Chinese experts said on Monday that reported cooperation between South Korea and the US to address so-called "excess capacity" in China's photovoltaic (PV) industry is part of the strategic narrative for Western countries to hype "overcapacity" in China's new-energy vehicles, lithium battery and PV sector, which is aimed at curbing China's technological development and industrial upgrading. 

Observers said that the so-called spillover effect of China's "excessive production" is an excuse fabricated by some US politicians out of political motives, amid the US crackdown on Chinese PV companies.

The response came after a South Korean report, which said that senior diplomats from South Korea and the US are cooperating to address the issue of "excess capacity" in China's PV industry, in order to protect industries of both countries from the negative impact brought by overproduction of Chinese solar energy products.

The rapid growth of China's PV-related exports has made many countries more and more anxious. Officials from South Korea and the US on April 30 discussed the need for a joint response to potential ramifications from the so-called "overcapacity" in China's solar industry during talks on energy security in Houston, Texas, South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Kim Hee-sang was quoted as saying this in a report from the Yonhap News Agency.

The discussions revolved around a two-fold approach involving each country's import control measures against China's provision of excessive subsidies, and cooperation in developing more technologically competitive products, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

The move shows that the US and South Korea are hyping "overcapacity" rhetoric targeting China's solar industry in a bid to replace China's industry with their own producers, Han Bing, an expert at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday.

Han said that the US and South Korea believe that they will create difficulties for China's PV firms to expand abroad by imposing trade barriers.

Experts called for the South Korean side to not follow the US in adopting strict economic and trade restrictions against China, saying that such an approach will only backfire on the country itself, with local businesses and ordinary people paying the price.

It's undeniable that China's capacity and technological breakthroughs in the clean energy sector have become powerful engines driving the global energy transition, experts said. 

According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, average kilowatt-hour cost of global wind power and photovoltaic power generation have decreased by more than 60 percent and 80 percent respectively in the past decade, a large part of which is attributed to China's innovation, manufacturing and engineering. 

China's PV production capacity represents nearly 90 percent of the world's total, industry data show. 

Experts praised the efforts made by Chinese companies in increasing research and development efforts to develop new PV cell techniques that could improve efficiency and reduce costs.

China is the world's renewables powerhouse. The country accounts for almost 60 percent of the new renewable capacity expected to become operational globally by 2028. China's role is critical in reaching the global goal of tripling renewables because the country is expected to install more than half of the new capacity required globally by 2030, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.

Chinese PV products have strong competitiveness, thanks to the accumulation of technology and production capacity. Exports have contributed to cost declines and helped solar PV to become the most affordable electricity generation technology, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Monday.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index at one point surged 0.2 percent to 3,163.14 points in Friday's morning trading session, a record high this year. It also represents an over 20-percent jump from the low point of 2,635.09 on February 5, which observers said means that the stocks in the Shanghai bourse are "entering a technical bull market." 

In early May, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index also showed signs of marching into a technical bull market. Analysts said the rally of Chinese stocks underscored a continued warming of investors' sentiment as well as the return of global capital into a market which they deem very promising but has been low valued. The stepped-up recovery of the world's second-largest economy is also giving a leg-up to the capital market rebound, they noted. 

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,154.55 on Friday, standing above the 3,100-mark for six consecutive trading days. The sustained surge was also partly thanks to the inflow of northbound funds, which has shown substantial net inflow in recent days.

On April 26, the inflow of northbound funds hit 22.449 billion yuan ($3.11 billion) marking a new high since the launch of the Stock Connect Program. The inflow of northbound funds also reached 10 billion yuan on April 29 and May 6, reflecting an across-the-board interest in investing in Chinese equities. 

Data from financial website eastmoney.com shows that northbound funds recorded a net inflow of 87.6 billion yuan to date this year, or more than twice last year's reading. 

"First, there's a palpable improvement in investors' mood from January to May, amid more measures to stabilize the market. Second, global capital is now returning to the Chinese market after withdrawing from the US, Europe and Japanese markets," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Friday. 

The world's financial institutions have reportedly been expanding their footprint in China. An HSBC Holdings Plc report said that more than 90 percent of emerging market funds are adding back their positions in the currently underweight A shares. A Bloomberg report quoted analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc as saying that there's "a fear of missing out" on the opportunities in Chinese equities building up among traders. 

Analysts noted that the stronger US dollar, coupled with the low valuation of Chinese equities, is one of the reasons behind the inflow of foreign capital. Yang also took note of China's positive economic fundamentals and the government's supportive measures, which have all helped bolster market confidence. 

In a fresh move to allay market concerns over the country's property downturn, two Chinese mega-cities, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province and Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, said on Thursday they would lift all home purchase restrictions to shore up the local real estate market and boost market confidence. This follows similar moves recently in other big cities like Chengdu, Shenzhen and Beijing.

"The slow recovery of the real estate sector has weighed on the outlook of the Chinese economy, so those measures will further strengthen investors' expectations of the robust economic recovery streak," Yang said. 

He stressed that the measures addressing the property sector are being carried out in parallel with policies for the capital market, and could therefore constitute a "two-pronged approach" to shore up the A-share market. 

Since the beginning of this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the country's top securities regulator, has been taking a series of sweeping measures to boost market confidence, stabilize expectations and ensure the long-term healthy and sound development of the capital market. 

In April, CSRC published rules to regulate mutual fund trading fees, set to take effect on July 1, 2024. The rules aim to enhance the management of securities trading fees, standardize the allocation of trading commissions by fund managers and safeguard the legal rights of fund shareholders, the CSRC said.

CSRC published on Friday a revised rule intensifying oversight on listed companies, calling for a more stringent risk control mechanism and more transparent information disclosure. Listed companies should better focus on main businesses to ensure investor rights protection and high-quality development.

Xiang Piao Piao's stock price soared on Monday and hit the daily up limit after netizens found one of its products sold in a store in Japan have cup sleeve satirizing Japan's handling of nuclear-contaminated wastewater.

The Chinese milk tea brand has reportedly seen a 400 percent surge on its live streaming sales in China as millions of netizens bought the products from Saturday to Sunday.

A Chinese netizen discovered that MECO fruit tea, a drink under the brand of Xiang Piao Piao, sells products in a store in Japan with slogans on their cup sleeves showing "the ocean is not Japan's sewer" and "0.1 percent of the land pollutes 70 percent of the ocean." The picture was then exposed on Chinese media social platform.

Tens of thousands of simultaneous viewers visited Xiang Piao Piao's  live stream over the weekend after the matter went heated, in which three of the six items were sold out during the live. The daily sales of its store have skyrocketed from 2,500 yuan ($346) to 1 million yuan, according to media reports. 

The cup sleeves have also been out of stock as the demand is increasing, and it will be replenished at a later date, according to the anchor of the event. 

The official Weibo account of Xiang Piao Piao also released a statement on Saturday saying that "our staff are awesome" after its action triggered heated discussion on Chinese social media platforms. According to media report, the president of Xiang Piao Piao said during the live stream on Sunday that he would award 100,000 yuan to the related employees and donate all the income from the live stream from 8 pm to 12 am that night to the Environmental Protection Foundation.

The hotline staff from Xiang Piao Piao said that it was a personal behavior of the employees, not an initiative of the company, according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The Kyowa store in Okubo of Japan also told the media that the store has not sold drinks with such cup sleeves.

According to previous reports, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) started to dump the fifth batch of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean on April 19. In Japan's fiscal 2024, which ends in March 2025, TEPCO plans to release a total of 54,600 metric tons across seven rounds, the Japan Times reported.

The recent World Conference on China Studies - Shanghai Forum, which concluded on November 24, was one of the largest gatherings of global "China hands." At the two-day forum, more than 400 Chinese and foreign scholars specializing or interested in China studies discussed their insights on Chinese civilization and China's path of development, as well as their impacts on the current global landscape.

During the forum, some of the overseas scholars, including winners of the 2023 Award for Distinguished Contributions to China Studies, shared their personal China experiences, observations, and understandings of Chinese civilization and China's path with the Global Times.

These "China hands" are witnesses to China's modernization and social development, and play an important role as bridges that link China and the world, observers told the Global Times on Monday.

Witnesses and bridges

The forum announced the winners of the 2023 Award for Distinguished Contributions to China Studies on November 24. They included Timothy Brook, professor emeritus at Department of History, University of British Columbia, Baik Young-seo, professor emeritus at Yonsei University, and Kishore Mahbubani, distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
Brook and Baik participated in the in-person forum in Shanghai. At an interview on November 23, Brook said that Shanghai "makes him jump." "The Shanghai of today is completely different from that of the 1970s," he told the media in fluent Putonghua. "The city reminds me of New York when I look out of my hotel at the Bund."

Shanghai was one of the starting places that sparked Brook's relationship with China. In 1974, then 23-year-old Brook studied ancient Chinese history and literature at Fudan University as one of the earliest young Canadians to come to China as exchange students. At Fudan, he developed a keen interest in China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and later started his decades of research in Chinese history, particularly into the Ming Dynasty history.

At the forum venue by the Huangpu River, Brook said although he has visited Shanghai many times over the years, he is quite impressed by the development of China's most modernized metropolis during each visit. "I found that Shanghai has 'grown up' to a degree that I've never seen before," he said, as if describing an old friend.

Brook is hailed as one of the best storytellers among North American historians. His many books focusing on China during the period of the Ming Dynasty, such as The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China, open a window for international readers to learn more about Chinese history and civilization.

"I keep writing books about China in order to increase the outside world's understanding of China," Brook told the Global Times.

Brook is among the expanding pool of international scholars in China studies who have, in recent decades, personally experienced China's rapid path to development.
Rachel Murphy, who prefers to go by her Chinese name "Rui Xue (auspicious snow in a literal translation)" in China, was a guest speaker at the forum. As a Chinese Development and Society professor at the University of Oxford and former president of the British Association for Chinese Studies, she has been engaged in China-related research, exploring China's social and cultural changes caused by urbanization, educational development, demographic transition, and state policies.

During the last 20 years, Murphy has travelled to many villages, towns, and cities across China. Her long-term fieldwork makes her an old "China hand."

Murphy marveled at China's tremendous development, especially in the countryside. "China's urbanization is progressing very fast," she told the Global Times during the forum. "The book I wrote [about rural China] before is out of date now."

Murphy shared that a week ahead of the forum, she visited several villages in Anhui Provinces, where she had been to a few years before. She was surprised by the great changes in communication in rural China.

Wi-Fi availability is now commonplace in many villages, enabling "left-behind" children to stay in contact with their migrant worker parents through frequent video calls, said Murphy. She was surprised to see many elderly women like to share their rural lives on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok).

"The speed of technological changes [in China] is truly amazing," Murphy said in Putonghua. "Rural areas included, the ubiquitous nature of 'connection' [across China] is a remarkable achievement."

Among the China studies scholars who attended the forum in Shanghai, Michael Crook, a Chinese Government Friendship Award winner, is a familiar "China hand" to many Chinese people.

Crook's family has been profoundly and closely connected to China. Six generations of his family have worked and lived in China. Born and raised in Beijing, Crook has devoted decades to education in China. Now he teaches children from expatriate families in Beijing Chinese history and culture, acting as a bridge between people in China and the West, especially among the younger generation.

During the forum, Crook told Chinese media that he believes Chinese and Western cultures have their own merits. "They can learn from each other," he said.

A path worthy of reference

Crook was a guest speaker at a sub-forum being held during the Shanghai Forum on November 24. The theme of the sub-forum was "Explorations: Chinese Modernization and China's Path."

Under this theme, many participants of the sub-forum shared their understanding of China's path to modernization, and some highlights of China's path worthy of reference for other countries.

China is a good example of integrating its own development with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNDGs), said economist Ranee Jayamaha, lead consultant for the South Asia-World Bank Group.

She offered how China has launched the Initiative for Belt and Road Partnership on Green Development together with 31 countries, and closely aligned the initiative with the needs of global green development by investing in renewable energy and adopting comprehensive pollution reduction measures as an example.

This is a good story of China's success in positively influencing world development, Jayamaha commented.

Crook mentioned China's ethnic policies, which he thinks can be referenced by multi-ethnic countries.

In a speech he delivered at the sub-forum, Crook recalled his visit to a school in China's Xizang Autonomous Region in May. The school teaches both Putonghua and Tibetan, and entirely permissible for the latter to be spoken in class. The small case shows China respects and supports its ethnic minorities at the national level, said Crook.

With China's rise and its growing international influence, many countries, especially those in the Global South, are interested in Chine's development, and are looking forward to learning from China's experiences, many attendees of the forum told the Global Times.

And these contemporary "China hands" are making efforts to know more about China, exploring China's development path and sharing their observations and understandings with the world.

China is on a multi-dimensional path of development, Josette Altmann-Borbón, secretary general of Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, said in a speech delivered at the forum's opening ceremony on November 24.

We should fully understand the important role China plays on the global stage, she noted.

Building momentum toward COP28, a seminar co-organized by the United Nations in China and the Embassy of Spain, with the support of the Delegation of the European Union, was held on Tuesday at the UNICEF Compound, Beijing. 

The seminar aimed to mediate negotiations and share a preview of China's strategic line at COP28, and spearhead detailed discussions both on China's position and priorities for the upcoming COP28, along with member states and other stakeholders' expectations with a view to advance dialogue in the lead up to COP28.  

Spanish Ambassador to China Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo, UN Resident Coordinator in China Siddharth Chatterjee, chief researcher, National Climate Center China Zhang Yongxiang, Ambassador of Brazil to China Marcos Galvao, Ambassador of the European Union to China Jorge Toledo Albinana, Ambassador of Mozambique to China Maria Gustava, and other guests shared their opinions about the urgent solution for climate change and how to ensure COP28 rises to the challenge. 

The Spanish Ambassador stressed that climate change is threatening the very existence of life on earth and people should work together and rise to the challenge. 

"We want to work together with China. We can contribute with our experience on issues such as technological cooperation, energy market reform, energy transition (with its essential components of energy security and emissions neutrality), and energy efficiency. We are open to increase our cooperation in all fields," he told the Global Times and expressed his sincere cooperation willingness with China in dealing with climate change. 

The final objective of the seminar was for all parties to have a greater level of understanding on each other's positions in advance of COP28, a shared understanding of the importance of the Global Stocktake at COP28, and generate ideas on how to develop paths that can lead to ambitious agreements and actions at COP28.

Under China's meditation and facilitation efforts, a formal ceasefire agreement has been reached between the Myanmar military and three ethnic armed groups in northern Myanmar, namely the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army, after the two sides held peace talks in the city of Kunming in Southwest China's Yunnan Province from Wednesday to Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

According to spokesperson Mao Ning, the two sides agreed to an immediate ceasefire to end the war, a military disengagement, and the solving of relevant disputes and demands through peaceful negotiations. They also promised not to harm Chinese border residents and Chinese nationals involved in projects in Myanmar. 

"Maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks in northern Myanmar is in the interests of all parties in Myanmar, and also helps to maintain peace and stability in the border areas between China and Myanmar," Mao said, expressing the wish that the relevant parties can truly implement the ceasefire deal and China's willingness to provide support and assistance to the best of its ability for northern Myanmar's peace progress.

China has maintained close communication with Myanmar over the situation in northern Myanmar and has helped mediate several rounds of peace talks.

From January 4 to 6, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Myanmar. Sun met with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing and held consultations with Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar U Lwin Oo, stressing China's commitment to continuing to play a constructive role in supporting the peace process in northern Myanmar. On December 5, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong had a video call with Myanmar Union Minister for Home Affairs Lt-Gen Yar Pyae.

Earlier on January 3, an artillery shell crossed the border from Myanmar into a Chinese town in Yunnan Province, causing injuries to five Chinese people.

China then lodged serious démarches to relevant parties and once again asked all parties in the conflict to reach an immediate ceasefire, vowing to take necessary measures to safeguard the lives and property of its nationals.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday met with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto via video link.

US Congress has reportedly reached a deal on how much the US government will spend in 2024 in a significant move toward avoiding a shutdown, but it doesn't necessarily defuse the threat altogether, Chinese observers said.

The US government shutdown risk reflects Washington's "declining fiscal management and governance ability," which may negatively impact US economy and the financial market, they said
.
The deal would establish an overall spending level of $1.59 trillion in fiscal 2024, US media outlet NBC News reported on Monday, noting that the threat of a potential US government shutdown isn't completely ruled out yet, as Congress still needs to allocate the money, write the bills and approve them.

During the last five decades, there have been 21 US federal government shutdowns. A government shutdown would lead to the suspension of nonessential federal functions and result in millions of federal employees not receiving pay.

The repeated US federal government shutdowns and lingering threats reflect that the US government's relatively weak governance and fiscal management ability, although for many times, the US government is able to solve crises at the last minute, Huo Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

The continuous increase in US government debt will produce negative effect on the US economy in the long run, as Washington needs to pay more interest on its huge debt, Dong Yun, director of the Research Center for International Political Economics of the National Institution for Finance and Development, told the Global Times on Monday.

"The US' fiscal sustainability will continue to weaken, which may increase US financial sector instability and spill over to impact global markets," Dong said.
Dong said it's a general trend that many countries are diversifying their foreign assets and increasing holdings of gold, but only by promoting reforms to the international monetary system and boosting the development of emerging market economies can there be "more choices for a country's holdings of foreign assets."

Aside from shocks to the US itself, repeated government shutdowns will impact the US' influence in global affairs and accelerate the decline of US dollar hegemony in the world, Huo said.

Huo said that the continuous issuance of US Treasuries will make it difficult for the US government to repay its debts, which will reduce the reliability and credibility of US dollar-denominated assets.

The US' aggressive interest rate hikes to tame inflation has brought spillover effects to other countries, especially developing countries, making many economies rush to diversify payment using local currencies and increasing holdings of gold in 2023.

China's gold reserves reached 71.87 million ounces at the end of December, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, latest data from the People's Bank of China showed.

The alarming conclusion has been drawn from the first-ever IUCN red list assessment of freshwater species, which identifies global heating, pollution, overfishing, and falling water levels as major threats to vital aquatic populations.

A comprehensive study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlights the precarious state of freshwater fish globally, with iconic species such as the Lake Turkana robber and the Mekong giant catfish facing the imminent risk of disappearing.

Of the 14,898 assessed species, a staggering 3,086 are now in danger of vanishing, with nearly one-fifth of all threatened freshwater species directly impacted by climate change-induced factors such as falling water levels and shifting seasons.

The assessment also sheds light on the escalating threats to other species, including mahogany, Atlantic salmon, and green turtles. Big leaf mahogany, a highly sought-after plant commercially, is now classified as endangered due to a 60% decline in numbers over the past 180 years.

Atlantic salmon, once abundant and considered of least concern, is now near threatened, with a 23% global population decline and disappearance from many UK rivers.

Amidst these alarming findings, the report also brings attention to positive conservation efforts. The saiga antelope, moving from critically endangered to near threatened, experienced a remarkable 1,100% population increase in just seven years in Kazakhstan. Similarly, the scimitar-horned oryx, once extinct in Chad due to overhunting, has seen successful reintroduction efforts, leading to a vulnerable classification.

IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak has emphasized the need for coordinated global conservation efforts in the face of the interconnected climate and biodiversity crises.

The report underscored the importance of addressing these issues to ensure the durability of conservation actions.

The assessment also highlights the vulnerability of central south Pacific and east Pacific green turtles, major victims of industrial and artisanal fishing, with rising global temperatures affecting their hatching success and sea temperature fluctuations endangering their nesting sites.