The regional cooperation office of Yangtze River Delta has issued a three-year action plan (2024-26) for the integrated development of the region, one of China's most economically vibrant regions. The plan clearly defines a roadmap for the next three years, and signals deeper integrated development in the region, according to a press briefing held in Shanghai on Thursday.

In the action plan, nine sectors with 165 key tasks were proposed, including strengthening cross-regional collaboration in science and technology innovation, jointly building world-class industrial clusters, accelerating the enhancement of regional market integration level, and effectively strengthening coordinated ecological environment governance, Gu Jun, director of the Executive Committee of the Yangtze River Delta Integration Demonstration Zone said at Thursday's press briefing.

Among the 165 key tasks, the region will further promote the cooperation and joint construction of two comprehensive national science centers in Zhangjiang, Shanghai and Hefei, East China's Anhui Province, and support the establishment of regional science and technology innovation centers in some of the cities in the region, according to the plan.

It will support the high-quality development of key industrial chains in the manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Delta region, particularly focusing on building a new-energy vehicle industry chain system.

The region will strengthen the coordinated governance of the ecological environment by continuing to promote the 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, enhancing the coordinated governance of the Yangtze River estuary to Hangzhou Bay key marine areas, and advancing a new round of comprehensive water environment management in the Taihu Lake basin.

Meanwhile, a total of detailed 54 key tasks were released for ecological environmental protection cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta region.

For instance, the region will promote the optimization of the energy structure, ensuring energy security in the region while continuously advancing the control of total coal consumption in key areas. It will also promote the green development of industries, continuing to accelerate the elimination of outdated production capacity, and facilitating the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries.

According to the action plan, the region will formulate and implement a new development plan for the sports industry, jointly host cross-regional major sports events and brand activities, and support outstanding cultural works, cultural heritage, and high-quality tourism products to enter overseas markets.

The Yangtze River Delta, encompassing East China's Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, as well as Shanghai Municipality, accounted for nearly a quarter of China's gross domestic product in 2023, despite occupying just 4 percent of the country's total land area, according to Xinhua News Agency.

"Sir, we have replaced the old lines for you. Please be careful when using electricity in summer. If you have any electricity problems, please contact us any time…" On July 22, in Baoji Village, Bincheng District, Binzhou City, Shandong Province, employees of the State Grid Binzhou Power Supply Company went door to door to check switches, lines and leakage protection equipment for villagers, providing stable and efficient electricity service for the villagers.
After entering the summer's "dog days", temperatures soared, and the electricity load gradually increased. State Grid Binzhou Power Supply Company organized "Electricity Butlers" to carry out the special activity called "Power Supply Service Enters Ten Thousand Households" around the four aspects of electricity publicity, hidden danger management, grid service, and dedicated service, to ensure the safety of users, guarantee electricity supply, and comprehensively check for possible safety hazards. At the same time, the staff also shared information on electricity safety among the villagers, improved the ability to identify safety hazards, reminded everyone to pay attention to electricity safety, prevent accidents, and provide users with better quality services.

In recent days, the power grid manager has adopted the service mode of "sitting in class + inspection" at the village and community power convenience service points to carry out power grid services. At the same time, the power grid manager went to the villagers' homes to collect electricity demands, carried out safety inspections on old lines, and actively invited villagers to join the power supply service WeChat group; introduced online payment, registration and other business processing to customers, focusing on providing the contact information of the local grid managers, so that villagers can solve electricity problems as soon as possible by calling the manager directly.
Since the launch of the activity, the State Grid Binzhou Power Supply Company has provided door-to-door services to villagers more than 340 times, eliminated 43 various types of electricity safety hazards, and responded to more than 500 electricity-related calls.

Next, the State Grid Binzhou Power Supply Company will continue to commit to providing high-quality power services, regularly carry out door-to-door maintenance, inspect important users' power equipment, strengthen communication with customers, understand relevant power demands, and make power service work detailed, practical and excellent, and deliver services to the door to provide solid power guarantee for the majority of users.

A ceremony for the first shipment of whiteleg shrimp from Honduras to China was held in Choluteca city of the Latin American country, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday, indicating closer economic and trade ties as bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations proceed.

A bilateral agreement on aquatic products was signed in June, a milestone for China in sourcing whiteleg shrimp from Latin American countries.

The first shipment to China weighed 36 tons, according to Xinhua. Honduran media outlets reported that another 250 containers of shrimp are being prepared for shipment to China this month.

The export of Honduras' high-quality whiteleg shrimps to China is an important achievement of pragmatic bilateral cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Honduras Yu Bo said during the ceremony on Friday, according to the official social media account of the Chinese Embassy to Honduras. 

"An open China welcomes more high-quality agricultural products from Honduras to enter the Chinese market and welcomes Honduras to share the new opportunities of Chinese modernization," said Yu, adding that it was a vivid example of how the establishment of diplomatic ties has improved the well-being of the two peoples.

China and Honduras established diplomatic relations in March 2023, launched the first round of bilateral FTA negotiations in July of the same year, and signed an FTA early harvest arrangement in February 2024. 

The two countries have held five rounds of FTA negotiations, the latest in May 2024, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

During the inauguration ceremony, Luis Redondo, president of the National Congress of Honduras, said that the China-Honduras FTA early harvest arrangement provided the conditions for the first batch of whiteleg shrimp exports, and Honduras will seize the opportunity of trading with China.

Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina said that he appreciated China's support for Honduras' development, and he confirmed that pragmatic cooperation has injected a strong impetus into the economic and social development of the country and benefited its people.

Representatives from local enterprises said that the exports will promote employment in Honduras and improve living standards, and they hoped to further explore business potential in the China market. 

Despite the progress made in the internationalization of the Chinese yuan, it is crucial for China to maintain a clear perspective on the financial fluctuations and risks behind the de-dollarization hype.

The Chinese yuan's share on Russia's foreign exchange market reached 99.6 percent in June, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

It marked a substantial increase from the previous month when the Chinese yuan accounted for just 53.6 percent of Russia's exchange trading volume. This is mainly because the latest sanctions introduced by the US in mid-June forced the Moscow Exchange to halt trading in US dollars and the euro, according to the report.

It was not hard for US policymakers to foresee the potential consequences before imposing sanctions on Russia. As it stands, it was US sanctions that contributed to the de-dollarization of trade between China and Russia. With de-dollarization hype in the West ramping up, China must exercise caution toward the yuan's internationalization efforts to avoid geopolitical interpretation.

In recent years, the progress of the yuan's internationalization has sparked concerns in the US regarding the potential de-dollarization effects of the currency. It is true that the US government has abused the dominant position of the US dollar within the international financial system to advance its geopolitical agenda, making the dollar increasingly resemble a political tool and causing many countries to promote de-dollarization to avoid potential geopolitical risks. But given the reality of international trade and investment landscape, the US dollar still remains the most important currency for trade settlement and investment, making it difficult to challenge its dominance in the short term.

Of course, while there is no denying about the dominant position of the US dollar, the diversification of international currencies is still crucial for mitigating geopolitical risk of currencies. The yuan's internationalization can play a role in this, but it should not be overstated.

Furthermore, as China pushes forward with the internationalization of the yuan, it is imperative to fully consider the intricate nature of the China-US economic and trade relations. The economies of China and the US have established large-scale, complementary and interdependent partnership. China's economic stability and growth, to a certain extent, is closely linked to the US dollar, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach on the issue. Thus, rather than actively pushing for de-dollarization, China should focus on seeking further resolution of the China-US trade issues through negotiations, while continuing to promote the expansion of global trade, creating a conducive environment for the global acceptance of the yuan.

In addition, a hasty push of the internationalization of the yuan may pose risks of volatility and instability in the financial markets. This is because rapidly expanding the use of the yuan in the international market may introduce new challenges to the management of China's foreign exchange reserves. Currently, China maintains substantial holdings of dollar reserves, which serve as a guarantee for the stability of the Chinese economy and its resilience against external threats. If other countries ditch the dollar too quickly, it could result in fluctuations in the valuation of dollar assets, placing strain on China's reserve management.

In short, the internationalization of the yuan is a delicate process that necessitates China's careful navigation of the international political and economic environment, bolstering domestic economic reforms and financial stability, facilitating multilateral trade and investment, along with the implementation of a cautious strategy. After all, the primary goal of the yuan's internationalization is to facilitate greater integration of China into the global economy, rather than to displace others.

A spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Germany expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition on Thursday night to Germany's decision to phase out Huawei and ZTE telecom gear from its 5G network, warning that the move will seriously undermine the mutual trust between the two sides and will also affect future cooperation between China and the EU in related fields.

Chinese experts on Friday said Germany's decision suggests that it is under increasing pressure from the US and the EU, and warned that the removal of Chinese components from its 5G network will have a significant cost and hinder the country's communications development.

Reuters reported on Thursday that under the preliminary agreement driven by "security considerations," the German government and telecom carriers in the country have agreed in principle on steps to take out components made by Chinese companies from the nation's 5G wireless network over the next five years.

In response, the spokesperson said that Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese communications companies have long been operating in Germany in compliance with the law, making a positive contribution to the German digitalization process. 

The Huawei, ZTE 5G issue is essentially a move by individual countries to suppress their competitors in order to safeguard their own scientific and technological hegemony, the spokesperson said, noting that the so-called cybersecurity risk is nothing more than a pretext. In fact, no country has so far produced any conclusive evidence of the existence of security risks in the equipment of Chinese enterprises, the spokesperson added.

"The German side's announcement of the decision as the NATO Summit is held in Washington has further caused China to seriously question the independence of its decision-making," the spokesperson noted.

"Germany's move can be seen as politicizing economic cooperation, as the country is now facing more pressure from the US and the EU," Sun Yanhong, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

Openness is mutual, and China's 5G construction has always been open to European companies such as Nokia and Ericsson. China has never seen these companies as a security threat. Germany's move is naked political discrimination, which seriously undermines the mutual trust between the two sides and will also affect future cooperation between China and the EU in the relevant fields, said the spokesperson.

Sun noted that Germany's digital infrastructure is relatively backward, while Huawei and ZTE's equipment is leading in terms of technology, integrated solutions and cost-effective products. 

"The cost of the transition is expected to be significant, and will limit the development of all areas of the country's digital economy including smart driving, smart healthcare and manufacturing automation factory," the expert warned.

The German and European sides cannot, on the one hand, demand fair competition while on the other hand discriminate against companies from other countries on the basis of unfounded so-called potential security risks, said the spokesperson.

Whether the relevant issues can be handled fairly and impartially is a litmus test of Germany's own business environment, as it will affect not only the normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, but also the confidence of foreign investors in Germany. China will take the necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises, the spokesperson noted.

In addition to Germany, a number of other European countries are faced with the challenge of balancing the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment to drive their 5G network development and digital infrastructure development against pressure from the US and EU, Sun said.

China hopes Germany will respect facts and make reasonable decisions, and urges the European country to provide a fair market environment for enterprises from all countries, including Chinese companies, Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a press conference on Thursday.

Witnessing its economy growing by 5.0 percent in the first six months this year, China vowed to continue to develop new quality productive forces to counter increasing uncertainties during the country's industry transformation and upgrade, a spokesperson from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The spokesperson flagged technological innovation in fostering new quality productive forces, and highlighted a number of manufacturing, infrastructure and technology achievements, including six delivered C919 passenger planes, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link entering service, and the Chang'e-6 lunar probe bringing back first samples from moon's far side, among others. 

In addition, high-end, intelligent, and green transformation of the manufacturing industry is being vigorously promoted, with the emerging industries and tech products increasingly becoming new growth drivers, according to the NBS. 

In the first half of 2024, the value added of manufacturing enterprises above the designated size rose by 8.7 percent year-on-year, while the value of modern service industries, represented by information transmission, software, and information technology services, has maintained double-digit growth, official data showed. 

In terms of the green transition and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, which have close ties with the new quality productive forces, the spokesperson noted that China's new-energy industry has performed very well, relying on continuous technological innovation and a sound industrial ecosystem. 

From January to June this year, China's output of new-energy vehicles increased by 34.3 percent year-on-year, and the output of power batteries increased by 16.5 percent year-on-year. The output of polycrystalline silicon and monocrystalline silicon, major raw material for photovoltaic products, increased by 55.4 percent and 43.6 percent year-on-year, respectively.

China set a new record for foreign trade in goods in the first half of 2024, with a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent to reach 21.17 trillion yuan ($2.9 trillion), data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday. 

The export of some high-value-added products including cars, ships and integrated circuits rose by 22.2 percent, 91.1 percent and 25.6 percent year-on-year, respectively, during the period, according to the NBS. 

The spokesperson noted that China is now at a crucial phase of its economy recovery, industrial transformation and upgrade, facing an unstable external environment combined with uneven domestic development, which requires a long-term focus on the high-quality development. 

Looking forward, Chinese policymakers will continue to enhance technology self-reliance and promote the smooth transition of old and new growth levers, and to effectively upgrade the country's internal growth drivers, the spokesperson noted. 

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Monday rejected remarks from the EU Ambassador to China on the anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles (EVs).

MOFCOM said China had expressed strong opposition through various channels since October 2023 and has always advocated for handling economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation in order to maintain the overall strategic partnership between China and Europe.

EU Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo claimed on Sunday that the EU has been trying to engage with China for months regarding the imposition of tariffs on Chinese EVs but that China had only recently sought to initiate discussions. This is false, the spokesperson said.

MOFCOM said that after the European Commission (EC) officially filed a case, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao sent a letter to European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on October 24, 2023, expressing hope to resolve the case through dialogue and negotiation.

On November 13, 2023, Wang sent another letter to the European side proposing negotiation suggestions.

In February 2024, Wang met with Dombrovskis during the WTO's 13th Ministerial Conference face to face and proposed dialogue and negotiation with the European side.

On May 19, 2024, Wang reiterated the hope for dialogue and negotiation to resolve the case in a letter to the European side.

Additionally, Chinese technical experts have been sending signals to the European side regarding on-site inspections, hearings, and other channels since the case was filed, expressing willingness to resolve trade frictions through dialogue and negotiation.

On the day the preliminary ruling was announced on June 12, Dombrovskis replied to Wang in a letter, expressing the desire for both sides to strengthen dialogue to resolve the case.

On June 22, Wang held a video conference with Dombrovskis, and they agreed to start negotiations on the EU's anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs.

Subsequently, China sent a working group to Europe for negotiations on June 23, and multiple rounds of technical consultations were held simultaneously via video.

MOFCOM said that China has shown the utmost sincerity and hopes that the European side will meet China halfway, show sincerity, and push forward the negotiation process to reach a mutually acceptable solution as soon as possible.

China has always believed that trade protectionist measures are not conducive to the development of global green industries and automotive industry cooperation. Efforts should be made to adhere to dialogue and cooperation to promote economic green transformation, rather than creating divisions and disrupting global industrial and supply chains, MOFCOM said.

China firmly opposes any unilateralism and protectionism that politicizes and weaponizes economic and trade issues, and will take all necessary measures to defend its own interests against any abuse of rules and suppression of China, MOFCOM added.

Compared with Japan in 1990s, China's economic growth potential is substantially greater. So, with the right policies, China should not end up like Japan, renowned British economist Martin Wolf, associate editor, and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, told the Global Times in Beijing.

He suggested that China should reduce the national savings rate and stimulate consumption. And a key lesson is not to "allow deflation to set in," otherwise monetary policy will become very ineffective. If this happens, policymakers will be forced to use fiscal policies massively, which is very expensive.

Wolf made the remarks in an interview with the Global Times on the sidelines of a seminar on Globalization and the Chinese Economy organized by the think tank Center for China and Globalization (CCG).

"Today is a moment in Chinese economic history that may be quite important for the next 10 or 20 years," he said.

"China is, relatively speaking, much further from high-income status than Japan was in 1990. So its growth potential is substantially greater. There is much less reason for the productivity slowdown that occurred in Japan. In that sense, with the right policies, China should not end up like Japan," Wolf told the Global Times.

He pointed out that the similarity between Japan and China in history is that they both have very high savings rates. The saving rate stood at about 40 percent of its GDP at its peak in Japan. This is great for a rapidly developing manufacturing country building a modern economy from scratch, as these savings can be converted into investments when it grows at 10 percent.

However, when Japan became a high-income country and caught up with most of Europe, its savings rate still accounted for 35 percent of GDP, but the investment rate declined and the account surplus exploded.

At that time, Japan did not make the wise decision to reduce the savings rate in a timely fashion, but instead decided to expand domestic investment, aggressively lower interest rates, and expand credit, leading to Japan experiencing the largest real estate boom in world history, reaching its peak in 1990. However, this economic bubble burst in the 1990s. When the economic bubble collapsed, the Japanese government did not implement effective artificial stimulus, nor did it change the macroeconomic structure in the early 1990s, leading to deflation.

"This is the lesson from Japan's experience," Wolf told the Global Times.

"Do not allow deflation to set in. It's very important not to let it because then you've got falling prices. If you've got expectations of falling prices, monetary policy becomes very ineffective. You then are forced to use fiscal policies massively, which is very expensive," he said.

The British economist believes that a key goal of China's macroeconomic policy is to transform the country into a full, all-around, and high-income nation. Despite facing more challenges at present, this goal is still achievable.

He argues that in order to achieve this goal, an important task is to improve underlying productivity, namely Total Factor Productivity (TFP). TFP is an indicator that measures the ratio of total output to all factor inputs.

In recent years, China's total factor productivity has not been growing rapidly, mainly due to the country's previous high investment rates. However, in recent years, the investment rate has been slowing down, mainly due to declining profits and instances of "overinvestment" in some regions in previous years.

Wolf told the Global Times that China can seek new large-scale domestic investment projects that are efficient and productive, absorbing resources and savings that cannot currently be effectively absorbed. "In my view, the most plausible large-scale investment that is already happening is various forms of renewable energy."

He noted that China can also increase investment in manufacturing. However, it is important to be aware that investing in manufacturing may lead to overcapacity. If this excess capacity is exported to Europe or the US, it will face fierce resistance. At the same time, other developing markets are not that big and have a limit.

In the field of investment, He said that two issues need to be emphasized. First, as most of China's infrastructure has already been built, real estate will no longer play a significant role in investment.

Second, it is important to produce good "valuable GDP," which means generating GDP that actually benefits the current or future welfare of the Chinese people, rather than creating things that will never be used in reality.

The creation of useless GDP should be avoided, he warned. For instance, if you build vast numbers of tower blocks which are not occupied, that is not productive GDP," he said.

Compared with investment, the more important thing is to drive up consumption, he stressed to the Global Times.

Currently, China's national savings rate is the highest in the history of the world for a country at this level of development and size, comparably.

"The national savings rate is too high to be productively absorbed in the economy at current levels of GDP. There is no plausible investment with one exception which can offset that. And the last one that did absorb a lot of these savings is this huge real estate building boom. But that's pretty clearly coming to an end," he told the Global Times.

Therefore, there is an urgency to boost consumption. "Consumption has to rise and the drivers [for economic growth] will be consumption because that's what they've been for every country that got to the sort of level of GDP that China has now. The question is only how it's done."

According to him, the consumption could be public consumption or private consumption. Public consumption, it means taxation, while for the private consumption, it means some combination of lower household savings and redistribution of income.

"This is going to be fantastically difficult," he said, adding that driving consumptions can be done in many different ways.

When discussing globalization and China's role in the world economy, Wolf believes that the fundamental driving forces of the process of global economic integration over the last two centuries have been the resource and cost advantages, transportation and communication technology innovations, and policy and political openness.

In recent years, the vitality of these driving factors has weakened, leading to a slowdown in globalization. However, the end of the "hyper-globalization" era does not mean the end of globalization. Despite facing pressures from economic adjustment costs and tensions among major powers, the momentum of globalization remains strong.

In recent years, Western companies have increasingly focused on political risks and sought to diversify supply chains for hedging purposes, but this does not mean de-globalization. The current issue lies in whether a framework of trust and cooperation can be established, for which both China and the West must work very hard, he noted.

The Philippines has been making a show of the South China Sea issue for a long time. It has repeatedly provoked China and created tension in the South China Sea region while turning a blind eye to historical facts. Seemingly suffering from a sort of histrionic personality disorder, the Philippines has not only staged many farces on the issue, but also colluded with anti-China forces in the US-led West to play the thief crying "stop thief."

Last week, during his visit in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly "criticized China's provocative actions" in the South China Sea. Portraying the Philippines as a victim and China as a "perpetrator" has become a common intrigue to win attention and sympathy in the international community.

Supplying to its vessels illegally grounded on China's sovereign islands in the South China Sea is a trick of showmanship that the Philippines has employed in recent months. On Saturday, it sent a supply vessel and two coast guard vessels to intrude into the adjacent waters of China's Ren'ai Jiao (also known as Ren'ai Reef) in disregard of China's strong opposition.

"China's Coast Guard took necessary measures at sea in accordance with the law to safeguard China's rights, firmly obstructed the Philippine vessels, and foiled the Philippines' attempt," Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that same day.

Days earlier, Philippine civil group the Atin Ito coalition said it was planning another mission to the South China Sea with the aim of "delivering aid to fishermen" around China's Huangyan Dao (also known as Huangyan Island). According to Philippine media, the group openly claimed to mobilize "a delegation of international observers" to join their mission. It didn't seem to mind making the involvement of Western forces public.

"What it's like on board an outnumbered Philippine ship facing down China's push to dominate the South China Sea (CNN, March 26)," "China coast guard flexes its might against the Philippines in disputed waters as journalists look on (The Economic Times, March 27)"… It's not exaggeration to say that most media stories that smear China on the South China Sea issue, whether by Philippine or Western media, are products of the collusion between the anti-China forces of the Philippines and the US-led West.

The Global Times has looked into some of the various collusion forms, trying to reveal what's behind the current numerous untrue and misleading "media reports" that one-sidedly support the Philippines and attack China.
Closely linked Philippine coast guard, 'civil groups,' and US scholars

The Atin Ito coalition disclosed its new "supply mission" plan at an event it held in Manila on March 14. The event gathered senior officers from the Philippine military and government, and representatives from the British, Australian, Dutch, Swedish, and European Union embassies, local media Palawan News reported the following day.

The guest list implied that Atin Ito has never been an ordinary "civil group." Close sources told the Global Times that the group was led by Risa Hontiveros, an anti-China senator who once asserted raising the notorious 2016 South China Sea "arbitration" to the United Nations General Assembly. Last winter, Hontiveros planned a "Christmas supply" mission for Atin Ito, asking the group members to send food and goods to a military vessel "stationed" at Ren'ai Jiao with the help of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

Atin Ito had tried to land on Huangyan Dao and plant the Philippines flag on the island in June 2016. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a US scholar Anders Corr was among the group's activists aboard the fishing boat that intruded into the adjacent waters of the island.

All the information has reflected that the so-called "civil groups" resupplying Huangyan Dao and Ren'ai Jiao are "nothing but a farce jointly planned by a few Philippine politicians and military, as well as the anti-China forces in the US-led West," Yang Xiao, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

In an article published on March 6, The Associated Press (AP) introduced a PCG strategy of publicizing "aggressive actions" by China in the South China Sea, which aims to "spark international condemnation that has put Beijing under the spotlight." This strategy is known as "offensive transparency."

"We will continue [with the strategy]," PCG spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said in February.

Joining the PCG in 2005, Tarriela allegedly has numerous links with the US. In 2021, he was largely involved in bilateral US-Philippine collaboration, including in the Pacific Forum's US-Philippines' Next Generation Leaders Initiative, a project sponsored by the US Department of State, through the US Embassy in Manila.

According to an article by The Philippine Star in December 2023, Tarriela was considered a representative of the "pro-American faction," and even faced "CIA agent" accusations on social media.

Raymond Powell is another name frequently mentioned in the Philippines' "offensive transparency" strategy.

A retired US colonel, Powell is the founder of the security think tank Project Sealight, and leads the "Project Myoushu" at Stanford University in cooperation with the PCG and some Philippine Foreign Ministry officials.

The main purpose of the project is to support the "offensive transparency" strategy and help create a "victim" image for the Philippines on the South China Sea issue.
US journalists invited on board

On March 5, two supply vessels and two coast guard vessels from the Philippines, illegally intruded into the adjacent waters of Ren'ai Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao, in an attempt to send materials, including construction materials, to the vessel illegally grounded at Ren'ai Jiao. The China Coast Guard took strict regulatory action to curtail the Philippine vessels' intrusion.

It is worth noting that the Philippines' mission included journalists from CNN, who said they witnessed a "high-stakes confrontation" that day, and wrote features that described their experiences on board in detail.

The CNN reporters wrote it was "the first time foreign journalists have been allowed to embed with the fleet in decades." But in fact, more than 10 years ago, US media reporters had boarded Philippine official vessels, including supply vessels, and wrote distorted media reports based on their first-hand experiences.

Early in 2013, The New York Times reporter Jeff Himmelman had been to the "Sierra Madre" vessel illegally grounded at Ren'ai Jiao for an interview, and later described the confrontation between China and the Philippines at South China Sea as "a game of shark and minnow" in a feature story.

Himmelman revealed that before they arrived they had "already hooked things up" with the local officials and the Filipino Navy.

In recent years, US journalists have been frequently invited on Philippine ships to participate in the PCG's "missions." In 2023 alone, two AP reporters and several other media staffers were invited aboard three PCG vessels that protect supply ships in November. In April 2023 the PCG reportedly invited many journalists, including those from the AP, to join a 1,670-kilometer "patrol."

According to a Chinese correspondent who worked in the Philippines for many years, there is a large number of US journalists in the Philippines. The Philippine authorities maintain close contact with foreign journalists in the country, and therefore, "it is easy for the authorities to seek cooperation from US journalists," said the correspondent who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The PCG's purpose of inviting journalists on board is to deliberately amplify the possible "incidents" through media, and to launch defamation warfare against China, the correspondent told the Global Times. "But I think [directly taking CNN reporters on board the PCG vessels] is excessive, and is even a sort of 'dishonor to the country,'" the correspondent added. "There is resentment within the Philippines, too."

US-funded Philippine media

Searching online media coverage on the South China Sea, one may find that Philippine and US media outlets are particularly close. They quote and forward each other's South China Sea stories, working closely together in attacking China on this topic.

Some of the major Philippine media outlets that are active in reporting on South China Sea include Rappler, VeraFiles, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Having called themselves "independent", these media outlets turn out to be are reportedly funded by the CIA and the US' infamous National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

In 2019, journalists from the aforementioned three media outlets were accused of receiving payments from the CIA, "a potential criminal offense under local law." The accusations claimed that the CIA uses the NED to channel funds, and the three media outlets "receive substantial grants from the NED," said the organization Committee to Protect Journalists in May that year.

VeraFiles, for instance, started receiving funds from the NED since 2016.

The NED website shows that, so far VeraFiles has got five batches of money from this US government-backed foundation, totally $350,600. It's far from a small amount for a media outlet without full-time reporters (only three editors and two web technicians). But VeraFiles has never disclosed how it spent the money.

Obviously, the Philippines has deeply colluded with the US government, think tanks, and media from top to bottom in "sadfishing" itself and demonizing China on the South China Sea issue. Worse still, such a nasty trick by the Philippines may become normal and diversified in the future, said Chen Xiangmiao, director of the World Navy Research Center at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

In response to the slander, Chen suggested China fight back with strong facts including on-site images, videos, and objective data. "We should make it clear to the international community what China's claims are in the South China Sea," Chen told the Global Times. "Do not let the US and the Philippines skew international public opinion."

Skyscrapers fill the screen. Under the intensive high-rise buildings, Mac Candee and his friend walk on the street. "Today, we have arrived in Shanghai, China." They say, angling the camera to show a view of their surroundings.

Then, there come clips of Western media reporting on China, with some negative tones that overseas audiences have probably been very familiar with. Only seconds later, Candee reappears on the screen: He stands at The Bund in downtown Shanghai, and behind him is the Huangpu River glistening under the clear blue sky.

"We're going to be showing you if what you're told in the media and what you know about China actually match up with what life is like here," Candee says to the camera.

This is a four-hour video about Candee's Shanghai trip that he made after he had stayed in the city for six days.

Candee, a 31-year-old US travel vlogger whose accounts "WorldNomac" have some 2.5 million followers on various social media platforms, is among a surging number of foreign tourists coming to China after the country relaxed its entry policies in recent months.

2024 has become a remarkable year for inbound tourism, since China expanded its 144-hour visa-free transit policy to more countries. In some major transit stops and also tourist destinations, like Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu, visitors from different countries and regions carrying travel bags and cameras flood landmarks and popular restaurants in these cities. They have become witnesses of China's prosperous tourism market, and have provided some vivid, individual windows for the world to take a closer look at this big Eastern country.

1st time in China

Months ago, in preparation for his trip to the Philippines, Candee happened to see a YouTube video showing the process of doing a 144-hour transit visa, and learned that visitors from certain countries no longer have to go to an embassy or consulate for a tourist visa to China.

The video inspired Candee to add "China" to his itinerary. "I was like, Oh, I'm actually going to the Philippines. This would be a great time to also at least visit Shanghai and see what China is like," he recalled.

Candee had always wanted to visit China. He told the Global Times that China has always been a very interesting country for him with how massive it is, and how big of a percentage of the world's population is from China. "I wanted to get a small taste of what the culture was like over there," he said.

In his Shanghai trip vlog, Candee showed how he explored many aspects of the metropolis with his friends. They went to Shanghai's iconic places like the Bund, the Oriental Pearl Tower, and Jing'an Temple, and tasted lots of food including sheng jian bao (pan-fried pork bun), hot pot, and a McDonald's restaurant with localized food. They experienced the city's public transport from metro trains to the maglev, and talked to many local residents.

As the first stop for many overseas tourists' trips to China, Shanghai is "a melting pot for multiple cultures" in Candee's eyes. "It's a very beautiful city from the standpoint of there's so much modern architecture, but then you'll see temples built into the city as well, so you get a mix of old times and new times and modern living," he told the Global Times. Candee added that he also encountered lots of similar European architectural styles with a Chinese twist.

A frequent global traveler, Candee said that in Shanghai he didn't encounter massive challenges brought about by cultural differences. Some interesting experiences nonetheless gave him a unique angle to know about Chinese people.

During his stay in Shanghai, Candee went to the "marriage market" in People's Park, a regular matchmaking venue where locals look for spouses for themselves as well as for their adult children.

"I thought that was fascinating, that parents of Chinese people will go and essentially advertise all of their children's qualifications without a photo in order to look for a husband or a wife for them," he recalled.

"This, for me, was a big culture shock to learn about how they do that, and it was really cool to go and experience that."

Candee concluded that he likes Shanghai, as "there's so much to do there."

His love for this city was somewhat reflected in the length of his Shanghai trip video: four hours, the longest ever travel vlog he had ever made.

The length of the vlog seems not to be attractive in today's fast-paced era of hand-held devices. However, the video has attracted more than 200,000 views on YouTube.

"If you are crazy enough to upload a four-hour long vlog, I am crazy enough to watch it all," one commented under the video.

Candee felt great about this vlog.

"A lot of people decided to watch the full length of four hours, which is a large time commitment," he told the Global Times.

"This means the country [China] was very interesting, and [in this vlog] there were a lot of perception=changing moments," he noted.
Warming market

More foreigners like Candee coming to China indicates that, after four years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, inbound tourism in China has finally entered the fast recovery channel.

The Global Times learned from domestic travel platform Ctrip that the number of inbound tourists to China in the first four months of 2014 (including air and rail travel) has increased by 244 percent compared to the same period in 2023. The top 10 most popular Chinese travel destinations for inbound tourists include Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing. Inbound tourists mainly come from South Korea, the US, and Singapore, among others.

Inbound tourism has always been an important symbol of China's opening-up to the outside world, Jiang Yiyi, vice president and professor of School of Leisure Sports and Tourism, Beijing Sport University, told the Global Times.

Since 2022, China has taken many measures to further promote China's opening-up level, such as visa facilitation, international flights resumption, and more convenient payment for inbound tourists.

China's tourism industry is also undergoing a transformation. In the past, foreign tourists came to China mainly for sightseeing. Now, through the restructuring of the domestic industry system, China has provided more diversified products for foreign tourists. Foreign tourists can come for vacation, to participate in sports activities or events, such as marathons and skiing.

Tourists from Hong Kong and Macao can conveniently go to provinces around the Greater Bay Area such as Guangdong and Hunan for leisure vacations.

These policies and changes in product systems and industry structures come together and lay a very good foundation for foreign tourists to have more diversified choices, and it is the same with tourists from Hong Kong and Mocao, according to Jiang.

Data from flight tracker Umetrip shows that as of April 5, the number of inbound flights this year has exceeded 86,000, more than three times that of the same period in 2023, and has recovered to about 70 percent of the same period in 2019; the number of inbound tourists has reached 7.7 million, more than three times the increase compared to 2023, New Weekly reported.

As the inbound tourism market gradually heats up, Chinese travel agencies are getting busier receiving tourist inquiries, launching new inbound products, and developing travel routes during the traditional off-season. A shortage of English-speaking guides and lesser-known languages also occurred.

According to New Weekly, the daily salary of foreign language tour guides in various languages has generally increased. Taking the East China market for example, previously, one could hire an English-speaking tour guide for 500-600 yuan ($69-83) per day before the pandemic, but now it may cost 800-900 yuan; for guides of less common languages, taking Indonesian as an example, the fee can reach 1,000 yuan per day.

The COVID-9 pandemic had a significant impact on China's inbound and outbound tourism market, leading to disruptions in the industry chain and talent loss. However, the tourism industry is very resilient. With a good business model and development opportunities, talents will definitely come back, Jiang said.

Differs from Western narrative

So far, foreign nationals from 54 countries are eligible for the 72/144-hour visa free transit policy to transit to a third country or region via ports and cities in the Chinese mainland. China has also expanded its unilateral or mutual visa-free travel policies to more countries.

Following the new policies is a dramatic increase in the number of overseas vloggers visiting China. According to data by statistics platform Meltwater, during the first quarter of 2024, there were about 2,420 YouTube and TikTok videos containing key words like "China," "trip," and "travel" in their titles, five times higher than the same period in 2023.

With more global visitors uploading online their China trip videos with key words like "China is so safe," and "Riding with world's fastest bullet train," overseas audiences find that through these videos, they see a real, fast-developing China that differs from the one under the mainstream narrative in the West.

"I have friends who came to visit China 20 years ago, and they thought China is still the same as 20 years ago because they trust the media 100 percent," a YouTube user commented under a video of vlogger Alina Mcleod's trip to Southwest China's Chongqing.

"I have been to China so many times," the user wrote. "If you have not been to the same cities for 10 years, you will see there are big changes."

Mcleod, the 33-year-old Canadian travel vlogger with some 300,000 subscribers on YouTube, said that her recent trip to China had definitely changed her perception of the country.

"In North America there is a lot of negative press around China," Mcleod told the Global Times via email. But now after exploring the country in person, she feels that China is quite modern and beautiful.

"I was very impressed with how much technology and infrastructure they have built in the last few decades, and what a wide range there is of things to see and do in the country," she said.

Inbound tourism is a very good window for overseas tourists to "enter" China, get to know China and understand China, because only through this kind of close contact can foreigners know what the real China is like. If they know China only from reports in foreign media, then their understanding of China may be one-sided or fragmentary. Only after truly coming to China and seeing China's development with their own eyes can they truly see China's current achievements in all aspects, Jiang noted.

Candee talked about a major misconception that some Westerners may have on China.

"I think that around the world, a lot of people feel that if you visit China, you'll be under extreme surveillance and you'll be, you know, getting in trouble for filming," he said. "But my experience in Shanghai was that it was a lot less strict than I had imagined," he told the Global Times. "I filmed a lot. People were really friendly. I think overall everyone was welcoming and happy to welcome foreigners."

With beautiful memories of his previous trip to Shanghai, Candee said he wants to visit China again in the near future, and would love to have a local who shares more places with him.

"Hopefully that'll be within the next 12 months," he said.

At the end of Candee's four-hour Shanghai trip vlog, he walks along the Huangpu River under the clear blue sky, and smiles to the camera.

"In every country I've been to, especially ones that have intense perceptions about them, I've always found a completely different atmosphere than what the mainstream will share." he says. "For those of you who have made this so far into the video, you probably are seeing a different look at what China is like."