As the two largest developing countries in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, China and Brazil clearly share common interests
beyond the high degree of complementarity in the economic and trade fields.
China's largest commercial bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has processed the first cross-border yuan settlement in Brazil at its local branch there, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday, marking another significant step in the yuan's globalization
Western eagerness to emphasize the US stance on Lula's visit to Huawei is, first of all, a disrespect to
Brazil's will, reflecting a kind of anxiety over China-Brazil cooperation that ...
Undernutrition among our adolescents is causing them to be stunted, making them shorter on average than some of our regional neighbours.
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MALAYSIAN teenagers are a short lot – and not because of genetical predisposition.
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One in six local teens are considered stunted at 6-7cm shorter than the World Health Organization’s (WHO’S) standard height reference for adolescents between 10 and 17 years old.
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This is as they are not consuming adequate amounts of the nutrients needed for growth.
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Given that the window for the adolescent growth spurt is very short, yet provides the biggest growth opportunity during our lifetime, this problem of undernutrition needs to be addressed so that our teens can attain their maximum potential height.
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Stunted growth and development caused by undernutrition is common in many regions, especially poorer ones.
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Data from our 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) showed that one in five Malaysian children aged five and under are stunted.
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This reflects an increasing trend, with 21.8% in 2019 from 17.7% in 2015 and 16.6% in 2011.
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Meanwhile, data from the 2017 NHMS revealed that the adolescent stunting rate was at 8.5%, or one in 12, in the 10- to 17-years-old age group.
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Increased risk of disease
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“This is a high percentage for an upper middle income country like ours.
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“For developed countries, we want to keep this figure below 5%,” comments Universiti Malaya Faculty of Medicine Department of Paediatrics head Professor Dr Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin.
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The average final adult height of Malaysians is 164.7cm for men and 153.3cm for women.
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“If we plot this on the growth chart, we are in the bottom 10th percentile, which means our average height is at the lowest out of 100 countries for both men and women, i.e. we are 8-9cm shorter than the rest.
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“The fact that we are not achieving as much height as other Asian men and women is worrying.
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“We have fallen behind Singapore, Japan and South Korea, although in the 1940s and 1950s, we were around the same height,” he says.
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The average male height is 170.6cm in Singapore, 171.2cm in Japan and 175.3cm in South Korea. For females, it is 160cm in Singapore, 158.8cm in Japan and 162.6cm in South Korea.
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Interestingly, females in South Korea have recorded one of the biggest height increases among the world’s female population over the last century.
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Prof Yazid adds: “Of course, we also have to look at the parents’ height – teens should be plus or minus 8cm from their dad’s or mum’s height.”
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Studies have shown that countries that consume more dairy products and animal proteins have a taller population, compared to countries that rely on rice and wheat, like most Asian countries.
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Some consequences of stunting include poor cognition, poor educational performance at school, lower income and lower economic opportunity.
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And when stunting is accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, the person will develop an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adulthood, including obesity, diabetes and heart diseases.
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“A number of them become obese, as when they start to grow older, they get better nutrition and cannot satisfy their hunger, so they eat a lot,” he says.
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However, stunting recovery intervention may enable undernourished children to catch up on height and other developmental markers.
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The crucial years
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Puberty is the time in life when a boy or girl becomes sexually mature.
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This is also when the growth spurt occurs.
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This short period of rapid growth development in children typically lasts around two to three years.
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Prof Yazid explains: “Boys and girls start at different ages.
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“In girls, puberty is when the breasts develop, which can be as early as eight years old, until menarche, i.e. their first period, which is around two or three years after breast development.”
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He adds that the growth spurt usually occurs at the early stage of puberty, so for girls, it occurs around the time of breast development.
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“Once they get their menses, they don’t grow much until the end of the total pubertal period – the gain is only around 2-5cm.
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“During the first two to three years of puberty, most will gain between 17-22cm in height,” he says.
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For boys, puberty begins later, with testicular enlargement that can begin as early as nine to 10 years of age, although it typically occurs around 12 years of age.
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It then takes another two to three years before puberty ends.
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“Only after puberty will boys have a growth spurt and can achieve a 20-25cm height gain.
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“This is when they start having acne, pubic hair, etc
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Start them young
“They can grow really fast, but to help them grow, we need to intervene immediately and cannot wait until their voice changes,” Prof Yazid points out.
He also notes that nobody usually knows when a boy starts puberty as no one checks for testicular enlargement under normal circumstances.
Only a visit to a paediatric endocrinologist is likely to see their testes size being examined.
Where growth happens
All children have growth plates – areas of smooth, elastic cartilage found at the end of each long bone in the body.
This is where growth takes place. When the bones finish growing, the growth plates close.
Girls generally stop growing and reach their maximum height around the age of 14, and boys, around 16.
Doctors can estimate when growth will be completed by determining a child’s bone age.
They do this by taking an X-ray of the left hand and wrist to see if the growth plates are still open.
The bone age may be different from the child’s actual age.
Prof Yazid says: “Bone age is not the same as chronological age.
“For those that go into early puberty, their bone age may be more advanced than chronological age.
“Height gain should really begin before puberty.
“If the girls are short at the start of puberty, we like to delay puberty, because if they were to start their menses with the height of 130cm, then we cannot do much.
“That’s why it’s important to start nutrition, adequate caloric intake and caloric expenditure from a young age for bone lengthening and thickening, so that the child can gain enough height.”
The adolescent phase contributes to 15-20% of adult height, 45% of adult bone mass increase, and 40-50% of adult weight gain.
Nutritional needs
During early adolescence, children require up to twice or more key nutrients to support accelerated growth and development, compared to a younger child.
These include:
> Calcium – up to 85% increase > Protein – up to 154% increase > Magnesium – up to 200%
increase
> Phosphorus – up to 170%
increase)
> Zinc – up to 75% increase, and > Vitamin K – up to 133% increase.
Results from the 2017 NHMS showed that:
> 89.4% of adolescents did not meet the required nutritional intake (RNI) for calcium
> 98.8% did not meet the RNI for
vitamin D, and
> Over 60% did not meet the RNI for vitamin E.
In addition, the survey found that seven out of 10 adolescents habitually skipped breakfast, while another one in two skipped lunch and dinner.
“I’ve encountered a number of adolescents (13-18 years) who have growth issues; they are underweight so they don’t gain much height.
“At this age, physical activity is important for boys, and if they don’t eat much, they lack energy.
“Three out of four kids also don’t take adequate dairy products,”
laments Prof Yazid.
A lack of sleep also affects height.
This is as growth hormones are secreted the most between 10pm to midnight before dropping, then rising a bit between 2am to 4am.
He says: “Most of our adolescents sleep late and have poor quality of sleep, so they don’t get the spurt of growth hormones.
“Another factor is physical activity, which enables the secretion of endorphin and serotonin hormones to make you feel good about yourself.
“When you feel good and sleep better, it increases the growth hormone secretions.
“Our adolescents love to sleep late, don’t do regular physical activity and skip meals, so how can they grow well?
“With Covid-19, all kids are equally affected as they don’t do much physical activity and spend more time on gadgets.”
Adolescents should aim to incorporate 30-60 minutes of moderate physical activity daily.
“Walking lazily doesn’t count.
“It’s best to exercise in the evening so they can sleep better at night,” he says.
Parents as role models
Prof Yazid says about half of adolescents perceive that their parents don’t know what they do in their free time.
“What and how you eat matters. “Parents need to try to understand their adolescents’ perspective and look into the kinds of food, timing of their food intake/sleep and exercise patterns.
“It’s better to show than to say, because bugging them doesn’t help when parents themselves don’t lead by example.
“So, when food is put on the table, show them how you would eat it.
“Similarly, exercise with them and sleep early.
“Parents are really the best supporters to encourage their children to do all these,” he says.
In terms of dairy products – which are important for development and bone strength – a number of parents think their children don’t need milk beyond the ages of five or seven, and thus, stop serving it to them.
This is incorrect.
Prof Yazid says: “From dairy products, they can get good nutrients.
“They need at least 600ml of milk a day – 400ml can come from milk and the other 200ml can be obtained from other sources such as cheese or yoghurt.”
When regular meals alone do not meet the increased nutrient requirements for their child’s growth, parents can seek advice from their child’s physician and consider nutritional supplements to help improve nutritional intake during this important growth period.
“The height at the start of puberty is so important to determine the final height.
“If we can reduce stunting rates before the age of five, we can definitely reduce its prevalence among adolescents,” concludes Prof Yazid.
The Star Malaysia
When parents make mistakes
One common parenting mistake is jumping to conclusions about your
child’s guilt without even giving them a chance to explain first. —
Positive Parenting
It may be hard to put aside your pride and apologise to your kids, but it will make you a better parent and show your children good values.
IF you have ever mistakenly raised your voice towards your child or blamed him for something he did not do, you must know how awful that feels like.
Parents commit mistakes too, but as authority figures and role models in the family, they may find it hard to right their wrongs.
Mistakes are bound to happen, whether due to stress, overwork, lack of sleep, poor judgement or carelessness.
However, this is not an excuse to be ignorant or dismissive of one’s missteps.
What we can do is to learn from our mistakes today so that we can be better parents tomorrow.
It may not be easy to overcome our ego and admit our mistake to the kids.
But by role-modelling such behaviour, we can teach our kids (and ourselves) to be better human beings.
Common parenting mistakes
To learn from your mistakes, you will first need to accept that a mistake has been made.
It may occur unintentionally or due to past ignorance.
Here are some common mistakes:
>
Breaking promises
You promised to take your daughter to her favourite restaurant after she did well in her test, but you were too busy and ended up not going.
Parents promise all kinds of things to their kids, but it can be hard to fulfil all of the promises made.
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Telling lies
White lies are common for various reasons – as an excuse, to avoid difficult topics, and often, to calm children.
Parents may also tell a lie to another person in front of their kids.
Even if the lie seems harmless, it teaches the kids that it is okay to lie – and this is not okay.
> Jumping to conclusions
Some parents tend to blame or scold their kids without giving them a chance to explain things first.
By assuming that our kids’ past behaviours and choices dictate present and future ones, it limits how we view our kids and can cause us to judge them unfairly.
>
Using bad words
Rising anger tends to blind us. You may not realise the bad words being uttered and there is no way to retract them once they are said.
It is bad enough when said to another person, but worse when said to your own kids.
>
Comparing and criticising
Constructive comments are okay, but belittling your child, comparing him with others, and criticising his weak spots, all with the intention of “building up his character” are not.
>
Too much teasing
Joking, teasing and kidding with your kids are some of the ways to have a laugh and fun with them.
However, you may be taking things too far if they are not laughing.
Even worse is if you press them for not being able to take the joke. > Forgetting things
Having a busy schedule may lead to occasional slip-ups, causing you to forget simple errands (e.g. to pick up your child from tuition), or even important events and dates (e.g. your child’s birthday or school sports day).
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Being hypocritical
Parents are the main role model for their kids.
When parents do not practise what they preach, they risk confusing the kids with conflicting messages.
>
Hurting them physically
Parents may accidentally inflict physical harm onto their children, e.g. injuring your daughter’s finger while closing the car door.
Some parents also tend to take out their anger or frustrations on their kids (including yelling, cursing and hitting).
Righting the wrong
After realising that you have made a mistake, what can you do?
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Don’t be too hard on yourself
No parent is perfect, so do not beat yourself up too long for being a “horrible parent”.
Instead, focus on correcting your mistake and finding a solution. >
Admit mistakes and apologise
Once you and your child have calmed down somewhat, gently talk about what you regret and apologise for your mistake.
Ask for a “do over” and try to make things right.
This can be a great opportunity to demonstrate forgiveness and humility to your child.
>
Reconnect with your child
Let your child express how he feels.
Be open, present and willing to listen and engage with him.
Try to put yourself in his shoes and see (and feel) from his point of view.
This will build empathy and a deeper understanding to reconnect with one another.
>
Aim to be better
Focus on self-improvement as a person and parent.
Learn to regulate your own emotions by practising self-compassion and learning to stay centred whenever there is a crisis in your household.
Loving your child starts with loving yourself.
It is part of human nature to make mistakes.
In our lifetime, we will (or should) exchange apologies and forgiveness countless times, including as a parent.
The important thing is to acknowledge that a mistake has been made and to learn from it, make amends, reconcile and gradually develop to be a better parent and individual.
- Alexius Cheang is a behavioural psychologist. This article is courtesy of the Malaysian Paediatric Association’s Positive Parenting programme in collaboration with expert partners. For further information, please email starhealth@ thestar.com.my. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
World main countries 2021 Q1 GDP Growth Infographic: Wu Tiantong/GT
Xi Jinping: Chinese people will never allow foreign bullying, oppressing or subjugating
https://youtu.be/oS5QqS9C_xw
https://youtu.be/J1s1evS3xJc
As China gears up to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 1, one of the greatest achievements of the CPC to be highlighted is what has been widely described as an economic miracle. From a backward agrarian economy in the early days of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to an economic and technological powerhouse today, China's economic success story under the CPC's leadership has arguably become the global story of the century and the envy of the world.
The secret codes behind such miraculous achievements have also become a hotly debated topic around the world. This article will decode those codes.
Born into a poor rural family with per capita disposal income of less than 50 yuan ($7.80), the PRC, now in its 70s, has seen the income reading top 32,000 yuan as of 2020. Behind the 640-plus fold surge is the country's rapid ascent to a global behemoth in almost every aspect in an unparalleled timeframe and path.
What are the CPC's secret codes to economic success?
To answer that, the Global Times conducted an extensive examination of the CPC's economic policymaking at several critical junctions and interviewed domestic and foreign experts. Four key themes stand out.
World main countries 2021 Q1 GDP Growth Infographic: Wu Tiantong/GT
Bold planning, effective execution
"The five-year planning is the major driving factor that boosted the Chinese economy to the No. 2 in the world. This system is effective and reliable in focusing on and predicting how the economy performs and which necessary adjustments are required to finetune it along the way," David Monyae, director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, told the Global Times.
Since its beginning in the 1950s, there have been 14 five-year plans (FYP) - each marks a significant shift in China's economic policies and advances in social and economic development.
The first FYP, which started in 1953, envisioned the industrialization of China, starting the 60-plus year journey of creating an economic constellation that's being renovated every five years.
"China has led a different path than the West's laissez-faire capitalism or its so-called marketization. China maintains more compelling institutional prowess than the West," said Cong Yi, dean of School of Marxism under Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, citing the Party's strong ability to make strategic development plans that integrate short-term plans into medium and long-term ones.
After initially drawing on the Soviet Union's five-year planning experience, the CPC soon realized the limitations of the Soviet model and some of its shortcomings and mistakes, and then decided to independently explore a socialist construction road suited to China's national conditions, which, coupled with laser focus and effective execution, led to one milestone after another.
The 13th CPC National Congress in 1987 made a proposition of a three-step development strategy that envisaged doubling the gross national product (GNP) between 1981 and 1990, doubling its GNP again by the end of the 20th century and per capita GNP reaching moderately developed country levels by the middle of this century.
Buoyed by unprecedented reformist drives since the country's grand reform and opening-up in 1978, the second-step target was hit at the conclusion of the Eighth FYP (1991-95), five years ahead of schedule.
In yet another milestone, the Third Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee in November 1993 passed the decision on certain issues in establishing a socialist market economic system. With the guidance of the Ninth FYP (1996-2000), the country made good the transition from a planned economy to a socialist market economy in 2000, a prelude to its accession to the WTO in December 2001.
In the latest proof of the effectiveness of the FYP, just as planned, the alternation of the 13th FYP ended 2020 and the newest FYP starting this year is on course to deliver a victory for its first centenary goal of building a moderately well-off society on the CPC's 100th anniversary.
"The main feature of the five-year plans is the top-level design, which is holistic, macroscopic, forward looking, anticipatory and binding," Zhao Xuejun, director of the Modern Economic History of China Research Center under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Institute of Economics, told the Global Times.
Today, China's FYPs have become a closely watched policy document around the world as it provides a valuable window into China's economic policies and development goals.
This year, global attention was focused on the 14th FYP ending 2025, which is set to pave the way for the second centenary goal to be attained - building a modern socialist power by 2049 when the PRC turns 100.
File photo:VCG
Seeking truth from facts
However, even as China's economy advanced in an overall steady pace as planned, there were no shortages of difficulties and mistakes over the past several decades - from some early decisions and policies that were against market rules to the "decade of the catastrophe," to the blind pursuit of extensive and high-speed growth over a certain period of time.
In overcoming those challenges and mistakes, the CPC showed its ability to "seek truth from facts" - a phrase that epitomizes the Party's flexibility and ability to objectively pinpoint the problems, experts said.
That ability was highlighted in the Party's response to crises during the Great Leap Forward era, which coincided with the Three Years of Natural Disasters (1959-61) and the breakdown of Sino-Soviet Union relations.
During the period, exaggeration about production prevailed across China, being called "launching satellites," and from wheat, rice and steel, places and reports started to boast of false high productions. The economic and social campaign that aimed for a rapid industrialization to steer the-then poor economy into a modern communist society appeared to have wrong-footed the economy.
Instead of turning a blind eye to the truth, the CPC Central Committee urged maximum efforts to correct all deviations in an urgent instruction letter in November 1960 and a Party plenum in January 1961 decided on the implementation of an economic adjustment.
As the economy ran its course of adjustment at the end of 1965 and began its third FYP, the Cultural Revolution began, putting the country in "10 years of catastrophe" until 1976.
Then came another turn - the 11th National Congress of the CPC in August 1977 declared the end of the Cultural Revolution and reiterated that the Party's fundamental task was to build the country into a socialist modern power.
"The CPC has a strong mechanism of self-correction; internally it came from the democratic system of the Party, and essentially it is built on the Party's tenet of seeking interest for the people and re-juvenation for the nation," Zhao told the Global Times.
The perseverance with seeking truth comes across as building the economy's resilience that has dissolved various challenges and crises, such as the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, into hiccups which only result in increased economic sophistication, observers noted.
In response to the crises, the CPC was able to seek truth from facts and be flexible, as well as to be free from prejudice and ideological bias, encouraging local exploration and innovation, Zhao said.
In another striking and more recent example, the Party has managed to bid farewell to an unhealthy obsession with GDP growth that regards GDP statistics as the core or even the only indicator for assessing government performance, which stoked concerns over high GDP numbers at the expense of the environment and economic imbalance.
For instance, in August 2014, East China's Fujian Province cancelled the GDP assessment in 34 counties and cities, and implemented the evaluation method of giving priority to agriculture and ecological protection.
Aerial
photo taken on Sept. 17, 2020 shows the Houhai area in Nanshan District
of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. Photo:xinhua
Reform and opening-up
Just as the CPC is very swift in correcting mistakes, it is also profoundly persistent and steadfast in carrying out scientific policies - another pillar of the CPC's economic success.
The milestone Third Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee in December 1978 has been widely known as a starting point for the economy's 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, ushering in a transition from a class struggle-themed Party platform to a focus on economic building.
The main resistance force came from people's fear of capitalism, thinking that opening to the outside world would alchemize New China. With keen observation on the world's development in economy and science and technology, Deng Xiaoping launched the opening-up policy, pushing aside all hesitance and skepticism.
In early 1982, the Shekou industrial zone in Shenzhen was criticized by some for planning to hire a foreign business manager. When Deng learned this, he immediately applauded the decision, saying that it's OK to hire foreigners as managers and it is no traitorous behavior.
The reform of the country's state-owned enterprises (SOE) is an evocative story of the country's undaunted approach to boosting its economy.
By 1987, 80 percent of the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) adopted various forms of the contracted managerial responsibility system. Some enterprises even began to undertake shareholding system reforms.
Graphic:GT
In the first quarter of 1996, the country's 68,800 SOEs, as a whole, recorded their first net loss since the founding of the PRC.
After the pain comes the result. From 1989 to 2001, though the number of SOEs dropped to 46,800 from 102,300, their total industrial added value increased to 1.47 trillion yuan from 389.5 billion yuan, surging 11.67 percent annually.
Despite tremendous success over the past several decades, difficulties and hurdles never ceased to test China's commitment to the reform and opening-up policies today.
The thorn-covered yet high-yielding road to reform and opening-up, as such, was being paved as efforts to liberate thoughts and the bold push for innovation trickled in. With an endeavor to sustain liberation on multiple fronts for there to be even deeper reforms, China finally pushed through.
In 2020, China overtook the US to become the world's top destination for new foreign direct in-vestment. In the first five months of 2021 alone, China attracted 18,497 new foreign-funded firms and 481 billion yuan in foreign capital.
Graphic:GT
Self-sufficiency, innovation-driven
However, increasingly opening up to the outside world does not mean China will not mitigate seri-ous risks for its national and economic security. Since the earlier days of the CPC's leadership, self-sufficiency in many core sectors such as food and technology was a major focus, which has also become a key code to the CPC's success.
In an early sign of a self-reliant approach to development, by 1964, the self-sufficiency rate of China's main machinery and equipment had reached over 90 percent. With construction of the Daqing oilfield completed and Shengli and Dagang oilfields under development, China achieved total self-sufficiency in oil by 1965.
Since then, that quest for self-sufficiency in many areas, including technological innovation, has never stopped and has helped lift China to a world-leading global technological power in many areas - from 5G to high-speed rails, and from new-energy vehicles to space exploration technologies.
Just last week, China pulled off the country's first-ever automated fast rendezvous and docking of a manned spacecraft with China's orbiting space station core cabin, after the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft was successfully launched on the Long March-2F Y12 carrier rocket.
China's considerable technological prowess has already unnerved the US, which has been a domi-nant player for decades.
The CPC's focus on self-sufficiency and innovation-driven strategy was particularly notable in the country's efforts to mitigate an increasingly hostile external environment marked by a relentless attempt by the US to contain China's rise.
Even before the US' crackdown campaign, the focus on self-dependence and technological innova-tion was highlighted as the CPC convened its 19th National Congress in October 2017, where a new era of China's socialism was declared. The Party's 18th National Congress also introduced an innovation-driven development strategy.
Since then, in a series of meetings and top policy documents, the CPC has constantly stepped up efforts to pursue efficiency in a wide range of areas, from semiconductors to crop seeds.
"Against the backdrop of an intensifying China-US rivalry, China may face rising risks of high-tech blocks, supply chain obstruction, or further trade disputes. What China needs to do is focus on its own business and concentrate on overcoming the difficulties in key technologies, equipment, raw materials and design software that are being held back by Western countries, and coordinate devel-opment and security," said Zhao.
As these new challenges emerge, while China is no longer the backward, war-torn country it was 7 decades ago, challenges and risks, both domestic and foreign, remain. With the CPC's firm leader-ship and its proven successful economic policymaking, China is better positioned than ever to reach its bold development goal of becoming a modern socialist power in the coming decades, analysts said.
Storm in a teacup: Hishammuddin’s ‘big brother’ remark when meeting Wang caused a stir in the country. — Photos: Xinhua
Hishammuddin (left) and his Chinese counterpart Wang at the signing of the historic MOU on the Establishment of a High-Level Committee to Promote
Co-operation in the Post Covid-19 Era.
AT a recent joint press briefing in Fujian Province with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Wang “is my taiko (big brother)” after he described “Malaysia and China is a family” with broad smiles.
For both phrases, he had spoken in “broken” Mandarin before translating into English himself. And in response, a pleasantly surprised Wang Yi replied promptly in Mandarin “We are brothers”.
While this “big brother” remark on April 1 has sent Chinese social media into frenzy as this was interpreted as Malaysia’s strong respect shown towards China, the world’s second largest economy, it has whipped up a storm back home.
Amid this brouhaha focusing on the propriety of the phrases, the economic gains harvested by Hishammuddin in his refreshing display of charming diplomacy have largely been eclipsed. China’s nod to include Malaysian red palm oil on its import list had missed the news headlines.
In response to local criticisms, Hishamuddin has explained he was being respectful to the Chinese State Councillor and foreign minister, as the latter is older and a more seasoned diplomat. The elder brother is 67 years old, and younger is 59.
Hishammuddin had used this trip to express Malaysia’s appreciation to China for the latter’s help in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. When the virus first hit Malaysia, China promptly sent masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to Putrajaya. Its medical teams also came to share their experience in fighting the noval virus.
In defending himself, the Malaysian top diplomat has argued the act of being respectful does not signify weaknesses.
However, his explanation has provoked more reactions and criticisms. Leading the attack on him are former Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“As Malaysia’s top diplomat, Hishammuddin should be more circumspect and tactful in his choice of phrase. Instead of trying to justify such wrong choice of phrase, Hishammuddin should have just accepted that he has committed a diplomatic faux pas.
“It was wrong enough to commit a diplomatic faux pas but to argue and try to justify it clearly showed the real character of the person, ” said Anifah, a Sabah leader who had served as foreign minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018.
Opposition politician Anwar urged Hishammuddin to apologise to the nation. He said the language and expressions used has put Malaysia as a “boneka” (puppet) to a foreign country.
But whether Hishimmuddin was being careless, commentators with sharp eyes could provide some leads. They pointed out his gestures and body language showed he was sincere with his words.
Chinese commentator Cheng Yue said on his YouTube post: “We can feel that the Mandarin words on ‘you are my elder brother’ was learnt before attending the press event.
“He was smiling as he uttered those words. It was meant for the ears of our government and people, as Malaysia needs Chinese help in its efforts to get its post-epidemic economy back to normalcy.”
Indeed, Hishammuddin is no stranger to the Chinese people. He is remembered as the Acting Transport Minister holding daily press conference at KLIA after the March 2014 disappearance of Beijing-bound MH730 airplane. Many had given thumbs up for his handling of the disaster.
Hishammuddin, who was defence minister during the rule of Barisan Nasional before it was toppled in May 2018, is generally seen to have enjoyed a close rapport with Beijing.
In 2019, when he was in the opposition, he had offered to help track down fugitive billionaire Low Taek Jho, rumoured to be hiding in China. Low was (and still is) wanted to help in the investigations into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
But while criticisms are aplenty for his “taiko” phrase, Hishammudin is not short of support.
Leading Chinese daily in Malaysia Sin Chew Jit Poh opines the Foreign Minister has not committed any wrong by showing respect and friendship to the host.
In its editorial headlined “Calling Wang Yi elder brother will not be self-dwarfing”, Sin Chew wrote last Tuesday: “We do not understand what wrong our Foreign Minister had committed. Did he sign any treaty deemed as insulting to Malaysia? Did he give away our sovereignty?”
The newspaper opposed calls for Hishammuddin to apologise to the country for his remarks. It said: “We have to be more broadminded. In our daily life, we address people we respect as ‘big sister’ or ‘big brother’. What is diplomacy? It is the use of a language skillfully to smoothen the process to achieve our goals in international negotiations.”
In fact, Hishimmuddin’s remarks have won praise from the most powerful Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. In her regular media briefing the following day, she said: “Even separated by a screen, we can feel the warmth and close friendship of the two nations.”
To political observer Professor Dr Chin Yew Sin, the seasoned politician’s remarks could be interpreted from political and economic angles.
“On the one hand, our general election (GE15) is coming soon. From the political angle, he is playing with the China card to woo local Chinese votes. (About 30% of Chinese voters have not decided which party to support in GE15).
“On the other hand, Malaysia needs China to buy more palm oil to help revitalise our economy as it is facing problems with Europe. Post pandemic, we need more Chinese tourists coming. If not, you think Hisham will call China ‘taiko’?” While there may be doubt on China’s influence in GE15, Chin is right on the economic front.
As a government leader, Hishammudin knows the importance of China to Malaysia. The mainland is Malaysia’s biggest trade partner for 12 consecutive years. It has also been a significant source of foreign investment since the Barisan administration.
Despite the pandemic, China’s imports of Malaysian commodities and manufactured goods hit record high in 2020. This has resulted in a bigger trade balance in Malaysia’s favour.
In fact, some people believe Hishammuddin was exuding personal charisma to achieve the national goals for Malaysia.
As China’s economy is in the full swing now after recovering speedily from the pandemic, it is pertinent for Kuala Lumpur to deepen its economic cooperation with Beijing.
Last Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund raised its 2021 GDP growth forecast for China to 8.4%, up from 8.1% in January.
Hence, signing a pact to establish a Malaysia-China High-Level Committee on Post-Covid-19 Cooperation is a wise move, as Malaysia will stand to gain from cooperation rather than confrontation.
At the media briefing on April 1, Hishammuddin said this would “provide policy guidance for all aspects” of relations: trade and investment, food security, science/technology, travel and quality projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
From this trip, Malaysia achieved a breakthrough in trade. Beijing agreed to allow imports of our red palm oil, which had previously failed to meet China’s colour specification standards. This gain is important as palm oil is a major export and foreign exchange earner for Malaysia.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) recently projected that China would import 6.8 million tonnes of palm oil this year. Out of this, about 42% would be sourced from Malaysia.
China watchers say if Malaysia wants China to import more, it has to play its diplomatic card right. In this regard, Indonesia has outwitted Malaysia.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Wang said on April 1 China is willing to work with Malaysia to continue to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in the post-epidemic period.
He also expressed China’s willingness to enhance cooperation on Covid-19 vaccine and drug research with Malaysia, adding that the two sides should enhance cooperation in fields including 5G, digital economy and modern agriculture.
According to a Nikkei report, Malaysia will become the second Chinese vaccine production base in the region, after Indonesia. These deals will help to promote greater acceptance of Chinese vaccines in this region and globally.
In this meeting, China and Malaysia also agreed on mutual recognition of “vaccine passports” to facilitate travel. For Malaysia, this will lay the groundwork to restart international tourism.
While the ‘taiko” remarks have caught the eyes of Malaysians and Chinese nationals, they might have also caught Washington’s attention.
On the eve of his visit to China, Hishammuddin received a call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who “affirmed the key role of Asean-centrality in the Indo-Pacific and underscored the importance of promoting freedom of navigation, overflight and other lawful uses of the sea, including in the South China Sea”.
The Malaysian diplomat has described their conversation as “great”.
“Blinken appeared just as enthusiastic about Malaysia’s relationship with China, ” according to a comment by Nikkei.
Given that President Joe Biden has pledged he will prevent China from becoming the world’s “leading” and “wealthiest” country, and Washington is getting all its allies to encircle Beijing, it is no surprise that any activities linked to China will be monitored by US officials.
Asean leaders have generally chosen to stay neutral in the US-China confrontation. But they have to engage more with China – their closer neighbour that is overflowing with economic opportunities.
In fact, Wang’s meeting with Hishammuddin was part of his meetings with three other Southeast Asian nations from March 31 to April 3. The foreign ministers of Singapore, Indonesia and the Phillipines had held meetings with Wang separately on different days.
Wrapping up his series of meetings with the four Asean nations, Wang Yi told China’s state media that he has called on Southeast Asian nations to be on the alert for external forces interfering in coup-hit Myanmar, as its junta faces rising international pressure to return democracy to the people.
On these Asean meetings, the Global Times of China opines Beijing is overcoming US attempt at “encirclement.” It said:
“It is actually very easy to break the so-called US encirclement. This encircling of China is a false proposition put forward by those who think too highly about themselves.”
-When developing infrastructure, the internal driving force of society should be far greater than the resistance from interests. But this is not the case in today's US: Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin-
A woman walks at a platform of a subway station in Chicago, the United States, January 17, 2020. Photo: Xinhua
US President Joe Biden unveiled a roughly $2 trillion American Jobs Plan focused on infrastructure and the climate crisis in a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. To win support, he said that the "once-in-a-generation" investment would "put [the US] in a position to win the global competition with China in the upcoming years."
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Much of infrastructure in the US has been old. Both Democrats and Republicans are on the same page on this matter. US former president Barack Obama in September 2010 proposed his ambitious plan to renew the US' transportation infrastructure, but failed to achieve it in both of his terms. Neither did Donald Trump. Biden launched the third round of such attempt. His plan contains the greatest details and seems to be the most serious one.
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However, the Biden administration's infrastructure plan was met with opposition from Republicans when it was announced. Trump slammed the infrastructure plan as a "giveaway to China" in a statement on Wednesday, and said that the proposed tax increases designed to fund the $2 trillion proposal would end up backfiring by sending American jobs overseas. Biden may once again have mired himself down in a situation where everyone agrees that it was the right thing to do, but no one can agree on how to do it or where the money will come from.
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US society has been gravely divided. The more interests involved in carrying out a big plan, the more opportunities for political struggles to be created, which will hinder the goal to be achieved. This is the root of the US' problem. To engage in infrastructure construction, the internal driving force of society should have been far greater than the resistance from disputes by different interest groups, but this is not the case in the US. Exploiting "defeating China" as a thrust to push the plan sharply deviates from the appropriate track. This makes the plan hard to achieve.
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Has China ever thought of competing with the US as it builds high-speed trains, widen the highway network and build network base stations? They are entirely China's own national agenda. The incentive to invest is strong, and the general public is very supportive. We can say that China's infrastructure advances with ease. Our concern is often that we should not work lavishly on these projects in case they lead to interim waste or debt.
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The US now has China everywhere in its mind with regard to its domestic policy, attaching labels of national security randomly, and blaming China for any industrial imbalance in the US. Apart from instigating nationalism, this would do little to solve the problem. Over time, the US will not only be down with an anti-China syndrome and strike at anything Chinese, but will also only be able to make its policy with anti-China elements. This will lead to the misdirection of its goal time and again and cause it lose its way in development.
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The US should force itself to forget about China more often. What the US needs to do is struggling with itself. It has been more than a decade since it has called for the construction of the high-speed railway. Why hasn't a single kilometer been built? What does this inefficiency have to do with China? Trump overturned many of Obama's policies and now Biden overturned Trump's policies. Is this what China seduced the US to do?
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It is quite impressive that Washington is beginning to value some important lessons from China. Conflict is also a way to learn from each other. China's key experience is to mind its own work well. Biden's determination to improve infrastructure and increase investment in technology seems to have taken something from China's direction. We hope that the US could adhere to this idea. It is the right way forward.
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If the US really initiated a new investment in infrastructure, it is believed that Chinese society in general will be optimistic about its success. More of this kind of engagement by the US will increase its market demand, which is a positive factor in the expansion of China's economic growth. After all, the contest between China and the US should have been focused on the competition of domestic development, rather than playing chess on the diplomatic front.
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If Washington had refocused its attention, it might not have exaggerated the "China threat" theory as much as it does now. They will find that the benefits of China-US cooperation may outweigh the zero-sum competition with China "from a position of strength." China could be a partner, not a rival, in Biden's plan to revitalize US infrastructure, if Washington so desires.
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Obsessive focus on making enemies or confrontation is narrow-minded and an exhausted strategy. It is an unwise one. This is true of a person, and it is also true of a country
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One common parenting mistake is jumping to conclusions about your
child’s guilt without even giving them a chance to explain first. —
Positive Parenting
