More than 3,000 stone tools have been unearthed during the latest excavations at the Piluo site, a large-scale Paleolithic site that can be traced back to more than 200,000 years ago in Daocheng county, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, reported by the Sichuan TV on Monday.
The Piluo site, located at the southeastern foothills of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau at an altitude of about 3,750 meters, has revealed more than 15,000 stone artifacts, including hand axes and thin-blade axes, since the commencement of the archaeological excavations in April 2021.
The latest phase, kicking off in July, is the third of its kind and covers approximately 150 square meters, providing archaeologists with crucial materials to comprehend the stratigraphic accumulation, artifact distribution and stone tool making across different regions of the site, according to the report.
Tan Peiyang, a deputy director of the Old Stone Age archaeology research institute at the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that during this year's excavation, they found out that some areas had layers less than a meter thick, while others had layers as thick as seven to eight meters.
This variability allowed them to construct a chronological framework spanning from 200,000 years ago to tens of thousands of years ago, Tan added.
The Piluo site not only unravels the layers of history but also presents a continuous cultural sequence, showcasing the evolution of stone tool technology during the Paleolithic era.
One notable finding is the "Acheulean technology deposits," consisting of hand axes, thin-blade axes, picks and stone knives, making it the world's highest-altitude Acheulean technology site, which also demonstrates the ability, methods and historical progression of ancient humans in conquering high-altitude extreme environments as early as 200,000 years ago, the report said.
"Tools like the Acheulean hand axes represent the first standardized tool in human history. With a symmetrical, teardrop-shaped design, these artifacts not only served practical purposes but also exhibited aesthetic features. This technological advancement reflects a significant shift in early human cognition," Tan noted.
During the excavation, the archaeological team conducted systematic surveys of the surrounding areas, discovering multiple Paleolithic sites, with the highest at elevations surpassing 4,300 meters.
The Piluo site's archaeological pavilion, integrating excavation, exhibition and research functions, is set to open in June 2024, the report said.
The discoveries at Piluo site have been listed as one of China's top 10 archaeological revelations of 2021, recognized by the National Cultural Heritage Administration.
The US is plagued with a drug abuse problem more acute than any other countries as 12 percent of global drug users come from the North American country, two times higher than the proportion of its population.
Provisional data indicates that nearly 110,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2022, the highest of all time, and more than two-thirds of the deaths involved the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, as per US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, the Associated Press reported.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, when visiting China in late August, claimed that US hopes to cooperate with China to tackle the rapidly increasing rates of fentanyl overdoses. However, the country simultaneously keeps scapegoating China on the issue, imposing sanctions and filing criminal charges against Chinese enterprises and individuals.
Through an investigation into the US' opioid crisis which reveals the country's legislative and law enforcement failures over the decades, the Global Times found that the US is disinclined to find a radical cure, while scapegoating China as a conduit for mounting anger in American society. All this serves the US' strategic rivalry with China.
Painkiller becomes source of pain
There is nothing new under the sun, and the US' fentanyl crisis is a continuation of its forbearer Oxycodone, a strong, semi-synthetic opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain.
The Netflix TV drama Painkiller released in 2023, adapted from a book published in 2003, revealed how the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma colluded with US medicinal regulators and developed aggressive marketing tactics to promote its brand name product OxyContin, an extended-release form of Oxycodone, as less likely to cause addiction, raking in tens of millions of dollars.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), charged with the responsibility of prescription drug use regulation, gave OxyContin the green light in 1995 even though neither long-term studies nor assessments of its addictive capabilities had been thoroughly conducted.
Two principal FDA reviewers who originally approved Purdue's application both took positions at the company after leaving the agency. In the following two decades, more FDA staffers involved in opioid approvals left the FDA to work for opioid makers, according to the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.
Purdue offered kickbacks, paid lecturers, and organized free seminar vacations to doctors to incentivize them to prescribe OxyContin, leading to a tenfold increase in prescriptions for less serious pain, from about 670,000 in 1997 to about 6.2 million in 2002. As Purdue earned billions of dollars from oxycodone sales, other drug companies took note; when the numerous unnecessary prescriptions were given to chronic pain patients, addiction and overdose deaths soared.
The US' healthcare system also contributed - "Most insurance, especially for poor people, won't pay for anything but a pill," said Judith Feinberg, a professor at West Virginia University with expertise in infectious diseases associated with drug injection.
The US Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 11 million people in the US consume oxycodone in a non-medical way annually.
Although Purdue was ultimately brought to justice, addicts are not redeemed. The large, ever expanding group of drug dependence, without proper social support and intervention, easily became the victims of new, more powerful drugs - fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is also FDA-approved and up to 50 and 100 times stronger than heroine and morphine respectively.
Fentanyl, the cheaper to make yet more lethal drug and its close cousins became the biggest drug-related killers in the US in 2016, the Associated Press reported.
The media has reported on how drug users addicted to other substances unknowingly ingest fentanyl, as local dealers sell "traditional" products like cocaine "cut" with fentanyl, or pills containing fentanyl that are "advertised as legitimate prescription drugs."
Incapable legislation, enforcement
With around 4 percent of the world's population, the US consumes 80 percent of the world's opioids.
Why is the US?
The US' drug problem, including the current fentanyl abuse crisis, is deeply rooted in the country's lobbying political structure and ideology, said Zhang Yifei, an associate research fellow at the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The colossal profits bundle pharmaceutical companies with the FDA, sponsored politicians, academic groups, and the media, making the fentanyl crisis a predictable tragedy in the US that has enriched a few at the expense of many lives lost, Zhang said.
Academic institutions provide "scientific proof," media and think tanks propagate said proof, and drug makers lobby the government - this is a very complete and mature chain, Zhang elaborated, "They have various ways to exchange rights and interests through the 'revolving door' system."
Zhang also pointed to "the pan-liberalism trend in the US, which emphasizes the absolute freedom of individuals."
US governments, be they federal or state, are incapable of exercising effective regulation on many issues, although some of them, like drugs and guns, have endangered the public, Zhang said.
When the public demands for freedom of marijuana use, governments and drug companies "hear" these calls and legalize the drug, milking profits from sales. Even in states where marijuana remains illegal, its use is prevalent and law enforcement efforts to curb use are almost nonexistent.
A Chinese national who used to live in North Carolina, told the Global Times that it is common to see people "getting high" in public in broad daylight when the drug is illegal.
In the same way, only until the fentanyl crisis becomes so critical that the public demands for action to be taken, will the government finally act. The first fentanyl-related act passed in Congress in 2017, four years after lawmakers receiving alert on the drug. When actions are finally taken, they cannot avoid the trap of US' political wrestling.
Lawmakers, during the US' 2023 legislative session, introduced over 600 bills related to fentanyl. However, in a deeply divided country, many of the fentanyl crime laws are notable for attracting bipartisan support, the New York Times reported in June. When Republican-controlled House reviewed a bill on fentanyl trafficking in May, 132 of the 133 vetoes came from Democrats.
Another incongruous approach is the use of "safer" supervised consumption services (SCS) through which people can use pre-obtained drugs "safety" with the support of trained personnel. Funded by public money, it is hard to say whether such facilities can curb overdoses more than treating those with an addiction, not to mention such "legal sites" can mislead youth to believe addiction and drug use are nothing to worry.
Zeng Lidu, a grassroots narcotic control officer in Central China's Hunan Province, told the Global Times that the US approach of control sounds "odd" in China, which, as one of the countries with the most effective drug control, closely monitors the maker rather than potential user.
"Fentanyl has variable structures, making it more difficult than the traditional drugs to crack down on," Zeng told the Global Times. "In our district, only a few chemical plants and hospitals are allowed the use of fentanyl under close supervision. We trace and regulate every step in their use, transportation, and storage of fentanyl."
Experts told the Global Times that many fentanyl precursors are widely used in the chemical industry. China, as a chemical giant, does not have a fentanyl abuse problem at home, which says a lot about the root cause of the American drug disease.
Not cooperation but scapegoating
Out of humanitarianism, China is willing to cooperate with the US in tackling the proliferation of fentanyl and has established a cooperation mechanism with the US on the issue.
China scheduled and controlled all fentanyl-related substance by class in 2019 - the first country to do so in the world, while the US itself is yet to do the same. China formulated three legal documents to support the filing, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenses involving these substances. To reinforce fentanyl testing and monitoring, five sub-centers of the National Drug Laboratory have been established across the country.
But the US in 2020 unilaterally and arbitrarily imposed sanctions on the institute of forensic science under China's Ministry of Public Security and National Drug Laboratory, severely jeopardizing related cooperation.
A new vilification of China popular in the US is that Chinese firms sell commonly used chemicals to a third country, such as Mexico, where fentanyl is manufactured and later sold to the US. Citing this, the US has sanctioned Chinese companies, even including tablet press machine makers.
Analysts stressed the "know your customer" practice that some in the US have been asking about far exceeds UN obligations. According to international practices, it is up to the importing country to ensure that imported goods are not used for illegal purposes, not the exporter. China has no sovereign right over a third country, and Chinese companies are not capable of verifying all buyers of its product.
Zhang Yifei said scapegoating China on fentanyl is an easy and convenient approach for the US government to unleash domestic anger against ineffective drug control.
Through distorted coverage on the issue, domestic media outlets successfully sell "China responsible" narrative to Americans at home. By repeatedly hyping the narrative at international occasions, the US also adds fentanyl into its recipe cooking "China threat."
In this sense, fentanyl is essentially same to long-term smear campaign against China on many topics including human rights in Xinjiang region, Zhang said.
As the presidential elections approach, blaming China for its domestic social handicaps as a political tactic sounds ridiculous, but quite a number of US politicians and voters buy this logic, Zhang noted. As the US' domestic political infighting escalates, chance of cooperation on this area which the US is in urgent need of, may narrow even further.
Saltwater intrusion in Vietnam's Mekong Delta is forecast to come early this year, Vietnam News reported Thursday.
Localities in the region are preparing plans to ensure adequate water for the winter-spring rice harvest and reduce the damage inflicted by drought and salinity, according to the report.
The rainy season this year is predicted to have remained in the delta only in the previous and the current months, concluding midway through next month.
The early end of the rainy season leads to anticipated water shortage in local farming areas.
Throughout the dry spell of this year and the next, the intrusion of saltwater is expected to appear a month sooner than the multi-year average, commencing in mid to late December.
According to the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research, the total rainfall this year is forecast to be about 1,350 mm, only 1 percent higher than 2015, which saw severe drought, and about 13 percent lower than the average of many years.
Vietnam's Mekong Delta region, which comprises 12 provinces and Can Tho City, is normally affected by saltwater intrusion from the sea during the dry season which lasts from December to April.
In the severely dry season from 2015 to 2016, saltwater intrusion and drought caused the loss of 1 million tons of paddy in the delta, and 500,000 households in the delta suffered a shortage of daily use water.
While terrorist attacks and violence linked to racial division continue to increase in Europe and the US, Chinese experts warned on Tuesday that the Israel-Palestine conflict has brought to light the deep-rooted divisions within Western societies, as well as the contradictions of ethnic antagonism, and the Western countries should reflect on this, rather than evade the problem.
Two Swedish nationals were shot to death and a third one was wounded in central Brussels on Monday night, and a man who identified himself as a member of the Islamic State claimed responsibility in a video posted online, Reuters reported.
The suspected assailant fled the scene after the shooting spree as a soccer match between Belgium and Sweden was about to start, prompting Belgium to raise its terror alert to the highest level. Hours later on Tuesday, Belgian police said that the suspected gunman was shot dead by police in a cafe, Reuters reported.
The shooting comes at a time of heightened security concerns in some European countries linked to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
A man of Chechen origin stabbed to death a teacher and severely wounded two other adults on Friday at a school in northeastern France, an act that President Emmanuel Macron denounced as "Islamist terror," said AFP.
What's more, an Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother was charged with a hate crime after police and relatives said he singled out the victims because of their faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
"Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," the sheriff's statement said.
Experts believed that the Israel-Palestine conflict is the trigger, but the deep divisions in the societies of the US and Europe are the source of increased ethnic hatred. Such a division will inevitably affect the strategic coordination and strategic autonomy between the US and Europe.
In recent days, police in US cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by anti-semitic or Islamophobic sentiments. FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric.
Because Western societies have maintained an attitude of taking sides concerning the issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the existing disputes between the two countries have intensified, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The US and Europe are most affected because the problem was actually created by the two, Li noted. "The US and Europe need to face up to and resolve their own divisions first, rather than evading problems and stirring up conflict elsewhere."
The international pressure to push Israel to stop collective punishment in the Gaza Strip has been mounting with the death toll of this round of conflict surpassing 10,000. Following Bolivia's decision to suspend ties with Israel, analysts said other nations would move to apply diplomatic pressure on Israel and the US to allow a truce.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Bolivia's deputy foreign minister Freddy Mamani Machaca stated that his nation "decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip." According to media reports, two other South American countries, Colombia and Chile, have recalled their ambassadors from Israel.
Jordan on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to Israel in protest of Jerusalem's conduct in the war against Hamas, the foreign ministry in Amman announced, media reported.
Bolivia was one of the first nations to sever diplomatic ties with Israel in response to the latter's military activities in Gaza. Together with Chile and Colombia, their actions aim to express discontent to Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and show solidarity and support for the Palestinian people, Tian Wenlin, a professor at School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
In 2009, under the government of leftist President Evo Morales, Bolivia also cut ties with Israel in protest against Israel's actions in Gaza. In 2020, the government of right-wing interim President Jeanine Anez reestablished the ties. Bolivia, Chile and Colombia all have leftist governments.
On Wednesday, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lior Haiat said in a post on X that Bolivia is aligning itself with Hamas.
Many of the leftist governments and leaders in the area have chosen to support the underprivileged and base their diplomatic decisions on justice. Moreover, as the Global South has grown and the West declines, more countries from the Global South are gaining strategic autonomy and fighting to protect international law's legitimacy and fairness, said Tian.
Bolivia, Chile, and Colombia have all brought up the important topic of international law in relation to the current state of affairs in Gaza. For example, Chile Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it decided to recall its ambassador "in the face of the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip."
Although these are drastic measures to express disapproval of Israel's activities, severing ties and withdrawing diplomats are not uncommon in the Middle East. Also, nations whose relations with Israel are frozen may decide to do the same, said Tian.
In addition, Arab nations with diplomatic ties to Israel would come under increased pressure if the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsened. It's also possible that some of these nations may sever ties with Israel in order to placate domestic public sentiment, said the expert.
For Arab nations that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, deciding whether to sever ties can be more difficult because normalizing relations required a lot of work and they must also take the US into account. However, it is obvious that future negotiations between Israel and other Arab nations on normalization will be more challenging, Li Weijian, a research fellow with the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times.
Before Hamas' sudden attack at Israel on October 7, Saudi Arabia and Israel were on a US-brokered negotiation on normalization of relations. However, Saudi Arabia decided to pause the negotiation and informed US officials, AFP reported on October 14.
Growing call for ceasefire
As of press time on Wednesday, the death toll from both Gaza and Israel has surpassed 10,000 in this round of conflict. According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, 8,525 have died and among them, 3,542 were children and 2,187 women, while 21,543 other people were injured.
Israel continued its ground operation in Gaza. On Tuesday, an Israeli air strike is reported to have killed 50 people at Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to the Gaza-based health ministry. But a nearby hospital said it received 400 casualties, including 120 dead.
On Tuesday, the Arab world condemned Israeli airstrikes on the refugee camp. In a Foreign Ministry statement, the United Arab Emirates condemned "the severity of the bombing carried out by Israel on the Jabalia camp in the Gaza Strip, stressing that "the continuation of the senseless bombing will lead the region to repercussions that are difficult to remedy."
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that China is shocked with the great casualties of civilians in the airstrike and strongly condemns such action.
China urges all parties concerned, especially the Israeli side, to maintain maximum calm and restraint, effectively implement the UN General Assembly resolution adopted on October 27, immediately cease fire, fully protect civilians, open up corridors for humanitarian assistance as soon as possible, and avoid an even worse humanitarian disaster, Wang said.
Wang emphasized that China will continue to play an active and constructive role in promoting ceasefire, ensuring the safety of civilians, and pushing for an early comprehensive, just, and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question within the United Nations Security Council.
While China and the international community are intensifying efforts in pushing for a ceasefire, the US continues its one-sided support to Israel. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the US does not believe that a ceasefire "is the right answer right now."
The US has been feeling greater stress from the international community as criticism of the Biden administration on the issue has grown, said Li.
There have been growing protests against US' one-sided backing of Israel in recent days. On Tuesday, demonstrators covered in fake blood disrupted US Secretary Antony Blinken's hearing on Israel in order to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and demand that the US halt "supporting genocide," causing disruption in the US Congress, according to media reports.
Israel may continue its operations in the Gaza Strip with the aim of destroying Hamas, but it will encounter additional challenges, including the moral weight of mounting international criticism and the challenges of conducting ground operations in Gaza. Israel may decide to cease if the ground operation has not gone well and resulted in significant losses, but it won't stop for now, said Tian
According to some observers, ongoing military operations in Gaza would only worsen the humanitarian issue and harm Israel's reputation internationally. More humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is poised to occur as the US takes little action to halt it.
The US, the EU and the rest of the international community are deeply divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The world is also made aware of the US and the West's double standards and hypocrisy by the stark contrast between their actions and their boasts of human rights, said Tian, noting that the US has completely lost its credibility.
On Thursday afternoon, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again expressed its strong opposition after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hastily released the comprehensive assessment report on the dump plan of nuclear-contaminated wastewater of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs further reiterated three points at a press conference on Thursday. Firstly, Japan focuses more on saving cost instead of safeguarding marine environment and protecting people's life and health. Second, Japan did not have full consultation with the international community especially with stakeholders. Third, the dumping plan is a gamble with no precedent and it is full of uncertainties.
After the IAEA released its assessment report on Tuesday, relevant government ministries in China expressed strong opposition.
China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment (National Nuclear Safety Administration) said it has deployed environmental monitoring for marine radiation levels and will issue an early warning in time to effectively safeguard the interests of the country and the public health in case of any abnormalities.
Deng Ge, secretary general of the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) told the media on Tuesday that the safety report by the IAEA on the Japanese government's plan to dump Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater failed to fully reflect the opinions of all experts involved in the review and the conclusions were limited and biased.
Liu Senlin, an expert with the CAEA, who participated in the IAEA's technical working group for the assessment, said that the report, released in the name of the IAEA director general, was released without sufficient consultation with the experts in the technical working group.
He believes that the report released by the IAEA does not represent the IAEA's recognition of the legitimacy of Japan's decision to dump the treated wastewater into the ocean, nor does it represent the IAEA's approval or authorization of Japan's dump of nuclear-contaminated wastewater.
According to media reports, the Japanese government plans to start the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the defunct Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as early as this August, bolstered by the IAEA's latest report to greenlight its plan.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday announced that competent departments of the Chinese government will enhance marine environment monitoring and strengthen inspection and quarantine of imported seafood and other products to safeguard people's health and food safety.
Although the IAEA said the plan "meets safety standards," the public, including local fishermen in Japan, and people in neighboring countries remain skeptical and their unease has not subsided. For example, around 33,000 people from Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi in Japan have signed a petition protesting the dumping of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean, making a total of 254,000 signatures collected in these places since 2022 urging the Japanese government to suspend the plan, Japan's Kyodo News reported. Many in Seoul, South Korea also gathered Wednesday in the central Gwanghwamun square to protest Japan's dumping plan despite the IAEA's endorsement, South Korean media reported, noting that the protest has continued for weeks.
In response to Japan's decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, the Global Times has produced a series of cartoons condemning Japan's irresponsible behavior from different perspectives, such as public opposition, the radioactive contamination to marine organisms, and the Japanese government's selfish behavior against the global community.
The Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in Beijing hosted the unveiling ceremony of artwork donated to the Embassy on July 14.
The painting was created and donated by renowned award winning Chinese artist Qu Zhenhui. She has made valuable contributions to female and youth empowerment and to community programs in the field of art.
In 2023, Qu spent half a year to create the giant frescos measuring 3.6 by 2 meters for the embassy and the work now hangs in the parlor of the embassy.
Ambassador Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele attended the ceremony and said, "I truly appreciate Qu's great efforts in the creation of this beautiful piece of art. This impressive piece of art represents Qu's gesture of goodwill and appreciation to our country. We feel honored to have this painting be displayed in the embassy as a constant reminder of our culture and our people back at home."
Such works of art build bridges for China-South Africa cultural exchanges.
"The South African Embassy in Beijing will continue to promote people-to-people exchanges in the field of art and culture between South Africa and China so as to further strengthen our bilateral friendship relations." he said.
The 8th Contemporary Mexican Film Cycle will kick off in several Chinese cities, brining filmgoers and Mexican cultural enthusiasts in China six classic Mexican movies, the Global Times learned from Mexican Consulate General in Shanghai.
Started in 2013, the film cycle China is held to celebrate Día del Cine Mexicano, or the National Mexican Cinema Day, which falls on August 15 each year.
The film cycle presents audiences in China with the latest Mexican film productions by some of Mexico's most outstanding directors. They are committed to exploring various forms of film expression, showcasing to the world the colorful and infinite possibilities of today's Mexican film industry, said the Mexican Consulate General in Shanghai
The film cycle will be held in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In Shanghai, the first film - Alamar (To the Sea) directed by Pedro González-Rubio - will be screened on Saturday afternoon at The Miguel de Cervantes Library.
Alamar was shot at Banco Chinchorro, which was listed as a biosphere reserve by the UNESCO in 2004. It tells the story of a five-year-old Italian-Mexican boy reuniting and going sea fishing with his fisherman father during holidays.
The other five movies scheduled to be screened are: Noche de fuego (Prayers for the Stolen), El camino de Xico (Xico's Journey), Güeros, Post Tenebras Lux (Light after Darkness), and A morir a los desiertos (To Die in the Desert).
El camino de Xico will be screened with a Chinese dubbing track. The remaining films will be screened in Spanish with Chinese subtitles.
The film cycle is jointly being held by the representative office of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in China, the Mexican Embassy in China, as well as the Mexican consulates general in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The public can register to the screenings in Shanghai through the WeChat account of the Miguel de Cervantes Library
Grace Ruan browses the pages of a shopping website and plans to order baby congee for her one-year-old son. This is a popular Japanese-brand congee that Ruan has bought many times.
But this time she hesitates for a while. She reminds of the alarming media reports about Japan's nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan, the baby congee's country of origin.
Ruan, nonetheless, places the order after careful consideration, as she believes the dumping plan won't affect most Japanese-made products any time soon. "But I may abandon Japanese baby products in the future, maybe after three or four months," the young mother told the Global Times.
Japan plans to start dumping the radiative wastewater as early as the end of this month, and the dumping period may last over 30 years, Japanese mainstream media revealed. This irresponsible move has caused panic among residents in Japan's neighboring countries and regions.
Apart from Ruan, many Chinese parents reached by the Global Times in recent interviews said that they may no longer buy Japanese baby products, which "are likely to be contaminated by nuclear radiation" because of Japan's forthcoming dumping of poorly treated wastewater.
They currently have mixed feelings about Japanese products. "I like the products. But I don't want to risk my baby's health," a mother sighed.
How will the Pandora's Box that the Kishida administration plans to open harm the country's business enterprises? Global Times reporters reached Chinese and Japanese consumers and businesspeople, who shared their concerns and pessimisms about the reckless decision.
Mounting worries
Ruan used to be a big fan of Japanese products. From camera to skincare products, from instant noodles to baby's feeding bottles, Ruan's home is filled with various kinds of Japanese-brand items.
"I think Japanese products are of good quality, and most products suit our Chinese customers probably because China and Japan are in the same [East Asia] region," Ruan praised.
However, Ruan started to get in touch with more news of the scheduled nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping early this year. She has searched related information, and found that the wastewater to be dumped by the Japanese government may not meet with the set release standards, and that may lead to a series of unpredictable consequences.
"I personally don't worry too much about Japanese products," she said. "But I have to think of my baby. I may buy him Western- or Chinese-made [products] instead."
Similar to Ruan, many other Chinese mothers told the Global Times that they are anxious about how the planned wastewater dumping may affect the baby products they use regularly, which include but are not limited to disposable diapers, feeding bottles, body oils, prewalkers, and foodstuffs.
A mother nicknamed Lapin recalled that she once found a Japanese-brand baby bottle cleaner on sale at a very attractive discount, but she didn't buy it. "I don't buy any Japanese baby products now," Lapin said.
Such panic and concern has also spread online. On Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu, or little red book, there are many posts that mainly list Japanese skincare, food, baby, and daily product brands, calling for people to no longer buy the listed items due to "possible safety concerns." Many big brands that are familiar to Chinese customers, such as Shiseido, Kao, Suntory, Lion and Pigeon, are usually on these lists.
Many netizens have commented under the posts, either asking for alternative brands from other countries, or slamming Japanese government's shameful move. "The radionuclides in the wastewater can be a great harm to marine organism, and will gradually harm humans," one user wrote on Xiaohongshu. "Why must we pay for their wrongdoing?"
Some nervous customers have even reached out to Japanese brand customer service representatives requesting to be furnished with a nuclear radiation monitoring report for the products they have bought, but the result was not satisfactory most of the time.
A customer in Shanghai, for instance, recently asked for a monitoring report for a Japanese bath cream she bought in July via an online overseas shopping platform.
"The report the customer service representative sent to me was made as early as January, and it can only vouch that the bath cream's packing has no nuclear radiation," she told the Global Times. "That was far from reassuring to me."
'A crushing blow' to seafood industry
From big companies to small business ventures, Japanese businesses have become one of the biggest victims of the country government's hasty and unreasonable nuclear-containment wastewater release plan.
Those engaged in the food industry, particularly in seafood, have been the first to suffer the effects. Customs in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced a ban on the importation of food products from 10 of Japan's 47 prefectures due to safety concerns in July.
Chinese mainland customs authorities said they would also strictly review documents regarding foodstuffs, especially aquatic products.
Japanese Agricultural Minister Tetsuro Nomura told media in late July that some fishery exports from Japan have been suspended by Chinese customs authorities, and complained that such strict measures were "unacceptable."
"Of course, China would put pressure on Japan as a display of a tough stance, which means that since Japan can ignore the health of the people of coastal countries and the potential for pollution to the ocean, the affected countries also have the right to increase sanctions against Japan," Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
At a press briefing in July, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged Japan to "heed the call of the international community, stop pushing through with the discharge plan, engage in full and sincere consultations with its neighbors, dispose of the nuclear-contaminated wastewater in a responsible way, and accept rigorous international oversight."
Besides the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, the first and second largest export destinations of Japan's aquatic products in 2022 which, together, accounted for some 40 percent of its overall aquatic exports, dozens of countries and regions have announced to ban on food products from Fukushima and its surrounding areas.
South Korea, for instance, said that it will stick to its ban on seafood imports from Japan's Fukushima region, as the issue of people's health and safety is something that the "government can never compromise on," the Yonhap News Agency reported on June 21.
The bans have dealt a crushing blow to the Japanese industries and regions involved.
Junichi Tamatsukuri, a Japanese lawmaker from Ibaraki Prefecture, which borders Fukushima, told the Global Times that if the nuclear-contaminated wastewater from Fukushima is dumped into the sea this time, many industries in his prefecture, such as fishing, agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism, would be affected.
"It [Fukushima] used to be a treasure house for fresh and delicious seafood," said Haruo Ono, a fisherman from the town of Shinchi in Fukushima. "For fishermen living in such island countries, the sea is our god."
"But if the nuclear-contaminated wastewater is dumped into the sea at a time when the fishing situation in Fukushima has just improved, the efforts from the last 12 years will be wasted," Ono said angrily. "This is devastating for the Fukushima fishing industry."
The industry's downstream is at a low ebb as well.
In Shanghai's downtown area is an omakase restaurant in operation for more than 20 years whose owner and chief cook is a Japanese man who likes to send WeChat messages to his regular customers at times, inviting them to try the newly arrived seafood flown in from Japan, such as sea snails and sea urchins.
From late July, his messages started to conclude with the same sentence: The seafood our restaurant uses doesn't come from the regions China has banned.
In a phone conversation, the restaurant promised the Global Times that ingredients used at the establishment have no radiation risk. "They are from Japanese regions like Hokkaido that are far from the 10 banned prefectures, and undergo hours of extensive inspection at customs," a staffer expertly said, as though she had explained this fact to customers dozens of times.
The staffer acknowledged that the restaurant has been "somewhat affected" by the dumping plan while declining to give further details.
Similarly, according to Wang, a Shanghai resident who enjoyed a buffet at a Japanese restaurant on Saturday night, the restaurant's customer flow had fallen "by half."
The buffet restaurant in the Pudong New Area used to be so popular that there would routinely be long lines of diners waiting at the door as early as 4 pm at weekends, "but that day no one was waiting outside even during dinner time," Wang recalled to the Global Times.
Antipathy sentiment spreads
Also a casualty of the nuclear-contaminated wastewater dumping plan, Japan's cosmetics industry has also been hard hit in the Chinese market, one of its biggest overseas markets.
Several Japanese cosmetics companies reportedly suffered slumps in stock prices after an increase antipathy toward the dumping plan and warnings issued against the use of Japanese products which has spread across Chinese social media, observers found.
Cosmetics giant SHISEIDO saw a 6.8-percent plummet in stock prices in June, "the biggest weekly drop in nearly 10 months," the Singapore media outlet Lianhe Zaobao reported on June 24. It added that the share prices of other cosmetics manufacturers in Japan, including Pola Orbis Holdings and Kosé, also fell more than 3 percent that month.
China has always been an important market for Japanese exporters in various industries.
"However, although these import and export enterprises have complaints and criticisms [against their government], they cannot control the government's mandatory emissions," Da said.
Even if some neighboring countries have not banned these Japanese products, public sentiment that these products may pose certain risks has gained traction, making consumers more cautious when choosing, he told the Global Times.
More than 80 percent of respondents in 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, except for Japan, said Japan's plan to dump nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the sea is "irresponsible," nearly 90 percent of respondents expressed negative sentiments toward the plan, and 94 percent said the move would have a negative effect not only on Japan and Pacific Rim countries but also on the rest of the world, a survey conducted by the Global Times Research Center found.
In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, proposed to comprehensively advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization - the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmony between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development.
Advancing Chinese modernization is a systematic endeavor and also an exploratory undertaking. It is through this framework that we wish to illustrate the process of the Chinese path to modernization through a series of landmark projects, touching stories, and visionary plans.
In this installment, we trace along the stream of the Xin'an River, which flows in East China's Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, some of China's most-developed regions facing the dilemmas of industrial development and ecological protection. Through a collaborative and creative way, a cross-provincial ecological compensation mechanism has been built, setting a model in pursuing harmony between humanity and nature.
Xin'an River, which originates in Huangshan, East China's Anhui Province starting at an altitude of 1,629.8 meters, winds its way for over 300 kilometers through picturesque mountains and valleys, and eventually converges in Chun'an county, East China's Zhejiang Province, creating the Qiandao Lake before flowing into the Qiantang River.
With rapid economic and social development, in the early years, the upper reaches of the Xin'an River basin suffered from ecological degradation due to rapid industrialization and urbanization. Industrial pollution, domestic waste, and agricultural runoff expanded sharply, leading to a year-on-year decline in water quality.
The once clear river water became a source of concern for the people on both banks. The shared fate of drinking from the same river made the people of Anhui and Zhejiang realize the urgency of working together to protect their "mother river."
In the new era, the relationship between key breakthroughs and collaborative governance in major river basins has become a subject of Xi Jinping's Thought on Ecological Civilization, evolving from theoretical innovation to practical exploration.
"We shall protect ecosystems as preciously as we protect our eyes, and cherish them as dearly as we cherish our lives," Xi has said, stressing that the development model of "killing the hens for eggs" and "draining the lake for fish" is at a dead end, and the future will be illuminated by eco-friendly development that is in accordance with the rules of nature.
As China's first pilot program for cross-provincial ecological compensation mechanisms, the ecological governance of the Xin'an River basin has provided a new approach for cross-regional ecological mechanisms, especially for the local governments facing the dilemmas of industrial development and ecological protection.
From being a pilot to becoming a model, from financial compensation to industrial cooperation, from collaborative governance to mutual development, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces have continuously innovated their cross-provincial ecological compensation mechanism, gradually forging a path of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.
Explore a new path
The Qiandao Lake is known for its picturesque landscapes characterized by mountains, pristine waters, and an archipelago of islands. The ever-changing scenery of the lake and mountains resembles paradise on Earth. Today, it attracts a multitude of tourists and serves as a habitat for many wild animals.
However, in the past, the area presented a different picture. At that time, Huangshan city was undergoing rapid industrialization and urbanization. Some wastewater and garbage made its way into Qiandao Lake through the Xin'an River, causing deterioration of water quality in certain areas and the proliferation of blue-green algae, which posed a threat to the survival of fish.
How were the emergent pollution issues addressed in the Xin'an River basin? In 2011, Xi gave an important instruction, emphasizing the significance of protecting Qiandao Lake's high-quality water resources, stating that Zhejiang and Anhui should consider the overall situation, control pollution at its source, and pursue a mutually beneficial and win-win path.
"The Xin'an River basin is the pioneer in the construction of ecological compensation mechanisms in China," said Wu Zhixu, deputy director of the Chun'an sub-bureau of ecology and environment in Hangzhou. Wu revealed that the Anhui segment of the upper Xin'an River accounts for over 60 percent of the total inflow into the Qiandao Lake, making it crucial for the lake's water quality.
In 2012, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces initiated the first nationwide pilot project for a cross-provincial ecological compensation mechanism along the Xin'an River. They established a compensation standard system with the philosophy "those who benefit compensate, and those who protect receive compensation."
The agreement stipulated that as long as Anhui Province achieved water quality standards at the provincial boundary, Zhejiang Province's downstream region would compensate Anhui to the tune of 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) annually. If water quality standards were not met, Anhui Province would need to compensate Zhejiang with the same amount.
During the implementation of this policy, with increasing exchanges between upstream and downstream areas, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces learned from each other's governance experiences, and gradually formed a collaborative work pattern encompassing joint planning, water quality monitoring, garbage collection, law enforcement emergencies, and multilateral exchanges.
Through the joint efforts of both provinces, three phases of pilot projects were conducted in the periods of 2012 to 2014, 2015 to 2017, and 2018 to 2020. Over the course of more than a decade of implementing the Xin'an River ecological compensation mechanism, the central government and the two provinces of Zhejiang and Anhui collectively allocated a total of 5.7 billion yuan in compensation funds.
Chun'an county received a total of 7.5 billion yuan in ecological and environmental protection subsidies, driving the investment of 11.2 billion yuan in ecological and environmental protection. Additionally, 31 projects were incentivized through specialized financial incentives for green transformation, attracting an investment of 4.52 billion yuan.
Today, the comprehensive governance level of the Xin'an River basin has significantly improved. The Qiandao Lake continues to maintain excellent water quality, and its water source is categorized as one of the first "China Good Water" water sources, earning the honor of being one of the first national-level ecological protection and construction demonstration areas, among others.
Moreover, the two provinces of Zhejiang and Anhui have transitioned from a single fund compensation approach to engaging in diverse explorations. The potential value of the ecological compensation mechanism in driving local economic structural transformation and promoting high-quality economic development has gradually become evident.
For instance, in the agricultural sector, an agreement was signed between Jiukeng town in Chun'an, Zhejiang, and Huangtian town in Shexian county, Anhui, to collaboratively cultivate talent in the field of tea and enhance the cooperative efforts in breeding excellent tea varieties. This has turned tea cultivation and tourism into pillar industries driving rural revitalization in the local area. In the field of culture and tourism, the Xin'an River basin has interconnected multiple 5A-level scenic spots and traditional villages along its course.
The Xin'an River basin, serving as an exemplary model, is transitioning from the "joint protection of one river" to the "shared prosperity of one region," providing one of the finest illustrations of the Chinese path to modernization, showing that Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is the "master key" for analyzing and resolving issues.
An inspiring reference
Experiences in the cross-provincial ecological compensation practice in the Xin'an River-Qiandao Lake region also provides a good reference for many other cities and villages in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Xiayang village in Zhejiang's Anji county, for instance, is a popular camping destination with a plethora of natural attractions. It received more than 5,000 camping tourists in 2021, with annual tourism income reaching 2.13 million yuan ($293,324).
But that year, while happy with their booming tourism, some local villagers were also worried about a possible decrease in tourists in the near future because of the then polluted Xiayang stream flowing through the village.
"The industrial wastewater and household waste discharged from the upstream villages can cause pollution and hurt the water environment, and that may discourage campers and affect our village's tourism business," Bao Xin, secretary of the Xiayang village branch of the Communist Party of China (CPC), told the Global Times.
The upper reach of Xiayang stream passes through several villages in Anhui's Guangde city. Due to problems including inadequate communication and different water protection standards, it was difficult to carry out cross-provincial water pollution control work initially, Bao recalled.
The "Xin'an River mode" inspired Xiayang's villagers, who voluntarily went to the upstream villages at the beginning of 2022 and discussed joint management and protection of Xiayang stream's water environment with the residents there. After eight months of concerted efforts on both sides, they issued a series of water quality assessment measures, which involve four villages in Zhejiang and Anhui through which Xiayang stream flows.
According to the measures, each month, the downstream Xiayang village tests the quality of the water in the stream's cross-provincial sections. If the quality reaches the agreed-upon standard, Xiayang village will pay the involved upstream villages 300,000 yuan that month as an ecological compensation.
Encouraged by eco-compensation policy and the consensus on green development, the upstream villages started to work harder in improving Xiayang stream's water quality. In 2022, one of the villages, Shijun, spent 800,000 yuan in building two sewage treatment terminals, and local villagers spontaneously set up a volunteer team to patrol along the stream. Now the clear stream has become Shijun village's popular water rafting destination, bringing it new opportunities to develop ecotourism.
Xiayang stream is a part of the Xitiao Stream - an important tributary of the Taihu Lake. Traversing Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the 2,445-square-kilometer Taihu Lake is China's third-largest freshwater lake, as well as an essential "water tank" for people in the Yangtze River Delta region.
From the previous blue-green algae's "hard-hit area" to the current boundless clear water, Taihu Lake is a good example of Yangtze River Delta provinces and cities working together to improve water quality and the ecological environment in recent years.
Since 2007, Jiangsu's Wuxi city has spent 110 billion yuan in improving the water environment of Taihu Lake. It has salvaged a total 20.55 billion tons of blue-green algae between 2007 and 2022, accounting for more than 90 percent of the whole blue-green algae being salvaged in the lake.
In Zhejiang, Huzhou city shut down or relocated all the industrial companies within five kilometers of Taihu Lake. It has also removed more than 1,000 mu (0.67 square kilometers) of aquaculture nets from Taihu Lake and its surrounding waters.
More cross-provincial policies and measures were carried out to better protect water quality. In September 2022, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang together released an announcement to establish and improve an integrated mechanism in protecting local cross-border water sources. Earlier in September 2020, the three sides jointly introduced a special protection plan for the cross-border waters there.
Ecological conservation is of vital importance for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, Xi said as the country marks its first National Ecology Day on August 15, calling it a major political issue that concerns the mission and purpose of the CPC as well as a major social issue that bears upon public wellbeing.
He noted that on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects, efforts should be made to maintain strategic resolve in advancing ecological progress and promote high-quality development in sync with high-standard protection.
Li Junjie and Dou Hao are People's Daily reporters; Shan Jie and Huang Lanlan are Global Times reporters
