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BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) — China has released a guideline on accelerating the establishment of a unified domestic market that is highly efficient, rules-based, fair for competition, and open.

China aims to promote the efficient circulation and expansion of the domestic market, foster a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable business environment, and reduce market transaction costs. It further aims to boost sci-tech innovation and industrial upgrade and cultivate new advantages for participating in international competition and cooperation, said the guideline, jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.

Efforts will be made to improve a unified property rights protection system, implement a unified market access system, and optimize a unified social credit system.

The guideline underscored promoting the interconnectivity of market facilities, including building a modernized circulation network, improving the exchanging channels of market information, and upgrading the transaction platforms.

China will work to develop a unified domestic market of productivity factors and resources, including land, labor, capital, technology, data, energy, and the environment.

The guideline stressed the establishment of unified market regulatory rules and comprehensive improvement of the market regulatory capabilities. It called for strengthened anti-monopoly efforts and crackdown on practices of unfair competition. 

Recently, Anhui Provincial Development and Reform Commission and other 12 government departments jointly issued the Action Plan for Promoting the Steady Growth of Industrial Economy in Anhui Province. The plan proposes to accelerate the construction of Wuhu data center cluster, the national hub of the Yangtze River Delta of the national integrated computing power network, and support the development of large and mega data centers.

The plan makes it clear that the policy of delaying payment of certain taxes and fees for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry, which was implemented in the fourth quarter of 2021, will be extended for another six months according to the national policy of delaying payment of phased taxes and fees. We will implement preferential policies such as subsidies for the purchase of new energy vehicles, awards for charging facilities, and tax reduction and exemption for vehicles and vessels.

In addition, the policy of halving “six taxes and two fees” will be extended from small-scale VAT taxpayers to small, low-profit enterprises and individual businesses. Taxpayers who have difficulty in paying real estate tax and urban land use tax can apply for tax reduction or exemption.

The national policy of periodically lowering premiums for unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance will be implemented, and the refunding standards for small, medium and micro enterprises that maintain stable employment will be raised to up to 90 percent from the current 60 percent, according to the plan.

The plan also calls for accelerating the construction of major new infrastructure projects, guiding China Telecom operators to speed up 5G construction, promoting the integrated application of 5G technology, and building more than 25,000 5G base stations by 2022.

Meanwhile, we will accelerate the implementation of the BDS comprehensive application demonstration project in Anhui Province, actively strive for the major national BDS industrialization project, and promote the large-scale application of the BDS.

To accelerate the construction of Wuhu data center cluster, the national hub of the Yangtze River Delta of the national integrated computing power network, and support the development of large and mega data centers, we will establish and improve the operating mechanism of cluster start-up areas and start the construction of start-up areas, actively strive for demonstration projects and bring a number of key construction projects to implementation, and issue specific policies for the construction and development of computing power network nodes.

Translated by Wang Mengxiao from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

According to the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, in 2021, the output value of strategic emerging industries in Wuhu increased by 36.4% year on year, 7.6 percentage points higher than that of the whole province, accounting for 38.1% of industries above designated scale. Among them, the annual output value growth rate of new energy vehicles, new information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials and other new industries exceeded 30% year on year.

Industrial development entered a new era. We vigorously promoted the development of ten emerging industries, including aerospace (low-altitude economy), new-energy vehicles and smart connected vehicles, smart home appliances, digital creativity, health and green food, new materials, artificial intelligence, new information technology, new energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, and high-end equipment manufacturing. We spared no efforts to achieve the goal of “3355” development, including intelligent and connected automobile industry cluster, intelligent equipment manufacturing industry cluster, advantageous traditional industry cluster and online economic industry cluster.

Industrial factors made steady progress. There were 643 newly signed investment attraction projects of more than RMB 100 million, an increase of 56 percent, including 10 projects of more than RMB 5 billion. 586 projects worth more than 100 million yuan were started, up 37 percent; 8 provincial engineering research centers, 3 provincial industrial innovation centers and 13 municipal key R&D innovation platforms have been newly identified. Cooperation with universities, institutes and industry associations such as Nankai University and SEMI China has been deepened to enhance industrial innovation capacity. The development of digital economy industry has been vigorously promoted, and the realization of digital industrialization, industrial digitalization and governance digitalization has been accelerated.

Implement of industrial policies took concrete steps. We set up a promotion group for ten emerging industries, undertook a new round of national innovation and reform tasks, promoted the integration of science and education in new types of R&D institutions, and trained high-quality industrial innovators. We comprehensively deepened institutional reform and promoted the concentration of resource factors in high-quality and efficient fields.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

On the evening of March 28, Liu Hui, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Anhui Province came to Wuhu and presided over a video conference on epidemic prevention and control. Tao Yisheng, director of Provincial Health Commission, Shan Xiangqian, Secretary of municipal Party Committee, Ningbo, Deputy Secretary of Municipal Party Committee and Mayor , He Dong, Xiang Jihui and Wang Zhipeng attended the meeting.

After listening to the report of Fanchang District and the whole city on epidemic prevention and control work, combined with opinions of disease control experts, Liu hui pointed out that the current epidemic prevention and control situation is severe. We must give top priority to safety and health of the people, make strict arrangements, combine regular prevention and control with local emergency response, improve our capacity of scientific and targeted prevention and control, and do our utmost to minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development.

Liu stressed the need to quickly activate the response mechanism, fully implement the “four early requirements”, and consolidate the responsibilities of the “four parties“. We need to speed up the tracing of the epidemic, comprehensively screen key groups, strictly implement control measures and seize priorities in epidemic prevention and control. We should focus on key areas and key links in detail, optimize the procedures for collecting, sending, testing and reporting nucleic acid tests, and accurately implement isolation and transportation, hospital-sensitive protection, and classified treatment. We should ensure an efficient command system, timely reporting of information, adequate supplies and timely response to people’s concerns. We will continue to work tirelessly to prevent imports from outside and rebound at home, strictly implement the “double screening and double testing” and “7-day quarantine + 7-day health monitoring at home” policies, and carry out high-quality and efficient nucleic acid testing. We should care for cadres and the masses, arrange work and rest in a scientific and rational way, and effectively protect the health and safety of front-line personnel.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

On March 18-19, Jiang Xi, Party Secretary of the Provincial Science and Technology Department, led a delegation to Wuhu to carry out the service activities of “Contributing to Scientific and Technological Innovation and Doing Practical Things for Scientific and Technological Personnel” and held a seminar. Xiang Jihui, the municipal official, and Wang Zhipeng, the secretary general of the municipal government, accompanied the visit and attended the seminar respectively.

In Fanchang District and Wanzhi District of our city, Jiang Xi and his delegation visited and inspected the representative enterprises in 3D printing and aviation industry, carefully learned about the R&D innovation, production and operation of enterprises, and carried out the publicity and interpretation of policies targeting scientific and technological innovation.

At the seminar, Jiang Xi gave on-site replies or made records to the demands and suggestions put forward by enterprise representatives, such as recruiting high-level talents, supporting small and medium-sized scientific and technological enterprises, forming innovative groups and business incubation, providing R&D subsidies and project declaration guidance.

Jiang Xi pointed out that the Provincial Science and Technology Department will actively help enterprises to better understand the preferential policies related to R&D investment, technical research, achievement transformation, platform construction, talents recruitment and cultivation, etc., supporting enterprises with concrete actions.

Translated by Wang Mengxiao from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

Paul Kim, deputy chief of Hong Leng Huor Transportation, dubbed the RCEP “a huge New Year gift for businesses and peoples in the region and the world at large,” saying that the agreement will “serve as a driving force for regional and global economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.”

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) — The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement, which entered into force on Jan. 1, is a huge New Year gift for the regional and global economy, business people in Cambodia said.

The RCEP is a mega trade agreement signed by 10 ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and its five free trade agreements partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Paul Kim, deputy chief of Hong Leng Huor Transportation, said the RCEP would eventually eliminate up to 90 percent of regional trade tariff and non-tariff barriers, which will further promote the flows of goods and services, deepen regional economic integration and increase regional competitiveness.

“With preferential tariff rates under the RCEP, I believe that people in the member countries will enjoy buying products and other necessities at a competitive price during the Spring Festival season this year,” Paul said.

He dubbed the RCEP “a huge New Year gift for businesses and peoples in the region and the world at large,” saying that the agreement will “serve as a driving force for regional and global economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.”

Collectively covering about one-third of the world’s population with 30 percent of the global gross domestic product, the RCEP will increase the member economies’ incomes by 0.6 percent by 2030, adding 245 billion U.S. dollars annually to regional income and 2.8 million jobs to regional employment, according to an Asian Development Bank’s study.

Focused on trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property, e-commerce, competition and dispute settlement, Paul said the deal offers opportunities for regional countries to defend multilateralism, trade liberalization and promote economic cooperation.

Hong Leng Huor Transportation specializes in various services ranging from freight forwarding, dry port operations, customs clearance, road transportation, warehousing and distribution to e-commerce and last-mile delivery.

“RCEP will facilitate logistics, distribution and supply chain resilience as it simplifies customs processes, shipment clearances and other provisions,” he said. “Despite the pandemic, trade has remained surprisingly strong during the past two years, and we’re excited to witness how RCEP would further facilitate trade and, thus, regional economic growth, in the years to come.”

He is confident that the RCEP will further boost cross-border trade and investment among the member countries in the long run.

“For Cambodia, with tariff concessions, the deal will definitely further boost goods traded between Cambodia and other RCEP member states, especially with China,” he said.

Ly Eng, an assistant to the general manager of Hualong Investment Group (Cambodia) Co., Ltd, said her company had recently imported mandarin oranges to Cambodia from South China’s Guangdong province for the first time under the RCEP.

She hopes that Cambodian consumers will have more options in buying vegetables and fruits with products from China such as mandarin oranges, apples and crown pears.

“It will make China and other RCEP member countries easy to exchange goods faster,” Ly Eng said, adding that the prices would also be lower.

“We also hope that more and more Cambodian tropical fruits and other potential agricultural products will be exported to the Chinese market in the future,” she said.

Ny Ratana, a 28-year-old vendor of Lunar New Year decorations at the Chbar Ampov Market in Phnom Penh, said 2022 is a special year for Cambodia and other 14 Asia-Pacific countries now that the RCEP took effect.

“I’m confident that this agreement will boost trade and investment and create new jobs as well as benefit consumers in all 15 participating countries due to preferential tariff rates,” he told Xinhua.

“It will definitely facilitate regional economic integration, enhance regional trade flows and bring about economic prosperity for the region and the world,” he added.

On March 18th, an online signing of key projects in the first quarter of 2022 was held in Wanzhi District, Wuhu City, with 18 projects reaching a total investment of 27 billion yuan.

It is learned that the projects involve aviation industry, electronics and electrical appliances, digital economy, modern services, rural revitalization and other sectors, and the momentum of attracting major projects and reinforcing weak links in the industrial chains is strong. The Industrial Park Project aiming at developing quartz fiber high-tech products invested by Anhui Yaoshi New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. has achieved a new breakthrough in investment promotion for aviation industry projects in Wuhu. The Feilong Intelligent Household Appliances Industrial Base Project invested by Ningbo Feilong Household Appliances Group and the Meigao Intelligent Circuit Breaker and Industrial Electrical Control Project invested by Hangzhou Meigao Intelligent Electric Co., Ltd. generate a cohesive force between the industrial chain and innovation chain in the district.

Since the beginning of this year, despite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wanzhi District has taken an active part in the higher-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. By exploring fund investment, strengthening industrial chain investment, practising online negotiation and signing, providing services offline, and improving the business environment, the district has made great achievements in talents recruitment and investment attraction. The signing of 18 key projects is of great significance to speed up the agglomeration of characteristic industries and improve the modern industrial system in our city, providing inexhaustible impetus for Wanzhi District to build a high-quality development model area in Anhui Province.

Translated by Wang Mengxiao from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

Recently, Chery Holding Group released sales in February: 60,419 vehicles were sold in February, up 26.4 percent year on year. Among them, 19,997 were exported, up 9.3 percent year on year and 10,702 new energy vehicles were sold, up 446.9 percent year on year. From January to February, Chery Group achieved cumulative sales of 147,459 vehicles, up 17.3 percent year-on-year. The layout of Chery Group has been accelerated, and the “dual market” pattern at home and abroad has become more stable, maintaining the vigorous momentum of the “Year of the Tiger”.

According to reports, under the huge impact of chip supply shortage, brands of Chery Group still achieved rapid sales growth through the launch of new products, new technologies and the creation of user value in various ways. New energy, as one of the new circuits that Chery Group focuses on developing, has ushered in “accelerating sales” with the help of “Technology Chery”. Chery Group sold 31,337 new energy vehicles from January to February, an increase of 2.3 times. Among them, new energy passenger cars, driven by star models such as Little Ant and QQ Ice Cream, sold 29,663 units in the first two months of 2022, meeting its increase of 250.8 percent year on year. On February 26, Anhui New Energy Vehicle and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Research Institute led by Chery Group was officially inaugurated. Focusing on revolutionary and original technological breakthroughs, the Research Institute plans to build a series of special original laboratories to create Chery’s “Bell Lab” and promote its business to fully shift to the “new four modernizations”.

In the overseas market, as Chery Group exported 46,897 vehicles from January to February, a rise of 33.9 percent year on year, overseas users of Chery have reached 2 million. Up to now, Chery has established six research and development bases, 10 overseas factories, more than 1,500 dealers and service outlets around the world, with a total overseas production capacity of 200,000 units per year. It has ranked the first in the export of Chinese brand passenger vehicles for 19 consecutive years. In February, Chery’s OMODA 5, a “global car” developed with “user thinking and Internet thinking”, was completed in Wuhu factory and plans to debut in overseas markets in the first half of this year.

Translated by Yuan Mengwen from Foreign Affairs Office of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government

Candidates look at employment opportunities at a job fair in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Liu Jianhua/For China Daily]

11m new urban positions targeted, with greater support for graduates, migrants

The central government will do its utmost to stabilize the job market this year by continuing the employment-first policy, strengthening assistance to market entities and eliminating improper restrictions in the operation of the job market.

According to the annual Government Work Report, released on Saturday, it will prioritize the stability of the market and companies to help stabilize employment. Fiscal and financial policies will also be focused on boosting employment.

The government is targeting the creation of over 11 million new jobs in urban areas this year and looking to keep the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas under 5.5 percent, the work report said.

The work report also outlined some detailed measures to secure the operation of the job market.

For example, the Government will continue to reimburse companies for unemployment insurance and will lend greater policy support and assistance to key groups including college graduates, demobilized military personnel and migrant workers.

It will also continue to improve the social security and labor rights protection of the flexibly employed, and increase efforts to prevent gender discrimination and illegal behavior that infringe on workers’ rights.

The 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion) unemployment insurance fund will continue to stabilize the job market and improve training to produce more high-quality workers for manufacturing industries.

“The domestic job market remains under great pressure this year due to the growing population of job seekers and the structural imbalance of the job market,” said Pang Shi, director of the department of employment and entrepreneurship at the Chinese Academy of Personnel Science. “The largest challenge for the government is to stabilize the market and employment in the face of an economic downturn.”

She said that the small and medium-sized companies and the self-employed businesses are facing difficulties in business operation that have reduced their ability to hire new workers.

“Only if the government stabilizes the market entities, can it have stable vacancies available to job seekers and keep domestic employment growing steadily,” Pang said. “It’s important for the government to reduce taxes and give the market entities more financial support, especially those that have been dealt a blow by the COVID-19 epidemic.

“It’s also necessary to eliminate any improper administrative restrictions on the job market’s operation and the development of startups.”

With employment a priority of the government’s work in the past few years, stabilizing the job market has become a buzzword in proposals by members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body.

Hu Wei, a member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee who is also deputy director of the China Vocational Education Association in Shanghai, has focused on the employment of people aged over 35.

He told the Shanghai Observer recently that he has noticed the employment crisis faced by middle-aged people, who are the main forces for the nation’s development and social stability and who have also played a key role in supporting the third-child policy and taking care of the elderly.

He suggested the release of some preferential policies targeting those over 40 to prevent discrimination in hiring, promotion and layoffs.

Sun Jie, another member of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, is most concerned about flexible employment and has submitted a proposal suggesting the nation tighten up on the management of platforms that offer flexible jobs without offering sound social security protection for the flexibly employed.

A researcher in opening-up at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, she said the nation should first clearly define the flexibly employed and then come up with a reasonable, tailored social security campaign for the group.

Soldiers of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force carry sandbags to reinforce banks in Wuhu, East China’s Anhui province, July 20, 2020. [Photo/IC]

President Xi Jinping has recently encouraged a group of armed police officers who carry out patrol duties on one of China’s busiest streets to always serve as the faithful guardian of the Communist Party of China and the people.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he hopes the officers will uphold the Party’s spirit and remain as “sentinels under the neon lamp” in the new era.

He made the remarks in a reply to a letter from members of the 10th Detachment of the Fourth Regiment under the People’s Armed Police Force’s Shanghai Corps.

The detachment’s officers had written a letter to Xi to tell him about their thoughts after learning the Party’s history, and the determination to fulfill Xi’s instructions and honor their duties.

In his reply, Xi said he was delighted that the officers could keep and promote the glorious traditions of the “Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road”, and persist in propagating the Party’s history and theories for over 20 years.

The “Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road” is a decorated unit of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force. It was once a security unit under the PLA Shanghai Garrison and began to patrol Nanjing Road, one of the most popular shopping venues in Shanghai, in 1949. In 1963, the company was given the honorary title due to the soldiers’ loyalty to the Party and their outstanding performance.

The 10th Detachment was founded in 1952. It took over patrol duties on Nanjing Road from the Eighth Company in 1982. The Eighth Company is now a special operations force and is still stationed in Shanghai.

Since 1998, officers from the 10th Detachment have joined voluntary narrators at the Site of the First National Congress of the CPC to spread knowledge about the Party’s history on weekends and holidays. So far, they have given more than 76,000 narration sessions for about 4.5 million visitors, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Yang Zenan, the detachment’s political instructor, said the venues in Shanghai have been functioning as vivid classrooms for armed police officers. Telling the Party’s history to more people also helps the officers better learn from the past and boost their confidence in the Party and the country’s future.

A 100-episode video program of the officers talking about the Party’s history has also been launched online and has attracted millions of views.