There has been a sharp surge in searches for flights to Cuba, rising 30-fold month-on-month according to data from travel platform Fliggy, with direct flights between China and Cuba set to resume on Friday.
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai are among China's top cities in terms of travelers seeking flights to Cuba, the platform said. It comes after Cuba's recent announcement of a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports.
Direct flights between China and Cuba are set to resume on Friday, operated by Air China, according to Cuba's Minister for Tourism Juan Carlos Garcia.
The flights will provide a seamless travel experience, with transit through Spain, eliminating the need for a transit visa and enhancing convenience for travelers between China and Cuba, Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Xinhua reported on May 5 that Cuba's tourism industry has been creating travel products specifically for Chinese tourists since the visa exemption was announced, citing Cuba's minister for tourism.
The eagerness for travel between China and Cuba reflects the desire in both countries to promote personal exchanges and foster closer ties, Pan added.
US carmaker Tesla’s mega battery plant in Shanghai has obtained a construction permit, making it the first energy storage mega project outside the US. The plant is expected to enter mass production in the first quarter of 2025.
Megapack is a powerful battery that provides energy storage and support, helping to stabilize the grid supply and prevent outages.
The new mega project was included in a new project service pack in Lingang New Area within the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, meaning the enterprises there can directly contact responsible departments for a more efficient response and problem-solving mechanism since the early start, said Min Zhiguang, an official from Lingang.
The giant battery plant, covering a total area of 200,000 square meters and with an investment of 1.45 billion yuan ($200.27 million), plans to produce 10,000 Megapack units annually with a total energy storage scale of up to 40 gigawatt-hours. Each of the unit can store more than 3 megawatt-hours of electricity, which can be integrated into the renewable power system, peak demand management and other multi-scenario applications, local officials said.
In contrast to the US government’s stubborn efforts to suppress China’s emerging industries, the streamlined granting of the construction permit by Shanghai is just another example showcasing China’s earnest efforts to attract foreign investment.
Thanks to China’s bid to continuously optimize business environment and high-quality opening-up, foreign businesses are confident in the Chinese economy and remain committed to expanding their operations in the Chinese market, many business leaders from Asia, Europe and North America told the Global Times at a global trade and investment promotion summit in Beijing on Monday, which drew participants from over 30 countries and regions.
As the Biden administration reportedly plans to impose additional tariffs on EVs, semiconductors, solar panels and medical supplies imported from China, experts noted that the protectionist move only reveals its defensive mindset and its struggle in competing with China's new-energy industry, and the US protectionism will backfire.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials criticized the US government’s ill-intended smearing of China's economic growth prospects and US officials’ seeking to suppress China's leading industries with absurd claims such as "overcapacity."
China saw a surge in domestic tourist trips during the five-day May Day holidays, with nearly 300 million trips taken within the country, reflecting the growing momentum in the country's economic recovery.
According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there were 295 million domestic trips reported during the May Day holidays, up 7.6 percent year-on-year and 28.2 percent higher than 2019.
Domestic tourism spending also saw a significant increase, reaching 166.89 billion yuan ($23.51 billion), a 12.7 percent year-on-year rise and a 13.5 percent increase from 2019.
The growth rate in tourism trips and spending during the May Day holidays surpassed that of other major holidays such as the Qingming Festival and the Spring Festival, indicating a strong recovery in tourism and domestic consumption, experts said.
Cross-border travel boom
In addition to domestic travel, China also saw a significant increase in inbound and outbound trips during the May Day holidays, with more than 3.67 million trips recorded. Favorable policies such as the resumption of flights and measures to facilitate international payment contributed to the rapid recovery of the tourism industry.
Popular destinations for outbound tourism from China included Singapore, Japan, Thailand, the US and South Korea, while top source countries for foreign tourists visiting China included South Korea, Japan, and the UK.
The major Chinese platforms saw a boom in inbound and outbound orders. Trip.com reported a staggering 105 percent year-on-year growth in inbound tourism orders. According to Alipay, during the 2024 May Day holidays, the use of Alipay by inbound tourists with foreign cards increased by seven times compared to the previous year.
Tuniu.com reported a 190 percent rise in outbound tourism trips on the platform. Fliggy, a domestic travel platform under Alibaba, reported a doubling in overseas hotel bookings compared to last year, as well as a 15-fold increase in cruise trip orders year-on-year.
New forms of cultural and tourism consumption, such as immersive night tours and camping, also gained popularity during this year's May Day holidays. National-level night cultural and tourism consumption venues saw a total of 72.58 million visits, up 6.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
The national box office also saw significant growth during the May Day holidays, reaching 1.527 billion yuan with 37.77 million moviegoers, exceeding figures from the same period last year.
It is worth noting that the growth in travel and tourism spending during the May Day holidays surpassed other major holidays so far this year, highlighting Chinese people's increasing desire to travel and spend amid accelerated consumption recovery, Yang Chang, chief analyst at Zhongtai Securities Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday.
The May Day holidays saw a significant increase in domestic travel with 295 million trips, marking a growth of 28.2 percent compared to 2019. This surge in travel surpasses the 11.5 percent growth during the Qingming Festival and the 19.0 percent growth during the Spring Festival, indicating a further recovery in domestic tourism willingness.
Domestic tourists spent a total of 166.89 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5 percent compared to 2019. This growth rate is significantly higher than the 12.7 percent increase during the Qingming Festival and the 7.7 percent increase during the Spring Festival.
The resilience of China's economy was on full display during the May Day holidays, Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Monday. He dismissed claims from foreign media that the Chinese economy's growth has hit its ceiling.
"The improving economic outlook is giving people more confidence in their future financial situation. The significant increase in the number of people choosing to travel also reflects their confidence in China's economic growth," Li said.
Additionally, the increase in the number of international tourists traveling to China during the May Day holidays also sends a positive signal on the current development momentum of the Chinese economy, prompting their desire to come to China and experience its progress, Li said.
The tourism and consumption activities during the May Day holidays play a vital role in stimulating the economy by unleashing demand. This will further boost production in a beneficial mechanism, pushing the economy to work at full capacity, Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday.
China's first-quarter retail sales jumped 4.7 percent year-on-year to 12.03 trillion yuan, underscoring stable consumption expansion after a surge in consumer spending during the Spring Festival holidays.
Following a 4.7 percent growth in the first quarter, there is still potential for further consumer spending growth, experts said, expecting the implementation of consumer product trade-ins to continue to drive consumer spending recovery and provide new impetus to propel the world's second-largest economy.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, during the 2024 May Day holidays, the sales of key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased by 6.8 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales of automobiles, household appliances and furniture were up by 4.8 percent, 7.9 percent, and 4.6 percent respectively, as a result of trade-in campaigns.
Cao expects total retail sales of consumer goods in the second quarter to increase by over 7 percent, driving GDP growth between 5.4 and 5.5 percent.
China's GDP growth rate beat market expectations to reach 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, bringing a good start to the year and laying a strong foundation for achieving the annual development targets.
Many localities in China have recently launched major investment projects for the second quarter, with a focus on new quality productive forces, and observers believe the trend will help stabilize overall investment in the period.
Analysts said on Wednesday that the new wave of major projects, along with an emphasis by localities on developing new quality productive forces, expanding domestic demand and improving the business environment, is to inject momentum into the economic recovery in the second quarter.
South China's economic powerhouse city Shenzhen started work on 236 projects slated for the second quarter with total investment of 176.65 billion yuan ($24.45 billion). Among those breaking ground on Wednesday were 51 industrial projects and 85 infrastructure projects.
On Tuesday, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region called for further development of eight industrial clusters including oil and gas, green mining and new materials, and speeding up the development of strategic and emerging industries.
Localities including Central China's Hubei Province, East China's Anhui Province and Northwest China's Shaanxi Province have all held meetings to summarize economic work in the first quarter, and rolled out new projects for the second quarter with total investment exceeding the trillion-yuan mark.
Analysts noted the intense launch of projects will further fuel economic growth and overall investment - including foreign investment - in the second quarter.
Pan Helin, a Guangzhou-based economist, told the Global Times on Wednesday that these projects are being given special attention by local governments as they will form the nodes of regional economic development, aligning industrial chains and contributing to the build-up of industrial clusters. The overall result will be enhanced competitiveness in the corporate sector.
Pan predicted that fixed-asset investment could grow as fast as about 5 percent during the second quarter, gaining pace from the January-March period, as the industrial sector contributed much of the momentum.
In the first quarter, fixed-asset investment rose by 4.5 percent to 10 trillion yuan, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in April.
"In the second quarter, manufacturing and infrastructure will remain the ballast stone to underpin the recovery," Zhou Maohua, a macroeconomist at China Everbright Bank, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Zhou noted that consumption is still in a recovery process, while investment into the property sector has abated.
Along with the faster roll-out of special-purpose bonds for local governments and the implementation of trade-in programs for equipment upgrades and consumer goods, as well as robust automobile production and sales, it is expected that fixed-asset investment may grow at a faster pace in the second quarter, Zhou said.
The Chinese economy got off to a good start in 2024, with first-quarter GDP exceeding estimates to grow at 5.3 percent year-on-year.
The country also recorded a brisk number of trips, spending data and box-office revenue during the just-ended five-day May Day holidays, reflecting growing momentum in the country's economic recovery.
Experts noted that efforts to further improve the business environment are equally important, as they allow for further vitality of market entities.
China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) announced on Friday that it has allowed, effective immediately, the import of Hungarian fresh cherries that meet relevant requirements.
It is part of the achievements during Chinese top leader's state visit to Hungary from Wednesday to Friday, during which the two sides have elevated ties to all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership and reached a number of deals in cooperation involving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), finance, green development, agriculture, tourism and culture.
As China's imports of fresh cherries jump significantly, it is expected that Hungarian fresh cherries will gradually claim a foothold in the fast-growing Chinese market, an industry insider said.
Last year, China's cherry trade reached 351,200 tons, up 77.69 percent from the reading in 2019, data from Chinese research firm Zhiyan Consultancy showed. Among which, China imported 348,100 tons of fresh cherries. And the country roughly consumes 22.7 percent of the global cherry output in 2022, the world's largest market.
In addition to Hungary, about 11 countries and regions have also obtained quarantines access qualification for cherry exports to China to date, including Chile, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.
Observers also said the expanding agricultural trade could be a new growth point in driving the overall trade between China and Hungary, who are each other's major trading partners. Currently, China is Hungary's largest trading partner outside of Europe, while Hungary is one of China's main trading partners in the Central and Eastern European region. Hungary is also one of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) with the largest number of agricultural product export permits to China.
According to the joint statement on the establishment of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era released by China and Hungary on Thursday, the two sides recognized the huge potential in agricultural cooperation between them and the sound progress made under the framework of the China-CEEC agricultural cooperation mechanism.
The two sides have vowed to utilize the China-Hungary high-level working group on agriculture and other mechanisms, in order to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation between agricultural enterprises of both sides, widen market access, promote the cooperation of "small and beautiful" projects, and strengthen cooperation in areas such as animal health and joint research and development of deep processing technologies for agricultural products.
China's GAC has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on animal and plant quarantine for import and export with Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture during the top leader's visit.
The bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary in 2023 reached $14.52 billion, an increase of 73 percent compared with that in 2013, according to the China-Hungary Investment and Cooperation Report.
Xu Feihong, the newly appointed Chinese ambassador to India, arrived in New Delhi on Friday. With the position vacant for 18 months, the arrival of a new ambassador presents a valuable opportunity for both countries to enhance communication, minimize misunderstandings, and reduce misjudgments, analysts said, noting that Xu's assumption of office is also a positive factor toward fostering the return of bilateral relations to a path of healthy and stable development.
Officials from the Protocol Division of Ministry of External Affairs of India, Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Ambassador of Eritrea to India H.E. Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam and Minister Ma Jia, Minister Wang Lei, Minister Counselor Chen Jianjun from the Chinese Embassy greeted Ambassador Xu and his wife Tan Yuxiu at the airport, according to a release from the Chinese Embassy in India.
Xu is the 17th Chinese ambassador to India. Since former ambassador Sun Weidong left his position, the post of Chinese ambassador to India has been vacant for 18 months, marking the longest vacancy since the restoration of mutual ambassadorial appointments between China and India in 1976.
The official WeChat account of the Chinese Embassy in India published Sun's farewell speech on October 25, 2022. On November 23 of the same year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website announced that Sun, in his capacity as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with Mongolia's ambassador to China.
Xu is a veteran diplomat with experience in several countries. According to the website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as the deputy director-general of the Department of the European Affairs, the ambassador to Afghanistan, the deputy director-general of the Department of Personnel of the Foreign Ministry, the ambassador to Romania and director of the Department of Service for Foreign Ministry Home and Overseas Offices. From 2021 to 2023, he served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Xu's assumption of office as the Chinese ambassador to India has caught attention. Before departing for India, Xu told media about his top priority tasks after taking office, saying that he would adhere to the important consensus between the leaders of the two countries, reach out to friends from all walks of life in India, sincerely enhance mutual understanding and trust, make efforts to restore exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and create favorable conditions for the healthy and stable development of China-India relations. Ambassador Xu's selection from among senior officials of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights China's significant commitment to bilateral relations, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Friday.
Qian also noted that Ambassador Xu's assumption of office coincides with a crucial period in China-Indian relations. India is currently undergoing elections and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed a positive attitude toward China-Indian relations before the elections.
In an interview with Newsweek in April, Modi said that "we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us." He also noted that stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for not just the two countries but the entire region and world.
After the Galwan Valley conflict of June 2020, tensions between China and India escalated, and the China-India bilateral relations, which have been influenced by border conflicts, have remained at a relatively low level with multiple destabilizing factors. However, despite ongoing differences, the two countries have maintained dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, including talks between militaries and border negotiations, to prevent confrontations, analysts said.
Ambassador Xu's coming to India will help enhance communication between China and India, reducing misunderstandings and miscalculations, and promote the bilateral relations back to a track of healthy and stable development, said Qian, also urging India to seize the opportunity to work with China and jointly improve bilateral relations.
Chinese researchers have discovered a new species of impatiens in southwest China's Guizhou Province and named it Impatiens beipanjiangensis.
The yellow flowers are described in a paper published in a recent edition of the journal PhytoKeys.
The species is named after the Beipanjiang River Basin in Panzhou City, where a team of botanists first found the specimen in October 2019 during a field survey, said Xu Jian, a member of the team and a researcher with the Guizhou Botanical Garden.
Botanists have so far located about 5,100 plants of the species mostly in the humid valley environment 1,300-1,500 meters above sea level.
The new species, which flowers in October and November, is similar to some other impatiens species in morphology but has significant differences in its sepals, pollen, seed, and other traits, according to researchers.
As the defense chiefs of the US, Australia, Japan and the Philippines are set to meet again in early May in a meeting that is believed to focus on South China Sea issues, Chinese analysts warned on Sunday the quadrilateral clique is unsustainable and bound to show cracks and divisions as their moves will ultimately lead to a deterioration of the Philippines' strategic security environment.
According to Japanese media outlet The Mainichi Shimbun, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said Friday he is set to hold a meeting with his counterparts from the US, Australia and the Philippines in Hawaii during his visit from May 2 to 4, citing "China's increasing maritime assertiveness" in the Asia-Pacific region.
It will be the second quadrilateral gathering of those defense ministers since June 2023, when the defense chiefs held a meeting in Singapore on the fringes of the annual Asia Security Conference known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, The Mainichi Shimbun reported.
During his regular Friday press conference, Kihara said they will share their understanding of the regional security environment and common challenges, along with discussing measures to improve collaboration among the four countries.
The US Naval Institute (USNI) News reported on Friday that Kihara and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro are likely to discuss next steps following the joint patrol in the South China Sea earlier this month.
On April 7, the four countries carried out their first full-scale joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, which analysts said was a highly defiant and aggressive muscle-flexing move against China amid the rising tensions between Beijing and Manila.
Chinese analysts predict that during the upcoming quadrilateral defense talks, the main discussions are likely to cover plans for future joint exercises, training, rotational deployment of troops and short-term deployments in the region, with a focus on the South China Sea.
The US is clearly trying to rally its allies - Japan and Australia - to support the Philippines, encourage the Philippines to engage in more military provocations in the South China Sea, exacerbate the complexity of the regional situation, and then find excuses to strengthen the military presence of the US, Japan and Australia in the South China Sea, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert and media commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Wei warned that the involvement of external countries and forces in South China Sea issues will only further complicate the situation in the region, and flaunting their military power will not only affect normal regional cooperation but may also lead to conflicts.
But those provocative moves will ultimately lead to a deterioration of the Philippines' strategic security environment. Once the Philippines realizes this, this military clique is bound to show cracks and divisions, Wei said.
It is believed that the Japanese defense minister will voice a tough message on the issues during his visit to Hawaii.
The Mainichi Shimbun, citing government officials, revealed that Kihara is also arranging bilateral and trilateral talks with Austin and Marles.
Within the framework of the "Indo-Pacific Strategy," the US wants to maximize the use of Japan's military forces as a pawn. Therefore, regarding South China Sea issues, Japan's subsequent military actions will become more proactive, more aggressive and may involve more provocations, Wei believes.
Following in the military footsteps of the US, Japan's flaunting of military power and strengthening of its military presence, especially in the hot spots within the South China Sea, will undoubtedly lead to increased distrust from its neighboring countries, Wei said. He also warned that Japan's expanding military ambitions will further exacerbate the escalation of hot-button issues.
