Former Chinese national football team head coach Li Tie was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a first-instance verdict on Friday for a number of charges including offering and accepting bribes.
The verdict was made by the Intermediate People's Court of Xianning, Central China's Hubei Province.
From 2019 to 2021, Li, taking advantage of his position as the head coach of the Chinese men's national football team, accepted bribes totaling over 50.89 million yuan ($7.04 million), the Beijing Daily reported, citing revelations from the courts.
On the same day, Du Zhaocai, former deputy director of the General Administration of Sport of China and former Party secretary of the Chinese Football Association, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined 4 million yuan for accepting bribes.
The Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Central China's Hubei Province publicly sentenced Du in a first-instance trial for accepting bribes worth over 43 million yuan, according to the CCTV news.
Du used his position to seek improper benefits for football clubs in matters such as relocating home stadiums and player transfers, severely disrupting the fair competition order and industry environment in the football field. He also sought job promotions and adjustments for others, which warranted a heavier sentence.
After Li and Du's sentencing, Chinese Football Association (CFA) Vice President Yang Xu on Friday reaffirmed the zero-tolerance stance on corruption in football at a media briefing on the domestic football leagues. He highlighted the CFA's efforts to combat illegal practices during the 2024 season.
"We will continue to adopt a high-pressure approach to combat match-fixing, gambling, and other illegal activities," Yang said.
Yang also emphasized the importance of tightening admission standards for financial management to ensure financial stability for clubs and safeguard the rights of players, clubs, and youth training institutions.
"We must further tighten the league admission standards … Efforts to address unpaid wages and overdue payments will protect the legitimate rights of players, clubs, and training institutions," Yang was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.
US President Joe Biden has recently signed a memorandum establishing the so-called China censorship monitor and action group, which according to Chinese experts highlights the outgoing president's fresh efforts to ensure that the incoming US administration's China policy does not deviate from the framework and guardrails set by Biden himself and shall limit President-elect Donald Trump's flexibility and autonomy when it comes to his China policy
The move itself also reflects a fundamental error in the Biden administration's understanding of China, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
The primary mission of the task force is to develop and execute a federal government strategy "to oversee the development and execution of an integrated Federal Government strategy to monitor and address the effects of any efforts by the PRC to censor or intimidate, in the United States or in any of its possessions or territories, any United States person, including a US company that conducts business in the PRC, exercising its freedom of speech," according to the memorandum text released by the White House.
It is stipulated that within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the group, or the task force as referred in the memorandum, shall submit the first annual report to the president and the appropriate congressional committees, and make it publicly available to the extent consistent with national security and other executive branch confidentiality interests.
Biden, via such move, aims to institutionalize his China policy before leaving office. This is a clear attempt by Biden to expand his power and ensure that his diplomatic legacy on China is not discarded with a change of administration, Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Saturday.
The Task Force, according to the memorandum, shall meet not less frequently than twice per year to oversee the development and execution of the integrated federal government strategy.
The task force will be led by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Director of the National Economic Council, with members drawn from multiple US government departments, including the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Defense.
It is uncommon for a sitting president to make significant decisions on domestic or foreign policy in their final year, but Biden is an exception, Li said. "Instead of winding down, he has continued to push forward with key policies on major issues, thereby limiting President-elect Donald Trump's flexibility and autonomy when it comes to his China policy. In a way, this represents the ongoing continuation of the partisan rivalry in US foreign policy."
The conclusions drawn by the task force will likely place China squarely within the competitive framework that the US strategically defines, making the group's work an instrument in the ongoing strategic competition between the two countries, he said.
By framing issues in terms of freedom of speech, monitoring, and related areas, the US leaves the definition of boundaries to these committees. Once those boundaries are set, they will guide US actions in ways that further the strategic competition against China. This approach often leads to violations of international law, infringements on sovereign rights, and breaches of privacy and individual freedoms, the expert said.
Lü told the Global Times on Saturday that the form of memorandum holds less authority than an executive order, as it is more of a guiding document. Being introduced at the end of the current administration, the impact on the new government's execution could be limited.
However, such a memorandum can have an entirely negative effect on the establishment of trust between China and the US. It may introduce a subtle, harmful odor into the political atmosphere between the China and the new US administrations, potentially creating a "chilling effect" that could hinder normal exchanges between the two countries.
It also reflects a fundamental error in the Biden administration's understanding of China, as it is driven by fear and insecurity, mistakenly interpreting some domestic dissent as the result of Chinese coercion, he said.
On December 3, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, met in Beijing with a US delegation headed by Susan M. Elliott, President and CEO of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Wang said China's foreign policy, including its policy toward the US, maintains stability and continuity. This reflects the steadiness and credibility of a major country. No matter what changes within the US, China stands ready to improve and develop China-US relations based on the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.
China's domestically developed Y-9E transport aircraft has been officially delivered to its first overseas client, the Global Times learned from the aircraft's maker, Shaanxi Aircraft Industry (Group) Corp (SAIC) under the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) on Monday.
Wu Jiancheng, a spokesperson of the AVIC SAIC, told reporters that the company has been committed to promoting the Y-9E transport aircraft to potential overseas customers.
"The Y-9E transport aircraft features outstanding flight performance, with long endurance and strong adaptability to various environments, making it suitable for tropical, low-temperature and high-altitude regions," Wu said. "In addition, the Y-9E offers a spacious interior, a substantial carrying capacity, and convenient loading and unloading capabilities."
The Global Times learned that the Y-9E transport aircraft is developed based on the Y-9 transport aircraft and caters to the needs of overseas customers. It can perform missions involving the transportation of personnel, equipment and supplies, and is a multi-purpose transport aircraft offering safety, reliability and exceptional performance.
The transport aircraft was displayed at Airshow China 2024 in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. Public data shows that the Y-9E transport aircraft measures approximately 36 meters in length and has a wingspan of about 38 meters. It boasts a maximum payload capacity of 20 tons and a maximum takeoff weight of around 65 tons. The aircraft can achieve a maximum cruising speed of 660 kilometers per hour, operate at a cruising altitude of about seven to eight kilometers, and has a maximum range of 5,200 kilometers.
Dubbed the "cradle of China's early warning aircraft," AVIC SAIC has established two major product lines: transport aircraft and special-mission aircraft, producing various types of aircraft. These aircraft have become a key supplier for various military services and branches in China, fulfilling domestic market demands while exporting overseas, thereby making significant contributions to national defense and economic development.
Multiple types of special-mission aircraft independently developed by AVIC SAIC were also displayed at Airshow China 2024. Among them, the Y-8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft is capable of searching and attacking submarines, making it a sharp tool in the Chinese military's patrols in the South China Sea, while the Y-9 medical aid aircraft can transport patients faster than ambulances and helicopters, and can host surgeries in the air, acting as an "aerial path of life."
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, on Friday strongly condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities' collusion with certain media outlets and online trolls in the island of Taiwan to cyberbully the member of an invited delegation from the Chinese mainland who used the term "中国台北队 (China Taipei team in Putonghua, in referring Chinese Taipei team)" when offering congratulations, saying that there is nothing wrong with the term used by the student.
There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory. Although our two sides across the Straits have yet to be reunified, the sovereignty and territory of China has never been severed and the fact that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China has never changed, Zhu said.
The DPP authorities are making a big show of intimidating organizations involved in cross-Straits exchanges, attempting to create a "green terror," fully exposing their adherence to a "Taiwan independence" stance and their nature of inciting confrontation between the two sides of the Straits, Zhu said.
People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits clearly recognize that the malicious obstruction of cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation is driven by DPP authorities' fear of closer ties and friendships among compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, Zhu said.
They are apprehensive that the people in Taiwan will come to recognize the true situation of the Chinese mainland and the genuine friendliness of compatriots from the mainland. They fear that their well-crafted lies will be exposed and that their "anti-mainland card" will lose its effectiveness, said the spokesperson.
The foundation of cross-Straits relations is rooted in the grassroots, with the driving force coming from the people. The outcomes of exchanges and cooperation benefit compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. As long as it enhances the well-being and bonds of the people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits and deepens mutual understanding and recognition, we will wholeheartedly and diligently pursue it, and we are committed to achieving success, according to the spokesperson.
We warn the DPP authorities that the desire for peace, development, exchanges, and cooperation is a common aspiration of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and represents the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan society, Zhu said. Any attempt to obstruct or undermine cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation is a dead end, said the spokesperson.
UNESCO added on Thursday Qiang New Year festival, celebrated in China's Sichuan province, to its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The festival was included in 2009 in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.
A Y-20 transport aircraft of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force on Tuesday set out for South Korea to retrieve remains of 43 Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs who lost their lives during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53).
The Y-20 with the number 20048 took off from an airport in Central China on Tuesday afternoon to carry out the mission of retrieving the 11th batch of the remains of CPV martyrs from South Korea, the PLA Air Force announced in a post on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.
Recently, China's Ministry of Veterans Affairs and South Korea's Ministry of National Defense reached an agreement on the handover of the 11th batch of remains of CPV martyrs in South Korea. The South Korean side will hand over the remains of 43 CPV martyrs and related belongings to the Chinese side on Thursday, according to the PLA Air Force.
For this mission, the troops have prepared the cabin layout of the aircraft to ensure that the repatriation mission meets the highest standards, the PLA Air Force said.
"In order to welcome the heroic CPV martyrs back to their homeland with the utmost solemnity, we installed a coffin support frame on the aircraft, applied anti-collision rubber strips, hung the national flag inside the cabin, laid down a military green carpet and conducted a thorough cleaning of the entire cabin before the mission departure," said Zhang Dapeng, a member of the air force of the PLA Central Theater Command, in the PLA Air Force release.
The PLA Air Force also announced that it will deploy two J-20 stealth fighter jets to escort the remains of the CPV martyrs upon their return to Chinese airspace.
Since 2015, the PLA Air Force has dispatched aircraft annually to South Korea to carry out repatriation missions. Starting in 2020, the PLA Air Force has sent domestically developed large transport aircraft, the Y-20, for this task for five consecutive years. This year marks the PLA Air Force's 10th mission to retrieve the remains of CPV martyrs who fell in South Korea back to their homeland, the PLA Air Force said.
There is no so-called Chinese police service stations overseas at all, and relevant people in the US should stop smearing and making groundless accusations against China. Instead, they need to do more to facilitate cooperation between China and the US, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing on Friday in response to an inquiry on reports over Texas Governor Greg Abbott's recently issuing three executive orders aimed at preventing Chinese overseas "police stations."
On November 18, Abbott issued an executive order, directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to target and arrest people trying to "execute influence operations on behalf of the Chinese government to return dissidents to China." The executive order also claimed that the Chinese government has set up "police service stations" across the world, according to the Associated Press.
Mao said that China's law enforcement agencies carry out cooperation in international law enforcement in strict accordance with international law, fully respects other countries' laws and judicial sovereignty and safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the suspects.
The economic ties and trade between China and the US are win-win in nature. Over the years, Chinese companies' investments have made important contributions to boosting employment and economic growth in the US, Mao said.
To politicize the issue of trade and investment and overstretch the concept of security runs contrary to the principle of market economy and international trade rules, undermines international confidence in the US market and does no good to the US's economic growth, said Mao, urging relevant people in the US to stop smearing and making groundless accusations against China. Instead, they need to do more to facilitate cooperation between China and the US.
One year ago, China started implementing a landmark trial policy, offering unilateral visa exemptions for more countries, among a variety of measures to welcome international visitors. Data from various entry-exit stations across China indicate a significant increase in international arrivals since the policy was adopted last year.
On December 1, 2023, China began implementing unilateral visa-free entry trials for ordinary passport holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia. The policies were later expanded several times to more countries.
Since the end of last year, China has implemented visa exemption policies for 38 countries. The easing of visa policies has facilitated travel to China and enhanced international exchange as foreign visitors are flocking to China to explore business and experience the country's rich history and attractive views.
Mohan's entry-exit frontier inspection station on the China-Laos border reported over 5,500 tourist entries and exits from the above mentioned six countries this year as of Saturday, representing a year-on-year increase of 294.28 percent. Among these, 2,300 were visa-free arrivals, making up 77.24 percent of total arrivals.
Malaysia, France and Germany topped the list of nationalities, with tourism and family visits cited as the primary reasons for travel, according to the inspection station.
The entry-exit border inspection station in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, announced on Sunday that it has seen over 300,000 foreign arrivals through the port so far this year, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 84.8 percent. Notably, more than 94,000 of these arrivals were visa-free entrants, accounting for over 31.3 percent of all foreign arrivals - a growth of more than 15 times compared with the previous year.
In Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, over 480,000 foreign arrivals were recorded through the Shenzhen airport as of Friday this year, marking a 123 percent increase. More than 180,000 of these visitors benefited from the visa-free policy - six times more than last year's figures. Travelers from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Germany were the most represented nationalities.
As of Saturday, the number of travelers entering and exiting through Shanghai's Pudong International Airport has more than doubled compared with the previous year, with nearly 29 million trips recorded, including over 9 million trips made by foreign travelers. This represents a year-on-year increase of 100 percent and 170 percent, respectively.
Since November, ports in Beijing have averaged over 7,000 foreign arrivals daily, with 43 percent of these entrants coming visa-free.
The surge in foreign tourist arrivals came after Chinese authorities have been expanding the scope of the nation's visa-free policy.
In a latest development, China has decided to expand its visa-free arrangement to include nine more countries, applying to ordinary passport holders from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on November 22.
In addition, Lin said China has decided to further optimize its visa-free policy, and will include exchanges and visit purposes into the visa-free entry scope, and extend the period of visa-free stays allowed from the current 15 days to 30 days.
Starting from November 30, 2024, ordinary passport holders from the 38 countries within its visa-free arrangement, including the aforementioned newly added nine countries, can enter China without a need to apply for a visa for the purposes of business, tourism, family visits, exchanges and visits and transit, with stays of no more than 30 days, Lin added.
"The implementation of visa-free policies has significantly boosted the inbound tourism market, further demonstrating that China's doors to the world are opening wider," Jiang Yiyi, dean of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sport University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Through traveling in China, international visitors can genuinely experience China's development, witness not only the country's natural landscapes and historical culture but also personally engage with its modern achievements. This approach allows for a more concrete, comprehensive, and in-depth understanding of China on the global stage, Jiang said.
China Travel booms
As China's visa-free travel policy continues to expand and facilitate easier exchanges between people, the allure of "China Travel" becomes stronger.
Francisco Lopez, a tourist from Spain, shared his experiences with the Global Times on Sunday, highlighting the ease of his trip to China made possible by the country's visa-free policy and other supporting measures.
During this trip, he visited Beijing, Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Shanghai. Among these destinations, Guilin stood out as his favorite due to its stunning natural beauty. "We rented bikes and explored the countryside, which was enjoyable," he said. "This trip helped me understand Chinese culture and history better.''
Lopez decided to visit China after his mother traveled here in June. "The visa-free policy is very good and convenient for us. A lot of people were taking photos with us. It was nice," he said.
During his trip Lopez also experienced the convenience of China's e-payment system. "We didn't have cash and didn't exchange any money. We used Alipay everywhere, and it worked perfectly," he said.
To meet the needs of foreign tourists, various regions and tourist destinations in China are enhancing the tourism experience.
A worker from the Wulingyuan scenic area in Zhangjiajie of central China's Hunan Province told the Global Times on Sunday that the visa-free policy has significantly boosted the tourism market, with a notable increase in the number of foreign visitors.
"There is a shift in tourists, with more coming from Southeast Asia and Europe thanks to the implementation of visa-free policies," the employee, surnamed Zhang, said.
In the first three quarters of this year, Zhangjiajie city received over 1.29 million inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of 255.47 percent. The city achieved inbound tourism revenue of $358.54 million, marking a year-on-year growth of 307.61 percent, according to official data.
An employee at the ticket office of the Yuntai Mountain scenic spot in Jiaozuo, central China's Henan Province, also noted an increase in foreign visitors this year, most of whom are independent travelers. "The scenic area accommodates bilingual standards in its supporting facilities," the staffer told the Global Times on Sunday.
China has also taken measures to improve services such as easing the use of mobile payment for foreigners, implementing reservation-free entry policies at scenic spots, and offering multiple languages and payment methods to assist international travelers in purchasing tickets effortlessly, Xinhua News Agency reported.
International arrivals have surged with the support of these measures. In the third quarter of 2024, China logged nearly 8.2 million inbound trips made by foreigners, up 48.8 percent year on year. Among these, about 4.9 million entered visa-free, a remarkable rise of 78.6 percent from the same period last year.
International business people are seeing more opportunities in China. From January to September, 42,000 foreign-funded companies were established in the country, an increase of 11.4 percent year-on-year.
