"Finally, we can apply for permit like other Hong Kong residents," Will Bedoucha, a business consultant, told the Global Times on Wednesday on the first day non-Chinese residents in Hong Kong could apply for a new travel permit to go to the Chinese mainland.

Starting from July 10, 2024, non-Chinese permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao are eligible for a card-type mainland travel permit, to enhance convenience of clearance at entry points of the mainland, facilitating their visit to the mainland for business, traveling and visiting relatives.

Holders of the permit can travel to the mainland multiple times within the five-year validity period of the permit, with each stay not exceeding 90 days, China's National Immigration Administration announced on July 1.

The South China Morning Post reported that slots at a Hong Kong Island center offering registration for the new travel permit are booked out for the first three weeks after the policy was launched.

Foreigners living in Hong Kong hailed the new policy when talking with the Global Times on Wednesday. Bedoucha, a French passport holder who was born and raised in Hong Kong, said he applied for the document "the very day the news was launched."

"I travel once every two weeks to Shenzhen just for shopping and dining. It's so easy to go there as it's a good little break from the city and I live 15 minutes away from Shenzhen," he said.

"I carry a French passport and so I was not eligible for the Home Return Permit as I was not born Chinese. Unlike those with Chinese backgrounds, we previously couldn't apply for permits," he said, noting that crossing the border with a passport can take more than 40 minutes to an hour.

A Canadian living in Hong Kong since 2000 said he is going to apply for the permit. "My wife is Chinese, and I have many friends in the mainland and I go there almost every month," he told the Global Times. He said he also believes the integration of the Greater Bay Area is accelerating.

He noted that the application process should be smooth. "I suspect that there might be too many people applying at this moment so I will wait a bit for it to calm down."

Some business tycoons also showed up on Wednesday at the China Travel Service center for applying the permit, Ming Pao reported.

Sino Group chairman Robert Ng Chee Siong, who has Singaporean nationality, along with his children, applied for the permit this morning. He was quoted as saying in the media report after applying that the measure would bring great benefits to Hong Kong, demonstrating the country's strong support for the city under One Country, Two Systems.

The new policies facilitate non-Chinese permanent residents of both SARs to explore opportunities in the mainland, especially Beijing, Shanghai and South China's Guangdong Province. They may devote themselves to engaging in business, innovation, entrepreneurship, partnerships and pursuing studies, Chu Kar-kin, a veteran current affairs commentator and deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Association for Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

They may also consider China as their second home and input capital, patents, talent, workmanship, technology and overseas networks to the country, Chu said.

Government figures show that in the first half of 2024, China received 14.635 million foreign travelers, up 152.7 percent year-on-year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told at a press conference on Tuesday.

Among them, 8.542 million entered China visa-free, up 190.1 percent year-on-year. As more and more countries benefit from the visa-free policy and as China adopts more measures to ease cross-border travel, "on-a-whim travel" to China is becoming a reality, Lin said.

Competent government agency expects more foreigners to travel to China in the second half of this year. The "China travel" boom stems from China's unique charm, and more importantly, an open and inclusive Chinese society, and the warm and hospitable Chinese people. It is also the result of China's high-standard opening up, the spokesperson said.

The Swiss global financial group Cedrus Group announced the establishment of the QFLP Fund on Tuesday to focus on investing in mature, pre-IPO stage companies in the life sciences and agriculture sectors in China, and establishing joint ventures with foreign companies seeking to enter the Chinese market. 

Chairman of Cedrus Group, Rani Jarkas, said that the launch of the fund is a major milestone for the group, and proves that an international financial group like Cedrus is highly committed to China.

The fund will complete the group's ecosystem in life sciences and will enable the company to play an even more active role in the development of highly innovative biotech and pharmaceutic companies in China, by adding a focused capital pool supporting these initiatives, Jarkas noted. 

In addition, it will boost their capabilities to attract highly relevant foreign technology into China, through joint ventures or wholly owned foreign entities, which in turn, will create highly skilled jobs in healthcare and increase local government tax revenues, he said.

The move was announced at the Cedrus Life Sciences Investment Forum in Beijing on Tuesday. Fifty industrial experts were invited to the forum to discuss and offer advice to promote the development of the life science industry. Wei Jianguo, former vice minister of China's Ministry of Commerce, attended the forum and delivered a keynote speech. 

Xia Qinglin, secretary of the work committee of the Party Committee of the Tianjin Binhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Area and general director of the administrative commission of the area, introduced the area's favorable policies for bio-investment companies, the current scale and layout of biotechnology companies, and the agglomeration effect the area had created through cooperation with Cedrus. 

Relying on the Haihe Laboratory of Cell Ecosystem, the Tianjin Binhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Area enhanced efforts to improve the level of the local biomedical industry. 

The area issued "double nine policies" to further support the accelerated development of the biomedical industry, to help build the area into a world-class and domestically leading source of basic research and a gathering place for scientific and technological innovation. 

Currently, there are more than 204 city-level and above research and development institutions in the Tianjin Binhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Area. Among them, more than 30 are at the national level. These institutions have helped to attract talent and created a cluster effect for the area, Wang told the Global Times. 

"For a development region like ours, both our industry and technology must be internationalized. We must constantly connect with international resources to promote our companies to go global while also introducing international companies into our area. After all, technology can only develop through exchanges and mutual learning. This is not only to promote the development of enterprises but also to promote the development of various countries to better serve people's lives and health," Xia said. 

Xiong Juan, chairwoman of the Hainan Leyun Biotechnology Co, Ltd, also shared her opinions on the challenges and opportunities facing Chinese companies on the path of internationalization. 

"We are mainly in the scientific research transformation period in China. As a Chinese life sciences company, we not only want to promote our products in this market in China but also want to go out to Southeast Asia and also to Europe. But as our overseas resources and visibility overseas are limited, so we need an international platform like Cedrus to help combine external resources," Xiong said. 

Recently, US officials have accused Chinese industry of overcapacity, particularly in sectors like electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, and semiconductors. They argue that China's low-priced products threaten industries in the US.

However, a closer examination from the perspective of technological cycles, industrial organizational structure evolution, and the role of industrial policies reveals a reality that contradicts the US officials' ridiculous claim.

Critics often attribute China's competitive edge in new-energy products to overcapacity, pointing to the low prices of Chinese manufactured goods. Yet, this oversimplification ignores the complexities of technological progress and industrial dynamics. Historically, constant tech advancements have led to cost reductions and improved affordability for ordinary consumers.

China's edge in new-energy technology and Chinese EVs' relatively low market share overseas suggest that the price advantage is driven by homegrown innovation while not overcapacity.

Moreover, China's leading position in patents for key technologies like solid-state batteries underscores its technological prowess. While some argue that "China is flooding international markets with cheap products," the reality is different.

For instance, Chinese new-energy vehicles (NEVs) are often priced higher overseas than domestically, for example, the BYD Seal is priced at 180,000 yuan ($24,880) in China, approximately 370,000 yuan in the Netherlands, and 411,800 yuan in the UK, indicating that pricing strategies are not solely dictated by oversupply but also by market dynamics and production efficiency.

Hence, the competitive pricing of China's new-energy products stems not merely from sufficient supply, but rather from overcoming technological barriers through diligent research and development, constant enhancement of product performance to lower costs, and optimizing production efficiency across the entire industrial chain.

Another criticism leveled against China is the prevalence of loss-making manufacturers, which some attribute to government support and a refusal to allow companies to exit the market. However, this isn't telling the truth. Losses in high-tech industries during the early stages of development are not uncommon, as companies often require significant investment in research and development.

For example, Amazon was founded in 1995, but it did not become profitable until 2015, according to media reports. Tesla was established in 2003, but it did not make a profit until 2020. In particular, Tesla was once on the verge of bankruptcy because of its inability to mass produce. The survival of these companies depends on their ability to attract capital and their competitiveness in the market.

While some NEV ventures in China have indeed experienced losses, market forces determine their fate. Companies with competitive products can attract funding and continue to operate, while others may exit the market due to lack of competitiveness. In the past four years, 12 NEV companies in China have closed down, including WM Motor and AIWAYS. Rather than being solely attributed to overcapacity, the ability of loss-making companies to survive and eventually thrive is a testament to the investors' belief in the industry's potential and the companies' ability to deliver on that promise.

Critics also point to China's industrial policies as a factor contributing to "overcapacity." However, a comparison with industrial policies in developed countries tells a different story. Moderate policy support is not indicative of overcapacity but rather reflects a strategic approach to nurturing emerging industries. Industrial policy has played a crucial role in driving innovation and fostering economic transformation in developed countries.

For instance, the US government's support for the domestic semiconductor industry in the 1950s and South Korea's protection of its local semiconductor chip industry in the 1990s demonstrate the positive impact of government policy interventions.

In recent years, the US has implemented subsidy policies aimed at promoting the adoption of NEVs. However, the outcomes of these initiatives have been less than satisfactory.

For instance, under the US Inflation Reduction Act, EVs assembled exclusively in North America were eligible for a maximum subsidy of $7,500 in tax deductions. Despite this incentive, major companies such as Apple and Ford have shelved their plans for all-electric vehicles. Even with government subsidies in place, many American firms struggle to keep pace in the competitive landscape of the NEV industry.

Overall, the industrial policies of China's new-energy development have been very successful. The Chinese government has not only proactively and effectively laid out the new-energy industry, but also gradually reduced policy support after nurturing a large number of enterprises, accelerating the survival of the fittest for new-energy enterprises.

The accusations of "overcapacity" in China's new-energy industries are misguided and oversimplified. China's success in the industries is not the result of overcapacity but rather of strategic investment in technology, innovation, and market-driven policies. Rather than blaming China for its competitiveness, a more constructive approach would involve understanding and leveraging global market dynamics to foster cooperation and innovation in the new-energy sector.

Editor's Note:

China Rural Revitalization magazine has published a series of articles on the rapid development of rural areas in China with new transformations. The articles reflect the arduous efforts of rural revitalization across China, which is an important and genuine solution to China's rural economic development. In the future, articles selected from this series will be published.
Maozhushan village, located in Nanyi village, Caiwan town of Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is a natural village with only 46 households and 156 residents. The village, although named for the mountains and hills of moso bamboo, is known far and wide for the development of its local grape industry for over 20 years.

In 2002, grapes were first grown in Maozhushan, a once-impoverished village covering an area of 60 hectares. Many young villagers who moved to big cities as migrant workers gradually returned to their home village and were employed in the grape industry.

In April 2021, when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a formal visit to Guangxi, he stopped at Maozhushan village.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspected the local grape-growing industry and called for greater efforts to pursue rural vitalization based on local specialty industries to make better use of science and technology in promoting the agricultural sector.

He also stressed measures that can ensure farmers to benefit more from the development of rural industries.

Xi walked through the village, dropping by the home of villager Wang Deli and chatting with the family.

He said that as the CPC is about to celebrate its centennial in 2021, China has scored a complete victory in its fight against poverty. However, he said promoting rural vitalization on all fronts will be no easier than the battle to fight poverty, allowing no letup or sluggishness.

Tech empowerment

"We planted a total of more than 320 mu (21.3 hectares) of grapes, with 192 mu of grape varieties improved. After the improvement, the retail price of grapes per jin (0.5 kilogram) increased by 3-5 yuan ($0.69)," said Wang Hairong, head of the local grape planting association.

In discussing new varieties and technologies used by the village's grape industry in the past few years, Wang has strong opinions.

"We also standardized the grape planting base, converting the old simple sheds into greenhouses with steel frame structure. In addition, we have promoted the application of organic cultivation, drip irrigation and water-fertilizer integration and other technologies, which has not only saved water and fertilizer, but also reduced costs," Wang noted.

Wang stressed that the village set up a 5G intelligent agricultural system - the Maozhushan grape industry digital platform. The platform not only aimed at the scientific management and care of grapes to provide timely and effective data support, but also has significantly reduced the incidence of grape pests and diseases as well as improved the quality of grapes.

"The average yield increase reached nearly 500 jin per mu," Wang said.

In addition to the "hard technology," Maozhushan village also pays special attention to the "soft power" of enhancing the scientific planting of grapes. Over recent years, the village has worked with several Guangxi agricultural research institutions to better promote the development of local grape growing.

The majority of agricultural experts and technicians not only go into the field to guide the adoption of key technologies of grape planting, but also give their opinions and suggestions from the introduction of products, equipment supply to orders for the acquisition.

Pristine water & hills

Noting the changes that have occurred to the environment of Maozhushan village, Wang Junrong, Party chief of Nanyi village, said that over the recent years, local authorities have earnestly practiced the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are as invaluable as silver and gold," vigorously implementing a number of infrastructure renewal projects.

In addressing the Maozhushan village environment, Wu Yecheng, an official from the Caiwan town government, was involved in the entire infrastructure upgrading and renovation projects.

According to Wu, Maozhushan village has built a cultural center, a basketball court, a theater, and completed 3.5 kilometers of road widening project as well as 2,200 square meters of parking lot construction and rainwater and sewage separation project.

In addition, the local township government carried out a comprehensive soil and water conservation management project in small watersheds, successfully transforming two weirs and one waterwheel, and comprehensively managed an area of 37.14 square kilometers to protect against soil erosion.

The projects have greatly improved the local environment, with water diversion and irrigation as well as flood discharge and flood relief capacity comprehensively upgraded, said Wu.

In addition, Maozhushan village has also completed the intelligent transformation of a high-standard power grid, providing electric power support for the wider use of drip irrigation technologies for the grape planting bases, so that the local grape industry has withstood the test of the summer and autumn drought in northern Guilin in 2022, with the grape yield increased that year.

The local government has also coordinated with the local telecom company to realize the full coverage of the mobile signal across the village, in a bid to strengthen the timely, fast and accurate communication between the village and the outside world.

In 2022, the theatrical movie My Hometown Maozhushan was filmed in the village, greatly enhancing its popularity and influence.

The construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway, a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative (BRI), will help inject new impetus into the economies of the two countries. The railway, plus the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in 2023, may provide people with a new perspective on the increasingly fragmented global trade situation.

As reported by the Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, Serbia's Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic said that Serbia's participation in the BRI has boosted the overall development of the country and its neighbors. He cited the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway as an example of successful BRI cooperation.

The Hungary-Serbia railway is a double-track electrified railway with a total length of 341.7 kilometers, including 183.1 kilometers in Serbia. Sitting at the crossroads of Central and Southern Europe - and often seen as a geographical region that straddles both Eastern and Western Europe - Serbia has unique geographical advantages. The construction of the railway is expected to improve connectivity between Hungary and Serbia and help clear barriers from Serbia to Greece's Piraeus Port, a transit hub connecting Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Hungary-Serbia railway is considered an important project to improve physical connectivity, as part of multifaceted cooperation aimed at deepening economic exchanges. 

Connectivity includes not only physical infrastructure like roads and railways but also institutional arrangements to make it easier to strengthen exchanges among different regions.

China and Serbia signed an FTA in October 2023. The signing of the FTA and subsequent tariff cuts have enhanced trade relations, boosted Serbia's exports and - more importantly - served as a bridge to open up new trade routes and ramp up trade and investment between China and Europe. 

Trade between China and Europe reached $1.215 trillion in 2023. Both sides have strong trade complementarity, and unleashing this potential can generate more positive influences on Europe's economy, helping solve problems it faces, such as stubborn inflation. 

The lingering question is how to unleash this huge potential. There are two critical factors. On the one hand, we should continue to promote infrastructure interconnectivity; on the other hand, we should take concrete actions to reject all forms of protectionism and unequivocally advocate for and support free trade.

Facing a complex and volatile international situation, China and Serbia, acting as each other's "ironclad friends," have continuously enhanced cooperation in multiple fields such as railway infrastructure construction and free trade. These factors interact with one another, forming a joint force to boost economic cooperation.

The nature of cooperation is mutually beneficial, and that's why the Serbian side holds a positive attitude toward cooperation with China. Vesic said Serbia is proud of its participation in the BRI, under which Chinese companies have undertaken many infrastructure projects in the country.

The construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway reached a milestone on April 25, when the track-laying work for a 108-kilometer section between Novi Sad and Subotica in Serbia was completed. It's not always easy to undertake large-scale infrastructure projects, and the construction of the Hungary-Serbia railway faces some challenges, but the project has been steadily advancing. That's because this is good for the Serbian economy, which could benefit greatly from infrastructure projects.

Amid global economic uncertainty, various countries, including those in Europe, are trying to gain new growth momentum as traditional drivers weaken. What is needed today is to improve economic connectivity and further promote free trade. As long as cooperation can bring tangible economic benefits to local economies, it will eventually overcome temporary challenges and difficulties.

The US-advocated "decoupling" and Washington's geopolitical games have brought enormous challenges to global trade, but globalization and free trade are the only ways to promote mutually beneficial cooperation. Politicians with a sober mind will not politicize economic issues and not fall into the "decoupling from China" trap.

Chinese President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Saturday morning after wrapping up state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary.

Over 100 of Tsinghua alumni fell ill following an off-campus dinner gathering marking the university's anniversary, with the local disease prevention and control department attributing the cause to norovirus infection. 

A recent social media post titled "Letter to All Alumni and Current Faculty and Students" brought attention to the issue. The letter revealed that during Tsinghua University's 113th anniversary celebration from April 26 to 28, alumni from various locations attended the festivities and some dined at the Zui Ai Restaurant located outside the southeast gate of the campus. 

Over a hundred alumni fell ill with food poisoning , including vomiting, diarrhea, fever, abdominal discomfort, fatigue, and muscle soreness after dining at the restaurant. As of May 1, 102 individuals have reported experiencing these symptoms, the letter wrote.

The Haidian District Disease Prevention and Control Center in Beijing on Monday released an investigation report saying it has conducted comprehensive testing on samples collected from the restaurant staff, environment, and food. The results of the epidemiological investigations revealed that some samples tested positive for norovirus, leading to the conclusion that the incident was caused by acute gastroenteritis due to norovirus infection. 

The district disease control center has instructed the restaurant to cease operations, carrying out terminal disinfection, and providing health awareness guidance.

With summer being a high-risk period for gastrointestinal infectious diseases, the disease control center has advised catering enterprises to increase the frequency of daily environmental sanitation and disinfection, enhance staff education on preventing gastrointestinal infectious diseases, and improve health monitoring to ensure a safe dining environment for customers. 

Residents are urged to prioritize food hygiene, avoid consuming untreated water, practice frequent handwashing, use public chopsticks when dining out, and seek medical attention promptly if experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms.

The giant pandas "Jin Xi" and "Zhu Yu" on Monday took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, bound for Madrid Zoo in Spain to begin a 10-year stay. 

Chinese netizens and panda fans have expressed their hope that the two pandas will be well taken care of in Spain. "While abroad, please let the Spanish fans take over the guardianship and take good care of you two babies!" one netizen wrote.

"As the 20th generation of pandas, you two can fly the highest and farthest, opening a new chapter in your panda lives. Stay safe and healthy in a foreign land, and may you spend these long 10 years happily and joyfully!" said another.

"Jin Xi," a male panda, was born on September 1, 2020. "Zhu Yu," a female giant panda, was born on October 25, 2020.

According to Chinese flight tracking platform Feichangzhun, the China Airlines CA3103 cargo plane is responsible for transporting the pandas. The flight took off at 11:24 am on Monday Beijing time, with an estimated flight time of 13 hours and 53 minutes, arriving at Madrid Barajas Airport at 7:20 pm, local time. This is the first pair of pandas to travel to Europe for residency since the second half of 2019. 

To ensure the smooth arrival of the two pandas in Spain, both China and Spain have made thorough preparations. The Chinese panda base has isolated and quarantined the two pandas ahead of travel, ensuring dedicated care and regular check-ups. 

To ensure comfort and safety during the transportation, the panda base has customized special air transport cages to allow the pandas to move, eat, and rest freely inside the cage. Additionally, the panda base has prepared an ample supply of fresh and high-quality local bamboo and bamboo shoots from Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and arranged for a veterinarian and three specialists to accompany the pandas on the flight to take care of "Jin Xi" and "Zhu Yu's" health and diet. 

After arriving at Madrid Zoo, Chinese experts will stay for about three months to accompany the pandas through the quarantine period, complete stress adaptation and behavioral training, and help them quickly adapt to their new living environment. 

They will also provide technical guidance and operational training on how to take care of pandas to the zookeepers and veterinarians at Madrid Zoo. 

The Madrid Zoo told the Global Times that they will send a press release and videos once the cubs arrive.

Following suggestions of the Chinese expert team, Madrid Zoo has upgraded the panda pavilion in advance, including renovating the cub nursery to meet the needs of panda cub care, and optimized the facility design to cater to the pandas' climbing habits by adding climbing frames, logs, and other play facilities. Those upgraded facilities will be put into use after passing an inspection by the Chinese team.

Spain has achieved the most fruitful results in the cooperative breeding of giant pandas in Europe. Six giant pandas have successfully been given birth in Spain since the cooperation between China and Spain started. The "panda bond" between China and Spain has been maintained for over 40 years.

According to the Madrid Zoo, after arriving in Madrid, the two giant pandas will undergo a one-month quarantine isolation period, and they may meet the public as early as the end of May local time.

Officials, scholars, and business representatives agreed to further promote the development of the brain-machine interface (BMI) technology and fully tap into the broad opportunities of frontier sector at the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) on Friday.

Their statements and comments came at the Brain Computer interface Innovation Development Application Forum, a subforum of the ZGC Forum on Friday, one day after China's first high-performance invasive BMI shine the ZGC Forum, among nine other major technological results.

Xie Yuansheng, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said during the subforum that the development of BMI technology will be prioritized as a major future industry, and vowed to enhance policy guidance to the sector.

The MIIT pledged to further promote opening-up and cooperation linked to the BMI technology sector, in order to tap in potential development prospects, said Xie, adding that the innovation capability, industrial integration and regulation system will be further strengthened.

The Brain Computer Interface Industrial Alliance, unveiled 10 cases of industrial innovation in brain-computer interfaces developed by enterprises at the subforum, including cognitive ability and mental health measurement systems, wireless wearable high-speed brain-computer interaction devices, and portable brain-computer interface driving safety intelligent control systems.

China's self-developed NeuCyber Array BMI System, unveiled on Thursday at the 2024 ZGC Forum, among the 10 cutting-edge technological results, is a high-performance invasive BMI that could be widely applied for medical treatment for patients struggling with neurological and psychiatric brain diseases.

Core high-performance components like high-throughput flexible microelectrodes of the NeuCyber Array BMI System are domestically produced, with performance comparable with the most advanced international levels, Zhao Bing, an engineer with Chinese Institute for Brain Research, said at ZGC Forum.

NeuCyber Array BMI System is China's independently developed and first high-performance invasive BMI, Li Yuan, business development director of NeuCyber NeuroTech (Beijing) Co, the company that developed this BMI brain chip system, told the Global Times on Friday.

The development of BMI technology has broad application prospects, including many with a science fiction flavor, and it is expected that various applications will accelerate landing in near future, contributing to improving the quality of life for the public, Gu Xiaosong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the sideline of the subforum.

In terms of patent transformation and talent cultivation in the field of BMI technology, China is currently leading the world and outpaced the US. In this regard, China's BMI industry has promising prospects, Gu said.

Research teams from Tsinghua University, Beihang University, and other Chinese universities are among the top in international rankings in BMI sector, Gu noted.

Mohamad Sawan, an academician from the Canadian Academy of Engineering and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow, told the Global Times on Friday that China can provide a better environment and cooperation ecosystem for BMI research, as China has "an equation doesn't exist outside."

Sawan noted that the BMI research needs to integrate multiple disciplines together, and universities, academies of science and engineering, institutes for medical engineering in China make collaboration more efficient and faster. 

When speaking in which area that BMI technology can benefit more people, Sawan pointed out that some health condition cannot be recovered by drugs or surgery, and it may be applied with BMI equipment for providing economical solution, adding that China has the potential to take the lead in this sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed further efforts to usher in a new stage in the development of China's western region featuring well-coordinated environmental conservation, greater openness and high-quality development, when he chaired a symposium on boosting the development of China's western region in the new era in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. 

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made an inspection tour in Chongqing from Monday to Wednesday. During the visit, he called on Chongqing to further deepen reform and opening up across the board and write its own chapter in advancing Chinese modernization. 

The remarks and the inspection tour highlighted the great importance the top leader attaches to the development of the western region, which covers more than 70 percent of China's land area and is home to nearly 30 percent of the country's population. The region plays a critical role in China's pursuit of high-quality development and Chinese modernization, and holds great potential in various areas, economists said on Wednesday. 

During the symposium on Tuesday, Xi said China's western region has seen significant achievements on eco-environmental conservation and restoration over the past five years, but the region's development is still facing difficulties and challenges, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese President said developing industries that leverage local strengths should be the main focus, adding that efforts are needed to adopt a region-specific approach in developing emerging industries and expedite industrial transformation and upgrade in the western region. 

Underscoring the importance attached to greater openness, during the inspection tour of Chongqing, Xi also visited an international logistics hub park to learn about the municipality's efforts in accelerating the development of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in west China, according to Xinhua. 

China's western region covers Chongqing, six provinces and five autonomous regions, including Southwest China's Sichuan and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, accounting for 21.5 percent of China's GDP. Although the region's development has been lagging behind the country's eastern coastal regions, in recent years development has been picking up pace. Between 2019 and 2023, the region's combined GDP expanded form 20.5 trillion yuan ($2.83 trillion) to 26.9 trillion yuan, with an annual average growth rate of 4.9 percent. 

"The development in the western region has improved significantly in recent years in terms of infrastructure, industrial upgrade and people's livelihoods," Hu Qimu, a deputy secretary-general of the digital-real economies integration Forum 50, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

In terms of industrial development, the western region has also seen rapid development in recent years. The region is home to nine national level strategic emerging industry clusters in areas such as new materials and biomedicine, and five national level advanced manufacturing clusters such as electronic information and aviation. The region's industrial added value has jumped from 5.8 trillion yuan in 2019 to 8.1 trillion yuan in 2023, according to official data. 

Critical role, vast potential

The symposium on Tuesday further highlighted the western region's critical role in China's efforts to bolster both security and development, as well as its enormous potential in areas such as advanced manufacturing and high-level opening-up, economists said.

"The region is tasked not only to boost local industrial development with many industries shift from the east to the west and provide support in resources and other areas, but also to play a bigger role in the country's opening-up efforts," Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Dong noted that there is still great room for the western region to expand opening-up by bolstering connectivity with countries and regions through land transport corridors. 

The western region has developed multiple trade routes with countries and regions in Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia in recent years. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which connects China's western region with Southeast Asian countries, can reach 490 ports in 120 countries and regions as of January 2024, with cargo volume jumping 21 percent year-on-year in 2023, according to official data.

Moreover, the western region also plays a crucial role in the China-Europe Freight Train Express. Over the past five years, 35,000 China-Europe freight trains have been launched in the western region, accounting for 50.5 percent of the national total. Thanks to the greater connectivity, the total import and export volume of the western region reached 3.7 trillion yuan in 2023, an increase of 37 percent from 2019.

Greater connectivity and openness of the western region is of great importance to the country's efforts to expand high-level opening-up and bolster both security and development, economists said. 

"Although the capacity of land transport remains relatively low, it has a very high level of security compared to sea transport," Hu said, noting that land transport corridors in the western region can better cope with geopolitical tensions and offer a steady channel for transport of strategic resources under extreme circumstances.

Apart from its great importance in China's long-term security and development, the western region is also crucial in the country's efforts to tackle downward pressure and consolidate the economic recovery in the short term by boosting domestic investment and consumption, economists said. 

"Whether it is from the perspective of responding to international situation, or overall coordination of development and security, or the current need to stabilize growth, it is imperative to boost the development of the western region," Hu said, pointing to the huge potential in infrastructure investment and consumption in the region.

As the region's economic development accelerated in recent years, infrastructure construction and consumption has also been expanding steadily. For example, in the first quarter of 2024, Chongqing saw a 4.4-percent growth in fixed-asset investment, with a 16.7-percent growth in industries and 8.5 percent in infrastructure. Retail sales in the municipality also grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, higher than the national growth rate of 4.7 percent, according to official data.