By Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

China’s foreign trade has shown strong resilience and vitality this year. In particular, cross-border e-commerce, with its advantages in online transactions, contactless delivery and short transaction chains, has become key to stabilizing foreign trade and promoting consumption.

Recently, China’s State Council approved the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in another 33 cities and regions across the country.

It marks the seventh batch of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce set up in China, as well as the second time the country approves the establishment of such pilot zones this year.

This move has brought the tally to 165, covering 31 provincial-level regions across the country.

Today, these pilot zones have become an ecosystem and carrier for the development of cross-border e-commerce featuring synergetic innovation in institutions, management and services.

They have set up information sharing, financial service, smart logistics, credit, statistical monitoring and risk prevention systems, as well as a policy framework centering around the online platform of single window services and brick-and-mortar industrial parks.

Besides, nearly 70 measures of mature experiences and innovative practices have been promoted nationwide.

Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang province is home to China’s first comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce. Over the past seven years, the city has nurtured 49,000 cross-border e-commerce sellers, who registered over 2,000 trademarks overseas and reported a total export value of 100 billion yuan ($14.24 billion). 

In east China’s Jiangsu province, the average annual growth of the cross-border e-commerce scale reaches more than four times in the past three years, and over 90 industrial parks and incubators have been established. Besides, relevant enterprises in the province have built some 280 overseas warehouses in major markets along the Belt and Road. The prospering cross-border e-commerce sector has injected new impetus into stabilizing Jiangsu’s foreign trade amid COVID-19.

Driven by the pilot zones, China’s cross-border e-commerce enjoyed rapid development. According to statistics released by Chinese customs, the scale of cross-border e-commerce surged nearly tenfold in the past five years. It accounted for 4.9 percent of China’s total foreign trade last year, up from less than 1 percent in 2015.

In 2021, the import and export scale of cross-border e-commerce reached 1.92 trillion yuan, up 18.6 percent year-on-year, marking a consecutive high growth after it made a 25.7 percent stride in 2020.

In the first six months of this year, the import and export transaction volume of the cross-border e-commerce grew 28.6 percent year-on-year to maintain steady and rapid growth.

A batch of small- and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises are embracing the international market thanks to relevant policies rolled out by local governments.

Chinese coffee machine maker HiBREW, turning from original equipment manufacturer to original brand manufacturer, is gaining a reputation in more and more foreign countries; a smart rangefinder made by Chinese tool producer HOTO reported an annual turnover of 4.17 million yuan($600,000); fishing gear producer SeaKnight based in Hangzhou has sold its products to more than 200 countries and regions; WEWATCH, a Chinese tech company specialized in LED projectors, saw its export value reaching 40 million yuan($575,515) from zero in just a year.

Sheng Qiuping, China’s vice minister of commerce, said cross-border e-commerce has significantly lowered the threshold of international trade and involves large numbers of micro- and small-sized entities. So far, over 30,000 enterprises have registered on the online integrated service platform of the comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce, according to him.

Logistics is a key factor in the efficiency and stability of cross-border e-commerce services. Over the recent years, new logistics models have kept emerging, such as overseas warehouses, return center warehouses and high-quality goods warehouses for export. They have become comprehensive service complexes that offer warehousing, logistics, customs clearance, return and exchange, processing and repairing, as well as packaging and distribution services.

According to statistics released by the China’s Ministry of Commerce, the coungtry has built over 2,000 overseas warehouses that cover a total area of 16 million square meters.

Sheng Chaoxun, director of the strategic policy office of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research affiliated with China’s National Development and Reform Commission, told People’s Daily that China’s cross-border e-commerce is in an important development period for innovation. Relevant policies and measures need to be further improved to make overseas warehouses an important pillar for the development of the sector, Sheng explained.

By Wang Yinxin, Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

Ecological research is a task that investigates, monitors and evaluates various types of ecosystems and biological species. It is a key measure to get a clear picture of the ecology, understand its variation, and evaluate the weaknesses and achievements in ecological conservation.

Over the recent years, local authorities across China have made constant efforts to carry out ecological research and innovate investigation methods. The outcomes are widely applied in resource census, policy-making and science popularization, which forcefully drives the progress of ecological conservation.

East China’s Jiangsu province has established a multi-dimensional technical system that integrates water, land and air monitoring methods for water ecological surveys.

The system employs satellite remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and ground monitoring facilities to acquire ecological data for evaluation. Such ecological research is launched multiple times a year covering the province’s major rivers, lakes and sea waters.

During a recent investigation, a UAV was employed by ecological investigators from the environment monitoring center of the Department of Ecology and Environment of Jiangsu province to build a 3D model of a section of the Yangtze River bank. Another one was sent to take water samples at designated locations in the river.

At the same time, a multispectral UAV was launched to examine the vegetation along the banks of the Yangtze River.

“Natural banks play a very important role in water ecology,” said Zhang Yue, an ecological investigator at the environment monitoring center.

Based on data obtained by the multispectral UAV, over 80 percent of the area along the investigated section of the river was covered by vegetation, which indicated sound ecological recovery.

“By inputting over 6,000 photos taken by the 3D-modeling UAV into a software, a 3D model of the investigated section will be built, and then we will work to check and improve the model,” said Zhang.

She told People’s Daily that every model can be compared vertically, which can even tell how many trees are newly planted in parks.

As regards the water samples taken during the investigation, some were used for water quality tests, and the rest for environmental DNA sequencing, a type of analysis that provides clues about the bio-species in the water.

Information technology has significantly facilitated ecological research across China. According to statistics released by the China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, in 2021, China dispatched about 17,000 personnel to 31 provinces and autonomous regions so as to finish monitoring 457,000 sample areas and about 470 million remote detection spots.

In that year, the administration for the first time had realized full coverage of forest, grassland and wetland monitoring in the country.

The Longqi Mountain National Nature Reserve in southeast China’s Fujian province has launched constant biodiversity monitoring programs with infrared cameras and other technologies to provide scientific support for conservation and management. The cameras have captured a number of wildlife species such as black bears and mainland serows in thousands of photos and videos.

Since 2017, the nature reserve has spotted 125 new animal distributions and 27 new plant distributions. It has published biological atlases, built museums and held outdoor education activities to bring more and more people closer to nature.

South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region employs digital information obtaining and analysis methods for the monitoring of grassland resources and ecology. Since 2020, the autonomous region has started using satellite images and base maps for the establishment of observation plots in the grassland resources census, to observe the changes in ecological factors and further analyze the ecological status and annual variation of grasslands.

The autonomous region’s investigation outcomes not only offer data for the evaluation of its ecological services, green development index system and “forest chief” scheme, but also provide basic statistics for relevant departments to make grassland protection and recovery policies.

As more and more technical methods are developed and applied, China will keep enhancing its efforts in ecological protection, monitoring and management.

By Kong Dechen

The Chinese auto industry has hit new highs in terms of exportation. According to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), Chinese vehicle exports set a new record in October with a total of 337,000 Chinese vehicles, up 12.3 percent from September and 46 percent from a year ago.

In the first ten months of 2022, China exported over 2.61 million vehicles, which was also a new record. Over 2.45 million were exported by automakers, up 54.1 percent year-on-year.

This figure, which outnumbered that of Germany, made China the second largest exporter of vehicles during the period, only after Japan, said Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the CAAM.

China is expected to export a total of more than 3 million vehicles this year, Xu added.

Export destinations of Chinese vehicles have been gradually expanded to North America and Europe, from the traditional markets in Africa and the Middle East.

Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association, told People’s Daily that China’s exports of finished automobiles to Europe, North America, and Asia increased rapidly during the January-October period this year, while Mexico, the Philippines and Belgium saw a big rise in the number of imported vehicles from China in October.

The recognition came from the strength of Chinese vehicles and the constantly improving supply chain. Chinese carmakers, continuously enhancing their innovation efforts to better the design of their products, quality control and services, have significantly lifted their competitiveness.

Besides, Chinese enterprises have established supply chain systems overseas including R&D, marketing, logistics, spare parts, manufacturing, finance, and used car supply chain systems, which have also laid a solid foundation for the development of Chinese auto manufacturers in overseas markets.

“Exported vehicles have turned from lower-tier products to higher-tier ones. Their appearance, quality, technologies and marketing strategies can satisfy the diversified market demands around the world,” Cui said.

The exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs) were a highlight. In the first ten months, 499,000 NEVs were exported, surging 96.7 percent year-on-year. China, ranking first in the world for consecutive years in terms of the production and sales of NEVs, has entered a new period of global market expansion.

The robust performance of NEVs was a major force driving the high-quality growth in vehicle exports.

Major ports in China witnessed the global expansion of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and relevant industrial chains. In the first three quarters of this year, the exports of EVs via the north Chinese port city of Tianjin skyrocketed 667.7 percent year on year. In the same period, the combined exports of electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries and solar batteries via Shanghai surged 143.3 percent from a year ago.

According to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs, 34 percent of the new energy passenger vehicles exported by China went to Western Europe in the first half of 2022. In particular, Belgium is the largest export destination for Chinese NEVs during this period. The European market has become a major emerging export destination for Chinese EVs.

Given the rapid rise in exports and the constantly improving competitiveness of products, the Chinese automobile industry has entered a new stage.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with other relevant departments, rolled out 17 specific measures, including further expanding automobile consumption, continuing the exemption of NEV purchase tax and launching pilot programs to electrify all public vehicles in some cities.

Experts estimated that as the 17 measures are implemented, Chinese automakers will achieve the goal to produce 10 million vehicles overseas and export 5 million from home each year in 2031.