The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee revealed on Tuesday that the National Forestry and Grassland Administration has selected a pair of male and female giant pandas, aged between 5 and 8 years, to make their new home in the city, emphasizing that efforts are being made to ensure the giant pandas to arrive in Hong Kong by October 1.

These two giant pandas are in their prime and adulthood, and are in robust health, Lee said, expressing the hope that they will thrive and reproduce in Hong Kong.

The male panda, weighing around 120 kilograms, agile, very energetic, is characterized as "intelligent and active," while the female panda weighs about 100 kilograms and is described as "gentle, elegant, and described as docile and cute," Lee told a group of reporters on Tuesday in Southwest China's Sichuan as he is currently visiting the province to work on the details for welcoming the pair of pandas to Hong Kong.

The pair of pandas are currently undergoing acclimatization at the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, and will undergo a 30-day quarantine there, followed by another 30-day quarantine upon arrival in Hong Kong. They will need to adapt to their new environment before they can meet the public.

Lee announced on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland on July 1 that the city will welcome the new pair of pandas.

Lee said the most important task during his visit to Sichuan this week is to expedite the arrival of the giant pandas in Hong Kong, select the pandas, and finalize the agreement as soon as possible. The details of the agreement will be announced later.

Upon returning to Hong Kong, there will be a series of follow-up tasks, including the Cultural, Sports, and Tourism Bureau and Ocean Park designing promotional activities, the CE noted.

"We hope to make the great event of the giant pandas coming to Hong Kong as perfect as possible," he said, with the goal of having the next generation of giant pandas born in Hong Kong.

Experts will closely monitor the pandas once they enter their breeding period and will make appropriate arrangements.

If the pair of giant pandas gifted to Hong Kong could give birth to a panda, we hope it will not just be a single cub, as giant pandas have also given birth to twins. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly understand the health and state of these giant pandas, as the breeding period is very short, Lee said.

The agreement between the two sides stipulates that if mainland experts are needed in Hong Kong for assistance, discussions will be held based on the specific situation. He described the birth of a new generation of giant pandas as very rare and symbolically significant under the One Country, Two Systems principle, adding that Hong Kong residents are eager to see the birth of the next generation of giant pandas.

Ocean Park is preparing for the arrival of the pair of giant pandas. This includes sending caretakers to Sichuan for training and understanding the habits of the pandas that will relocate to Hong Kong, to ensure proper care in the future, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung was quoted as saying in the media reports on Tuesday.

The park will also improve the current facilities for the pandas, such as adding plants or climbing structures, and consider increasing photographic equipment to enable real-time sharing of the pandas' activities, the Hong Kong official said.

Also, before the pandas depart for Hong Kong, bamboo grown in South China's Guangdong Province or at Ocean Park will be sent to Sichuan to allow the pandas to become accustomed to it in advance.

Ocean Park will also support health check procedures for the pandas and cooperate with the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department to ensure the quarantine process in Hong Kong is completed smoothly, Yeung said.

The office of the food safety commission of the State Council established a joint investigation team on Tuesday as public concern continues to foment following a report by The Beijing News, which revealed a startling scandal of the mixed use of tankers for edible and chemical oil.

Companies such as Hopefull Grain and Oil Group and China Grain Reserves Oil and Fat (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. have been implicated in this scandal.

The office of the food safety commission of the State Council said it attaches great importance to the issue raised by the media outlet and has organized a special meeting with multiple relevant national departments.

They vowed to severely punish the illegal activities of the companies and individuals involved according to the law, with no tolerance. At the same time, measures will be taken to conduct a special inspection on hidden risks in the transportation of edible oil. The results of the investigation will be promptly announced, according to the announcement.

On Saturday, China Grain Reserves Oil and Fat (Tianjin), a subsidiary of the China Grain Reserves Management Group Sinograin, announced on social media that they have initiated a comprehensive investigation throughout their entire system.

While probes launched both by the authorities and Sinograin are underway, netizens were shocked to discover that similar accusations of the "contaminated transportation" of food and chemical oils in the same vehicles had been going on for a long time in the country, citing news reports separately released by ngzb.com in 2005 and a program on Hunan TV in 2015.

Legal experts reached by the Global Times on Tuesday highlighted the deficiencies in food safety supervision that require immediate attention and rectification. Also, they stressed that food safety problems should be nipped in the bud and called for more relevant companies to conduct self-examination and self-correction.

The public outcry began in early July when The Beijing News reported that tanker drivers were engaging in a common practice of transporting food and chemical liquids in the same vehicles without cleaning them in between loads. This revelation exposed a longstanding issue within the tanker industry that had previously gone unnoticed.

Many domestic cargo tanker trucks transport both edible liquids including syrup and soybean oil, as well as chemicals including coal oil, according to the news report.

In order to save on costs, some operators do not clean the transportation tanks, and edible oil producers do not check the tanks according to regulations, resulting in chemical residue and contamination of edible oil, The Beijing News reported.

In response, Sinograin has launched a large-scale special inspection.

According to a statement issued by Sinograin on its official Weibo account on Saturday, all affiliated companies are required to rigorously check whether the transportation tools entering and leaving their warehouses meet the requirements.

Additionally, they are required to examine whether the carriers' transportation tools are in compliance with food safety regulations, and whether the operation meets the relevant standards.

On Tuesday, a representative from the Hopefull Grain and Oil Group told the Global Times that the company is conducting a thorough self-inspection and more detailed updates are awaiting notification from the publicity department of the city of Sanhe in North China's Hebei Province, where the company is located.

According to Chinese media outlet nbd.com.cn, on Tuesday, China Grain Reserves clients have received notification from the company requesting verification of the sources of the last three loads on their transport vehicles, particularly focusing on the loading records of oil products. One individual described this incident as a "rare occurrence" that touches upon the "moral bottom line and basic conscience."

The scandal also prompted probes from local authorities.

An official from the Sanhe government told the Global Times on Tuesday, that the local authorities are paying great attention to the incident, with the relevant departments actively conducting an investigation.

Both the market supervision authority in Hebei's Langfang, which administers Sanhe, and that of Tianjian, responded to inquiries from Chinese media outlets on Tuesday, stating that an investigation into the incident is currently underway with the probe results to be made public.

The Global Times found Tuesday that some Sinograin's edible oil products have been taken down from Taobao, a popular Chinese e-commerce platform. Only one product from the Jinding brand, which is owned by Sinograin, was still available on Taobao. But Jinding products are still being sold on JD.com.

The incident has sparked public concerns about food safety with many urging the recall of problematic edible oils and a demand for a thorough investigation and stiff punishments for the people responsible. Also, some netizens expressed their respect toward the journalists who followed up on food safety issues and exposed them in the investigative news reports.

Zhu Wei, a vice director of the Communication Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the incident has shaken public confidence on the effective enforcement of food safety regulations, noting the mixed use of tankers for edible and chemical liquids without cleaning is a clear violation of regulations and laws.

"When it comes to food safety issues, we must take preventive measures rather than waiting until something happens and then make corrections," Zhu said, calling for more companies involved in food security to self-examine and self-correct.

Reviews and summaries of data monitoring and netizens’ reporting on online rumors by China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform show that internet rumors circulating during June primarily focused on hot topics such as disasters, exam and recruitment policies and travel information.

According to the platform, rumor mongers used tactics such as fabrication, exaggeration and misrepresentation to create falsehoods, disrupt public perception, interfere with flood control and disaster relief, and disrupt the orders of exam and recruitment work, which have harmed the public interests and caused a negative impact.

In terms of fabricating and spreading disaster-related rumors that disturb flood control work, individual we-media accounts and netizens took the opportunity as many regions across the country have fully entered the flood season in June with natural disasters occurring frequently to fabricate or exaggerate disaster situations, disrupt the normal orders of disaster relief and causing public anxiety and panic.

Rumors such as “floodwater flowing into underground parking garages in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan Province” and “heavy rains triggering mudslides that destroyed numerous homes in Guilin, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region” either distorted facts and rehash old news, or fabricated stories maliciously, seriously misleading overall public perception of actual events.

In addition, rumors related to recruitment of colleges and senior high schools often involved risks of fraud and harmed the public’s interests. Some institutions impersonated official authorities to engage in events such as paid consultation activities for college entrance examinations and admissions to scam candidates and parents.

Some other institutions and individuals made use of social media to scam job applicants of “service fees” and “consultation fees” during the job-hunting process.

Furthermore, tourism-related rumors also have been increasing as the vacation peak season approaching, which disturbed the public’s opinions.

The rumor saying that “each person receives a subsidy of 3,169 yuan for traveling to Southwest China’s Yunnan Province” seriously misinterpreted Yunnan’s tourism policy which is entirely false publicity meant to deceive the public. The rumors of “Mount Qomolangma being closed indefinitely” and “merchants spreading nails on the Duku Highway in Usu city, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to earn money for tire repairs” are either misunderstandings or distortions and sensationalism, causing public concerns over the troubles of the local culture and tourism industry.

In addition to these misleading rumors, some we-media and netizens fabricated social events, concoct false information, mislead public understanding, and disrupt social order. The rumor about “a livestock farm in Deyang, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, falsely reported inventory to fraudulently obtain 200 million yuan in subsidies” fabricates facts and seriously damages the credibility of policies benefiting the farmers and agriculture. Other rumors such as “Yongfu Temple in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province being sold for 70 million yuan” used sensational headlines to maliciously attract attention, causing negative social impacts.

As the peak of the summer vacation travel season and college admissions approaches in July, rumors and scams related to people’s livelihood such as travel, traffic safety, enrollment policies, and job markets may appear more frequently. China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform reminded the public to maintain a calm, rational and objective attitude, effectively enhancing their abilities in identifying, distinguishing and preventing rumors.

China is promoting high-quality imports of soybeans alongside its growing domestic production. Chinese agricultural experts and industry insiders noted that the cooperation between China and Russia in the soybean industry serves as win-win cooperation which not only meets China's growing import demand, but also provides Russia with a huge export market and development opportunities.

Agricultural experts from China and Russia have conducted in-depth discussions on bilateral cooperation, food security, food processing, providing suggestions and support for the development of agriculture in both countries, chinanews.com reported.

The meeting was held amid the ongoing eighth China-Russia Expo from May 16 to 21 in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia's Far East region. Analysts said that Russia has huge potential in soybean cultivation and exports, which is also an important focus of cooperation between the two sides.

The cooperation between China and Russia in various fields such as energy, agriculture, finance, infrastructure is accelerating. Meanwhile, business representatives from the two countries remain enthusiastic about the future of bilateral trade ties.

Driven by the market need for diversifying sources of supplies for food security reasons while reducing reliance on singular suppliers, it is believed that China's soybean imports from Russia will increase in the near future, experts said.

Russia is also likely to become a major supplier of carbohydrate foods such as wheat, rice, and corn to China, reducing the country's reliance on protein (mainly referring to soybeans) imports from the US. This shift in trade dynamics will strengthen the cooperation between China and Russia in the agricultural sector, an industry insider told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Russia's extensive landmass and suitable climate in the east, which resembles that of China's key soybean producing regions including Heilongjiang, have led it to becoming an emerging soybean supplier for China," Xin Dawei, a professor at the Northeast Agricultural University told the Global Times on Thursday.

In fact, Russia has become one of the important importers of non-genetically modified soybeans for China. As Russia has started to develop its Far Eastern region, soybean trade between the two countries will see new impetus, Xin said.

China's soybean supply remains stable on the market as domestic output is steadily increasing, coupled with sufficient imports. China's soybean production reached 41.68 billion jin (20.84 million tons), an increase of 2.8 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

China is one of the largest markets for agricultural commodities and also the world's largest importer of soybeans. As the supply and demand of grains in China have long been in a tight balance, moderate imports are important to ensure China's food security, effectively compensating for the structural shortage of grain production, Chen Yijuan, a soybean analyst from Shanghai told the Global Times.

In 2023, China imported 99.4 million tons of soybeans in total, an increase of 11.4 percent year-on-year, with an import value of 419.9 billion yuan ($58.1 billion), according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China.

Currently, the US and Brazil both serve as primary sources of China's soybean imports, with the proportion of China's agricultural imports from Brazil steadily increasing. Among them, Brazil's share rose to 70 percent, while the US share decreased to 24 percent, according to public data.

Industry insiders said that the reason China now seeks to import substitutes from Brazil, Argentina and Russia is because their lower prices are still cheaper compared with domestically produced soybeans. They predicted that there will be more cooperation and development opportunities in the field of agriculture between China and Russia.

Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance are working hard to upgrade powerful large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots, in an effort to stay ahead of the growing competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) arms race.

Tencent said it has fully upgraded and open-sourced its self-developed MixNet model, amid a battle by tech companies to develop ever-more advanced AI tools, according to Jiemian News on Tuesday.

The model will reportedly become the first Chinese native-language open-source model with so-called diffusion transformer architecture, a novel approach to generative modeling.

The release of Tencent's LLM coincides with OpenAI's new flagship model GPT-4o on Tuesday. GPT-4o is an LLM tool that can reason across audio, vision and text in real time.

According to the company's statement, this new application has significant improvement in text in non-English languages, and it's also much faster and 50 percent cheaper.

The new release comes one day ahead of Google's annual I/O developer conference, where it's expected to announce updates to its Gemini AI model, according to CNN. 

The roll-out of the latest version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot indicates that OpenAI is under great pressure to commercialize its models, and it is working hard to prove its commercial value, Tian Feng, dean of the SenseTime Intelligence Industry Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As Chinese companies have been racing to launch AI large models to narrow the gap with OpenAI, it will deliver a wave of "AIGA innovation," AI generates audio and sound perception, to China's domestic LLMs and Agents ecosystem, Tian noted.

Technological advances are the most powerful weapons in the journey toward AI, and they are key to keeping one step ahead of the growing competition in the AI arms race, experts said.

Leading Chinese AI models are mainly developed by tech giants - 360 Group, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, experts said.

Baidu, SenseTime and AI start-ups such as Baichuan Intelligent Technology and Zhipu AI have released AI chatbots to the public. Chinese unicorns such as Moonshot AI and Minimax have developed their own chatbots, and this has provoked discussions about the commercialization prospects of China's LLMs.

As of the end of 2023, there were more than 200 LLMs in China, more than 20 of which had been approved to provide services to the public, China Media Group reported.

More Chinese technology giants are fully embracing LLMs and training their own models. But aAdmitting that there is still a significant gap between domestic LLMs and those of their Western counterparts, Chinese experts said it's important for Chinese start-ups to follow the latest global developments in order for China's own GPTs to catch up.

Industry insiders said that Chinese companies need to make more technology breakthroughs and use the results of research and development, and apply all of these inputs to real-world scenarios.

The integration of AI into more widely used consumer products such as such as mobile assistants, car assistants, robots and Augmented Reality goggles, may make those companies' technologies more widely and easily accessible.

The China-Russia Expo, the highest-level and most extensive exhibition hosted by the two countries, has become a major platform for fostering industrial partnerships, and a pivotal avenue for local collaborative initiatives, said an official from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) during a press conference on Monday, while also pledging to facilitate and intensify bilateral trade ties and regional cooperation in the future.

The remarks were made in anticipation of the upcoming 8th China-Russia Expo. As part of the 75th-anniversary celebrations of China-Russia diplomatic relations, the six-day event will be held in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province from May 16 to 21, coinciding with the 33rd China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair. 

With a theme of "cooperation, trust, and opportunities," the expo will focus on various sectors such as cultural tourism, high-tech equipment, traditional and alternative energy, finance, and education among others, aiming to foster comprehensive, multi-faceted, and profound exchanges and collaborations between the two countries, said a local official from Heilongjiang.

This year's expo is expected to achieve records in both scale and influence. Russian exhibitors will comprise 137 companies, occupying a record-breaking 3,267 square meters of exhibition space. Additionally, 1,246 companies from 21 provinces, regions, and municipalities across China will participate, showcasing the tangible implementation of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, according to local media reports.

Since it was inaugurated in 2014, the expo has attracted over 7,200 Chinese-Russian companies and 10.05 million attendees, resulting in deals worth 446.8 billion yuan ($61.99 billion) across various sectors. Over the past decade, the expo's features have gradually shifted from traditional sectors such as energy, minerals, and mechanical electronics to emerging sectors including medical devices, the digital economy and new energy, said Liu Xuesong, director of the Department of Eurasia Affairs at MOFCOM.

Under the new paradigm of China-Russia relations, economic and trade cooperation between the two sides has made significant strides in recent years. In the first quarter of 2024, the bilateral trade volume was $56.68 billion, up by 5.2 percent year-on-year, maintaining an upward trajectory. Moreover, the trade structure continues to improve, with increasing ties in emerging areas such as services trade and cross-border e-commerce, according to official data.

Looking ahead, Liu pledged at the press conference to further enhance China-Russia trade and investment cooperation, bolster the resilience of industrial supply chains, and elevate the facilitation and liberalization of bilateral and regional ties, in a bid to foster a favorable policy environment for expanding bilateral trade.

The China-Russia Expo is jointly hosted by China's MOFCOM, the Heilongjiang provincial government, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, and its Ministry of Industry and Trade. The 7th expo was held from July 10 to 13 last year in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 

The Chinese central government announced on Saturday a new policy that allows travelers from eight more cities in the Chinese mainland to visit the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as individuals. 

The move was strongly welcomed by both officials in the HKSAR and visitors from the mainland cities.

Pang Yiu-Kai, chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), welcomed the move, saying that the latest expansion is a "gift" for the sector, and Beijing's decision to update the program twice in three months reflected its "full support and confidence" in Hong Kong's development, according to the South China Morning Post.

The HKTB will roll out some "large-scale events" and step up promotions in the mainland cities and invite tourism representatives to come to Hong Kong, Pang said. 

With the addition of the eight cities, the number of applicable mainland cities under the "Individual Travel" plan will increase from 51 to 59. The added cities are Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Lhasa and Xining.

Experts said that with more and more mainland cities opening up for individual travel, Hong Kong will attract more tourists from the broader mainland market. Closer exchanges between Hong Kong and the mainland will inject new vitality into the local tourism industry.

HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee expressed his gratitude with regard to the central government's care for Hong Kong and its support for Hong Kong's advance from stability to prosperity, according to the website of the HKSAR government.

Lee noted that various measures have been rolled out this year to support and benefit Hong Kong. The latest move will boost tourism and the economic development of Hong Kong, and facilitate people-to-people bonds between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway welcomed the addition of the new cities and said it was dedicated to providing high-quality, convenient cross-boundary services.

This new arrangement will attract more mainland tourists to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's overall economic development will benefit from the tourism boom, Yang Yong, deputy director of the College of Economics and Management at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The surge in Hong Kong's inbound tourism was a key factor driving the city's economic growth, Yang noted.

About 766,000 visitors from the mainland visited the city during the just-concluded May Day holidays, which ran from May 1 to 5. 

The city recorded an increase of 22 percent in passenger trips compared with the same period last year, a spokesperson for the HKSAR said on May 6.

The Japanese yen hit a 34-year low against the dollar on Monday, but the weak currency has turned Japan into a shopping paradise, with a large number of international tourists flocking to the country to take advantage.

Among the tourists, wealthy Chinese shoppers have been splashing out on luxury items in Japan.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Japanese yen briefly dropped to a new 34-year low of 160 yen to the US dollar on foreign exchange markets on Monday morning. This marked the first time since April 1990 that the US dollar has topped the 160-yen line.

With the continuous depreciation of the yen, the prices of some high-end products in Japan have become much lower than in China, attracting a large number of tourists looking to score some great deals.

Data that Chinese travel platform Qunar sent to the Global Times on Monday shows that as of Sunday, Tokyo and Osaka ranked second and third respectively in terms of searches on the platform, following Bangkok. The search index for Tokyo increased by 207 percent year-on-year, while for Osaka it increased by 172 percent. Hotel bookings in Japan for the upcoming May Day holidays have increased by 3.5 times compared to 2023 on the platform.

A Chinese tourist surnamed Chen who just came back from Japan on Sunday told the Global Times that the major shopping malls were filled with Chinese people.

"If you didn't know any better, you would think you were in a mall in China. Especially at the LV counter, there were long lines outside," Chen said.

For example, an Onthego small handbag from LV costs 25,600 yuan ($3,533.8) in China, but only 47,520 yen in Japan, which is about 21,753 yuan. Therefore, Chinese customers can save nearly 4,000 yuan.

The depreciation of the yen has also led to a surge in demand for the surrogate shopping business, known as daigou, with some shopping agents estimating they can earn up to 10,000 yuan on a trip to Japan.

A daigou shopper surnamed Sun said this has been her busiest time in many years. Sun said she had received 50 orders during the last few weeks. "They asked me to buy them products including luxury handbags, game consoles, cameras, and cosmetics," Sun added.

According to Sun, buying items in Japan is very cost-effective given the high markups in China for goods such as handbags and cameras. She charges a 10 percent shopping fee, so a 20,000-yuan bag can earn her 2,000 yuan.

Although there are risks involved with daigou, such as people only being able to bring back one bag per person and having to remove the tags to avoid customs taxes, the business is still popular.

According to multiple posts on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, which compares prices between luxury handbags in Japan and China, Louis Vuitton's Carryall takes the top spot for the biggest price differential.

The South China Morning Post reported on Monday about the first-quarter results for LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Overall revenue in Asia, which is dominated by the Chinese market, has declined by 6 percent, but in Japan sales have surged 32 percent.

The report said that global sales of fashion and leather goods - LVMH's biggest business - to Chinese customers in their home market and abroad rose 10 percent, indicating that spending by Chinese tourists overseas helped offset weak sales at home. A large portion of their spending abroad was in Japan.

The Global Times found on Xiaohongshu that there have been many posts searching for or offering personal daigou services in Japan during the upcoming May Day holidays.

The plunge in the yen has also increased the appeal of Japanese commercial property.

The Global Times learnt that many Chinese investors are eyeing residential properties, including those in the Tokyo Olympic Village.

However, the depreciation of the yen also creates some problems. It may exacerbate the deflation issue in Japan, and excessive dependence on overseas tourists' consumption may expose the Japanese economy to external risks, according to insiders.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday that talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to China were "candid, substantive and constructive."

During a courtesy meeting with Blinken on Friday afternoon, Chinese President Xi Jinping elaborated on China's authoritative position on China-US relations and proposed guidance, said Yang Tao, director-general of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the China's Foreign Ministry, while briefing the media on Blinken's visit on Friday evening.

Yang said the Chinese side refuted the so-called "overcapacity" in China narrative claimed by the US, calling it another example of US' protectionism and suppression of China's development. It also pointed out that the recent escalation of the situation in the South China Sea is inseparable from the intervention of the US.

Xi pointed out that China and the US should be partners rather than rivals; help each other succeed rather than hurt each other; seek common ground and reserve differences rather than engage in vicious competition; and honor words with actions rather than say one thing but do another, Yang said.

Xi also stressed that China is not afraid of competition, but competition should be about progressing together instead of playing a zero-sum game. China is committed to non-alliance, and the US should not create small blocs, Yang said.

During the talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which lasted for five and a half hours, the Chinese and US officials exchanged in-depth views on China-US relations and international and regional affairs. Wang clarified China's position on major issues involving China's core concerns such as strategic perception, the Taiwan question, economic and technological issues, the South China Sea, and the US' 'Indo-Pacific Strategy', Yang told a group of reporters.

On Friday, Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong also met with Blinken, exchanging views on anti-drug law enforcement cooperation between China and US. Chen Jining, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, met with Blinken on Thursday in Shanghai.

Strategic perception, namely whether China and the US are partners or adversaries, is the fundamental issue of China-US relations and is also a topic discussed by both sides on every occasion, including this one, Yang said.

The logic of great power rivalry and the zero-sum thinking of the Cold War are not in China's DNA, nor are they China's way of behavior. China welcomes a confident, open, and prosperous US and hopes that the US side can also view China's development positively.

And the Taiwan question is the "first red line" that must not be crossed in China-US relations, Yang said. China firmly opposes the series of wrong words and deeds by the US on the question.

China emphasizes that if the US truly hopes for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, it should faithfully abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, refrain from sending wrong signals to the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces in any way, stop arming Taiwan, and support China's peaceful reunification.

On economic and trade issue, China clearly demands that the US stop hyping up the so-called "overcapacity" in China false narrative, revoke illegal sanctions against Chinese companies, and stop imposing 301 tariffs that violate WTO rules.

On the South China Sea issue, Yang said China has sovereignty over the Nansha Islands, including Ren'ai Jiao (Ren'ai Reef), with full historical and legal basis. China has always abided by international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and no country can attempt to challenge China's legitimate rights and interests through illegal arbitration.

The reasons for the current situation in Ren'ai Jiao are clear. The Philippines first violated its commitments by refusing to tow away the illegally grounded warship for 25 years, and then repeatedly violated the "gentleman's agreement" and internal understanding reached with China, willfully infringed and provoked, and attempted to conduct large-scale repairs and reinforcement to achieve permanent occupation of Ren'ai Jiao.

The Philippines' actions seriously violate Article 5 of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea reached between China and ASEAN countries, Yang said.

And the recent escalation of the situation in the South China Sea is inseparable from US' intervention. The US frequently threatens with the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty," which seriously violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and seriously undermines regional peace and stability. If the US wants to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, it should stop fanning flames and inciting confrontation, the Chinese diplomat said.

Regarding the so-called "overcapacity" in China, Yang said China's advantages in areas such as new-energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products are not the result of subsidies from the Chinese government, but the result of global market demand, technological innovation, and full competition.

The so-called "overcapacity" claimed by the US is not a conclusion under market definitions but a false narrative created artificially, which is another example of US' protectionism and suppression of China's development.

Perhaps what is "excessive" is not China's production capacity but the anxiety of the US, Yang said.

If we talk about non-market behaviors and unfair competition, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the US in the past two years not only clearly state subsidies but also contain exclusive and discriminatory provisions. Is this market behavior? Yang asked.

"The US has also imposed illegal sanctions on more than 1,500 Chinese entities and individuals under various pretexts. Is this fair competition?" Yang said.

On the Ukraine crisis, Yang said the Chinese side has made it clear that China is neither the creator of the Ukraine crisis nor a party to it and has not done anything to fan the flames or take advantage of the situation.

The US should stop smearing and pressuring China and stop imposing unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies, he noted.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for building world-class military medical universities, stressing that they should serve the battlefield and troops, and embrace the future.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks during an inspection at the Army Medical University on Tuesday.