China's foreign trade volume surged by 29.2 percent year-on-year to reach 8.47 trillion yuan ($1.29 trillion) in the first quarter of 2021, getting off a robust start for the year despite the world is still grappling with the cloud of a global coronavirus outbreak resurgence.

China's Q1 trade surges 29.2% from last year. Exports rise 38.7%, imports gain 19.3%: customs data

About 40-50 percent of the rare-earth enterprises in Ganzhou, East China's Jiangxi Province - most in the middle and downstream segments of the industry chain - have halted production in recent days to rectify environmental protection issues, industry insiders told the Global Times.

With the massive rollout of coronavirus vaccine, China and the US are in a race to scale up production to secure enough doses as quickly as possible. While supplies of key vaccine components, chemical ingredients and raw materials do not seem to pose a challenge for China, the US could run into hurdles in accessing the complex mRNA raw materials such as antiviral agents, industry observers noted.

China's six state-owned banks, which have already been participating in the distribution of digital yuan, and have begun accepting public applications from Chinese citizens on opening their own trial digital renminbi wallets, as part of a move that would pave way for the digital currency's nationwide application.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in China for his two-day visit on Monday, two days after the China-US meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, Chinese experts said it's totally normal for the two like-minded partners to coordinate crucial information, but it doesn't mean the two major powers are forming an anti-US alliance because this would be unnecessary and outdated.

Some Chinese rare-earth companies and their downstream firms are finding that their raw materials could not be shipped smoothly from Myanmar, a key supplier of medium and heavy rare earths for China, amid political upheaval in the Southeast Asian nation, although mining operations remain unaffected, several sources at those companies told the Global Times on Sunday.

China's economy emerged from the shadows of the coronavirus and recovered strongly in the first two months of 2021, with key indicators showing growth rates of more than 30 percent, thanks to last year's low base and a steady acceleration of manufacturing that was buoyed by domestic and overseas demand.

China's economy has shed the clouds of the coronavirus and picked up its recovery in the first two months of 2021, with key economic indicators improving at a sizable growth rate of more than 30 percent, thanks to last year's low base and a steady acceleration of manufacturing which is fired up by domestic and overseas demand.

Some Western media outlets' move to interpret LinkedIn's independent decision to pause new sign-ups in China as the Chinese government's “punishment” of Microsoft over its claimed accusation against Beijing for a recent hack attack is a typical act to politicize internet security issues and it is aimed at smearing China, industry observers said.

China's pledge to raise fundamental research funding to 8 percent of total research and development (R&D) spending during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) will be a much-needed shot in the arm for the country's technology industry, and it shows Beijing's determination to achieve self-reliance in stranglehold sectors amid a spiraling technology war with Washington.

China will revise the anti-monopoly law, the company law and the corporate bankruptcy law to build a modern economic system and promote technological innovation, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, said in a work report on Monday.

China's plan to build a global rapid logistics circle for goods by 2035, which would allow goods to be delivered to neighboring countries and major international cities within two- three days, will likely boost China's trade with major economies in the EU and Asia, observers said.

The recent moves by the Joe Biden administration to curb China's economic and tech rise mirrors a "mentality collapse" among US political elites, who - having identified relations with China as one of "fierce competition" - are now sparing no efforts in the "final China push" to consolidate its edge as an early starter in the world economy.

China hopes the US side will remove unreasonable tariffs on Chinese goods, lift its unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies and research and educational institutes, and abandon its irrational suppression of China's technological progress, among other policy adjustments needed to create the necessary conditions for bilateral cooperation, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday.

Talking about driving the global economic recovery at the upcoming G7 Summit without China, or even stressing the "China challenge" at the meeting, will be like "navigating in the sea without a compass," giving the bloc's diminishing contribution to the world economy and China's increasing role as a global engine in the post-virus era, analysts said.

After US President Joe Biden warned of "extreme competition" with China, while also making clear that he would not pursue the same path his predecessor Donald Trump took, many in China's technological arena took that as a clear sign that the US government's crackdown on Chinese technology companies would continue, if not further escalate.

The Myanmar military on Monday announced that new elections will be held after the end of a one-year state of emergency, and it will return the state power to the new government. The military said that during the state of emergency, the Union Election Commission will be reformed and the parliamentary elections results will be reviewed.

China on Tuesday called on the new administration of US President Joe Biden to reverse what officials called the "wrong policies" toward China under former president Donald Trump, and instead take a positive and constructive approach to pull bilateral ties back to the right path, in a direct response to what analysts said was rather negative signals from the new US administration of repeating similar grievances and ill intentions that were a hallmark of the previous government.

China and the US should resume and improve their mechanism of communications to build up mutual trust as the Biden administration has been inaugurated, and the two governments ought to return to the negotiation table to discuss removing existing tariffs step by step, former Chinese and US officials said.

Unlike previous Spring Festival travel rush periods, this year's travel season (January 28-March 8) will see much less cross-provincial and cross-city travel, with airfares and hotel prices in many tourist cities plunging after many parts of China issued notices urging people to stay in their working cities for the incoming Chinese New Year amid the epidemic.

Three Chinese telecom operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – whose shares have been suspended from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) since January 11 following a Trump executive order – demanded on Wednesday (US time) that NYSE review their delisting.

The Chinese economy ended what has been a year of unprecedented challenges for mankind brought about by a deadly virus on an astonishingly high note, with growth in the final quarter of 2020 returning to pre-pandemic levels, lifting the country to several milestones of national pride. China became the only major economy to record growth last year with a 2.3 percent growth and its GDP climbed over the 100 trillion yuan mark for the first time ever, official data showed on Friday.

China's economy was firing on all cylinders in the final quarter of 2020, as solid domestic investment, buoyant home consumption and surging exports helped lift economic growth to 6.5 percent.

China's GDP is expected to expand above 2 percent in 2020, as the only major economy to grow in positive territory while other economies are still being hammered by the global pandemic outbreak, analysts said.

European companies are increasingly concerned about the impact of US-China economic decoupling – facilitated by the trade and tech war launched by the Trump administration against China – on their supply chain, telecom equipment supplies, as well as market access, some of which could inflict considerable damages on their investment in China in post-virus era, a business report showed on Thursday.

Bucking the global downward streak amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, China's luxury sales last year rose by a stunning 48 percent to around 350 billion yuan ($54 billion), buoyed by a consumption comeback as travelers were unable to shop overseas, a boost in online sales and duty-free policies in South China's Hainan Province, observers and industry reports said.

Bucking the global downward streak amid the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, China's luxury sales last year rose by a stunning 48 percent to about 350 billion yuan ($54 billion), buoyed by a consumption comeback as travelers were unable to shop overseas, a boost in online sales and duty-free policies in South China's Hainan Province, observers and industry reports said.

US President-elect Joe Biden has announced Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo as the secretary of US Commerce Department - a key agency at the forefront of handling a batch of policies with China, ranging from managing trade policy to formulating tech strategy.

China should beef up research and development of cutting-edge seed breeding biotechnology in the next five years, such as genome editing, breeding by design and genetically modified variants, to protect the nation's agricultural progress and grain security, said leading agricultural specialists on Tuesday.

Shanghai city is estimated to have attracted more than $20 billion in foreign investment in 2020, which is a record high, Shanghai officials said on Monday.

China will maintain its prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy in 2021 as uncertainties over pandemic fallout persist, but the overall tone will return to neutral with a gradual exit from a targeted easing policy, economists said, after the country's central bank made its biggest-ever injection of medium-term funds on Tuesday to boost liquidity.

China and the US may restart communication in the area of trade and economics - making it one of the first sectors for the world's two largest economies to break the ice amid a downward spiral in bilateral relations - when US President-elect Joe Biden takes office, observers said, after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Monday for the two sides to open dialogue at all levels.

A new Chinese law that takes effect on Tuesday will restrict exports of controlled items, which experts said will increase market supply volatility of some products and technologies, like rare earths and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), although a plunge in exports is unlikely in the near term.

Although this year's Black Friday online sales are expected to set a record high, as the US economy tanks and offline traffic sees a significant reduction amid coronavirus case spikes, it is likely that Black Friday sales could remain flat compared to last year, or even post a small drop, analysts said.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping crediting China-ASEAN relationship as "the most successful and vibrant model for cooperation" in the Asia-Pacific, the bilateral relations between the two economies will navigate toward a diamond decade after 10 years of "golden era" - during which China and ASEAN had successfully managed differences and built political trust, in particular on stabilizing the South China Sea (SCS).

The US has reportedly granted ByteDance — the parent company of TikTok — a new seven-day extension of an order that directs the Chinese technology company to divest its short video-sharing app in the US.

After foldable smartphones and dual-screen phone-tablets, what is the next bandwagon that could lead to an industrial revolution?

China and the US should work together to negotiate a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) after president-elect Joe Biden takes office, said economists and analysts, amid China's ongoing push for greater opening-up and post-virus global economic recovery which needs closer cooperation among major powers.

Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo on Tuesday launched the Oppo X 2021 rollable concept smartphone, which allows users to adjust the size of the display. Analysts said the launch shows Chinese tech firms' increasing innovation ability despite the US-led tech crackdown.

While Democrat Joe Biden, declared victory for the US presidential election over the weekend, may unite the country's allies in setting rules for global trade and continue to confront China after he assumes the presidency, he can't neglect cooperation with the world's second-largest economy, experts say.

With technology self-reliance and basic scientific research capacity elevated to a national strategic level in a freshly released blueprint for China's development, Beijing is set to break through the Washington-led technology blockade in the coming years and become a leading player in many high-tech sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, observers said.

The final results of the US election are expected to come through in about 24 hours if it goes smoothly, but the uncertainty of the country's domestic situation has raised concerns among some Chinese experts and economists that a potential constitutional crisis could further disrupt international relations and markets, with some of them calling the election a "black swan" event.

China's capital market is opening up at a “remarkable and surprising” speed, helping enmesh foreign financial institutions to a rising market, executives of foreign financial institutions told the Global Times, while stressing their long-term commitment to the world's second-largest economy – the only major economy expected to achieve positive growth in 2020.

About 10 months after Tesla Shanghai delivered the first batch of locally made Tesla 3s, the US-based electric car company announced that it will export China-made Tesla 3s to a dozen European countries.

Container rates from China to the US have soared in recent weeks, driven by the US' high demand to restock amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming holiday season and China's pick-up in foreign trade in the fourth quarter.

US chipmaker Intel is selling its NAND flash business to SK Hynix in a $9 billion deal that would give the South Korean company, together with Samsung, roughly 60 percent of the world's memory chip market.

After months-long tech war the US waged against the China, Chinese tech entrepreneurs have got accustomed to malicious assault from the US government, with more taking a "wait-and-see" attitude on whether the claimed US restrictions will merely be a bluff or are impactful, the Global Times learned.

President Xi Jinping on Wednesday further elevated the role of Shenzhen a pioneer of China's decades of reform and opening-up policy that has lifted the country from poverty to global profile in the country future development, giving the city an important mission to further implement the "one country, two systems" through integrated development with the Hong Kong and Macao special administration regions.

With a new blueprint laid out by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Shenzhen, the southern city that has been viewed as a paragon of China's economic miracle over the past 40 years, is now embarking on another historic mission - to lead the country's process of socialist modernization, build a new pattern to deepen reform, and expand opening-up on all fronts.

"We received a notice in mid-September to upgrade our point-of-sale gear to add Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) functions. We got the idea that public trials of the digital currency might land in our district, but we didn't expect that to happen so quickly," a vendor at a mall in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province told the Global Times on Wednesday.

For many Hong Kong youth and entrepreneurs, Qianhai district in southern Shenzhen - which is designed to facilitate greater cooperation between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Chinese mainland - is the place where they began to chase dreams.

At midnight on Tuesday, the port of Shekou in southern Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, which faces Hong Kong across Shenzhen Bay, was bustling and aglow with lights. Container trucks shuttled back and forth, cranes hummed and port employees were busy guiding container ships as they docked at the terminal one after another.

China Central Television (CCTV) will resume broadcasts of NBA games on Saturday after a one-year suspension, after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey's tweet in support of Hong Kong rioters.

Nearly half of China was on the move during the recent eight-day "Golden Week."

China has officially joined COVAX. China pledged to make vaccines developed and deployed by China a global public good, and will be provided to developing countries as a priority: Hua Chunying

Ahead of a key meeting that will determine China's development path in the next five years, Chinese economists predicted that the country's policymakers will downplay the country's GDP growth target in its new economic plan, keeping it at a lower level of around 5 percent, or even scrap the specific target since the world's second-largest economy is set to drop the quantity-oriented growth model and focus on structural and quality optimization in the face of what could be the "toughest years" ahead.

Chinese regulators announced rules on Friday to combine two major inbound investment schemes and expand the investment scope for foreign investors, a move which observers said represents an important step in the country's efforts to continue opening up its capital market to attract foreign investors amid the backdrop of global low-interests rates and strained China-US relations.

Qualcomm may become the next company after Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) to obtain a license from the US government to continue supplying some products to Huawei, considering the US semiconductor maker's huge investment in lobbying and the negative impact on its revenue, but any approval may come after the US presidential election in November, analysts said.

In a stark turnabout from a tough tone on TikTok ahead of a forced sale of its US operations, US President Donald Trump on Saturday approved a partnership deal between TikTok's parent company ByteDance and Oracle "in concept." The deal reportedly does not involve the sales of algorithms and technology to US firms while allowing ByteDance to be a majority owner of its US business.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to attend a video conference with European leaders on Monday, the second such meeting between Chinese and European leaders in two months.

Amid industry zeal for technology advances in China's semiconductor sector, it is time to call for rational investment and top-down design by the government to avoid “expensive” failures, analysts told the Global Times on Monday.

The State Council of China agreed on Monday on a guideline on deepening and expanding trials on the opening of services sector in Beijing, with most opening-up measures rolled out for the first time, which will enable foreign financial institutions to enjoy pre-establishment national treatment in pilot programs.

The inclusion of the third-generation semiconductor industry into China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) - which led to an across-the-board rally in chip shares on Friday - is expected to give China an "upper hand" in the next battlefield of global chip technology, providing Beijing with more leverage to Washington's restrictions and malicious crackdown on Chinese tech firms.

The US Trade Representative Office (USTR) announced that it will extend tariff exclusions on a wide range of products including smart watch and medical mask through December 31, 2020, a move observers said shows that the world's two largest economies are living up to their promise to create conditions for the implementation of the hard-won phase one trade agreement after holding a call last week.

Huawei's high-end smartphones equipped with its self-developed Kirin chipset have seen price hikes in non-franchised stores, a source familiar with the matter told the Global Times on Monday.

About 60-70 percent of the Chinese mainland-made goods for export that originally transited at Hong Kong are now instead processed at Shenzhen and Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, due to the soaring human costs in the special administrative region (SAR) and new circumstances that have affected foreign traders' confidence, industry insiders told the Global Times.

It's lunchtime on Yue Hai Street in Shenzhen's Nanshan district, home to a number of big-name Chinese tech giants including Tencent, ZTE, DJI and Skyworth Group, as restaurants and coffee shops on Thursday were crowded and buzzing with tech employees, who sit around in groups, still debating the latest ideas and digital gadgets as they enjoyed their food.

Forty years ago, when some local villagers in Shenzhen, which was then composed of deserted farmlands, looked beyond the river, they often imagined a different lifestyle: the hustle and bustle of a metropolis, eagerness to learn and create new things, charming celebrities who shape the entertainment culture of Hong Kong, a neighboring city with free market values.

Shenzhen, the pioneer city in South China's Guangdong Province that was designated as China's first special economic zone (SEZ), will continue working with neighboring Hong Kong and deepening their financial cooperation against the backdrop of the US dollar-dominated financial system and the implementation of the national security law that helped Hong Kong restore a normal social order.

Late Monday night, almost all the interior lights were on at a 50-story skyscraper in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province.

The US Department of State decided to terminate three agreements with Hong Kong on Wednesday, including an agreement concerning tax exemptions from the income derived from international shipping.

Chinese tech company Huawei is poised to speed up the launch of its own HarmonyOS operating system on its smartphones at the year end, after the expiration Thursday of a US temporary license that could potentially cut off Huawei's access to Google's Android updates, analysts said.

Imports from Hong Kong to the US will be labeled "Made in China" instead of "Made in Hong Kong" from September 25, according to a notice published on Tuesday by the US Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security.

Major Chinese commercial banks in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, have started testing the application of the central bank-backed digital currency in recent days among their internal employees, under which the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) is used for payments and transfers, industry observers confirmed with the Global Times.

Shares of digital currency-related Chinese companies edged up on Tuesday's opening, with some rising by the daily limit of 10 percent. Investors were encouraged by a tone-setting central bank meeting on Monday which paved the way for the steady development of China's Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) in the second half of 2020.

China aims to make the application of Beidou Satellite Navigation System (BDS) the best among all other navigations, and be more inclusive to provide value-added services including short messaging, satellite based augmentation and international research-and-rescue services, the spokesperson of BDS and director general of China Satellite Navigation Office Ran Chengqi said Monday.

The US' GDP could see a double-digit contraction in the second quarter, economists predicted, with some anticipating the slide will be more than 30 percent.

There have been calls in China to boycott Australian products in response to Australia's ongoing anti-China campaign. If the boycott intensifies further, Chinese importers may consider alternative sources, for example, Australia's neighbor New Zealand, said analysts, industry practitioners and enterprises.

The People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, has issued documents and evaluation rules regarding the application of blockchain in financial institutions including banks, security companies and insurance firms, industry insiders confirmed with the Global Times Wednesday.

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and his Cambodian counterpart Pan Sorasak jointly announced on Monday the completion of China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, half a year after the two sides launched the negotiations.

Beijing residents' search for tourism destinations and flights spiked by 400 percent at tour service platforms Sunday afternoon, after the capital city announced it will lower its emergency response to COVID-19 from level II to III starting Monday.

China's economy is likely to grow 2-3 percent in 2020 and above 5 percent growth in the second half, riding on the momentum of a speedy economic rebound that propelled China's second-quarter GDP to return to an expansion of 3.2 percent, Chinese economists said.

China's GDP contracted 1.6 percent for the first time in the first half of a year in nearly three decades, battered by COVID-19 headwinds. But in the second quarter, the economy grew 3.2 percent, reversing from a 6.8-percent contraction in the first quarter, a sign of the resilience deeply rooted in China's economy amid a global freefall when the coronavirus pandemic has plunged most major economies into a near standstill.

A Chinese research institute has made a breakthrough in a new type of 5 nanometer (nm) laser lithography technology, which industry insiders believe could lay the foundation for research into a self-developed advanced lithography machine, a field in which China lags behind some developed Western countries.

Chinese consumers have been embarking on a new shopping spree, but without the bother of having to fly overseas to buy luxury goods.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held a video meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, during which Li urged both sides to expand two-way opening-up and fully utilize the "fast-track" channel to provide conveniences for enterprise cooperation, work resumption and maintain the stability of the industrial chain.

There has been no sign of decoupling between Europe and China, which remains a very important market for European companies in the post-virus era, and few of them are considering shifting their investments to other markets, European business representatives told the Global Times Wednesday.

Contrary to market expectations, China may not launch its central bank-backed sovereign digital currency DC/EP this year, industry insiders said. But relevant tests are running in a full swing as there is a widespread sense of urgency amid Beijing's efforts to challenge the US-dominated global financial order.

Domestic chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC)'s planned IPO on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board may give it a much-needed shot in the arm to speed up research and development into 7-nanometer chips and assume the role of leading player Taiwan-based TSMC in supplying Huawei in the coming two to three years, industry insiders say.

China's market could be a “lifesaver” for European airlines, some of whom have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy under the fallout of COVID-19 that has grounded most planes, industry insiders said.

One of the biggest tasks for Chinese lawmakers and political advisors as they convene the annual two sessions is to offer the right prescription for the Chinese economy hit hard by COVID-19. This is the first of a multi-part series covering suggestions and proposals that stand out during the occasion about how to boost various growth drivers, including consumption, investment and exports, as well as areas related to livelihoods such as jobs.

The parliament of Hungary approved the upgrade of a rail link between Budapest and Belgrade, Serbia, after Hungary secured loans from a Chinese policy bank, a move that industry insiders could pave the way for a new, more cost-effective sea-land transport route under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which will assist China to ship goods to Europe from Piraeus, Greece.

China's rare earth industry faces rising pressure due to overseas COVID-19 outbreaks, with exports falling 20 to 30 percent since April, while domestic demand has yet to return to pre-crisis levels, industry insiders told the Global Times.

China's rare earth industry faces rising pressure due to overseas COVID-19 outbreaks, with exports falling 20 to 30 percent since April, while domestic demand has yet to return to pre-crisis levels, industry insiders told the Global Times.

With the Two Sessions - a major event on China's political calendar -- opening next week in Beijing - what rate policymakers will pick for this year's GDP growth target, and whether they will set one at all, is drawing close scrutiny amid the global coronavirus pandemic that has put the world economy in the intensive care unit.

China and the EU may not be able to sign a proposed bilateral investment treaty (BIT) this year as scheduled, due to border control measures for pandemic prevention, which pose barriers in arranging face-to-face negotiations that are deemed vital in addressing many issues, industry insiders said.

Many Chinese companies - including chipmakers, smartphone makers and even automakers - have redoubled efforts to build up their semiconductor capabilities in recent months, as the coronavirus assault and an emerging technology battle with the US have shaken global supply chains, prompting domestic players to ramp up production and reduce imports.

Despite recent efforts by Australian businesspeople to forge closer ties with China to cushion the Australian economy from the fallout of the global pandemic, Canberra's recent posturing by hyping up a coronavirus conspiracy against China will backfire, seriously damaging its relations with China, industry observers said.

Young consumers made a 100-meter queue outside Shanghai's iconic New World City mall on Monday night, buying everything from lipstick to sneakers and cars, part of the city's shopping campaign in which more than 10 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) of consumer goods were sold within 18 hours.

Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies is working with French-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics (STMicro) to design chips for mobile devices and auto vehicles, a move industry analysts said will help secure its global supply chain as the US tightens export controls on the company.

Although the coronavirus has been largely contained in China, it is still spreading overseas, and that's causing a drop in export orders, leaving many workers in China's contract factories facing layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs.

Chinese medical experts on Monday urged all countries to find their Patient Zeros of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is a challenging but very necessary task.

Beijing's Xicheng district will issue digital vouchers worth 150 million yuan ($21.2 million) in the three months starting from Wednesday, the first district in the Chinese capital to do so, in a bid to unleash local residents' pent-up demand and to speed up the recovery of an economy battered by COVID-19.

A push from some US politicians to block the US federal pension fund from investing in Chinese companies such as ZTE and Hikvision is another attempt by Washington to politicize rational economic cooperation between the two countries.

The unprecedented crude oil price collapse on the global market is good news for China, a major oil importer, which will enable the country to build up strategic reserves at favorable prices, Chinese analysts said.

The peak of Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest), the world's highest point at 8,848 meters above sea level, is expected to be covered by 5G signal on Saturday, according to Chinese telecom operators, marking a significant step in China's 5G capability.

China's crude oil futures edged down 3 percent on Tuesday's opening, following an overnight slide from a major US oil benchmark into unprecedented negative territory. Analysts say the historic drop in oil prices offers China, a major source of oil imports, a good opportunity to “bottom out” certain oil assets and scale up strategic reserves.

The urban unemployment rate in China hit 5.9 percent in March, official data revealed on Friday, highlighting the widespread repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, which has created fatal challenges for the country's economy and job market, with experts urging policymakers to prioritize the employment above all economic targets.

A total of 35 foreign companies including Microsoft, Oracle, Mastercard, Sony, Intel and Walmart have applied for 212 blockchain-related patents in China as of the end of March 2020, the Global Times have learned.

Foreign trade companies in China are gradually returning to normal as more than 75 percent of China's major importers and exporters having recovered over 70 percent of their operational capacity, data released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) revealed on Thursday.

By mobilizing resources in the public health, civil aviation and diplomatic sectors, China is taking concrete measures to provide support to overseas Chinese students at a time when many of them are facing difficulties abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Thursday.

Despite the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 30,000 people globally, Chinese face mask makers are faced with a bumpy road in exporting medical equipment.

China's central bank is one step closer to issuing its official digital currency. It seems the People's Bank of China (PBC), in collaboration with private companies, has completed development of the sovereign digital currency's basic functions and is now drafting relevant laws to pave the way for its circulation, industry insiders said.