Xi-Marcos Chat - - Li on Stabilising Growth - Zhejiang's Common Prosperity Progress - Yang-Sullivan Call - Wang-Hayashi Meeting - On the Economy: 'Short-term Factors Cannot Affect the Long-term Trend'
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy in the Thursday, May 19, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: Xi Jinping is all over the front page today. At the top of the page, there’s a story about Xi’s call with Philippines President-elect Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos. Xi called Marcos “a builder, supporter and promoter of the China-Philippines friendship.” Xinhua reports:
“Xi pointed out that in the past six years, China and the Philippines have adhered to the good-neighborly friendship, worked together for common development and established a comprehensive strategic cooperative relationship. The two sides have effectively managed differences through dialogue and consultation, actively promoted practical cooperation in various fields, and achieved fruitful results in bilateral relations, Xi said, adding that facts have proved that the China-Philippines friendship is in line with the common aspirations of the people of the two countries, and cooperation between the two sides serves the common interests of the two peoples. Xi noted that the Chinese side always gives priority to the Philippines in its neighborhood diplomacy and maintains continuity and stability in its friendly policy toward the Philippines. China is ready to step up exchanges of governance experience with the Philippines, expand and strengthen existing cooperation with a focus on national economy and people's welfare in such fields as infrastructure, agriculture, energy and education, as well as the anti-COVID-19 fight and post-pandemic recovery, foster new growth areas and promote development and revitalization of the two countries and the region at large, he said. China will, as always, provide active support and assistance to the Philippines in its economic and social development, Xi added. Xi stressed that the changes of the world, the times and history have been unprecedented, with peace and security facing new challenges. Noting that both China and the Philippines are developing countries in Asia, Xi said the two countries' development is rooted in a good-neighborly and friendly surroundings and also in an Asian family featuring win-win cooperation. The Chinese president said he hopes that the Philippines will continue to pursue an independent foreign policy. The Chinese side stands ready to work with the Philippines to strengthen strategic communication and coordination over major international and regional issues, and safeguard the sound momentum of peace and development in the region, said Xi.”
Xi’s speech at the 70th anniversary of CCPIT and Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit is the main focus of the page. The full speech is published on Page 2; here’s the English version. Xi made four key points in the speech:
First, we need to defeat the pandemic. “We must put people and their lives first, actively engage in international cooperation on vaccine R&D, production and distribution, bolster global public health governance, jointly build multiple lines of defense against the virus, and work for a global community of health for all.”
“We need to balance pandemic response and economic development, strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination across countries, and get the global economy out of the woods at an early date…We need to help the global economy upgrade its growth drivers, shift its growth model and adjust its structure so as to steer it onto a track of long-term, healthy and stable growth. We should support the WTO-centered multilateral trading regime, ensure security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and make the "pie" of cooperation bigger…”
He emphasised the need to “foster an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development” and to “remove all barriers that hamper the flow of knowledge, technology, talent and other factors of innovation.”
“Seeking exclusive blocs will only lead the world to division and confrontation. We should uphold true multilateralism, embrace a global governance vision featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and mobilize resources from across the world to meet global challenges and advance global development. We should choose dialogue over confrontation, tear down walls rather than erect walls, pursue integration instead of decoupling, opt for inclusiveness, not exclusion, and guide reforms of the global governance system with the principle of fairness and justice.” – The irony of Xi Jinping saying all this stuff about walls, while China continues to remain inaccessible is something to behold.
Anyway, Xi ends the speech by saying “I wish to reiterate that China's resolve to open up at a high standard will not change, and that the door of China will open still wider to the world.” He also mentions RCEP and BRI in this context.
Next, there’s a story (English report) about Xi and Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Li Keqiang and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte exchanging congratulatory messages on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Fourth, there’s a report (English story) about a new book of extracts from Xi Jinping’s discourses on respecting and protecting human rights being published.
Next, there’s a report about Li Keqiang chairing a symposium in Yunnan Province on the theme of stabilising growth. The report informs that “government officials from 12 provinces in eastern, central, western and northeastern China attended the symposium. Ten of the 12 provinces constituted the top 10 across China in terms of economic aggregate.”
“Noting that the new wave of domestic COVID-19 resurgences and changes in the international situation have posed further downward pressure on the economy, Li stressed the importance of confidence, citing China's more than 150 million market entities, strong resilience and generally stable prices. ‘We have always insisted on avoiding 'flood-like' stimulus. We didn't issue excess paper currency, even when COVID-19 hit us the hardest in 2020,’ Li said, adding that there is still room for policy maneuver in the face of new challenges. He emphasized the importance of efforts to coordinate COVID-19 control with economic and social development in a more efficient way, and the importance of stepping up macro regulation. As most policies introduced by the Central Economic Work Conference and government work report were implemented in the first half of 2022, Li called for local governments to put forward more measures in May, in order to quickly bring the economy back on track. The country must ensure the full implementation of its relief measures, including tax cuts and refunds, so that enterprises can enjoy policy support promptly and thoroughly, Li said.”
He added: “While giving higher priority to employment, the country should increase assistance to market entities to stabilise employment, and encourage financial institutions to defer repayments of loan interest for micro, small and medium-sized firms and self-employed households.”
Towards the end, the report mentions some key priorities that Li highlighted:
Ensure stable grain production and stable energy supply, and maintain the stability of prices
Impediments in logistics and upstream-downstream connections must be cleared to smoothen industrial and supply chains
Promote state-owned enterprises to enhance their core competitiveness, and take effective measures to enhance the confidence of private enterprises.
encourage the public listing of companies in digital and platform economies in domestic and overseas markets in accordance with the laws and regulations, and create rules and a business environment that are transparent, fair and innovation-oriented
It is necessary to stabilise land prices and house prices, support people’s reasonable housing needs, and keep the real estate market developing steadily and healthily
Promote consumption and effective investment, and do a good job in opening wider to the outside world and stabilising foreign trade and foreign investment.
李克强说，要继续做好稳经济各项重点工作。确保粮食稳产和能源稳定供应，夯实稳物价和保障发展的基础。在做好疫情防控的同时，进一步畅通大动脉和微循环，打通物流和产业上下游衔接堵点，维护产业链供应链稳定。推动国企提升核心竞争力，以有效举措增强民企发展壮大的信心。支持平台经济、数字经济合法合规境内外上市融资，打造稳定透明、公平竞争、激励创新的制度规则和营商环境。城镇化是必然趋势，要稳地价稳房价，支持居民合理住房需求，保持房地产市场平稳健康发展。促进消费和有效投资，做好扩大开放、稳外贸稳外资工作。
Finally, there’s a piece on the progress being made in terms of common prosperity in Zhejiang Province. First, it’s worth noting that this is on the front page, given all the talk about the pushback against common prosperity. Second, there’s nothing in any of this about the state clamping down on private businesses to redistribute wealth.
The story talks about some key policy measures:
Supporting enterprises in terms of ease of business operations
Supporting specialised and new enterprises focussed on innovation
Assistance to farmers and low-income groups
Enriching people’s spiritual and cultural lives
I am basically excerpting some data points from the piece that I think are worth noting.
The report says that in 2021, Zhejiang’s GDP exceeded 7 trillion yuan, the per capita GDP reached 113,000 yuan, and the urban-rural income gap narrowed to 1.94:1.
The first aspect of common prosperity that the piece talks about is making the “cake” bigger. In this regard, it says that Zhejiang is focusing on shortcomings and weaknesses, and accelerating the development of 26 counties in mountainous areas. Also, what is the primary policy approach to make the cake bigger?
“‘Stimulating the vitality of various market players and promoting the healthy development of the non-public sector of the economy is an important way to make the' cake' bigger and better.’ According to the relevant person in charge of Zhejiang Development and Reform Commission, ‘at the end of 2021, there were 8.68 million registered market entities in Zhejiang, an increase of 652,000 over the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, among the industries above designated size in the province, the added value of private enterprises increased by 11% year on year’.” “激发各类市场主体活力，促进非公有制经济健康发展，是做大做好‘蛋糕’的重要途径。”浙江省发改委相关负责人介绍，“2021年底，浙江在册市场主体868万户，比上年增加65.2万户。今年一季度，全省规模以上工业中，民营企业增加值同比增长11%.”
Also, the digital economy is critical to common prosperity. “According to data provided by Zhejiang Development and Reform Commission, in 2021, the province’s GDP increased by 8.5% year-on-year, and the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size exceeded 2 trillion yuan, up by 12.9%; the added value of the core industries of the digital economy reached 834.8 billion yuan, up 13.3%.” 浙江省发改委提供的数据显示，2021年，全省生产总值增长8.5%，规模以上工业增加值突破2万亿元，增长12.9%；数字经济核心产业增加值达8348亿元，增长13.3%.
Another data point: “In 2021, the income growth rate of farmers in Zhejiang was 1.2 percentage points higher than that of urban residents, and that of low-income farmers was 4.4 percentage points higher than that of rural residents.” 2021年，浙江农民收入增速高于城镇居民1.2个百分点，低收入农户收入增速高于农村居民4.4个百分点.
In February of this year, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security put forward the goal: by 2025, more than 5 million new jobs will be created in cities and towns, and the highest minimum wage reaching around 3,000 yuan per month. 稳步提高最低工资标准，推动低收入劳动者特别是一线职工工资合理增长。今年2月，浙江省人社厅提出目标：到2025年，实现城镇新增就业500万人以上，最低工资标准最高档达到每月3000元左右.
Page 2: There’s a report about Hu Chunhua at the event marking the 70th anniversary of CCPIT and Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit. Hu talks about Xi’s speech, and then says that the “national trade promotion system should thoroughly study and implement the spirit of President Xi Jinping’s important speech, and play a more important role in serving high-quality development, building a new development pattern, and expanding high-level opening up. We should be brave in being pioneering and enterprising, constantly strengthen our own reform and development, and forge ahead courageously towards the goal of building a world-class trade promotion organisation with Chinese characteristics and more vitality. 胡春华强调，全国贸促系统要深入学习贯彻习近平主席重要讲话精神，在服务高质量发展、构建新发展格局、扩大高水平开放中发挥更加重要的作用。要勇于开拓进取，不断加强自身改革和建设，朝着建设具有中国特色、更加充满活力的世界一流贸促机构的目标奋勇前进.
Next, there’s a report about Yang Jiechi’s call with US NSA Jake Sullivan. My quick thought on this is that the readout does reiterate Chinese frustrations with American policy regarding Taiwan, but I thought the bit about continuing dialogue in areas where there has been progress was indicative of both sides engaging more constructively than perhaps they have been since the pandemic began.
“Recently, the two sides have held some dialogues in such fields as military-to-military, climate change, health and agriculture, which are beneficial, and the momentum of dialogue should be maintained, said Yang. At the same time, it must be pointed out that for some time, the United States has taken a series of wrong words and deeds that interfere in China's internal affairs and harm China's interests, which China firmly opposes and has responded forcefully, said Yang. The United States should match its words and deeds, translate its commitments into concrete policies and actions, cooperate with China, properly manage differences between the two sides, and do more constructive things to bring bilateral relations back to the right track of sound and steady development, said Yang. The Taiwan question is the most important, sensitive and core question in China-U.S. relations, Yang stressed, adding that the U.S. side has made it clear on many occasions that it follows the one-China policy and does not support ‘Taiwan independence.’ However, recent U.S. actions and statements on the Taiwan question are quite different, said Yang, noting that if the U.S. side persists in playing the "Taiwan card" and goes further down the wrong path, it will surely put the situation in serious jeopardy. China urges the United States to grasp the situation, strictly honor its commitments and abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques, said Yang, mentioning that the Chinese side will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, and the U.S. side can count on China to keep its promise. Seeking peace, cooperation and development is the general trend in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the common aspiration of the people, Yang said, noting that upholding its principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, China has been developing friendly relations with its neighboring countries, and pursuing mutual benefit and win-win outcomes as well as sharing the same destiny with them. Any act that undermines the fundamental and long-term interests of countries in the region for its selfish interests is doomed to go nowhere and impracticable, and any attempt to form factions and engage in separatist confrontation is doomed to fail, Yang added.”
The readout adds that they also spoke about “Ukraine and the situation on the Korean Peninsula and some other international and regional issues.”
The US readout said that “this phone call, which followed their March 14 meeting in Rome, focused on regional security issues and nonproliferation. Mr. Sullivan and Director Yang also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine and specific issues in U.S.-China relations.”
Third, there’s a report about Wang Yi’s virtual meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi. Based on the readouts of the 70-minute meeting, both parties appear to have been rather blunt.
Wang “urged the two sides to follow the consensus as guidance and take the 50th anniversary of the normalization of their diplomatic ties this year as an opportunity, to consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations and maintain and develop the hard-won friendship forged by the two peoples. Japan’s negative moves on Taiwan and other issues concerning China’s core interests and major concerns have become prominent recently. In response, Wang called for removing disruptive factors in bilateral relations as soon as possible. He urged the Japanese side to honor the commitment it has made so far, abide by the basic trust between the two countries, and prevent forces trying to undermine China-Japan relations from gaining ground. Addressing the subject of the ‘quadrilateral mechanism’ summit between the United States, Japan, Australia and India, which will be hosted by Japan next month, Wang said that what causes concern and alarm is that even before the U.S. leader has arrived, the argument that Japan and the United States would jointly confront China has already been widely heard. ‘Japan and the United States are allies, while China and Japan have a treaty of peace and friendship,’ Wang said, noting that bilateral cooperation between Japan and the United States should not provoke bloc confrontation, still less should it undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests. "We hope that Japan will not pull chestnuts out of the fire for others, and will avoid pitting itself against its neighbors," Wang said.
“Minister Hayashi, noting the difficulties Japan-China relations is facing and the extremely severe public opinion in Japan towards China, stated that both sides need to say what needs to be said while continuing dialogues and cooperate in appropriate ways in areas needing cooperation, and fulfil our responsibilities to the international society. Minister Hayashi also expressed serious concern over the situations in the East China Sea, including the situation surrounding the Senkaku Islands, as well as the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and stated the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. In addition, Minister Hayashi reiterated the position of the Government of Japan regarding the temporary detention of a Japanese diplomat and the detention of Japanese nationals in China. Furthermore, Minister Hayashi strongly called for the prompt removal of import restrictions on Japanese food products…Regarding the situation in Ukraine, Minister Hayashi called on China to play a responsible role to maintain international peace and security, noting that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine constitutes a clear violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter. Regarding North Korea, the two ministers exchanged views on the recent situation. Minister Hayashi stated that the international community must make concerted efforts to realize denuclearization and the two ministers confirmed that they will continue to coordinate closely including understanding and support towards the early resolution of the abductions issue.”
Finally, there’s a commentary on China’s human rights development concept. It argues that being people-centred, adhering to the supremacy of people, and adhering to the people’s dominant position are at the core of China’s human rights philosophy. 要勇于开拓进取，不断加强自身改革和建设，朝着建设具有中国特色、更加充满活力的世界一流贸促机构的目标奋勇前进. — Quick thought: This might sound rather innocuous; but it’s important to note that the “people” in this context is not the individual but the collective. And that makes a world of difference.
The piece largely focuses on China’s developmental achievements, and then says this:
“The historic achievements China has made in the cause of human rights fully demonstrate that in order to respect and protect human rights, we must adhere to the principle of universality of human rights and take a human rights development path that suits our own national conditions. Human rights are historical, practical and realistic. We should not talk about human rights in isolation from the social and political conditions and historical and cultural traditions of different countries. When evaluating a country’s human rights, we should not judge it by other countries’ standards, still less should we adopt double standards or even use human rights as a political tool to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs.” 中国人权事业取得历史性成就充分说明，尊重和保障人权必须要在坚持人权的普遍性原则基础上，走符合本国国情的人权发展道路。人权是历史的、具体的、现实的，不能脱离不同国家的社会政治条件和历史文化传统空谈人权。评价一个国家是否有人权，不能以别的国家标准来衡量，更不能搞双重标准，甚至把人权当作干涉别国内政的政治工具.
Page 3: Much of the page has reports about the outbreaks of COVID-19 in the country. First, there’s a report with comments from Shanghai’s health commission’s deputy director Zhao Dandan. Zhao says that “the city is under great pressure because there still might be infections at the community level.” Zhao adds that “fast and accurate epidemiological investigation and strict management are critical to curb the spread of the virus and bring the city back on track sooner.”
Second, a report about the containment effort in Beijing. It says that the districts of “Xicheng, Haidian, Fengtai and Fangshan, as well as the streets and towns with positive cases in the past seven days, will carry out three consecutive rounds of nucleic acid screening” from May 19 to May 21. Also, from today, commuters between Beijing and Tianjin will be required to show negative nucleic acid test results no older than 48 hours if they enter or leave the national capital.
Another development in the city was the dispatch of 670 teachers and students from the Beijing Institute of Technology in Yancun Township, Fangshan District, to a centralized quarantine site. This was done after there were cases identified. But it’s not clear how many cases were identified.
Finally, there’s a report about the outbreak in Guang’an, Sichuan. The report basically talks about how authorities sprung into action as soon as the outbreak was identified, and how the supply of essential commodities is stable.
Page 4: A report about data from the Ministry of Finance on China’s fiscal revenue and expenditure from January to April.
China’s fiscal revenue dropped 4.8 percent year on year in the first four months of this year; fiscal revenue amounted to about 7.43 trillion yuan (about 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars) during the period
Excluding the impact of value-added tax credit refunds, the fiscal revenue, however, grew 5 percent from a year earlier.
The central government and local governments collected 3.46 trillion yuan and 3.97 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, down 5.7 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. (Interesting that PD continues to also add that the revenue was up if one takes away the tax rebates and deductions)
Tax revenue came in at 6.23 trillion yuan in the January-April period, down 7.6 percent year on year.
Fiscal spending rose 5.9 percent year on year to 8.09 trillion yuan
Of the 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government), 14 saw positive growth after deducting tax rebate factors, while 7 saw single-digit declines. There were 10 regions with a decline of more than 10 percent, mainly due to the impact of the epidemic and other factors.
From January to April, the national general public budget expenditure was 8.93 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.9% over the same period of the previous year. Major livelihood expenditures such as science and technology; agriculture, forestry and water, healthcare; social security and employment, and education increased by 15.5%, 12.9%, 7.5%, 4.4% and 4.1%, respectively. 科学技术、农林水、卫生健康、社会保障和就业、教育支出等重要民生支出分别增长15.5%、12.9%、7.5%、4.4%和4.1%，科学技术、农林水、卫生健康.
Bloomberg’s report on this also has some interesting data:
“The income from deed taxes, which are paid when a property is bought or sold, fell 27.4%, and the income from land sales tumbled nearly 30% in the first four months of 2022 compared to a year earlier, according to the MOF statement. That revenue dropped almost 38% in April alone to the lowest since 2017. Many provinces were already forecasting double-digit declines in land sale revenue this year, including rich areas like Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang. Total revenue from the sale of government land rose 3.5% last year and 16% in 2020. Tax income from vehicle purchases plummeted 28.3% in the first four months of 2022 from a year ago. The lockdown of Shanghai meant not a single car was sold there last month, and nationwide car sales fell the most in two years in April, down almost 36% from a year earlier to 1.06 million units, China Passenger Car Association data released last week showed.”
Next, there’s a piece (related English report and another related report) with comments from Xu Xiaolan, vice-minister of industry and information technology, on support for SME. Xu says that SMEs logged stable growth in the first quarter of 2022, with the combined revenue and profit of major industrial companies up 14.1 percent and 6.5 percent year on year, respectively.
Xu talks about a recent State Council document, which detailed a string of measures to support SMEs. The document said that large State-owned commercial banks will work to increase loans to small and micro enterprises by 1.6 trillion yuan ($237.4 billion) this year. Local governments should also arrange special bailout funds for small, medium-sized and micro enterprises, and provide subsidies for rent, loan interest and other aspects for those facing operational difficulties, the document added. The MIIT will also strengthen its push to include key SMEs on a ‘white list’ to help them resume operations as soon as possible. He added that the ministry will further promote the implementation of the supporting policies, prevent and clear arrears owed to smaller businesses, facilitate the symbiosis of small, medium and large companies, and build a system to nurture high-quality smaller firms.
The report also informs that “by the end of April this year, the balance of loans to small and micro enterprises in China was 53.54 trillion yuan, of which the total amount of inclusive loans to small and micro enterprises was 20.5 trillion yuan, up 21.64% year on year. The number of households with loan balance was 35.7725 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.8124 million.” 截至今年4月末，全国小微企业贷款余额53.54万亿元，其中普惠型小微企业贷款总额20.5万亿元，同比增速21.64%；有贷款余额户数3577.25万户，同比增加781.24万户.
Page 9: On the theory page, the lead piece is by 史丹 - someone from CASS’ Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The basic argument in the piece is that while the economy is facing challenges, things aren’t as bad and it is important to look at the opportunities too. Also, “short-term factors cannot affect the long-term trend” of China’s industrial development.
The author argues that “the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core attaches great importance to the development of the real economy, and has issued a series of policies and measures to create a favourable environment for the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. China has a complete industrial system, a huge scale of production, a complete range of industrial categories, and the production of a large number of intermediate products. China is closely connected with the global industry. The world needs China, and China also needs the world. China is in the midst of a new round of scientific and technological revolution. Greening and digitalisation are becoming new growth points of China’s industry, and they are leading the world in some fields. The upgrading of labour supply and ‘engineer bonus’ have gradually become new advantages to promote China’s industrial transformation and upgrading. China is not only the world’s factory, but also the global industrial consumption centre, which provides great stickiness to those heavy capital and technology-intensive industries that need both industrial support and consumer market.” 以习近平同志为核心的党中央高度重视发展实体经济，出台了一系列政策措施，为制造业高质量发展创造了有利环境。我国拥有完备的产业体系、庞大的生产规模、齐全的产业门类、大量中间产品的生产，与全球产业连接紧密，世界需要中国，中国也需要世界。我国处于新一轮科技革命大潮中，绿色化和数字化正在成为我国工业新的增长点，并且在部分领域处于世界领先地位。劳动力供给升级、“工程师红利”逐渐成为推动我国工业转型升级的新优势。我国既是世界工厂，也是全球工业品消费中心，对那些既需要产业配套又需要消费市场的重资本和技术密集型产业具有较大黏性.
The second section talks about China’s strong manufacturing and industrial capacity. The author says “while factors such as rising labour costs have encouraged labour-intensive industries to move to lower-cost countries, this also reflects China’s improving manufacturing level. At the same time, with the deepening of industrialisation, China’s industrial system has improved, its industrial structure has been upgraded rapidly, and its production and manufacturing level has improved significantly. More high-end manufacturing industries are moving to China. In recent years, although some countries have taken over part of China’s labour-intensive industries, their imports of intermediate products from China have also increased, objectively accelerating the pace of China’s industrial upgrading and enhancing Its position in the global industrial chain and value chain. China’s comparative advantage in economic development is undergoing profound changes. The outward shift of labour-intensive industries will help us concentrate our limited resources on production links with higher added value and form a new and higher level of comparative advantage.” 虽然劳动力成本上升等因素促使劳动密集型产业转移到成本更低的国家，但这也反映出我国制造业水平在不断提高。同时，随着工业化进程深入推进，我国工业体系日益健全、产业结构快速升级、生产制造水平大幅提高，正在承接更多高端制造业转移。近年来，虽然一些国家承接了我国部分劳动密集型产业，但其从我国进口的中间产品也在增长，客观上加速了我国产业升级步伐，提升了我国在全球产业链价值链中的位置。我国经济发展的比较优势正在发生深刻变化，劳动密集型产业向外转移，有利于我们把有限的资源集中在附加值更高的生产环节，形成新的更高水平的比较优势.
The author also argues that efforts by some countries, after the 2008 financial crisis, to bring back manufacturing have not been successful and will not shake China's position as a global manufacturing center. Even the trade war with the US has not had much impact on Chinese enterprises and exports to the United States. “According to a report by Moody’s, around 93 percent of the cost of tariffs has been ‘absorbed’ by the US, with Chinese exporters bearing only 7 percent of the cost.” 2008年国际金融危机爆发以来，一些国家采取多种手段鼓励制造业回流。但由于缺乏发展制造业全产业链的环境，这种回流进展缓慢。而且从产业经济发展规律来看，实现这种回流也需要付出较高成本。因此，一些国家鼓励制造业回流不会动摇我国作为全球制造业中心的地位。在中美贸易摩擦中，美国对中国产品加征关税并没有对中国企业和对美出口造成太大影响，而且美国市场对“中国制造”的“刚需”不断增长。美国评级机构穆迪发布的报告显示，约93%的关税成本被美国自身给“消化”了，中国出口商只承担了其中的7%。近年来，美国对华贸易逆差不降反升.
The next section talks about China’s “remarkable results in innovation,” which has given it a “new comparative advantage.” He writes:
“In 2021, investment in high-tech manufacturing grew rapidly, significantly higher than the average level of the manufacturing industry as a whole and far higher than the growth rate of fixed asset investment nationwide. The growth rate of added value of high-tech manufacturing was 8.6 percentage points higher than that of industrial enterprises above designated size. High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing contributed 28.6 percent and 45 percent, respectively, to the growth of industries above designated size. In the first quarter of this year, the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry above designated size continued to grow at a double-digit rate, 7.7 percentage points higher than that of all industries above designated size, becoming an important support for the transformation and upgrading of the real economy. New industries and forms of business based on new-generation information technology are developing strongly, and China has become globally competitive in some emerging industries, such as new-energy vehicles, solar power generation and 5G. In 2021, the output of industrial robots, integrated circuits, 3D printing equipment and smart watches in China increased by more than 30% year-on-year, and the production and sales of new energy vehicles increased by 1.6 times year-on-year. The development of intelligent manufacturing, intelligent factories, industrial Internet and industrial software has entered the fast lane, and the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry has been accelerated.” 目前，我国创新驱动发展成效显著，工业发展新的竞争优势正在形成。高技术制造业增长持续领先。2021年，高技术制造业投资快速增长，明显高于制造业整体平均水平，远远高于全国固定资产投资增速；高技术制造业增加值增速同比高出规模以上工业增加值8.6个百分点；高技术制造业和装备制造业对规模以上工业增长的贡献率分别达到28.6%和45.0%。今年一季度，规模以上高技术制造业增加值继续保持两位数快速增长，高于全部规模以上工业增加值7.7个百分点，成为带动实体经济转型升级的重要支撑。基于新一代信息技术的新产业、新业态发展势头强劲，在一些新兴产业如新能源汽车、太阳能发电、5G等领域，我国已具备全球竞争力。2021年，我国工业机器人、集成电路、3D打印设备、智能手表产量同比增长均在30%以上，新能源汽车产销量同比均增长1.6倍；智能制造、智能工厂、工业互联网、工业软件的发展进入快车道，制造业数字化转型加快推进.
In the final section, the author says that small, medium and micro enterprises have received effective support; China enjoys the advantage of a super-large market and there are advantages of new factors of production.
The last paragraph calls for:
adhering to a mix of short- and long-term measures to meet industrial development goals
efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. In this, the piece calls for “unswervingly adhering to the general policy of ‘dynamic clearing’.”
improve the international environment for the safe development of the industry
Page 17: On the international page, the lead story makes the point that premature relaxation of epidemic prevention and control has led to a surge in confirmed cases in many countries. The first paragraph makes the core point:
“The WHO recently stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic is still a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, and repeatedly urged governments of all countries to remain vigilant and fully prepared for epidemic prevention. Facts have proved that the policy of ‘lying flat’ epidemic prevention measures adopted by some western countries cannot eliminate the pandemic, and it will put the global public health at great risk, which will have a serious negative impact on the global anti-pandemic process and the recovery of economic and social order.” 世界卫生组织近日强调，新冠肺炎疫情依然是“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”，并多次敦促各国政府在防疫方面仍需保持足够警惕和充分准备。事实证明，西方一些国家的“躺平”防疫消灭不了疫情，还会让全球民众健康处于巨大安全风险之中，给全球抗疫进程和经济社会秩序恢复带来严重负面影响.