Editor's Note:
Located in the eastern part of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Hami is an important city along the ancient Silk Road and a key node city under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In this city with a total area of 142,100 square kilometers, the permanent population is 680,000, and 39 ethnic groups including Han, Uygur, Kazakh, Hui, and Mongolian live here harmoniously.

GT reporters again traveled to the region. In this fourth installment of a series of articles, GT tells character stories based on multiple local young people who have realized their self-worth here with the continuous improvement of Xinjiang's economic industrial structure.
Millionaire camel breeder

Zhonghe Camel Breeding Cooperative in Xiamaya township, Hami city, is about 260 kilometers away from the city center. After a four-hour drive out there, a group of sunbathing camels came into view. Nuraly Kasmu, a 32-year-old Uygur man, is the head of the cooperative.

Talking with the Global Times, he said, "There is a saying that 'having millions in wealth is not considered rich if you have long-haired camels.'" Free-range camels not only tend to wander off, but are also at risk of wolf attacks. Newborn camels also find it difficult to survive, making it difficult for herders to guarantee their economic income.

In November 2014, with the support of the local government, Nuraly's father founded this cooperative to provide custody and breeding services for camels, as well as selling fresh camel milk and other products.

Currently, more than 80 households of herders in the local area entrust their camels to the cooperative, mainly consisting of Kazakh and Uygur herders, as well as Han herders. According to the agreement, the cooperative distributes dividends to herders at a rate of 1,000 yuan ($139.83) per camel per year, and the income from camel milk, camel hair, and newborn camels belongs to the cooperative.

Nuraly said that since 2015, the total amount of dividends given to villagers in Xiamaya township by the cooperative has accumulated to nearly 400,000 yuan. There are currently more than 900 camels in this breeding base covering an area of over 3,000 square meters. Each camel produces about 2 to 3 kilograms of milk per day, with the highest monthly sales of camel milk reaching around 5,000 kilograms, bringing in a monthly income of about 180,000 to 200,000 yuan, and an annual income exceeding 2 million yuan.

"I might be the richest person in the local area!" Nuraly said with a smile.

Nuraly used to work for a local new energy company and joined his father's cooperative in 2018 to continue the family business. Despite his playful nature, he is meticulous when it comes to work.

"To take care of the camels, I specifically hired a camel caretaker from the Barkol Kazak Autonomous County," he said. "Kazakh compatriots have a lot of experience in camel breeding and know how to make them produce milk. More importantly, they have genuine affection for camels and don't treat them as just a job."

In addition, the cooperative pays attention to the nutritional balance of camel feed, regularly conducts vaccinations for camels, hires professionals to take care of newborn camels, and provides insurance for the camels. They also receive technical training from agricultural and animal husbandry experts and scholars every year.

Keram Wudge, a 60-year-old herder, also entrusts his camels to the cooperative. He told the Global Times that herders have signed contracts with the cooperative and receive stable dividend income every year without having to worry. With the free time, older herders can stay at home and take care of their elderly family members, while others work as border guards to increase their income.

When asked about the changes in their lives since taking over the cooperative five years ago, Nuraly smiled and said, "We have money now! Who doesn't want to make money?"

It's not just Nuraly whose wallet has grown. Through systematic management, the cooperative has radiated and boosted the income of farmers and herders in Xiamaya township and surrounding towns, promoting local economic development.

The operation of the cooperative has not been smooth sailing, and the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest test. "The local government waived the cooperative's loan interest, and companies from Central China's Henan Province provided financial support. With the trust and support of people from all ethnic groups, we were able to overcome the difficulties together," Nuraly said.

Nuraly has ideas for the future development of the cooperative. In his view, camel milk has high nutritional value and can help alleviate diabetes and enhance immunity. In the future, he wants to continue to expand the scale and breed more camels, improve the quality and quantity of camel milk, and sell camel milk along the BRI to various parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, and other parts of the world.

"At that time, I will proudly tell others that this is the camel milk produced by our cooperative," Nuraly said.

Uygur woman builds promising career

The fresh camel milk produced by cooperatives in Yiwu county, Hami, is mainly sent to Xinjiang Zhongtuo Bio-Technology Co. for processing, and is then sold to various parts of the world.

Zhao Junli, the chairman of the company, said in an interview with the Global Times that as a company that attracted investment from Henan to Xinjiang, the company opened in Yiwu county in April 2016. At that time, although there were not many camels, the natural environment and development prospects were good. In order to ensure a stable supply of camel milk, the company provided 5,000 yuan in funding to the local people for every camel purchased, interest-free, and the camel milk produced would be used to repay the funding. Generally, each camel can repay 500 yuan per month, and it can be repaid in about a year, which immediately mobilized the enthusiasm of the local people.

Zhao said that herders can entrust their camels to the cooperatives, and the cooperatives are responsible for camel breeding and milking. The milk is then transported to his company by milk delivery trucks. After sampling and testing, the qualified camel milk is sent to the production workshop to produce fresh camel milk, camel milk powder, milk slices, and other products. Camel milk biscuits and camel milk shower gel are also popular products.

Some Western countries have been fabricating rumors about "forced labor" in Xinjiang. Zhao said that when he received a group of foreign journalists from eight countries, he told them, "Do not spread false words, do not mislead the public. Many people in Xinjiang have created a beautiful life with their own hands!"

Taking Zhongtuo Bio-Technology Co. as an example, the company's employees are from various ethnic groups such as Han, Hui and Uygur, as well as Kazakh and Tibetan people. Zhao said that regardless of ethnicity or gender, all employees of the company are treated equally, with labor contracts updated regularly to fully protect the rights and interests of workers.

Generally, working hours are from 9 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 7 pm on weekdays, and overtime pay is provided at a rate of 25 yuan per hour. In addition to year-end bonuses and other benefits, the company also provides a full attendance bonus based on length of service. Employees who have been with the company for more than one year can receive an additional 40 yuan per day, those who have been with the company for more than two years can receive 60 yuan per day, and those who have been with the company for more than three years can receive 80 yuan per day. This adds up to a considerable amount, resulting in a low rate of people leaving the company.
There are people from various ethnic backgrounds who have built careers here, including Amangul Taolang, a 29-year-old Uygur woman.

Amangul graduated from Tarim University with a major in food quality and safety in July 2017. She then worked in an administrative position in another company. In November 2017, she came to Zhongtuo by chance to work as a laboratory technician. She felt that her professional knowledge from university was finally being put to use and decided to stay. At that time, her monthly salary was 3,000 yuan.

"In terms of salary alone, it was similar to my previous job. But I believe that while earning a living is important, I also hope to realize my self-worth in my work," Amangul told the Global Times.

Over the past six years, she has continuously learned professional knowledge and has gone from being an ordinary laboratory technician to a laboratory supervisor, technical manager, and is now the director of food safety for the entire company.

With the improvement of her abilities and position, Amangul's salary has also increased significantly, and her annual income now exceeds 200,000 yuan.

Amangul said that in the early days of the company's establishment, she was the only member of an ethnic minority in the company. Now, there are a total of 10 people in her laboratory, including colleagues from Han, Uygur, and Kazakh ethnic groups. They work together, respecting each other and showing interest in each other's customs. They celebrate festivals such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha together.

Amangul said that the company has facilities such as a basketball court, gym, and public activity room, and she is satisfied with the current working environment and atmosphere.

Now her only goal is to further improve her work abilities and continue to make progress while she is young.

High-quality development is the first and foremost task of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, while developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and a significant focus of promoting high-quality development in China. In a sense, technology innovation is the core to serve this purpose.

As a kind of economic activity that is of great significance, scientific research and technology innovation requires significant investment. Thus, how to effectively deploy and allocate financial resources is a key problem for the success of technology innovation. 

In the early stage of China's economic development, there was a relatively large gap between Chinese enterprises and global corporate leaders, which made it easy for Chinese enterprises to find a clear technological path to catch up with their global peers. In this process, indirect financing - where financial intermediaries played a critical role - could effectively allocate financial resources to meet those companies' needs and assist the country to achieve rapid and large-scale industrialization.

However, financial intermediaries sometimes have difficulty in instantly dealing with non-standard information amid uncertainties, and thus indirect financing could not support large-scale industrialization of high-tech industries and can hardly accommodate the drastic changes in economic structure.

As the Chinese economy is shifting toward innovation-driven qualitative development, the advantages of direct financing dominated by the capital market have gradually emerged. 

Direct financing means that companies and investors can communicate directly in the financial market, allowing everyone to fully express their opinions and be more tolerant of investors' errors in decision-making. In a word, this kind of financing can better handle uncertainties and non-standard information so as to support massive innovation activities.

According to the spirit of the Central Financial Work Conference convened in October, accelerating the building of a highly efficient financial market with reasonable structure is necessary for implementing innovation-driven growth strategy and boosting the development of new quality productive forces.

Most important of all, we should give full play to the functioning of China's capital market and earnestly implement the registration-based IPO mechanism so as to smoothen the liquidity channel and better guide much-needed capital to support the real economy and provide stable and sustainable financing for the development of new quality productive forces.

Specifically, financial regulators should further optimize the architecture of the registration-based IPO mechanism with overseeing the information disclosure at the core, and study and formulate guidelines on the disclosure of special information regarding technological, green, digital and other areas.

Meanwhile, more efforts should also be made to strengthen the connection between the multi-faceted capital markets and build a major bastion for servicing small and medium-sized innovation-oriented enterprises.

Third, authorities should diversify IPO conditions, and meet tech firms' various financing needs via Shanghai's tech-heavy STAR Market, the NASDAQ-style ChiNext bourse in Shenzhen, the Beijing Stock Exchange and the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) in a bid to boost better circulation among technologies, industries and finance.

Moreover, we should develop efficient bond market to expand innovation-oriented companies' financing channels and better support technology firms' financing.

Apple announced on Tuesday a plan to open a new research and development (R&D) center in Shenzhen city, South China's Guangdong Province while upgrade its Shanghai R&D center to support product manufacturing.

The new move came as the company just announced to open a new store in downtown Shanghai, underscoring the US tech giant's confidence in the Chinese market.

Later in 2024, Apple will open a new R&D center in Shenzhen, which is expected to provide strong support for the company's staff in the whole region while deepening cooperation with its local suppliers. The new center will strengthen Apple's capability in the testing and research of products including the iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro, the company said in a statement appeared on its China website.

It also plans to upgrade its Shanghai R&D center to provide support for the reliability, quality and material analysis of its products.

"In Apple, we are proud that we can deepen our footprint in China and expand our world-class facilities here," Ge Yue, Apple's vice president and managing director of Greater China region, was quoted as saying.

Ge said that the new investment will further implement the company's commitment in the market and provide world-class products for Apple users.

According to Apple, it has invested more than 1 billion yuan in its advanced application R&D centers, and the investment volume will continue to increase along with the opening of the new facility in Shenzhen.

Recently, Apple has stepped up operations in China although the US government continues to seek "decoupling" with China with intensified sanctions, baseless accusations and repeated provocations against Chinese companies.

Apple is going to add a new store in downtown Shanghai on March 21, which is reportedly the highest-standard Apple store in the Chinese mainland.

Meanwhile, Apple faces fierce competition from Chinese local smartphone brands including Huawei, Xiaomi and OPPO.

Apple iPhones struggled in the Chinese mainland market in the first six weeks this year, with sales plunging by 24 percent year-on-year, a report by market research organization Counterpoint Research noted on March 5.

Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.5 percent last year, the highest in the country. Riding on the momentum, the region is expected to sustain its robust economic recovery in 2024, boosted by the development potential in specialty industries such as highland barley and yaks.It will also step up basic infrastructure construction as well as local tourism, a Chinese national political advisor told the Global Times during the two sessions.

Duoji Cizhu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the president of the Xizang Federation of Industry and Commerce, said that Xizang enjoys a unique geographic advantage as it is an important passage connecting China with South Asia. The region could consider further high-level opening-up to facilitate the development of inbound and outbound tourism.

Last year, travel agencies in Xizang organized 23 outbound tourists group to Nepal, according to a report by media outlet chinanews.com.

Some deputies and political advisors also suggested Xizang should expand border trade with neighboring countries such as Nepal, which is Xizang region's largest trading partner and export market. Xizang and Nepal have inaugurated the jointly building of a China-Nepal industrial park in Nepal in 2019, which is also a key bilateral cooperation project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Xizang has also set up a border economic cooperation zone in Gyirong county.

In 2023, Xizang's foreign trade more than doubled to 10.98 billion yuan, local customs data showed. Its GDP expanded 9.5 percent last year, significantly higher than the national average of 5.2 percent. All those key indicators speak volume for the local economy vitality and a potential in development prospect.

"Xizang's basic infrastructure remains relatively undeveloped, so it is hoped that infrastructure building will gear up in 2024," Cizhu said.

Duan Xiangdong, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and the chairman of Aluminum Corp of China, said in addressing a proposal to the ongoing two sessions that the region, and in particular Ali prefecture, "a key area in China's opening-up to South Asia, which is also rich in natural and mineral resources," should double down on basic infrastructure investment, so that it is able to translate its resource advantages into economic dividends.

"The installed power grid capacity in Ali cannot meet rising electricity demand for social and economic development. Transportation in Ali is limited to highways, with no rail access, which is not cost-effective," Duan pointed out. He stressed that the development of the border regions is also conducive to ensuring national security.

Cizhu also serves as the president of Xizang business chamber. He envisioned that the private sector would play a more pivotal role in the development of overall local economy in 2024.

"Private enterprises in Xizang are set up by firms across the country, and they, while contributing to the improvements of people's livelihoods, also carry great significance in strengthening ethnic unity and the consolidation of border defense," he noted.

The work report of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on Friday pledged to accelerate the formation of a law aimed at promoting the development of the private sector, sending a strong signal on policymakers' commitment to make continuous improvements in the business environment and boosting the high-quality development of the private sector for Chinese modernization.

Members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee have proposed building a science and technology innovation center in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region oriented toward Central Asia, in a bid to promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and local development.

Chinese experts said that the center will facilitate technology cooperation and business trade between Xinjiang and Central Asian countries, further lifting personnel, technology and capital flows in the region.  

The proposal was co-raised by three CPPCC National Committee members -- Liang Yong, Deng Mingjiang and Xiao Wenjiao -- aiming to foster Xinjiang's innovation-driven development mode, technological innovation capability and the new productive forces, the Global Times was told on Monday.

The proposal called for efforts in supporting Xinjiang to build multiple innovation bases with distinctive industries and advantages, and form new development modes in major cities of the autonomous region and BRI partner countries in Central Asia.

The proposal called for an enhanced coordination mechanism targeting technological support to Xinjiang, diversifying the supporting approaches guided by governments, and ensuring the deployment of talent and expertise.

Xinjiang has multiple advantages in academic research, industrial engineering, new energy and agriculture, which are highly complementary to the industries of Central Asian countries, said the proposal, noting that the innovation center will expand regional cross-border cooperation to stabilize the nation's energy supply and diplomatic relationships.

Liu Zongyi, director of the Center for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that China will not only export self-developed technologies but also learn from some Central Asian countries' leading experience.

In addition, the proposal said the innovation center will amplify the advantages of local pilot free trade zones, balance the development in China's western and eastern regions, and attract international technology, talent and businesses.

"The innovation center will simplify Xinjiang's international cooperation with neighboring Central Asian countries, and will create mutually beneficial results for both sides," Liu noted.

China's cybersecurity technology ranks in the "top tier" globally, and in the realm of security and defense it can now stand on par with the US, Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi An Xin Technology Group, told the Global Times on Friday. However, there remains a gap between China and some developed countries such as the US in terms of investment in cybersecurity, Qi noted.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) brings new cybersecurity threats, and China should accelerate the integration of cybersecurity and AI technology to enhance its capability to deal with cybersecurity risks and uncertainties in cyberspace, Qi said.

Qi, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said during a group interview ahead of the opening of the two sessions this year that the development of AI technology has become a hot topic for discussion both domestically and internationally.

However, the security risks it brings have also raised concerns. Some experts estimate that over the next decade, the malicious use of AI technology will grow rapidly, posing serious threats to political security, cybersecurity and military security.

Regarding this hotly debated topic, Qi believes that there are three main types of new cybersecurity risks that would come along with AI technology.

First, AI itself exacerbates security threats, such as data breaches, fraudulent attacks, and security in social governance.

"Generative AI technologies represented by ChatGPT and Sora can quickly generate phishing emails and write malicious software and code, leading to an explosive growth in the number of attacks and frequent AI fraud incidents," he told the Global Times.

Moreover, criminals can use "deepfake" technology for face-swapping and voice manipulation, creating fake videos, so that "seeing may not necessarily mean believing" could become the norm.

The second type of security risk lies in the potential exacerbation of the "imbalance between offense and defense" in the field of cybersecurity, resulting in greater vulnerability to attacks, Qi noted.

AI significantly lowers the barrier to entry for cyberattacks, allowing ordinary individuals without coding or technical knowledge to become hackers, and thereby increasing the number of cyberattacks. Meanwhile, specialized hacker organizations can leverage AI tools to modify and upgrade their attacks.

The third type of risk is that AI exacerbates military threats, with the trend of AI weaponization becoming apparent, Qi said. He noted that AI can be used in lethal autonomous weapons like "killer robots," enabling autonomous identification of targets, remote automated operations, concealing the source of attacks, establishing advantages in confrontation, and connecting networks, decision-makers, and operators, making military actions more targeted, precise, and widespread.

In fact, an increasing number of countries are exploring the application of AI in the military domain.

Qi told the Global Times that the key source for AI is big data, so China must first of all solve data security issue to address the threat from AI, he said.

To tackle this challenge, a comprehensive approach is needed, involving not only "intelligence against intelligence" but also "coordinated development between humans and machines," Qi said.

Under the new circumstances, it is necessary to strengthen the promotion of technological innovation, encourage leading companies in various industries and cybersecurity companies to cooperate, integrate AI security technology into digital scenarios, and provide effective security protection, Qi noted.

At the same time, it is necessary to leverage AI capabilities to accelerate innovation in cybersecurity technology and security protection systems, in order to "run faster than AI technology," he said.

"Security is all about speed," Qi said, noting that effective security protection for new scenarios created by new technologies is essential for the continued promotion and application of technology; otherwise, technology applications will perish in their infancy.

AI can also be applied in the field of cybersecurity, Qi stressed. A security expert can handle 120,000 alerts in one year, and "our innovative Q-GPT security robot increases the efficiency of alert handling by 70 times compared to a human," Qi said.

This could help security experts save an average of 80 percent of their "screen-watching" time. It also allows them to use the time saved to engage in high-value tasks related to business and direct robots to handle more complex security incidents, Qi said.

Over the past year, international cyberspace competition has become more intense, with frequent cyberattacks. In response to this situation, China is strengthening the construction of its internal cybersecurity system, Qi said.

The cyber armies and intelligence agencies of some unfriendly countries will never cease their cyberattacks on China, just as we cannot rid the world of bacteria and viruses. Qi explained that the internal cybersecurity system is like the human immune system. "It can kill bacteria and viruses, or prevent these bacteria and viruses from affecting our health. That's its function," he said.

Although China's cybersecurity technology has reached the top tier globally, there is still a gap between the investment in cybersecurity by Chinese government departments and enterprises compared to that in the developed countries, Qi noted.

"The US 2024 fiscal year budget shows that the cybersecurity budget of civilian federal agencies accounts for approximately 16.4 percent of the IT budget, while in China, it's still around 3 percent, which is a huge gap that needs to be filled," Qi told the Global Times.

"Security is paramount, and insufficient investment will inevitably lead to insecurity," he said. According to the experience of developed countries, cybersecurity investment should account for more than 10 percent of the total IT investment to support digital business.

Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are giving full play to the main role of central SOEs in strengthening the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in response to the central government's call, the Global Times learned from companies and experts.

The move reflects the government's and industry players' determination to promote the advance of AI technologies in order to achieve an industrial transformation and upgrading, experts said.

In a recent statement sent to the Global Times, China Telecom, one of the major telecommunications operators of China, said the company gives full play to the main role of central SOEs and reinforces its strength in driving technological innovations.

The company has led the way after it released the 100 billion parameter Xingchen large language model in 2023, with more than 10,000 daily active users. The operator said it had made Xingchen open source at the end of January, a move that will allow for easier and broader collaboration.

"By doing so, we will broadly empower more users to engage in AI advances, injecting vitality into the AI industry," the company told the Global Times, adding that it has served more than 1 million users nationwide.

China Mobile, another telecommunications operator, is building Asia's largest intelligent computing center, which is scheduled to open this year, according to media reports.

The Chinese government has ramped up the promotion of AI development among SOEs. On Monday, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) held a meeting on promoting the reform of SOEs, stressing the importance of pushing forward the transformation and upgrading of central SOEs through technological empowerment, including AI.

The SASAC held a meeting on February 19 calling on central SOEs to accelerate the layout and development of the AI industry, actively promote industrial renewal and achieve better growth.

SASAC Chairman Zhang Yuzhuo emphasized at the meeting the need to promote central SOEs to achieve better growth and play a greater role in the field of AI.

The meeting was attended by representatives of SOEs in various industries, including telecommunication and information, manufacturing, transportation and energy, as well as high-tech firms such as iFLYTEK, according to media reports.

The SASAC also vowed to accelerate the construction of a new batch of intelligent computing centers and better leverage the role of the platform for collaborative innovation among SOEs.

Market analysts said that recent intensified efforts by the SASAC and enterprises underscored the country's determination and resolve to promote advances in AI technologies among SOEs to achieve transformation and upgrading, enhance competitiveness, and achieve other goals.

Li Jin, chief researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the meetings can be seen as the "first shot fired" in AI deployment, and it is likely to propel a new wave of industrialization for SOEs.

China has its own advantages in the field of AI, Li said, noting that with strong policy support, a huge population, strong data collection and capabilities and innovation, China's AI development will surely reach the world's advanced level in the next decade.

According to data released by the SASAC, SOEs completed 2.18 trillion yuan ($302.8 billion) of investment in strategic emerging industries in 2023, up 32.1 percent year-on-year.

"AI is growing rapidly, and central SOEs should become key players on the 'national team,' in embracing AI technology, in the face of a new round of industrial revolution," said Li.

Many areas across China have commenced construction of mega projects since the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, including industrial upgrading, infrastructure and energy projects, in a boost for the ongoing economic recovery, according to media reports on Monday.

On Monday, authorities in East China's Shandong Province held a meeting to promote the construction of major projects, with construction work for more than 1,000 projects started, China Media Group reported.

The projects involve a total investment of about 1.21 trillion yuan ($167.84 billion), according to local media reports in Shandong. Among the projects, 660 were for industrial upgrades and 156 for transport and other infrastructure. In terms of funding, 600 projects were invested in by private enterprises and 338 were carried out by state-owned enterprises.

Shandong is not alone in expediting major investment projects, as work resumed after the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. In East China's Zhejiang Province, construction work has also commenced on 333 projects with a total investment of 977 billion yuan. In Beijing, 160 projects with a total investment of 247.8 billion yuan are expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2024.

The accelerated implementation of major projects across the country is expected to offer a great boost for investment, which remains a major economic driver, in the first quarter of 2024. This in turn will help support the economic recovery.

Relatively slow growth in investment has weighted on China's economic recovery. In 2023, total fixed-asset investment only grew by 3 percent year-on-year, compared to 5.1 percent growth in 2022. Some economists have forecast that fixed-asset investment could grow around 5 percent in 2024.

Private investment is also vital for driving overall investment, and Chinese localities have stepped up support for private businesses, especially since the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Shandong has taken various measures to support the resumption of work at private businesses following the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. For example, on Monday, State Grid Yantai Power Supply Co, the local branch of the state-owned power giant, dispatched a special working group to a local firm, Laizhou Sanli Auto Parts Co, which exports auto parts to Europe, North America and many other regions, to help the firm with issues in using electricity.

The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) on Friday launched a financial working group and held a forum on cross-border yuan payment and trade cooperation, aiming to strengthen China-EU financial collaboration, even as businesses seek to navigate challenges posed by increasing trade protectionism in the EU.

The new working group, following the digital and green working groups, represents the CCCEU's third working group and its first outside its Brussels headquarters. It underscores the Chamber's dedication to enhancing the presence of Chinese enterprises in the EU market, striving for mutual benefits while acknowledging the diversity across the region.

The establishment of the financial working group aims to foster financial cooperation between the EU and China as well as to promote the internationalization of the yuan. This initiative is part of the CCCEU's efforts to implement the outcomes of the 10th China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue, Sun Yanhong, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday.

As Chinese enterprises increase their investment in Europe and amid the increasingly complex China-EU trade situation, this move by the CCCEU will contribute to the internationalization of the yuan, facilitating trade and investment for Chinese companies, said Sun.

Trade protectionism has emerged as a significant barrier to the longstanding trade partnership between China and the EU. Recent actions, including an antitrust investigation into Chinese train-maker CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive by EU regulators, illustrate the EU's shift towards more protective measures.

The EU and China are each other's major trade partners, with China's total imports and exports of goods with the EU reaching 5.5 trillion yuan in 2023, a decrease of 1.9 percent compared to the previous year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

But the EU's increasing trade protectionist measures are prompting concerns among businesses about the negative impact on the close trade ties between Europe and China.

In response to Europe's trade protectionist measures against China, Ola Kaellenius, CEO of German auto giant Mercedes-Benz, criticized the approach, stating that any move by the EU to increase protectionism against China would be a destructive move for an economic region like Europe, according to Reuters.

Trade protectionist actions, such as the investigations against Chinese electric vehicles and CRRC, not only harm the development of Chinese companies in the EU but also cause European corporations like Mercedes-Benz to worry about potential counter measures from China, Sun said.

With the EU implementing more trade protectionist measures and export control policies, it could lead to significant losses for multinational corporations, with ASML from the Netherlands being a prime example, Sun stated.

In January, the Dutch chipmaking equipment producer ASML, warned that the US' export controls could impact its sales in China by 10-15 percent in 2024.

China and Thailand will sign a permanent mutual visa exemption agreement on Friday, said Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, as China's outbound tourism to Southeast Asia is expected to return to the "golden age."

Srettha was quoted by Thai media as saying that, by promoting implementation of the visa-free policy, Thailand, whose GDP is highly dependent on tourism, is about to see domestic tourism market flourish again following the return of Chinese tourists.

Srettha said on Wednesday in a keynote speech delivered at "Thailand 2024 The Great Challenges" that Thailand and China will sign a reciprocal visa exemption program this week. For Thailand's soft power, "the visa exemption program between the two countries is expected to upgrade the Thai passport's power to a higher level," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a press conference earlier this month that the government departments responsible for the matter are in close communication on the specifics, after Srettha announced that Thailand and China will permanently exempt each other's citizens from visa requirements, starting from March.

The move will further enhance people-to-people exchanges and mutually exempt visas between China and Thailand serves the fundamental interests of both peoples, Wang said.

In September, Thailand implemented a five-month visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, which will continue until February 29, 2024. Chinese experts said the upcoming Spring Festival will see a new wave of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries as the expected visa exemption program will help tourism and economic and trade ties.

There are also signs that the tourism markets are expanding for both China and Thailand, and China's outbound tourism to Southeast Asia is expected to return to the poast "golden age".

"Between January 8-14, Thailand's inbound tourism performed 'better than expected,' mainly due to the smooth recovery the tourism markets in the region. Meanwhile, among the international tourists Thailand received during the period, Chinese tourists topped the list, increasing by 27.75 percent , compared to the number of 80,000 in the previous week," said Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol.

Thailand beat the target of receiving 28 million foreign tourists in 2023, but the 1.2 trillion baht ($ 56.21 billion in yearly tourism revenue fell short of planned 2.38 trillion baht ($66.89 billion), the ministry said.

On online travel platforms, Thailand is most popular destinations for Chinese tourists traveling overseas during the Spring Festival holidays, according to a report sent by Qunar sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

Tongcheng Travel said that the popular destinations for outbound travel during the coming holidays include Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

The decision to sign an agreement on mutual visa exemption between China and Thailand has huge significance for both sides, especially for Thailand, a country which highly dependent on tourism to boost its economy. It will gain lots of benefits from being the largest tourist destination for Chinese tourists, Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The mutual visa exemption will inject stronger momentum into the close bilateral relationship and accelerate people-to-people exchanges, expand economic cooperation, with a view to building a China-Thailand community with a shared future, said the expert.