Opinion

 

1. To unleash the potential of blue economy

 

The oceans function as a key ground for high-quality development and high-level opening-up, and as an important area of international competition. They also deliver opportunities for international cooperation. Marine economy has already become one of the most vibrant and prosperous fields of economic growth for coastal countries and regions. To better serve social and economic development, more efforts should be made to care about oceans, explore oceans, and advance strategic maritime development.

 

2. To cherish every grain

 

Long-term systemic governance according to law is essential in promoting food cherishing and conservation. The systemic governance needs to be implemented throughout the whole process, including food production, purchasing, storage, processing, and distribution, so as to further avoid food waste. We should implement the anti-food waste law and food security law, and strengthen the governance of food waste issues, so that saving food will become a part of people’s daily behavior.

 

Policy

 

1. Suzhou government optimized its property market policy on June 2. According to the new policy, home-buyers will no longer need their qualification review to purchase home, and anyone who buys or owns legal property and lives in Suzhou can apply for household registration.

 

2. Nine automobile manufacturers and nine main bodies of use will work together in a pilot program of intelligent connected vehicles for their market access and driving in seven cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The pilot program covers passenger cars, buses, and trucks, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on June 4.

 

3. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Taxation Administration will adjust the technical requirements of preferential tax policies for energy-saving and new energy vehicles and vessels from July 1. To enjoy the preferential tax policies, energy-saving and new energy vehicles need to meet certain conditions.

 

Data

 

1. According to the latest data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the import and export volume of goods and services in April in China's international balance of payments reached 4.111 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent.

 

2. According to the Ministry of Finance, the central government allocated about 20 billion yuan of the insurance subsidy for three staple grains of rice, wheat and corn in 2023, providing risk protection for over 100 million grain growing households with over 800 billion yuan.

 

3. The National Housing Provident Fund 2023 Annual Report jointly released by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the People's Bank of China on May 31 shows that in 2023, the national housing provident fund deposit amount was about 3.47 trillion yuan, and 1.471 trillion yuan of the personal housing loans was issued.

 

4. China reported about 619.58 million air passenger trips in 2023, a spike of 146.1 percent year on year, according to a communique released on the Civil Aviation Administration of China's website. In 2023, China had 5,206 regular domestic air routes, linking 255 mainland cities or regions. The country's international airlines linked China with 127 cities in 57 countries. 

 

5. 2024 is the Year of Sino-Kazakhstan Tourism. The Sino Kazakhstan Khorgos International Border Cooperation Center, which was built across the border between China and Kazakhstan, attracts more and more tourists for border tours, cross-border tours and shopping tours. From January to May this year, the number of people entering and exiting the cooperation center exceeded 2 million, a year-on-year increase of 148 percent.

 

6. As demand for road freight export expanded in April and May, China’s road logistics price index, an indicator that measures the costs and trends of the business, rose in May, data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing shows. The index came in at 103 in May, slightly above the baseline value of 100, up 0.13 percent month on month. The association attributed the growth of the index to increased activity in the road logistics market in April and May.

 

7. Amid China's efforts to accelerate the development of wind power and solar power, the combined installed power generation capacity of the two exceeded 1.1 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of about 38 percent, data from the National Energy Administration showed.

 

8. The Ministry of Natural Resources recently released the 2023 National Seawater Utilization Report, which shows that there are 156 seawater desalination projects in China in 2023, with a project scale exceeding 2.52 million tons per day.

 

9. From January to May, China's imports and exports to other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement reached 5.11 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5 percent, exceeding 30 percent of China's total foreign trade.

 

10. According to the Ministry of Commerce, as of June 6, the number of applications for subsidies for scrapping and updating automobiles has exceeded 40,000, showing an accelerating growth trend.