CiCM 21st March 2024

NEWS IN CHINA

Xi Jinping calls for Efforts to energize the development of central China: Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a symposium in Changsha on Wednesday focusing on revitalizing the central region of China, emphasizing the region's critical role in various industries such as grain production, energy, manufacturing, and transportation. Xi urged for concerted efforts to achieve high-quality development and enhance the region's role in advancing Chinese modernization. Xi recently visited Hunan and analysed the areas of improvement and engaged with the local representatives of the party in the province. He was accompanied by Party Secretary Shen Xiaoming and Governor Mao Weiming, along with officials like Cai Qi, Li Ganjie, He Lifeng and Zhang Youxia for various inspections in the province. Xi's speech at the symposium emphasised the need for innovation in industrial development, particularly in scientific and technological fields, to cultivate new productive forces. He further reiterated strategic planning for future industries and faster modernization of the industrial system, with a focus on advanced manufacturing in Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan. The first symposium on the central region was organised in 2019. Li Qiang and Ding Xuexiang also presided over the meeting and echoed Xi's sentiments, emphasizing the implementation of his directives to leverage the region's geographical and resource advantages. They also stressed the importance of adhering to high-quality development standards to achieve further progress in revitalizing the central region. Finally, Xi also emphasized the importance of aligning the revitalization campaign with other national strategies to integrate the region into the country's development pattern effectively by highlighting the significance of ecological protection, rural revitalization, ensuring food and energy security. Xi Jinping also sent a congratulatory message to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, on being elected as the President of Indonesia and expressed hope regarding strengthening cooperation between the two countries.
OPEC calls for broader energy cooperation with China, revitalising the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue: At the 7th high-level meeting of the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue in Vienna, OPEC's Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais emphasized the organization's close ties with China in the energy sector, urging further cooperation to meet China's growing energy demands. The meeting was chaired by Al Ghais along with Zhang Jianhua, the Administrator of China's National Energy Administration. Throughout the meeting, Al Ghais highlighted the importance of the energy partnership between OPEC and China which would generate landmark achievements in this field in future. In the words of Al Ghais, the OPEC-China Energy Dialogue plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the oil market and tackling the challenges in building a sustainable energy future. Speaking on similar lines, Zhang Jianhua detailed China’s plan in collaborating with OPEC and other global energy organizations, to actively engage in reforming international energy governance. This collaboration would aim at the creation of a global energy governance system that is fair, equitable, balanced, and inclusive. The session also included various experts discussing market outlooks and energy transitions while acknowledging the progress made in cooperation between OPEC and China, which they hope would scale newer heights.
China Announes Date for College Entrance Exams and Outlines Reform: The Chinese Ministry of Education has released its annual notice for college enrolment in 2024, with the entrance exam set to be held on 7^th June from 9 AM in the morning to 5 PM in the evening. The notice also focuses on advancing reforms in entrance exams and admissions policies. The reforms stem from a decision made by the Chinese government in 2013 to comprehensively reform the national college entrance exam, known as the gaokao. The notice outlines five key areas for improving work in the education sector. First, it emphasizes the establishment and enhancement of a robust examination security system, urging localities and schools to fulfil their responsibilities, improve emergency response mechanisms, and combat mobile phone cheating during exams. It calls for the promotion of equal access opportunities, emphasizing strict management of enrolment plans, support for central and western regions, and ensuring fair exam opportunities for migrant children. Third, it highlights the steady advancement of college entrance examination and admission reforms, including deepening comprehensive exam reforms and integrating moral, intellectual, physical, artistic, and labour skills in the content system. The reforms also emphasize optimizing examination enrolment publicity services, including improving information release, policy interpretation, and providing consulting services to candidates and parents. At present, 14 provincial regions have already implemented gaokao reforms, seven more are set to do so in 2024, and another eight are targeted for 2025. Seven provincial-level regions, including Jilin, Anhui and Guizhou, have been urged to implement new policies for the college entrance exam this year.
East-China gets a Farming Boost by Incorporating AI Technologies in its Production: China has witnessed a recent upsurge in the initiatives aimed at incorporating modern technologies in its farming sector. With the initiatives like vertical farming, robotic-cultivation has reached newer heights in the field of farming as well as technological upgradation. In the light of recent events, the farming activities practiced in Shuanlou village, Bozhou city of East china’s Anhui province have presented an example in amalgamating modern technologies with the art of farming. One resident of the village has set up a smart decision making system on his farm infused with AI technologies that has systematically boosted farming outputs. The list of components used in farming here include drones used to spray pesticides on the fields, self-driven tractors, and a centralised control room that supervises the functioning of all machines. By introducing IT technologies like Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, farmers have formulated a smart decision-making system which has subsequently improved the production efficiency.
State Council Publishes Notice to Enhance Support for Enforcement of Yangtze River Fishing Ban: The General Office of the State Council has issued a document titled "Opinions on Unswervingly Promoting the Ten-Year Ban on Fishing in the Yangtze River," aiming to enhance support for the 10 year ban on fishing on the Yangtze river. The document highlights that the ban, initiated by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, is crucial for the long-term health of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and restoration of the river's vitality. It details ways to ensure the successful implementation of the policy. The "Opinions" stress the need for governmental departments to prioritize the fishing ban as a major political task, improve coordination mechanisms, and strengthen supervision. They also emphasize the importance of extending support for resettled fishermen, law enforcement cooperation, and protection of rare species, habitat restoration, and ecological monitoring. It calls for unwavering implementation of the ban, local adaptation of support policies, and the formation of a new development model in the Yangtze River Basin that balances high-level protection with high-quality. After more than three years, the ban has led to successful resettlement of retired fishermen, stable management of closed fishing areas, and notable recovery of aquatic resources, marking significant progress. Despite the achievements, challenges remain, such as illegal fishing, weak enforcement in some areas, inadequate supervision, and slow biodiversity recovery.

SOCIAL MEDIA CHATTER IN CHINA

Video of Mountain Range in Guizhou Goes Viral, Sparks Speculations: A drone video showcasing a mountain range in Guizhou has gone viral on social media and attracted tremendous attention for its striking resemblance to the Egyptian pyramids. The video showcases a series of mountains in the Guizhou an area famous for its rich natural beauty and diverse landscape that resemble pyramids in Egypt. Users on social media expressed their opinion that the mountains may conceal tombs of ancient emperors and others suggested that they were crafted by extra-terrestrial beings. However, Professor Zhou Qiuwen, a geologist from Guizhou Normal University, dispelled these myths, stating that the "pyramids" are natural formations, not artificially constructed or ancient tomb sites. The cone-shaped mountains are a result of dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks.

INDIA WATCH

With the march of technological innovation in China due to emerging AI technologies have been integrated into almost all aspects of the economy and daily life. The recent news from Anhui province, where AI technologies have been put to use in field operations in the farming sector, is a crucial landmark for China’s technology applications. The use of drones and unmanned automatic vehicles in particular, opens up new avenues this sector.

India too has been an advocate of developing AI capacities and infusing them in aspects of daily life. The National Strategy for AI 2018 marked the first step for formulating a plan for a structured development of AI. With the development of the digital public infrastructure in India, the use of AI has increased. However, unlike China, India’s initiatives in the field of agriculture have not yet included the use of AI-enabled machines. It has however, introduced AI in providing various kinds of state-led agricultural aid to the farmers. Initiatives like the “Kisan e-mitra”, have been launched, which is an AI powered chatbot to assist farmers with queries about the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in multiple languages, to ensure inclusivity and access to famers all over the country. The National Pest Surveillance system has also been launched, which uses AI and machine learning to detect crop issues and enable timely intervention for healthier crops. It is supplemented by AI based analytics using field photographs for crop health assessment and crop health monitoring using satellite, weather and soil moisture datasets for rice and wheat crops.

It is clear that both countries have adopted AI as an important tool in assisting various sectors of production. While China has been able to introduce unmanned machine utilization in agricultural activity, India’s initiatives in using AI in agriculture revolve around providing agricultural aids to the farmers and assisting them in their day-to-day functioning.

Prepared By

Agniva Ray

Agniva Ray is an M.A, 2nd year, 4th semester student pursuing Political Science with International Relations in the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University. He holds a deep interest in Socio-economic (Non-Traditional Security) as well as Traditional security issues concerning South Asia and aims to pursue research work in this very field.