The US Senate Armed Service Committee has reportedly released the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in which it held off demands to ban Chinese DJI drones from accessing the US market, which experts said on Tuesday once again demonstrates the resilient demand for Chinese advanced products despite decoupling attempts.

Therefore, if China rolls out measures to stimulate its domestic demand, it should consider issues from the perspective of the real situation of the Chinese economy, instead of the groundless hype about "insufficient domestic demand" and the false "overcapacity" narrative.

As the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held in Beijing from Monday to Thursday is expected to primarily examine issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing high-quality development of the Chinese economy, how China will continue to adhere to a high level of opening-up and better utilize foreign investment for years to come has attracted widespread attention.

China's average first-half surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year, indicating an improvement in the job market amid the overall economic recovery and support policies, official data showed on Monday.

China has proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) the establishment of an expert panel regarding a dispute over new-energy vehicle (NEV) subsidies and other measures under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as the US has failed to reach a solution through consultations with China, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Monday.

The EU should listen more to internal voices within the bloc before announcing any decision to impose additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), Chinese experts said on Sunday, as EU member states are reportedly set to vote on Monday on the trade matter.

The rise of thermal mug original equipment manufacturers (OEM) for foreign brands in East China's Zhejiang Province and South China's Guangdong Province has led to the formation of thriving industrial clusters.

More than half of the surveyed Japanese companies in China consider China to be one of the most important markets in view of the development of the second largest economy, according to a survey released by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China on Wednesday, indicating the remaining importance that Japanese businesses attached to the Chinese market, despite external uncertainties.

China's semiconductor sales jumped 24.2 percent year-on-year in May, according to data from the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Chinese experts said on Monday that the data again show that China has formed a mature chip processing industry based on the country's huge demand from the downstream industry.

Amid the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Global Times reporters Li Xuanmin and Xing Xiaojing (GT)interviewed Aliya Mussabekova (Mussabekova), chief expert at the Asian Studies Department at Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Maryam Agharabi (Agharabi), research coordinator at China & Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC) in Kazakhstan.

Amid the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Global Times reporters Li Xuanmin and Xing Xiaojing (GT) interviewed Aliya Mussabekova (Mussabekova), chief expert at the Asian Studies Department at Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Maryam Agharabi (Agharabi), research coordinator at China & Central Asia Studies Center (CCASC) in Kazakhstan.

Chinese inventors have filed the highest number of patents related to generative artificial intelligence (AI) over the past decade, surpassing the US, South Korea, Japan and India by a significant margin, a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday showed.

China and Switzerland have inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and agreed to formally launch negotiations to upgrade the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on Tuesday. This marks another major step in further boosting bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Regional development has been a priority under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) framework and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Central Asia has been transforming from a "landlocked" region to a transportation hub in Eurasia, witnessing great improvement in internal connectivity while also integrating itself more seamlessly into the global economic and logistics chain, Chinese company representatives and scholars from Central Asia said.

As the world closely watches the EU's additional tariff move on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), another "arrow of trade protectionism" shot by the EU toward China continues to unleash its destructive power.

Ahead of the highly anticipated visits, Global Times reporters (GT) interviewed Zhang Xiao (Zhang), Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan. Zhang said that since its founding 23 years ago, the SCO has significantly contributed to regional security, stability, and prosperity. At the upcoming Astana Summit, member state leaders will reinforce the "Shanghai Spirit," featured by mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, to establish a shared future community within the SCO.

The 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan in early July. Ahead of the SCO summit, Global Times reporters Li Xuanmin and Xing Xiaojing (GT) conducted an exclusive interview with Gulnar Shaimergenova (Shaimergenova), director of the China Studies Center in Kazakhstan, who during the interview highlighted the extensive role China plays in facilitating regional cooperation and economic integration. Shaimergenova was present when the concept of BRI was first put forward in Kazakhstan in 2013. During the interview, Shaimergenova shared her insights on how the initiative has opened up new opportunities of economic interaction and partnership, rising trade and prosperity in the region.

As the Chinese economy faced some challenges in recent years, some Western officials and media pundits have stepped up their smear campaign against China. They cherry-pick information and distort facts to hype their narratives such as "Peak China," but they always turn a blind eye to China's economic resilience and development potential. In order to set the record straight, the Global Times is launching a multimedia project, including in-depth articles, objective analysis and visual arts, to present a comprehensive and true picture of Chinese economy. This is the seventh installation of the series.

China's photovoltaic (PV) industry has made a great contribution to the world's low carbon development, and protectionism will only pose a burden on green transition costs, Chinese PV enterprises said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos.

In the middle of the Gobi Desert in Hami, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, rows of large mirrors sparkle like diamonds under the dazzling sunlight, resembling a scene from a sci-fi film. But these mirrors are not for viewing. They are installed to turn the sunlight into an endless supply of clean energy.

As the Chinese economy faced some challenges in recent years, some Western officials and media pundits have stepped up their smear campaign against China. They cherry-pick information and distort facts to hype their narratives such as "Peak China," but they always turn a blind eye to China's economic resilience and development potential. In order to set the record straight, the Global Times is launching a multimedia project, including in-depth articles, objective analysis and visual arts, to present a comprehensive and true picture of the economy. This is the sixth installation of the series.

Confidence among Chinese electric vehicle (EV) companies has been severely undermined following the EU's unilateral decision to impose anti-subsidy tariffs targeting Chinese EV, a report released by a Chinese business representative group in the EU revealed, underscoring the regrettable impact the bloc's protectionist behavior has brought against normal business activities as well as bilateral economic and trade relations.

Malaysia has consistently advocated for China's participation in regional dialogue and cooperation platforms. This was evident when China first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Malaysia supported the policy and welcomed deeper cooperation among countries participating in the initiative, Unny Sankar Ravi Sankar, minister of Economic Affairs of the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

More Chinese brands are stepping onto the sponsorship field by rolling out and promoting their products during this year's UEFA European Championship, or Euro 2024, which runs from June 14 to July 14 in Germany.

China's State Taxation Administration (STA) said on Tuesday that it does not conduct national and concentrated investigations of companies, nor there is any plan for a probe reaching back 20 or 30 years. It stressed that some publicly listed companies being asked to pay overdue taxes is just a form of normal taxation enforcement, in line with laws and regulations.

A large mining mill, manufactured by Northern Heavy Industries Group Co, rolls off the production line after engineering debugging at an industrial park in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province on June 17, 2024. The equipment is being dismantled and packaged for shipment to the State of Eritrea in Africa. The completion of the large gear marks another significant achievement by the Chinese company in support of development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: VCG

Perth has solidified its economic ties with China, and the cooperation will get stronger in the future, city mayor Lord Basil Zempilas, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview, as Chinese Premier Li Qiang has started his official visit to Australia on Saturday.

When you place an order on popular e-commerce platforms, farmers in Zigui county, Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province, swiftly pick navel oranges from the trees in their orchards and use drones to transport them to a nearby highway collection point.

Turkey's recent decision to impose an additional 40-percent tariff on vehicles imported from China is "unlikely to have a substantial impact" on Chinese auto industry, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The wholesale prices of freshly imported salmon have notably declined in the Chinese market. Experts and media reports attribute this to various factors, including ongoing weak global demand, particularly in major consuming markets like the US.

Nicaragua, a Central America country, is benefiting from strengthening economic and trade relations with China. According to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and Nicaragua reached $850 million in 2023, marking a 13.5 percent year-on-year increase, reflecting the continuous improvement of the economic and trade relations between the two countries.

The joint declaration of the 9th China-Japan-ROK Trilateral Summit Meeting stated that the joint efforts of the three countries in the economic and trade field play an important role in the prosperity and stability of the regional and global economies. Business leaders from Japan and South Korea in China said that they attach increasing importance to the Chinese market and anticipate the meeting will inject new impetus into future cooperation among the three countries.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the General Administration of Customs and the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission issued a joint notice on Thursday, announcing export controls on certain equipment, software and technologies in key sectors ranging from aerospace to shipbuilding that matter to national security.

The final steel girder of the main channel bridge of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, which connects the cities of Changzhou and Taixing in East China's Jiangsu Province, fits in place on May 29, 2024. It is the world's longest span cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 388 meters. After 16 months of construction, the highway-railway dual-purpose bridge is expected to achieve full closure in early June. Photo: VCG

An advertisement for national bonds is displayed inside a bank in Hai'an city, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province on May 24, 2024. A total of 40-billion-yuan ($5.63 billion) worth of 20-year ultra-long-term special government bonds are being issued as part of a massive 1-trillion-yuan planned sale of such bonds. The issuance is an important part of this year's proactive fiscal policies. Photo: VCG

Amid growing global challenges, the upcoming trilateral summit between China, Japan, and South Korea holds great importance for bolstering trilateral economic cooperation, Park Seung Chan, chairman of The Federation of Korea-China said in an exclusive interview with the Global Times, highlighting the top-level meeting as a chance to pave the way for more business potential and economic engagements.

China's homegrown BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), has been deployed in massive applications in various fields with daily average usage exceeding 600 billion times in 2023, according to an industrial report over the weekend.

As China's new-energy industries rise to global prominence, US officials have started a smear campaign based on false "overcapacity" claims. The rise of China's new-energy industries is due to innovation, rather than subsidies, and is beneficial for the world, instead of posing threats to other countries. To illustrate this, the Global Times is publishing a multi-part series under the theme of "New Energy, New Opportunities." This story focuses on how the Chinese electric vehicles (EV) industry draws its competitiveness from competition, debunking the groundless narrative that the Chinese EV industry's strengths came from government subsidies.

A track-laying machine made a rumbling sound as concrete sleepers are placed on the roadbed. Two-hundred-meter-long rails extend and fall steadily onto the sleepers through a mix of manual labor and high-tech machinery.

Peru and China are pursuing green transformation and high-quality development. In this regard, there are many opportunities for enhanced collaboration in the green economy, Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea Franco told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

After China's economy mounted an impressive start to the year, global attention has now shifted to what China plans to do to sustain the great momentum in the recovery of the world's second-largest economy for the rest of the year.

Azerbaijan has been one of the earliest and most active respondents and participants of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), having actively engaged in a wide range of investments and projects. As bilateral relations between China and Azerbaijan have reached an unprecedented level, advancements within the new-energy vehicle (NEV) industry and the China-Europe freight train sector are viewed as two main highlights in the bilateral cooperation. In a recent exclusive interview with Global Times (GT) reporter Yin Yeping, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to China, Bunyad Huseynov (Huseynov), conveyed his aspirations to deepen ties with China within the framework of BRI cooperation for mutual benefits.

Economic growth drives job creation, so stable employment is inherently reliant on sustained economic growth. Over the past few decades, China's economy has grown rapidly, particularly the labor-intensive manufacturing sector, which has boosted non-agricultural jobs for tens of millions of rural laborers, leading to an unprecedented expansion in employment.

Real estate is a pillar industry of the Chinese economy. It directly drives the development of adjacent industries such as construction, building materials and furniture, and indirectly stimulates the growth of industries like finance, manufacturing, logistics, and other services. The stable and balanced development of the real estate industry is of great significance for the steady development of the Chinese economy.

There is a clear contradiction in the Western slander and disparaging of the Chinese economy. On one hand, they hype unnecessary concern and even slander toward China's rapid development in industries such as new-energy vehicles, solar cells and lithium-ion battery products. On the other hand, they concoct new narratives to disparage the Chinese economy, such as the "China peak" rhetoric.

Some Western media and institutions have been constantly hyping the narrative that "China is experiencing deflation" in an attempt to undermine the Chinese economy and mislead the public. However, considering the actual situation of Western economies, the effectiveness of this smear campaign to mislead the public's cognition of the Chinese economy is likely to be diminished.

​Chinese manufacturers have responded strongly to EU's escalated protectionist move targeting new energy-related products, including the latter's probe into Chinese wind turbines and a solar panel project, warning that such actions are disturbing and will backfire.

US credit ratings agency Fitch's decision to downgrade China's sovereign credit rating outlook from stable to negative - which came shortly after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's recent visit to China during which she complained about the country's "overcapacity" - is politically biased and intellectually fraught. They simply cannot comprehend the shift that Chinese authorities are now executing, namely toward more high-quality and high-tech growth.

​In September 2020, China set ambitious goals to achieve “peak carbon” emissions by 2030 and strive for “carbon neutrality” by 2060, marking a monumental step in the global shift toward sustainability. This decisive action has not only galvanized state institutions, bolstered business confidence, and elevated public expectations, but also marked a pivotal policy for expanding and accelerating green development efforts worldwide.

Multiple Chinese academic institutes on Tuesday unveiled an upgraded version of the model law on artificial intelligence (AI), which added details focusing on open source AI and intellectual property (IP) protection.

The EU is reportedly set to launch a probe into Chinese medical device procurement. Experts and industry insiders anticipate that this move, which comes after recent EU actions targeting China's wind turbines and electric vehicles, will escalate bilateral economic tensions, affecting the normal business development of Chinese companies within the bloc.

A large number of foreign buyers were attracted by an intelligent forklift automated guided vehicle (AGV), stopping to watch and take photos and videos, upon entering the exhibition hall of intelligent automation and intelligent manufacturing at the ongoing 135th session of the Canton Fair.

"I was informed of several ways to change money by staffers at the airport. They also taught me how to make mobile payments through Alipay. I can't wait to experience digital payments," Sophie, a first-time Canton Fair purchaser from Germany, told the Global Times on Sunday at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in South China's Guangdong Province.

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has concluded its three-month spring recruitment campaign, distributing more than 6.6 billion yuan ($930 million) in subsidies, showing the government's latest efforts for supporting employment.

In November 2018, China and Micronesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding under the Belt and Road cooperation framework, embarking on a new chapter of deepening cooperation. In recent years, the two countries have reaped a number of fruitful achievements under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in sectors including agriculture, economy and trade as well as climate cooperation.

Since the beginning of 2024, a number of Western governments and media outlets have been hyping the so-called “overcapacity” of Chinese new-energy production, claiming it as a matter of great concern for them. By spinning the “overcapacity” narrative, the West has moved to apply trade restrictive measures on Chinese-made EVs, lithium batteries, solar products, in an attempt to protect its own uncompetitive industries, Chinese industry insiders said, noting that such overt schemes are detriment to global climate control efforts.

South Korean tourist arrivals in China rose more than nine times year-on-year in January, data released by the South Korean authorities showed, indicating a clear recovery in inbound tourism in the post-pandemic era, according to media reports.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is well known in China for her high-profile posting within the US government, including as a former head of the US Federal Reserve. But in her last two visits to China, her choices of different types of Chinese food - and her proficiency in chopsticks made headlines both in China and abroad.

On Sunday morning, the Global Times visited a Xiaomi store at a Beijing shopping mall. Despite it being the first working day after the Qingming Festival, there was a steady flow of vehement customers inquiring and trying out Xiaomi's first electric vehicle (EV) model SU7.

Global leading financial institutions,including Neuberger Berman and Fidelity International, have announced moves to increase their registered capital or set up branches in China recently, highlighting their confidence in the future of the Chinese economy as well as vast opportunities the market creates for foreign financial players.

Despite the complex and volatile international environment, foreign financial institutions continued to increase their investment in China since the beginning of 2024, representing a vote of confidence in the prospects of the Chinese economy and eyeing more opportunities brought about by the country's high-level opening-up.

During his closely watched trip to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook notably did not mince words when talking about the critical role China plays for the US tech giant.

The Chinese government work report submitted on March 5 to the national legislature set an "around 5 percent" GDP growth target for 2024, and China's pursuit of new quality productive forces has become a major focus at the two sessions in early March. Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Bai Yunyi spoke to veteran economist Tatsuhito Tokuchi, executive board member and research fellow at Center for Industrial Development and Environmental Governance of Tsinghua University and former chairman of CITIC Securities International Co Ltd, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing China's economy.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure on the real estate market and fluctuations in the stock market have caused asset-side shocks, resulting in adjustments to the balance sheets of various sectors of China's real economy. This has, to some extent, restrained the expansion of total demand and hindered the economic recovery.

Currently, some observers assert that China's economic growth has peaked, drawing parallels to Japan's situation in the 1990s. This implies that China may face a 30-year stagnation, potentially missing the opportunity to surpass the size of the US economy. However, this perspective is a misconception, as it interprets China's cyclical adjustments as indicative of a long-term economic downturn.

In his State of the Union Address delivered on March 7, US President Joe Biden touted that "I've revitalized our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific," as he appears to be taking a victory lap for his China policy.

The northbound travel program took effect on January 1, 2023 for Macao. This program is one of the important measures taken by the central government to support the development of Hong Kong and Macao and promote the construction of the GBA.

China's Government Work Report has set a GDP growth target of around 5 percent for 2024. Considering the international and domestic economic conditions, with a potential annual growth rate of 8 percent, it is entirely possible for China to achieve an economic growth rate of above 5 percent.

Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) pose for a group photo after the second plenary meeting of the second session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 7, 2024. Photo: cnsphoto

Food security is one of the core issues being discussed during the annual two sessions in China, with political advisors in the agriculture sector emphasizing the need for technology innovation and seed revitalization to ensure stable food supplies.

Developing new quality productive forces has become a major theme in China's policymaking since it was first put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2023. It is also listed as a priority for this year's economic tasks outlined in the Government Work Report delivered to the ongoing two sessions in Beijing.

China's commercial aerospace enterprises were inspired as the Government Work Report vowed to step up the development of commercial spaceflight to foster new growth engines.

The economy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is recovering and growing, and it's expected to continue expanding this year, as the region further taps its role as a "super connector" between the Chinese mainland and the world, and as the integration of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) further gears up, Kingsley Wong Kwok, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

More than half of the world's manned deep diving missions have been completed by China's three deep-sea manned submersibles, Jiaolong, Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior) and Fendouzhe (Striver) during the past three years, Ye Cong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chief designer of Fendouzhe, said on Monday.

The "price war" among automakers in China that started in early 2023 has shown no signs of abating. Particularly in the new-energy vehicle (NEV) sector, both traditional and emerging players keep cutting prices or launching limited-time promotions, tactics that analysts anticipate will persist throughout the year.

A China-Europe freight train, loaded with new-energy vehicles manufactured in China, sounded its horn as it slowly departed from Xi'an International Port Station in Shaanxi Province, Northwest China, bound for Europe.

Autoflight, a domestic pioneer in electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVOTL), has conducted what it says the world's first inter-city electric air-taxi demonstration flight in South China's Guangdong Province.

The US government, together with its allies, has released a joint statement on endorsing 6G principles under the name of national security, a move that Chinese experts said reflects the White House's latest attempts to compete with China in the telecommunication sector.

Editor's Note: The bursting of the Japanese economic bubble in the 1990s remains a hot topic of discussion in the field of economics. Among economists who study related issues, Richard Koo, the chief economist of the Nomura Research Institute in Japan and author of Pursued Economy: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenging New Realities for Advanced Economies, has attracted considerable attention for his theory of "balance sheet recession" and concept of "pursued economy."

On the first working day after the Spring Festival, China Securities Regulatory Commission held more than 10 back-to-back meetings with a wide range of market participants to solicit suggestions on equity market regulation, risk prevention and high-quality development. Tian Xuan, vice president of the Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance, attended the discussions. He said participants interacted enthusiastically at the panels.

China and the US have maintained communication through bilateral and multilateral channels on debt issues, and China is willing to work with all sides to continue making efforts to ease the debt of developing countries, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, said on Friday.

China will play an important role in the key sectors such as logistics in helping Brazil to increase its agricultural productivity and competitiveness, Henry Osvald, president of the Brazilian Association for Industry, Commerce and Innovation in China (BraCham), told the Global Times, extending his expectations for deepening cooperation between the world's two agricultural powers.

Wearing new clothes is a traditional Chinese custom for celebrating the Lunar New Year. During the just-ended Spring Festival holidays, the traditional skirt mamianqun, literally meaning "horse-face skirt," has become a favorite chic of the younger generation as the "New Year gala attire."

Not long ago, a blogger living in the US spent $600 to purchase a Chinese-made electric tricycle as a Christmas gift for her father-in-law. After they took it out on the road with delicate decorations, this particular vehicle, commonly seen in China's rural areas, attracted the attention of many locals.

At the Zhengzhou Putian Railway Station, Central China's Henan Province, containers full with goods ranging from industrial spare parts to daily commodities, are waiting to be loaded to trains. Many of them will be shipped to European countries thousands of kilometers away.

A decade after the proposal for coordinated development across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the national strategy has made significant progress in various sectors, particularly in the construction of new infrastructure.

From East China's Jiangxi Province to Southwest China's Sichuan Province, foreign trade companies are intensifying efforts to secure new orders, by participating in business trips or exhibitions abroad, a repeat of similar measures taken in early 2023 after it proved successful in helping private businesses to expand overseas market and stabilize trade flows.

The Chinese government vowed to further improve its business environment at a State Council meeting on Friday as the country started the new year with a slew of supportive policies aimed at stabilizing market confidence and expectations.

Many Chinese travelers still prefer Southeast Asian countries as their top overseas destinations for the upcoming Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, with Maldives, Singapore and Thailand topping the top 10 list, according to a Global Times online poll. Notably, Japan's ranking dropped and some traditional popular destinations such as Australia and South Korea didn't make the top 10.

While temperatures drop to around -25 C, the cold weather does not deter the enthusiasm of tourists from home and abroad visiting Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

As China prepares to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon according to Chinese zodiac - in February 2024, global luxury brands in various industries including handbags, clothing, chocolate and watches have raced to introduce a wide range of limited-edition dragon-themed items to woo Chinese consumers during the Spring Festival, one of the most important holidays in the country.

Among all the good wishes for stronger cooperation between China and Uzbekistan, the early construction and launch of the railway project linking China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan would be a significant achievement for Liu Yu. As the executive chairman of the Uzbek Chamber of Commerce for Chinese Entrepreneurs and an early business pioneer in the Central Asian country, Liu's expectations for closer connectivity between neighboring countries in the region are indescribable.

As the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported last week the Chinese economy expanded by 5.2 percent in 2023 from the previous year, several Western media outlets immediately cast doubt over the reading, casting it in a negative light and seized the opportunity to wage a smear campaign on China's economic growth.

US lawmakers on Wednesday called for the passage of bipartisan legislation that would restrict American investment in Chinese high-tech industries, a move that experts said shows the "unwavering" US intention to decouple from China and restrict China's technology advances. The move would only deprive US investors of access to one of the most thriving markets and is doomed to fail as China ramps up efforts for self-reliance, experts said.

The disputes between China and the US resulted in certain negative impacts on the operation of enterprises from China, South Korea and Japan in 2023, according to a survey conducted among 275 senior executives from the three countries regarding their economic expectations for 2024.

China exported 5.22 million cars in 2023, becoming a major car exporter in the world. Of all vehicle exports, about one-third were new-energy vehicles (NEVs), totaling 1.773 million units, up 67.1 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday.

The world's largest road-rail dual-use steel truss arch bridge with a main span of 388 meters is successfully closed on January 12, 2024, in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: VCG

In a move that indicates Washington's paranoia over China's technology rise, a US Congressional committee has asked the Commerce Department to look into whether a United Arab Emirates (UAE) technology company should be put under trade restrictions due to its reported ties to China.

A farmer harvests mushrooms at a cultivation base in Cixian county, Handan, North China's Hebei Province on January 4, 2024. As the Chinese New Year approaches, local mushroom harvesting has entered its peak season. After harvesting, the mushrooms will be packaged and shipped to supply the market for the upcoming Spring Festival holidays in February. Photo: VCG

Walking through the bustling Huaqiangbei commercial area in Shenzhen city, South China's Guangdong Province, the largest electronics retail market in China, one is immediately impressed by its international atmosphere. Foreign faces busily pass by, and English logos adorn almost every big tower, showcasing various products from LED to mobile phones, all made in China for the world.