Xi holds talks with Vietnam's top leader To Lam in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday exchanged congratulatory messages on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil, with experts saying that the two sides are expected to continue promoting exchanges in all areas underpinned by economic and trade cooperation.

China is ready to work with Brazil to take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties as a new starting point to jointly promote the building of a China-Brazil community with a shared future, Xi said in his congratulatory message to Lula, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.

China and Brazil, both major developing countries and key emerging markets, are like-minded good friends and partners that join hands and move forward together, Xi said.

For his part, Lula said over the past half century, the friendship between Brazil and China has been strengthened, and cooperation has become increasingly diversified, according to Xinhua.

Brazil-China ties are becoming increasingly important for building the multipolar order, as well as  a more just and effective global governance, Lula said, adding that bilateral ties play an underpinning role in the stability and predictability of the two countries and the world. He said that for the next 50 years of bilateral relations, the two countries will chart a new course together and create a bright shared future.

Lula said at an event on Wednesday that he will discuss a "long-term strategic partnership" with China later this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The close ties between China and Brazil span many years, and Lula's remarks indicate that Brazil is looking to extend and advance the relationship with China, Dong Jingsheng, deputy director of Peking University's Latin America Research Center, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The economies of the two sides enjoy considerable complementarity, making it possible to provide favorable conditions to advance the cooperation in other fields of the two countries." Dong noted.

Dong also believed that trade and economic relations serve as the foundation of the relationship between China and Brazil, as well as China's cooperation with other countries in Latin America, which in turn encourages political trust and people-to-people exchanges.

The rapid development of China-Brazil ties contributes not only to the economic and social development of the two countries, but also facilitates the engagement of Global South countries, analysts said, noting that this injects momentum into the transformation of the international system and the reform of the global governance system.

A breach in a dike along a river in Chifeng city, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, measuring 11 meters long, flooded 9,000 mu (600 hectares) of farmland. Following overnight efforts by local rescue teams, the breach was fully sealed by midday on Wednesday, according to China Central Television.

A total of 821 residents had been relocated with no casualties reported so far, CCTV reported. 

According to the local flood control and drought relief headquarters in Chifeng, a breach occurred along a section of the dike alongside the Laoha River in Songshan district on Tuesday, with the depth of the floodwater reaching as deep as 2.5 meters, Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. 

The city immediately launched an IV-level emergency response for flood control and dispatched rescue forces to evacuate local residents and carry out rescue work. A total of 821 residents from 112 households from two villages were relocated to nearby temporary accommodation, local primary schools or clinics, with no casualties reported, according to Xinhua.

Despite of a round 9,000 mu of farmland was reported as being flooded, the floodwater did not flow into the village. 

Following an all-out effort by rescue forces made up of over 700 people from the military, armed police, fire fighter department and other professional rescue forces, the breach was closed by 4.5 meters as of 5:30 am on Wednesday, Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters dispatched an expert team to Inner Mongolia to assist and guide flood control and disaster relief work. The Ministry of Emergency Management urgently deployed 100 personnel and 35 rescue equipment units from a natural disaster engineering rescue base in Tangshan city, North China’s Hebei Province to the site and coordinated with surrounding state-owned enterprises to mobilize 460 personnel, 56 equipment units, and four helicopters, according to media reports. 

The Ministry of Water Resources on Tuesday activated a major flood and drought disaster dispatch and command mechanism, conducting consultations to assess the scope of the flood’s impact. They issued eight targeted emergency response recommendations, including immediately delineating the risk area affected by the breach, ensuring the immediate evacuation of all personnel within the risk area, and closing all reservoirs upstream of the breach. Authorities from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also dispatched experts to provide on-site guidance, China Central Television reported on Tuesday.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games concluded on Sunday with Team China winning 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals, with the result marking the best performance for Team China in the Olympic Games held overseas. 

Chinese analysts said this proves that the success of Chinese modernization can bring not only economic growth, but also can benefit the development of public health, as well as the environment for sports industries, to effectively energize "sports for all." 

This is the core reason why so many talented young athletes can continuously emerge from China's 1.4 billion population in the past decades, and they can also break world records in sports that have been dominated by the US and other Western countries for a long time, experts said. 

Making history

Counting from China's first Olympic gold medal in 1984 thanks to Xu Haifeng's shooting prowess, China successfully surpassed the 300-gold medal mark in Paris. Over the past 40 years, Chinese sports have evolved from achieving occasional standout performances to becoming an undeniable powerhouse of global sports. 

"The Chinese sports delegation achieved a record-breaking performance, winning 40 gold, 27 silver, and 24 bronze medals across 11 major events and 14 sub-events, totaling 91 medals. This marks the best result for China in the Olympic Games held overseas since it began participating in the Summer Olympics in 1984," Zhou Jinqiang, vice chief of the Chinese delegation, told a news conference in Paris on Sunday.

Zhou also noted that Chinese athletes, whether during competitions or when interacting with the media, displayed grace, natural friendliness and an evident love for their country and pride in being Chinese.

Historic breakthroughs were made by Chinese athletes at the Paris Olympics in sports such as tennis, artistic swimming, rhythmic gymnastics and BMX cycling.

Chinese swimmers, delivering their performances under an excessive doping test regime after US hype put international bodies under pressure, collected a total of two gold, three silver and seven bronze medals at the Paris Olympics. One of the highlights in the pool was the men's 4x100m medley relay when team Chinese upended the US' dominance in the discipline for 40 years. The groundbreaking victory produced a powerful riposte to the doubts and disregard that overshadowed the Chinese swimming team in Paris. 

Olympic women's tennis singles gold medalist, 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen, advised people to dare to dream as it could propel one to strive for future success after her epic win at Roland Garros. Zheng is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal.

Eighteen-year-old freestyle BMX cyclist Deng Yawen noted that her pride and confidence has solidified when she heard the national anthem at the award ceremony, after she claimed China's first gold medal in BMX cycling. 

Chinese gen-Z athletes such as female table tennis star Sun Yingsha and female badminton silver medalist He Bingjiao also contribute some charming sportsmanship moments, such as taking selfies with athletes from North Korea and South Korea, and bringing a pin of Spain to the podium to show respect to wounded Spanish badminton player.

Success of modernization

Ming Jinwei, a former journalist and media commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday that through watching the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Chinese public is becoming more rational and mature in understanding the performance of Chinese athletes in Olympic competition. "On one hand, we feel pride and joy when we win gold medals, on the other, we also encourage and cheer everyone who tries their best but fails to win golds."

More importantly, more and more Chinese people have learnt that some Western countries, especially the US, care very much about the medal table and they will use every tool they have to win medals, including doping which was exposed by the media. The US will also use its influence among media and international organizations to stigmatize and add obstacles to suppress the countries that able to challenge it on the medal tally, said experts. 

This makes Chinese people clearly understand the nature of international sports - it is a competition of countries' comprehensive national strengths in peace time, and they will not just sit and watch some countries to unfairly manipulate the Olympics. They will support China to not only compete in the arenas but also compete on other relevant fronts and areas to make sure the rules of Olympic Games and other international sports remain fair and clean, analysts said. 

Ming said that winning Olympic gold medals is not only pride for an athlete or a team, but also proof of a country's comprehensive national strength and the sports capability of a nation. It will greatly promote a country's international image and activate patriotism and a sense of honor among the people of this country, so it is extremely valuable and all countries will fight for it.  

Li Xiang, a sports journalist and media commentator who covered Paris 2024, told the Global Times on Sunday that some countries also have huge populations and they are major global economies, but they won few gold medals in the Olympic Games, because economic size and population are not equal to modernization. Team China's performance in past decades is proof of a successful Chinese modernization.

"Modernization has enabled the 1.4 billion Chinese people to participate in sports in all kinds of infrastructures, to watch sports via 5G networks at any place at any time, and also realize economic growth and find business interests through sports. This is what successful modernization looks like," Li noted.

After smearing Chinese athletes in recent months over so-called doping problems, the US is now facing mounting pressure over its own alleged violations, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) now speaking out on the issue.    

Chinese analysts urged the US to respond to public queries and concerns, as well as stop discrediting others, double-standard behaviors, and long-arm jurisdiction.

They pointed out that no matter how the US responded to the questioning and suspicion over its alleged anti-doping practices, it will be hard to dispel doubts over whether it will be able to organize a fair and non-politicized Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, due to its reckless smearing campaign against China.  

With the campaign around doping issues intensifying during the Paris Olympic Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams on Thursday expressed support for WADA, saying the IOC will continue to work with its stakeholders to make sure there are "good and robust" anti-doping systems.

WADA recently came under US attack, as the agency confirmed China was blameless after US media hyped a 2021 incident in which 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) due to inadvertent contamination.

The US' hype since April 2024 of the 2021 case led to an excessive anti-doping testing scheme against Chinese athletes ahead of and during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Conversely, USADA has allowed American sprinter Erriyon Knighton to compete in the Paris Olympic Games without suspension, after he tested positive for trenbolone. USADA attributed the result to meat contamination despite the fact trenbolone is not frequently found as a contaminant.

Meanwhile, in a statement released on Wednesday, WADA also exposed a scheme that allowed US athletes who had committed doping violations to compete without sanctions for years. WADA noted that this practice is a blatant violation of the World Anti-Doping Code and the US Anti-Doping Agency's own regulations.

Yuyuantantian, a media arm of China Media Group, reported on Friday that the International Testing Agency (ITA) confirmed to the media that related reports have led to the excessive anti-doping tests on the Chinese Olympic swimming team. 

Before the Paris Games opened, WADA chief Witold Banka warned the US on July 24 that USADA's baseless accusations against Chinese athletes are "politically motivated" and "biased against China." In response, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced a bill threatening to cut US funding for WADA and accusing it of failing to properly investigate alleged doping by Chinese Olympic swimmers, according to a Reuters report.

"It is ironic and hypocritical that USADA cries foul when it suspects other Anti-Doping Organizations are not following the rules to the letter while it did not announce doping cases for years and allowed cheats to carry on competing, on the off chance they might help them catch other possible violators," reads the WADA statement.  

It is rare for WADA to accuse a country with sharp language, and more importantly, WADA and the IOC are not showing bias against China despite being dominated by Westerners, said a Beijing-based commentator.  

BBC reported on August 1 that a WADA official said "Certain individuals [in the US] are attempting to score political points purely on the basis that the athletes in question are Chinese… the result is that it has created distrust and division within the anti-doping system."

Discrediting China on the anti-doping issue has a political intention and is being led by politicians, said the commentator, adding that "the US is attempting to demonize China, just like they have done in other fields."

"What would they say if it was an American athlete being forced to take so many drug tests? Should American athletes be tested with the same frequency? Those are questions to be thought about," he noted. 

In addition, some American swimmers had a purple discoloration on their faces after completing their races in the Paris Olympics events, sparking widespread online discussion and suspicion over stimulant use. 

"The US has a lot more that remains to be explained to the world," said the commentator. 

Calling for fair play

The China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) on Thursday called for an independent investigation into USADA's misconduct and intensified testing on US track and field athletes and efforts to rebuild global trust in fair competition.

Given the deep-rooted stains in US athletics and USADA's repeated disregard for procedures and standards, there is reason to suspect that there is a systemic doping problem in track and field in the US, and the positive cases therein deserve continuous investigation and attention, CHINADA said, listing several US doping scandals. 

China's state news agency Xinhua also listed five concerns and suspicions over US anti-doping work, including how to ensure fair play when the vast majority of US athletes are outside WADA's global anti-doping system, and its Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act that allows the US to impose sanctions on others, but not certain US athletes. 

According to a recent poll released by CGTN, 96.84 percent of over 15,000 respondents around the world believe that the US lacks respect for WADA while 96.25 percent strongly criticize the US for its "double standards" in doping regulation. 

The immediate cause of the US-staged anti-doping farce against China is that the US perceives China as challenging its decades-long dominance in certain sports, said the commentator. "Such thinking is in nature no different from the US suppression of Huawei's technological development and smearing of China's 'unfair competition'."

Team China has won 12 medals in swimming in Paris, double the total in Tokyo. The two gold medals in the men's 100 freestyle and men's 4x100-meter medley relay were one of the most significant breakthroughs.  

China has also won historic golds in women's singles tennis and artistic swimming, which frustrated some Americans steeped in habitual notions of superiority, as US dominance shrinks, analysts said. 

With the development of China's economy and a huge population and potential participants, more breakthroughs can be expected in fields like swimming and tennis, which require more resources and investment, said the commentator. 

The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization at its third plenary session held from July 15 to 18.

The plenary session made a systematic arrangement for further deepening reforms aimed at achieving high-quality development - the primary task of Chinese modernization. It reflects the principles of balancing short-term and medium-to-long-term goals, efficiency and fairness, as well as economic development and national security.

The plenary session laid out the blueprint for medium- and long-term reforms and clearly mapped out this year's economic goals. The short-term goal is to stabilize economic growth and create favorable conditions for the deepening of structural reforms. The medium- and long-term goals are to ensure the continuity of policies, providing solid support for sustained and high-quality development.

From the perspective of medium- and long-term goals, the third plenary session proposed the country complete all the reform tasks by 2029, and to finish building a high-standard socialist market economy in all respects by 2035. The implementation of this series of goals will rely on continuous efforts and policy implementation in key areas such as deepening supply-side structural reform, promoting high-quality development and building institutional mechanisms to support comprehensive innovation in China.

Regarding the short-term development goals, the plenary session emphasized the task to remain firmly committed to accomplishing the goals for this year's economic and social development, paying high attention to shoring up economic stability and economic growth at a critical time, amid the complex and rapidly evolving international environment and domestic economic transformation.

The plenary session proposed that the country strive to expand domestic demand, develop new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, move faster to foster new drivers of foreign trade growth, take solid steps toward green and low-carbon development, and do the utmost to improve people's living standards.

A high-standard socialist market economy will provide an important guarantee for Chinese modernization. The plenary session proposed the country foster a fairer and more dynamic market environment and make resource allocation as efficient and productive as possible, emphasizing the importance of fairness as a prerequisite for realizing efficiency.

In order to build a high-standard socialist market economy that balances efficiency and fairness, the plenum once again emphasized the establishment of a unified national market as an important measure. 

Against the backdrop of increasingly complex geopolitical conditions and international trade conditions, the Chinese economy is facing some challenges. Therefore, balancing development and security was one of the key themes of the plenary session. 

As to undercurrents in the world against globalization as well as the rise of trade protectionism, or restructuring of global supply chains, the plenary session proposed a strategy of expanding opening-up and deepening international cooperation - to steadily expand institutional opening-up, deepen the structural reform of foreign trade, and further reform management systems for inbound and outbound investment.

A worker at a photovoltaic panel factory in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu Province, checks solar panels for export markets on August 7, 2024. In the first half of 2024, the province's foreign trade stood at 2.68 trillion yuan ($373.19 billion), up 8.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 12.7 percent of the national total during the period. Photo: VCG

Major stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed sharply lower on Monday, with Japan and South Korea seeing significant declines and triggering circuit breakers at times, amid concerns over a possible US recession and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Despite growing global tensions, experts said that China's role as the world second-largest economy would become more pronounced, as the Chinese stock market has remained resilient and Chinese assets are undervalued, including A-shares, Hong Kong stocks and Chinese concept stocks.

On Monday, South Korea's composite index KOSPI fell by 8.77 percent to 2,441.57 points, marking the largest single-day drop on record. Japan's Nikkei 225 index declined by 12.4 percent to 31,458.42 points, marking a third consecutive day of significant losses and breaking below the 32,000-point threshold.

During Monday's session, trading in both the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices in Japan was halted briefly after triggering circuit breakers. South Korea's major indexes also set off circuit breakers, leading to a 20-minute trading halt. This was the first time since March 19, 2020, that South Korea's stock market was suspended due to circuit breakers.

Australian stocks closed down 3.7 percent on Monday, wiping more than $100 billion from the market's capitalization - the biggest fall since the pandemic lockdown era, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.

The sell-off was largely attributed to concerns over the poor US economic performance amid heightened worries about an economic downturn, exacerbated by disappointing US nonfarm payroll data from the previous week, prompting further panic in capital markets, according to experts and media reports.

Experts attributed the steep declines to the US Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates unchanged, coupled with disappointing economic data, leading to a sharp drop in US stocks. Behind these movements lies a growing investor fear of a US economic recession.

The significant downturns in Japan and South Korea, triggered by the recent decline in the US market, have multiple underlying reasons, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.

"More importantly, it (the stock slump) may reflect fundamental concerns, specifically the unclear economic outlook in the US, with the recent data releases, including labor market indicators, also below expectations," Li said.

There has been speculation among traders that the Federal Reserve will step in with an emergency interest rate cut, according to media reports. However, no official confirmation has been made.

Economists at Goldman Sachs raised the likelihood of the US economy slipping into a recession within the next 12 months from 15 percent to 25 percent.

While world capital markets are bearing the brunt of the possible US economic downturn, China's A-share market is showing its resilience.

On Monday, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges fluctuated narrowly while managing to avoid the sharp declines seen in international markets, with many blue-chip stocks rebounding, which is noteworthy.

"Despite the widespread downturn in global markets, A-shares' resilience against declines indicates that previous adjustments have been quite sufficient," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Monday.

Moreover, once the European, American and Japanese stock markets begin to decline from their peaks, there may be an opportunity for a turnaround in the Chinese stock market, experts said. "Capital tends to seek new valuation opportunities, and A-shares and Hong Kong stocks are undoubtedly among these attractive valuation areas," Yang noted.

Another positive sign for the Chinese capital market was the surge of the yuan by 1,000 basis points against the US dollar in a single day on Friday, appreciating significantly to about 7.1 against the dollar.

With expectations of gradual interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, there is potential for a further appreciation of the yuan, possibly even returning to below 7.0 next year, Yang said, noting that "anticipated appreciation of the yuan could attract inflows of foreign capital, especially considering that high-quality Chinese assets are currently undervalued."

As for whether China can weather this wave of market volatility, Li said that "for China, the substantial prior declines have already alleviated much of this risk," indicating confidence in the country's ability to continue attracting foreign capital, particularly following possible US interest rate cuts. 

"As to how much it may draw in terms of foreign investment, it will also depend on domestic economic conditions and policy developments," he said.

The US-Philippines "2+2" security talks came after much double talk by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aimed at the recent provisional arrangement between China and the Philippines, which has somewhat reduced tensions between the two countries. 

In conjunction with the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Laos, Blinken criticized alleged "escalating actions" at sea by China. However, it was the US that has created the tensions in the South China Sea, while hypocritically applauding the China-Philippines de-escalation arrangement. 

It should be noted that tensions between China and the Philippines began in early 2023, when retired US Air Force Colonel Raymond Powell, with the help of the US Office of Naval Research, conceived a "cognitive warfare" operation known as "Project Myoushu." 

The strategy enlisted Philippine maritime security and defense forces in an "assertive transparency" operation to challenge a 25-year-old practice with China banning construction materials supplies to a corroding, deliberately stranded Philippine Navy ship to boost its claim over Ren'ai Jiao.

The modus operandi was to provoke deterrent or police action from the China Coast Guard. Philippine Coast Guard vessels or privately hired ships attempted to smuggle prohibited materials or violate fish sanctuaries, which are restricted for conservation purposes. These Philippine vessels also transported Western and Filipino media to film, report, and denounce China's actions as "bullying."

Powell, the chief of the US Project Myoushu, openly admits that the aim of his operation is to exact reputational costs on China and generate international support for the Philippine cause. However, both efforts have failed. According to the State of Southeast Asia 2024 survey, compiled by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in April, over half of Southeast Asians now prefer to align with China rather than the US. ASEAN member countries are critical of the Philippines' unilateral and disruptive activities.

The concern for Filipinos is that while the de-escalation arrangement may be holding firm at this early stage, it remains fragile as various foreign and domestic elements continue to besiege it with fake news and disinformation.

The visit of Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be another opportunity for the US to put pressure on the Philippines to pull out of this de-escalation arrangement. 

China and the Philippines have, to some extent, restored peace and stability in the areas of the South China Sea after the two sides reached a provisional arrangement on the transportation and replenishment of humanitarian supplies to Ren'ai Jiao in order to maintain the stability of the maritime situation. The arrangement led to a "successful" resupply mission on Saturday delivering humanitarian goods such as food, water and medicines for the BRP Sierra Madre's Philippine Marines. 

The Philippines said in a statement, "No untoward incidents were reported." One of the conditions in the deal is the embargo on construction materials that may be used to rebuild the rust-corroded ship. 

Now, de-escalation is being pursued, affirming the deep desire of 95 percent of the Filipino population to devote the national energy to economic recovery instead of the imagined threat to national territory.

Will this effort of the Philippine government to normalize relations with China holds strong over the months and years ahead? The Filipino public is trying to ensure that it will. Protesters are slated to greet the arrival of Blinken and Austin with shouts of: Blinken-Austin - Get Out, Stay Out! 

China's Ministry of State Security warned those working with confidential information against using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to write confidential materials and chat groups to discuss classified content, saying that numerous cases of data leaks were caused by the use of online office programs in recent years.

In recent years, AI writing has flourished and gradually become the "pen" of many office workers. Some personnel handling classified information, in order to save time, illegally input classified materials and content into AI writing programs to generate articles, believing that they are only extracting fragments of documents and will not cause leaks, the ministry wrote in a post on WeChat on Sunday.

It warned that those people are unaware that AI programs automatically collect the information input by users for autonomous learning, and the related data can be easily stolen by foreign intelligence agencies, leading to the leakage of national secrets.

It also said that some institutions have set up "work groups" on WeChat for the convenience of communication to report and exchange work matters. However, some of those institutions have violated regulations by notifying and discussing confidential contents in these groups, adding that some had even posted content involving state secrets in the form of pictures, files, and etc. in the group chat.

The confidential information in these group chats is easily re-posted by group members and even publicly disclosed, and the scope of knowledge cannot be controlled. Foreign intelligence agencies can also obtain chat records of key work groups through network attacks, posing a great risk of leakage of confidential information, said the ministry.

The ministry also warned cloud storage software of leaking confidential documents and image recognition app leaked the original confidential documents. In order to prevent similar leakages, the ministry advised people involved in confidential matters not to handle classified information online while working remotely. It is strictly prohibited to process classified information through the internet, and it is forbidden to publish or disseminate classified information online while using office software.