With the steadfast support from the central government, Hong Kong's tourism sector is poised for a rapid growth. Through continuous innovation efforts, Hong Kong is expected to become a more attractive tourist destination, providing distinctive travel experiences for visitors, and injecting new vitality into local economy.

The arrival of a new pair of giant pandas from the Chinese mainland is expected to spur Hong Kong tourism-related economy, Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview in Hong Kong.

According to Yeung, Hong Kong is now gearing up to welcome the arrival of the new couple of giant pandas aged between 5 and 8 years.

The response came as HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee revealed on July 1 that the central government would be sending a new pair of giant pandas to Hong Kong to mark the 27th anniversary of the city's return to the motherland, adding that the two pandas would arrive within months.

Making full preparations

Earlier on July 7, a team led by John Lee and consisting of representatives from the Hong Kong SAR government and Ocean Park set off to the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Southwest China's Sichuan Province to put in place arrangements for the pandas.

Yeung, who joined the visiting team led by Lee to visit the giant pandas in Sichuan, said arrangements were being discussed with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. 

Noting that Hong Kong locals are looking forward to the arrival of the giant pandas, Yeung emphasized the importance of meticulous and intensive preparations to ensure the pandas' comfort and the role the pandas will play in bringing the peoples from Hong Kong and the mainland cities closer.

The two pandas are currently adjusting to their new surroundings at the Dujiangyan Base and will undergo a 30-day quarantine, followed by another 30-day quarantine in Hong Kong before they are ready to meet the public. It is important for them to adapt to their new environment in Hong Kong.

Yeung said the national treasured animals would be housed at Ocean Park in Hong Kong where two previous pairs - An An, Jia Jia, Ying Ying and Le Le stayed. They will be the third pair from the mainland.

The first pair, male An An and female Jia Jia, arrived in the city in 1999 to celebrate the "smooth establishment of the One Country, Two Systems" policy. Ying Ying and Le Le were the second pair that the mainland gifted to Hong Kong in April 2007, sparking a "panda fever" drawing a crowd of 35,000 visitors when they made their official debut to the public at Ocean Park.

Ocean Park is making final preparations for the new pair, including enhancing their living space and providing innovative digital and immersive experiences for visitors. Paulo Pong, chairman of Ocean Park, said he is optimistic about the significant economic impact, citing the success of the first pair of pandas in attracting visitors.

Zeng Jiayan, a Hong Kong resident, told the Global Times that she is looking forward to the arrival of the new pair and suggests naming them "Jian Jian" and "Kang Kang." She believes that the panda passion could have a positive impact on the economy and is hopeful for the possibility of panda cubs born in Hong Kong later.

More discussions are underway with the mainland departments to finalize details, such as potential renaming of the pair. "We are now considering the option of giving them more significant names that resonate with Hong Kong community, perhaps, we may invite the public to pick names for the pair," Yeung said.

Giant panda fever

Visiting pandas has been a must-do experience in Hong Kong for visitors since the first pandas arrived in the city in 1999.The pandas have since become beloved idols in Hong Kong, attracting 1.6 million visitors per year. 

Hong Kong Ocean Park said that since the first pair of giant pandas arrived at the resort in 1999, they had brought "countless precious and joyful memories to more than 55 million visitors from Hong Kong and around the world," the South China Morning Post reported.

According to the park's latest annual report, the sale of panda-related merchandise and animal interactive programs amounted to HK$600,000 ($77,000) for the financial year ending on June 30 of 2023, an increase of HK$100,000 from two years ago.

The new pandas are expected to further boost Hong Kong's tourism economy, Yeung said.

With the arrival of the new pair, Hong Kong's tourism industry will embrace new opportunities. Meanwhile, the HKSAR government plan to launch a batch of promotional campaigns to arouse public interest in visiting the pandas. 

Hong Kong has the opportunity to boost local economy by leveraging the "panda economy," Yeung said, suggesting that the catering and retail industries could see a significant benefit from this initiative.

"Learning from our counterparts in Sichuan, Hong Kong is ready to embrace the 'panda economy,' leveraging the pandas' popularity to enhance tourism appeal and economic growth. We look forward to welcoming the new ambassadors of friendship and culture, fostering a future of shared prosperity, "Yeung said.

Yeung noted that pandas, with their cheerful nature, are ideal as animal ambassadors. 

Tourism officials and business insiders in Hong Kong agreed that the arrival of the pandas was a great opportunity for Hong Kong to capitalize on the popularity of the animals. The chairman of Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Pang Yiu-kai expresses gratitude to the central government for sending another pair of giant pandas to Hong Kong, labeling the pair as "valuable tourism assets."

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, told the Global Times that the government and Ocean Park should capitalize on the pandas' popularity by developing panda-themed products and related activities. He also proposed ideas such as selling panda-shaped specialty foods and incorporating the logos of pandas into travel itineraries to attract tourists.

Measures introduced by the central government to bolster Hong Kong's financial, cultural, and tourism sectors will further drive local economic growth, Yeung said.

Hong Kong's tourism sector, a key driver of local economy, will greet a significant upswing in visitors. According to estimates by the HKSAR government, the number of visitors to Hong Kong could reach 50 million by 2024, who will greatly boost local GDP, translating to an economic benefit of about 100 million Hong Kong dollars per 1.5 million visitors. 

The Chinese mainland has always been the most important and potential source of tourists for Hong Kong, said Yeung. During the past months, to attract more visitors to Hong Kong, the HKSAR government has earmarked more than HK$1 billion to shore up the tourism sector.

With such efforts, the city has welcomed approximately 21 million tourist trips in the first six months of 2024, surging 64 percent year-on-year. Notably, 16.15 million visitors were from the Chinese mainland, according to the HKTB. 

"I hope these visitors will recommend the city to others when they go back home," Yeung said.

China's railway network has carried more than 500 million passenger trips so far during the summer holidays, according to data released by the country's railway operator on Wednesday, adding to growing signs of strong vitality in China's travel sector, which has become a crucial driver for consumption.

Between July 1 and August 6, a total of 513 million passenger trips were carried by the country's railway network, representing year-on-year growth of 5.4 percent, data from China State Railway Group Co showed. During the period, the daily number of passenger trips averaged 13.86 million, the operator said.

"During this year's summer holiday period, there has been very strong demand for travel," an official with China State Railway Group Co said, pointing to large flows of travel by students and tourists.

Running from July 1 to August 31, the summer holiday period is a peak travel season in China. This year, China State Railway Group Co expects total railway passenger trips will reach 860 million, compared to 830 million trips during last year's summer holiday period.

In addition to railway passenger trips, China's civil aviation industry is also expected to see robust demand during this year's summer holidays. The Civil Aviation Administration of China forecast that air passenger trips will reach 133 million during the period.

The initial numbers suggest that this year's summer travel is widely expected to surpass that of last year, which would offer a great boost for consumption, the biggest driver of economic growth. For some context, during the summer period in 2023, domestic tourism trips reached 1.839 billion, which generated tourism revenue of 1.21 trillion yuan ($168.56 billion), according to the China Tourism Academy.

Since the start of 2024, China has seen a solid tourism boom. In the first half of the year, total domestic tourism trips had already reached 2.725 billion, up 14.3 percent year-on-year, while total tourism spending hit 2.73 trillion yuan, up 19 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Boosting tourism is part of China's broader effort to increase consumption, which has become a top priority in the country's economic work. Officials have repeatedly said that they will put boosting consumption in a more prominent position so as to ensure stable economic growth.

Analysts said that more policy measures are expected to be rolled out in the second half of 2024 to boost consumption, after recent top meetings stressed the need to take concrete efforts to achieve annual economic growth targets.

A meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on July 30, which focused on the economic work in the second half of 2024, noted that the emphasis should be placed on boosting consumption to expand domestic demand, and the focus of economic policies should shift toward bringing real benefits to the people and promoting consumption. The meeting stressed the need to support consumption in cultural tourism, elderly care, childcare, domestic services and other areas.

A project in China involving an ultra-high-speed low-vacuum tube maglev transport system, also known as the "high-speed flying train," with a maximum travel speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour, has completed a test for the system's integrated demonstration, showing that the full-sized test line has achieved conditions for its acceptance.

Representatives from the project said that this test improved the overall technical maturity of the system, laying a solid technical foundation for the next test, Science and Technology Daily reported on Monday.

The demonstration was conducted in a low-vacuum tube with a total length of 2 kilometers, the first phase of the project. The test performance and results were in line with predetermined figures, including magnetic suspension travel and brakes, maximum travel speed, and the magnetic suspension height of the vehicle, marking the success of the test.

The "high-speed flying train" may be deployed on commuter routes in mega-city clusters. It could shorten the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai to as little as 90 minutes, said the report.

The successful test indicated the concrete progress of the development of China's ultra-high-speed train, Sun Zhang, a railway expert at Shanghai Tongji University, told the Global Times on Monday. Long-term safety verification work needs to be implemented before it becomes a commonly used public transport system, Zhang said.

The full-sized test line was co-built by the government of North China's Shanxi Province and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, and it is located in Yanggao, under Datong. Construction started in April 2022 and wrapped up in November 2023. The project combines aerospace technology and ground rail transportation technology, aiming to create trains with a top speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour.

The concept of a transportation system in a low-pressure tube was proposed in 2013 by Elon Musk, who called it Hyperloop, but his company focusing on developing the system - Hyperloop One - was shut down at the end of 2023, Reuters has reported.

The official website of UK-based Virgin showed that its Virgin Hyperloop made its first successful passenger test in 2020.

Analysts said that it is hard to predict which country will be the first to operate a high-speed maglev train, but it is more practical to make such systems profitable in China, which has a huge population and a solid foundation in rail transport.

As of the end of 2023, the length of China's railways in commercial operation reached 159,000 kilometers, with more than 45,000 km of the total being high-speed lines, official data showed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington has "serious concerns" about the announced results of Venezuelan presidential election won by incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, claiming it reflected "neither the will nor the votes of the Venezuelan people." Do American politicians know the will of the Venezuelan people better than the people themselves? Obviously not.

The US has significantly increased its interference in the affairs of Venezuela and other countries, attempting to reshape their political ecology through ideology. If a US-supported candidate wins an election, it will be described as fair and free; if not, it is labeled as unfair and lacking transparency. This tactic is a common method used by the US to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations.

The US incited Venezuela's opposition to refuse to recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela in 2019. Because the US considers Latin America to be its backyard, any political force or figure that goes against the will or interests of American political elites will become a target of the US, like a thorn in its side.

The US policy toward Latin American countries fundamentally serves the interests of the US. As a result, the regimes of some Latin American countries backed by the US are completely disconnected from the interests of their peoples. The repeated occurrence of unrest in Latin America can also be attributed to US interventions, which violate the UN Charter and basic principles of international relations. These interventions undermine the sovereignty and interests of Latin American countries, including Venezuela, and pose a significant threat to peace and development in the region.

The US has long sought to prioritize its own geopolitical interests and values over international law. "Maduro insists on pursuing independence and resisting Venezuela becoming a puppet of other countries. However, the US takes it for granted that all countries in Latin America have no right to independence and must comply with US desires. The US justifies its interference in Latin American countries' internal affairs based on the so-called Monroe Doctrine, despite this doctrine being in conflict with international law," Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

During President Maduro's term, Venezuela has encountered severe sanctions from the US and some other Western countries, and was also threatened by military intervention. In April, the Biden administration even announced the reinstatement of some of the previously lifted sanctions, accusing President Maduro of failing to commit to free and fair elections. All these moves have exacerbated political and economic instability in Venezuela.

Noticeably, the intensity of US sanctions usually depends on American elites' assessment of the domestic situation of the sanctioned target. If the US intensifies sanctions, it means that the force or figure they oppose has become stronger, which also suggests that the US has less space to maneuver or subvert in Venezuela. If the US insists on its interference in Latin America and further undermine regional cooperation and development by abusing sanctions, its hegemonic behaviors will surely be increasingly criticized by countries in the region and the international community.

This election in Venezuela reflects the desire of people in developing countries for equality and justice to certain extent. The political and development direction of a country should be in the hands of its own people. Any external force, no matter how powerful, has no right to impose its own political standards on other countries.

China has congratulated Venezuela's successful presidential election and President Maduro's re-election on the same day. China's respect for independent elections stands in sharp contrast to the US' interference.

China emphasizes mutual benefits, mutual understanding and win-win results based on equality, while the US' policy toward Latin American countries is characterized by hegemony and interference in their internal affairs without a sense of equality. The US not only seeks economic and political dominance over Latin American countries but also uses military intimidation. China's relationship with Latin American countries, including Venezuela, is based on equality, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, while the US is seen as a bully creating subversion and chaos. It is clear that which kind of relationship is more favored by Latin American countries.

With 18 golds, China was sitting on top of the Olympic gold medal table as of Sunday evening, followed by the US and host France, with many being claimed by Gen-Z athletes in fields outside China's traditional strengths. China also bagged 15 silvers and 9 bronzes so far.

Through the young generation's performance across the arenas, their interactions with other athletes and the audiences, and their voices in the media, the world can see a vibrant, confident, fashionable, friendly, brave and outspoken China, analysts said.

Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday that China has maintained its dominance in some traditional strengths such as diving, table tennis, badminton and shooting, but more importantly, Chinese athletes have achieved groundbreaking successes in swimming and tennis. 

The overall performances of the Chinese swimming team have served as a riposte to the skepticism and disregard that clouded the Chinese delegation. 

Gold medalist Pan Zhanle's world record breaking feat in the 100m freestyle swimming is as historic as hurdler Liu Xiang's victory in the 110m hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, as "both triumphed in sports that European and American athletes had dominated for a long time," Liu Yu said. 

Pan, 19, broke his own world record to clinch gold on July 31, marking the first time a Chinese athlete has won gold in the men's 100m freestyle at an Olympic Games. 

"Given the abnormal frequency of doping tests and speculation from foreign media, the Chinese swimming team's performances are all the more remarkable," Liu Yu said. 

Another history maker is 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen who on Saturday became the first Asia-born player to claim gold in a tennis singles event at the Olympics, when she beat her opponent Croatia's Donna Vekic in straight sets. 

"Athletes like Pan and Zheng have become the national pride and they are sure to inspire younger generations in the years ahead," Liu Yu noted. 

Gen-Z athletes have also made their marks in the global sporting showpiece through their unique demeanor and relaxed attitude, which have captured the attention and admiration of spectators worldwide.

Chinese shooters Huang Yu-ting and Sheng Lihao, who clinched China's first gold in Paris 2024 in the 10m air rifle mixed team event, gained widespread attention for their interesting internet names and their composure in intense competition on Chinese social media. 

The attitude and demeanor of Gen-Z athletes have shifted people's focus from tallying gold medals to embracing the excitement of sports and the true spirit of the Olympics, Liu Yu said. 

The average age of the Chinese sports delegation to the Paris Games is 25. Eleven-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest member of the Chinese delegation, is one of the Gen-Z athletes aiming for medals in emerging Olympic sports. Many of her peers are striving in sports such as breakdancing, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. 

Outspoken, brave and friendly

The performance of Chinese athletes in "Western-dominated" sports like swimming and tennis has become a loud response to biased comments, disrespectful actions and even groundless accusations with racist opinions from some people and media in the West. 

Swimmer Pan revealed to media the disrespectful behaviors he felt from Australian and US swimmers in a relay event, and responded with his clean record and gold medal. 

When some Western media continue the doping smears, Zhang Yufei, a female swimmer and bronze medalist in Paris, rebuffed the skepticism over Pan's new world record at a press conference on Thursday with confidence. 

 Zhang lays bare Western double standards by asking "Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they achieve fast times, yet no one doubted Michael Phelps when he won seven or eight gold medals? Similarly, Katie Ledecky has dominated long-distance swimming from 2012 to 2024, winning gold in every event, yet no one questioned her performances?" 

Li Xiang, a sports commentator and Olympics reporter, told the Global Times on Sunday that these Chinese athletes have shown that China's Gen-Zers will not tolerate or keep silent to the provocations, and they will fight back directly. More importantly, they are capable of responding to groundless, biased and even racist accusations with their strengths and performance in the arenas. 

They can represent China's image in the new era to the world. They are outspoken with an attitude, interact with their peer athletes and spectators positively and serve as "envoys of people-to-people exchanges," Li noted. 

After Chinese pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha claimed gold for table tennis mixed doubles on July 30, they asked North Korean silver medalists Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong and South Korean bronze medalists Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon to pose for a group selfie.

It was a perfect portrayal of sports' capacity to unite, as the athletes' smiles illuminated the sentiment that triumphs and titles, though important, are not the only takeaways, said a comment published on August 2 by the Xinhua News Agency.

Some Western media have always been trying to depict China as a rigid authoritarian country with no freedom and fun, and that Chinese people are not cool at all, but Chinese Gen-Z athletes tell the opposite story in Paris, breaking bias and lies circulating in the West.

"They are the best symbols of China's soft power today," Li noted.

As China's contribution to the world's largest intergovernmental international radio telescope project Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), the first batch of the China-built middle-frequency antenna dishes of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) radio telescope set off for South Africa on Wednesday. 

The antenna dishes to be installed in Karoo, the remote desert region in South Africa, are expected to help detect signals from the most distant parts of the universe, marking a significant step of China in participating in the international mega-science project. 

The first four antenna dishes, officially abbreviated as SKA-Mid, have passed the factory acceptance test in quality in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, and will be transported by heavy-lift trucks to a port in North China's Tianjin Municipality, where they will be shipped to South Africa. 

The SKA is an ambitious scientific endeavor which is jointly funded, built and run by more than 10 countries including China, the UK, Australia and South Africa, with more than 100 organizations from 18 different countries participating in the development of the telescope. It will feature much higher sensitivity and survey speeds than any other radio instrument array developed so far. 

The SKA is a collection of various types of antennas, called an array, and the middle-frequency dish is the core facility of the middle-frequency array in the SKA radio telescope.

China is responsible for the research and development of the SKA-Mid dishes as well as the mass production for the instruments. The first batch of the 64 SKA-Mid dishes will be expected to be installed by the end of 2026, marking China's contribution in human's exploration into the universe. 

Another major section of the SKA project, the low-frequency antennas, or SKA-Low, will be located in the remote Murchison area in Western Australia.

Hundreds of thousands of SKA antennas will be built in multiple sites including South Africa, and its eight African partner countries, including Botswana, Ghana and Kenya, as well as in Australia. 

When the project is completed, it is spread over long distances with up to one square kilometer in total collecting surface area, the equivalent of 140 soccer fields. 

The SKA radio telescope carries the mission of helping humanity understand the mysteries of the universe and life, and is dedicated to exploring fundamental questions such as exploring the origin and evolution of the universe and galaxies, discovering more galaxies, searching for new cradles of life, and seeking extraterrestrial life. 

Two chefs from a restaurant in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu Province, were sentenced to two years and one year and six months in prison, respectively, with probation, and were fined 160,000 yuan ($22,000) altogether for the production and sale of toxic and harmful food. They were found to have put prescription antidiarrheal medicine in diners’ dishes to avoid mass food-poisoning incident. 

Gentamicin sulfate, a kind of antibiotic and prescription medicine used for treating diarrhea, had been illegally put by the restaurant’s head chef surnamed Sha and the cook surnamed Fu into a total of 1,612 helpings of stewed dishes, with the total sales revenue of 77,376 yuan, since 2023. According to China’s Food Safety Law, medicines shall not be added to food products during production and sales, the Nanjing-based Modern Express reported. 

Despite that gentamicin used to be a commonly used medicine for the treatment of dysentery and diarrhea, it also has a side effect of causing childhood deafness. 

In September 2023, a staffer from the restaurant reported to the local government hotline that gentamicin injection was added as a food additive to the dishes at the restaurant. In a following raid, law enforcement personnel found four used boxes of gentamicin sulfate injection in the kitchen trash can and another 101 boxes of the antidiarrheal medicine yet to be used at the office of the head chef. 

Tests on the dish samples collected from the restaurant and the unopened injection showed evidence of gentamicin. 

The sentence was announced on April 23, 2024, and the two chefs have also made a public apology in media. 

Law enforcement personnel also found that all the gentamicin sulfate injection was purchased from the same store of a chain pharmacy. A restaurant staffer surnamed Zhang bought the medicine without prescription. 

Meanwhile, it violated the national regulations on drug management for the pharmacy to sell the prescription drugs without a prescription. 

Through investigation, the local procuratorial authorities also found that multiple stores of the chain pharmacy had been illegally selling gentamicin sulfate injection for a long time. 

On January 31, 2024, the local procuratorial authorities issued an advice to the local market supervision department and urged the market watchdog to punish the violations and carry out thorough investigations of illegally adding food additives and conduct special rectification on medicine retails. 

Finally, the restaurant was fined 1.18 million yuan and its business license was revoked by the market supervision department. The two chefs and two restaurant managers were banned from working in the food production businesses or catering services for life or in the next five years. Both the restaurant and the four people were listed on the dishonest list. 

Besides, the local market watchdog has inspected 335 catering service providers and 508 medicine retailor companies, and has ordered 120 pharmacies to conduct rectification. 

Since the relationship between China and Australia is on the right track, we should not hesitate, deviate, or backtrack, and the development of the bilateral ties is not targeted at any third party, nor should it be influenced or interfered with by any third party, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra on Wednesday.

Wang held the seventh China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue with Wong during the former's visit to Australia.

This is our sixth meeting, and each time we meet, mutual trust increases by one point, and the China-Australia relationship advances one step further, Wang told Wong.

The Chinese Foreign Minister said this is an important year that carries on the past and opens up the future. Building on the good momentum of bilateral relations so far, and both China and Australia should "work together to create the future" and, with a more proactive attitude, jointly build a more mature, stable, and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership.

Over the past 10 years, the ups and downs of China-Australia relations have left us with lessons to learn and experiences to cherish, namely mutual respect, seeking common ground, pursuing mutual benefit, and to uphold independence and autonomy, Wang said.

Wang said China has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace, and our policy toward Australia has been consistent. The development of China-Australia relations is not directed against any third party, nor should it be influenced or interfered with by any third party.

He noted that since China-Australia relations are on the right track, we should not hesitate, deviate, or backtrack. With a clear direction toward progress, we should strive to move forward steadily, well, and far. This is in the common interest of the two peoples and the general expectation of regional countries.

Wang also said that China is ready to work with Australia to prepare for high-level exchange between two countries and deepen cooperation on traditional field such as mineral, energy and agricultural products; also explore cooperation on new energy, digital economy, green development and coping with climate change.

He urged Australia to take concrete measures to uphold the principles of market economy and fair competition rules, and provide a fair, just, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises investing and operating in the country.

Wang elaborated with Wong on China's stance on issues related to island of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Xizang, and the South China Sea, emphasizing that there is no historical entanglement or fundamental conflict of interests between China and Australia, and that their common interests far outweigh their differences.

According to a handout related to the dialogue issued by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wong stated that Australia and China have close historical, trade, and cultural ties, and are comprehensive strategic partners. As countries in the same region, differences should not define the relationship between Australia and China.

She said that Australia is pleased to see significant progress in bilateral relations in recent years and is willing to further strengthen dialogue and communication with China on the basis of mutual respect, to manage differences, to leverage complementary advantages, and to deepen cooperation in economic, trade, and cultural fields.

Both sides agreed to resume and establish dialogues in various fields , promote more cooperation across foreign affairs, economic, trade, science and technology, education, and law enforcement departments of the two countries, and actively consider initiating a dialogue on maritime affairs. Both sides agreed to take further measures to facilitate the exchange of people between the two countries.

As China is making rapid progress in computing power, it is necessary to build a national unified computing power service market, a political advisor said at the annual two sessions.

China's computing infrastructure construction has reached the world's advanced level, and the total scale of computing power ranks second in the world, Yu Xiaohui, head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times on Tuesday.

In 2023, the total size of China's data center racks reached 8.1 million standard racks and the scale of computing power reached 230 EFLOPS, Yu said.

EFLOPS is a measurement unit used to determine a computer's speed and is vital for technology advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality.

China aims to boost its aggregate computing power by more than 50 percent by 2025, according to an action plan released in October 2023 to promote high-quality development of the country's computing power technology.

According to the Government Work Report released on Tuesday, a push is needed to develop future-oriented digital infrastructure and a nationally unified computational system.

A national unified computing power service market is crucial for China's digital economy and AI innovation, Yu said.

Although China ranked second in the scale of computing power globally, there are challenges such as a lack of accurate matching between supply and demand, and regional disparities in computing power resources, Yu said.

For example, there are currently over 5,000 computing power providers with different technical systems, infrastructure, and interfaces. And while China's eastern regions have strong demand but lack resources, the western regions have resources but low demand and utilization rates.

Yu suggested that it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of the large national market and the successful experience of internet development to build a large service market for computing power.

In 2023, a total of 15 giant pandas returned to China from overseas after expiry of loan agreements. Among these 15 pandas, four are currently residing at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and are in good condition, the Global Times learned during a recent visit.

On February 22, giant panda Yong Ming arrived in Chengdu from Japan with his twin daughters, Ying Bang and Tao Bang. On July 26, giant panda cub Yuan Meng, who was born in France, arrived in Chengdu and also joined the base, a staff member surnamed Liu at the research base told the Global Times.

Among all the returning pandas, Yong Ming is the oldest at 31 years old, which is about 100 years old in human terms. He is also the second oldest captive male giant panda in the world.

After arriving at the base, the pandas undergo quarantine and a period of isolation, said Liu. Once their condition stabilizes, they will be moved to open enclosures to meet the public.

During the visit, the Global Times reporter saw these pandas eating bamboo and enjoying their time at the base. All of them appeared to be in good physical and mental health, which was confirmed by the base's staff.

At the base, each panda has an outdoor activity area ranging from 500 to 800 square meters in size, which ensures that they have ample space to move around, Liu said. They also each have an "indoor apartment."

Since the return of the panda cub Xiang Xiang in February, a total of 15 pandas have returned to China in 2023 from countries including the US, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and the UK. In 2024, several more pandas are expected to return to China after their loan agreements expire. 

These pandas, who have lived abroad for a long time, have also become favorites among Chinese tourists after returning to China. The Global Times has learned that many make special trips to the breeding base to visit these national treasures.

On the same visit, representatives from Pakistani media and think tanks expressed admiration for China's panda conservation efforts and shared their expectations for cooperation between China and Pakistan in this field.

"In the past, pandas were a globally endangered species, but China has taken special measures to protect them. Here, all the pandas receive excellent care," said Faiyan Zia Bangash, a senior reporter from Pakistan's The News.

"I have always had a special love for pandas, but it wasn't until today when I saw them with my own eyes that I truly experienced their cuteness," said Fahd Gauhar Malik, editor of the Pakistan Observer. 

"I really hope that in the future, China and Pakistan can also have relevant cooperation so that the people of Pakistan can see pandas in their own zoos," Malik said.