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uFocus uInDepth uLife uBusiness

Winter Mixed Breaking Unemployment
fun feelings through stays within
6 12-13 18 target B1
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uTlahuelilpan tragedy Inspection

tours deliver
key signals
By Yang Sheng
Inspection tours made by top
Chinese leaders at the begin-
ning of the year have signaled
key messages about China’s lat-
est focus of its governance and
strategies, observers said on
Monday, as Chinese President
Xi Jinping finished his first in-
spection tour of 2019 across the
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Xi has urged more efforts to
achieve new, greater progress
in the coordinated develop-
ment of the Beijing-Tianjin-
Hebei region. Xi, also general
secretary of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee and chairman of
the Central Military Commis-
sion, made his remarks during
an inspection tour of the region
from Wednesday to Friday, the
Xinhua News Agency reported
on Friday.
Regional integration is a cru-
Relatives of three of the 85 people killed in a blaze triggered by a leaky pipeline in Tlahuelilpan attend a funeral in Teltipan de Juarez cial strategy to solve the prob-
community, Hidalgo state, Mexico on Sunday. An explosion and fire in central Mexico killed at least 85 after hundreds swarmed to lem of uneven development
the site of an illegal fuel-line tap to gather gasoline amid a government crackdown on fuel theft, officials said (see story on Page 8). among different
Photo: AFP u2 areas of a region,
Investigation Xu Xing, a profes-

u Economy expands by $1.18 trillion, equivalent to Mexico

Inside

GDP grows 6.6% in 2018 Top News: China’s Blue

By Li Xuanmin
China’s GDP averaged 6.6 per-
cent growth in 2018, landing
0.1 percentage point above the
annual target of 6.5 percent set
by officials in 2017.
The steady growth, although
touching a 28-year low amid
government efforts to shift
from quantity-led to quality-
hole officially the world’s
deepest 3
Nation: China’s birth rate
lowest since 1961 4
driven growth, still makes trillion yuan ($13.25 trillion), ac- economies – US, China, Japan, World: British PM unveils
China a leading economic pow- cording to data released by the Germany and the UK – and new Brexit strategy 7
erhouse in the world and pro- National Bureau of Statistics on contributed about 30 percent to World: Israel strikes targets
vides a clue on how its soaring Monday. In the first three quar- global economic growth, mak- in Syria 8
demand at home could serve ters, China’s economy grew 6.7 ing China the largest contribu-
as a cushion to aid Beijing in percent year-on-year. GDP grew tor of global economic growth, Asian Review: Can new
weathering the impact of a lin- 6.4 percent in the fourth quar- bureau head Ning US Act on Asia contain
gering trade war with Washing- ter, according to the bureau. u2 Jizhe said at a press China? 15
ton, observers said. China’s headline GDP China conference hosted Forum: Brexit drags UK into
Overall in 2018, China’s growth in 2018 ranked No.1 See also by the State Coun-
Pages 14, B1 a political stasis 16
GDP grew 6.6 percent to 90.03 among the world’s five largest cil’s Information

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地址：北京市朝阳区金台西路2号环球时报社英文版 ● 邮政编码：100026 ● 国内统一刊号：CN11-0272 ● 国际标准刊号：ISSN 2095-2678 ● 邮发代号：1-181

2 Tuesday January 22, 2019
TOPNEWS
A man walks inside a
luxury brand shop in
Beijing on Monday.
China’s GDP growth
in 2018 ranked No.1
among the world’s
five largest economies
and contributed about
30 percent to global
economic growth,
making China the
largest contributor
of global economic
growth. Photo: AFP
China contributes most to global growth
uGDP, from Page 1
Office on Monday.
While some Western me-
dia outlets have been boasting
about China’s slowest growth
rate since 1990 and citing dam-
age inflicted by the trade war
with the US as a key reason,
Chinese economists hailed 6.6
percent growth as high-speed
expansion on the global stage.
In terms of the sheer size of
expansion, China’s GDP surged
about 8 trillion yuan ($1.18 tril-
lion) in 2018, the equivalent
of Mexico’s 2017 GDP of $1.15
trillion, the world’s 15th largest
economy.
China “lent the crown” of
world’s fastest-growing major
economy to India, which post-
ed GDP growth of 7.1 percent in
the third quarter of 2018.
Investigation and research of facts the foundation for policymaking
uInspection, from Page 1
sor of politics at the Zhou Enlai
School of Government of Nan-
kai University in Tianjin, said
on Monday.
“The first inspection tour of
2019 showed that promoting
regional integration would be a
focus of China’s domestic gov-
ernance,” Xu noted.
This strategy is about creat-
ing infrastructure to connect
different areas in a region in
order to boost cooperation, in-
terdependency and collective
development within the region.
This is not the case only in the
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,
as in South China’s Guangdong
Province there is also a similar
strategy, the Guangdong-Hong
Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
On Wednesday morning, Xi
visited the exhibition center for
the planning of the Xiongan
New Area in Hebei Province.
There, he stressed that the cre-
ation of Xiongan is “a strategy
that will have lasting impor-
tance for the millennium.”
The CPC’s flagship newspa-
per People’s Daily published an
article about Xi’s latest inspec-
tion tour on its Sunday front
page, titled “A project with
РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
uGDP growth
10
8.2%
8 7.4% 7.3%
6.9% 7.1%
6.7%
6
4
2
0.7%
-2.5% -0.2%
0
-2
-4 2014 2015 2016
Source : The International Monetary Fund
China “has an optimized ism.
economic structure as well as Together these factors
a five-time larger output” com- ramped up pressure on China,
pared to its Asian neighbor, whose foreign trade accounts
Tian Yun, vice president of the for nearly one-third of its GDP,
Beijing Economic Operation Ning noted.
Association, told the Global “China’s trade dispute with
Times on Monday. the US has affected the domes-
“India is still grappling with tic economy, but the impact
issues in the early stage of in- was manageable,” he said.
dustrialization, while China How did China smoothly
has been moving from quantity navigate troubled waters last
to quality growth.” year?
Highlights from freshly
Economic resilience released economic indicators
Ning stressed at the press could restore investors’ confi-
briefing that China’s “slowing dence and point to China’s new
but stabilizing” economy was economic drives from massive
“by no means easy to achieve” domestic consumption power
against a batch of downturns in and rising investment.
2018 including weaker global China’s consumer market
demand, drastic fluctuations in also outpaced any other country
bulk commodity prices, rising in the world.
protectionism and unilateral- “Chinese consumers are go-
historic meaning.” The article The inspection is also in-
asserted that uneven develop- tended to deliver the latest sig-
ment is a long-standing chal- nals about the focus and pri-
lenge which the country needs orities of government work and
to resolve with great foresight development from the higher
and determination. During his levels to lower levels – authori-
tour, Xi also visited Tianjin and ties as well as private sectors
Tongzhou, a sub-center of Bei- and ordinary people, they not-
jing Municipality. ed.
Zhang Weiwei, director of
CPC tradition the China Institute at Fudan
The inspection tour is a University, told the Global
long-standing tradition and a Times on Monday that “the
regular activity for officials. first inspection tour of each
“No investigation, no right year normally expresses a deter-
to speak” is a famous quote mination to achieve goals con-
from the founding father of cerning specific issues within a
the Peoples’ Republic of China year or sometimes longer. For
Mao Zedong, given as he made instance, the construction of
remarks in May 1930 to criti- the Xiongan New Area is im-
cize doctrinism among the Chi- possible to accomplish in one
nese Workers’ and Peasants’ year.”
Red Army, according to people. In December 2012, Xi
com.cn. picked Shenzhen, South Chi-
In Chinese, the word “in- na’s Guangdong Province, as
spection” consists of two the destination of his first in-
characters: investigation and spection tour outside Beijing
research. This means that ev- after he became the general
eryone from the top leaders of secretary of the CPC Central
the country to lower-level offi- Committee.
cials needs to keep studying up- Shenzhen is a pioneer city
dated situations and dynamics of opening-up and subsequent
in the regions under their gov- reform. The selection of Shen-
ernance, and this is the basis of zhen announced the new lead-
policymaking, observers of Chi- ership’s determination of fur-
nese politics stated. ther pushing reform and the
7.4%
India
China
Russia
(estimate)
6.7%6.8%
6.6%
1.7%
1.5% (estimate)
2017 2018
Graphics: GT
ing abroad to buy kitchenware
in Germany and toilet lids in
Japan. They have the consump-
tion power,” said Cong Yi, a
professor at the Tianjin Univer-
sity of Finance and Economics.
“The main pressure now is
how to stimulate domestic de-
mand and unleash market po-
tential via deepening economic
reforms as well as how to pre-
vent the government’s counter-
cyclical adjustment from creat-
ing new bubbles in the property
and stock markets,” he said.
Confidence in 2019
Chinese policymakers at the
press conference voiced confi-
dence in maintaining a reason-
able economic growth rate in
2019.
Ning said their confidence
stemmed from not only con-
opening-up in the new term,
Zhang said.
Not only Xi, but other mem-
bers of the Standing Commit-
tee of the Political Bureau of
the CPC Central Committee
have also made their inspection
tours in different regions.
China is a country with vast
territory and the world’s larg-
est population, together with
complex national conditions,
meaning its leaders are unable
to keep updated with national
situations by remaining only
in Beijing and listening to re-
ports from local governments,
Zhang noted. “The inspection
tour is truly essential for the
country’s governance.”
Different focuses
Not only advanced and de-
veloped regions like Shenzhen
and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei
region are destinations for in-
spection tours. Undeveloped
parts of the country were also
inspected, said Zhang, so that
leaders can comprehensively
and objectively learn the latest
situations and dynamics of the
country as a whole.
According to people.com.
cn, Xi’s first annual inspection
tours after the 18th National
sumption power at home, with
a middle class of more than 400
million, but also an industrial
upgrade involving new growth
engines, innovative technology
and breathing room for flexible
policy adjustments.
“Without the trade war, Chi-
na could achieve an 8 percent
GDP growth rate if it fully taps
its potential,” Cong said. “But
even if the trade disputes with
the US persist, China could
still post a GDP growth rate be-
tween 6 percent and 7 percent
this year.”
In 2018, China’s GDP per
capita – a closely watched
measure of economic output –
stood at about $9,500.
Page Editor:
caosiqi@
globaltimes.com.cn
Congress of the CPC, from
2013 to 2019, have covered re-
gions including undeveloped
villages in Gansu, Shanxi and
Hebei Provinces, autonomous
regions for ethnic minorities
such as Inner Mongolia, Ludi-
an county in Southwest China’s
Yunnan Province where there
was an earthquake in 2014,
and Jinggangshan, a holy land
of China’s revolution located in
Jiangxi Province.
This series of inspection
tours has delivered a compre-
hensive message over the past
few years.
They have shown a deter-
mination to succeed in an anti-
poverty campaign, to rebuild
regions destroyed by natural di-
sasters, to boost unity amongst
different ethnicities in China,
and to inherit revolutionary
traditions from the founding
fathers of the country, the Party
and the army, said Xu.
From Xi’s New Year inspec-
tion tours since 2013, observers
have summarized that some is-
sues are constant.
For instance, the care for the
livelihoods of ordinary people
is always a concern, as visiting
these homes is a routine itiner-
ary during his tours.
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 3

TOPNEWS
Traditional fun CNN report
People in
traditional
on Uyghur
clothes play
Chinese ice
woman a
sports popular
during ancient
‘deliberate lie’
dynasties in the
Summer Palace
in Beijing on
US media’s report of China’s
Sunday. Photo: Uyghur woman Mihrigul Tur-
AFP sun is a “totally deliberate lie,”
and foreign media and the US
government should cease tar-
nishing China’s ethnic policy
lest they embarrass themselves,
said a Chinese Foreign Minis-
try spokesperson.
In a Sunday report pub-
lished by CNN, Tursun claimed
her son had died in Urumqi
Children’s Hospital in Xinjiang
in 2015, and that they had been
victims of “Beijing’s growing
crackdown on Muslim majority
Uyghur” in Xinjiang.
She also said she witnessed
the deaths of nine of her fellow
detainees while in jail, reported
 Ethnic unity, religious harmony ‘most important tasks’ CNN.
However, the report was
slammed with solid evidence

Xinjiang reaffirms stability

by Hua Chunying, Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesper-
son.
The CNN reporter filed an
interview request to China’s
Foreign Ministry on Friday ask-
By Zhao Yusha to fight terrorist and extrem- security check, told the Global courage international support ing for a response to Tursun’s
ist ideologies. Zakir also said Times on Monday. in combating terrorism and claims. “CNN evidently didn’t
Stability is highlighted in the maintaining ethnic unity and Xinjiang hasn’t seen a ter- helping to prevent negative want the verified result from
annual government report of religious harmony is the most rorist incident in 21 consecu- influences from outside, said us and published in a report on
Northwest China’s Xinjiang important large-scale work for tive months and public security Zhu. Sunday,” Hua said at a Monday
Uyghur Autonomous Region. Xinjiang. It will push forward incidents are declining in fre- Echoing Zhu, Li Wei, a Bei- news briefing.
Its official vowed to carry out the work of anti-extremism and quency, Zakir said in October. jing-based counter-terrorism Tursun has three children,
measures to combat terrorism, allow religious groups and cler- The Xinjiang government expert who was invited to visit Muezi, Muaizi and Ailinna,
extremism, and to maintain gies to guide people to resist the has worked out new methods the education centers in Xin- with her Egyptian husband.
stability in the year ahead. influence of extremist religious to eradicate threats to social jiang in November, told the Hua said that Muezi was
Speaking at the region’s an- content. stability in recent years. The Global Times that now Xin- sent to the Urumqi children’s
nual two sessions, Shohrat Za- The word “stability” has ap- vocational training camp is jiang has set an example for hospital for the durations of
kir, chairman of the regional peared 38 times in this report. one example, Zhu Weiqun, other countries fighting terror- January, May and November
government, hailed Xinjiang’s The Xinjiang regional gov- former head of the Ethnic and ism and extremism, due to its 2016, due to pneumonia, hy-
stable social environment in ernment has built a dimension- Religious Affairs Committee of efficiency and achievements. drocephalus and other illness-
the past year. He said that social al and information-oriented the National Committee of the However, experts warned es. Record shows Tursun and
stability has contributed to the public security system and has Chinese People’s Political Con- that the region should not loos- her husband took the child out
region’s economic and social deployed human and technolo- sultative Conference, told the en its endeavors to safeguard of China in April 2018.
development, Xinjiang Daily gy resources to help ensure the Global Times. social security and stability, as Tursun did not register a
reported on Sunday. region’s safety, Zakir said. The regional government in- various threats still linger. household for Muaizi in China
Zakir vowed that maintain- At a road security check in vited diplomats from 12 coun- Ulam Abudukadir, an in- and brought him from China to
ing social stability will also be Tumxuk, a gateway to Xinjiang, tries in early January to visit its spector of the united front work Turkey in January 2016.
an important task in 2019. To several terahertz body scanners vocational training and educa- department of Xinjiang, said Tursun is a resident in Qie-
accomplish this task, the gov- were introduced since 2017 to tion centers, when these cen- that some parts of the region mo county in the Bayingolin
ernment will carry on with ef- check for any metal or explosive ters were in spotlight of foreign have seen a tendency of “de- Mongolian Autonomous Pre-
ficient measures of fighting objects being brought through, media reports. sinicization” and the spreading fecture. She gave birth to one
terrorism, sending officials to and it has worked very well Showcasing Xinjiang’s of extremism has posed great daughter and two sons in Egypt,
villages in order to serve lo- during the two years, Xu Yong- achievements to other coun- threat to these area’s social sta- after her marriage to her Egyp-
cal people, and will continue sheng, vice head of the road tries allows the region to en- bility, Xinjiang Daily reported. tian husband in 2012. Muezi
and Ailinna secured Chinese
households in October 2015.
Blue hole in South China Sea officially world’s deepest After Tursun submitted the
renouncement of her Chinese
citizenship in March 2018, the
Qiemo county’s public security
Sansha Yongle Dragon Hole, which is has detected obvious water flows in the The term blue hole simply comes from the bureau in turn renounced the
300.89 meters deep, is now officially the hole. Pictures reveal that the blue hole dark, navy waters that characterize these households of her two children.
deepest ocean blue hole in the world, Chi- seems eerily like a time capsule, with the formations, according to National Geo- One month after this occurred,
na’s National Marine Environmental Fore- water creating a striking contrast to the tur- graphic in 2017. Tursun left China with her hus-
casting Center (NMEFC) announced on its quoise that surrounds it. The hole is of great scientific research band and two children.
Wechat account on Sunday. At least 20 kinds of ocean species live at value, and historical and cultural value. It In April 2017, Tursun was
The hole is located in the Xisha Islands the upper section of the hole, according to demonstrates China’s achievement in its detained by Qiemo police un-
in Sansha, South China’s Hainan Province, the NMEFC. A blue hole is a type of rare history of sea protection, the NMEFC said. der accusation of inciting ha-
in the South China Sea. It had exceeded the natural geographical phenomenon and is tred and discrimination among
Bahamas’ Dean’s Blue Hole of 202 meters considered to be “the last mystery that pro- Global Times ethnic minority groups, said
in depth, according to the NMEFC. tects the universe’s secret of the earth.” Hua, noting that the police only
The almost vertical blue hole measures Most blue holes are formed from sink- Page Editor: detained her for 20 days.
lengshuemi@globaltimes.com.cn
130 meters in diameter at its top entrance holes or caves that develop slowly over
and 36 meters at the bottom. The NMEFC time, as rock begins to erode and collapse. Global Times
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS

4
Tuesday January 22, 2019 NATION
 Chinese mainland’s 1.395b people expected to be surpassed by India soon

China’s birth rate lowest since 1961

By Zhang Hui
The number of newborns in
China has dropped to 15.23 mil-
lion in 2018, marking the low-
est number since 1961.
A continued decline is pre-
dicted by demographers, which
would allow India to soon re-
place China as the world’s most
populous country.
The figure, which was re-
vealed by the National Bureau
of Statistics (NBS) at a press
conference on Monday, was 2
million less than that of 2017.
The figure for 2016, the year
China started to allow all cou-
ples to have two children, stood
at 18.5 million.
“The sharp drop by 2 million
means that China’s population
has entered a fast-shrinking
phase from 2018, which comes
earlier than many experts pre-
dicted years ago,” Huang Wen-
zheng, a demographics expert,
told the Global Times on Mon-
day.
The Chinese mainland pop-
ulation was 1.395 billion by the
end of 2018, the NBS revealed.
After implementing the
“two-child policy” in 2016, Chi-
na’s top health authority pre-
dicted the number of newborns
in 2018 would be 790,000
more than 2017.
He Yafu, another demogra-
pher, told the Global Times that
the birth population in 2018
was the lowest since 1961. Both
demographers predicted China
will continue to witness decline
in newborns in following years.
“The figure in 2019 may
drop by as much as 1 million,
and gradually China may see its
birth population drop to below
10 million by around 2027,”
Huang stated.
In comparison, the second
most populous country in the
world and home to around 1.3
billion people, India, will soon
overtake China.
There have been 25 million
newborns annually in India in
recent years.
Although India has high
death rates for newborns and
many other issues, its growing
number of newborns will in
time provide a strong support
for its economy, Huang said.
According to a UN report
in 2017, India’s population will
surpass that of China by 2024.
He Yafu said the drop in
birth population in China over
the past two years was due to
a decline in the number of
women of childbearing age,
and the growing cost of raising
children.

Gene-editing scientist Annual homecoming

faked certificate and
broke law: inquiry team
It is out of personal fame and wealth that Chi-
nese scientist He Jiankui conducted the notori-
ous experiment to create the world’s first gene-
edited babies, the Xinhua News Agency reported
Monday.
Since June 2016, He has gathered funding
privately, evaded supervision and privately orga-
nized personnel, including those from abroad.
He undertook human embryo gene-editing for
reproduction, which is clearly prohibited in Chi-
na, Xinhua said, citing an investigation team un-
der Guangdong provincial government.
From March 2017 to November 2018, He
utilized a fake ethics examination paper and
gathered eight pairs of volunteers, consisting of
HIV-positive males and HIV-negative females for
experiment, the Xinhua report said.
In order to avoid regulations which prohibit
HIV carriers from undertaking aided reproduc-
tion, He arranged for unrelated individuals to
replace the volunteers for blood examinations.
He also directed other unrelated people to con-
duct gene-editing on human embryos illegally
and then had them transferred into the mothers’
wombs, according to the report.
Two volunteers who participated in He’s ex-
periment became pregnant. One of these individ-
uals already gave birth to the twin girls, known as
Lulu and Nana; the other is still pregnant. There
were also one pair quitting the experiment and
five others failing in getting pregnant, Xinhua
reported.
Guangdong provincial authority started their
investigation into the incident shortly after He’s
team announced the birth of gene-edited twins
on November 26th 2018, the report said.
He and personnels involved will be handed
over to the police and will be dealt with seriously
in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
Guangdong provincial authority will also carry
out medical observation and pay follow-up visit to
babies and pregnant volunteers, Xinhua reported
citing the head of the investigation team without
giving a name.
Such activities have seriously violated ethics
and morality as well as credibility and integrity
in the field of scientific research, said the Xinhua
report.
They had also seriously violate China’s related
regulations and have had a negative impact both
in and out of the country, said the report.
Global Times
Liaoning in likely sea trial after modification
By Liu Xuanzun
China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning
might be embarking on a new sea tri-
al on Monday after more than half a
year’s maintenance and modification.
Military experts say the warship will
come back not only replenished but
also strengthened.
The aircraft carrier Liaoning seems
to have set out from the Dalian Ship-
yard in Northeast China’s Liaoning
Province with the assistance of tug
boats on Monday morning, accord-
ing to photos posted on Sina Weibo
on Monday.
The vessel’s alleged movement
coincides with a notice of a military
exercise released by the Maritime
Safety Administration of China on
Thursday. The exercise is scheduled
from Monday to January 28 in North
Yellow Sea near Dalian, and other
ships are prohibited from entering a
designated area.
The notice did not mention which
A mother
and her
daughter
look out the
window of a
train at the
Luoyang
railway
station in
Central
China’s
Henan
Province.
About 3
billion trips
are expected
to be made
during this
year’s Spring
Festival
commuting,
which began
on Monday.
Photo: VCG
ships might be involved in the exer- in degradation and corrosion of the
cise. ship, and Wang said it is necessary for
Wang Yunfei, a naval expert and an aircraft carrier to undergo regular
retired People’s Liberation Army maintenance after several years of op-
(PLA) Navy officer, told the Global eration, including replacing parts and
Times on Monday that the Liaoning components with new ones to ensure
could be on a sea trial to test all the the vessel functions properly.
upgrades that have been made after In addition to maintaining the Lia-
more than half a year’s maintenance oning’s capability, photos show modi-
and modification. fications were made to the ship’s su-
“After this sea trial, there will be perstructure.
a final acceptance check. Normally, China has developed new and
the carrier will be handed over for op- advanced technologies since the Lia-
eration again in two months,” Wang oning went in service, which have
said. The warship is expected to par- already been installed on the Type
ticipate in a possible naval parade in 001A, China’s second carrier, Wang
celebration for the 70th anniversary said, noting that using these tech-
of the PLA Navy’s founding in April. nologies, especially those involving
The Liaoning began its mainte- the air traffic control systems and
nance in the Dalian Shipyard in July command management system, will
2018 after some six years of service enhance the Liaoning’s combat capa-
in the PLA Navy, Beijing-based news- bility.
paper Science and Technology Daily
reported. Page Editor:
lengshumei@globaltimes.com.cn
Intense operations and the sea
environment will inevitably result
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 5

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6 Tuesday January 22, 2019

FOCUS
WINTER FUN

Douyin to invite users to live-stream

By Liu Xin
 Tourism in Xinjiang booms their visits to Xinjiang.

S
ocial stability in Northwest
China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Au-
tonomous Region has brought
a tourism boom to the region in the
winter, previously considered the low
season, and governments at all levels
in the region are ramping up efforts
to develop the travel industry.
The tourism market in Xinjiang
skyrocketed in 2018, with the num-
ber of trips reaching 150 million, an
increase of 40 percent over the previ-
ous year, according to data from the
two sessions in Xinjiang.
During the Spring Festival holiday
last year, nearly 2.1 million trips
were made to Xinjiang, and tour-
ism revenue reached 1.688 billion
yuan ($250 million), an increase of
46.86 percent from the previous
year, according to Xinjiang’s tourism
authorities.
Xinjiang’s current efforts to
eliminate extremism and to ensure
social stability, including the estab-
lishment of vocational training and
education centers, have contributed
to the booming tourism, according to
officials reached by the Global Times
in Xinjiang.
“Social stability and the unification
of different ethnic groups in Xinjiang
have helped with the quick develop-
ment of tourism. More residents
in Xinjiang have participated in the
development and their income in-
creased sharply,” Pang Xiangyang, an
official from the publicity department
of Ili, told the Global Times.
According to a work report of
thanks to social stability
the Xinjiang government, the social
stability benefits the development
of tourism and the government
is taking the opportunity to build
Xinjiang as an important sightseeing
destination, the Xinhua News Agency
reported in January.
Developing tourism can also help
with poverty alleviation in Xinjiang.
According to the Xinjiang Daily, the
region has invested 172 million yuan
in 263 tourist programs for poverty
alleviation and helped provide jobs to
12,000 poor residents.
Take Yueliangdi village in Mulei
Kazak autonomous county as an
example. A total of 78 of the 144
households in the village took part in
local tourism development, and their
income increased by 30,000 yuan
from January to October 2018, while
40,000 trips were made to the vil-
lage, the Xinjiang Daily reported.
Ramping up efforts
Moreover, governments at all lev-
els in Xinjiang are ramping up efforts
to promote winter tourism.
From December 2018 to April
2019, Xinjiang will hold 196 promo-
tional activities to boost its winter
tourism, including a Nadam Fair – a
traditional festival of the Mongolian
ethnic group – in Hejing county in
the Bayinhgolin Mongolian autono-
mous prefecture, an ice engraving
light show in Urumqi, and a musi-
cal gala in Xinyuan county in the
Ili Kazak autonomous prefecture,
chinanews.com reported.
“In order to keep the momentum
of tourism development in Ili, local
government has launched cultural
festivals, including promoting local
delicacies, trade fairs, and winter
swimming, skiing and horse racing
competitions,” Pang told the Global
Times.
According to data provided by
Pang, a total of 5.66 million trips are
expected to be made to Yining, a city
in Ili, from October 2018 to April
2019, an increase of 46.33 percent
over the previous year. Tourism
income is expected to reach 6.944
billion yuan.
Other areas in Xinjiang have also
made efforts in developing the tour-
ism industry.
Sun Liang, a manager from
Baiyun Ski Resort in Urumqi, was
quoted by china.com.cn as saying
that during the three-day New Year
holiday, more than 10,000 visitors
came to the ski resort. “We almost
ran out of ski instructors!” said Sun.
Xinjiang is also cooperating with
media in different provinces to pro-
mote tourism.
Xinjiang’s cyber space admin-
istration launched a program with
popular Chinese video-sharing app
Wang Mengyun, who was born in
Xinjiang and now studies in Helsin-
ki, Finland, returned to Xinjiang and
guided Tik Tok (Douyin’s overseas
edition) viewers on a virtual visit to
the Tianshan Mountains and scenic
spots along the Belt and Road route.
Many netizens praised the
program for displaying the gor-
geous landscape and cultural relics
of China’s Xinjiang, and inspiring
patriotism.
Aside from improving promotion-
al activities, Xinjiang has also sped up
infrastructure construction to support
tourism development. According to
chinanews.com, all prefectures and
cities in Xinjiang are now linked to
the highway network, and 21 airports
opened in 2018.
Xinjiang launched a winter
tourism train in 2018 to take pas-
sengers to the main scenic spots in
the region, including Kanas in Altay
prefecture, Wenquan in the Bortala
Mongolian autonomous prefecture,
and Kuqa in Aksu prefecture.
Thanks to the rich tourism re-
sources in Xinjiang, winter tourism
has boomed and more efforts should
be made to enhance support facilities
for future development, a tourism in-
dustry insider in Xinjiang, who asked
for anonymity, told the Global Times.
Tourists have fun at an ice and
snow festival on December 30,
2018 in Bayingolin in Northwest
China’s Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region. Photo: VCG

Subway station to serve Universal Studios Beijing to be completed by 2020

A project management center
for the Universal Studios Bei-
jing theme park has opened,
according to the culture and
tourism administration of Bei-
jing’s Tongzhou district.
In the meantime, the sub-
way station for Universal Stu-
dios will be built by the third
quarter of 2019 and ready for
service by the end of the year.
Investment in the theme
park in Tongzhou was ex-
panded to $6.5 billion, topping
the $5.5 billion investment
from the Walt Disney Co for
Shanghai Disney. The doubled
investment is based on an op-
timistic projection for China’s
booming theme park market,
and will make Universal
Beijing the largest Universal
Studios theme park, according
to the Wall Street Journal.
China is set to top the US
next year in becoming the
world’s largest market for the
theme park industry.
Theme park revenue in
China topped $6 billion in
2017, an increase of 27 percent
from 2016, and is expected
to hit $14 billion by 2022,
according to Mintel, a market
research firm.
Planning and design for
the first phase of the Universal
Studios Beijing theme park
resort has been completed,
and construction began on the
main building in August 2018.
Construction of attractions
and auxiliary facilities is in full
swing.
Two subway lines and a sub-
way station have been designed
to serve the theme park, which
is expected to draw 10 million
visitors in its first year.
The eastern extension of
line 7 and southern extension
of line 8, which will reach the
theme park, are under con-
struction now.
Global Times
Page Editor:
lilei@globaltimes.com.cn
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WORLD 7
Tuesday January 22, 2019

 Plan B would not convince MPs without substantial change: Spain’s FM

Britain’s May unveils new Brexit strategy

British Prime Minister Theresa
May was set to unveil her Brexit
“Plan B” to parliament on Mon-
day after MPs shredded her EU
divorce deal, deepening the po-
litical gridlock 10 weeks from
departure day.
Britain will crash out of the
European Union on March 29
unless MPs can force a delay
or come up with an alternative
plan that Brussels is also happy
with, before the deadline.
London and Brussels have
spent the best part of two years
working on the divorce deal
but MPs in parliament’s lower
House of Commons compre-
hensively rejected it on Tues-
day.
EU leaders have signalled
they could alter the agreement
if May dropped some of her ne-
gotiating “red lines” but British
media on Monday reported that
she would instead attempt to
negotiate some changes to the
existing agreement.
The reports were met with
scepticism in Europe.
“I don’t think it can be saved
by marginal adjustments in the
current plan. I don’t think she
can convince MPs by present-
ing the same thing to them
with slight tweaks,” Spanish
Foreign Minister Josep Borrell
said in Brussels. “It therefore
has to present something sub-
stantially different.”
Asked if he would change
the Brexit deal, Slovakia’s Miro-
slav Lajcak said: “Why? So you
want the EU to be a bigger loser
than the UK? Is this what you
really want?
“This is a fair deal that 27
members strongly support so
I would really not touch,” he
said.
After surviving a Commons
confidence vote on Wednes-
day, May last week reached out
to opposition parties to seek
a compromise solution but
the talks appear to have fallen
through.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the
main opposition Labour Party
stayed away, saying that a “no-
deal” departure must be ruled
out first – something May says
is impossible.
After May sets out her plans
for the way ahead, lawmak-
ers are set to table a series of
amendments, to be voted upon
on January 29.
At least two groups of MPs
are planning to table amend-
ments to enable backbench-
ers to delay Brexit and prevent
Britain leaving the EU with no
agreement.
One of the proposals would
enable MPs to debate and vote
on Brexit issues, giving them
far greater influence over gov-
ernment strategy.
May’s Downing Street office
has called them “extremely con-
cerning.”
“You’ve got a Leave popula-
tion and a Remain parliament,”
International Trade Secretary
Liam Fox, one of the senior
Brexiteers in May’s cabinet,
said on Sunday.
“Parliament has not got the
right to hijack the Brexit pro-
cess... and in fact steal the re-
sult from the people,” he told
BBC television.
Britain voted by a 52-48 mar-
gin in favour of leaving the EU
in a referendum in 2016 that
exposed deep divisions in Brit-
ish society.
AFP

Advance preparation Kremlin says peace

Japanese police officers conduct anti-terrorism drill in Osaka, Japan on Monday, ahead of this year’s Group of
Twenty Summit. The annual summit is scheduled to be held on June 28, 29 in Osaka. Photo: IC
China congratulates DR Congo’s president-elect
China congratulated Felix Tshisekedi
on winning the presidency of Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo on Monday,
after the country’s top court upheld
the vote results.
“China respects the choices made
by Congolese people and congratu-
lates Mr Tshisekedi on his election,”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesper-
son Hua Chunying told a daily news
briefing.
“China hopes that all parties in
the country will work together to
promote peace, stability and develop-
ment of the country, and hopes that
other countries will actively create fa-
vorable conditions for this goal.”
After the court dismissed runner-
up Martin Fayulu’s call for a recount
as “absurd,” Tshisekedi was declared
the winner with 38.5 percent of the
vote, paving the way for him to take
over from the country’s longtime
leader Joseph Kabila.
African nations on Sunday began
recognizing Tshisekedi as DR Con-
go’s incoming president, rejecting
claims by the presidential candidate
Martin Fayulu of an election stitch-
up.
The 16-nation Southern African
Development Community (SADC)
along with Kenya also congratulated
Tshisekedi on Sunday, calling for a
peaceful handover of power.
“SADC calls upon all Congolese to
accept the outcome, and consolidate
democracy and maintain a peaceful
and stable environment following the
landmark elections,” it said in a state-
ment.
In a speech, Tshisekedi welcomed
the victory and said he would seek to
mend divisions in the country.
“This is the end of one fight and
the start of another in which I will
enlist all the Congolese people: a
fight for well-being, for a Congo that
wins,” he said.
Global Times – Agencies
talks with Japan a
‘drawn out’ process
The Kremlin on Monday dampened expectations
of any breakthrough at the upcoming summit
between the leaders of Russia and Japan, saying
striking a peace deal would be a very “drawn out”
process.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japa-
nese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Tues-
day in Moscow, part of revived negotiations aim-
ing to formally end World War II.
The peace process stalled in the 1950s due to a
dispute over the Kuril islands.
“The president has said from the start that the
issue of signing a peace agreement with Japan
will be very drawn out in terms of time,” Putin’s
spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists hours
before Abe’s expected touchdown in the Russian
capital.
“The talks are in their initial stage,” he said.
Tokyo claims that they own the so-called
southern Kurils, a string of islands just north of
Hokkaido which it calls Northern Territories.
In the 1950s, the former Soviet Union had
said it would be willing to transfer Shikotan is-
land and Habomai, a group of islets, to Japan, fol-
lowing a signed peace accord.
Japan at the time refused, demanding the en-
tire chain, which also includes the islands of Itu-
rup and Kunashir.
The notion that Moscow could now cede any
territory to Japan is extremely sensitive in Rus-
sian society, with a number of protests held
against it in recent weeks, including in Moscow
at the weekend.
Peskov did not rule out the possibility that
Putin could hand over territory in exchange for
a peace deal.
“Nobody has officially offered anything, so any
eventual line of reasoning is hardly appropriate,
they don’t help the spirit of the talks,” he said.
“Nobody is going to go against their national
interests,” Peskov said.
AFP
Page Editor:
wangbozun@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
8 Tuesday January 22, 2019

WORLD
Mouth moment Death toll from
central Mexico
fuel explosion
increases to 85
The death toll from a fiery ex-
plosion in central Mexico rose
to 85 on Sunday as authori-
ties vowed to hold accountable
those responsible for a deliber-
ate fuel-line puncture that drew
hundreds of people looking
to gather gasoline before it ig-
nited.
The search for human re-
mains at the site of the explo-
sion in the state of Hidalgo end-
ed late Saturday. While families
began to bury the dead, officials
indicated the death toll could
still rise.
Health Minister Jorge Al-
cocer said 85 deaths were con-
firmed and that another 58
people were hospitalized in
Hidalgo, while others in worse
conditions had been moved
A Hindu woman devotee gets her cheeks pierced with a metal rod as she participates in a religious procession during Thaipusam to Mexico City for specialized
festival at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday. Thaipusam, celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an treatment.
annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. Photo: IC Family members of the vic-
tims have called on the govern-
ment to continue looking for
 Night fighters hit alleged Iranian military training camp remains and to bring back fo-
rensic experts for that purpose.
Funerals already have be-

Israel strikes targets in Syria

Israel struck what it said were
Iranian targets in Syria early
Monday in response to rocket
fire it blamed on Iran, sparking
concerns of an escalation after
a monitor reported 11 fighters
killed.
Israel claimed responsibil-
ity for the strikes against fa-
cilities it said belonged to the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards’
Quds Force, continuing its re-
cent practice of speaking more
openly about such raids.
It said the strikes were in
response to a surface-to-surface
rocket the Quds Force fired
from Syria at the Golan Heights
on Sunday, which Israeli air de-
fenses intercepted.
“Yesterday, Iranian Quds
forces operating in Syrian terri-
tory launched a surface-to-sur-
face rocket from Syrian territo-
ry aimed at the northern Golan
Heights,” the Israeli military
said in a statement.
“In response to the attack,
during the night fighter jets
struck Iranian Quds Forces
military targets in Syria in ad-
dition to Syrian aerial defense
batteries.”
It said targets included mu-
nitions stores, a site at Damas-
cus International Airport, an
Iranian intelligence installation
and an Iranian training camp.
It said it had also hit Syr-
ian air defense batteries in re-
sponse to fire from them.
The Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights war monitor
said at least 11 pro-regime fight-
ers including two Syrians were
killed.
Russia, which like Iran is a
key backer of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad in the coun-
try’s war, said the Israeli strikes
killed four Syrian soldiers and
wounded six, while also dam-
aging Damascus airport infra-
structure.
The Observatory said air-
strikes and ground-to-ground
missiles hit targets around the
capital including near the Da-
mascus airport, as well as near
the Thaala military airport to
the south of the capital.
Targets included weapons
depots belonging to the Leba-
nese Shiite movement Hezbol-
lah and Iranian fighters.
Israel’s interception of the
rocket on Sunday came after
Damascus accused Israel of
carrying out air raids in the
country’s south.
Israel has pledged to stop
its main enemy Iran from en-
trenching itself militarily in
neighboring Syria.
AFP
gun, but the handover of re-
mains has been slow because
many of the victims were
burned beyond recognition.
The Hidalgo state prosecu-
tor said 54 of the dead could
not be readily identified, and
require DNA analysis.
Mourners began arriving
little by little at the home of
one of the victims, while in the
adjacent street a hearse carried
another corpse.
“He’s gone forever,” sobbed
a woman as the remains of Ce-
sar Jimenez were transferred
to a church for a funeral mass
attended by dozens of relatives
and friends.
AFP
Page Editor:
wangbozun@
globaltimes.com.cn

Philippines seeks southern peace with Muslim minority self-rule vote

A decades-long push to halt the violence
that has claimed some 150,000 lives in
the southern Philippines culminates
Monday with a vote on giving the na-
tion’s Muslim minority greater control
over the region.
The poll is the final step in a peace
deal with the Catholic-majority country’s
largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which
has been a key force in a separatist in-
surgency that has raged since the 1970s.
Core areas of the proposed Bangas-
moro region, located on the southern
island of Mindanao, are expected to vote
overwhelmingly to join it.
“I’m tired of the violence because
my father is one of the victims,” said
22-year-old Jembrah Abas, adding he
was slain by unidentified attackers after
advocating for peace.
The election “is on the 20th anniver-
sary of his death. I’m so sick of the vio-
lence,” she told AFP.
About 2.8 million voters will be
watched over by 20,000 police and
soldiers amid fears that rival insurgent
groups could use violence to disrupt the
poll. The peace process began in the
1990s and does not include hard-line Is-
lamist factions including those aligned
with the Islamic State group, which are
also active in the southern Philippines.
“Their motive is to sow terror,” Phil-
ippine national police chief Oscar Albay-
alde said, referring to the rival groups.
“They don’t really have any other cause.”
The government and MILF hope that
a new, stable Bangasmoro will attract in-
vestment to a region where brutal pov-
erty and perennial bloodshed has fueled
recruitment by radical groups.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who also
hails from Mindanao, has long backed
the creation of an autonomous region
for the island’s Muslims.
Under the terms of the law which lays
out the region’s powers, Bangasmoro
will get $950 million in development
funds over the next 10 years, as well as
chunk of the tax revenue generated with-
in its borders.
The national government will keep
control over the police, though the lead-
ership of the autonomous area will be
closely involved in security matters.
Final results are expected to be re-
leased within four days of the voting,
with approval triggering the demobiliza-
tion of a third of MILF’s fighters, which
it says number 30,000.
Muslim rebels have long battled for
independence or autonomy on Mind-
anao, which they regard as their ances-
tral homeland dating back to when Arab
traders arrived there in the 13th century.
AFP
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 9

WORLD
 Oxfam warns that growing wealth gap damages economies, fuels anger

Richest 26 as wealthy as bottom 3.8b

The world’s 26 richest people own
the same wealth as the poorest half of
humanity, Oxfam said Monday, urg-
ing governments to hike taxes on the
wealthy to fight soaring inequality.
A new report from the charity, pub-
lished ahead of the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland, also
found that billionaires around the world
saw their combined fortunes grow by
$2.5 billion each day in 2018.
The world’s richest man, Amazon
CEO Jeff Bezos, saw his fortune increase
to $112 billion last year, Oxfam said,
pointing out that just 1 percent of his
wealth was the equivalent to the entire
health budget of Ethiopia, a country of
105 million people.
The 3.8 billion people at the bot-
tom of the scale meanwhile saw their
wealth decline by 11 percent last year,
Oxfam said, stressing that the grow-
ing gap between rich and poor was
undermining the fight against poverty,
damaging economies and fuelling pub-
lic anger.
“People across the globe are an-
gry and frustrated,” warned Oxfam
Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in
a statement.
The numbers are stark: Between
1980 and 2016, the poorest half of hu-
manity pocketed just 12 cents on each
dollar of global income growth, com-
pared with the 27 cents captured by the
top 1 percent, the report found.
Oxfam warned that governments
were exacerbating inequality by increas-
ingly underfunding public services like
healthcare and education at the same
time as they consistently undertax the
wealthy.
Calls for hiking rates on the wealthy
have multiplied amid growing popular
outrage in a number of countries over
swelling inequality.
In the US, new congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made head-
lines earlier this month by proposing to
tax the ultra-rich up to 70 percent.
The self-described Democratic Social-
ist’s proposal came after US President
Donald Trump’s sweeping tax reforms
cut the top rate last year from 39.6 per-
cent to 37 percent.
And in Europe, the “yellow vest”
movement that has been rocking France
with anti-government protests since
November is demanding that French
President Emmanuel Macron repeal
controversial cuts to wealth taxes on
high earners.
AFP

UK launches Masses of mango

app for EU
citizens to stay
after Brexit
The British government
launched a phone app on
Monday to allow EU nation-
als to apply to stay after Brexit,
hoping to ease concerns among
those who have made their lives
in Britain.
Around 3.5 million Europe-
ans currently living in Britain
will need to apply for “settled
status” to continue to work and
claim benefits after Brexit.
The app launch is a test stage
before the scheme becomes
fully operational on March 30,
the day after Britain is due to
leave the EU. It will stay open
until late 2020 or 2021. Prime
Minister Theresa May has said
repeatedly she wants Europe-
ans living in Britain to stay.
Officials have vowed to make Plates of mango are prepared to be served to guests during a Guinness record attempt for the world’s largest serving of mango
the process as easy as possible, sticky rice, in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday. Thailand set a new Guinness World Records by serving 10,000 Chinese guests 4,500
but there are concerns about kilograms of mango sticky rice. Photo: IC
how they will cope with what
some estimates suggest could
be 6,000 applications a day.
Talks continue with Apple 10 UN peacekeepers killed, 25 injured in Mali attack
to allow the app to function
on iPhones as it currently only
works on Android phones. Jihadist gunmen killed 10 a “complex attack” on the camp Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the It was established after Is-
Last year the Home Office Chadian peacekeepers and in- in Aguelhok, in Kidal region UN envoy for Mali, condemned lamist militias seized the north
interior ministry came under jured at least 25 others in an and called for the perpetrators what he called a “vile and crimi- of the country in 2012. They
intense criticism for threaten- attack on a UN camp in north- to be brought to justice. nal” attack. “Peacekeepers of were pushed back by French
ing to deport Britons whose ern Mali on Sunday, one of the “Ten peacekeepers from the MINUSMA force at Aguel- troops in 2013.
parents, the so-called Windrush deadliest strikes against the UN Chad were killed and at least 25 hok fought off a sophisticated A peace agreement signed
generation, migrated from the mission in the African country. injured,” said a statement from attack by assailants who arrived in 2015 by the Bamako govern-
Caribbean after World War II. Al Qaeda in the Islamic UN spokesperson Stephane on several armed vehicles,” he ment and armed groups was
They were legally British Maghreb claimed responsibil- Dujarric. said in a statement. aimed at restoring stability to
but some people who could not ity for the attack, saying it was The gunmen struck early The attack “illustrates the Mali. But the accord has failed
produce official proof were told “in reaction” to the visit to Chad Sunday at the Aguelhok base determination of the terrorists to stop violence by Islamist
to leave Britain, or refused the by Israeli Prime Minister Ben- 200 kilometers north of Kidal to sow chaos.” militants, who have also staged
right to return home after visit- jamin Netanyahu, according and towards the border with “It demands a robust, imme- attacks in neighboring Burkina
ing relatives abroad. to the Mauritanian Al-Akhbar Algeria, according to a source diate and concerted response Faso and Niger.
The EU scheme “is an im- news agency, which regularly close to the MINUSMA mis- from all forces to destroy the
portant test for the Home receives statements from this sion. peril of terrorism in the Sahel,” AFP
Office,” said Jill Rutter of the jihadist group. “MINUSMA forces respond- said the statement.
British Future think tank. UN Secretary-General An- ed robustly and a number of as- Some 13,000 peacekeepers Page Editor:
wanghuayun@
tonio Guterres strongly con- sailants were killed,” Dujarric are deployed in Mali as part of globaltimes.com.cn
AFP demned what he described as said, without specifying the toll. a UN mission.
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
10 Tuesday January 22, 2019
WORLD
u Trump and Pelosi again butt
heads but others see possible paths
Future up
in the air
U
S President Donald Trump
bitterly attacked top
Democrat Nancy Pelosi on
Sunday and she again insisted that
Trump should end the government
shutdown before border security
talks can begin, but there were hints
of possible movement.
Trump lashed out on Twitter
a day after Pelosi, speaker of the
House of Representatives, dismissed
as a “non-starter” his offer to extend
temporary protection to about a mil-
lion immigrants in return for $5.7
billion for the wall he wants on the
Mexican border to fulfill a signature
campaign promise.
Government shutdowns are a
disruptive political ritual that have
occurred in various administrations
and are almost unique to the US
system. But this one is the longest
on record. It has left about 800,000
federal workers unpaid – among
them airport security officers, FBI
agents, museum workers, and Coast
Guard members.
“Nancy Pelosi has behaved so
irrationally & has gone so far to
the left that she has now officially
become a Radical Democrat,” the
president tweeted. “She is so petri-
fied of the ‘lefties’ in her party that
she has lost control.”
It was Trump’s most direct attack
on Pelosi since the partial govern-
ment shutdown began, and ap-
peared to reflect a mounting sense
of frustration.
Pointedly ignoring his personal
comments, Pelosi on Twitter empha-
sized the need to end the impasse,
which has inflicted increasing pain
after one month, with some govern-
ment employees having to turn to
food banks or local charities to get
by.
“Reopen the government, let
workers get their paychecks and
then we can discuss how we can
come together to protect the border.
#EndTheShutdown,” she tweeted.
‘Good-faith compromise’
While Pelosi and other Demo-
crats dismissed Trump’s offer, Re-
publicans insisted that it represented
actual movement by the president.
Vice President Mike Pence, who
has been leading the administra-
tion’s contacts with Congress, said
the Senate would put the proposal to
a vote as early as Tuesday. He called it
“a good-faith compromise.”
The planned vote also reflects a
shift by Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell. He insisted previ-
ously that he would not take up any
shutdown bill unless both Trump
and Democratic leaders backed it.
“In a very real sense, what Presi-
dent Trump did here was he set the
table for a deal,” Pence said on “Fox
News Sunday.”
The bill’s fate was far from clear.
Republicans hope to lure the votes of
a few Democrats from Trump-friend-
ly states to reach the 60 votes need-
ed, but they may lose some hard-line
conservatives in the process.
Most blame Republicans
The Trump administration – in-
creasingly blamed by Americans for
the shutdown – is trying to balance
demands of those hard-liners and
Democrats who adamantly oppose
spending the $5.7 billion Trump
wants for a wall.
Trump has regularly warned of
what he says is a serious criminal
threat from undocumented mi-
grants entering the country, which is
grappling with a surge in arrivals by
families and children who say they
are fleeing poverty and violence in
Central America.
Democrats have offered more
than $2 billion for a range of other
border-security measures.
They assailed Trump’s new offer
as cynical, noting that it was the
president who – by moving earlier
to end the DACA program protect-
ing 700,000 young immigrants and
to expel about 300,000 others in a
separate program – had placed in
jeopardy many of those for whom he
now offers temporary protection.
But anti-immigrant voices also
attacked Trump’s offer as tantamount
to amnesty for the undocumented – a
toxic concept for many conservatives.
“No, Amnesty is not a part of my
offer. It is a three-year extension
of DACA,” Trump said in another
tweet. DACA was former president
Barack Obama’s program to shield
undocumented immigrants who
entered the country as children.
Trump said that there would be
“no big push” to remove the 11 mil-
lion people in the country illegally,
before warning: “but be careful,
Nancy!”
His immigration crackdown has
not stanched the influx of migrants,
and a new group of about 400 Hon-
durans – the fourth since October 13
– headed north on Saturday, officials
there said.
Still, as the costs of the US shut-
down mounted, both sides in the
standoff appeared to be casting about
cautiously for a road ahead.
“The vote this week (in the Senate)
is not to pass the bill,” said Senator
James Lankford, a Republican, “It’s
to open up and say, can we debate
this? Can we amend it? Can we make
changes? Let’s find a way to get the
government open.”
Representative Bennie Thompson,
a Democrat who chairs the Home-
land Security Committee, said that “I
would not rule out a wall in certain
circumstances.”
He suggested that Democrats
were amenable to negotiating if
Trump would stop demonizing the
party and its leaders and provide as-
surances that he would not suddenly
shift positions.
“The notion that we have come
from a (focus on a) wall to some
other thing is moving it along,” he
told ABC’s This Week, “but we have
to sit down and talk.”
Representative Tulsi Gabbard,
who plans to seek the presidency in
2020, told CNN it was urgent that
both sides “come together and have
a real conversation and hash out the
differences.”
But Representative James Cly-
burn, the third-ranking House
Democrat, insisted that the govern-
ment must first be reopened.
AFP
Acting White House Chief
of Staff Mick Mulvaney
(left) and White House
Communications Director
Bill Shine talk before US
President Donald Trump
makes a statement about
immigration and the border
wall at the diplomatic
reception room of the White
House on Saturday in
Washington, DC. Photo: AFP
Page Editor:
wangbozun@
globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 11

Amusement park offers ‘regret pill’ for faint of heart Limber in winter
An amusement park that fea-
tures a giant swing that hurls
people over a hundreds-me-
ter-high cliff in Southwest Chi-
na’s Chongqing Municipality
is offering “regret medicine”
allowing riders who lose their
nerve to stop the launch of the
swing.
It’s for charity and for fun at
the expense of the fearful.
A rider in chair is lifted back-
wards 21 meters high until the
chair is past horizontal. Once
an operator pulls the release
cord, the chair is thrown out
over the cliff and back multiple
times.
A video on Ran News shows
a woman screaming as her
chair is slowly hoisted to the
highest position. She didn’t buy
the “regret medicine” to stop
the swing and is launched over
the cliff.
Vending machines make debut on city buses
Vending machines are pretty
much ubiquitous, found in air-
ports, campus, hotels and even
some street corners, now a city
in Central China has come up
with a pilot project by install-
ing them on local buses.
Bottled water, energy drinks,
gums and snacks can be pur-
chased with passengers’ phone
app, according to photos that
went viral.
Some people thought this
was an interesting innovation.
However, a resident of Luohe,
Henan Province on Thursday
called a local radio hotline to
report that a vending machine
had been installed on her local
bus, and she was not happy
about this change. She said the
machine was being placed too
close to the backdoor handrails.
Wang complained that the
machine could pose dangers
when the bus makes a sharp
turn or suddenly brakes.
Most commuters aren’t on a
“The ‘regret medicine’ is a
simple vitamin tablet which we
started to offer in December.
The idea came from tourists.
We took the advice to improve
our service and do some good,”
an employee of the amusement
park surnamed Zhao told the
Beijing News on Friday.
Riders are required to sign
a waiver and presumably they
have the option of buying the
“regret medicine.”
“About 20 percent of the
riders have ultimately pur-
chased the ‘regret medicine.’
The money in the donation box
is just over 100 yuan ($15), and
we plan to donate it to charity,”
Zhao said.
“It is really creative to use
people’s courage to give to char-
ity,” one netizen commented.
Global Times
bus for very long and don’t need
refreshments, she said. Besides,
the vending machines are bulky
and take up room that could be
used for passengers.
Zhang Changying, employee
of the bus service company, told
Luohe Radio that the vending
machines are undergoing trial
runs on only a few buses.
“We noticed it could pose
dangers to people since they
cannot hold the handrail while
making a purchase,” Zhang
said. “We will ask the machine
company to remove the vendors
very soon,” said Zhang.
Kunming in Southwest
China’s Yunnan Province also
installed vending machines in
August on some of its city bus-
es. But food with strong odors
is not allowed to be sold. It’s not
known if they are still installed
on those buses or have caused
accidents.
Global Times
Yoga practitioners are not deterred by Sunday’s temperatures
that dipped to -18 C in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang
Province. Photo: VCG
Addict tells cops dealer tricked him
An apparently delusional
drug addict went to the police
to complain about his drug
dealer in East China, demand-
ing the cops to help him get
a refund for the fake crystal
meth he was sold.
A very angry man sur-
named Wang in Lianyungang,
Jiangsu Province went to the
local police station with a bag
of crystal sugar and asked po-
lice officer Zhang Chi to help
MOSAIC
him get a refund of 1,400 yuan
($206) saying he thought he
had bought crystal meth from
the dealer, Xiandai Kuaibao
reported on Saturday.
Zhang agreed to investigate
the case and soon caught the
seller, surnamed Zhou, who
admitted that he had sold the
sugar to Wang. A photo of the
small pile of sugar shows it
weighs 1.59 grams and a foren-
sic examination confirmed it
Mourinho admits he hid
in laundry to skirt ban
Manchester United’s former
coach Jose Mourinho admitted
Saturday that he hid in a laun-
dry basket during a two-match
ban so he could sneak into
the dressing room to give a
team-talk before a Champions
League match.
Mourinho, who sacked in
December, skirted a touchline
suspension on the eve of the
2005 quarter-final by getting
the Chelsea equipment manag-
er to help him stow away in the
basket.
“I go to the dressing room
during the day so I am there
from midday and the game is
seven o’clock. I just want to be
in the dressing room when the
players arrive,” the 55-year-old
recalled.
“I went there and nobody
saw me. The problem was to
leave after. And the kit man put
me in the basket. It was a little
bit open so I could breathe.
“But when he is taking it
outside the dressing room,
some people were following
and desperate to find me so he
closed the box and I couldn’t
breathe. When he opened the
box I was dying.”
AFP
was not crystal meth.
Wang was then tested
positive for meth and admit-
ted he had taken the drug the
previous day. The police have
put Wang and Zhou under
administrative detention.
“Luckily Zhou sold only
sugar, otherwise his sin was
great,” commented “Refeng-
gege.”
Xiandai Kuaibao

Giant saving account

Banksy ‘snow’ pollution mural
sells for more than $130,000
A mural by elusive British street artist Banksy
depicting a child enjoying falling snow that is
in fact ash from a burning bin has been sold for
over 100,000 pounds ($130,000) to a British art
dealer.
From one side, the “Season’s Greetings” mural
on a concrete block garage in Wales shows a small
boy with his tongue out to catch snow that, when
viewed from another side, turns out to be pollu-
tion from an industrial bin.
“I bought it and it cost me a six-figure sum,”
John Brandler of Brandler Galleries, told Reuters
by telephone.
“I am lending it to Port Talbot for a minimum
of two or three years. I want to use it as a center
for an art hub that would bring in internationally
famous artists to Port Talbot.”
The mural appeared last month in the town
on the edge of Swansea Bay, home to one of the
biggest steelworks in the world.

Reuters
A huge golden piggy bank is on display at a
shopping mall in Shenyang, Northeast China’s
Page Editor:
Liaoning Province on Sunday. Organizers say it zhanghan@globaltimes.com.cn
can hold at least 5 million coins. Photo: VCG
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
12-13
Tuesday January 22, 2019
○ Bangladesh welcomes Chinese investment
but fears being dragged into debt risks
○ Compared with India, China has played
more of an economic role than a political one
○ Some scholars are hoping for China’s coor-
dination in settling the Rohingya problem.
By Hu Bofeng
B
angladeshi experts and scholars
raised tough questions about Ro-
hingya refugees and the so-called
debt trap to the Global Times following
the “Dialogue on China-Bangladesh rela-
tions: predicting the future” symposium
held on December 8, 2018, in Dhaka,
capital of Bangladesh.
The symposium was hosted by COS-
MOS, a prominent local think tank that
grew out of a leading energy and media
company in Bangladesh. COSMOS told
the Global Times that the symposium
reflects Bangladesh’s attention and
appreciation toward its good relation-
ship with China. The dialogue was held
to provide a platform for officials and
scholars concerned about the future of
the China-Bangladesh relationship.
‘Other side of the coin’
Bangladesh is a country in South
Asia, with a land area of about 150,000
square kilometers. It is one of the most
populous countries in the world, with the
highest fertility rate in Asia.
At the symposium, many experts and
scholars said that developing a good
relationship with China has been the
consensus of a majority of Bangladeshis.
 Bangladeshis welcome Chinese investment but want questions answered
MIXEDFEEL
INDE
Though they admit Chinese investment Perhaps out of politeness, Professor
brings many advantages, they have also Afsan Chowdhury from the Brac Uni- “Why do the Chinese
become more concerned about “the versity did not use the term “debt trap” invest here? What will
other side of the coin” – whether Chinese but a softer claim – “debt overwhelming”
investment could drag their country into instead. As far as he knows, China’s in- be left for Bangladesh
debt risk. vestment in Bangladesh may cause debt
On the issue of the so-called debt trap, overwhelming, he said. after 10 years, 20
some Bangladeshi scholars repeat the lo- years or even several
cal and Western media reports, claiming False threat
that China has lent and invested more Since last year, some Western media generations? These are
than $30 billion in Bangladesh, accord- outlets have accused China of using the
ing to their calculations. “debt trap” to expand its influence to the questions commonly
They have worried that Bangladesh Sri Lanka and other countries along the heard among locals.”
will follow the same path as Sri Lanka, Belt and Road route. They alleged that
which has transferred an important China has lured countries of strategic
strategic port, Hambantota Port, with a significance into the “debt trap” by giv- Arif Mahmud
99-year lease to China because it cannot ing them huge loans, then taking over A senior journalist of The Independent,
an English-language daily newspaper in
pay its debt to China. infrastructure projects there after these
Dhaka.
“We don’t know what attracts China less developed countries fail to repay the
to invest in Bangladesh. Please avoid debt. Indian scholar Brahma Chellaney
using diplomatic discourse like ‘because described it as “debt-trap diplomacy.”
of our friendship,’” said Arif Mahmud,
a senior journalist of The Independent,
an English-language daily newspaper in
Dhaka.
He is deeply concerned about bilateral
issues between China and Bangladesh.
He even follows several social media
accounts for Chinese state media, includ-
ing the People’s Daily and the Global
Times, on his mobile phone.
“Can you tell me more about China’s
work at the Hambantota Port? There is a
lot of talk, especially in the Indian media,
that this is the first strategic resource that
China has gotten in South Asia using the
‘debt trap,’ and this would not be the last
one,” he continued. “Very few Chinese
people are willing to talk about these
specific issues.”
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS

EPTH
Chellaney’s claim reflects India’s
declining ability to control South Asia,
while US media has expressed anxi-
ety about the shift and flow of US and
Chinese power. Both Chellaney and US
media have depicted economic and trade
cooperation as “economic aggression.”
The concern of Bangladeshis is
noteworthy. As Mohammed put it, is-
sues such as the “debt trap” are sensi-
tive topics for local people. “Why do the
Chinese invest here? What will be left
for Bangladesh after 10 years, 20 years
or even several generations? These are
the questions commonly heard among
locals,” he said.
“It is a pity that although many Chi-
nese media have voices on these issues,
most Bangladeshis still cannot fully hear
these Chinese voices due to language ac-
cessibility and other reasons,” he added.
Is Chinese investment an opportunity
or a threat to Bangladesh? The answer is
obvious.
After the symposium, the Global
Times reporter visited the Shahjalal
fertilizer factory in northeast Bangladesh.
This is a typical China-Bangladesh proj-
ect under the Belt and Road Initiative.
The plant was built by a Chinese com-
pany and has saved Bangladesh more
than $400 million in foreign exchange
every year.
The factory is free of dust, noise, air
pollution, peculiar smells and water pol-
lution. A group of Bangladeshi university
students are interning at the plant, and
the Shahjalal fertilizer factory is now
regarded by more than 40 Bangladeshi
universities as an education and training
base.
According to the
director of the factory,
the plant employed
more than 4,000 local
workers at the peak of
its construction, and
provided more than
1,300 jobs after it was
put into production.
While Professor
Afsan Chowdhury
worries about “excessive debt,” he admits
that Chinese investment is welcomed by
most Bangladeshis.
Another option
In Chowdhury’s opinion, investment
from China not only benefits Bangla-
desh, but also provides another option
for the country. “Investment from China
actually diminishes our dependence on
India.”
Geopolitics is another sensitive topic
of concern for Bangladeshi academics.
What is now Bangladesh was once part
of Pakistan’s territory before Bangladesh
gained independence with the support
of India.
By communicating with local resi-
dents, the Global Times found that India
is still providing substantial loans to
Bangladesh for infrastructure construc-
tion, such as expressways and power
plants. “In fact, Indian people despise
us, and they are just exploiting us,” an
anonymous local media worker told the
Global Times.
“However, Bangladeshis feel stifled
by India, whose sheer asymmetry in size
and resources make the bilateral relation-
ship uncomfortable,” said Chowdhury.
“Thus, to many in Bangladesh, China
offers an opportunity to try to balance the
power relations.”
“Compared with India, China has
had more of an economic than a political
role, which is more welcomed by the
Bangladeshi government and people,” he
continued.
He also believes China should have
better communication with the local
people and let more Bangladeshis know
their real purposes in the country.
It is worth mentioning that a num-
ber of academicians and scholars at the
seminar with military or government
backgrounds were concerned
about the Rohingya refugee issue.
They believe that projects with
the Bangladesh, China, India and
Myanmar Economic Corridor and
the Belt and Road Initiative will
suffer setbacks if the issue cannot
be tackled properly.
Some Bangladeshi scholars
claimed that China has been
supporting Myanmar on this is-
sue and has ignored the views of
Bangladesh.
A senior official with the Ministry of
Home Affairs of Bangladesh told the
Global Times previously that the govern-
ment spent at least $1 million to settle
Rohingya refugees, who had escaped
from Myanmar, in Bangladesh.
“We are a country of small size, and
independently solving the problem of
Rohingya refugees is out of our capabil-
ity. We hope the Chinese government
can help coordinate all parties and bring
them back home soon,” the official said.
Mahmud and Chowdhury said they
believe that China takes Myanmar’s
side on the Rohingya problem, and they
talked about China’s responsibility to
coordinate and balance on the refugee
issue as a major country.
Generally speaking, the Rohingya
problem is a domestic issue of Myanmar,
while the settlement of Rohingya refu-
gees is an international matter between
Myanmar and Bangladesh. China is
willing to play a constructive role in it,
but using “long-arm” influence like the
US does is not an option for Chinese
diplomacy, experts said.

LINGS
Bangladesh’s Padma Bridge is now visible
after its fifth span was installed on June
29, 2018 by engineers of the China Major
Bridge Enginee ring Company. Photo: IC.
Top: Bangladeshi students who are
interning at the Chinese-built Shahjalal
fertilizer factory Photo: Hu Bofeng/ GT

Page Editor:
huyuwei@globaltimes.com.cn
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 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
14
Tuesday January 22, 2019
How to correctly read China’s GDP figure
C
hina’s National Bureau of Statis-
tics (NBS) announced Monday
that China’s GDP was 90.03
trillion yuan ($13.26 trillion) in 2018,
posting a 6.6 percent growth rate for
the year. China’s GDP has reached 90
trillion yuan for the first time, but 6.6
percent is the lowest annual growth
rate since 1990.
Foreign media stressed that “Chi-
na’s economy slumps to 28 year low”
and China’s economy faces downward
pressure. Although these are the facts,
people will misread China’s economy
if they only focus on the lowest growth
rate.
When China’s GDP growth rate
was more than 10 percent a few years
ago, people talked about controlling the
growth as it was highly extensive and
dependent on exports. At that time,
the environmental cost was high for
China and the wealth created couldn’t
Voices
“Nancy Pelosi has behaved so
irrationally & has gone so far
to the left that she has now
officially become a Radical
Democrat. She is so petrified
of the ‘lefties’ in her party that
she has lost control...”
Donald Trump, US president,
tweeting on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s
rejection of his proposal to end the shutdown, quoted by
ABC News on Sunday.
“We’re ready to talk to the
government and others in
parliament about a sensible
alternative plan.”
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour
Party,
saying in a statement he will talk to Prime Minister
Theresa May only if she abolishes “unnecessary no-deal
brinkmanship,” quoted by Reuters on Monday.
Please send submissions to opinion@globaltimes.com.cn. Pieces should
be no longer than 800 words. The opinions expressed in the published
articles are those of the writer alone and do not necessarily reflect the
position of the Global Times. The Global Times reserves the right to edit
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The Global Times is published six times a week
from Monday to Saturday.
EDITORIAL
improve people’s livelihood to the full.
By 2014, more than half of the world’s
concrete reinforcing bars, cement and
coal was made in China. The country
urgently needed to transform.
The lowest growth rate does not in-
dicate that China’s economy is facing a
crisis. Instead it’s a process of resolving
tough problems, controlling serious
risks and finally realizing a soft landing.
China adjusted its economy and main-
tained medium-to-high-speed growth,
showing resilience as the world’s sec-
ond largest economy.
World public opinion mentioned
that when facing downward pressure,
China ruled out a flood of stimuli
such as the 4-trillion yuan infrastruc-
ture investment of a decade ago. This
is because the Chinese government is
confident in the country’s economic
fundamentals and China’s economic
structure has changed greatly in the
Davos doubters
China-Cambodia relationship scales new heights
By Yu Jincui
Among its relations with ASEAN
countries, the China-Cambodia rela-
tionship is the most stable. The Chi-
na-Cambodia comprehensive strate-
gic partnership, established in 2010,
has been nurtured with deepening
economic ties and practical coopera-
tion in all fields. The ongoing visit
of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun
Sen to China, his first overseas trip of
2019, will mark another milestone in
bilateral relations.
With an increasing Chinese eco-
nomic presence in Cambodia and the
two countries growing ever closer, the
West has constantly made an issue of
the China-Cambodia relationship.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has
led Cambodia for over three decades,
has been accused of pushing the
country into an authoritarian state
and risking Phnom Penh becoming a
vassal state of China in exchange for
Beijing’s support for his rule.
But an indisputable fact is that
under the leadership of Hun Sen,
the past two decades have witnessed
Cambodia’s economy grow at slightly
over 7 percent and the country made
a remarkable transition from a low-
income to a lower-middle-income
country in 2016. Continued rapid
past decade. In 2018, China had more
moderate policies to stimulate its econ-
omy.
If China’s governance were the
same as the US and Europe’s, the coun-
try would experience an economic cri-
sis after decades of rapid development,
just like the US suffered in 1929. This
is why some Western people have agi-
tated for a “China collapse theory.” But
China’s systematic advantage helps the
country to mitigate risks, resolve prob-
lems and progress.
This is not sophistry, but an actual
fact of the Chinese economy. The coun-
try’s infrastructure is people-oriented.
Food security, education, medical treat-
ment and other areas involving people’s
livelihoods are becoming the directions
for investment.
The China-US trade war in 2018
obviously had negative effects on Chi-
na’s economy, but the effects would
OBSERVER
economic growth and improved peo-
ple’s living standards have propped
up Hun Sen’s popularity.
The political evolution of Cambo-
dia under the Hun Sen government
over the past years is an internal mat-
ter. It’s a choice of the Cambodian
people and China has no intention
of intervening. Unlike Western coun-
tries pointing fingers at the politics
of the Southeast Asian nation and
threatening sanctions, China respects
and supports the development path
chosen by the Cambodian people, de-
veloping relations with Cambodia on
the basis of mutual respect and mu-
tually beneficial cooperation.
Chinese investment and assis-
tance have played an important role
in helping sustain Cambodia’s eco-
nomic progress. Statistics show that
Chinese investment by late 2017
reached $12.5 billion, about 36 per-
cent of all investment in the coun-
try. Aid provided by China reaches
around $250 million a year, much of
which has gone to infrastructure proj-
ects such as roads, bridges, irrigation
and electrical transmission, totally in
line with the country’s development
be much more serious if this had hap-
pened 10 years ago. China today can
bear the consequences of the trade war.
It would be nice if the two countries
could ease trade tensions, but China
can also get by if they fail.
Although the growth rate decreased
to 6.6 percent, China has basically
made its medium-to-high growth sus-
tainable. Such a speed helps China
keep expanding its comprehensive
strength, including technological prog-
ress which serves to raise the quality of
development. It also ensures that peo-
ple’s livelihoods are improving and the
environment is being protected.
But we believe that China’s economy
and future are promising. Some Chi-
nese and foreign analysts don’t really
understand China. Their pessimistic
forecasts deviate from China’s reality.
People shouldn’t believe these views
blindly.
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
needs. Now China is Cambodia’s big-
gest investor and trading partner.
Besides deepened economic ties,
the two countries have supported
each other in many international and
regional issues of common interest,
enhanced people-to-people exchang-
es and strengthened cooperation on
maritime security.
It’s fair to say the China-Cambodia
relationship featuring pragmatic,
high-quality and high-level coopera-
tion has set an example for regional
state-to-state relations. China attach-
es importance to long-term coopera-
tion with Cambodia and other ASE-
AN countries. This is China’s basic
and long-term strategy and will not
change due to changes in the coun-
try’s internal politics.
Looking forward, China should
strengthen cooperation with Cam-
bodia, increase investment in the
country and support the Cambodian
government in accelerating the eco-
nomic and social development of the
country. Both countries need to main-
tain the strong momentum, making
bilateral relations continue to bear
fruit amid the Western brouhaha.
Page Editor:
wangwenwen@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 15

ASIANREVIEW
Can new US Act on Asia contain China?
By Wang Yiwei who tended to be more tolerant of understanding. First, the US requires
China’s rise and paid more attention to support from those countries which are

U
S President Donald Trump
signed the Asia Reassurance
Initiative Act (ARIA) into law
on December 31, 2018, which attempts
to “develop a long-term strategic vision
and a comprehensive, multifaceted,
and principled United States policy for
the Indo-Pacific region, and for other
purposes.” In essence, the purpose of
Trump’s ARIA resembles the “rebal-
ance to the Asia-Pacific” strategy in the
previous Barack Obama administration,
but it differs in several ways with the
Obama policy.
For example, Obama’s “rebalance
to the Asia-Pacific” strategy focused
mainly on military, although observers
believe it consisted of measures on di-
plomacy, economy and culture. Trump’s
ARIA focuses more on making rules or
standards, such as those on economic
and international legal standards.
The ARIA states US strategic
challenges in the Indo-Pacific region
include China’s “certain destabilizing
activities,” North Korean nuclear issue
and threats from ISIS and other terror-
ist organizations. However, the main
consideration is coping with a rising
China among them. The ARIA also
touched upon North Korea, and this is
because the US wants to gain support
from Southeast Asian nations out of the
latter’s concerns over Pyongyang. Ter-
rorism is also a kind of camouflage.
Compared to the “rebalancing to
Asia-Pacific,” the ARIA may create
more trouble for China. Unlike Obama,
domestic issues, Trump is tougher and
tries harder to contain China. However,
China does not need to worry too much
about the ARIA. As long as China
manages the Belt and Road initiative
(BRI) well and negotiates with the US
positively, the ARIA may not pose a
huge threat to China.
The ARIA also claims to “redouble
our commitment to established alli-
ances and partnerships” and “expand
security and defense cooperation with
allies and partners.” There is pos-
sibility that some countries or parties
will show obvious US leanings in the
Indo-Pacific region. They are the
group the US is actually trying
to attract to counter China’s
influence. Some countries
may take speculative steps,
but few will pander to the
US publicly. Some nations
may consider China as a threat
in certain areas, but few would regard
the issue from the same perspective as
the US. Meanwhile, many Indo-Pacific
countries maintain close economic ties
with China and few will blindly follow
the US.
Furthermore, many countries
believe President Trump is unpredict-
able, as he has continually emphasized
“America First” since taking office.
These countries worry that their in-
terests could be compromised for the
US is Trump’s priority. Additionally,
in the next US presidential election in
2020, it is not guaranteed that Trump
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
will be re-elected. As a result, even the
allies and partners of the US may not
stand with it against China. They are
aware that they have to pay the price for
doing so, since China may take counter
measures. However, these allies and
partners are not likely to go openly
against the US, and many may adopt an
ambiguous strategy.
The ARIA also said the US is “to pro-
mote peaceful resolutions of maritime
and territorial disputes.” The “peace”
is of course from a US perspective and
interested in being shielded by Wash-
ington’s security umbrella. Second, the
US can sell the arms to its allies and
partners to strengthen their power to
counter China’s growing influence in
the region but also globally, safeguard-
ing the international system led by the
US.
The US involvement will deepen
conflicts and disputes in the South
China Sea, increasing some speculative
action by some countries. Vietnam is
an example. Hanoi maintains a close
economic relationship with China,
while it is still an important US partner
in Southeast Asia, especially on
security issues.
The reaffirmation of
“freedom of navigation and
overflight” in the Act may en-
able US aircraft carriers to exert
hegemony in the South China Sea
and may bring chaos to the region.
According to Reuters, both the US and
the UK have carried out their first joint
naval drills in this contested region.
In addition, on January 7, the US navy
sailed into China’s territorial waters.
These two incidents are evidence of a
US desire to consistently intervene in
regional affairs.
In summary, China and the US need
more dialogue and communication to
avoid a vicious circle of competition.
The author is director of Renmin University
of China’s Institute of International Affairs.
opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

Anxious Canberra hovers around Beijing’s outreach to Pacific

By Chen Hong
Does it feel bizarre if the rich-
est guy in your neighborhood,
who has been ignoring and
snubbing you for the past 10
to 20 years, suddenly turns up
at your doorstep, trying to flat-
ter and offering sumptuous
gifts? The surprise visitor talks
sweetly of the close bond with
you, and calls you a member of
his family.
The last time an Australian
prime minister visited Vanuatu
was in 1990, and Fiji in 2006.
As recently as 2015, then Aus-
tralian Immigration Minister
Peter Dutton made a faux pas
when he remarked disdain-
fully that for the Pacific islands,
“time doesn’t mean anything
when you’re about to have wa-
ter lapping at your door,” refer-
ring to the imminent plight of
the island nations threatened
by rising sea levels because of
climate change. Tony Abbott
as PM made the steepest ever
cuts to Australia’s international
aid programs, with massive re-
duction in financial support to
tackle drought and other El Ni-
ño-related climate problems in
the Pacific, as well as curtailing
infrastructure and other devel-
opment projects in the region.
Unlike his predecessors Bob
Hawke and John Howard, who
visited the island nations only
as part of their trips to attend
the Pacific Island Forum, cur-
rent Australian PM Scott Mor-
rison’s recent visits to Vanuatu
and Fiji were historic in that
they were made independently
as a specific gesture to show
the renewal of Australia’s focus
on the region, called the Pacific
“step-up.”
The sudden reversal in
stance has been unambigu-
ous, keeping in mind so-called
China’s presence and influence
in the region. According to in-
ternational media and think
tanks, China is now the second
largest aid donor in the South
Pacific, committing over $6 bil-
lion to high-priority economic
projects.
Chinese aid to the region
is principally directed at pov-
erty alleviation and livelihood
improvement. A bulk of the
funding has been funnelled
into infrastructure develop-
ment projects including roads,
bridges, schools and sports fa-
cilities, ports and power plants.
In addition, China sends medi-
cal expert teams, and Chinese
medical ships make regular
port calls providing world-class
medical services. Training pro-
grams are conducted in various
professional fields to develop
local expertise, and as a way to
demonstrate the Chinese adage
that it is better to teach those in
need how to fish, rather than
merely giving them fish. The
Pacific Plan endorsed by the
Pacific Island Forum has been
strongly supported by China to
promote regional cooperation
and prosperity.
During his state visit to Pap-
ua New Guinea in late 2018,
Chinese President Xi Jinping
held a meeting with leaders of
eight Pacific island countries
and underscored in his keynote
speech mutual respect and
trust as the cornerstone of the
strategic partnership between
China and Pacific countries.
Fijian Prime Minister Josaia
Voreqe Bainimarama referred
to China as “Fiji’s staunch co-
operation partner and sincere
friend.” Samoan Prime Minis-
ter Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
praised China for coming to Sa-
moa’s assistance “on the basis
of our requests.”
The anxiety and wariness
demonstrated by Australia and
some other Western countries
toward the positive and con-
structive relationship between
China and the Pacific countries
is ridiculous, even pathetic.
China’s involvement in the
region does not exclude other
countries, and local stability
and prosperity can be a collab-
orative venture. Morrison talk-
ed about his Pacific trip as “part
of our refocusing of our inter-
national efforts on our own re-
gion, in our own backyard and
making sure we can make the
biggest possible difference.”
Yet China does not attempt to
turn the South Pacific into its
patch of influence, but at the
same time Beijing does not rec-
ognize it as anyone’s exclusive
backyard.
The South Pacific is located
in an area which is the natural
extension of the 21st Century
Maritime Silk Road. The Belt
and Road initiative has been
bringing financial, economic,
and social dynamism into this
region, which shares its future
with mankind. Stoking and
spreading rumours and fears of
the so-called Chinese debt trap
is despicable. Vanuatu Prime
Minister Charlot Salwai appre-
ciated the Vanuatu–China stra-
tegic partnership which “has
brought us many benefits and
is far from exhausting its po-
tential.”
When in Suva, Morrison
was urged by Fijian Prime Min-
ister Bainimarama to turn to
clean power resources, to place
“the welfare of Pacific peoples
and vulnerable people in the
world” above industrial inter-
ests. Morrison brushed the
request aside, while indulging
in a self-congratulatory way in
Australia’s emission reduction
policies. Maybe instead of call-
ing the Pacific islands “vuvale”
– the Fijian word for family,
Morrison needs to adopt a more
compassionate and realistic ap-
proach toward his neighbors.
The author is a professor and
director of Australian Studies
Center, East China Normal
University. opinion@globaltimes.
com.cn
Page Editor:
wangwenwen@
globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
16 Tuesday January 22, 2019

FORUM
Brexit drags UK into a political stasis
By Mike Cormack “No-one doubts her determination, Not long after, reports came in of the hard Brexiteers, a no-deal depar-
which is generally an admirable quality. the meetings with the smaller parties ture would be an utter calamity. There

O
n January 15, the UK’s House
of Commons voted over-
whelmingly against the British
government’s Brexit agreement. By 432
votes to 202, the deal forged by Theresa
May was rejected. This included 170
members of the Prime Minister’s own
Conservative party. Given that there are
just 317 Tory MPs altogether, this was a
defeat of historical, even unprecedented
proportions.
By all historical conventions, such
an overwhelming defeat would mean
the fall of the government and a gen-
eral election, but these are not normal
times. Brexit has split Cabinet, the gov-
ernment, the Opposition, parliament,
and public opinion. Had the Labour
party opposed Brexit, and campaigned
on that basis, then it would have been
impossible for the government to con-
tinue. But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
has maintained a policy of evasion
throughout the entire process.
Although he was a member of the
“Better In” campaign during the refer-
endum, his participation was vanishing-
ly small. Even as the March 29 deadline
for the UK to leave the EU nears,
Labour policy has been remarkably
murky. Corbyn has refused to clarify
Labour’s position on Brexit, instead say-
ing that he opposed May’s deal because
he claimed he could negotiate a better
deal. (The EU has repeatedly said it will
not renegotiate).
Following the government’s defeat,
Corbyn tabled a vote of no confidence
in the government. This was accepted
and held on January 16 after a debate. A
motion of confidence is a classic “circle
the wagons” tactic for a government
after a major defeat, in order to show
that it still has authority by virtue of its
majority, if nothing else.
May and her Democratic Unionist
party (DUP) allies have a slender major-
ity in the House of Commons, so there
was little drama to the proceedings, the
outcome in little doubt. Winning by 325
votes to 309 was a mere confirmation of
parliamentary arithmetic.
The debates, however, were of some
interest. Labour’s deputy leader Tom
Watson delivered a master class of
gentle, probing savagery, saying of May:
But misapplied it can be toxic. And the
cruellest truth of all is that she doesn’t
possess the necessary skills, the political
skills, the empathy, the ability and most
crucially the policy to lead this country
any longer.” It was a devastating thrust
of a stiletto in a chamber where noise
and hectoring have for too long become
commonplace.
Subsequently, Environment Secre-
tary Michael Gove delivered a speech
of similar quality but of a completely
different style. He thanked the speakers
for their speeches and then gleefully
reminded the Commons of their weak
points. With great verve he then de-
fended the Conservative government’s
record before going on to savage Cor-
byn as being unfit to be prime minister.
He may not have changed anyone’s
mind, but it was great theatre.
The result of the vote was then
announced. The government was safe
by 16 votes. May then stood up to say
that she would seek to have meetings
with the leaders of the other parties
and senior parliamentarians that very
evening, in order to find a way to get
Brexit through the Commons. Corbyn
then replied, in his tetchy, haranguing
way. He refused to attend any such
meetings unless the possibility of a
no-deal Brexit was withdrawn. This
he did knowing that the govern-
ment is pretending that it is a
realistic option for bargaining
and rhetorical purposes. It was his
way of immediately demonstrating
that he refused any responsibility
for Brexit.
- the leaders of the Scottish and Welsh
nationalists and the Liberal Democrats.
All reported that May was refusing to
budge on any of her positions. She
would not delay the Brexit departure
date. She would not shift on staying in
the Customs Union or in the Single
Market. She would not rule out a no-
deal Brexit and would not agree to a
“People’s Vote” referendum on leaving
the EU. It was as though the vote the
day before had not brutally rejected her.
So where does that leave things? In
one sense, nothing has changed. May
still leads the government, the With-
drawal Deal with the EU is the only
one on the table and the clock is ticking
towards the March 29 departure date.
But the two days’ events have, I think,
shifted the political calculus. There is
no way to get the deal through the Com-
mons: the Conservatives are too split
and Labour will not play ball.
As the departure date nears - it is
just over two months away - without an
agreement in place, there will have to
be a delay. Despite the siren voices of
will then have to be a general election.
As with the Scottish independence
referendum, people having voted want
the matter settled. It is notable that
for all the turmoil and turbulence that
the Conservatives retain a lead in the
polls. If the Tories win by enough to
submerge the die-hard MPs opposed
to the deal, then a deal will go ahead.
Otherwise there would be another year
or so of stasis, and probably another
general election.
All of which predicts political stasis
for the UK until the matter is settled.
This is a grim prognosis, but there
hasn’t been a real constitutional crisis
for over a century, when the House
of Lords and the House of Commons
fought for political supremacy in 1910.
That too took two general elections to
resolve. Most people would feel glad if
Brexit could be resolved as simply.
The author has been a freelance journalist
in China since 2008. Follow him on
Twitter at @bucketoftongues. opinion@
globaltimes.com.cn
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Rivalry and differences cannot outweigh benefits obtained from healthy China-US relations

China-US relations have
achieved remarkable develop-
ment over the past 40 years,
delivering huge benefits to the
two peoples and making sig-
nificant contributions to world
peace and prosperity, a senior
Chinese diplomat said in San
Francisco on Friday.
Addressing an event mark-
ing the 40th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic re-
lations between China and the
US, Chinese Consul General
Wang Donghua said the older
generation of Chinese and US
leaders broke the ice of isola-
tion between the two countries
“with extraordinary strategic
vision and political wisdom” to
establish bilateral diplomatic
ties.
“The establishment of Chi-
na-US diplomatic relations
has had a huge and profound
impact on the development of
our bilateral relations and the
maintenance of world peace,”
Wang said.
San Francisco Mayor Lon-
don Breed said that the 40
years of China-US relations
have been “a time of growing
exchanges and understanding.”
“We have realized the great
possibilities of cooperation
between our two nations, and
this anniversary is a chance
to remember that we have an
enormous stake in each other’s
success,” she said.
“In an interconnected world,
countries would be more pros-
perous when we work together
as one,” said Breed.
Heidi Kuhn, founder and
CEO of Roots of Peace, a Cal-
ifornia-based humanitarian
NGO dedicated to the removal
of landmines and rebuilding of
war-torn regions, said her fam-
ily has maintained very close
relations with China and the
Chinese people for 150 years.
“I look forward to the next
150 years ahead. I’m so proud
of the formal diplomatic rela-
tions between the United States
and China,” Kuhn said.
Johannes Hoech, a San Fran-
cisco based businessman who
travels to China two to three
times a year, said he has very
close relations with China and
made many Chinese friends.
“The prospect for the two
countries is very positive.
There’s a lot of mutual interest.
There is a lot of curiosity about
each other’s cultures and each
other’s backgrounds,” he said.
“Since both countries’ inter-
ests are much larger than their
differences, I am sure they will
find a way to work out a solu-
tion to those disputes,” Hoech
said.
The article is from the Xinhua
News Agency. opinion@
globaltimes.com.cn
Page Editor:
wangwenwen@
globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 17

VIEWPOINT
West’s unease sprouts after lunar probe lands
By Yan Yunming
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT In Gravity, the heroine,
played by Sandra Bullock, re-

S
ince China’s Chang’e-4
lunar lander for the first
time touched down on
the mysterious far side of the
moon on January 15, seeds
carried by the spacecraft have
sprouted, signaling the success
of a unique biological experi-
ment on the surface of earth’s
only satellite.
Notwithstanding some ap-
plause from international soci-
ety, doubts and concerns about
Chinese science and technol-
ogy that have long haunted
the West are once again in the
limelight.
Two recent articles in The
Economist – “Can China be-
come a scientific superpower?”
and “How China could domi-
nate science” – expose such
anxieties.
That Chinese science and
the political system are tightly
coupled is a broad belief. It is
speculated that China’s sci-
ence, differentiated from the
West’s, is firmly controlled and
marshaled by the government.
Such conjectures are ground-
less.
The boom in Chinese sci-
ence and technology is surely
backed by the country’s policy,
but is as well a combination
of concerted efforts including
thorough education, a large
gifted population and massive
markets. It is rather narrow
to attribute China’s scientific
success merely to political
elements, while ignoring the
others.
The widely used mobile
payment service and bicycle
sharing, for example, have
been initiated by Chinese
companies instead of the gov-
ernment. Driven by enormous
market demands, a number of
technology companies with top
scientists and engineers have
continuously sprung up. It is
the private sector that leads
the live-streaming educational
platforms, online food delivery
services, and many other in-
novations to change people’s
lives.
This is how China works to
develop science. In turn, in a
world that adopts a different
approach, very few countries
have the ability to become
great scientific powers.
Another speculation says
that China uses science to sup-
press its people. No doubt it is
ridiculous.
Artificial intelligence
technology like facial recogni-
tion has been used by China to
bring down crime rate.
Here is a fun fact about Chi-
nese facial recognition. Since
April last year, the police have
arrested about 60 suspects
and fugitives at the concert
tour of a renowned Chinese
singer, Jacky Cheung, with the
help of facial recognition. Nine
fugitives were nabbed in one
city during his tour of Hefei,
Anhui Province.
Originally known as the
“Song of God,” Cheung is now
titled the “criminal nemesis”
by Chinese netizens. He
responded to his new title in
an interview last October by
saying, “Technology is really
advanced in our country. Even
if not caught in my concerts,
those who commit a crime
would be arrested elsewhere.”
As science and technology
develop, the arm of justice may
become really long in China.
Looking at the US though,
after over 20 months, the dis-
appearance of Zhang Yingying,
a visiting scholar of the Uni-
versity of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, has not been
solved, which most Chinese
consider unimaginably queer.
In addition, there are rising
fears in the West about China
succeeding in the space race.
Especially with the triumph of
Chang’e-4, China is becoming
a greater threat in the eyes of
some Western media outlets.
It is not hard to find an
increasing number of Hol-
lywood sci-fi blockbusters with
Chinese elements. Among
some, Chinese science and
technology even play a crucial
role in saving the world.
turns to the earth with the help
of Chinese space station Tian-
gong and Shenzhou spacecraft.
In The Martian, Matt Damon
loses his companion during
his mission to Mars, and is res-
cued by China’s rocket, the Tai-
yang Shen. In the disaster film
2012, the Ark made in China
served as a global refuge.
Adding Chinese elements
may be for the purpose of
catering to the Chinese market,
but why can’t the scenes take
place in reality? Why would
China become a threat instead
of a helper in the real world?
After Chang’e-4’s land-
ing, Associate Administrator
for NASA’s Science Mission
Directorate Thomas Zurbu-
chen tweeted, “Congratula-
tions to China’s Chang’e-4
team!” Then another NASA
administrator Jim Bridenstine
described the landing as “an
impressive accomplishment”,
according to the Guardian.
Moreover, it was reported
on January 19 that NASA
is about to collaborate with
China National Space Admin-
istration on a lunar mission.
Facts proved that China’s
space achievements are worth
recognition and can be shared.
There is no need for Western
tech and media circles to be
worried.
Chinese science is not a
tool to oppress the people,
nor a card to play interna-
tional games. It can and will
really benefit its people and the
world.
The author is a reporter with the
Global Times. yanyunming@
globaltimes.com.cn

Turkey skeptical of Washington-controlled security zone for Kurds in Syria

The US proposal to set up a security
zone in northeastern Syria to allay Tur-
key’s concerns about Kurdish militia
would only serve Ankara’s interests if
the zone would come under Turkish
control, most analysts said, while some
described the move as a trap.
“The security zone must be under
Turkey’s control,” Murat Bilhan, a for-
mer diplomat, told Xinhua, arguing
such a step would otherwise threaten
Turkey’s national security.
The Washington proposal, which
Ankara welcomed, came after Turkey
threatened last month to launch a cross-
border operation to eliminate the US-
backed Kurdish militia along its border.
Ankara sees the militia, the People’s
Protection Units (YPG), as a terror
group and the extension of the Kurd-
istan Workers’ Party outlawed for its
decades-old armed struggle against the
Turkish state.
The safe zone, first suggested by US
President Donald Trump over Twitter
last Sunday, will cover 32 kilometers
from the Turkish border into Syrian ter-
ritory under YPG control.
“Turkey should not fall into the trap
of a security zone,” Cahit Armagan
Dilek, director of the Ankara-based 21st
Century Turkey Institute, told Xinhua,
saying that the zone would serve in the
longer term the US plan to ensure a
YPG-controlled area.
Referring to Washington’s repeated
declarations of support for its Kurdish
ally, he said that “it looks highly improb-
able that the security zone would be un-
der Turkish control.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo-
gan has dismissed the possibility of any
YPG presence in the proposed security
zone, while Ibrahim Kalin, the presiden-
tial spokesman, said the safe zone would
be under Turkish control.
However, details about the zone do
not appear to have been fully settled yet.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Ca-
vusoglu said on Thursday that whether
the Turkish and American understand-
ing of the security zone are in agreement
or in conflict would become clear follow-
ing talks between the two sides.
Cavusoglu will travel to Washington
D.C. for talks on cooperation in Syria.
For its part, Washington hopes the se-
curity zone will convince Ankara that the
Kurdish militia would pose no security
threat. Turkey is concerned that an au-
tonomous Kurdish entity in Syria would
set an example for its own nearly 20 mil-
lion Kurds, as the US is known to have
long sought the formation of a united
Kurdistan in the Middle East which
would bring together Kurds in Turkey,
Iraq, Syria and Iran.
The emergence of a US-backed Kurd-
ish entity in Syria poses a serious threat
to Turkey, since it may in the long run
lead to Turkey’s disintegration following
Iraq and Syria, argued Dilek.
Washington came up with the pro-
posal for a security zone after having
unexpectedly announced, shortly after
Ankara’s threat of a military operation,
that the US troops would leave Syria.
The Kurdish militia, which Washing-
ton has used as a ground force against
the Islamic State, has established two
self-proclaimed autonomous cantons
along the Turkish border in northeast-
ern Syria during the war.
“If the safe zone would be under Tur-
key’s full control and the YPG would
be pushed further south, then the zone
would serve Turkey’s interest,” said Er-
dogan Karakus, a former general in the
Turkish military.
The article is from the Xinhua News Agency.
opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
Page Editor:
wangwenwen@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS

18
Tuesday January 22, 2019 LIFE
with 46 percent of reviewers Actor Ryan Reynolds licks a bouquet
By Wei Xi of tanghulu (candied Chinese haw) at a
giving the film four out of five

T
he PG-13 edit of Dead-
pool 2, Once Upon a
Deadpool, is expected to
debut in the Chinese mainland
on Friday with a screen share
of 82.4 percent, according
to China Box Office. If true,
that means the film will set
a record for the highest-ever
screen share for a movie in
China.
While the Marvel comic
character’s first film was not
imported into the mainland,
this does not seem to have im-
pacted Chinese filmgoers’ an-
ticipation for the new film. On
the contrary, data from movie
sites in China indicate that the
fact that the first film was not
able to be seen in theaters but
was still widely talked about
has actually increased people’s
interest in the sequel.
And it seems this love is not
a one-way street.
“I’ve been trying to get
Deadpool in front of the audi-
ence in China for forever. So
this is an opportunity that
I wasn’t gonna miss,” said
Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds
on Sunday during a visit to
Beijing to promote Once Upon
a Deadpool. He explained
that he was supposed to have
undergone surgery that day in
New York for an injury to his
left arm received while shoot-
ing the film but canceled it to
appear in China.
‘Just like you and me’
“Deadpool is a character
makes you feel like that he is a
real person in your life,” Shao,
23, told the Global Times.
“Unlike other superheroes
that they stand on their dignity
in front of audiences, Dead-
pool is vulgar just like you and
me.”
Twenty-two-year-old Jiang
Yuqing from Weihai, Shan-
dong Province, agrees.
“He is very real,” Jiang said.
“Someone not so righteous
promotion event for Once Upon a Deadpool
stars. Once Upon a Deadpool, in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: Li Hao/GT
which debuted in the US on
December 12, 2018, had a
7.4/10 on the same site from
nearly 160,000 reviews as of
Tuesday, four days ahead of its
Chinese mainland release.
Giving stars a Chinese nick-
name is often a way for the
country’s fans to show their
love. Based on his personality,
Deadpool has earned the name
xiaojianjian, which literally
means “little bitchy bitch.”
“I’m excited about it… [I
could have gotten] something
boring like Viking Warlord…
I love it. I’ll take it,” Reynolds
replied upon hearing the
nickname. He also joked that
he thinks the Deadpool 3 film
should be called “Deadpool 3:
Little Bitchy Bitch.”
I love my family
Once Upon a Deadpool is
going by the Chinese title Wo
Ai Wo Jia (Lit: I love my fam-
ily) in the mainland. Although
the translation doesn’t seem
to connect to the English
title, Reynolds, who is also
the film’s co-scriptwriter and
co-producer, thinks it’s rather
appropriate.
“Because Deadpool 1 is a
love story, and Deadpool 2 has
to be a family film,” Reynolds
said.
While some fans are wor-
ried the PG-13 version will not
be able to express the essence
of the “Merc with a Mouth”
– Deadpool 1 and 2 are both
R-rated– Reynolds explained
that it is made “in the most
Deadpool way” with even the
character “literally bleeping  Ryan Reynolds
himself out.”
He also noted that what has
made Deadpool such a success
cancels arm
is that the studios “have taken
money away from us [ for our
surgery to promote
budget for Deadpool 1]. So
we had to rely on Deadpool’s
‘Once Upon a
mouth to get through [that
film], and now it’s the same
Deadpool’ in China

popping up among a group of
‘real’ superheroes.”
Like Shao and Jiang, many
Chinese fans are already very
familiar with the character
thanks to comic books.
BREAKING
thing for this movie.”
Now that superhero films
are in their heyday, the Hol-
lywood actor is not worried
audiences will tire of them
soon. In fact, he believes that

Despite not releasing in
the mainland, the first film,
Deadpool, has about 250,000
reviews on Chinese media
review site Douban. On the
site, the film has a 7.7/10,
THROUGH
superhero films will eventually
become a common genre just
like comedies.
“Comedies do not go down
or decline. As a genre, they are
timeless,” he noted.

Beijing passes regulations for intangible cultural heritage protection

Regulations concerning
Beijing’s intangible cultural
heritage (ICH) were approved
at the second session of the
15th Beijing Municipal People’s
Congress on Sunday.
The regulations which
were enacted in accordance
with China’s 2011 ICH law are
scheduled to be implemented
on June 1.
The regulations stipulate
various aspects about the
capital’s ICH, including its
investigation, preservation,
classification protection and
development in the capital.
The regulations also
stipulate that “representative
inheritors” of ICH can be indi-
viduals or groups, revising the
traditional norm that it should
only be individuals.
According to the new
regulations, relevant govern-
ment departments should
provide subsidies and neces-
sary venues or platforms for than 12,000 ICH items,
ICH teaching and displaying including Peking Opera and
campaigns or activities. Kunqu Opera.
It also noted that “inheri-
tors” have the obligations to Xinhua
cultivate successors and protect
materials. Page Editor:
xuliuliu@globaltimes.com.cn
By the end of June 2018,
Beijing was home to more
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 19

I
talian actress and
#MeToo campaigner
Asia Argento was a
model in a haute couture
fashion show in Paris on
Monday.
The 43-year-old, who
helped start the movement
Asia Argento models in Paris
by accusing Hollywood
mogul Harvey Weinstein
of rape, led Antonio
Grimaldi’s spring summer
collection.
Grimaldi, who like
Argento is based in Rome,
praised her as
an arthouse
heroine of
Italian cin-
ema whose
“unconven-
tional and
coun-
ter cultural nature” was
perfect for the collection,
which is inspired by the
Greek myth of Ariadne.
In a teaser photo for
the show, the heavily tat-
tooed Argento appeared
in a short sleeveless black
dress with a heart motif
that plays off her body art.
But Grimaldi said
Argento would walk in an
asymmetrically cut white
evening dress adorned
with ostrich feathers.
The designer used
the first Saudi Ara-
bian couture model
Taleedah Tamer in his last
Paris show in July 2018.
Haute couture shows,
staged only in Paris, are
regarded as the pinnacle of
fashion, with their hand-
made creations aimed at
Hollywood royalty and the
super rich.
Argento had to fight
claims in September that
she had sex with an under-
age US actor while playing
his mother in the 2004
film The Heart Is Deceitful
Above All Things.
She said that Jimmy
Bennett – who was 17 at
the time – “jumped on
me.”
But after the #MeToo
movement began to gather
pace she said he contacted
her again to demand $3.5
million to keep quiet.
Her late boyfriend,
celebrity chef Anthony
Bourdain, who she said
wanted peace, reportedly
had paid him $250,000 by
June 2018, when Bourdain
committed suicide.
LIFE
Argento then suspend-
ed the payments.
The daughter of
Suspiria director Dario
Argento, Argento is best
known for the Vin Diesel
blockbuster xXx, Sophia
Coppola’s Marie Antoinette,
the horror film Land of the
Dead, and her own Scarlet
Diva (2001), which she
wrote and directed herself.
AFP

Asia Argento (first

row, second from
right) attends a
fashion show in Page Editor:
xuliuliu@
Milan on January globaltimes.com.cn
14. Photo: IC

Cultural TV programs have greater

appeal to young audiences: survey
A newspaper survey has shown that while more
than 84 percent of Chinese say they like TV
programs on culture, especially Chinese culture,
such programs are of greater appeal to younger
generations.
The survey, which polled 2,010 people and
was published by the China Youth Daily last
week, found such programs were most popular
among the “Post-1990 generation” – people
born in the 1990s. A total of 87 percent of this
group expressed their love for such programs.
And 55.7 percent of the respondents said they
could “feel the beauty” of traditional Chinese
culture in such shows, and more than half of
the people surveyed also said they found such
programs “very interesting,” according to the
survey.
Wei Pengju, director of the Cultural Econom-
ics Institute with the Central University of Fi-
nance and Economics, attributed the success of
such shows to accurate market positioning, and
support and promotion from the government
and mainstream media.
Wei said he believed that Chinese TV audi-
ence are no longer easily content with mediocre
variety shows.
Xinhua
CIA agent Tony Mendez, hero of film ‘Argo,’ passes away at age 78
Former CIA agent Tony Mendez,
who engineered a creative way to
smuggle US hostages out of Iran
in 1980 and was immortalized in
the Hollywood film Argo, died of
complications from Parkinson’s
Disease, his family announced. He
was 78.
Mendez, who will have a private
burial in Nevada, died on Saturday,
his literary agent Christy Fletcher
said via Twitter, relaying a family
statement.
“The last thing he and his wife
Jonna Mendez did was get their
new book to the publisher and he
died feeling he had completed writ-
ing the stories that he wanted to be
told,” the family statement read.
It added that Mendez had been
suffering from Parkinson’s for the
past 10 years.
When Iranian revolutionaries
seized the US embassy in Tehran
in 1979, a handful of diplomats
managed to escape through a back
door and took refuge at the Cana-
dian embassy.
Promotional material for Argo
Photo: IC
Mendez, a specialist in covert
operations, came up with an origi-
nal plan to rescue them: set up the
production in Hollywood of a faux
science fiction movie titled Argo,
travel to Iran to scout out locations,
then return to the US with the
hostages masquerading as the film
crew.
The six US diplomats, armed
with fake Canadian passports,
slipped out of Iran and to safety on
January 27, 1980.
The story served as inspiration
for the film Argo, which won three
Oscars in 2013 including for best
motion picture.
Fifty-two other Americans were
not as lucky, and were held hostage
by the Iranian revolutionaries for
444 days.
Secretary of State and former
CIA chief Mike Pompeo described
Mendez as “an extraordinarily
gifted intelligence officer” and
“truly an American hero.”
Actor Ben Affleck, who starred
as Mendez in the Hollywood pro-
duction, described the ex-agent on
Twitter as “a man of extraordinary
grace, decency, humility and kind-
ness... I’m so proud to have worked
for him and to have told one of his
stories.”
Mendez’s latest book, co-au-
thored with his wife Jonna – also
formerly with the CIA – is due out
in May and titled The Moscow Rules:
The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped
America Win the Cold War.
AFP
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
20 Tuesday January 22, 2019
LIFE
LAND OF ICE, SNOW
AND FUN!
By Wang Qi in Harbin
A
lthough Harbin, the capital city
of Northeast China’s Heilongji-
ang Province, is almost at the
same latitude as Paris and Seattle, it
is freezing in winter. Even with the
influence of global warming, minus
20 C temperatures are still common-
place.
While such low temperatures may
sound unwelcoming, the people of
Harbin have made full use of the cold
climate and local natural resources
to turn their home into a famous
vacation spot. At the core of the city’s
winter tourism is the Harbin Interna-
tional Ice and Snow Festival (HIISF),
which has attracted much attention
since it was officially launched in
1985. It is now one of the top four ice
and snow festivals around the globe.
Held annually from January 5
to February 5, the festival is spread
throughout the city with numerous
ice sculptures to be found around
every corner. However, if you are
visiting for only a short while here are
three spots you shouldn’t miss.
World of ice and snow
With a reputation as the “Disney of
ice and snow,” the Harbin Ice-Snow
World park has pretty much become
the face of the Ice and Snow Festival.
Founded in 1999, the Harbin Ice-
Snow World park has grown rapidly
over the last two decades to become
the world’s largest ice-snow theme
park.
According to the official docu-
ments provided by the marketing de-
partment of Harbin Ice-Snow World,
the theme of this year is “Dreaming
in the Land of Ice and Snow.” More
 Exploring the three must-not-miss places
to visit during Harbin’s winter festival
than 100 ice/snow sculp-
tures are located within
this 600,000-square-meterr
park.
There are more than 30
recreational sites for kids
and adults. You can go skiing ng
oss
and skating, ride bikes across
the ice and even slip your way
down the longest ice slide in the h
world.
While these activities are fun, it is
the beauty of the ice sculptures that
attracts most people.
This year, the park has recreated
20 classic ice sculptures to celebrate
its 20th anniversary. Ranging from 8
meters to 45 meters in height, most of
these ice sculptures are impressive in
size and also extremely detailed.
The 1999 Century Light Tower, the
tallest and most important sculpture
in the park, was built using 20 layers
of stacked ice blocks, representing
the spirit of overcoming difficulties.
Well-placed lights make the ice tower
have various and changeable colors
which make visitors feel like they
have become lost in a dream.
“It is very impressive, all these
sculptures, colors and lights. It’s very
beautiful,” a tourist from Germany
told the Global Times.
One elderly couple from Australia
told the Global Times they came to
Harbin with 21 other Australians just
to see the sculptures and to experi-
ence a place that is far different from
their homeland, which is currently
experiencing summer.
“[I am] very impressed with this
architecture and those presenta-
tions. It’s excellent. You wouldn’t see
anything like this unless you come to
Harbin,” said the husband.
S
Snow on S l d
Sun Island
Much less crowed than Ice-Snow
World, the Snow Sculpture Expo on
Sun Island Park focuses on displaying
snow sculptures. With the Spring Fes-
tival right around the corner, tourists
can find sculptures depicting scenes
from traditional Chinese myths and
stories. Ice sculptures carved by both
professionals and talented enthusiasts
are also on display.
According to Xu Ling, an employee
at the Snow Sculpture Expo, the most
significant sculpture is Journey to
Galaxy, which depicts images from
the imagination of a girl yearning to
understand the mysteries of the uni-
verse. Located on the frozen surface
of Sun Lake, the sculpture was carved
by more than 100 sculptors over a
period of about two weeks. This giant
artwork is roughly 106 meters long,
32 meters high and 20 meters wide.
“I came here for the festival. I’ve
seen the pictures of it in my coun-
try,” Australian tourist Jared told the
Global Times.
“When I first got here, I was im-
pressed by how intricate and how big
those sculptures are.”
Meanwhile, tourists are also able to
enjoy free recreational games such as
the ice biking, snow-hill sliding and
snowmobiling.
“Riding bikes on the ice, that was a
lot of fun…in Australia that probably
Jo
Journey to Galaxy on Sun Island Park
in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.
Inset: An ice palace sculpture at
In
Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin
H
Photos: Liu Xiaojing/GT
P
ccosts extra. And I really liked sliding
d
down the snow hill,” Jared said.
Free Ice Lantern Fair
This is the smallest site but also
th oldest among the three. In 1963,
the
in order to enrich citizens’ recre-
ati
ational life during the cold winters,
h Harbin government held the first
the
Ice Lantern Fair at Zhaolin Park. This
is believed to be the origin of today’s
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival.
Different from the previously
mentioned sites, Zhaolin Park is on
the southern bank of the Songhua
River, about 500 meters to Central
Street, which makes it very easy
to reach. The park is named after
Chinese patriotic general Li Zhaolin,
who made great contributions during
World War II.
There is no need to buy a ticket
to visit the Ice Lantern Fair, which
consists of more than 1,000 ice
sculptures displayed around the
park. While there are two rather large
sculptures, most are relatively small.
Most of these sculptures were
made by local middle and high school
students, university students and the
professionals.
Wayne, an Australian who lives in
Shanghai, said that he liked Zhaolin
Park because “it is quiet,” which al-
lowed him to explore at his leisure.
“It’s famous in Australia. You can
see the advertisements in newspapers
and on the TV. It is already a well-
known festival around the world.”
Page Editor:
xuliuliu@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 21

TEABREAK
Garfield Horoscope
Happy birthday:
Peace of mind will be yours if you just
relax and go with the flow today. You
may have many things on your plate,
but getting worked up about it all will
only end up causing you even more
trouble. Financial matters will require
your personal attention. Your lucky
numbers: 1, 3, 9, 11, 19.
Leo (Jul 23 - Aug 22)
A real-estate investment will
require a lot of commitment
on your part before you will
be able to turn a profit. Take
the amount of time and energy this will
cost you into account before you open
your wallet. Romance is on the rise.
✭✭✭

Crossword Aquarius (Jan 20 - Feb 18)

Make sure you show those
Virgo (Aug 23 - Sep 22)
Don’t carelessly throw away
who have helped you along relationships. Although you
ACROSS the way the proper amount might be feeling upset right
1 Silver of FiveThirty-Eight of appreciation. Finding the now, things will look a lot
5 Restroom, briefly right balance between work and leisure different after you have cooled off. It
8 Dalmatian mark will help with your efficiency at work. will be difficult to fix things once a rift
12 Wet, melty snow ✭✭✭✭ occurs. ✭✭✭
14 Singer Amos or Kelly
15 Had on Pisces (Feb 19 - Mar 20) Libra (Sep 23 - Oct 22)
16 Short time out? You will find adventure in The alignment of the stars
18 Senate staffer the most unlikely of places indicates that great things
19 A liar may spin one if you make a break from are on the way for you and
20 Top-shelf the norm today. Things are your family. You are sure
21 Response to “You’re a liar!” sure to get even more exciting if you to come across some great bargains if
23 Programmer’s problem bring your friends along for the ride. you head to the local shopping center.
26 Scribbles hastily ✭✭✭ ✭✭✭✭✭
27 Capitol insiders
28 “Preach!” Aries (Mar 21 - Apr 19) Scorpio (Oct 23 - Nov 21)
30 Port-au-Prince locale You will discover adventure All signs point to a healthy
32 ___ Gala (annual NYC in the most unlikely of and happy relationship if you
event) places today. Things will be open your heart to some-
35 Pokemon imperative, or even more exciting if you get one new tonight. Do not
hint to 16-, 23-, 45-, and friends involved. Things are looking up be afraid to take a chance on love. An
4 Winter hrs. in Boston 44 Jordan’s only port
56-Across when it comes to your career. It might objective approach will be needed when
5 Solitary sort 45 Attended
39 “Special” or “covert” fol- be wise to have your resume ready. dealing with an issue at work. ✭✭✭✭
6 Animal pairs’ boat 46 Give the slip
lower ✭✭✭✭
7 Germanic invader of Rome 47 Impressionist Edgar
40 Standards Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
8 Hindu wise men 48 Secretly looped in
41 Bana of “Troy” Taurus (Apr 20 - May 20) Emotional issues should
9 “Your ___ being?” 49 Sturdy shade trees
42 31-Down insert The keyword of the day be made a priority. If you
10 Surgeon, informally 50 Princess party crown
43 Shot that uses the back- will be experimentation. have not been paying
11 Braces’ places 54 Vodka brand
board Today will be a good time enough attention to those
13 Marriott competitor 57 Large decorative vase
45 It’s tossed after a nuptial to explore new activities closest to you, today is the day to change
14 Fey of “SNL” 58 Dungeons and Dragons
ceremony or visit someplace that you have never that. Lady Luck will be at your side
17 Bowls over, say genre, for short
51 Disinclined (to) been to before. A challenge will cause a when it comes to investment matters.
22 “Kate and ___” (’80s
52 Home, in Hidalgo friendship to grow stronger than before. ✭✭✭✭
sitcom)
53 “___ the season ...” ✭✭✭✭
24 Wingdings, for one
55 Palm starch Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)
25 “Beowulf” and “The
56 Unanticipated piece of good Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20) Nobody is perfect and no-
Aeneid”
fortune The dual nature of your sign body expects you to be. All
28 In the past
59 Eve’s partner will enable you to see both you have to do is be will-
29 Beatles hairdo
60 Extreme angers Today’s Solution sides of an argument. This ing to try and be a better
30 Start to go? talent will be just what is
61 Mimic’s gift person. Friendship will be highlighted.
31 PIN-entering place needed today to quell a tense situation.
62 Julia’s role in “Ocean’s ✭✭✭
32 Sales specialist ✭✭✭
Eleven”
33 Giant Manning
63 Short ___ sweet
34 Mom’s specialty, briefly
64 Dreary color Cancer (Jun 21 - Jul 22) RATINGS ✭
36 Diarist Nin The day today is looking to
37 Julius Caesar’s first wife 5: Head for Macao!
DOWN be a tough one. Fortunately, 4: Ye gods! The planets align!
1 “Don’t open in the office” 38 Restaurant window post- you will find the strength
ing 3: Things are looking up.
letters to see things through if you 2: Don’t bet on things working out.
2 Soothing creams 42 They go in old PC trays dig deep within yourself. Green will be 1: Watch out for black cats and ladders.
3 Powerful plane engines 43 In use, as a phone line your lucky color. ✭✭✭

LearningChinese
Chat attack

bangs (r3ngw6 xi2ngxi2ng, w6 d2su3n hu3ng- z3i li% ch1ng y~xi8. ) Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

刘海 f3x!ng, su6y@ j~nti`n zh@ b`ng w6 xi$ji2n

(li%h2i) li2ngbi`n ji& k0y@ le.)
A: Hi, what style do you want for your hair A: Your hair is pretty stiff. If you want to
today? change your hair, you’ll have to perm it.
你好，请问你今天想理什么发型？ But your hair isn’t long enough now, you
(n@h2o, q@ngw-n n@ j~nti`n xi2ngl@ sh9nme have to wait for it to get longer.
f3x!ng?) 你的头发很硬，要是想换发型的话需要
烫一下，但是你现在的头发还不够长，
B: Let me think. I want to change my hair, 需要再留长一些。
so just take some off both sides. (n@ de t5uf3 h0ny#ng, y3osh# xi2ng hu3n
让我想想，我打算换个发型，所以今天 f3x!ng de hu3 x$y3o t3ng y~xi3, d3nsh# n@
只帮我修剪两边就可以了。 xi3nz3i de t5uf3 h1i b%g7u ch1ng, x$y3o
B: Then I’ll come back in two months for a
perm. Today, just trim it up a bit. But don’t
touch my bangs!
那我两个月后再来烫头发吧，今天先简
单修剪一下，但是千万别剪我的刘海！
(n3 w6 li2ngg-yu- h7u z3il1i t3ng t5uf3
ba, j~nti`n xi`n ji2nd`n xi$ji2n y~xi3,
d3nsh# qi`nw3n bi9 ji2n w6 de li%h2i.)
Page Editor:
taomingyang@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
22 Tuesday January 22, 2019

SPORTS
Fans furious at
choice of pop
idol as NBA
ambassador
By Lu Ming
The National Basketball
Association’s appointment of
a milky-faced talent show pop
star as the NBA Chinese New
Year Celebration Brand Am-
bassador has sparked a macho
backlash among some fans
who deem the dainty idol unfit
for the role.
The handsome singer and
rapper Cai Xukun was chosen
by the NBA to appear in a pro-
motional video alongside NBA
All-Star players Giannis Ante-
tokounmpo of the Milwaukee
Bucks, Damian Lillard of the
Portland Trail Blazers and Klay
Thompson of the Golden State
Warriors.
But in a poll on Chinese
basketball portal Hupu, 79.5
Serena Williams reacts after a point against Simona Halep during their women's singles match at the Australian Open in Melbourne percent of 38,503 voters picked
on Monday. Photo: VCG “rubbish” in response to the ap-
pointment of the 20-year-old
u Fourth seed Zverev implodes in loss to Raonic leader of boy band Nine Per-
cent. Another 10.5 percent pre-
ferred “awesome.”

Serena muscles into quarters

A fired-up Serena Williams
slugged past world No.1 Si-
mona Halep on Monday as
she inches ever closer to a 24th
Grand Slam title on a day that
saw Alexander Zverev implode
at the Australian Open.
In a towering performance,
the American great scored her
biggest win since giving birth
to break down the Romanian
top seed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 and move
into a quarterfinal against sev-
enth seed Karolina Pliskova.
Czech Pliskova is another
form player, winning the warm-
up Brisbane International and
easing past two-time Grand
Slam winner Garbine Mugu-
ruza 6-3, 6-1 to set up the Wil-
liams clash.
“I’m such a fighter. I never
give up,” declared Williams
after the epic encounter.
While Williams stayed cool,
highly rated German fourth
seed Zverev lost the plot against
A USTRALIANOPEN
2019
Canadian Milos Raonic, crash-
ing 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) and de-
molishing a racquet in a mas-
sive meltdown.
Women’s fourth seed Naomi
Osaka was more composed as
she beat crafty Latvian Anas-
tasija in three sets to set up a
meeting with ambitious Ukrai-
nian Elina Svitolina for a place
in the semifinals.
But it was the dominant Wil-
liams who overshadowed them
all and is overwhelming favor-
ite to win an eighth Australian
title, with defending champion
Caroline Wozniacki and second
seed Angelique Kerber already
out.
She has been in ominous
form at Melbourne Park as she
seeks one more major title to
put her alongside Mar-
garet Court’s record
24, and it looked like
French Open champion
Halep would be another
easy scalp after a first set rout.
But the nuggety Romanian
isn’t world No.1 for nothing and
she bounced back to set up a
huge power struggle that Wil-
liams finally won with a break
in the seventh game of the third
set.
Fourth seed Osaka emerged
from an error-strewn first set
against Sevastova to win 4-6,
6-3, 6-4.
“I think the biggest thing for
me is the belief. I think I believe
in myself more this year than I
have last year,” said the bubbly
21-year-old, who beat Williams
in the US Open final last year.
She next faces sixth seed Svi-
tolina, who battled past Ameri-
can Madison Keys 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.
It will be a new experience
for whoever wins that show-
down, with neither going be-
yond the quarterfinals at Mel-
bourne Park before.
Earlier on Rod Laver Arena,
Zverev self-destructed to slump
out at the hands of Raonic.
The German has routinely
been anointed as the flag-
bearer for the next generation,
but again failed to live up to his
reputation and has now missed
out on making the last eight of
a major 14 times in 15 attempts.
So furious was he with his
form, the 21-year-old had a ma-
jor temper tantrum in the sec-
ond set, whacking his racquet
into the ground eight times to
leave it a crumpled mess.
“I just tried to stay com-
posed and it worked out well
for me today,” said cool 16th
seed Raonic, who will now face
Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
AFP
The disgruntled fans lam-
basted the NBA for “misguid-
ing the game” and kowtowing
to Cai’s popularity.
One of Cai’s posts on Weibo,
China’s Twitter-like microb-
log service, in August 2018
received 100 million reposts, a
record for the social media plat-
form.
“What Cai represents is to-
tally different from what the
NBA means to us,” a Hupu
post reads.
“It tells us to be dauntless
and unyielding, but now it is
telling us it’s OK to be effemi-
nate.”
Hupu internet users added
their angry male voices to a
yearlong fracas over the gender
politics and sexual identity of
Chinese mainland celebrities,
with the NBA fans apparently
offended by a perceived lack
of masculinity in the male pop
star.
Cai rose to fame mostly
through winning 2018 Chinese
reality television show Idol Pro-
ducer on the iQiyi online video
platform and then leading Nine
Percent.

RoundUp
NFL
Patriots reach Super Bowl
New England and 41-year-old quarter-
back Tom Brady will be going to their
third consecutive Super Bowl after they
beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31 in
overtime on Sunday, with the Los Ange-
les Rams standing between the Patriots
and a sixth NFL title.
The Rams secured their berth in the
Super Bowl after a controversial 26-23
overtime win over the New Orleans
Saints in the National Football Confer-
ence title game.
The teams will meet in the Super
Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia on February 3.
American Football Conference
champions New England beat the
Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime in the
2017 Super Bowl and lost 41-33 to the
Philadelphia Eagles a year ago.
Spartan Race
30 races to be staged in China
Spartan race series organizers say they
are expanding to stage 30 endurance
and obstacle events in China in 2019.
Higher-level endurance races will
also be staged this year, according to
Chinese sports marketing company
SECA. The number of Spartan runners
in China rose from 18,500 in 2016 to
more than 64,000 in 2018.
The concept of the race originated
with ancient Greece’s fearsome Spartan
warriors known for their legendary
fighting ability, courage and endurance.
Agencies – Global Times
Page Editor:
wanghuayun@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 23

SPORTS
u Dembele suffers sprained ankle after opening scoring

Messi called off the bench to sink Leganes

Lionel Messi came off the bench to
inspire Barcelona to a 3-1 win over a Barcelona superstar
dogged Leganes side on Sunday, creat- Lionel Messi celebrates
ing one goal and scoring another to keep scoring against
the Catalans five points clear at the top Leganes at Camp Nou
of La Liga. on Sunday in Barcelona,
Messi, left out of the starting lineup Spain. Photo: VCG
for only the second time this season
when fit, was called on in the 64th min-
ute with the game poised at 1-1 after
Leganes forward Martin Braithwaite had
canceled out Ousmane Dembele’s first-
half opener with a 57th-minute strike.
The Argentine quickly provided
the spark Barca needed by firing a
venomous shot from outside the area
which was too powerful for goalkeeper
Ivan Cuellar to hold, and Luis Suarez
pounced to stab home on the rebound
in the 71st minute.
The goal was awarded after a lengthy
video assistant referee (VAR) review,
with Leganes furiously claiming that
Suarez had fouled Cuellar, who needed
treatment on the pitch after being struck
by the foot of the Uruguayan striker.
Messi made sure of the victory in
stoppage time, sweeping across the area
and hammering the ball past a helpless
Cuellar for his 18th goal of the season in
La Liga, taking leaders Barca on to 46
points, five clear of nearest challengers forced off injured midway through the focal point in attack, frequently finding lead, but the club’s record signing fired
Atletico Madrid, after 20 games. second half after writhing on the floor holes in the Leganes defense with thrill- just wide.
“We played well. Leganes could do in pain. The club later confirmed he had ing bursts of pace and wild dribbles. “Dembele has been in fantastic form
nothing in attack but we were just lack- sprained his ankle. He put Barca in front shortly after the recently after the controversy, he gives
ing precision in the final pass. They then Dembele has shaken off previous half-hour mark with a first-time shot in us speed, unpredictability and goals,”
scored out of nothing, but Leo came on criticism over lapses in discipline to off the post, receiving a cut-back from added Busquets on the Frenchman’s
and did what we know he can do,” said become one of Barca’s most productive Jordi Alba. transformation. “He was unlucky with
Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets. players in recent weeks. Dembele later combined with the injury, we hope it’s nothing.”
There were worrying scenes for Barca With Messi resting on the bench in Philippe Coutinho which should have
when France forward Dembele was the first half, Dembele was the team’s led to the Brazilian doubling Barca’s Reuters

Harry Winks grabs last-gasp Napoli beat Lazio to keep sight of Juventus
winner as Spurs beat Fulham
uSOCCER
Fernando Llorente’s blushes
were spared as Tottenham
Hotspur recovered from his
early own goal to grab a last-
gasp 2-1 victory over lowly Ful-
ham in the English Premier
League at Craven Cottage on
Sunday.
The Spanish striker, start-
ing in place of the injured
Harry Kane, put past his goal-
keeper Hugo Lloris in the 14th
minute but Dele Alli’s second-
half header leveled it up and
Harry Winks headed home sec-
onds from the end of stoppage
time.
It was a heartbreaker for Ful-
ham who deserved a point but
injury-hit Tottenham opened
up a four-point gap over fourth-
placed Chelsea and restored
their seven-point advantage
over Arsenal and Manchester
United.
Until Winks’ late interven-
tion the story looked set to be all
about Llorente’s struggles after
he was given a rare league start
in the absence of injured talis-
man Kane.
Not only did Llorente’s
clumsy clearance put his side
behind but he also missed
a golden late chance to give
Spurs the lead.
Luckily for him, Alli was
more ruthless as he headed in
Christian Eriksen’s delivery in
the 51st minute.
With Tottenham’s first draw
of the season looming, substi-
tute Georges-Kevin N’koudou’s
superb diagonal cross allowed
Winks to steal a yard and head
past Fulham keeper Sergio Rico
for his first goal for more than
two years.
Defeat left Fulham seven
points behind 17th-placed New-
castle United and facing an in-
creasingly difficult task to avoid
being relegated back to the
Championship.
Reuters
uSOCCER
Napoli beat 10-man Lazio 2-1
on Sunday to close the gap on
leaders Juventus to six points
and consolidate second place in
Serie A.
First-half goals from Jose
Callejon and Arkadiusz Milik
ensured all three points for the
southerners before champi-
ons Juventus host bottom club
Chievo on Monday.
Napoli have 47 points from
20 games and are now seven
ahead of third-placed Inter
Milan who were held to a goal-
less draw at home by Sassuolo
on Saturday.
But it was a damaging defeat
for Lazio who drop out of the
Champions League places into
fifth at the expense of city rivals
Roma.
Eusebio di Francesco’s
Roma are one point ahead of
Lazio who host seven-time
reigning champions Juventus
next weekend.
Napoli were without sus-
pended defender Kalidou Kou-
libaly, captain Marek Hamsik
and forward Lorenzo Insigne.
But Carlo Ancelotti’s side could
have won by a larger margin
with Milik and Fabian Ruiz
both hitting the woodwork
early.
Spanish forward Callejon
scored his first Serie A goal this
season after 34 minutes with
forward Milik’s superb free kick
three minutes later giving the
Pole his seventh goal in eight
games.
Ciro Immobile pulled one
back for Lazio after 65 minutes
at the San Paolo stadium, but
the visitors were struggling as
they played the last 20 minutes
a man down after Francesco
Acerbi was sent off for a second
yellow card.
“We were missing a lot of
players, but you really couldn’t
tell at all, which shows our
strength in depth,” said Ance-
lotti.
“We had moments of diffi-
culty, some of which we could
have dealt with better and there
were some naive errors, but
overall there was a lot of qual-
ity.”
Earlier Colombian forward
Duvan Zapata scored four
goals as ambitious northerners
Atalanta thrashed struggling
Frosinone 5-0 to bring his tally
to 13 in the last seven league
games.
The side from Bergamo are
just two points off the final
Champions League berth.
In Florence, Sampdoria
held 10-man Fiorentina 3-3 in a
game between Europa League
hopefuls.
Colombian forward Luis
Muriel bagged a brace on his
first appearance for Fiorentina
since his loan move from Se-
villa, with Fabio Quagliarella
getting a double to join Cris-
tiano Ronaldo on top of the
goal scoring charts with 14 this
season.
AFP
Page Editor:
wanghuayun@
globaltimes.com.cn
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SPORTS
24 T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

Derrick Rose nailed a work on this all the the victory with two late free throws. Forbes drained a three-pointer.
three-pointer from 18
feet (5.5 meters) with
NBA 2018-19 time,” said Rose, who
shot 11 of 18 in the
San Antonio, who suffered their
second consecutive loss at home,
The Clippers went on a 22-2 run
bridging the first and second quar-
just 0.6 seconds left second half. took the lead, 101-95, with 31 seconds ters, turning a one-point deficit into a
to lift the Minnesota Timberwolves T.J. Warren scored 21 points and to go on Aldridge’s final basket of the 45-26 lead with 11 minutes remaining
to a 116-114 victory over the Phoenix Devin Booker and Kelly Oubre each game but the Clippers were able to in the first half.
Suns on Sunday. added 18 for Phoenix, who lost all execute down the stretch. Victor Oladipo scored 16 of his 21
“It was about damn time I hit a four games on their road trip to drop LaMarcus Aldridge had 30 points points in the second half and Dar-
shot like that,” said Rose. to 4-20 overall on the road this sea- and 14 rebounds and a banged up ren Collison finished with 19 points
Rose and Karl-Anthony Towns son. leading scorer DeMar DeRozan re- as the Indiana Pacers posted their
took turns carrying the Wolves on Elsewhere, Tobias Harris scored turned from a one-game absence to fourth win in five games with a 120-
their backs as they combined for 61 27 points and flirted with a triple- finish with eight points on a dismal 95 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
points. double as the Los Angeles Clippers four of 16 shooting. Rudy Gay had 19 Kemba Walker led the Hornets
Towns scored 28 of his 30 points snapped a five-game losing skid with points and Marco Belinelli added 12 with 23 points but didn’t get much
in the first half and Rose scored 29 of a 103-95 win over the red-hot San points for San Antonio. help. Malik Monk finished with 11
his 31 points in the second half for the Antonio Spurs. The Spurs, who committed 18 points off the bench while Bismack
Timberwolves, who had to overcome Harris also had nine assists and turnovers, took Biyombo scored 10 as the Hornets’
an 11-point deficit. nine rebounds and Patrick Beverly their only lead three-game winning streak ended.
The Suns decided to double-team finished with 18 points and 12 re- with just over
Towns in the second half which bounds for the Clippers in front of a three minutes AFP
opened the door for Rose to then take crowd of 18,300 at the AT&T Center remaining
charge. arena. in the first Page Editor:
wanghuayun@
“I got to get back into the rhythm The Clippers led the contest for all when Bryn globaltimes.com.cn
of things. I believe in myself and I but 14 seconds as Beverley helped seal

Clippers snap losing


skid with win over Spurs

Wolves edge Suns

Derrick Rose of the Minnesota Timberwolves drives to the basket against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo: VCG

Clear NATIONAL

Cloudy
WEATHER January 22
H: 10º H: -3º
City
Dali
Guilin
Hangzhou
Kunming
Hi (ºC)
16
18
11
16
Lo (ºC)
2
5
0
3
Forecast
Cloudy
Clear
Clear
Cloudy
Beijing L: -3º Harbin L: -17º Lijiang 16 0 Cloudy
H: -1º
Urumqi L: -10º Humidity: 29% Macao 17 10 Cloudy
Wind Scale: 3 Nanjing 10 0 Clear
Daily Air Pollution Index:
Qingdao 6 0 Clear
Overcast Low
Sanya 25 17 Clear
UV Index: Low H: 4º
Two-day forecast
c
Shenyang L: -11º Shenzhen 18 11 Cloudy
Suzhou 10 0 Clear

Rain H: 7º H: 5º INTERNATIONAL
L: -5º L: -5º City Hi (ºC) Lo (ºC) Forecast
H: 9º
Amsterdam 3 -3 Overcast
Tianjin L: -2º Bangkok 33 23 Clear
Berlin -1 -4 Snow
Shower Brussels 1 -5 Overcast
H: 0º H: 9º
Hohhot L: -2º Xi’an L: -5º Cairo 20 8 Overcast
Colombo 32 27 Rain
Shanghai H: 10º Frankfurt 0 -6 Snow
L: 2º
Thunder H: 11º Karachi 24 11 Clear
Chengdu L: 3º Kuala Lumpur 34 24 Rain
London 7 0 Rain
Manila 29 23 Overcast
Melbourne 33 13 Rain
H: 8º
Wind Lhasa L: -6º
Mexico City 21 6 Clear
Moscow -9 -5 Snow
H: 15º
H: 13º H: 12º
Taipei L: 12º
Mumbai 29 17 Cloudy
Chongqing L: 4º Wuhan L: -1º Nairobi 25 16 Rain
New York City -9 -11 Snow
Snow Paris 1 -4 Overcast
Rome 14 7 Rain
H: 17º
Guangzhou L: 7º San Francisco 14 6 Cloudy
Sao Paulo 27 20 Rain
Seoul 5 -2 Rain
Smog Singapore 32 26 Rain
H: 18º
Hong Kong L: 12º
Sydney 30 21 Rain
Tokyo 11 2 Rain
Washington -6 -10 Clear
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Biz Update Biz Update
China’s role Spring Festival
positive for spurs gold sales
Cambodia B2 B3
www.globaltimes.cn
ECONOMY
By Chu Daye
China appears to have comfortably
achieved sufficient employment in
2018, even if it has some thorny struc-
tural issues to attend to in the new year,
Chinese analysts said on Monday.
The comments came after the Na-
tional Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on
Monday posted economic performance
figures for 2018, showing that the sur-
veyed unemployment rate for urban ar-
eas ranged from 4.8 percent to 5.1 per-
cent, in line with the government target
set at the start of the year of “less than
5.5 percent.”
In December, the surveyed unem-
ployment rate stayed at 4.9 percent in
urban areas, 0.1 percentage point low-
er than a year earlier, said Ning Jizhe,
head of the NBS.
In December, the surveyed unem-
ployment rate in 31 major cities was
4.7 percent, 0.2 percentage point lower
than in December 2017. The rate for the
main working-age population (aged 25
to 59), was 4.4 percent, the same as in
November.
China attaches great importance to
ensuring a stable job market. In the
Central Economic Work Conference
held in December last year, the employ-
ment situation was put first among six
important areas that the government
aims to stabilize. The other areas were
 Nation must deal with external, structural issues
Unemployment stays within target
Biz Indepth
Regional development
benefits Beijing area B4-5
BUSINESS
“There will be a
T U E S D AY J A N U A RY 2 2 , 2 0 1 9
rising challenge
for governance as
technology advances,
wiping out old jobs and
creating new ones.”
Wan Zhe
Chief economist with the International
Cooperation Center of China’s National
Development and Reform Commission
the financial sector, foreign trade, for-
eign investment, domestic investment
and market expectations.
Nationwide, 13.61 million new
jobs were created in urban areas, up
100,000 from 2017. The figure was
successfully kept above 13 million per
year for six consecutive years.
The US had a 3.9 percent surveyed
unemployment in December, and the
EU’s surveyed jobless rate is 8 percent
to 10 percent, according to Ning.
Li Chang’an, a professor at the De-
partment of Public Economics at the
University of International Business
and Economics, told the Global Times
on Monday that the job figures provide
an objective representation of the gen-
eral picture, quashing rumors of mas-
Send your tips, insights or photos to business@globaltimes.com.cn, or call our news line: +86 10 6536 7583
Address: The Global Times English Edition, 2 Jintai Xilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100026
sive job cuts and reports that compa-
nies can’t recruit the people they need.
“The national figure shows that
these structural problems did not hin-
der the general trend of a stabilized job
market in 2018,” Li said.
In 2019, China will have to deal
with long-term structural issues such
as regional imbalances and short-term
structural woes such as the impact of
the China-US trade war, which is hurt-
ing China’s processing trade and man-
ufacturing industry, Li added.
Ning said that media reports about
some manufacturers such as Foxconn
slashing many jobs should be seen in
an objective light.
Challenges
“Some foreign capital comes, some
leaves, that’s all natural,” Ning said.
Even as the Chinese economy faces
unseen downward pressure, it has
successfully landed some projects led
by foreign capital. “Some projects are
worth more than 10 billion yuan [$1.47
billion],” Ning said, probably referring
to massive investments by German
chemical giant BASF and automaker
BMW AG last year, or to US-based
electric car maker Tesla’s $2 billion
Gigafactory in Shanghai, where con-
struction started in the first few days of
2019.
Li said, however, that a surveyed
unemployment rate of 4.9 percent
A job hunter applies for a job at a job fair
in Huaian, East China’s Jiangsu Province
Biz Comment
Birth dearth
influences
economy B6
is within a comfortable range for the
economy, noting that ultra-low rates in
the US will add pressures involving in-
flation and salary hikes.
Long-term efforts should be made
to improve the quality of China’s em-
ployment, just like what was done with
economic growth, Li said. The overall
quality of employment in China has
huge scope for improvement in terms
of salaries, benefits and work hours,
noted Li.
Wan Zhe, chief economist with the
International Cooperation Center of
China’s National Development and
Reform Commission, said that the
figures also show the resilience of the
Chinese economy as the government
has stepped in with support efforts in
the monetary and fiscal areas, as well
as efforts to forge a better business en-
vironment.
“There will be a rising challenge for
governance as technology advances,
wiping out old jobs and creating new
ones,” Wan said, noting that the 2019
employment target is likely to remain
on the same level as in 2018.
But, after each Industrial Revolution
in world history, there have been more
jobs and more consumption power, not
less, Wan noted.
Page Editor:
shenweiduo@globaltimes.com.cn
in January. Photo: VCG
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
B2 Tuesday January 22, 2019

BIZUPDATE
Hainan’s FDI doubles Cleaning up

in 2018, comprising
vote of confidence
ECONOMY
In a vote of confidence in the nation’s fresh round
of reform and opening-up, foreign companies –
from global consultancies to entertainment gi-
ants to real estate developers – rushed into South
China’s Hainan Province in 2018, eyeing policy
support expected from efforts to build a free trade
zone (FTZ) there.
In 2018, Hainan attracted $733.05 million in
FDI, up 112.7 percent from a year earlier, accord-
ing to report from local newspaper Hainan Daily
on Monday, citing official figures.
During the year, 167 companies involving for-
eign capital were set up in the province, up 91.95
percent year-on-year, the report said.
Most of the FDI came in after the central gov-
ernment announced in April 2018 that it would
build the whole island of Hainan into a pilot,
high-level FTZ as part of the country’s continued
push for further reform and opening-up. A floor mopping robot works at a railway station in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province on Monday.
From April to December 2018, Hainan re- The robot, which is more than 1 meter tall, can replace four or five human staff. Besides cleaning the floor, it can
ceived FDI of $731.75 million, accounting for use a camera to monitor the surrounding environment. Photo: VCG
almost the entire year’s inflow, according to the
report, and 152 of the 167 foreign-invested com-
panies were also set up during that period.
“With all of the activity expected in Hainan,
 Hun Sen’s visit heralds drive for cooperation
it is no surprise that foreign companies rushed
in to lay the groundwork for future development
in not just Hainan but the whole country,” said
Chen Fengying, an expert at the China Institutes
of Contemporary International Relations in Bei-
China’s role positive in Cambodia
jing.
“China is aiming to build Hainan into a free
trade hub of global scale,” Chen said. INVESTMENT Bilateral trade reached $4.69 bil- A resident in the capital city of
The setting up of the Hainan FTZ means that By Zhang Dan lion from January to August 2018, Phnom Penh, who only gave her sur-
both the central and provincial governments are up 23.8 percent year-on-year, China’s name as Hang, said that Cambodian
throwing considerable policy support for foreign Cambodia both needs and benefits Ministry of Commerce said. requires infrastructure projects on a
investment by creating a better business environ- from China’s investment in its infra- Xinhua reported last September large scale. “We really need a lot of in-
ment. structure construction, while China that 86 percent of the companies in- frastructure development to improve
It also means that more sectors will be open to welcomes other countries’ participa- vesting in the Sihanoukville Special our productivity, so investment from
foreign capital in the province. tion in the Cambodian market and is Economic Zone were Chinese. These China or elsewhere into this sec-
The FDI in Hainan moved into a wide range willing to compete there based on fair 108 Chinese companies had provided tor will be a great help to us,” Hang
of sectors, including financial services, entertain- terms, analysts said. over 20,000 local jobs. said, adding that after the BRI came
ment, real estate, healthcare, the environment, The comment came as Cambo- Infrastructure remains the prior- to Cambodia, there was a significant
technology, and port construction. dian Prime Minister Samdech Techo ity for Cambodia, and China has rich increase in Chinese investors.
The investments came from companies based Hun Sen is in China for a four-day experience in developing infrastruc- Regarding concerns about China’s
in countries such as the US, the UK and Singa- visit starting from Sunday. tures based on its Belt and Road ini- presence in Cambodia via the BRI,
pore. The visit is intended to improve tiative (BRI), said Guo. Bai Ming, a research fellow at the
Among the foreign businesses, most notice- trade diversification and strengthen At the end of last year, Cambodia’s Chinese Academy of International
able was the huge interest from global consul- political mutual trust between China largest hydropower project started Trade and Economic Cooperation,
tancies and business services groups, including and Cambodia based on close bilat- electricity generation in the north- said other countries could either
Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting, Ernst & eral relations, said Guo Jiguang, an eastern province of Stung Treng, compete or cooperate with Chinese
Young, Deloitte and KPMG. expert on Southeast Asia affairs at the Cambodia. China’s Huaneng Hydro- companies together in Cambodia
The presence of these global business services National Institute of International lancang International Energy holds a based on fair terms.
groups suggests that Hainan is aiming high for Strategy of the Chinese Academy of 51 percent stake in the joint venture, “Chinese companies are competi-
the FTZ, according to some analysts. Social Sciences. with the rest held by Cambodia’s tive in terms of project quality and
“There has been a lot of criticism by foreign Infrastructure, trade, investment Royal Group and Vietnam’s EVN In- price… but other countries could
countries about China’s market access. This FDI and agriculture are the main four ternational. compete with Chinese companies in
in Hainan offers real evidence that foreign capital areas where the two countries are Huaneng said that the station Cambodia’s market based on fair and
is still confident in China’s continued opening- seeking to expand cooperation oppor- could produce 1.97 billion kilowatt reasonable terms. They could also co-
up,” Chen said. tunities, said Chinese Ambassador to hours annually, which could solve the operate with Chinese companies to
Cambodia Wang Wentian, the Xin- problem of power consumption for 3 help Cambodia so they could play to
Global Times hua News Agency reported. million Cambodians annually. their advantages,” Bai noted.

SOEs’ profits surge 12.9% in 2018 despite challenges on domestic, external fronts
COMPANIES
China’s massive State-owned
enterprises (SOEs) saw their
profits jump 12.9 percent year-
on-year to 3.39 trillion yuan
($498.58 billion) in 2018 and
their debt dropping slightly, of-
ficial figures showed Monday.
Coming at a time when
the Chinese economy faces a
slowdown and deteriorating ex-
ternal conditions, the surge in
SOE profits shows that one of
the country’s economic back-
bones remains solid.
Last year, Chinese SOEs
raked in a total of 58.75 trillion
yuan in revenue, increasing 10
percent from the year earlier, ac-
cording to the figures released
by the Ministry of Finance. The
SOEs also contributed as much
as 4.61 trillion yuan in taxes,
the statistics showed.
But total debt owned by
SOEs, a potentially risky issue
for the SOEs themselves and
the Chinese economy, surged
by 8.1 percent year-on-year to a
staggering 115.65 trillion yuan
at the end of 2018. However, agenda to improve the quality
the rise in debts was largely off- of its economic growth and cre-
set by a year-on-year 8.4 percent ate a better business environ-
growth in total assets, bringing ment.
the asset-to-debt ratio down 0.2
percentage point from the end Global Times
of 2017 to 64.7 percent.
Chinese SOEs are a favorite Page Editor:
m.ccn
cn
shenweiduo@globaltimes.com.cn
target of foreign criticism and
a focal point of China’s reform
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 B3

BIZUPDATE
 Demand likely to climb in 2019, driven partly by investment

Shoppers’ embrace of Spring Festival lifts gold sales

CONSUMPTION
By Zhang Hongpei
Sales of gold jewelry products
are hitting a peak in China as
the Spring Festival approaches,
boosting domestic consump-
tion.
Industry analysts said de-
mand for the metal will see
a steady upward trend this
year as the country’s economy
maintains strong growth mo-
mentum.
“Gold jewelry in the form
of a pig has sold well recently,
as 2019 is the Chinese Lunar
Year of the Pig. Gold jewelry
sales usually peak between the
New Year holiday and China’s
traditional Spring Festival,” a
salesperson surnamed Geng at
a Chow Tai Fook retail store in
Beijing told the Global Times
on Monday.
However, Geng said that
young people in first-tier cities
are less inclined to buy pure
gold jewelry compared with
platinum or diamonds.
According to a survey re-
leased by the World Gold Coun-
cil (WGC) in November last
year, diamonds and platinum
are as popular in China’s first-
tier cities as pure gold.
In second- and third-tier cit-
ies, pure gold is still more pop-
ular. Meanwhile, young people
tend to spend less on gold jew-
elry compared with their elders.
“The domestic gold market,
mainly driven by consumption
and investment, will continue
a recovery with demand from
second- and third-tier cities at
a continuously high level, es-
pecially for jewelry,” said Zhou
Yinghao, an independent ana-
lyst of the gold industry.
Zhou told the Global Times
on Monday that China’s gold
market has become more open
and normal in the past few
years, and gold has become a
good alternative investment
since there are few other choic-
es.
“The country’s economic
and wealth expansion will fur-
ther enhance demand strength
in the gold sector,” he added.
In the first three quarters of
2018, China’s gold consump-
tion rose to 849.70 tons, up
5.08 percent year-on-year, rank-
ing first in the world for fifth
consecutive years.
The total included 538.85
tons of gold jewelry, which saw
yearly increase of 6.94 percent,
figures from the China Gold
Association showed in Novem-
ber last year.
Jiang Shu, partner and in-
vestment director of Shanghai-
based Oak Investment, told the
Global Times on Monday that
about 60 to 70 percent of do-
mestic consumption is concen-
trated on gold jewelry. Still, it’s
become obvious in recent years
that Chinese consumers tend
to separate decorative functions
from investment value.
“The gold market of China
was opened up late but has
caught up with the average
standard worldwide over recent
years,” said Jiang.
Investment demand for gold
has been climbing, said Jiang.
Affected by the sluggish
stock market and trade friction
between China and the US,
investors have paid more at-
tention to gold coins out of the
need for risk avoidance as gold
is often used as a hedge against
economic uncertainties. Gold
coin consumption was up by
6.47 percent in the first three
quarters last year reaching 18.1
tons, according to the China
Gold Association.

Festive market Tax measures to yield

Residents
select
strawberries
BRI win-win outcome
at an open
air market in POLICY
Dongying, China’s promotion of a tax collection and coop-
East China’s
eration mechanism among countries and regions
Shandong
Province,
along the routes of the Belt and Road initiative
on Monday, (BRI) can improve business environment and fa-
as Spring cilitate trade, an analyst said.
Festival, China made progress in promoting the new
the most tax mechanism in 2018, China Taxation News re-
important ported on January 11.
festival for A BRI Tax Cooperation Conference was held
Chinese in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, on May 14,
people, 2018. The meeting reached an important consen-
approaches. sus on establishing a tax cooperation regime and
Photo: VCG released the Astana BRI Tax Cooperation Initia-
tive, the news report said.

Global Times

Attention will be on China’s reform efforts in Davos: expert
ECONOMY
China, facing renewed downward
economic pressure and tariffs war
with the US, is likely to be in the spot-
light at this year’s World Economic
Forum in Davos, said an expert on
Monday.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qis-
han will lead the Chinese delegation
to Switzerland from Tuesday to Fri-
day, to attend the 2019 annual meet-
ing of the World Economic Forum,
according to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
Wang has been invited to give a
speech at the annual meeting ex-
plaining China’s views and opinions
on major international issues includ-
ing China’s development and the
global economy. He is also expected
to meet with Klaus Schwab, Executive
Chairman of the Forum.
There will be an unprecedented
number of Chinese corporate repre-
sentatives in this year’s meeting in
Davos. Chinese companies including
Alibaba Group, Poly Group, Fosun
Group and State Development & In-
vestment Corporation are expected to
participate in this year’s meeting, ac-
cording to media reports.
In a note sent to the Global Times,
Chen Shengqiang, CEO of JD Digits,
a leading digital technology company
in China, said the new “Globalization
4.0” era is generating a new model
for global economy, and may help
build a new future for the mankind.
Chen Fengying, director of the
Institute of World Economic Studies,
of the China Institute of Contempo-
rary International Relations, told the
Global Times on Monday that China,
especially China’s reform efforts for
its domestic market as well as inter-
national trade, will be at the center
of attention at this year’s world eco-
nomic forum.
China’s economic performance
now has a far-reaching influence
over the confidence in the world’s
economy, and the massive anticipa-
tion over the China’s GDP figures of
2018, which were released on Mon-
day, showed the world is interested to
know how China is performing and
how it might affect their own nations,
Chen said.
“The world is expecting China to
show in-depth reform efforts to re-
lease its market potential and poten-
tially bring a positive influence on the
world’s economy”, Chen said.
Global Times
Page Editor:
liqiaoyi@globaltimes.com.cn
RoundUp
TOURISM
Mobile payments go abroad
As Chinese people travel abroad more often, they
increasingly use mobile payments for their overseas
expenses, according to a report from Chinese online
financial services provider Ant Financial on Monday.
In 2018, Chinese tourists made 140 million out-
bound trips, up 13.5 percent from the year earlier, and
32 percent of their overseas purchases were paid for
with smartphones, which overtook cash for the first
time, the report said.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Liaoning transport investment
Northeast China’s Liaoning Province will improve its
transportation infrastructure by investing 10 billion
yuan ($1.47 billion) in the sector in 2019, the Xinhua
News Agency reported on Monday.
The province will rebuild 4,000 kilometers of rural
roads, as well as expanding logistics facilities to handle
another 10 million tons of rail cargo and 88,000 more
containers by rail or water, the report said.
Liaoning will also aim to further get involved in the
construction of the Belt and Road initiative in 2019,
according to Xinhua.
Global Times
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
B4-5
Tuesday January 22, 2019
u Model with better economic structure, cleaner environment, and improved public
Integrated regional developm
benefits Beijing, neighbors
2
018 was a fruitful year for Zhao
Ruqi, general manager of Dongsu
Group, a multi-faceted conglomerate
based in Cangzhou, North China’s Hebei
Province.
Over the past year, about 8,000 whole-
sale sellers who closed their shops in Bei-
jing moved to Cangzhou, where Dongsu
Group’s garment wholesale arm, Mingzhu
Commerce and Trade Center, is located.
On August 22, more than 1,000 winter
coat sellers opened their new businesses
there, some 200 kilometers (kms) away
from Beijing.
“We are now striving to develop
ourselves as a national trading center for
cotton-padded clothes and down jackets,”
Zhao said.
Win-win strategy
Five years ago, China initiated a strate-
gy to integrate the development of Beijing,
Tianjin, and Hebei to create a model with
a better economic structure, cleaner envi-
ronment, and improved public services. A
prominent task is to move the non-capital
functions out of Beijing to treat “urban
ills” in the Chinese national capital, such
as traffic jams and pollution.
According to a guideline released in
April 2015, the key functions of politics,
culture, international communication, and
technical innovation will be prioritized.
However, other sectors will be moved out
A bird’s eye view of villages in Xiongan
New Area, Hebei Province on April 12,
2017. Photo: VCG
of Beijing.
The relocation of general merchandise
and clothes markets in downtown Beijing
is one of the measures.
Zhao said more than 10,000 shops
from markets like Dahongmen and
Beijing Zoo garment markets had moved
to Cangzhou, with 2,000 clothes manu-
facturing plants having relocated there,
bringing about tens of thousands of jobs.
Tian Xiuhua, chairman of a telecom-
munication sales company which shifted
part of its business from Beijing to Tianjin
and Hebei, said the labor cost had signifi-
cantly dropped thanks to the relocation
and the sales had also improved.
“Many young employees are tired of
the rising living costs in Beijing, so the re-
location has benefited them a lot,” he said.
Other measures to clear space in
Beijing include the closing of manufac-
turing businesses, relocation of hospitals
and schools, and shifting administrative
departments of the Beijing Municipal
Government to Tongzhou district, in the
city’s eastern suburbs.
At the ongoing municipal legislative
session, Beijing Mayor Chen Jining said
204 markets and logistics centers were
relocated or upgraded last year, plus the
closing of 656 manufacturing companies
in the city.
In 2019, more than 300 manufactur-
ing firms and 66 markets and logistics
BIZIND
centers, usually high-polluting or low-end
industries, will be phased out or moved to
nearby regions, said Chen in the govern-
ment report.
Resources from Beijing and Tianjin,
including talent, have injected impetus
to the economic development of less
developed areas. The city of Xinji, Hebei
Province, for instance, has established
cooperation with 15 academics, to provide
technical and research support in indus-
tries such as leather, machine manufac-
turing, petrochemical engineering, energy
saving, biotechnology and electronic
information.
“An academican not only represents
the highest scientific and research levels
in his or her field but also has a power-
ful team that can help with research and
development of companies here,” said Di
Yi, the Party chief of Xinji and a deputy to
the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress.
According to him, the city’s economy
grew 7 percent in 2018, 0.4 percentage
points higher than the provincial level, to
48 billion yuan ($7.16 billion).
Transport interconnectivity
Many high-speed railway lines run
through Beijing and the neighboring
areas, making relocation of the industrial
projects practical. People from Beijing will
arrive in cities like Tianjin, Langfang and
Cangzhou in less than one hour.
The high-speed railway line connect-
ing Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei
Province, where many events of the 202
Winter Olympics will take place, will be
in operation later this year. In addition,
the expressway between Beijing’s Yanqi
district and Zhangjiakou’s Chongli, two
major venues for the Winter Olympics
events, will also open, Hebei governor X
Qin said in the provincial government
report.
In 2018, more than 40 inter-provinc
bus lines, totaling 2,800 km in length,
were in operation between Beijing and
neighboring districts or cities in Hebei,
carrying 400,000 passengers daily.
According to Tianjin’s annual govern
ment work report, construction work on
high-speed railway connecting Tianjin a
Beijing’s new airport in Daxing district
will start operating in 2019.
Tianjin will also contribute to the con
struction and development of Xiong’an
New Area, with a series of measures
taken, including expediting constructio
of transportation infrastructure connect
ing Tianjin and Xiongan, and creating
convenient access to the sea for Xionga
via Tianjin.
Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei also work
together to tackle air and water pollution
issues.
In the meantime, central authorities
sued a special guideline in late Novemb
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
DEPTH
c services
ment
t- 2018 to establish a more effective mecha-
nism for integrated regional development.
22 The guideline stressed that the inte-
e grated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-
, Hebei region, which has the removal of
qing non-capital functions out of Beijing as a
o grab, should focus on the readjustment of
regional economic structures and space
Xu utilization to redistribute the resources of
densely populated megacities in pursuit of
a model to tackle the “urban ills.”
ce General manager Zhao is confident
about Cangzhou’s wholesale market
17 development in the future. About 20 km
, away from the Mingzhu Commerce and
Trading Center, Dongsu Group is building
n- a new town for international garment
na trading, he said.
and Covering an area of more than 1 mil-
lion square meters, the projected town will
consist of a complete industrial chain for
n- garment-making, including designing,
n processing and marketing functions.
“I am optimistic about the prospects of
on the project,” said Zhao. According to him,
ct- Dongsu Group has signed contracts with
5,000 companies to operate in the town
an upon its completion.
k Global Times – Xinhua
on
Page Editor:
wangyi@globaltimes.com.cn
s is-
ber
High-level opening-up drives Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development
Signs of international
financial institutions
stand in Beijing
Financial Street.
Photo: VCG
Beijing will attract international finan-
cial and services sector institutions to
set up their regional headquarters or
branches, the city mayor Chen Jining
said at the ongoing annual session of
the municipal legislature.
“High-level opening-up” is a key
phrase in the latest annual government
work reports of Beijing, its neighbor-
ing port city of Tianjin, and Hebei
Province – a regional city cluster being
promoted by China.
The country initiated a strategy to
coordinate the development of these
three places five years ago, through
exploring a new growth model for the
densely-populated areas, featuring a
better economic structure, a cleaner
environment and improved public
services.
In recent years, a growing number
of foreign-funded firms have estab-
lished themselves in the nation’s
capital.
In 2017, China’s first foreign-
controlled joint venture for aircraft
maintenance was founded in Beijing’s
Shunyi district. Last year, the world’s
three major international credit rating
agencies – Fitch Ratings, S&P Global
and Moody’s – registered wholly-
owned subsidiaries in the capital.
The number of foreign-funded
companies in the CBD, Chaoyang dis-
trict, exceeded 10,000 last year. That
is nearly one-third of the capital’s total
of foreign firms, the CBD administra-
tive committee said. Foreign-funded
companies have become a major driver
of economic development in the area.
Sun Yao, deputy director with the
Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau,
said the industrial structure for foreign
investment had been optimized since
the central government allowed Bei-
jing to pilot policies, further opening
the services industry in 2015.
In areas of finance, science and
technology, and culture, Beijing
relaxed the market entry rules for
foreign capital. “The services industry
has become more open, attractive and
competitive,” he said.
Efficient service
The actual use of foreign capital in
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region account-
ed for 3.3 percent of the area’s total
GDP in 2010. In 2017, the figure rose
to 4.8 percent, according the National
Bureau of Statistics.
Experts attributed the progress
to better government services and a
series of integrated policies.
Thanks to the tailored policies of the
Tianjin entry-exit inspection and quar-
antine bureau, the Tianjin plant owned
by Denmark-based Novozymes, the
world’s largest producer of industrial
enzymes, has seen improved logistics
efficiency and less costs.
Shi Jia, the marketing communica-
tions manager of Novozymes (China)
Investment Co. Ltd., said all imported
goods can now be delivered directly to
the plant’s warehouse, and quarantine
work can then be carried out at the
company.
In 2014, an integrated customs
clearance reform was launched in
Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, which be-
gan to share information systems for
customs declaration, risk controls, data
checks and site work. Around 8,600
firms in Beijing benefited from the
program by the end of 2018, according
to Beijing customs.
The increasingly efficient customs
clearance supervision and service have
bolstered export growth. In the first
three quarters of 2018, the total import
and export of goods in Beijing sur-
passed two trillion yuan ($295 billion),
up more than 25 percent year-on-year.
On Thursday, Beijing issued
a series of policies and measures
to streamline administration and
optimize the business environment,
involving business registrations, tax
payments, cross-border trade and ac-
cess to the power grid.
Wang Hongcun, deputy inspector
of the Beijing Municipal Commerce
Bureau, said the capital will set up 10
new demonstration shops in 2019 to
boost cross-border e-commerce.
More reforms serve high-level
opening-up
Beijing mayor Chen Jining said
the city would exert greater efforts
for reforming investment, customs
management, trade facilitation, cross-
border service trade, financial services,
e-commerce and intellectual property
protection in the future.
Hebei will accelerate the opening-
up of agriculture, mining, manufac-
turing, education, medical services
and cultural industries, according to
the provincial governor Xu Qin when
delivering a government work report.
The province will put more efforts
into 10 Sino-foreign cooperation indus-
trial parks this year, and seek approval
for a Hebei pilot free trade zone.
To advance high-level opening-up,
Tianjin mayor Zhang Guoqing said in
this year’s municipal government work
report, that the city would continue to
deepen reform of its Free Trade Zone
and build a more open and transparent
market access model.
Beijing Daxing International
Airport, which is scheduled to open
in September, sits at the junction of
Beijing’s Daxing district and Langfang,
a city in Hebei. The new airport is
expected to handle 45 million passen-
gers annually by 2021 and 72 million
by 2025.
Hendrick Sin, a Tianjin political ad-
visor and president of the Hong Kong
Internet Professionals Association,
said Beijing had the country’s leading
research and talent resources.
“The coordinated development of
Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will make
the region into a cluster of high-tech
enterprises and an innovation hub for
China,” he said.
Global Times – Xinhua
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
B6 Tuesday January 22, 2019

BIZCOMMENT
Birth dearth having profound impact on economy
By Hu Weijia has already ended its abroad, buy healthcare prod- sets throughout the years. Now,
E YEONECONOMY decades-old one-child ucts, invest in gold and acquire retirement is giving them plen-

C
hina’s demographic
structure is changing
faster than expected,
and its impact on the economy
will be immense.
Figures released by the Na-
tional Bureau of Statistics on
Monday showed a decline in
domestic births of 2 million
for 2018, equivalent to the total
population of some European
countries. Along with the con-
tinued decrease in population
growth, the number of Chinese
citizens aged 60 or above in-
creased by 8.59 million in 2018.
Lower birth rates and rising
life expectancies mean a change
in the size and age structure of
China’s population.
Demographic change has
been accompanied by China’s
economic restructuring, and it
is to some extent an incentive
for the latter. The impact on
production has already been
noted, as the nation’s massive
demographic dividend ebbs.
More enterprises are likely
to move low-end manufactur-
ing out of China as they seek
lower-cost labor, imposing pres-
sure on the Chinese economy
in 2019. Although the country
policy, China will never
again have the demo-
graphic dividend that it previ-
ously enjoyed.
However, if we focus too
much on the supply side, we
will probably ignore the im-
pact on consumption. China’s
economic slowdown is a fact,
but the country still has huge
consumption potential. The be-
havior of middle-aged women,
known as dama, offers a win-
dow into the enormous pur-
chasing power of the growing
middle class and retired popu-
lation.
They’re keen to travel
housing. China is in the midst
of a boom in outbound tour-
ism, and it’s people like the
dama and the rising ranks of
retirees who have contributed a
lot to tourism growth.
The explosive expansion
of these cohorts is driving
economic change and social
transformation. Some of these
people were born in the 1950s
and 1960s, and they’ve served
as the backbone of the Chinese
economy during the past de-
cades.
Their labor created an eco-
nomic miracle in the world,
and they have accumulated as-
ty of time to travel, consume
and invest.
China is on a road of sweep-
ing socioeconomic change.
After four decades of reform
and opening-up, an economic
development model with its do-
mestic characteristics has been
formed in China. We believe
the aging society will also have
its own characteristics in the
world’s second-largest econo-
my. There are challenges ahead,
but opportunities remain.
The author is a reporter with
the Global Times. bizopinion@
globaltimes.com.cn

SMEs in China need to adapt to financial liberalization in order to benefit from it

China’s wave of bond defaults in 2018
seems to have continued into 2019,
with Kangde Xin Composite Material
Group Co failing to make principal and
interest payments on its corporate bond
due January 15. According to the com-
pany’s announcement at the Shanghai
Clearing House on January 14, due to a
liquidity crunch, it is likely to default on
the payments of two corporate bonds
due January 15 and January 21, respec-
tively, worth a combined 1.5 billion
yuan ($220.98 million).
Established in 2001 and
listed in 2010, Kangde Xin is known for
its research and development as well as
the manufacture of pre-coated materi-
als and other new materials. According
to its annual financial forecasts, the
company’s net profit was expected to
grow by 10 to 30 percent to reach 2.7 to
3.2 billion yuan. It is noteworthy that as
Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT
of the end of the third quarter of 2018,
Kangde Xin had 15 billion yuan in cash
and equivalents, with 16 billion yuan
in liabilities. Thus, it is really rather
puzzling to see how a company with 15
billion yuan on its books then fails to
pay back 1.5 billion yuan worth of debt.
It is reported that too, that many
large outstanding receivables are one
of the reasons behind the default. Ac-
cording to Kangde Xin’s third quarterly
report in 2018, its accounts receivable
and bills receivable totaled 7.26 billion
yuan, while accounts payable and bills
payable amounted to 3.51 billion yuan.
The high receivables and low payables
mean that the company needs to hold a
large amount of free cash flow in order
to maintain operations. This is why the
company had such high cash levels on
its books. Yet, the problem appears to
be that the liquidity mainly came from
borrowings. By the end of September
2018, the company’s interest-bearing
liabilities totaled 11.01 billion yuan. It is
surprising to see a company, with an-
nual profit of more than 2 billion yuan,
operate with such leverage.
Kangde Xin’s case may underscore
the impact of China’s financial liber-
alization on private companies. In the
past, funding difficulties were a prob-
lem faced by many private companies.
Most of China’s private companies are
small and medium-sized entities with
high risks, and banks have their con-
cerns about extending credit to such en-
tities, due to the lack of ability to hedge
risks of private companies. To solve this
problem, it is essential to allow banks to
flexibly price the loans to such borrow-
ers. At present, the rate of corporate
loans is only allowed to fluctuate by 50
percent from the base level.
Nevertheless, with the gradual liber-
alization of China’s financial sector, pri-
vate companies have seen their funding
channels broadened. For instance, they
can obtain the funds through the issu-
ance of various debts, stock pledges and
even peer-to-peer borrowing. But at the
same time, private companies’ opera-
tions and management capabilities also
face a strong test. In the event of poor
management, the benefit of financial
liberalization will become a significant
risk. For example, a stock market crash
may cause a crisis to many companies
with significant stock pledges, and may
mean margin calls. China’s economic
slowdown has also contributed to many
corporate defaults of private companies.
While enjoying the benefits of financial
liberalization, private companies should
also improve their corporate gover-
nance capabilities, which appears to be
a major shortcoming of many SMEs in
China.
In the past, it was difficult for private
companies to get financing, therefore,
once they obtain funds, the money
would be used efficiently. Now, with
more and more financial instruments,
financing has become much easier.
But if the corporate management
and operation levels cannot keep up
with the developments and changes,
coupled with a bad market environ-
ment, problems will be inevitable. In
this sense, financial liberalization is an
opportunity, but it is also a pitfall and
many companies don’t have the ability
or experience to deal with such pitfalls.
Therefore, when facing the situation of
financial liberalization, domestic private
companies need to have a prudent
sense of asset-liability management and
have detailed cash flow management,
otherwise, they may risk seeing years
of efforts go up in smoke once they
encounter funding issues.
In short, the biggest challenge for
China’s financial liberalization doesn’t
come from the competition of foreign
institutions, but actually from the
domestic companies, especially private
companies, which are unable to adapt
themselves to the new environment. If
the market space is not big enough to
effectively digest such financing capital
and financial liberalization, it may trig-
ger similar defaults in the future.
The article was compiled based on a report
by Beijing-based private strategic think tank
Anbound. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
Page Editor:
liqiaoyi@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
Tuesday January 22, 2019 B7

BIZCOMMENT
Postponed yuan-ruble settlement deal not a setback
By Cui Heng ing business, thus providing yuan and rubles already during academics, think tanks and from an embryonic process
a positive incentive for those 2018. In 2017, 9 percent of media have placed high hopes to a fully-fledged settlement

T
he local currency settle- businesses. payments for supplies from for the negotiations. process. The Agriculture Bank
ment negotiations be- Local currency settlement Russia to China were made in Third, the currency settle- of China issued a debit card
tween China and Russia is a general trend, and China rubles while 15 percent of im- ment negotiations are far from in 2009, allowing users to
were initiated after the 2008 has set a goal for the yuan ports to China were settled in over, with both sides looking withdraw the yuan, ruble and
global financial crisis. Yuan- internationalization. China has the yuan, media reported. The for a mutually beneficial mod- US dollar in Russian ATMs. In
ruble payments have been con- created impetus to push for- number will likely be signifi- el, including a trial implemen- 2014, China’s UnionPay and
ducted regularly over the last ward the yuan settlement with cantly higher this year. tation in Russia’s Far Eastern Russian banks signed agree-
10 years, from initially more its neighboring countries. As The negotiations this time region. The transformation ment allowing UnionPay cards
ruble settlements to increased the Belt and Road initiative de- focused on the settlement with of the current international to be issued in Russia. Russian
settlement with the yuan. velops, the trade ties between local currencies of commod- economic order cannot ac- President Vladimir Putin,
After several attempts over the China and other countries in ity trading. The international complish in one simple move. during the Eastern Economic
years, the negotiations started Europe and Asia including rules for commodity trading China and Russia will have Forum last year, encouraged
to touch the substantial issues, Russia have grown stronger. It have already been developed, to set up a long term plan to the use of yuan-ruble payment
with 2018 being a crucial year will lead to greater demand for and as such, changing the cope with international order. systems. However, the percent-
for the negotiations. The two the yuan. rules will cause a great impact Both sides are not yet fully age of yuan-ruble settlement
sides are planning to reach an The somewhat disappoint- that may actually outweigh any prepared to launch a full scale for bilateral trade is still lim-
agreement that regulates the ing postponement has given benefit. yuan-ruble settlement. For ited. It needs to proceed step
current yuan-ruble payment. Western media a reason to talk Second, China and Russia instance, only a few banks in by step. Large scale yuan-ruble
The result of the latest dis- down the prospect of China- have built a strategic coopera- Russia have the ability to settle settlement will naturally hap-
cussions are that the two sides Russia bilateral relations, but tive partnership with a high yuan transactions due to many pen when conditions are ripe.
have postponed signing an it should be interpreted rather level of mutual trust and restrictions.
agreement – not meeting the differently. respect. The bilateral relations China and Russia will The author is a post doctorate
expectations of people in the Firstly, by not signing the will not be held back by a inevitably achieve massive researcher from the Centre for
two countries, but negotiations deal does not mean the end for postponed yuan-ruble pay- local currency settlement in Russian Studies, East China
have moved forward slowly but the yuan-ruble payment. A sig- ment deal. The experience in trade and investment. From a Normal University. bizopinion@
steadily. nificant amount of trade was the past decade has suggested long term perspective, yuan- globaltimes.com.cn
The trade volume in 2018 settled in the the China-Russia ties are not ruble settlement is a process
between China and Russia ex- against the interests
ceeded $100 billion as of mid- of any third-party
December, reaching the goals country. Groups
set by the leaders of the two including
countries years ago. The trade politicians,
achievement though, only tells
one side of story.
The bilateral
trade surged
in 2017-18
largely due
to price rises
of commodi-
ties such as
oil, gas and raw
materials. To con-
tinue improving
bilateral trade, it is
important to fur-
ther facilitate and
support the small
and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs).
In this context, China
and Russia have realistic
expectations for the yuan-ruble
settlement system. This will
allow companies, particularly
Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT
SMEs, to reduce costs of do-

Vanguard’s Bogle, defining value in more than one way, saves investors untold billions
John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard
who died on Wednesday, defined value
in more ways than one. He turned the
once frowned upon idea of tracking the
broad stock market into the dominant
form of investing. Instead of pursuing
personal riches, he spread the ethos of
low-cost fund management, saving in-
vestors untold billions and building the
mutually owned firm into a $5 trillion
juggernaut.
Bogle’s rise was anything but predict-
able. His senior thesis at Princeton on
the mutual fund industry got him a job
at Wellington Management, and he once
derided the notion that asset managers
should try to merely track the market.
But after leading a bum merger and get-
ting pushed out of the firm, he founded
Vanguard on entirely different princi-
ples. The company would be owned by
its investors and only charge what it cost
to manage their funds.
It was a powerful idea, but it took
time to catch on. The firm attracted
just $11 million when it launched the
First Index Investment Trust, the first
stock index fund, in 1976. Now known
as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund, this
S&P 500 tracker manages $400 billion.
As stock pickers have failed to beat the
market, Vanguard has been the prime
beneficiary of a headlong rush into index
and exchange-traded funds since the fi-
nancial crisis, pulling in more than $160
billion in new money last year, accord-
ing to Morningstar. Only BlackRock’s
iShares ETF arm came anywhere close.
Behind it all was Bogle’s conviction,
loudly and repeatedly expressed, that
most managers charged excessive fees
and that investors would do better to
keep costs down and diversify through
index funds. Berkshire Hathaway boss
Warren Buffett said Bogle “did more for
American investors as a whole than any
individual I’ve known.”
At $80 million, Bogle’s own wealth –
as estimated by the New York Times – is
less than some money managers make
in a year. He told the paper his only re-
gret about money “is that I don’t have
more to give away.” Yet in reality he gave
away a lot. Compared with the average
fees charged by US mutual funds, ac-
cording to Morningstar, Vanguard’s 0.1
percent expense ratio saved its investors
some $20 billion last year alone. Talk
about wealth creation.
The author is Tom Buerkle, a Reuters
Breakingviews columnist. The article was
first published on Reuters Breakingviews.
bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn
Page Editor:
zhouzheng@globaltimes.com.cn
 РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS
B8 Tuesday January 22, 2019

BIZENTERPRISE
China’s domestic hospitality hotel brand within the hospital- unleashed by a consumption five­star hotel benchmark proj- of Beijing Union University,
industry has seen a consistent ity industry in China. upgrade, is seen as a common ect in Xichang. told the Global Times that one
growth and rising consump- “Guangzhou Science City reason for hotel management The further expansion in the important factor that boosts the
tion in recent years, providing is a rapidly growing research giants to favor the Chinese domestic market is part of a development of the foreign-
international five­star hotels the  center in the Pearl River market. great plan proposed by Jolyon managed hotel brand is that
opportunities for further expan- Delta and a key part of China’s Hilton is not the only Bulley, CEO of InterConti- it’s more attractive to the
sion in the Chinese market. technological innovation land- hospitality group that is nental Hotels Group (IHG)’s local governments in terms of
On January 16, the Hilton scape,” said Qian Jin, president expanding its business in the Greater China region, who drawing foreign travelers and it
Hotels & Resorts brand an- of Hilton Greater China and Chinese market. On January 2, revealed in a media interview boosts the local economy and
nounced the opening of Hilton Mongolia. Xichang in Sichuan Province that they were accelerating international image.
Guangzhou Science City. With As the first Hilton Hotel in  welcomed the commencement their market expansion in Chi- “Some provincial govern-
430 rooms on eight floors, the  Guangzhou Science City, its of a five­star international hotel  na, with the most significant  ments even have clear targets
hotel is only a 10-minute drive opening is of great significance  managed by the InterConti- growth in business upgrades, regarding the number of
from Baoneng International to Hilton’s strategic expan- nental Hotel Group (IHG). The scale and brand expansion in foreign-managed hotel brands
Sports and Performing Arts sion in the Pearl River Delta construction of the project aims years, according to the 21st that they aim to draw in every
Center. Owned by Guangzhou in south China’s Guangdong to strengthen the city’s weak Century Business Herald’s year,” Li said.
Tianma Group and managed Province. international connections and report in April, 2018.
by Hilton, the opening of this According to Hilton, they improve its living standards. Li Bowen, an expert in Global Times
hotel is one of several ex- are planning to manage 1,000 After completion, it will be the the hotel industry and profes-
amples that have marked the hotels in China by 2025. Seiz- tallest building in Xichang and sor at the Tourism College
confidence of the international  ing the “China opportunity” will be the first international 

International hotel
A snapshot of Hilton
Guangzhou Science City groups accelerate
expansion in China
Photo: Courtesy of Hilton

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yinyeping@globaltimes.
com.cn

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The Emerging Trade Frontier
S1 Tuesday
July 5, 2016

 Xinjiang’s millennial entrepreneurs make

the most of the Internet age

Uyghur Deals

By Yin Lu and Zhang Xinyuan

Y
oung entrepreneurs from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autono-
mous Region are exploring new business areas such as
e-commerce, online education, digital solutions, the In-
ternet of Things and more. They are utilizing their talents
in business hubs all over the country, and some are even
planning to expand overseas.
While Xinjiang is positioned as one of the “core areas” of the “One
Belt, One Road” initiative, its young people are striving to realize their
dreams, taking advantage of the resources and opportunities offered by
the Internet age.

Top: A young saleswoman sells scarfs to a customer at the

Page Editor:
cangxuan@globaltimes.com.cn
cn Urumqi Fair in Xinjiang. Photo: CFP  4-5
45
Uyghur
Bottom right: Young entrepreneur Abdulhabir Muhammad
poses for the camera. Photo: Li Hao/GT