly caused by human activities like excavation of canals," Zhang told the Global Times. "Therefore, some experiences by the US in dealing with the Mississippi are worth learning from for us."

The academic exchanges between SKLEC and LSU continued online during the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, scholars and young students from the two sides have engaged in deep cooperation, said Zhang.

To increase exchanges between our two peoples, especially between the youth, China is ready to invite 50,000 young Americans to China through exchange and study programs over the next five years, announced President Xi in a speech delivered at the Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the US, on November 15.

Many Chinese and US scholars and students reached by the Global Times applauded the broader exchanges between the two countries. "I believe that the communication between China and US, just like the two big rivers, will be broader and more inclusive," said Zhang.

A shared future

At the Yangtze-Mississippi Forum in Shanghai, officials and scholars from various countries witnessed the unveiling ceremony for the International Research Center for Rivers and Deltas, an institute at the ECNU to strengthen transnational academic cooperation in the field of rivers and deltas.

The new center will serve as an international collaboration platform so that people can discuss sustainable development methods in river basins and estuarine areas, said He Qing, director of SKLEC.

"Watersheds and estuaries are an inseparable system," He told the Global Times after the forum. "It is of great significance for global people living in different natural ecological environments and population densities to learn from each other."

Echoing He, some US scholars said they expect China and the US, as well as other countries involved, to have more transnational cooperation on river, estuary, and delta protection.

"As far as I know, there have been many cooperative projects between delta researchers in the two countries. However, very few studies have been on the human side, and even fewer on analyzing the delta as a coupled natural-human system," Lam told the Global Times.

"This type of research is difficult to carry out, thus cooperation between the two countries and learning from each other's experiences and perspective will definitely help, leading to much improved understanding of the deltas and solutions to their challenges," she added.

Speaking of the Yangtze and Mississippi rivers, Filippelli suggests that more cooperation can take place on climate resilience and green economic development between the leaders and scholars of the two countries.

"In particular, opportunities exist to share common approaches to mitigating the impacts of flooding, and share the science and practice of urban greening initiatives for environmental improvements and public health," he told the Global Times.

Finding the right partners can help in finding new solutions not only for local problems, but also to help "inform and reengage us on the national level and bilateral level between our two countries," Daniel Delk, deputy Consul General of the US in Shanghai, said at the forum. "I'm excited about the opportunities that may come not this day, but in the months and years ahead, to form new partnerships," he said.

According to the forum's organizers, a similar forum that will also focus on the Yangtze River and Mississippi River is going to be held in the US in 2024. At that time, the American side will invite related Chinese guests to the US.

As Xi noted in his November 15 speech, the foundation of China-US relations was laid by two peoples. The anticipated reunion on the Mississippi River is a vivid example of the continued improvement in subnational and people-to-people exchanges between China and the US, observers pointed out.

China and the US share a community of shared future, in terms of the frequent economic exchanges between and the common environmental responsibilities shared by the two countries, Zhang said.

As a scholar in the environment and river deltas, Zhang said he is pleased to see China and US spend joint efforts in addressing challenges including economic development and global climate change. "I'm looking forward to more cooperation and exchanges between the two countries, which will benefit the whole of human society," he said.

China on refuted the remarks made by some European politicians regarding the passage of the Article 23 legislation in Hong Kong on Tuesday, urging Western powers to stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs and China's internal affairs.

The UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, issued a statement following the passage of the law, claiming that the Article 23 legislation of the Basic Law was "rushed through the legislative process and will damage the rule of law, autonomy, and the rights and freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong." The Chinese Embassy in the UK said the remarks from the British side are a serious distortion of the facts and constitute grave interference in China's internal affairs.

"We are firmly against this," the embassy stated, noting that the legislative process was rigorous and procedure-based.

The content of the law is sound and reasonable. The definition of criminal elements is clear, and the severity of penalties is appropriate. It is in line with international law and international common practices, it noted.

Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed the highly anticipated bill mandated by Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong on Tuesday. The draft bill of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance will be gazetted on Saturday and will take effect from then.

"Hong Kong-related affairs are China's internal affairs, in which the UK side has no position to make unwarranted remarks," the embassy said. It urged the UK to cease its baseless accusations regarding the Article 23 legislation and to refrain from interfering in China's internal affairs under any pretext.

The Commissioner's Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong also slammed Cameron's remarks on Wednesday.

The UK has at least 14 laws for maintaining national security, with its new National Security Act introduced in 2023 having many vaguely defined clauses and broad authorizations for law enforcement agencies, the commissioner's office said.

The UK's own human rights record is not commendable, with numerous human rights violations domestically and a notorious record internationally. "It should take a good look at itself in the mirror and put away its hypocritical and double-standard tricks," it noted.

The UK continuously stirs up trouble and makes reckless comments about the situation in Hong Kong, blatantly trampling on the principles of international law and the basic norms of international relations, ultimately due to a deeply ingrained colonial mindset and a patronizing attitude, the commissioner's office noted.

China urges the UK to correct its position, face reality, give up the illusion of extending its colonial influence in Hong Kong, and stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal matters in any way, it said.

Besides Cameron, the High Representative on behalf of the European Union also expressed their "concerns" over the legislation.

The law could "exacerbate the erosion of fundamental freedoms and political pluralism in Hong Kong, which could impact EU citizens, organizations, and companies in Hong Kong," the EU said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Commissioner's Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition toward the EU's statement on Wednesday, urging the EU to abandon hypocrisy and double standards and to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal matters.

Improving the legal system, including those laws that safeguard national security, will not diminish Hong Kong's economic freedom, the commissioner's office said.

On the contrary, it will provide a robust legal guarantee for high-quality development and high-level openness in Hong Kong, better protect the property safety of Hong Kong residents, boost the confidence of both local and overseas investors, and create a safer, more convenient, and efficient business environment in Hong Kong.

China's economy starts off 2024 on strong footing, with an array of key indicators in the first two months beating market expectation by a wide margin, fueled by a spending spree in the Spring Festival holidays, ramped-up efforts in building new quality productive forces and the effects of macro policies implementation. Observers said the upbeat data offer an encouraging sign that the world's second-largest economy is not only consolidating the recovery momentum but also picking up pace.

The industrial output grew 7 percent year-on-year in the first two months, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, well above the 5 percent forecast from analysts polled by Reuters. It is also the fastest since March 2023.

The strong start in 2024, which presages a raft of bright spots ranging from high-tech to consumption of this year's growth path, also rebuts squarely recent skepticism and badmouths on Chinese economy hyped by certain Western media. It projects great confidence in China's economic trajectory toward a growth rate of around 5 percent in 2024, a goal set by this year's Government Work Report that Chinese officials believe - albeit faced with external and internal headwinds - will come to fruition "with earnest endeavors."

In January-February period, retail sales expanded 5.5 percent from the same period last year, versus a Reuters forecast of 5.2 percent, while fixed-asset investment also gained 4.2 percent in year-on-year terms, surpassing market estimates of 3.2 percent.

"With the macro policies taking effect, China's national economy has continued to recover and turn for the better in the first two months," NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office on Monday.

Recovery momentum

"The positive macro-economic indicators reflect that the country's GDP growth rate in the first quarter of this year will be higher than 5 percent, and that the economy is bottoming out after facing constant growth pressure seen in the past 10 years or so," Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday.

For the first time in a number of consecutive months, the overall gauges on industrial, service and investment all topped the forecasts and displayed a considerable level of gains. And those headline indexes point to a strengthening recovery momentum that is buoyed by restorative growth and, more importantly, multiple new positive factors beyond, according to analysts.

For example, the 5.5-percent jump in the retail sales in the first two months, which though seem to be a moderate number taking account of last year's high base effect, shed light on the indigenous vigor and potential of China's massive consumer market, particularly in entertainment, tourism, cultural, sports and vehicle categories.

During the eight-day Spring Festival holidays in February, nationwide domestic tourism reached 474 million trips, an increase of 19 percent compared with pre-COVID level in 2019, while total expenditure amounted to 632.7 billion yuan, up 7.7 percent from the same holiday period in 2019.

It is forecasted the spending boost will prevail throughout the year, as more stimulus policies take effect and the "pandemic-scarring effect" continues to diminish. China last week unveiled a plan to promote large-scale renewal of equipment and the trading-in of consumer goods, opening up a market worth trillions of yuan and further giving consumption a leg up.

Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday the economic recovery has also shown signs of tilting toward a more "even and balance" mode at the beginning of the year, especially in the demand side, whose recovery - though still lags behind the supply side - has been in a quick catch-up.

Fixed-asset investment, which grew 4.2-percent in the first two months, has "bottomed out" despite a drag by property sector, according to Tian, while ascribing the turnaround partly to the issuance of additional 1-trillion-yuan special treasury bonds in the fourth quarter.

In January-February period, investment in high-tech industries rose 9.4 percent year-on-year, a drastic rise that aligns with this year's economic blueprint laid out during the two sessions, which put the development of new quality productive forces as a core mission.

To reinforce and fast track the recovery in the demand side, Tian suggested that Chinese policymakers to "frontload" part of special-purpose bonds in the first half of 2024.

The Government Work Report stated that China plans to issue ultra-long special treasury bonds starting this year and over each of the next several years. One trillion yuan ($139 billion) of such bonds will be issued in 2024.

In 2023, fixed-asset investment staged a growth of 3 percent, NBS data showed.

In terms of supply, Liu Aihua said at the press briefing that industrial production will continue to play a ballast role in the national economy. She highlighted new drives from China's elevating innovation capacity amid manufacturing upgrade and transformation, in addition to traditional edges such as a complete industrial chain as well as the sheer size of the market.

Confidence behind the target

Following the set-up of an annual GDP growth target in early March, Chinese doomsayers have been gone to great lengths to raise doubts on the likelihood of the country to achieve a 5-percent goal. So the highly-anticipated economic data at the start of the year also timely draws out an objective and comprehensive picture on China's economic course, proving that the country is running on abundant engines - which certain Western media outlets ignore, that arguably outweigh unfavorable conditions, analysts said.

While acknowledging a bunch of downward pressures including "complex, severe and uncertain external environment and insufficient domestic effective demand," Liu stressed that China has conditions and enough support to hit the around 5-percent GDP growth target, and will realize the goal "through earnest endeavors."

Liu said Chinese authorities attach great importance to the challenges that could pose barriers to development. They also stand with great confidence and maintain strategic focus to cope with difficulties, promote sustained economic recovery, and translate the expected economic development goals into reality.

Han Baojiang, a professor at Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, told the Global Times that Chinese policymakers are sober and they have articulated clear approach to economic development. "As long as we improve our economy, enhance people's livelihoods, and ensure employment, it is probably the most effective way to deal with all challenges."

Cao also voiced full confidence that the country will realize this year's GDP growth target of around 5 percent, though he said more effort is needed to focus on high-quality development.

To shield against potential headwinds, Cao suggested that authorities should continue to promote the transition in overall economic structure, focus on developing new quality productive forces, like new industries to be propelled by artificial intelligence.

Analysts warned against the property downturn, which they said is likely to persist for some time this year. In the first two months, China's property investment dived 9 percent year-on-year, NBS data showed.

Also, the increasingly volatile external environment calls for Chinese policymakers to reach more into the toolbox to stabilize and shore up internal demand, according to Tian. Liu said the country's solid economic fundamentals, the accumulation of many positive factors and the government's stimulus measures will continue to propel the economy to rebound and improve.

Tian predicted that China will continue making an "immense" 30 percent contribution to the world economy on condition that the 5-percent GDP growth goal is achieved, making it the second-largest only after the US.

The China-Laos Railway has facilitated over 30 million passenger trips since its operation in December of 2021, official data showed on Thursday, highlighting China's deepening cooperation with the neighboring countries under BRI.

As of Tuesday, the railway had transported a total of 30.2 million passenger trips and 34.24 million tons of cargo, with cross-border shipments exceeding 7.8 million tons, according to China Railway. This robust performance is showing a thriving trend in both passenger and freight transport along this strategic route.

The China-Laos Railway is experiencing a continuous rise in passenger volume. In the Chinese section, daily passenger trains have increased from 35 to 51, with daily passenger traffic peaking at 103,000 from the initial 20,000, China Railway said.

The Laotian section also expanded its daily passenger trains from four to 12, with daily passenger throughput peaking at 12,808 from the previous 720.

Travelling with the China-Laos Railway is a wonderful and exciting experience, as the railway now offers multi-language services and cost-effective tickets, and it has greatly facilitated our travel, a tourist surnamed Kong, told the Global Times on Thursday.

During this year's Spring Festival travel season, tourism along the China-Laos Railway has boomed. The total number of passengers transported along the entire line reached 2.96 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 39 percent.

The China-Laos Railway shows strong and steady growth in cross-border freight transportation. From January 1 to March 12 this year, the railway completed cross-border freight transportation of 1.064 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 33.9 percent.

China welcomes a move by Hungary to facilitate visa for Chinese citizens visiting the country for investment and cooperation purposes, and welcomes visa facilitation by more countries, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry (FM) said on Tuesday.

The announcement by Hungary related to issuing 5-year, multiple-entry visas for Chinese citizens on business trips is another example of the high-level development of China-Hungary ties, and China welcomes the move," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a routine press conference on Tuesday in Beijing.

Wang noted that bilateral cooperation have yielded fruitful results under the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership.

After China implemented a pilot policy which include visa-free entry for Hungarian tourists and business people, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto recently announced that Hungary would issue long-term visas to Chinese citizens visiting the country for investment and business cooperation.

"We believe these new measures will further strengthen people-to-people exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and promote high-level development of the bilateral ties," Wang said. "China also welcomes more countries to offer visa facilitation for Chinese citizens to boost cross-border travel and cooperation."

China announced last week that it will adopt a visa-free policy for Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg on a trial basis, starting on March 14.

This followed visa-free entry trial for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia, effective from December 1, 2023.

As human society steps into the era of artificial intelligence, it is believed that with intensified and collective efforts, China will carve out a technological path that aligns with its national conditions, enable the safe development of General Artificial Intelligence (AI) and benefit the whole humankind, a Chinese national political advisor said during the two sessions.

General AI has emerged as the strategic high ground in global technological competition. “To win this crucial technological race, which is of paramount importance to our nation, the key lies in nurturing the talent,” Zhu Songchun, director of the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said at a group interview held by the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee on Sunday.

General AI stands as a typical representative of the new quality productive forces. The “general” in General AI refers to AI’s ability to perform an infinite number of tasks in daily physical and social scenarios, autonomously discover tasks as if it has a “mind of its own,” and possess autonomous value-driven motivation, Zhu said.

Zhu introduced “Tongtong,” the world’s first prototype of a general intelligent humanoid robot being showcased in Beijing. “She has the complete neural and value system of a three or four-year-old child and is currently undergoing rapid iterations. In the future, she will be integrated into various aspects of our lives, such as pouring tea and providing warm companionship,” he said.

Behind the most ordinary abilities in daily life are actually the core technical issues that General Artificial Intelligence needs to research, Zhu said, emphasizing that achieving General AI hinges on giving machines a “mind of their own.”

During this year’s two sessions, AI has emerged as one of the hottest topics. The annual Government Work Report released on Tuesday also highlighted that a stream of innovations emerged in frontier areas such as AI and quantum technology in 2023.

While for major tasks in 2024, the Government Work Report stressed to step up research and development and application of big data and AI, launch an AI Plus initiative, and build digital industry clusters with international competitiveness.

China’s AI industry has entered a period of rapid development. According to data released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the core AI industry in China reached a scale of 508 billion yuan ($70.69 billion) in 2022, an increase of 18 percent year-on-year. Preliminary statistics indicate that the scale reached 578.4 billion yuan in 2023, with a growth rate of 13.9 percent.

China's integrated circuits (IC) or semiconductor chips export surged by nearly 30 percent in the first two months of 2024 amid the country's efforts to climb up the global technological ladder, despite mounting assaults by the US and its allies to slow down China's technology rise. 

IC exports reached 160.71 billion yuan ($22.33 billion) during the first two months of 2024, with an annual increase of 28.6 percent, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday. 

IC exports were among a number of high-tech products that have experienced robust growth during the January-February period. 

Beside IC, the exports of automatic data processing equipment increased by 7.3 percent year-on-year to reach 195.45 billion yuan and auto exports soared by 15.8 percent from the same period last year to reach 111.89 billion yuan. 

The robust growth of high-tech products reflect that China's efforts in transforming and upgrading its industries is paying off , and the tech suppression by a number of Western countries have largely failed and have actually boosted China's tech competitiveness as the country put more efforts in achieving self-sufficiency in high-tech products such as chips, analysts said. 

China's chip self-sufficiency rate may increase to 30-35 percent as many domestic chipmakers have expanded manufacturing since the US launched its tech war against China several years ago, said Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said at a press conference held during the ongoing two sessions that China's economy was off to a good start in the first quarter this year, with preliminary economic indicators such as electricity use, exports, and bank loans pointing to a strong recovery of the economy.

Foreign companies still have confidence in China, a view boosted by the release of the Government Work Report on Tuesday, which said China will ramp up efforts to attract foreign investors, including further shortening the "negative list" for foreign investment.

The Chinese economy has demonstrated resilience and delivered growth in recent years, and it has sustained the confidence of multinational companies in the future of the Chinese market.

China has been pursuing a high-level opening-up process, while continuously improving the business environment, which has drawn strong positive responses from foreign companies. Airbus has welcomed recent favorable policies. The company is committed to becoming a model of cooperation in the high-tech aerospace industry between China and Europe, it said in a note shared with the Global Times on Tuesday.

Airbus is not alone in its positive attitude. "China is one of our major markets and plays a strategic role in our global business. With the improved business environment and ongoing pursuit of high-standard opening-up, we continue to invest in China to strengthen our end-to-end capabilities. We remain positive and confident about the future of the China market," said Anna An, president of Henkel Greater China.

The view was echoed by Tetsuro Homma, executive vice president of Panasonic Corporation. The Chinese market has incomparable advantages in terms of innovation speed, market size, intelligentization, ability to absorb and digest new technologies, talent reserves and supply chain, Homma said.

The comments came after the government work report was delivered by Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.

China is aiming for economic growth of around 5 percent in 2024, Li said, adding that China will promote alignment with high standard international economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional opening-up and facilitate interplay between domestic and international markets.

"We will further shorten the negative list for foreign investment. All market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished, and market access restrictions in services sectors, such as telecommunications and healthcare, will be reduced," Li said.

The Chinese government's ambitious growth target of about 5 percent means that the government needs to take measures to offset the effect of the sluggish real estate industry, said Maximilian Butek, executive director at the German Chamber of Commerce in China (Shanghai).

He said German companies are very much looking forward to China's measures to stimulate demand, and they believe in the mid- to long-term potential of the Chinese market.

China's economy has been recovering over the past two years, and the country remains a powerful engine of global economic growth. As the world's second-largest economy, China will continue to be a driving force for global manufacturing and trading, and an important stabilizer in the global supply chain, Rio Tinto Chief Commercial Officer Alf Barrios told the Global Times.

The Chinese government has intensified efforts to enhance openness at higher levels across the board and created favorable conditions for foreign companies to innovate, invest, operate and grow in China, making foreign companies a significant driving force and an integral part of China's high-quality economic growth, said Zhou Xiaolan, executive vice-president of the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer AG.

Many foreign companies told the Global Times that China has become an important market for them, and their plans in China are getting bigger. Schneider Electric said it has 29 factories and distribution centers in China, more than 1,600 Chinese suppliers, and five R&D centers. Airbus said the work on expansion of its Tianjin A320 family assembly line in Tianjin is now in full swing.

Henkel said that in January, they opened a new Asia R&D center for consumer business. And Rio Tinto said that in 2023, China was again its largest market globally, with revenue accounting for nearly 60 percent of the company's total.

Last year, Bayer inaugurated an open innovation center in Beijing, the first of its kind in China. Simultaneously, the Beijing plant of Bayer Radiology opened. In addition, the construction of a new supply center in Hangzhou commenced last year. This center is anticipated to become operational within this year.

Even under the difficult circumstances of the epidemic, Panasonic said it still strengthened its investment in China and built 17 new production bases, including three in 2023. There are also multiple investment plans for 2024, and one in Beijing has been confirmed.

The work report also said the Chinese government will strive to modernize the industrial system and develop new quality productive forces at a faster pace. The report listed a series of tasks in this respect, including industrial and supply chain improvement and upgrading, and the cultivation of emerging industries and future-oriented industries such as hydrogen power and new materials.

As the key to achieving high-quality development, new productive forces have received great attention from all industries. Schneider Electric is committed to supporting the growth of the new productive forces with its technological and innovative advantages in digitization and sustainability, said Executive Vice President of China & East Asia Operations Yin Zheng.

With world leading products and solutions in automation and energy management, the company can boost the overall competitiveness and impact of Chinese industries, help to build new productive forces, and accelerate the "dual-carbon" goals, Yin said.

Airbus said 2024 will be a year of opportunities for it to continue developing its business and cooperation in China while maintaining strong impetus in the domestic market. The company remains committed to China, it said, and will continue to invest in the future, jointly promoting high-quality development with Chinese partners.

China's chunyun for 2024 - the Spring Festival travel rush - will officially conclude on Tuesday. An estimated 9 billion passenger trips are expected to have been made during the 40-day rush, with bustling scenes seen across China from busy markets to hustling railway activity, which are vivid displays of economic vitality.

The consumption boom during the Spring Festival holidays coupled with thriving trade cooperation represented by the uninterrupted China-Europe freight train services will significantly contribute to the country's steady economic growth in the first quarter of 2024, with sustained momentum for the rest of the year, observers said.

On Sunday alone, 182.45 million trips were made, up 14.4 percent year-on-year and up 4.5 percent compared with the same period in 2019, official data showed. During the first 33 days of the holiday, 7.02 billion trips were made, and cargo transportation remained efficient and orderly, Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng told a press conference on February 28.

The strong consumption rebound during the holidays promoted the revival of involved industries and will significantly support GDP growth for the first quarter, Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Wang said that booming holiday consumption has laid a solid foundation for driving up the economy's development for the whole year while boosting market confidence.

The spending power on display during the holidays is still a major potential growth point for continued economic development, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.

Both Wang and Cong highlighted the growing demand for consumption upgrading as Chinese consumers now pursue high-quality products with elevated services and experiences and are relatively less price sensitive.

The upgrading demand will inspire market players to ramp up product and service quality for sustained operations in the long term.

Analysts pointed to the integration of the cultural, sports and tourism sectors as another new engine for propelling holiday consumption, on top of the already booming domestic and international tourism.

From diverse Spring Festival celebrations combining China's intangible cultural heritage with local attractions to the 14th National Winter Games boosting ice-snow consumption, the integration of the cultural, sports and tourism sectors led to fruitful and innovative results during the holidays, Jiang Yiyi, a deputy head of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sport University, said on Monday.

During the eight-day Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, 474 million domestic trips were made, up 34.3 percent year-on-year, and the total domestic tourism spending jumped by 47.3 percent year-on-year to about 632.69 billion yuan ($87.88 billion), according to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Jiang attributed the continuous expansion in tourism to rising outbound tourism, and China's strengthened efforts and stepped-up policy support underscored the country's firm determination to promote high-quality opening-up.

In a latest move, the mutual visa-exemption agreement between China and Thailand officially took effect on Friday, with bookings for two-way travel surging on the same day.

"China retains its strength as a major global market with huge spending power. Achieving success in the Chinese market first will be the foundation for foreign players to claim global success," Cong said, adding that the Chinese market has stepped up its competitiveness.

International cargo trade during the holidays thrive. For instance, customs at Manzhouli Port in Inner Mongolia inspected and cleared 94 China-Europe freight trains entering and exiting the border, up 17.5 percent from the Spring Festival holidays in 2023.
In 2023, some 17,000 China-Europe freight trains were dispatched, up 6 percent year-on-year, carrying 1.9 million containers, up 18 percent, Liu Ruiling, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said during an interview ahead of the opening of the second session of the 14th CPPCC National Committee in Beijing.

"More than 85,000 China-Europe cargo trains ran as of February this year, linking China with 217 cities and 25 countries in Europe," said Liu, who is also the general manager of the International Land Port in North China's Hebei Province.

Wang said that China would actively engage in more international economic cooperation and competition and diversify its cooperation partners, while consolidating international cooperation in emerging and innovative industries such as green finance.