It was September 6, 2018. The two Saudi sisters were on a family vacation in Colombo, Sri Lanka. For weeks, they had helped their mother organize the trip, feigning
The UK government, a key US ally on intelligence and security
is expected to decide this spring which suppliers can provide technology for 5G networks. If it chooses to allow the use of Huawei gear
it could seriously undermine the US campaign against the company and influence other governments that are weighing how to handle the issue.
The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement earlier this w
eek that it was “looking at a range of options” and that “no decisions have been taken.”
’A rigorous, ruthless advancement of China’s interests’
The RUSI report — written by former diplomat Charles Parton, who spent 22 years working in mai
nland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — warned that the UK government needed to stay alert for int
erference from the Chinese government across a range of fronts, including politics and research.
Britain is a particularly appealing target for interference as a close
US ally with a large Chinese ethnic community and an open, advanced economy, Parton said.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei: The US ‘cannot crush us’
”Beijing’s interference is not aimed at subverting the West, but represents a rigorous, ruthl
ess advancement of China’s interests and values at the expense of those of the West,” he wrote.
Both sides have showed their strength and volition in
unprecedented trade war: The US didn’t easily stop and China was not that fragile to be defeated. How
ever, it has proven no empty talk that in a long-term trade war, both sides would eventually lose.
President Xi and President Trump reached consensus on December 1 and put the two countries back onto the win-win track. Th
e consensus has responded to the situation, conformed with people’s wishes and reversed the pessimism of the market.
Starting December 2018, rounds of consultations resolved a large n
umber of divergences. The outcome has been sufficient to outline a new face of China-US econo
ic and trade cooperation and to bring an incalculable impetus to both sides’ economic development.
In the final phase of the talks, both sides must keep calm, treasure the already-made ach
ievements and promote smoother and fairer China-US trade cooperation.
US demand for China’s structural reform must stay in line with China-US trade coo
peration and coordinate with China’s reform and opening-up. The talks must not tr
y to force Beijing to change its economic governance or even its development path.
The final deal should attend to the interests of nongovernmental organizations that ultimately carry out economic and trade cooperation.
China and the US must sign an agreement that will inspire their peo
ple, heralding accelerated economic development. Only such deals can withstand the test of history.
The corridor includes a network of highways, railways and
infrastructure and Gwadar is an important part of it. Pakistan has been trying to get the assistance needed for development and di
versify sources of investment from many countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Gwadar is not an exclusive platform.
The China-funded CPEC helps build the infrastructure at the port, and the improved condition
will attract more investment which then in turn boosts the development of Gwadar and the whole of Pa
kistan. Inclusiveness and multilateral cooperation are exactly the ideas that the BRI champions.
Admittedly, geostrategic competition is prevailing in the region. If added with the different inter
t demands of Afghanistan and Iran and the historical enmity between India and Pakistan, the region can be one of the most volatile plac
es in the world. Joint development is the only path that could lead the region into long-term peace and stability. This is also the broader objective of the BRI.
China hopes that all the investment coming into the region can be connected so as to be best utilized. Regional countri
es should enhance cooperation via coordination. Meanwhile, all should hold an open attitude toward investment from outside the region.
As each regional power vies for a foothold and seeks its development, both competition and cooperation feature in this process. All
the countries face the question of how to turn strategic hedging into benign competition. The BRI provides the answer.
The Modi administration has undertaken significant steps
India’s tax system, upgrade its bankruptcy laws and relax restrictions on foreign investment. The country witnessed a 23-place jump to a record 77th p
osition in the World Bank’s latest report on the ease of doing business, which covered 190 countries and regions. Fa
cts have proved that India’s economic reforms are conducive to improving the business climate for foreign investment.
Modi has launched a range of reform initiatives, and now the Modi administration must t
ell local authorities to fully implement these policies to ensure that the country’s economic re
form will go forward ahead of the general election. Effective implementation of current policies is mo
re important than launching new initiatives, and this effort will lay the groundwork for a better business climate.
India’s labor cost advantage has led some Chinese manufacturers to look closely at setting up assembly lines
in the country. Achieving a better understanding of India’s changing business climate will he
lp achieve win-win results and joint development of the two emerging economies.
China and India must enhance strategic communication and mutual trust to move their ec
onomic ties forward. Currently, the most urgent task is to prevent the suic
ide attack in the Pulwama district from affecting economic relations and India’s inbound investment.
Although the idea of Huawei engaging in espionage is te
ically possible, it does not make any sense from a commercial or political point of view.
Such a practice would be tantamount to suicide for a high-tech giant. If the Chinese governme
nt forced Huawei to do this, it would be stifling the country’s emerging industries. But intelligence can
not be mentioned in the same breath as Huawei’s contribution to China’s industrial prosperity and national interests.
Hyping the alleged Huawei threat has violated the basic spirit of seeking truth from facts. The West is prioritizing ide
ology and considering excluding China as political correctness. Many people in Europe are aware of the lies, but
still beating the drum for a certain value orientation rather than conducting an objective analysis.
The world is changing, and if Europe keeps prioritizing ideology and political correctness in dealing with every new situation, that would be dangerous.
What Europe needs is not only the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, but also the co
urage to make its own independent choices. Europe’s cooperation with Huawei on construction of a 4G
network is already an established fact, but it seems now that beneficial collaboration has become one of the biggest risks.
Guo Fan, director of The Wandering Earth, once said that a
film is a reflection of a nation’s comprehensive strength.” The Guardian published an article headlined “China challenges Hollywood with own sci-fi blockbuster.”
This is in line with how people see today’s global affairs. China is making contributions to global development with its own strength and its own way.
Different from the US sci-fi blockbusters which advocate individual heroism, The Wandering Earth pro
poses China’s collective spirit. Take the climax of the movie: When all the plans to save Earth faile
d and Earth is about to hit Jupiter, many other countries, which had decided to give up, were moved and inspired by a br
ave Chinese girl. They then chose to salvage Earth from its doom together with Chines
e. Such a Chinese blockbuster presents a new appearance of sci-fi and successfully moves audiences of different countries.
Likewise, the key to improving the world’s understanding of China is to find a
n echo in each other’s hearts. Today, mankind still faces many international hot
issues, such as environmental protection, anti-terrorism and the reconstruction of the world financial o
rder. To solve these problems, we need global participation and cooperation, and China should play a constructive role.
These problems are also common challenges facing China and the US. Both Chi
na and the US should take their responsibilities. The two countries are mo
re likely to cooperate on these issues which could be the basis for building mutual trust.
ntal programs and inaugurated several large-scale infrast
projects, including highway, railway, airport and power stations. However, in the face of local protests, the effectiveness of Modi’s economic package, delivered just a few months before the
election, seemed very suspicious. Interestingly, because of the tremendous opposition against the Bill and the frustrating situation on the g
round, BJP’s top local politician who was defending the bill changed his tune almost as soon as Modi left.
Clearly, Modi’s twin election trick, which comprised both nationalistic and developmental ele
ments, was clearly at work during his visit to disputed South Tibet. However, sacrificing the pa
instakingly earned mutual trust and progress in Sino-Indian relations for the sake of ephemeral political benefits seems unwise.
Even though India and China have so far held 21 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute, and Modi and President Xi have met at least four times in 2018 to bring b
ilateral ties back on a stable footing, the border issue remains the single-most sensitive topic between the two countries. While
the dispute between China and India remains too large to be resolved altogether, both sides would better carefully manage it.
Globalization needs to be upgraded to serve the interes
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
Let’s reap potential of China-Myanmar cooperation
Since Myanmar embarked on its political transition, political elites in the country have championed that peace is the premise for economic and social developme
