At the entrance of the Sanhe town primary school in Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County, in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, stands a larger-than-life soccer ball. Inscribed on the wall of the school are some Chinese characters that can be translated as "Play soccer for a better future."
In the past decade, hundreds of left-behind children developed their passion for soccer at their primary school located deep in the mountains and some of them have kicked their way into big-name universities or even into professional clubs.
In China, the term "left-behind children" refers to minors under 16 whose parents have left them in their hometown to go and work in urban areas, or minors who are left to the care of only one of the parents but he or she is incapable of guardianship.
According to a report jointly released by the China Foundation for Rural Development with Beijing Normal University in August, there were over 9 million left-behind children in elementary and middle schools across China's rural areas at the end of 2022.
The lack of parental care leaves these children vulnerable to social problems and has a negative impact on their emotional development, leading to problems such as depression, anxiety, or aggression.
The Sanhe town primary school is one of the schools in the poverty-stricken mountainous area where most of the students are left-behind children.
The disadvantaged backgrounds and lack of qualified teachers make it difficult for the students to achieve academic success comparable to that provided by schools in urban areas.
In an attempt to pull the children out of this plight, in 2012, then head of school Sun Xiaoming made an odds-defying decision that changed the life of many children.
"Elementary school students are short and thin, making it difficult for them to play basketball or volleyball. Soccer, which doesn't require a hoop or a net, can be either played by a team on the field, or practiced alone at home," explained Sun, talking about his idea of selecting soccer over other sports.
Based on the school's conditions and an overwhelming number of left-behind girls, Sun decided to establish a girls' soccer team that no one imagined would grow into a formidable force in Chongqing and China.
The first team of the school was made up of 20 girls, 19 of whom have made it into colleges based on their soccer skills.
Over 200 girls have played for the school team in the past 10 years with many being admitted to elite middle or high schools of Chongqing for their athletic achievements.
Current school principal Ma Jianwei told the Global Times that playing soccer offered the disadvantaged girls an opportunity to excel and change their fortunes.
"If not for playing soccer, most of the girls would have dropped out of school or bogged down in the daily grind of hard labor. Soccer offered them a path to get ahead and opportunities of receiving higher education," Ma said.
More than a sport
Recently, four alumni of the school team returned to Sanhe to share their experiences with the students on the school opening ceremony and offered them a boot camp.
Playing soccer was met with skepticism among parents at the beginning when the school did not even have a soccer field.
"At first, we played with rubber balls on concrete ground. Rain or shine, we kept training every day. We never gave it up even when we were black and blue," said alumnus Qin Furong.
Years of hard work paid dividends. Sanhe made its mark in the Chongqing varsity soccer league in 2015 and went on to win national varsity competitions in the following years.
Thanks to the donations from the society, an artificial grass court breathed new life into the girls' dream.
Over the past decade, more than 70 students managed to be admitted to elite schools across Chongqing.
Tan Siqi was selected to be the flag bearer at the 2019 Women's World Cup in France. Ma Qinglin signed with Shanghai Greenland Shenhua club to become a professional player in 2020.
Their strong performances earned them the nickname "Steel Roses in the Mountain," drawing a parallel to the name of the national women's soccer team.
"Soccer is more than a sport. It's the spirit that kept students' dream alive and helped them overcome difficulties," said Sun, who retired in 2018.
"Soccer has changed children's lives, but it's not just about making it to college. They also built a strong physique and developed resilience and independence," he added.
Ingrained in school life
Ma told the Global Times that currently the school has developed a soccer culture with students taking great pride in participating in the sport.
From grade two to six, every grade has their soccer team and they have training sessions every day through weekends and holidays.
League and competitions are organized for all age groups every month. Soccer is ingrained in the students' school life, according to Ma.
Ma said one of the four physical education lessons a week is dedicated to soccer, as the sport has been incorporated into the school curriculum as well.
Additionally, the school has also struck up partnerships with neighboring middle schools, who will admit 10-15 talented players from Sanhe every year to further their studies and pursue a career in soccer.
To promote the joint development of campus soccer around the region, the school has hosted an annual tournament since 2018, thus allowing schools from neighboring counties and provinces to connect with each other.
"Our goal is to strive for academic excellence while helping students develop an interest in soccer and offer them more options to get ahead," said Ma.
Team China's record of youngest champion in the Asian Games has been rewritten in less than two days. On Wednesday, 13-year-old skateboarder Cui Chenxi clinched a gold in women's street final, taking the title away from 15-year-old Chen Ye, who was just crowned in men's park on Monday.
China's Generation Z skateboarders have rocked the Asian Games so hard like no one had imagined - bagging three of four gold medals of the discipline. Alongside Cui, 18-year-old Zeng Wenhui bagged silver in women's street on Wednesday morning. In men's street, China's 16-year-old Zhang Jie snatched a gold while his teammate 19-year-old Su Jianjun won a bronze. In the women's park final held on Monday, Chinese athlete Li Yujuan won the silver medal, while Mao Jiasi won the bronze.
Cui told the Global Times after the final that the title will not put extra pressure on her.
"I made a mistake in my first run, and on the second attempt, my coach wanted me to be steady, but I was eager to try a riskier maneuver on my own, and in the end it worked out," Cui said.
After winning the final, Cui put on the Chinese national flag on her back and skated around the venue to a loud cheer. In the audience sat her tearing father.
The gold medalist said that she is aiming for the Paris Olympics. "First I will concentrate on getting there, then I can make a big attack," she told the Global Times. Her teammate Zeng also said she will concentrate on qualifying for Paris.
Zeng expressed her wishes to Cui, who is five years younger than her, saying she is quite excellent.
"You are the future of Team China," Zeng said, facing Cui. "I will work harder with you in the future, too."
In the women's street final, the Philippines' Mergielyn Didal was the only competitor over 18. Unfortunately, the defending champion could not deliver her best performance due to injury. Nonetheless, she received overwhelming support from the Chinese audience even when she failed to land the tricks.
"The venue is overwhelming," Didal told the Global Times after the match. "Since we arrived here in Hangzhou, everyone is always cheering you. It's exciting to see the people welcoming you."
During the match, Didal was often seen cheering her young opponents.
"That is just how unique skateboarding is," she told the Global Times. "I'm just hying them up. Even if we were competing against them, we don't treat them like enemies. We've got to cheer for each other."
Different from traditional sports, there is no fixed action pattern in skateboarding. It requires skaters to freely use their imagination and creativity, which is challenging and highly interesting.
Skateboarding made its Asian Games debut in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018, but later received more mainstream attention as a competitive sport after its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Throughout the four days of the skateboarding competition, there was a friendly, young and relaxed atmosphere in the arena. As the Chinese skateboarding team sees the emergence of several young players with great potential at the Hangzhou Games, China's public attention on skateboarding is growing and the street spirit the sport brings is infectious.
All these teens showed confidence and ease as well as very high standards. Fifteen-year-old new Asian champion Chen Ye told the Global Times that he now has the confidence to pursue higher goals.
"Now that I've won the championship in an Asian event, I hope to perform better in global events and participate in more high-level competitions. In the future, I may participate in more Olympic ranking events," Chen said.
Zhang Jie, 16-year-old, the newest winner of men's street final on Wednesday afternoon, also said that his goal for Paris 2024 is to enter the top eight.
As one of the oldest art schools in the world, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (RAFA) in Antwerp has constantly reinvented itself since it was founded in 1663. To promote the exchange of ideas and strive for greater creativity, RAFA established an exchange program with the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. This year marks RAFA's 360th anniversary. To celebrate this momentous occasion, RAFA and CAFA organized a unique project.
On November 2, the first collaboration between students from both schools materialized. For this project, students from the two schools exchanged artworks and, as a result, works by students of the RAFA were shown at the CAFA Art Museum until November 12. The works by CAFA students will be displayed at RAFA from November 30 to December 8. What makes this exchange even more profound is that all these magnificent works will be preserved in the archives of both schools, creating a lasting connection between the two institutions.
To support this great initiative, the Public Diplomacy Counsellor, Johan Van hove, attended the RAFA exhibition opening ceremony at CAFA and met its new president Lin Mao, several well-known professors from CAFA, the director of RAFA Johan Pas, and curators Peter Bosteels from Antwerp and Qiu Zhijie from Beijing. They discussed the development of cultural exchanges between both institutions and countries.
Art knows no borders; art does not have a nationality. It is a bridge that connects two countries. Through this incredible exchange between Antwerp and Beijing, it celebrates the diversity of human creativity and the countless possibilities of even more exceptional collaborations between China and Belgium in the years to come.
As US President Joe Biden is about to travel to Tel Aviv on Wednesday in a show of support to Israel as it prepares for a ground offensive in Gaza and with the aim to mitigate the expansion of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, analysts urged the US to shoulder its responsibility as a major power to act as a fair and impartial mediator and bring the two-state solution back on track.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who announced Biden's trip to Tel Aviv, described it a demonstration of "US solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security." During the meeting with Israelis, Biden also plans to hear what Israel will need to safeguard their security, Blinken said.
Before Biden reaches Tel Aviv, several US officials including Blinken and the top US military commander in the Middle East Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, have been engaging with senior Israeli officials in the country. The military commander is looking to "gain a clear understanding of Israel's defense requirements," according to the general's headquarters.
Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the purpose of Biden's visit to Israel is clear: Showing support to Israel, while working to prevent the conflict from escalating and spilling over to larger areas. What is worth noting is that these goals are not being worked toward out of consideration for Palestine's interests but to serve the interests of the US, he said.
An uncontrollable Middle East means the US will have to haul the focus of its global strategy back to the region. Additionally, an escalated situation in the region will lead to skyrocketing oil prices and may exert a negative impact on the upcoming election next year, which all in all is not what the US is looking for, Ding explained.
According to the White House, besides of meeting with Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, Biden's trip will be followed by a stop in neighboring Jordan, where he will meet with Jordan's King Abdullah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Using international justice and international laws to address the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot be put into practice if the US fails to timely correct its Middle East policy and stop its one-sided support of Israel, and instead act as a fair and impartial mediator and bring the two-state solution back on track, Ding told the Global Times.
The current round of conflict is the result of the US policy of putting the cart before the horse in the Middle East, for which the US should be held responsible. It is time for the US to reflect and correct its long-time failed Middle East policy, which has led the Middle East peace process astray, Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times.
Chinese experts urged the US to increase its promotion of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and investment in the peace process, rather than trying to normalize Arab relations with Israel while the Israeli-Palestinian issue has not been resolved. According to Al Jazeera, 10 days of bombing Gaza has caused widespread destruction of local schools and hospitals and displaced nearly 1 million people. The latest news from the BBC on Tuesday showed that more than 1,300 people in Israel have been killed by Hamas since October 7 and more than 2,700 people have died in Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza.
Regarding the current situation, China calls for a cease-fire and an end to the fighting as soon as possible in order to prevent it from spreading indefinitely and to avoid further deterioration of the situation, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, said after the UN Security Council on Monday failed to adopt a resolution proposed by Russia that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and condemnation of all violence and hostilities directed against civilians.
Five UN Security Council members voted in favor of the draft resolution, four members voted against it, and six members abstained. The proposal must receive at least nine votes in favor for the UN to adopt a resolution, with none of its five permanent members opposing or casting a veto, according to the UN.
The Chinese envoy expressed disappointment that the UN failed to pass a resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli issue but voiced support for the UN to continue to play its role and responsibility in prompting humanitarian aid.
Some Western countries joining hands to vote against the UN resolution has thwarted the role the UN Security Council should bear to maintain international peace and security and resolve the current crisis, Ding said, highlighting that humanitarian aid should not be politicized.
A most urgent task is to prevent the humanitarian catastrophe from worsening, however some Western countries are still attempting to leave more space for Israel to retaliate against Hamas. Their sinister intentions will not help the ceasefire nor ease the humanitarian disaster, Ding noted.
While addressing the ongoing?crisis, the international community must adhere to the fundamental direction of the two-state?solution, work for?broader consensus?and formulate a timetable and road map to that end, the Chinese envoy noted.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict, having gone on for 17 months, seems to show no sign of letting up in a short time. Last month, a Bloomberg story shared how a 23-year-old US entrepreneur, Blake Resnick, made money through donations, and by selling his drones to Ukraine, thereby ballooning his net worth to more than $100 million.
Ukraine "has become a proving ground for startups looking to showcase their latest technologies," commented the story titled Newly rich US defense tech titans seek fresh fortunes in Ukraine.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, called Ukraine's conflict with Russia a "technology war" during a media interview in April. For the military and intelligence outfits and AI (artificial intelligence) companies in the US and its Western allies, the current situation in Ukraine not only provides a stage for their political stunts under the guise of "humanitarianism," but also provides a fertile testing ground for electronic warfare weapons, and an avenue for profiteering.
Worryingly, their "participation" may create big challenges for Ukraine's national security and sovereignty integrity, military and technology experts warned.
With military forces and tech enterprises from the US and its allies highly involved in this conflict in the name of "supporting Ukraine," information from some of Ukraine's key areas including national defense and information networks is likely to be leaked and infiltrated, which may be a recipe for disaster for the country, Chinese military observer Wang Qiang told the Global Times.
'A lab for AI warfare'
The Russia-Ukraine crisis has transformed into a fertile testing ground for the excited military, intelligence, and defense industry giants in the US and its allies, with observers having found that numerous tech weapons and AI support systems have continuously been transported to Ukraine for use in combat, such as drones, autonomous ships, unmanned vehicles, loitering munitions, and communication and geospatial intelligence systems.
The US Defense Department stated in May 2022 that it would send $150 million of electronic jamming equipment to the frontlines in Ukraine, reported US military publication C4ISRNET on May 9, 2022.
In April that year, the Pentagon announced a potential $300-million batch of aid to Ukraine that would include communications systems and similar gear, the C4ISRNET article added.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict "is a major stepping stone toward the networked battlefield and the AI wars of the future," read the article Ukraine A Living Lab for AI Warfare, which was published in the National Defense magazine in March.
The article's co-authors were retired US major general Robin Fontes, who served as the deputy commanding general of operations at Army Cyber Command, and Jorrit Kamminga of RAIN, a knowledge platform on the intersection of defense and AI.
They stated that the conflict is "a center-stage, relentless, and unprecedented effort to fine-tune, adapt, and improve AI-enabled or AI-enhanced systems for immediate deployment."
"That effort is paving the way for AI warfare in the future," they noted.
In the early days of the conflict, the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency reportedly sent five lightweight, high-resolution surveillance drones to the US Special Operations Command in Europe, just in case they might come in handy in Ukraine.
"The drones…weren't part of a so-called program of record at the Defense Department, hinting at the experimental nature of the conflict," read a CNN article on January 15.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict provides a comprehensive test for the military application of modern tech like AI, said Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator.
AI has been widely used in the fields of reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, target detection, and anti-electromagnetic interference, and has been applied to lots of unmanned equipment, Song said. "It's no wonder that the US tests its AI weapons and tech through supporting Ukraine in the military conflict," he told the Global Times.
"Although the US claims that it won't get directly involved, it has actually prolonged the conflict by sending a lot of new equipment to the battlefield," noted Song.
And the US never hides its purpose of utilizing the battlefield as an equipment testing ground and reconnaissance point against Russia. Referring to the lessons learned, Jim Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that "there's a book to be written about this," according to CNN. "Everything we are seeing in Ukraine… almost certainly represents the types of threats we will see," C4ISRNET quoted lieutenant general Maria Gervais as saying in August 2022.
Obviously, by gaining practical experience in Ukraine, the US intends to utilize the data gathered, and prepare to deploy the tested technology in possible future battlefields against its major "adversaries," such as Russia and China, Song pointed out.
Controversial involvement
To some Western tech companies, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is not only a shortcut to profit but also a good testing ground for new AI technologies and products.
The longevity of the conflict allows companies to fine-tune, adapt, and improve their AI systems on the go, according to an article titled Ukraine A Living Lab for AI Warfare.
Therefore, it's not surprising to see "the unprecedented willingness" of foreign companies, such as those in the geospatial intelligence field, to assist Ukraine "by using AI-enhanced systems to convert satellite imagery into intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance advantages," the article noted, adding that "US companies play a leading role in this."
Many US tech enterprises, including Palantir Technologies, Planet Labs, BlackSky Technology, and Maxar Technologies have provided AI-based systems to analyze trends in the conflict, or produce satellite imagery about it.
Palantir Technologies, for instance, was responsible for targeting technologies used by Ukrainian forces in such weaponry as tanks and artillery, said CEO Alex Karp.
"…militaries without advanced targeting capabilities and algorithms are handicapped in modern warfare," Karp claimed at the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) event in February.
Getting involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has obviously made companies like Palantir Technologies huge profits. After Karp became the first Western CEO to visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Ukrainian soil in June 2022, and announced that Palantir and the Ukrainian government had struck a deal, its shares reportedly jumped by 10 percent within a day. Three months later, the stock had skyrocketed by 75 percent, according to an article published on stock analysis website VectorVest in May.
However, as the US' tech companies eagerly enter the Russia-Ukraine conflict, controversies have emerged regarding their AI technologies infringing on human rights and privacy.
The US facial recognition surveillance company Clearview AI, for instance, has provided free access to Ukrainian investigators to identify the dead who perished in the war - both Russians and Ukrainians. The Ukrainian investigators then brutally and directly inform families in Russia that their children have been killed in the war.
The New York-based start-up bills itself as having "the world's largest face network" with billions of mugshots from the internet - many of them scraped from social media sites like Facebook - data which it later sells.
Founded in 2017, Clearview AI had raised over $38 million and was valued at $130 million as of 2021. However, the software company has already been the target of multiple class-action lawsuits and joint investigations in states such as Illinois in the US, as well as in the UK and Australia, for allegedly using facial recognition data without user consent.
Faced with the deployment of Clearview AI on the battlefield in Ukraine with little resistance, the New York Times cites critics' warnings that such tech companies may be exploiting a crisis to expand with little privacy regulation, and that any mistakes made by the software or its users could have dire consequences in the war zone.
Hidden dangers to Ukraine
As technology companies shape the Russia-Ukraine conflict and claim to want to help Ukraine rebuild, these companies may "control" the most critical parts of the country - from infrastructure such as the internet to national defense in the form of satellite images, warned Scientific American, a US-based science magazine.
In the face of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has never truly considered the national security of Ukraine and the security of its citizens' information, but rather coldly and selfishly used Ukraine as a NATO antecedent artificial testing ground from the perspective of technological evolution, Wang noted.
"From identifying and locating targets for attack on the frontlines of war, to big data analysis of popular sentiment feedback for better opinion mobilization, for the US, this testing ground is all-encompassing," Wang said.
Wang also pointed out the US might even attempt to dismember Europe through Ukraine in the future. "The US has called for the construction of such so-called joint information infrastructure network facilities, and then empowered with advance technologies, especially AI technology and big data, NATO's information warfare capabilities are enhanced, but also the US' ability to control NATO-sourced information," he said.
According to the New York Times, as early as 2021, there were more than 1,800 US law enforcement agencies that had used Clearview's product, including the Secret Service, the FBI, and other federal agencies.
Currently, whoever can seize the first opportunity to deploy AI means the party that gets to enjoy large but nearly unexplored market, which fuels the need to maintain hegemonic control by countless capitalists and countries, Wang said.
The Biden administration has stated that AI poses a threat to public safety and democracy but the government has limited authority to regulate it.
The core of US hegemony is placing itself above the security of other countries. Now, the US believes that it can do this through absolute technological leadership, so it uses all kinds of means and even appeasement to achieve such a monopoly.
But such a monopoly will eventually bring infinite evil consequences to the US itself, according to Song.
The Embassy of Colombia in China celebrated the country's National Day in Beijing, on July 27. The Colombian Ambassador Sergio Cabrera attended the event and expressed his willingness to maintain cultural exchanges with China.
Ambassador Qiu Xiaoqi, Special Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Government of China was the special guest at the event. Around 350 attendees, including representatives from diplomatic missions, party and state officials, representatives from provincial governments, and business people were also present at the event.
Ambassador Cabrera delivered a speech at the event in which he said, "Culture, a sector to which I have been committed for all my life, is a tool for opening spaces for international dialogue. In China, our cultural agenda includes the planning of events in literature, gastronomy, plastic and visual arts, cinematography, and music."
Cabrera attended cultural and education promotion events in different cities around China in June. These included a conversation about Colombian literature and film in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and in Beijing, he talked about the Colombian film El olvido que seremos (Forgotten We'll Be) with Colombian writer Héctor Abad. During the visit, other activities carried out with the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government included a live radio broadcast to promote Colombian music, showcasing songs from Colombia's most traditional musical genres such as Cumbia, Salsa, and Vallenato. It also included the well-known instruments such as the Caucasian flute which was the main instrument played to celebrate the friendship between Colombia and China at a concert in 2022. The ambassador also talked about Colombia's relations with China, especially with the city of Chongqing, and cooperation in education, culture, trade, and other areas.
The ambassador used an ancient and well-known proverb to demonstrate his country's friendly relations with China, says "Nothing, neither mountains nor seas, can separate peoples who share the same ideals and objectives." He said that, "China and Colombia are two nations and two peoples separated geographically but are unwaveringly united in our common goals and ideals in the pursuit of peace, harmonious development, environmental protection, and mutual benefit, and nothing can separate us."
At the end of the event, the embassy served different Colombian cuisines such as coffee, chocolate and memorable Colombian traditional dances were also presented.
Cluster munitions provided by the US arrived in Ukraine in mid-July, while controversies abound as multiple human rights groups and some US congressmen express concern over long-term harm to civilians. At least 38 human rights organizations have publicly opposed the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine, where the weapons have already been used in the war to devastating effect, the Hill reported on July 7.
These human rights groups have urged Russia and Ukraine not to use cluster munitions - which are banned by more than 100 countries - and have asked the US not to supply them.
The Global Times contacted several organizations including Legacies of War, the US-based advocacy and educational organization working to address the impacts of the American Secret War in Laos and conflict in the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Vietnam, and Code Pink, a women-led grassroots organization working to end US wars and militarism, to hear their voices and concerns, many of which are tied to the already dark legacy of cluster munition deployment.
Growing up in Laos, Sera Koulabdara, the CEO of Legacies of War, witnessed her father, Sith Koulabdara, operate on countless victims of cluster munition accidents, including a little girl who attended the same school as her and shaped her passion for her role today.
"I know firsthand the horrors of cluster munitions. Given Laos' own history of subjugation and foreign invasion, I deeply value freedom and respect each country's right to defend its territory. I stand firmly behind the US' commitment to help Ukrainians. However, not by sending cluster munitions," Koulabdara told the Global Times.
She called the US' decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine "short-sighted, inhumane, and shows an inability to learn lessons from its own history, and a complete disregard for international law."
"Cluster munitions are not the 'winning weapon' but one that will prolong suffering for Ukrainians now and for decades to come," she stressed. This is a subject with which Koulabdara is familiar.
"During my last trip to Laos in 2022, I had the opportunity to meet with and hear 64-year-old Yong Kham's story while visiting a demining site in Sepon, Laos, in fall 2022. I learned that he and his family endured the nine-year air war waged by the US from 1964-1973. Most of his childhood was spent in a muddy, foul trench or dark cave to avoid death. He was injured during one of the bombing raids by a cluster bomb. He survived it, but two of his siblings were not so lucky. Cluster munitions claimed their lives in the trench," she recalled.
"Decades later, in 2003, his eldest son, Tong Dum, was fatally killed by cluster bombs while collecting wood and scraps. His life was just getting started at the young age of 21," she continued.
Koulabdara noted that as a result of the war, one-third of Ukrainian soil is already polluted with unexploded ordnances (UXO) and mines, and that is before Ukraine uses its vast new arsenal of cluster munitions from the US. She urged the US government to reconsider their decision, given the fact that the long-term impact of cluster munitions and other explosives will negatively affect all aspects of life for the people of Ukraine.
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, said they believe that cluster munitions can result in a high civilian casualty rate, "severing the limbs of adults who, decades later, accidentally step on unexploded grenades, as well as children who picked up the small shiny bombs thinking they were toys, only to lose their hands."
"Some claim Ukraine can 'clean up' [the cluster bombs] after the war, but we have seen over and over again - in Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, Lebanon, and Afghanistan - how unlikely that is. There is no magic eraser," Benjamin told the Global Times.
The co-founder of Code Pink also noted that the organization is pleased to see that 49 democrats and 98 republicans voted for an amendment to stop Biden from sending these weapons to Ukraine. "Although the amendment failed, it showed bipartisan opposition," Benjamin said.
"There is no moral sanctity - only moral atrocity- in choosing to ship hideous weapons to Ukraine while dismissing calls from the Global South, the UN Secretary General, and the Pope to support an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations," said the co-founder.
"While the US did not sign the treaty banning cluster munitions, it did pass a law against their transfer. President Biden's choice to bypass the law in the supposed interest of national security undermines congress' constitutional authority," Benjamin argued.
Rather than "escalating an arms race to risk nuclear war," Code Pink believes that the Biden administration should "promote a ceasefire and negotiations without preconditions."
"Instead of breaking international law, the US should break the military stalemate by joining the global call for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. We oppose shipping cluster munitions, as well as all weapons to Ukraine because there is no military solution - only more heartache as the war escalates," said Benjamin.
The Peace in Ukraine Coalition anchored by Code Pink has been tabling, petitioning, writing op-ed pieces, taking out full page ads, and meeting with congressional staff on Capitol Hill to promote a ceasefire and diplomatic resolution.
"It is incumbent upon us to support a diplomatic resolution and not sabotage peace negotiations by sending more and more barbaric weapons, from tanks with depleted uranium, to nuclear-capable long range fighter jets to cluster bombs," warned Marcy Winograd, the coordinator of Peace in Ukraine Coalition.
For ten years, China and Central Asian countries have been more tightly bonded together through cooperation in the traditional energy section under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the rise of Chinese companies specializing in renewable energy and scientific institutes equipped with technology on ecological preservation has been greening the BRI in the past decade.
By using Chinese technology and experience to monitor and improve the ecology of Central Asia countries, imparting local people the expertise to build a hydropower station, and kick starting a cutting-edge photovoltaic power plant to help generate substantial renewable energy in the region, Chinese institutes and companies are helping turn the dream of a "Green Silk Road" into reality, while also making China-Central Asia cooperation in the green sector a paragon for other countries.
Ecological cooperation
The Aral Sea, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was once the world's fourth-largest lake. Farmland expansion, rising temperatures and a lack of water-saving technology caused the sea to shrink to just 10 percent of its original surface by the end of the 1990s. Large areas of the lake bed have become bare and covered with salt or salt crust. The health of local residents has also been affected, with a significant increase in the proportion of people suffering from leukemia, kidney disease, bronchitis, and asthma.
In recent years, scientists from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Uzbekistan have been actively cooperating on the treatment of the Aral Sea.
"The Aral Sea crisis is essentially a problem of an inland lake drying up due to excessive water extraction for agricultural irrigation," Li Yaoming, the director of the Research Center for Green Development of Silk Road at XIEG, told the Global Times.
"China's Xinjiang region has also faced similar problems in the past, such as the management of the Tarim River. China has been implementing ecological water transfer from the Tarim River for many years and has relatively mature water resource management techniques, which can provide a reference for Uzbekistan," said Li.
In the suburb of Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, stood a 5-hectare demonstration field for drip irrigation water-saving technology. XIEG participated in the project, established an observation station for plants, brought cotton and wheat seeds from China and used drip irrigation to improve plant productivity.
The drip irrigation technology equipment and supporting farming machinery here are all from China, Shakhzod Saitjanov, a research fellow from the Institute of Genetics and Plant Experimental Biology of the Academy of Science of Uzbekistan, told the Global Times. He believes this project will elevate the quality of Uzbekistan's agriculture and boost the country's economy.
"Traditionally, Uzbeks tended to use flood irrigation in cotton cultivation, which requires the use of a large amount of water to wash away the salt content in the soil. We have introduced new drip irrigation technology, which will help save a significant amount of water resources," said Li.
In addition, Chinese scientists also helped in improving and managing saline-alkali land. They use salt-tolerant plants to reduce the salt content in the soil, creating conditions for growing other crops. Artificial forests are also planted on the sandy desert that formed after the drying up of part of the Aral Sea. All of these efforts play an important role in the protection of the Aral Sea.
Since the launch of the BRI, XIEG has conducted vast fundamental cooperation with regional countries in terms of improving the region's ecology. For example, the institute helped developed an integrated water-saving irrigation system for cotton in the Aral Sea region and a 25-hectare technology demonstration base has been established. The technology has been across a 200-hectare area. In 2021 and 2022, Uzbekistan found out that yields reached 404 kilograms and 414 kilograms per mu (0.06 hectare), respectively, while the water-saving rate reached 70 percent. Both yield and water-saving efficiency were more than double that of local cotton fields.
In Kazakhstan, XIEG introduced 32 species of plants with a total of 15,600 plants, and conducted training on planting techniques and irrigation measures. The institute completed the establishment of a 20-hectare protective forest belt demonstration zone, established a comprehensive health assessment system for man-made forests, and evaluated the ecological service functions of ecological barriers.
As the Earth is becoming hotter from global warming, inland and hydropenic Central Asian countries are facing severe environmental challenges. Such challenges are pushing China and Central Asia closer in cooperation in improving the region's ecological problems after the BRI was launched. Ten years ago, people in Central Asia had little understanding of China's in water-saving and ecological protection technology. However, climate change has made them feel the urgency of environmental protection in recent years, said Li, noting that more and more research institutes and government departments in Central Asian countries have been approaching them, seeking cooperation.
He said that ecological protection has been gradually emphasized under the framework of the BRI and that he expects the governments of Central Asian countries to endow more support to relevant projects.
Environmental protection was highlighted during the Xi'an Declaration of the China-Central Asia Summit, which concluded in Xi'an in May. As noted in the declaration, the Parties reaffirm the need for concerted efforts to ensure food security in a changing climate, and also note the importance of farming in the most environmentally friendly ways that support biodiversity, with the optimal use of water and land resources.
Li believes that the summit, as well as development of the BRI will be a turning point for China's environmental cooperation with Central Asian countries, as "collaboration in this field has been put in a higher position ever since."
Teach a man to fish
The Tuyabuguz Hydropower Plant in Uzbekistan was the first project completed after leaders of China and Uzbekistan signed government-to-government energy cooperation during the Belt and Road Forum held in 2017 in Beijing.
The project, contracted by Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC), was completed within 14 months and put into operation in April 2019. As of August, a total of 109 million kilowatt-hours of electricity has been generated by the project. The station can achieve uninterrupted power generation for 11 months in a year, with an annual electricity output sufficient to meet the power needs of 1,600 households in Uzbekistan. It will become profitable within four years.
Sun Jianfeng, a DEC project manager in charge of the station, told the Global Times on August 18 that "all power generation equipment in the project was manufactured in China, and the key technologies for the water turbines and generators were independently developed using Chinese intellectual property rights."
Sun introduced that the project was located downstream from the Akhangaran River's Tuyabuguz reservoir in the Tashkent region, which was originally used for irrigation. It was built at the location with the highest potential energy, which it fully utilizes to generate electricity, making it highly economical.
"The hydropower station maximized the utilization of energy during the irrigation process. Moreover, the project takes measures to prevent the flow of water from damaging crops or facilities," said Sun.
The project's environmental friendliness not only embodies the generation of green energy, it also does not cause environmental problems like the construction of traditional dams, as it was built under an existing reservoir, introduced Sun.
Uzbekistan has shown enormous interest in renewable energy in recent years. The country has set an ambitious goal - generate 30 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.
Sun said that Uzbekistan government has been encouraging foreign investment into the renewable energy sector in recent years, which has created a friendly environment for Chinese companies. Meanwhile, Chinese companies' advanced technology in green energy also made them highly competitive in Uzbekistan. Thus, Sun believes cooperation between the two countries has great potential.
In May 2022, Uzbekistan's investment committee and China's Ministry of Commerce reached an agreement to build a series of small and medium-sized hydroelectric power facilities worth a total of $2.7 billion, media reported.
Apart from exporting equipment, DEC is devoted to training local experts in the hydropower industry. Sun said his company held large-scale training sessions in 2018 and 2019. More than 60 Uzbeks took part in the sessions.
"We taught them how to operate and maintain our equipment. The locals completed installation and debugging of our facilities during the final stage. The equipment has been functioning well and been well maintained during the past three years of operation," said Sun.
"We did not send our people to the site for maintenance, we just provided guidance online. We sold our equipment and offered them our technology at the same time. There's an old idiom called 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' We taught them how to keep the project running for the next four or five decades, so the Uzbeks are going to operate it independently in the future," said Sun.
Meet local demands
Aziz, who works at the Zarafshan 500MW Wind Power Project, is always enthusiastic about her work. Whenever she encounters a problem, she relentlessly seeks answers from her Chinese colleagues.
Aziz considers herself fortunate to have witnessed the installation of the first wind turbine at the Zarafshan wind power project in early June. This marks the first-ever wind turbine installation in Uzbekistan.
Constructed and run by SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. (SEPCOIII) in Zarafshan, Navoi Region, Uzbekistan, the Zarafshan wind power project is the first megawatt-scale wind power project implemented in Uzbekistan. With a total installed capacity of 500MW, it will also be the largest operational wind power project in Central Asia upon completion.
Currently, the project is in its peak construction phase. Once completed, the project will provide sufficient green electricity for 500,000 households and save 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, making a significant contribution to Uzbekistan's energy transition and sustainable economic development goals.
Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has implemented a series of reforms since taking office, of which new energy reform is an important part. According to the government plan, by 2030, the share of renewables in Uzbekistan's energy will reach 25 percent of the energy mix.
Aziz still vividly remembers the nationwide power shortage that occurred in early 2023. Despite the overall stability of the political situation and the upward trajectory of the economy in Uzbekistan, the country still faces challenges in meeting its growing electricity demand.
However, Aziz feels optimistic about the future of energy development in Uzbekistan. Aziz's confidence in the future of energy development in Uzbekistan is shared by many. The government's commitment to addressing the power shortage issue and its efforts to attract investments in the energy sector have instilled hope among the population.
"Uzbekistan is an important country along the BRI route, and the production and construction of photovoltaic, wind power and other new energy fields are the strengths of Chinese enterprises, so the prospects for cooperation between the two sides are promising," Ji Jun, manager of the project from SEPCOIII, told the Global Times.
'Green Silk Road' realized
A power station located in Kapchagay, Kazakhstan, co-invested and constructed by Universal Energy, a Chinese renewable energy company based in Shanghai and its Kazakhstan partners, marked the largest single photovoltaic power plant in Kazakhstan. Starting operation in 2019, the station is also the region's first large-scale new energy power station.
With the model of "100 percent Made in China, 100 percent Construction in Kazakhstan," the project is able to generate electricity at a much lower cost than other similar power stations, and has substantially reduced carbon emissions. Wu Xiaoliang, deputy manager of the Universal Energy told the Global Times that "the station can generate 160 million kilowatt-hours on annual basis, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 50,000 households in Kazakhstan for one year. The project can reduce carbon emissions by 160,000 tons annually."
Wu also pointed out that in 2023, the company completed an international green certificate transaction with a large international trader, selling carbon assets generated from the 7,000 megawatt-hours of electricity generated by the Kapchagay power station, offsetting approximately 5,950 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
"The company has six newly built renewable energy power stations in Kazakhstan that have provided a total of 1.7 billion kilowatt-hours of green electricity to the local area, reducing carbon emissions by a total of 1.7 million tons."
In recent years, China and Central Asian countries have accelerated cooperation in the field of new energy such as wind power, solar power, and hydropower. According to data from China Power International (Kazakhstan) Investment Limited, by the end of 2022, the total installed capacity of a series of renewable energy projects invested and constructed by Chinese companies in Kazakhstan, including the Zhanatas wind power station and Turgusun hydropower plant, has exceeded 1,000 megawatts.
The accelerated cooperation is also aimed to cater for Central Asian countries' rising ambition in exploring usage of new energy. For example, Kazakhstan has made ambitious commitments to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions to 15 percent below their 1990 levels by 2030 and of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060.
Wu explained that Kazakhstan can realize self-sufficiency in providing electricity at the current stage, yet the country is facing the problem of an outmoded electricity infrastructure.
"Most of the electricity-generation infrastructure was built during the Soviet era, which means their service time is reaching the limit. Insufficient maintenance and reinvestment in certain facilities are also evident. This means that if investment in the power sector is not increased soon, Kazakhstan may face significant power shortages in the coming years," said Wu.
Compared with companies from other countries such as Germany and Japan, Chinese companies' advantages are visible: Its leading photovoltaic technology, its deep connection with Central Asian countries and China-Europe freight train services have given such cooperation a better edge.
Wu said that the Kapchagay power station alone has more than 300,000 photovoltaic modules that were transported from China through China-Europe freight trains. The time and cost advantages brought by the China-Europe freight trains enabled the project to be completed and connected to the grid within only nine months.
China-Europe freight train services are helping China-invested wind power and photovoltaic power stations successfully land in Kazakhstan, which has accelerated exports of relevant Chinese equipment, and broken Europe's monopoly over Kazakhstan's new energy equipment, said Wu.
"The 'Green Silk Road' is becoming a reality," he said.
Currently, a great sporting event that is distinctly Chinese, uniquely Asian, and very spectacular is being staged in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province.
China has made history by hosting the Asia Games for the third time, bringing the country's eye-catching organizational and sporting capabilities to the world's attention.
Attending the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games and declaring it open, hosting a welcome banquet for the invited international dignitaries gathering in the scenic city, and holding bilateral meetings with leaders of six foreign countries and the heads of two international organizations, Chinese President Xi Jinping spent a period of tightly scheduled time that had witnessed substantive outcomes at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Since his youth, Xi has been an ardent sports fan. As a teenager, he played soccer and practiced skating. After he began to work, he maintained his habit of swimming and hiking, enjoyed the games such as volleyball, basketball, tennis, and wushu, and he would even stay late to watch televised sports programs.
As the leader of a large country, Xi clearly understands the constructive role sports play in global governance. From the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 to the Chengdu FISU World University Games (Chengdu FISU Games) held from July 28 to August 8, 2023, and now the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games, under Xi's guidance, China has overcome challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and presented the world with several splendid sporting events, fulfilling its commitments, demonstrating the confidence of a responsible major country, and also highlighting China's proposition in promoting the building of a global community of shared future..
As a sports enthusiast, Xi often takes sports as a bridge to actively promote peace, unity, and inclusivity both domestically and internationally.
At the same time, the sentiments held by China's national leaders vis-a-vis sports have always carried the dream of national prosperity and rejuvenation. Xi attaches great importance to and care for China's sports development, repeatedly encouraging Chinese athletes to strive for excellence while paying equal attention to promoting national fitness.
Following Xi's footsteps in sports, officials of international sports organizations, his old friends, and athletes who had interacted with Xi, highlighted Xi's sporting aspirations when speaking with the Global Times. According to them, for Xi, sports are not only his personal passion but also the most genuine approach to building a common world, promoting people-to-people connectivity, and creating a stronger and healthier China.
Practitioner of Olympic Spirit
President Xi is an important partner of the global Olympic Movement, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. said in Hangzhou on the sidelines of the Games on Monday, Xinhua News Agency reported.
"His commitment, his support to sport and the role that sports and Olympics can play for the youth, for the entire society, I think, is what I would take as most important," said Samaranch Jr..
China has always attached great importance to the development of sports, and actively participated in international Olympic affairs, Xi said when meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach in Hangzhou on Friday.
In the face of severe challenges brought by the unprecedented changes unseen in a century and the COVID-19 pandemic, the IOC has stayed true to its original aspirations and played a unique role in safeguarding the world peace and development and promoting unity and progress of the humankind, Xi said.
Raja Randhir Singh, acting president of the Olympic Committee of Asia (OAC), told the Global Times during a news conference on Sunday that he was extremely impressed by the Hangzhou Asian Games, especially with the opening ceremony, the coordination between the OCA and the Games organizers, and the message of peace and inclusiveness conveyed by the Games.
"Asia is the only continent that can and is ready to host any games, anytime... It's incredible that China has hosted so many sporting events and that a city [Beijing] can host the Winter Olympics after the Summer Olympics," Singh said while answering a question from the Global Times during the news conference.
The Hangzhou Asian Games is an event of peace and harmony; we have to continue to face the future with our hearts together, and this is a call to the world, the OCA acting president said.
"China's interpretation and promotion of the new Olympic motto - Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together - is in line with the concept of building a global community of a shared future that Xi has proposed," said Huang Haiyan, a professor at the Shanghai University of Sport and director of the Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center of Sports and Health Industry.
Through the decades, China has successfully overcome difficulties and hosted major international sporting events amid some hard times, in which China has also actively shared with the world the fruits of its sports development, noted Huang.
The Hangzhou Games reflects the profound cultural heritage and unique charm of Chinese culture, and further conveys China's genuine expectations for the world.
While in response to the global expectations upon China amid an era of profound changes witnessed across the world, the support and care of Chinese leaders as well as the hosting concepts of the sporting event also convey the development concept of a city or even the country.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was committed to its mission of hosting a "green, inclusive, open, and clean" Olympic Winter Games. The Chengdu FISU Games had adhered to the concept of being "green, smart, vibrant, and sharing" in its organization. And the concept of being "green, smart, economical, and ethical" has been a key element in the entire process of the preparation and hosting of the Asian Games.
Experts noted that this series of important sporting events, from the bidding processes to the preparation and hosting stages, have shown the bright prospects of Chinese modernization to the world.
Conveyor of China's friendship and goodwill
"In the letter that President Xi sent to us, he stressed that the Chinese government and people have full confidence in hosting a splendid Asian Games in Hangzhou. When we saw this grand event as promised, we felt immense excitement and pride inside. We also passed on the wonderful moments of the Asian Games to our friends in the US," David Chong, founder and president of the US-China Youth and Student Exchange Association, told the Global Times.
"Sport is a bond that promotes friendship among peoples," Xi said in a reply letter to the US-China Youth and Student Exchange Association and friendly personages from all walks of life in the US state of Washington in August 2023.
Over the past decade, on a variety of occasions at home and abroad, Xi has often taken sports, the universal language of all mankind, as a bridge to communicate with locals and convey China's friendship and goodwill to the world.
Chong was still proud that he had witnessed a Ping-Pong table, a gift that Xi sent to the students of Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington, during his visit to the US in 2015, on prominent display at the school.
During the stop, while receiving from the students a football and a personalized jersey bearing his name and emblazoned with "No.1" on the back, Xi gave the students gifts in return and kindly invited them to visit China. "Through travel, you will know China better, and hopefully you will like China," Xi said.
"Before President Xi's visit, table tennis was not the most popular sport in Lincoln High School. After that visit, many schools in the US started to organize varsity table tennis teams," Chong said excitedly. "Currently, table tennis is becoming more and more popular in the US, and I believe this momentum will continue."
During his visit to the IOC headquarters in Switzerland in 2017, Xi presented the committee with a stunning piece of Suzhou embroidery artwork. This masterpiece depicted ancient Chinese women engaging in cuju, the earliest form of soccer. The artwork symbolizes the cultural exchange and mutual learning fostered by the universal language of sports.
During that visit, IOC President Bach said, "President Xi is a true champion, and I want to give him a set of medals because he has a clear vision about the important role of sports in society and the importance of sports for education for the young people."
The China Table Tennis College (CTTC) Training Center in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is also another vivid example of China's friendly sports exchanges with other countries as having been supported by the Chinese leadership.
In November 2018, Xi visited the training center during his visit to PNG, where he watched PNG table tennis athletes training with their Chinese coach.
"I felt so honored and appreciative," 23-year-old PNG table tennis player Geoffrey Loi later told the Global Times when recalling Xi's visit to the training centre. Xi has paid great attention to and support sports projects, including the Ping-Pong training center in PNG, that can promote exchanges between China and other countries, said Ren Jie, executive deputy head of the CTTC. "With the foundation of Ping-Pong, we hope to further promote people-to-people exchanges, especially the exchanges between young people," Ren told the Global Times.
"Sports play a unique role in serving China's overall diplomacy," Huang told the Global Times. "They have injected a lot of new vitality into the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, and have enriched China's head-of-state diplomacy."
Taking sports as a bond, China has expanded its "circle of friends" and demonstrated its strong sense of responsibility in sports fields as a major country in the world, Huang said.
Driver for building a sporting powerhouse
"Sports set the stage for a stronger and more prosperous country," Xi said during a grand gathering at the 13th National Games in August 2017.
Xi has always cared greatly about the training, growth, and development of China's young athletes. At major sporting events such as the National Games, the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Xi met with athletes from the Chinese delegation face to face, encouraging them to strive for excellence, and to support China's sports endeavors.
At the Chengdu FISU Games that concluded in August, China was at the top of the medal tally. "They deserve it because they prepared not only as an organizer, but all the Chinese student athletes prepared themselves to present the best performance in their home games," Leonz Eder, acting president of the FISU, told the Global Times in an earlier interview.
"I do believe that it's in the policy of China to promote elite sports among students as potential careers along with their conventional studies, but the government also encourages fitness among the larger population to maintain healthy lifestyles," said Eder.
In January 2022, when inspecting the preparatory work for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, Xi noted that the ultimate goal of building a sporting powerhouse and a healthy China is to enhance the public's health, fitness, and happiness. This aspiration is essential to China's wider endeavor to build a modern socialist country in an all-round manner.
In China, significant efforts have been made in recent years to promote a healthy living environment and to encourage individuals of all ages, including young people, students, and senior citizens, to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
President Xi emphasizes the importance of developing China into a leading sporting power, which covers many aspects, from the improvement of physical fitness and the overall health of people across the country, to the promotion of economic and social development of a region through hosting major sports events there, Huang noted.
By the end of 2022, China had 4.23 million sports venues covering a total area of over 3.7 billion square meters. More than 500 million people in China regularly exercise and over 90 percent of the whole population meets national physical fitness standards.
Currently, as the energetic spirit of the Hangzhou Asian Games continues to sweep across the country, observers believe that China will unleash a new era of sporting excellence following the Asian Games.
With its unwavering commitment to sports and the remarkable achievements thanks to Xi's leadership, China is poised to shine brightly as a formidable sports powerhouse on the global stage. The future of Chinese sports is undoubtedly filled with immense potential and endless possibilities.
Has China's Shanghai turned into a "ghost town"? This "nonsense" that can be easily distinguished by both Chinese people and foreigners with basic common sense has astonishingly become the headline of an article in the well-established American news magazine, Newsweek. There are indeed people playing tricks behind this absurd situation, and it's necessary for us to expose these "foreign ghosts" and bring them into the light of day.
Newsweek probably wouldn't be so ignorant to genuinely believe that Shanghai is becoming a "ghost town." Therefore, it appended a question mark to the headline, likely to deflect responsibility for spreading false information and rumors. However, the magazine cited three photos from social platform X (formerly known as Twitter), which were taken in the Lujiazui financial district of Shanghai. It didn't bother to verify the authenticity of these photos, when and under what circumstances they were taken. Instead, it simply adopted the exaggerated claims made by the photo uploader, suggesting that the desolate roads and an empty Starbucks in the photos indicate "deep trouble" for the Chinese economy. Such an approach is not just unprofessional but is essentially a form of rumor-mongering with a certain level of "technical sophistication."
The report begins by stating that the internet erupted in debate about whether Shanghai has turned into a "ghost town" following a "viral tweet showing empty streets." It then acknowledges that many residents have disputed this notion. However, it quickly shifts the focus to people's concerns about the Chinese economy. In fact, there should be no debate about whether Shanghai, China's megacity with a population of 25 million permanent residents, is a "ghost town." Only those who are blind, deaf, or mentally impaired don't comprehend this fact.
Discerning individuals can clearly see that the main focus of Newsweek is to sensationalize the economic downturn in China, a trend that has been particularly popular in Western media recently. Newsweek has caught onto a sensational gimmick and has disregarded its own image. By combining the visually shocking photos with the provocative term "ghost town," it has created a strong psychological suggestion that "China's economy is in trouble." It must be said that this kind of misinformation operates on a more "sophisticated" level.
If only Newsweek is doing this, then it is an isolated case, indicating the media outlet's problematic professional ethics and the negative impact it caused is not significant. However, starting from March or April this year, not only Newsweek but also other US and Western media outlets have been selectively using some specific data from a certain point or in a certain field to generalize, and even fabricate information to undermine, the Chinese economy. This is a coordinated and large-scale campaign, with consistent steps, intense actions, and extensive content, which is rare in recent years. Can we say that this is a coincidence?
In the field of economics, there is a term called narrative economics, which uses storytelling to influence judgments, even at the cost of creating false information, to undermine the morale and confidence of the target and attempt to deter foreign investment, thereby having a substantial impact on the economy. The US has openly regarded China as its biggest competitor and even treats China as an imaginary enemy in many practical aspects. We cannot expect it to engage in fair competition with China. In order to win this "competition" initiated by itself, the US often resorts to any possible means. This perspective can explain the phenomenon in which the US is badmouthing the Chinese economy in a collective manner and can also roughly predict the US' future actions toward China, indicating that it aligns with the basic facts.
From this perspective, including the rumors of Shanghai being a "ghost city," all kinds of negative comments are actually a cognitive and psychological warfare launched by the US and the West against China, targeting the confidence in China's economy both domestically and internationally. In their view, Shanghai is an international metropolis, so smearing its reputation will deal a "heavy blow." However, this time, Newsweek has hit the wrong target. Enterprises have the most sensitive instincts. If even the stores in Lujiazui are "empty," why did Starbucks announce last month that it would invest 1.5 billion yuan ($206 million) to establish an innovation and technology center in China and why did it plan to have about 9,000 China outlets by 2025? If China's economy is facing a long-term crisis, why are American technology companies still striving to expand their presence in China despite various restrictions?
For China, some people from the outside creating false information about China's economy is despicable and condemnable. We must first maintain composure and judgment, not be swayed by malicious rumors and manipulations, and concentrate on doing our own things well. Let the fact that China's economy is thriving and moving forward vigorously serve as the most powerful refutation against them.
