Category Archives: Chinese circle

China publicizes plan for national standardization system construction

 

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — China’s cabinet, the State Council, has issued the Development Plan for National Standardization System Construction (2016-2020), according to the official website of Chinese government on Wednesday.

According to the document, China will basically complete the construction of a modern standardization system that supports national governance system and governance capability and has Chinese characteristics by 2020.

The main tasks of the development plan include optimizing standardization system, boosting standard implementation, improving standardization service capability, and strengthening international standardization work.

The development plan also includes specific plans for standardization in seven key areas, including agriculture and the countryside, manufacturing industry, service industry, social affairs, culture, government administration, and ecological protection, energy saving and emission reduction.

The development plan highlights ten key projects, including the agricultural product safety standardization project, the consumer goods safety standardization project, the energy-saving and emission-reduction standardization project, and the next-generation IT standardization project.  (Edited by Li Xiaoyu, Lixy@xinhua.org)

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Standardization Administration of China have jointly publicized the Guidance on National Intelligent Manufacturing Standard System Construction (2015), the Xinhua-run cnstock.com reported.

The document clarifies the overall requirement, construction idea and content, and method of organization and implementation for building a national intelligent manufacturing standard system.

According to the document, the national intelligent manufacturing standard system will include five basic standards on foundation, security, management, examination and appraisal and reliability, respectively. Meanwhile, it will include key technological standards on intelligent equipment, intelligent factory, intelligent services, industrial software and big data, and industrial Internet.

The guidance is expected to remove the bottleneck in boosting intelligent manufacturing, which is related to data integration and interconnection. The guidance will be revised in every two or three years.  (Edited by Li Xiaoyu, Lixy@xinhua.org)

 

China to soon surpass U.S. to become top consumer of Chilean wine

SANTIAGO, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — “China will soon surpass the U.S. as the top consumer of Chilean wine,” Claudio Cilveti, general manager of Vinos de Chile, the country’s wine association, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

According to Cilveti, the sales of Chilean wine have grown by 43 percent in the last five years in China and should grow by around 30 percent in 2016, making the country the second-largest customer.

“Chilean wineries are currently seeing sales of 150 million U.S. dollars a year in China, which are set to reach 180-190 million U.S. dollars (in 2016),” he said.

“I believe that our sales to China can still greatly increase as this country is undergoing a cultural change,” said Cilveti.

According to Cilveti, Chinese people consume less than a liter of wine a year per capita, and he is expecting a change with a new economic model which prioritizes consumption in the country,

Cilveti, who was speaking during a conference on the future of Chilean wine, said that Chile is now the third-largest provider of wine to China, following France and Australia.

“This is a great opportunity as Chinese customers like having long-term relationships. Chilean wines have been warmly received and 25 Chilean wineries now have offices in the country,” he said.

Cilveti also attributed this success to the free-trade agreement signed between the two countries in 2006.

Source Xinhua,  editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China’s railway construction robust despite investment slowdown

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) — Investment in China’s railways in 2015 is still growing despite an economic slowdown.

China spent 820 billion yuan (126 billion U.S. dollars) on rail projects in 2015 and put more than 9,000 kilometers of new track into operation, meeting its annual targets of 800 billion yuan investment and 8,000 kilometers of new lines, according to China Railway Corporation.

With a newly completed high-speed railway track in the southern Hainan Province, China now has 19,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.

The fast growth of railway construction projects came at a time when the country is enduring continuous deceleration in the growth of fixed-asset investment. In the first 11 months of 2015, fixed-asset investment grew 10.2 percent year on year, slowing from 13.9 percent of growth seen at the beginning of this year.  Enditem

 

China’s foreign debt at RMB9.7318 trln by end Sept., SAFE

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — China’s foreign debt totaled 9.7318 trillion yuan or 1.5298 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of September, 2015, according to statistics released by State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Wednesday.

The total comprised 33 percent or 3.2207 trillion yuan (506.3 billion U.S. dollars) of mid- and long-term debt and 67 percent or 6.5111 trillion yuan (1.0235 trillion US dollars) of short term debt, of which 49 percent was trade-related lending.

Categorized by debtors, seven percent of the total foreign debt or 666.5 billion yuan, equal to 104.8 billion U.S. dollars, was borrowed by the public sector; three percent or 259.9 billion yuan was borrowed by the central bank; 46 percent or 4.4758 trillion yuan was borrowed by banks; 31 percent or 3.0239 trillion yuan was borrowed by other departments; the remaining 13 percent or 1.3057 trillion yuan was direct investment or inter-company loans.

By debt forms, the total foreign debt consisted of 25 percent or 2.4367 trillion yuan in loans, 19 percent or 1.8111 trillion yuan in trade credits and advance balances, 25 percent or 2.4687 trillion yuan in currency and deposits, 16 percent or 1.5474 trillion yuan in debt securities, 1 percent or 62.4 billion yuan in SDR, 13 percent or 1.3057 trillion yuan in direct investment or inter-company loans and 1 percent or 99.8 billion yuan in other debts.

By currencies, 47 percent or 4.6161 trillion yuan of the debt was Renminbi-denominated and 53 percent or 5.1157 trillion yuan was foreign-currency-denominated, of which 80 percent was U.S. dollar-denominated, four percent Japanese yen-denominated, and seven percent Euro-denominated. (Edited by Duan Jing, duanjing@xinhua.org)

Source Xinhua,  Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China to set up third-generation nuclear power company

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — Two Chinese nuclear power giants on Wednesday concluded a deal on a joint venture to promote China’s third-generation nuclear reactor design, Hualong One, in overseas markets technologies.

The Hualong international nuclear power technology company in Chinese, has a registered capital of 500 million yuan (77 million U.S. dollars), with  China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) each holding 50 percent of shares.

The Hualong One design is the country’s third generation of nuclear reactor design for safer and more efficient operations that will be widely adopted in domestic nuclear power projects.

The two companies began R&D for Hualong One in 2013. In May 2015, construction on a pilot project using Hualong One started in Fuqing, southeast China’s Fujian Province.

An agreement with Argentina was reached in November, guaranteeing the use of it in the fifth nuclear plant in Argentina, a key emerging market for Chinese companies.

In October, CGN and Electricite de France (EDF) signed a strategic investment agreement to build a nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in the southwestern part of Britain.  Enditem

Source   Xinhua   Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

China witnesses rural e-commerce boom: AliResearch report

HANGZHOU, Dec. 30 (Greenpost) — China has witnessed a boom of rural e-commerce with 780 villages each having online shopping transactions exceeding 10 million yuan (1.5 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, according to a report released by Alibaba.

AliResearch, the research arm of the Alibaba Group, issued the report on Tuesday saying that this was a surge of 268 percent year on year.

E-commerce prosperous villages are called “Taobao villages,” as business is mainly conducted via Alibaba’s trading platform Taobao. In addition to the transaction volume, a Taobao village should have more than 100 businesses, or at least 10 percent of households involved in e-commerce, according to AliResearch.

The 780 Taobao villages are located in 17 Chinese provinces and regions with Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces having the most.

AliResearch found that rural e-commerce business clusters are taking shape in these coastal regions, where Taobao villages are modernizing thanks to encouragement from their local governments.

This year also saw the emergence of rural e-commerce in the northeastern, mid- and western provinces and regions of Hunan, Yunnan, Jilin, Liaoning and Ningxia, where Taobao villages appeared for the first time. Among them, 176 Taobao villages are in impoverished regions. Enditem

Editor    Xuefei Chen Axelsson

President Xi’s greetings in the New Year 2016

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Dec. 31(Greenpost)–As a tradition since 2001, Chinese President sends New Year’s  greetings to Chinese people home and abroad and friends all over the world  through China Radio International, China National Radio and China Central Television Station.

The following is the whole text translated by Xuefei Chen Axelsson, Chief editor of Green Post:

20151231190305_8279.jpg@640w_1l_1c_0i_80q_1x_1e

After a couple of hours, the New Year’s bell will toll. We shall say goodbye to 2015 and welcome the first ray of sunshine of 2016.  At this moment, I would like to say New Year blessings to you, people of all ethnic groups in the whole nation, to compatriots in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao SAR, to Taiwan compatriots and compatriots overseas, to all friends from all countries and regions in the world! Happy New Year!

No pains, no gains. In 2015, Chinese people made great efforts and harvested a lot. China’s economic growth continutes to rank the first in the world, reforms have begun in almost all fields,  reform in  judicial system continues to be deepened, the “three stricts and three solids” thematic education has improved the political ecology, the anti-corruption struggle continues to deepen.  Through the joint efforts of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, the 12th five-year plan has successfully ended with a sense of fulfillment in some sense for the vast masses.

This year we held a grand celebration on the 70th anniversary of victory in Chinese people’s anti-Janpanese War and the World’s anti-Fascist war. We held a grand military parade showing the truth that justice shall win, peace shall win and the people will win. We have implemented a comprehensive reform strategy to consolidate our military strength and announced that we shall cut our military personnel by 300 thousand. I have met Mr. Ma Yingjiu in Singapore and shaken hands with him after 66 years, showing that the peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait is the common will of our compatriots on both sides of the strait.

This year Beijing won the rights of hosting the 24th Winter Olympics and the RMB was included in the SDR basket of IMF. The assembling line of C919 airplane developed by  Chinese has been in operation. China’s super computer broke the world record and won its sixth consecutive championship. Dark matter exploring Satellite developed by the Chinese scientists has been launched into the universe. Tu Youou became the first Chinese scientist who won the Nobel Prize…these all prove that as long as we are persistent, our dreams will be realised sooner or later.

This year we had joy, but we also had sorrow. The accidents such as the capsized Oriental Star passenger ship in the Yangtze River, the most serious explosion at the Tianjin Port and the landslide in Shenzhen have deprived many compatriots’ lives, let alone the dreadful incident that quite a few compatriots were cruelly killed by terrorists. We missed them, may them rest in peace and may the alive healthy.There are still some difficulties and irritations in the lives of the masses. The party and government are determined to continue to make efforts to guarantee the safety of people’s lives and property, improve people’s living standards and health.

2016 is the first year of the decisive period China enters to build comprehensive wealthy and healthy society. The 5th session of the 18th plenary session of the Communist Party of China has set up clear directions for the development in the following five years. The prospect is encouraging and inspiring, but the happiness doesn’t come from the sky. We should be confident and continue to make efforts in implementing the development concept of being innovative, harmonious, green, open and sharing, pushing forward the structural reform, pushing forward reform and opening up, and doing our best to promote equity and justice and create clean and transparent political environment to make a good start for the decisive period of building comprehensive wealthy healthy society.

To build comprehensive wealth and healthy society, it needs the joint efforts of the 1.3 billion people. It is my great concern to improve the living standards of the hundreds of thousands of poor people in the rural areas.

We have blown up the trumpet to win the campaign of poverty alleviation. All the party members and the people of all ethnic groups should join hands in the battle to ensure that all the poor people should alleviate their poverty as scheduled. We should take care of all the people who have difficulties so that they can feel the warmth from their inner heart.

We only have one earth, and it is the common home of all the people in all nations. This year, Chinese leaders participated in many international conferences, conducted many diplomatic activities, pushed forward some tangible progress in the construction of “one belt and one road”, participated in the United Nations 2030 sustainable development agenda and the Paris Climate Change Conference. The world is large and problems are many. The international community anticipated to hear China’s voice, see China’s solutions and China cannot be absent. We should not only have empathy and be sympathised with those who are suffering from difficulties and war fires, but also take responsibility and action. China will forever open its heart to the world and stretch her hands to those who are in difficulty so that our “friends circle” will be larger and larger.

We sincerely hope that the international community will make joint efforts to have more peace and cooperation, change the antagonism into cooperation, replace the spears with the silk, jointly build a human community jointly owned and shared by the people of all nations.

Thank you all.

新华社12月31日电:国家主席习近平通过中国国际广播电台、中央人民广播电台、中央电视台,发表了二○一六年新年贺词。全文如下:
再过几个小时,新年的钟声就要敲响了。我们即将告别2015年,迎来2016年的第一缕阳光。在这辞旧迎新的时刻,我向全国各族人民,向香港特别行政区同胞和澳门特别行政区同胞,向台湾同胞和海外侨胞,向世界各国和各地区的朋友们,致以新年的祝福!
有付出,就会有收获。2015年,中国人民付出了很多,也收获了很多。我国经济增长继续居于世界前列,改革全面发力,司法体制改革继续深化,“三严三实”专题教育推动了政治生态改善,反腐败斗争深入进行。经过全国各族人民共同努力,“十二五”规划圆满收官,广大人民群众有了更多获得感。
这一年,我们隆重纪念了中国人民抗日战争暨世界反法西斯战争胜利70周年,举行了盛大阅兵,昭示了正义必胜、和平必胜、人民必胜的真理。我们全面实施改革强军战略,宣布裁军30万。我和马英九先生在新加坡会面,实现了跨越66年时空的握手,表明两岸关系和平发展是两岸同胞的共同心愿。
这一年,北京获得第24届冬奥会举办权,人民币纳入国际货币基金组织特别提款权货币篮子,我国自主研制的C919大型客机总装下线,中国超级计算机破世界纪录蝉联“六连冠”,我国科学家研制的暗物质探测卫星发射升空,屠呦呦成为我国首位获得诺贝尔奖的科学家……这说明,只要坚持,梦想总是可以实现的。
这一年,我们有欣喜,也有悲伤。“东方之星”号客轮翻沉、天津港特别重大火灾爆炸、深圳滑坡等事故造成不少同胞失去了生命,还有我们的同胞被恐怖分子残忍杀害,令人深感痛心。我们怀念他们,愿逝者安息、生者安康!群众的生活中还有一些困难和烦恼。党和政府一定会继续努力,切实保障人民生命财产安全、保障人民生活改善、保障人民身体健康。

↑新年前夕,国家主席习近平通过中国国际广播电台、中央人民广播电台、中央电视台发表二〇一六年新年贺词。新华社记者兰红光摄

2016年是我国进入全面建成小康社会决胜阶段的开局之年。中共十八届五中全会明确了未来5年我国发展的方向。前景令人鼓舞、催人奋进,但幸福不会从天降。我们要树立必胜信念、继续埋头苦干,贯彻创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念,着力推进结构性改革,着力推进改革开放,着力促进社会公平正义,着力营造政治上的绿水青山,为全面建成小康社会决胜阶段开好局、起好步。
全面建成小康社会,13亿人要携手前进。让几千万农村贫困人口生活好起来,是我心中的牵挂。我们吹响了打赢扶贫攻坚战的号角,全党全国要勠力同心,着力补齐这块短板,确保农村所有贫困人口如期摆脱贫困。对所有困难群众,我们都要关爱,让他们从内心感受到温暖。
我们只有一个地球,这是各国人民共同的家园。这一年,我国领导人参加了不少国际会议,开展了不少外交活动,推动“一带一路”建设取得实质性进展,参与了联合国2030年可持续发展议程、应对全球气候变化等国际事务。世界那么大,问题那么多,国际社会期待听到中国声音、看到中国方案,中国不能缺席。面对身陷苦难和战火的人们,我们要有悲悯和同情,更要有责任和行动。中国将永远向世界敞开怀抱,也将尽己所能向面临困境的人们伸出援手,让我们的“朋友圈”越来越大。
我衷心希望,国际社会共同努力,多一份平和,多一份合作,变对抗为合作,化干戈为玉帛,共同构建各国人民共有共享的人类命运共同体。
谢谢大家。

China’s National People’s Congress has passed anti-terrorism law

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 27(Greenpost)–China’s National People’s Congress has passed its anti-terrorism law.

The law has ten chapters explaining what is terrorism and how to identify it, how to counterattack it.

It also illustrated how to conduct international cooperation.

The law will be effective on Jan. 1, 2016.

The law was signed by President Xi Jinping.

China Focus: China likely to introduce new coal-power link regime after cutting thermal power price

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — China will cut the on-grid price of electricity generated by coal-fired power plants and sold to the country’s power grid operators in a bid to cut emissions and reduce the burden on industrial enterprises.

In addition, the country is mulling over a new mechanism that will better link the fluctuation of coal prices with power prices. The new mechanism is expected to be rolled out soon, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China will lower the on-grid thermal power price by an average of 0.03 yuan per kilowatt-hour (kWh) starting from Jan. 1, 2016, according to a statement released on Thursday after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

The government will continue to impose punitive power prices on sectors that consume a lot of energy on a tier basis, the statement said.

The price cut is expected to hurt performance of coal-fired power companies in 2016, said Deng Shun, a coal industry analyst with ICIS.

Prior to the announcement, the government has pledged to lower electricity prices, push forward the marketization reform of the power industry, and improve the mechanism that links prices of coal and thermal power.

The move is hailed by industry experts as a step forward in a reform that aims to let the market play a bigger role in deciding power prices.

The cut in the on-grid price of coal-fired power signals that there will be big changes in the coal-electricity link regime, according to Lin Xiaotao, a coal industry analyst with market research firm ICIS.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, launched a coal price index in September, which reflects the prices of coal with a fuel value of 5,000 kilocalories per kilogram.

The index, seen by many as preparation for the new coal-power link mechanism, will enable the market to see the direction of future power price adjustments, according to Lin.

Coal prices in China are largely decided by the market after years of reform. The market will play an increasingly bigger role in power prices, according to Deng. (Edited by Huang Xiaolan, huangxiaolan@xinhua.org)

Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Smoggy China shuts down production capacity

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — A huge amount of polluting production capacity was closed in 2015 as part of government efforts to combat persistent haze, an industrial watchdog said Thursday.

About 30 million tonnes of iron and steel production capacity were shut down this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an online statement.

Production capacity for electrolytic aluminum, cement and plate glass was reduced by 300,000 tonnes, 38 million tonnes and 11 million standard cartons, respectively.

Consolidation in the integrated circuit, rare earth and infant formula industries sped up in 2015, according to the statement.

“There was active progress in phasing out outdated and excess production capacity this year,” said the MIIT.

Chinese cities, particularly those around Beijing, have been choked by smog this winter, with factory emissions blamed as one of the major pollutants. Enditem

China to offer greater policy support for program to build low-carbon cities and towns, NDRC

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) – China is going to work out detailed supporting policies for the program to pilot low-carbon cities and towns, formulate a related assessment index system, and offer greater financial support, said Su Wei, head of the Bureau of Addressing Climate Change under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

So far, the implementation plans for piloting low-carbon programs in eight cities and towns have taken shape, and are going through argumentation by experts.

To push forward the pilot low-carbon programs, the Bureau of Addressing Climate Change would approve pilot plans and promote launching of these pilot programs. (Edited by Li Xiaohui, lixh@xinhua.org)

Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China inks nuclear power partnership deal with Thailand

  GUANGZHOU, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) — China and Thailand reached an agreement Wednesday to cooperate on a nuclear power project in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) announced on Thursday.

According to the agreement, CGN, Guangxi Investment Group Co. Ltd., and Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company Limited (RATCH), a subsidiary of the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, will team up to establish a joint venture to develop, construct and operate the second phase of the nuclear power plant in Fangchenggang City.

The project is a pilot site for Hualong One nuclear power technology, the country’s third-generation nuclear reactor design, which was jointly designed by CGN and China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC).

Rum Herabat, chief executive officer of RATCH, said the project has the support of the Thai government. He said he hopes cooperation with China will help Thailand train talent and gain experience in nuclear power development.

The project will also serve as a bridgehead for China’s nuclear power technology to expand in the ASEAN market.  Enditem

Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China Voice: China allows no compromise on cyberspace sovereignty

WUZHEN, Zhejiang, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) — At the opening of the second World Internet Conference on Wednesday, China made sure its voice was heard: Every country has the right to create its own Internet governance model, and the cyber sovereignty of all nations should be respected.

China firmly opposes Internet hegemony, foreign interference in internal affairs, and incitement that could threaten national security, President Xi Jinping said during his opening remarks at the conference.

The Internet is not beyond law and it should be ruled in accordance with a country’s laws and regulations.

There are certain common principles in cyberspace that all countries should follow to assure win-win outcomes, however, each country is unique and its Internet governance models will reflect this.

Some countries have been preaching “absolute” freedom in cyberspace for years. Ironically, they exercise the strictest surveillance when national interests may be harmed.

China has about four million websites and 668 million Internet users. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, 30 billion pieces of information are created every day.

The Chinese government and IT companies trawl the Internet looking for online rumors, pornography, gambling and other cyber crimes to protect the lawful interests of its citizens.

Although China has amassed the world’s largest Internet population since the Internet arrived in 1994, it remains a latecomer, and there is still much to fully tap the potential of the Internet.

Particularly, China is a major victim of cyber hacking as many deem it a rising threat.

There is no “absolute” freedom in either the physical world or cyberspace. Freedom and order must be upheld side by side. Freedom is the purpose and order is the means.

China applies rule of law to the Internet with the enacting of new laws and regulations regarding cyber security and other Internet areas.

These laws not only provide the legal basis for counter-cyber crime work, but also guarantee the lawful interests of Internet users and companies at home and abroad.

Economic opening up and effective governance of the Internet by law have played key roles in the growth of China’s Internet sector over the past two decades.

And China’s Internet regulators have repeatedly promised to give freedom to those who abide by the country’s laws and regulations and help them achieve bigger success. Enditem

Editor   Xuefei Chen Axelsson

China Voice: The world needs fresh rules for Internet governance

   BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) — How and what to regulate on the Internet has been a concern throughout the world as booming Internet business continues connecting countries.

The quest for a solution reveals existing Internet governance is far from impeccable in reflecting the desires and interests of the majority of countries.

Like the real world, cyberspace, with about 3.2 billion users worldwide, should be a domain of freedom and order.

Rules, which are by no means set to harm the open and democratic nature of the Internet, should be in place to safeguard the users’ rights and interests including exchanging ideas and expressing their minds.

Addressing the second World Internet Conference, President Xi Jinping highlighted a number of principles for reforming how the Internet is governed globally, including respect for cyber sovereignty, maintenance of peace and security, promotion of openness and cooperation and cultivation of good order.

The president said the world has a desire to establish a governance system which is multilateral, democratic and transparent.

The speech has received favorable reviews from people at home and abroad, including World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab, who said Xi’s remarks on open cyberspace reflected the need for global cooperation.

As globalization and cultural diversification further deepen, the role the Internet plays in boosting human progress will be greater. Meanwhile, concerns including the information gap between nations and the spread of terrorist messages and hacker attacks are growing more severe.

Only by pushing forward the reform of the existing Internet governance can the cyberspace grow to be an arena that will benefit the people instead of troubling them.

Since nations differ in size in cyberspace as in real world, the principle of sovereign equality must be upheld as a prerequisite for governance reforms and cooperation.

In this sense, the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber development and regulation while participating in international cyberspace governance on an equal footing should be respected, in addition to putting cyberspace under rule of law.

Confronted with pressure from economic downturn and the lingering global financial crisis, a stable and prosperous cyberspace means a lot to all the nations in the world.

Further regulations should be made to prevent it from degenerating into a battlefield or a hotbed for crime.

Indeed, with a vision of jointly building a community of shared future, cyberspace should be better governed so it can benefit more people and serve as an engine and catalyst for innovation and economic development. Enditem

 Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

China Exclusive: China set for leading role in Industry 4.0: Klaus Schwab

  WUZHEN, Zhejiang, Dec. 17 (Xinhua)– China is going to play a leading role in the new wave of economic activities and technological innovation, World Economic Forum founder and executive chair Klaus Schwab told Xinhua in an exclusive interview during the ongoing Second World Internet Conference (WIC).

“The Internet is already part of culture and we should learn to use it to promote global cultural exchanges,” he said.

As a speaker at the opening ceremony of WIC, Schwab found that he shared many ideas of Internet development with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The most important one is that we should keep the Internet open and we have to work together on the global level,” he said, noting it needs the dedication of governments, businesses and individuals to shape the Internet in such a way that everybody has access and that the Internet can really serve as an engine and catalyst for economic development.

In his observation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution featuring technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing and nanotechnology is coming our way at an overwhelming speed.

Schwab said China has already established a foothold in many areas and looks set to continue. However, China must ensure the transition from low-end manufacturing to modern industry is successful to sustain this path.

“The ‘Internet Plus’ and ‘Made in China 2015’ [strategies] show that China is going right toward that direction,” Schwab added.

Schwab pointed out that a big task will be ensuring equal assess to the Internet. The digital divide is a problem both across the world and it must be addressed on a global level.

“China has good preconditions to bridge the digital divide and help other countries enhance information infrastructure,” said Schwab citing China’s huge population with Internet access and the current developments regarding 5G.

To cope with the challenges to governance brought about by the current technological shift, Schwab suggested a more agile approach to government-private-expert cooperation to create the optimal conditions for smart technology and service orientated design, both hallmarks of Industry 4.0, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution is also known.

Looking ahead, Schwab pictures a future where a sensor implanted in our body will help us control objects around us. Industry 4.0 will change the way we work, too, as we will no longer be held back by geographical limitations, the world will be our office.

“We will have richer social lives […] and most importantly a greener environment where we can breathe fresh air every day. It’s not fiction and its not far away,” Schwab said. Enditem

 Editor   Xuefei Chen Axelsson