Editor's Note:

Kazakhstan marks the lynchpin for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), not only because geographically it acts as a key point along the BRI, and has fostered deep connections and conducted meaningful cooperation with China covering almost all sectors under the BRI framework, but also because Kazakhstan was where the initiative was first proposed 10 years ago.

As the BRI is set to celebrate its 10th birthday this month, China-Kazakhstan cooperation can offer a paragon of how the initiative has deepened both countries' connectivity, boosted trade, as well as benefited both peoples and brought the two countries closer. Moreover, it also offers examples of how the BRI's win-win cooperation has stood against unilateralism; how the initiative has broken geographic isolation and brought countries closer; in addition to enabling people from different countries to better understand each other.

As the 10th anniversary of BRI approaches, Global Times reporters have visited a number of countries and regions across Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the South Pacific, where they witnessed first-hand the success of the BRI and how it has improved life in those countries and regions. This is the third installment, which focuses on how the BRI has been helping to usher in a new era of development in Eurasia over the past decade.

Revisiting the starting point

In mid-August, Nazarbayev University in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, has already begun to welcome new faces. When Global Times reporters visited the campus on a cool and clear summer afternoon, a number of student societies and interest clubs attached to the university were recruiting new members, attracting hundreds of freshmen to participate. Everywhere, sounds of music and laughter could be heard, signs in English, Kazakh and Russian could be seen, and an energetic and youthful atmosphere could be felt.

Vibrant and highly internationalized - no other words could possibly be more accurate in describing Nazarbayev University. And they are also true for the BRI first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at this very location 10 years ago.

The young Nazarbayev University, founded only in 2010, is now widely considered to be the starting point for the revitalization of the millennia-old Silk Road under the BRI. The concept "Silk Road Economic Belt," part of the BRI, was officially proposed during President Xi's visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. In a speech in Nazarbayev University's Senate Hall on September 7, 2013, Xi recalled the 2,000-plus-year history of exchanges between China and Central Asia along the ancient Silk Road and proposed joining hands to build a Silk Road Economic Belt with an innovative cooperation model and making it a grand cause benefiting people in countries along the route. 

Ten years later, the Senate Hall, filled with dark wood furniture that are mostly the same as in 2013, remains in good condition. This is because the room is now mostly used only for events like ceremonies and officials' visits, according to a staff member from the university. 

Usually, there are more than 200 seats in this conference hall. Around 100 more seats were added before President Xi's epoch-making speech in 2013 due to the high demand from students and faculty members to participate in the event. A live broadcast was even arranged for those who couldn't enter the scene. Xi's remarks were greeted with warm applause from the audience, recalled the staff member.

Gulnar Shaimergenova, Director of China Studies Center, Kazakhstan was working at the Nazarbayev University at the time and directly participated in the event when President Xi first proposed the Silk Road Economic Belt there. "I am sure that the Belt and Road Initiative, which represents the reconstruction of the Great Silk Road of the 21st century, became the most remarkable event of this century. It reflects the rise and grandeur of modern Asia," Shaimergenova told the Global Times.

Shaimergenova said that the implementation of BRI is strategically beneficial for Kazakhstan. "The transformation of China into a key trade partner of the EU has been made possible to some extent thanks to the stable operation of China-Europe rail routes - up to 80 percent of which pass through Kazakhstan. Further development of China-Europe trade relations implemented through land corridors is economically beneficial for Kazakhstan."

The smooth promotion of BRI cooperation between China and Kazakhstan was also advanced by the strategic guidance of the leaders from both countries. 

President Xi has visited Kazakhstan four times in September 2013, May 2015, June 2017; and September 2022, the last of which marked his first trip abroad since emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid a state visit to China in September 2019, attended the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, and also attended the China-Central Asia Summit in May 2023.

Over recent years, China's relationship with Kazakhstan has continued to strengthen. In 2019, China and Kazakhstan decided to develop a permanent comprehensive strategic partnership. 

I am very pleased that Kazakhstan became the first country to support the idea of the BRI, and actively participates in its development, Aidar Amrebayev, Director of the Political Studies Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan told the Global Times. 

After 10 years since the announcement of the initiative, many projects have been implemented in Kazakhstan, benefiting our country and the entire Central Asian region. These projects involve expanding transport and logistics capabilities, modernizing industrial and agricultural infrastructure, enhancing mutual understanding among our peoples, and fostering active inter-country interactions at the political level, Amrebayev opined. 

"I am happy to say that 10 years later, all my expectations [about the BRI] have materialized," former Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Chairman of the Board of the Foreign Policy Research Institute under Kazakhstan Foreign Affairs Ministry Bolat Nurgaliyev told the Global Times. The development of the BRI, going through stages, has gone hand in hand with the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, he added.

The decade-old BRI cooperation proves that we have to show inclusiveness by involving countries in constructive cooperation instead of confrontation, division, and ideological divergence in the immediate political considerations, Nurgaliyev added.

Robust economic cooperation, warm people-to-people exchanges

Astana is one of the youngest capitals in the world. Yet, it is also one of the most modernized and fast-growing cities in Central Asia. From the Chinese businesspeople coming out from the striking Chinese-style building known as the Beijing Palace in the city center to the city's first light rail system under construction with the help of a Chinese company, they mark the changes that China and the BRI have brought to Kazakhstan's capital.

In Almaty, the former capital and largest city in Kazakhstan, advertisements for Chinese electronic devices, vehicles and even sportswear are easy to find. Locals told the Global Times that from China-made smartphones to electric vehicles, Chinese products are popular among Kazaks. At the same time, Kazakhstan was the second country to open a national pavilion on the Alibaba e-commerce platform and more than 200 Kazakh enterprises are running business on the Chinese platform.

According to the General Administration of Customs of China, the total volume of trade in goods between China and Kazakhstan stood at $31.17 billion in 2022, up 23.6 percent from the previous year. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Central Asian countries registered a record of over $70 billion.

The story of Yuan Zhaohui, a Chinese businessman is a vivid example of the robust economic cooperation between two countries. Yuan has been operating cross-border trade with his partners from Kazakhstan for eight years. He started his business from scratch as the first company in the Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park to use the Chang'an train to ship cross-border e-commerce goods.

At present, about 80 percent of his company's business is linked with Kazakhstan, other Central Asian countries and Russia through the train service. The stable operation of China Railway Express has greatly reduced freight costs for his business.

Taking the road from Xi'an to Almaty as an example, the cost of freight for a container transported by the Chang'an train is about 50,000 to 60,000 yuan ($7,130 to $8,560), which is half the price of traditional land cross-border transport, according to Yuan. The simplified and easier custom declaration for cross-border e-commerce companies has also served to accelerate the growth of his business.

Agriculture is another key area of China-Kazakhstan cooperation that is vigorously developing under the BRI framework. Located in the North Kazakhstan Region, more than 300 kilometers north of Astana, is the Kazakhstan processing park of the Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group headquartered in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The company is one of the first Chinese enterprises that engage in agricultural investment and cooperation in Kazakhstan under the auspices of the BRI.

Kazakhstani local Yerkenbek Sidick has been working in Aiju's agro-processing and logistics park since 2017. He has witnessed how his company has transformed from a few Soviet-era grain silos into a comprehensive base with large-scale grain storage and distribution capacity.

The Aiju processing park has built a modern oil processing plant with a maximum annual output of 300,000 tons of processed oil crops and a depot that can store 50,000 tons of grains. It has dispatched more than 200 freight trains to deliver 350,000 tons of high-quality raw materials, such as wheat and rapeseed, from the North Kazakhstan Region to China through the Alashankou port.

More than 10 years ago, very few Chinese companies were active in Kazakhstan, and even fewer showed interest in taking roots in the country and making long-term investments, Sidick told the Global Times. With the implementation of the BRI, more and more Chinese companies have begun to pay attention to Kazakhstan, boosting the cooperation and development of the two countries in various fields, including agriculture.

From trade and investment to capacity cooperation, from connectivity to emerging industries, from joint efforts in fighting against the pandemic to cultural exchanges, the all-round mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Kazakhstan has demonstrated strong vitality and resilience, and the foundation of people-to-people friendship is becoming increasingly concrete, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao told the Global Times in an exclusive interview. 

Specifically, he gave an example of a large number of exemplary projects built by both sides, such as the Shymkent Oil Refinery, the photovoltaic power plant in Almaty, the Orda glass plant in Kazakhstan's Kyzylorda Region, saying that those projects greatly improved Kazakhstan's industrialization level and benefited local residents.

Aside from economic cooperation, China and Kazakhstan are also embracing close people-to-people exchanges. Those two countries are cooperating in areas such as publishing books, jointly making films, doing archaeological research together and establishing universities… Such interaction between the two countries has laid the foundation for friendly exchange between two peoples. 

Famous Kazakh director and producer Akan Satayev is planning to co-produce a film with China. He told the Global Times that China and Kazakhstan are both countries along the Silk Road, which renders them to share a common history and culture. Satayev said he is very interested in Chinese culture, and he hopes to find more common points in the history and culture of China and Kazakhstan and make films and television works based on such findings. "This will definitely bring us closer together," said Satayev.

"The BRI has helped China 'go global' and broaden the Chinese people's horizon, while enhancing Central Asia's understanding of China," said He Cheng, Chief Representative of the Kazakhstan International Integration Foundation. As the understanding of people in Central Asia and China on each other deepens, people now become more open-minded and see the opportunity and potential of bilateral and multilateral cooperation under the BRI framework, he noted.

In He's opinion, the BRI is no longer a link of communication, but a model of cooperation between countries in a honeycomb structure. "With the deepening and widening of cooperation, we are ultimately moving toward the establishment of a community," he told the Global Times.

Brighter future

In 2014, a $9 billion infrastructure project known as "Nurly Zhol," translated as "Bright Path," was announced by Kazakhstan's government. Since then, the integration between the BRI and Nurly Zhol has been constantly discussed in Kazakhstan's strategic and political circles.

"The two programs should be interconnected. They should be coordinated so that what has already been started as projects within the Nurly Zhol should be somewhat supplemented. This will be a better use of the capital of the investment," former SCO Secretary-General Nurgaliyev commented.

In many senses, the development road the BRI has provided can also be described as "bright." Ten years on, this ambitious initiative has benefited Central Asia through close cooperation, including improving infrastructure, providing jobs and boosting bilateral trade. It is now a path that is even brighter than a decade ago and has the ability to lead the region and the world to a brighter future.

Nurgaliyev believes that the BRI will continue to develop. "The circle of participation in the BRI is already so wide. We have now 193 states in the United Nations system, and 152 are BRI participants," he said. "So what better argument can prove that the BRI is beneficial for everybody who participates in the implementation?" the diplomat noted.

On September 7, 2023, the 10-year anniversary day of the proposal of BRI, a seminar was held by think tanks from China and Kazakhstan at Nazarbayev University. 

As a participator of the seminar, Shaimergenova said "I am sure that the Belt and Road Initiative, which represents the reconstruction of the Great Silk Road of the 21st century, became the most remarkable event of this century. It reflects the rise and grandeur of modern Asia."

With the support of China, Central Asia now is beginning to realize economic revival as the region becomes a contributor to its own development. By embedding in the East-West transport communications, the problem of continental isolation is being eliminated, and strong prerequisites for intra-regional cooperation are being created, said Shaimergenova.

Cooperation along the BRI has a strong impact on the prosperity and progressive development of several billion people around the world. I am sure that the Initiative will be a good basis for building the Community of the common destiny of mankind, she noted.

The further flourishing of the BRI is a general wish from not only scholars and diplomats from Kazakhstan, but also ordinary people like Sidick from Aiju's processing park in the Central Asian country.

"After our company's seven-year journey in Kazakhstan, now we are expecting a harvest," Sidick told the Global Times. 

"I hope that the road of BRI will become wider and wider to attract more Chinese companies to develop and invest in Kazakhstan and drive the two countries' economic development and people-to-people exchanges. I am looking forward to finding my own position and creating more value for my company and the BRI," said the Kazakh young man with a big smile on his face.

Editor's Note:

Today, issues related to the climate change, as a shared challenge faced by humanity, are receiving significant attention, and climate cooperation has become an integral part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The demands of the ecologically vulnerable and climate-affected Pacific Island countries have garnered particular attention. Global Times reporter Shan Jie (GT) recently talked with Chen Dezheng (Chen), vice director of the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Change Cooperation Center and the director of the Research Center for Pacific Island Countries at the Liaocheng University in Shandong, to discuss how China, as a responsible major nation, has engaged in climate cooperation with Pacific Island countries in the recent years, the support China can offer to the South Pacific to reduce the risk of and harms from climate change, and the climate change-related demands shared by China and Pacific Island countries as developing countries via the BRI.
GT: The China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Change Cooperation Center has been in operation for a year and a half since its launch in April 2022. Under the BRI framework, what achievements have been made so far, and what plans are underway for further work?

Chen: Since its establishment, the center has organized five high-level academic conferences, including the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Change High-level Dialogue. In June and November of 2022, it conducted two climate change training courses for officials, scholars, and technical personnel from Pacific Island countries (PICs).

The center has also signed cooperation memoranda and strategic cooperation agreements with institutions such as the University of the South Pacific, the National University of Samoa, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Atmospheric Physics, and the Ministry of Natural Resources' Second Institute of Oceanography. It has established an atmospheric environment and source analysis laboratory, meteorological stations, and 10 research teams, including those focused on integrated photovoltaic and wind energy generation.

Additionally, it has implemented small-scale climate aid projects for PICs and undertook a 2 million yuan ($280,000) agricultural planting technology project in Tonga. The head of the climate center also visited PICs to introduce the progress of related work to various sectors in those countries. The center also hosted visits by prominent leaders from island countries, including the Speaker of the Parliament of Vanuatu and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kiribati.

GT: What are the highlights of the cooperation on climate affairs between China and the PICs with the BRI?

Chen: China places great importance on the unique circumstances and concerns of PICs regarding climate change and is committed to helping these countries enhance their climate change resilience. China is dedicated to cooperating with island countries on various levels and through various means to improve their capacity for climate adaptation and climate change mitigation, and high-quality development.

In 2018, China supported the construction of a China-Vanuatu marine joint observation station, continuing collaborative efforts in ocean observation and disaster risk reduction with Vanuatu. To further advance maritime cooperation between China and Vanuatu, China's National Marine Technology Center, in collaboration with the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) and the Public Works Department (PWD), jointly planned the construction of Phase II of the China-Vanuatu joint observation station, including a meteorological station. The meteorological station's designs have been completed, and progress is being made in the construction of meteorological infrastructure.

China's National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (The Tsunami Advisory Center of the Ministry of National Resources) utilizes the national ocean forecasting and warning platform to continuously track and analyze global undersea earthquakes and tsunami monitoring data, providing ocean disaster warning and alert services. In 2023, the center issued tsunami alerts for the Kermadec Islands waters of New Zealand, the waters of Tonga, the southern waters of the Fiji Islands, the New Caledonia waters, and the waters of Papua New Guinea, thereby assisting PICs in safeguarding against marine disasters.

Through initiatives such as the "The Marine Scholarship of China," China has provided scholarship opportunities in marine, environmental, and climate-related areas to PICs. This aligns with China's commitment to offer 2,500 government scholarship opportunities to PICs from 2020 to 2025.

GT: In August, you attended the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change in Suva, the capital of Fiji, and conducted visits to countries like Kiribati and Tonga. From your understanding, what impact has climate change had on the local people's livelihoods and production? Are you also aware of the local perspectives on climate change?

Chen: After engaging with government departments and academic institutions in countries like Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Kiribati, and others, we have learned that climate change has led to various natural disasters such as high temperatures, floods, droughts and storms, causing damage to the homes of the island nations' residents, reducing their incomes, and affecting their livelihoods significantly.

The interviewees of our research unanimously acknowledged the clear effects of global warming and believe that the intensity and frequency of natural disasters have increased over the last five years.

At the same time, the interviewees all recognized the helpful role of China's assistance in the island nations' efforts to address climate change. Regarding areas of assistance that should be strengthened in the future, more than half of the interviewees suggested enhancing vocational training, disaster relief supplies, and coastal zone planning and management. Over one-third of the interviewees believed that support should be increased in higher education, research facilities, research projects, financial aid, infrastructure, and technology transfer.

GT: The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP28) is scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12. In terms of climate change, what are the demands of PICs? Have these demands received sufficient attention from developed countries?

Chen: The Pacific island region is one of the most severely affected areas by climate change, characterized by significant environmental sensitivity and vulnerability. Global climate change profoundly affects their right to survival and development. Global climate governance is crucial for the sustainable development of PICs. Over the years, PICs have consistently voiced their concerns on the international stage, advocated for a voice in global climate governance, presented their demands and requests for participation in global climate governance, and continuously pushed for the implementation of climate governance policies and measures in their region. They have become an important force that cannot be ignored in global climate governance.

China has taken into account the demands of island countries in addressing climate change and provided targeted climate governance assistance. However, as a vulnerable group in the international community, PICs still face some challenges in climate governance: Lack of sufficient international discourse power; limited economic capacity and insufficient funding for climate change adaptation; lagging infrastructure development for climate change adaptation; lack of core climate change technologies, and the need for further strengthening of their own efforts in climate governance.
GT: What are the paths for China climate governance collaboration with PICs?

Chen: China, as a responsible major nation in the field of climate governance, particularly in its determination and actions in addressing climate change, has instilled hope and bolstered confidence in island countries' efforts to combat climate change. China's principles of green development and sustainability within its ecological civilization construction align closely with the climate change objectives of PICs. The future of climate cooperation between China and the PICs holds even greater promise, facilitating the advancement of the China-PICs community of shared future.

In driving the process of climate cooperation with PICs, China should adopt a strategic approach that combines post-disaster management and source control, and interconnects short and medium- to long-term goals.

Guided by the principle of "harmonious coexistence between humans and nature," China and the PICs could strengthen the exchange and mutual learning of climate governance concepts.

China and island countries should advance high-quality BRI cooperation to enhance disaster protection infrastructure in island countries. China has emphasized the alignment of the BRI initiative with strategic goals, including practical infrastructure cooperation related to natural disasters such as storm surge protection. Exploring ways to enhance disaster resilience in island countries, including the planning and construction of disaster-resistant infrastructure like storm surge barriers and monitoring stations, water storage facilities to combat drought, and improved building standards, is essential.

China could support island nations in developing new energy sources. China encourages enterprises in the solar power and wind power sectors to "go global" and promote the development of exemplary green energy projects. Through flexible cooperation in green industry investment, China aims to help island nations address their energy needs sustainably.

Under the framework of South-South cooperation on climate change, China has allocated approximately 1.1 billion yuan in recent years to provide energy-efficient and new energy products and equipment to developing countries. China possesses technical expertise and operational experience in photovoltaic, tidal, and wave energy generation, as well as small-scale integrated energy solutions. It is recommended to assist island countries in assessing their suitability for solar, wind, and marine energy sources and tailor assistance projects accordingly to their natural conditions and development needs.

PICs have vast exclusive economic zones spanning over 30 million square kilometers, holding tremendous potential for blue economic development. China has actively promoted high-quality, green, and low-carbon development in the marine economy, with advanced expertise in seawater aquaculture and marine ranch construction. China has also established a comprehensive marine spatial planning technology system, which can assist PICs in achieving sustainable development that is low-carbon and environmentally friendly in various aspects.

At the recent G20 summit, the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) backed by the US, Europe and India under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment was announced. This corridor aims to connect Europe, the Middle East and India with rail and shipping routes.

With Biden calling it a "really big deal" and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan describing the project as "transformative," the project has already been described as one that counters China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been signed up to by the majority of the world.

However, the working group tasked with drawing up a fuller plan, over the next sixty days, will have to confront some harsh economic realities relating to funding, material capabilities and the ideological outlook of the main countries involved.

When it comes to funding, let's not forget that the Build Back Better Plan undertaken by the G7 in 2021 to counter the BRI was consigned to the dustbin of history the same year it was announced.

The $1.7 trillion package (less than two years of US defense spending) was considered too costly.

Railway linking India, the Middle East and Europe would be the center piece of the IMEC. When it comes to infrastructure, the US and India do not set good examples for others to follow, yet they expect to compete with China which has first-rate infrastructure. Rather than build something abroad, based on hegemonic competition against China, it would be better for the US and India to demonstrate they can solve the basic democratic infrastructural needs of their citizens first.

Even if internal infrastructural issues and financing can somehow be overcome, the ideological attitude of maintaining economic hegemony that the West holds toward the Global South acts as a barrier to the IMEC. Only with gunship diplomacy could the US force states to buy exclusively from expensive Western companies. Even then, many components will be sourced from China.

At any rate, we are in a multi-polar world now. The Saudi-Iran rapprochement, the enlargement of BRICS, and the good relations in the region toward Russia and China show that the Middle East refuses to take sides and will trade with all. Another Iraqi-style invasion in the region to maintain US-led economic predominance would be foolhardy, as such, the West must be competitive in the market.

Currently, Saudi Arabia is choosing China when it comes to rail construction - though this too is an international effort that pulls in Western companies. The China Railway 18th Bureau Group has already completed the 450km-long Mecca-Medina High-speed Railway and is working on the Medina Tunnel Project along with the Saudi Rua Al Madinah Holding Company, Canada's WSP and US-based Parsons. The linking of Saudi's eastern and western seaboard, while led by China, is also a joint international project. This further highlights the lunacy and impracticality of fencing off the world economy.

One of the major forces driving US hegemonic attempts is its capitalist system which seeks immediate profits. This motivation has led to the decay of US infrastructure and a lack of long-term railway investment; a similar "democratic" system sees India's infrastructure in shambles too. Furthermore, much of the Global South remains in tatters after being harvested by the US military-industrial complex, which seeks quick profits from war and sees development as a threat to its economic hegemony.

In contrast, The BRI is premised on long-term social economic planning. Some projects will not be profitable for decades - many will provide immense social-economic benefits but no profit extraction for private capital. China's socialist system subordinates capital for the democratic good of society and it's because of this that it has the world's largest high-speed rail network, which it can then sell abroad at competitive prices.

In an attempt to conceal China's governing advantages and foresight, the corporate press labels Chinese-involved projects that don't reap immediate profits as "white elephants." Indeed, the debt trap narrative has been constructed to conceal the BRI's long-term planning and misdirect attention from private capital lending, which is far more severe than Chinese loans and the source of much suffering in the Global South.

Certainly, should the IMEC get off the ground without Chinese involvement and sell expensive Western infrastructure, then it will be interesting to observe the Western ideological apparatus scramble to justify how their venture is superior to the BRI, the initiative that the majority of the world has already voluntarily signed up to. There is still an open invitation for Europe, the US and India to join!

The author is an independent international relations analyst who focuses on China's socialist development and global inequality.

Chinese officials have vowed to ramp up proportion of electric vehicles (EVs) in official car fleets, as part of the government's efforts to promote green car sales and EV sector growth. 

The National Government Offices Administration (NGOA) said in an online post last Saturday that it held a meeting on promoting EVs and management of official car fleets from September 26 to 27 in the Xiong'an New Area in North China's Hebei Province. Local officials from 31 provincial-level regions attended the meeting. 

The meeting called on all levels of departments in charge of official car fleets to fully implement various policies on promoting EVs, strengthen cooperation with industry regulators, improve supplementary systems, and increase the use of NEVs, according to the post.  

The meeting noted that official fleets are important assets crucial for ensuring efficiency of Party and government departments and public institutions. Strengthening management of official fleets and promoting government departments to use more EVs is important work to consolidate the results of institutional reform.

In 2015, China released a guideline on reforming the country's official fleet system at all central government departments. To further strengthen the management of official fleets, the NGOA released interim regulations on management of official car fleets on September 12, 2023.

The regulations placed a priority on facilitating the use of EVs as a proportion of government car fleets. Central institutions are required to make annual plans on renewal of official vehicles, including the number NEVs, and ensure the proportion of NEVs meets requirement. 

As the leading NEV producer in the world, China has issued over 70 administrative measures to encourage the nascent industry to grow during recent years, which include carrying out innovative projects and forming manufacturing centers for batteries, according to Xinhua.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's new-energy vehicle production and consumption rose by 36.9 percent and 39.2 percent year-on-year, respectively, to 5.43 million and 5.37 million in the first eight months of 2023.

The recently revealed primary plan for China's crewed moon landing before 2030 where China in which attempt to use two launch vehicles and carry out two rendezvous and docking missions in lunar orbit, has drawn attention worldwide, and the China Space News, an authority news service for state-owned aerospace contractors, further explained that such plan would be highly effective in using China's most advanced space technology and more reliable and economic given it does not rely on the development of a special super heavy-lift rocket to achieve the goal of sending taikonauts to moon.

When the US and Soviet Union tried to execute a manned moon landing, the rendezvous and docking technology had yet to mature and it was also difficult to launch two or more launchers one after another within a short time period. So to develop a super heavy-lift rocket to send moon lander and crewed spacecraft all in one go was the easier and safer path to achieve the goal.

But things are different now. The current reality is that to develop a new-generation heavy-lift carrier rocket would take longer time and cost much more, let alone the difficulty. For example, the development for the US Space Launch System (SLS) took more than 10 years and counting, cost reached somewhere around $50 billion and the SLS is still using interim upper stage, the report pointed out.

Since China has mastered rather matured reliable space rendezvous and docking technology, a two-launcher path would be more reasonable and also feasible.

Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), disclosed earlier this month that China plans to realize a manned moon landing before 2030, and the country will attempt to build a moon-based scientific research station, in a bid to carry out long-term, systematic lunar research and verify relevant technology.

China will attempt to use two launch vehicles to send a moon surface lander and manned spacecraft into lunar orbit before they carry out rendezvous and docking with each other. Following this maneuver, the taikonauts onboard the manned spacecraft will enter the lander, Zhang said.

Taikonauts will carry out scientific exploration and sample collecting after they descend to the moon's surface using the lander. After completing all preset missions, they will engage the lander to ascend and dock with the manned spacecraft waiting in the lunar orbit, he said.

Then taikonauts will take the lunar samples and ascend from moon surface with the lander that will dock with the manned spacecraft again in lunar orbit before they return to Earth in the manned spacecraft.

A Beijing-based space watcher, who requested not to be named, told the Global Times on Tuesday that China's path of using two launchers for moon landing is no doubt most cost effective, and it fully takes advantage of China's technology strengths in terms of increasingly matured space rendezvous and docking ability which is repeatedly verified and honed in China Space Station missions over the recent years.

Leading Chinese rocket scientist Long Lehao has shown his own vision of China's moon landing in 2021, which also included two launch vehicles carrying a lunar lander and a next-generation manned spaceship for the mission, and the two parts of the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock in near-lunar orbit, before executing the landing process.

But different from Long's vision where he referred to the two launchers in question as Long March-5 DY - variant of the 57-meter-long Long March-5, China's strongest launcher in service, China is now developing the Long March-10 carrier rocket for the moon landing mission.

The new launcher will be a three-stage rocket with two boosters, weighing 2,187 tons at launch, increasing payload launching capability from Long March-5's 8.2 ton to the Lunar transfer orbit to around 27 ton, according to the China Space News, which is equivalent to the US SLS.

Considering that the development cost of the Long March 10 rocket is much lower than that of several heavy rockets in the United States, there is no doubt that China's manned lunar landing program will be more cost-effective and sustainability, the report noted.

A gang of grave robbers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 months to 20 months after three people died of carbon monoxide poisoning, a local court ruled on August 11.

On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in 2022, Chen and five others gathered together and brought tools such as shovels and pickaxes to illegally excavate ancient tombs on a mountainside in Aohan Banner in Chifeng in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. They stopped two days later due to rain.

Chen and others were unwilling to give up. Several days later, they gathered again adding several members to their group. However, they harbored ulterior motives and were unwilling to pay for the tools needed, which led to an internal conflict, resulting in the disbandment, according to an official from the People's Court of Aohan Banner.

More than a month later, Chen still couldn't accept what had happened and organized a group of eight people to dig up the cave at night. They bought gasoline pumping equipment to drain the accumulated water from the cave to keep digging.

However, the gasoline pumping equipment generated a large amount of carbon monoxide gas inside the cave, resulting in the poisoning and death of three people. According to the local court official, the incident of robbing grave was then exposed, and the other five people voluntarily turned themselves over to the police.

According to the local court, the defendants have violated the national cultural relics management system by secretly excavating ancient tombs with historical and scientific value. Their actions constituted the crime of grave robbery and are considered joint offenders.

The six defendants were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 10 months to 20 months, with fines also being imposed on each member of the group.

The Aohan Banner has a rich historical and cultural heritage. According to the local court, over 4,000 ancient cultural sites and tombs from different periods have been discovered within the Aohan Banner, making it the leader in China. In recent years, the local court has been handling criminal acts related to the protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage in accordance with the law, as stated by local court officials.

When Columbus discovered America, European culture hadn’t yet grasped the concept of discovery. Various languages had verbs that could be translated as discover, but only in the sense of discovering things like a worm under a rock. Scholars operated within a worldview that all knowledge had been articulated by the ancients, such as Ptolemy, the astronomer who compiled the mathematical details of the Earth-centered universe. As it happened, Ptolemy was also the greatest of ancient geographers. So when Columbus showed that Ptolemy’s grasp on geography was flawed, it opened the way for Copernicus to challenge Ptolemy on his picture of the cosmos as well. Deep thinkers who were paying attention then realized that nature possessed secrets for humankind to “discover.”
“The existence of the idea of discovery is a necessary precondition for science,” writes historian David Wootton. “The discovery of America in 1492 created a new enterprise that intellectuals could engage in: the discovery of new knowledge.”

Appreciating the concept of discovery was not enough to instigate the invention of science. The arrival of the printing press in the mid-15th century was also especially essential. It standardized and magnified the ability of scholars to disseminate knowledge, enabling the growth of communities, cooperation and competition. Late medieval artists’ development of geometrical principles underlying perspective in paintings also provided important mathematical insights. Other key concepts (like discovery) required labeling and clarifying, among them the idea of “evidence.”

And modern science’s birth required a trigger, a good candidate being the supernova observed by Tycho Brahe in 1572. Suddenly, the heavens became changeable, contradicting the Aristotelian dogma of eternal changeless perfection in the sky. Tycho’s exploding star did not cause the scientific revolution, Wootton avers, but it did announce the revolution’s beginning.

In The Invention of Science, Wootton incorporates these insights into an idiosyncratic but deeply thoughtful account of the rise of science, disagreeing frequently with mainstream science historians and philosophers. He especially scorns the relativists who contend that different scientific views are all mere social constructions such that no one is better than any other. Wootton agrees that approaches to science may be socially influenced in their construction, but nevertheless the real world constrains the success of any given approach.

Wootton’s book offers a fresh approach to the history of science with details not usually encountered in the standard accounts. It might not be the last or even best word in understanding modern science’s origins or practice, but it certainly has identified aspects that, if ignored, would leave an inadequate picture, lacking important perspective.

As the weather warms, watch for falling rocks. While monitoring a cracked cliff in Yosemite National Park, researchers watched the fissure widen as temperatures rose. The risk of rockfalls could increase as climate change cranks the thermostat, one scientist predicts.

For three and a half years, geologists Brian Collins of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and Greg Stock of the National Park Service in Yosemite monitored a 19-meter-long crack in one of the park’s cliffs. The crack had a maximum width of about 12 centimeters. A measuring device anchored to both sides of the crack recorded changes in its size. The gap grew and shrank by as much as a centimeter daily as temperature changes caused the rock to expand and contract, the researchers report online March 28 in Nature Geoscience. Some effects lingered, however: The gap widened over the course of several summers and the constant size fluctuations further weakened the rock, the researchers say.

Around 25,000 tons of rocks and debris slipped down Yosemite’s slopes in 2015 — enough to fill more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools. About 15 percent of rockfalls from Yosemite’s granite cliffs occur during summer and at the hottest times of day. The rockfall risk could grow along with the cracks as the climate warms, geoscientist Valentin Gischig of ETH Zurich in Switzerland proposes in a perspective piece on the new finding.

The pale arch of light from the plane of our galaxy can be a humbling sight on a clear, dark night. But it’s just a sliver of all the treasures lurking in the Milky Way. Dense clouds of interstellar dust block visible light from remote regions of the galaxy but allow longer wavelengths to pass through. In February, astronomers completed a new map of our galaxy as seen in submillimeter light, which is shorter than radio waves but longer than infrared waves.

Submillimeter light can penetrate dust clouds, revealing details at the center of the galaxy and in stellar nurseries not visible at other wavelengths. The map was produced by ATLASGAL, a project using the APEX telescope in northern Chile to map part of the Milky Way. The project charted one-third of the band of galactic light that encircles our solar system; the images below show a narrow slice toward the constellation Sagittarius.
Combined with images from the Spitzer and Planck satellites, the ATLASGAL map (top row) creates a detailed atlas of some of the cold structures in our galaxy. Dust clouds in places like the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas (circled, left), both a few thousand light-years away, glow faintly, as do filaments of detritus in the center of the galaxy (circled, right), 28,000 light-years from Earth. At near-infrared wave-lengths (center row), these regions nearly vanish behind obscuring curtains of dust. The galactic center remains hidden in visible light (bottom row) as well, though hot stars in Trifid and Lagoon radiate pools of hydrogen gas, making them glow.

A sugar that freshens air in rooms may also clean cholesterol out of hardened arteries.

The sugar, cyclodextrin, removed cholesterol that had built up in the arteries of mice fed a high-fat diet, researchers report April 6 in Science Translational Medicine. The sugar enhances a natural cholesterol-removal process and persuades immune cells to soothe inflammation instead of provoking it, say immunologist Eicke Latz and colleagues.

Cyclodextrin, more formally known as 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin, is the active ingredient in the air freshener Febreze. It is also used in a wide variety of drugs; it helps make hormones, antifungal chemicals, steroids and other compounds soluble. If the new results hold up in human studies, the sugar may also one day be used to liquefy cholesterol that clogs arteries.
Other researchers say the approach is promising, but must be tested in clinical trials. The sweet molecule is generally considered safe, but injecting it may raise the risk of liver damage or hearing loss, says Elena Aikawa, a vascular biologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Mice taking cyclodextrin in the study did not exhibit side effects from the treatment, but previous work has indicated that the sugar may damage hearing in mice and cats. The molecule shunts cholesterol through the liver, so large cholesterol influxes might cause fat to build up in the liver, impairing its function. “Overall, cyclodextrin seems worth exploring as a therapeutic, although caution should be taken,” Aikawa says.

Cyclodextrin works by flipping a master switch, a gene called LXR, Latz and colleagues found. LXR’s protein turns on other genes involved in processing cholesterol and ushering it out of the body. The sugar also activated the LXR genes in human arteries examined in the lab and turned on inflammation-calming processes, Latz’s team discovered.

Latz, of the University Hospital Bonn in Germany, credits Nevada businesswoman Chris Hempel with the idea to use cyclodextrin to treat atherosclerosis. In people with the condition, cholesterol, calcium, immune cells and other substances form plaques inside arteries, hardening them. Plaques block blood flow and can break away and cause heart attacks and strokes (SN: 2/20/16, p. 32).

Hempel has twin daughters with a rare genetic disease known as Niemann-Pick Type C, in which cholesterol crystals clog organs, especially the brain. In 2009, the girls got special permission from the Food and Drug Administration for their doctor to give them infusions of cyclodextrin to dissolve the cholesterol crystals.
Hempel later read a paper by Latz and colleagues in which the researchers described how cholesterol crystals irritate macrophages and provoke them to cause inflammation and heart disease. Macrophages normally patrol the body and help kill invading bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. The immune cells also gobble up cholesterol and deliver it to the liver where it can be made into bile and escorted out of the body in feces.

Hempel e-mailed Latz and suggested that cyclodextrin might melt the cholesterol crystals in arteries. Latz and his colleagues tested the idea by feeding mice genetically prone to atherosclerosis a high-fat diet and giving the animals regular injections of cyclodextrin under the skin. The sugar kept cholesterol plaques from building up in the rodents’ arteries. The scientists also found that cyclodextrin reduced already established plaques in mice by about 45 percent, even though the animals were still eating a high-fat diet.

Cyclodextrin could be used in combination with other drugs, such as statins, says Eran Elinav, an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Statins and other drugs inhibit cholesterol production. “Potentially, combining cholesterol lowering with dissolution of preformed cholesterol in plaques could be additive,” Elinav says, “but this option needs to be explored in clinical trials.”

Although cyclodextrin is already approved by the FDA for use in people, it may be years before it’s known whether injecting the sugar will soften people’s hardened arteries. The sugar is not patentable, so no pharmaceutical companies have come forward to sponsor expensive clinical trials needed to get approval for this specific use, Latz says.