humankind | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

24/05/2020

China and US must find ways to get along and avoid new cold war, says Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Countries must respect each others’ systems and be wary of US political forces who want to ‘hijack relations’, Wang tells press conference at ‘two sessions’
Beijing is not looking for confrontation and wants to work with Washington to fight coronavirus, minister says

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China did not want to replace or change the US. Photo: Xinhua

China and the US should try to avoid a new cold war and find new ways to cooperate despite their differences, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

“We need to be alert to efforts by some political forces in America to hijack China-US relations and who try to push the two countries towards a so-called ‘new cold war’.

“This is a dangerous attempt to turn back the course of history,” Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary meetings known as the ‘two sessions’.

Ties between the two countries have further worsened due to escalating tensions over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Voices calling for decoupling have been on the rise in the US, with some arguing that the two countries are edging towards a new cold war akin to that against the Soviet Union.

Wang called for the two countries to respect each other’s political systems and to find a way to get along despite their differences.

The two nations should step up cooperation on global pandemic control, and coordinate on macro policies to deal with the economic impact.

“China has no intention of changing the United States, much less replacing it. The US should give up the wishful thinking that it can change China.”

“For the benefit of the two peoples, as well as the future and well-being of humankind, China and the US should and must find a way to coexist peacefully despite the differences in system and cultures of the two societies.”

Wang said China will not seek confrontation with the United States, but China is determined to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity and development.

Source: SCMP

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29/04/2020

Spotlight: China leads global green development with concrete actions

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) — China has achieved much progress in environmental protection and taken the lead in green development in recent years.

The efforts have exemplified Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal of “working together for a green and better future for all” made a year ago in his speech at the opening ceremony of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing.

In the keynote speech, Xi proposed a five-point initiative on promoting green development, namely pursuing harmony between man and nature, pursuing the prosperity based on green development, fostering a passion for nature-caring lifestyle, pursuing a scientific spirit in ecological governance, and joining hands to tackle environmental challenges.

China’s hard work on environment protection has paid off.

The ecological environment has improved significantly. People are enjoying more days of blue sky, cleaner water, and fertile land.

China has achieved the goal of zero growth of desertified land by 2030 set by the United Nations ahead of time. Besides, forest stock volume increased by 4.56 billion cubic meters compared with that of 2005.

Carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2018 fell by 45.8 percent compared with that of 2005, exceeding the target set for the year.

After more than 30 years of hard work, the seventh largest desert in China, the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, once known as the “sea of death” difficult for birds to fly across, has turned into a green valley.

In January 2020, in a letter in reply to the student representatives of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, the Chinese president mentioned his thoughts about ecological civilization in his youth.

“Over four decades ago, I lived and worked for many years in a small village on the Loess Plateau in western China. Back then, the ecology and environment there was seriously damaged due to over-development and the local people were trapped in poverty as a result,” Xi wrote.

“This experience taught me that man and nature are a community of life and that the damage done to nature will ultimately hurt mankind,” said Xi.

China’s progress and achievements are recognized worldwide.

The ecological civilization and green development advocated by China are actually an endeavor to find a way to balance economic development and environmental protection, said John Cobb, Jr., the founding president of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Noting that the endeavor is a remarkable exploration, he expressed his hope that it will succeed.

China is on the right path in dealing with global climate change and achieving sustainable development, said Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum.

In addition to making efforts at home, China has also rolled out a series of measures to support the global combat against climate change.

In September 2015, ahead of the Paris climate change conference, Xi pledged a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-U.S. dollars) China South-South Climate Cooperation Fund, which was dedicated to help other developing countries combat climate change.

China has also been fulfilling the obligations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and achieved the goal of its intended nationally determined contributions submitted to the secretariat of the Climate Change Convention as scheduled.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his appreciation for China’s important contributions to addressing the climate change and building a green “Belt and Road,” and said he expects China to continue to play a leading role in addressing the climate change and other issues.

“Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” a concept put forward by Xi in 2005 when he visited Yucun Village in southeast China’s Zhejiang Province as the party chief of the province, has become the motto of the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In March 2020, when Xi returned to Yucun, he said that economic development should not be achieved at the expense of the ecological environment. To protect the ecological environment is to develop the productive forces, he said.

The history of civilizations shows that the rise or fall of a civilization is closely tied to its relationship with nature, Xi said at the International Horticultural Exhibition last year.

Only by joining hands can the humankind advance a global ecological civilization and march towards the bright future of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Source: Xinhua

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03/04/2020

Coronavirus: Chinese academics’ open letter urges Beijing, Washington to come together to beat Covid-19

‘As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,’ academics say
‘Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,’ they say

Chinese academics have urged nations to cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis. Photo: AFP

A group of 100 Chinese scholars has signed an open letter calling on the

United States

and China to put an end to their political blame game and work together to fight the

Covid-19 pandemic

The signatories, who include former diplomats and academics from various fields, including political science, international relations and sociology, said that while the origins of the coronavirus remained unknown, hurling accusations achieved nothing but hurt.

Nations should stop “complaining, finger-pointing and blaming one another” and instead cooperate to find a solution to the global public health crisis, they said.

“Political bickering does nothing to contribute to the healthy development of Sino-US relations, nor will it help the people of the world to rationally and accurately understand and cope with the pandemic,” the scholars said in the letter published on Thursday in online news magazine The Diplomat.

“As two of the great countries on Earth, cooperation between China and the US could, and should, be used to bring a more positive outcome for all humankind,” it said.

The scholars also urged the two sides to put aside their bickering over where and how the disease originated.

“At this stage of the pandemic, the exact source and origin of Covid-19 remain undetermined, but these questions are unimportant and finger-pointing is demeaning and hurtful to everyone,” they said.

US and Chinese officials have sparred for weeks over the origins of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan but has since spread around the world, infecting more than 1 million people and killing close to 53,000.

Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”. Photo: Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the pathogen as the “Chinese virus”, while other US politicians have said it was created in a Chinese laboratory. For China’s part, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested the coronavirus

might have been carried into the country by US soldiers.

China’s ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said in an interview on American television last month that speculating about the origin of the virus was “harmful”, but the finger-pointing on both sides has plunged relations between the two countries to a new low.

The open letter was the idea of Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, who said its aim was not only to show the willingness of China’s intellectual elite to promote solidarity and reduce tensions, but to make clear that the priority right now was saving lives.

“We did not criticise anyone in the letter, or mention any names. We did not want to fuel the current disputes and confrontations,” he said.

“Most Chinese intellectuals are peaceful, rational and constructive, and thankfully we quickly reached consensus on the content of the letter.”

China to stage day of mourning for thousands killed by Covid-19

3 Apr 2020

The scholars said that after months of battling the coronavirus and seeing the situation at home improve, China now wanted to share its experience and knowledge with other countries as they seek to contain its spread.

“Chinese people have made unimaginable efforts and sacrifices to achieve hard-won results,” Wang said.

“We are grateful for the support of the international community, including donations from American friends, during the most critical stage of the fight … and we are willing to share our experiences with other countries and provide all available assistance to them.”

Wu Sike, a former Chinese special envoy to the Middle East, was among the signatories to the open letter. Photo: Xinhua

Among the other signatories were Wu Sike, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and former special envoy to the Middle East, and Wang Yiwei, an international relations professor at Renmin University, who described the Covid-19 pandemic as a “global issue that overrides geopolitics concerns”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump agreed in a telephone call last week to work together to contain the spread of Covid-19, but critics have questioned how long their cordiality can last against a backdrop of rising China-US tensions over trade, the media and regional security.

Source: SCMP

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15/07/2019

Chandrayaan-2: India space launch delayed by technical problem

The rocket that will carry the Chandrayaan-2 satellite — Image caption The rocket weighs as much as a fully-loaded jumbo jet

The launch of India’s second lunar mission has been halted less than an hour before the scheduled blast-off, due to a technical problem.

The countdown stopped 56 minutes before the launch after a “technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system,” India’s space agency said.

The satellite had been scheduled for launch at 02:51 local time on Monday (21:21 GMT Sunday) from Sriharikota space station on India’s eastern coast.

A new launch date will follow soon.

What is this mission all about?

India hopes the $150m mission, Chandrayaan-2, will be the first to land on the Moon’s south pole.

It will focus on the lunar surface, searching for water and minerals and measuring moonquakes, among other things.

If successful, India will become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface.

Only the US, China and the former Soviet Union have been able to do so.

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has championed the country’s space programmes, but critics would like to see poverty at home tackled first.

The chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), K Sivan, said this was “the most complex space mission ever to be undertaken by the agency”.

If the launch had gone to plan, the lander and rover would have been expected to touch down in early September.

India’s space agency is yet to give more details on why the launch was delayed and how it will affect the timeline.

The country’s first lunar mission in 2008 – Chandrayaan-1 – did not land on the lunar surface, but it carried out the first and most detailed search for water on the Moon using radars.

How will it get to the Moon?

Chandrayaan-2 (Moon vehicle 2) will attempt a soft landing near the little-explored south pole of the Moon.

India is using its most powerful rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III), in this mission. It weighs 640 tonnes (almost 1.5 times the weight of a fully-loaded 747 jumbo jet) and at 44 metres (144ft) is as high as a 14-storey building.

Graphic showing the launch vehicle with different parts labelled

The spacecraft weighs 2,379kg (5,244lb) and has three distinct parts: an orbiter, a lander and a rover.

The orbiter, which has a mission life of a year, will take images of the lunar surface, and “sniff” the tenuous atmosphere.

The lander (named Vikram, after the founder of Isro) weighs about half as much, and carries within its belly a 27kg Moon rover with instruments to analyse the lunar soil. In its 14-day life, the rover (called Pragyan – wisdom in Sanskrit) can travel up to a half a kilometre from the lander and will send data and images back to Earth for analysis.

“India can hope to get the first selfies from the lunar surface once the rover gets on its job,” Dr Sivan said.

A new frontier for India’s space programme

By science writer Pallava Bagla

A soft landing on another planetary body – a feat achieved by just three other countries so far – would be a huge technological achievement for Isro and India’s space ambitions.

It would pave the way for future Indian missions to land on Mars and an asteroid. More importantly, it would open up the possibility of India sending astronauts to the Moon. India hopes to carry out a crewed space flight by 2022.

India also wants to assert itself as a space power to be reckoned with – and national pride is riding high as it aims to hoist its flag on the surface of the Moon.

A successful mission to the Moon would also be a win for India’s ambitious space agency, which has had a string of successes recently.

Media caption Is India a space superpower?

In 2014, it successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, becoming only the fourth nation to do so. In 2017, India created history by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the previous record of 37 satellites launched by Russia in 2014.

All eyes are on Isro again. Global interest in India’s frugal Moon mission is peaking, according to Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the UN office of Outer Space Affairs.

“The mission’s studies of lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, the lunar exosphere, and signatures of hydroxyl and water ice will contribute to scientific progress for all of humankind,” she says.

The Indian space community is nervous and Dr Sivan says “there is churning in his stomach”.

“Unknown-unknowns can kill a mission, [although] no stone has been left unturned to understand all the complexities”.

How long is the journey to the Moon?

The launch is only the beginning of a 384,000km (239,000-mile) journey – the robotic craft is expected to land on the Moon some 54 days later.

Isro chose a circuitous route to take advantage of the Earth’s gravity, which will help slingshot the satellite towards the Moon. India does not have a rocket powerful enough to hurl Chandrayaan-2 on a direct path.

“There will be 15 terrifying minutes for scientists once the lander is released and is hurled towards the south pole of the Moon,” Dr Sivan says.

Graphic: How India's Chandrayaan-2 will reach the moon

He explains that those who had been controlling the spacecraft until then will have no role to play in those crucial moments. The actual landing, he adds, is an autonomous operation dependent on all systems performing as they should. Otherwise, the lander could crash into the lunar surface.

Earlier this year, Israel’s first Moon mission crash-landed while attempting to touch down.

Site of successful moon landings graphic showing where other countries have landed on the moon

Who is on the team?

Nearly 1,000 engineers and scientists have worked on this mission. But for the first time, Isro has chosen women to lead an interplanetary expedition.

Two women are steering India’s journey to the Moon. While programme director Muthaya Vanitha has nurtured Chandrayaan-2 over the years, it will be navigated by Ritu Karidhal.

“Women power is powering India’s Moon ambitions,” Dr Sivan said, adding that at Isro, “women and men are all equal. Only talent matters – not the gender.”

Source: The BBC

Posted in Chandrayaan-2, China alert, countdown, delayed, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III), humankind, hydroxyl, India space launch, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Israel's first Moon mission, jumbo jet, lander, Mars, Moon's south pole, orbiter, Pragyan - wisdom in Sanskrit, rover, Satellite, Soviet Union, space agency, Sriharikota space station, technical problem, UN office of Outer Space Affairs, Uncategorized, US, Vikram | Leave a Comment »

21/02/2019

Xi meets Chang’e-4 mission representatives

CHINA-BEIJING-XI JINPING-CHANG'E-4 MISSION-REPRESENTATIVES-MEETING (CN)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech as he meets representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang’e-4 mission at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping met representatives of space scientists and engineers who participated in the research and development of the Chang’e-4 mission at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday afternoon.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, noted that there is no end for space exploration.

Xi called on science and technology workers and space engineers in China to ride on the wave of the Chang’e-4 mission to achieve the general goal of China’s lunar project, make more efforts to push forward the international aerospace cause and bring more Chinese wisdom, solutions and force to the peaceful use of space and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng also attended the meeting.

Xi shook hands with the scientists and engineers, inquired about their work and life and took pictures with them.

In a speech addressing the meeting, Xi first extended his sincere regards to all those who have made historic contributions to the country’s space undertakings and expressed warm congratulations to all those who have contributed to the Chang’e-4 mission eminently.

“Your outstanding feats achieved in mounting the science and technology peak and exploring the universe’s mysteries have set a model for the whole Party, the whole armed forces and people of all ethnic groups in China to strive for a new era and start a new journey, for which our country and people thank you,” Xi said.

“Five years ago, we celebrated the success of the Chang’e-3 mission. Five years later, we are here to celebrate the success of the Chang’e-4 mission,” he said.

He pointed out that the Chang’e-4 mission, by adhering to independent, collaborative and open innovations, has realized the first-ever patrol and exploration on the far side of the moon by a human spacecraft and engraved Chinese “footprints” there for the first time.

“It is another vivid practice of exploring to establish a new institution that can pool the resources of the whole country,” Xi said.

“Experience tells us that great undertakings begin with dreams, and dreams are the source of vitality. China is a nation that pursues dreams bravely. The CPC Central Committee’s decision to implement the lunar exploration project is to pursue the nation’s unyielding dream of flying into the sky and reaching for the moon,” he noted.

Each bold idea and its successful implementation in lunar exploration is a full demonstration of the human capacity to gain knowledge of and utilize a celestial body, he said.

“In the journey of building a great modern socialist country and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, every industry and every person should dream and strive courageously and fulfill their dreams with arduous and continuous efforts, step by step and baton by baton just like in a relay race,” he emphasized.

“Experience tells us that great undertakings are based on innovation, and innovation determines the future. It won’t be a smooth path to build a leading nation in science and technology, and only innovation can help gain advantages,” he said.

“The mission has made multiple innovations come true and filled a series of international and domestic gaps, which has fully displayed the innovative spirit just as making the first move in chess or taking the initiative in battle,” he added.

China should have a grasp of the general trend of the science and technology development in the world, foster respect for science and focus on strategic, basic and pioneering sectors, said Xi.

China should shore up its weakness in certain areas, keep pace with the leaders in some areas, and strive to lead in other areas, aim for significant breakthroughs in core and key technologies, improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system, boost science and technology strength and innovation ability, in a bid to earn itself a spot in the global hi-tech sector, he said.

“Experience tells us that great undertakings succeed in solid work,” Xi noted. He said China need to encourage more prominent scientists, leading talent, young scientists and innovation teams to lead the trend and work hard to realize the value of life by contributing to the nation’s great undertakings.

Xi pointed out that exploring the vast universe is a common dream of all humankind. China has been actively advancing international space cooperation and carried out productive cooperation with multiple countries and international organizations. The complete success of the Chang’e-4 mission, for instance, includes contributions of many countries.

China is willing to work with countries around the world and follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration, so as to deepen the international exchanges on basic scientific research, boost big science projects and step up opening-up and cooperation to enhance innovation ability and push forward the development of science.

The Chang’e-4 mission had two launches. The relay satellite, named Queqiao, meaning Magpie Bridge, was launched on May 21, 2018. The Chang’e-4 probe, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on Dec. 8, 2018, touched down on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3.

Scientific research involving multiple countries and international organizations has been carried out.

The complete success of Chang’e-4 mission marks the first-ever international organizations, patrol and exploration on the far side of the moon by a spacecraft, the first communication link between Earth and the far side of the moon and the first footprints there in the history of lunar exploration, which unveils its mysteries and opens a new chapter in mankind’s exploration of the universe.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in Beijing, Chang'e-4, China alert, Communist Party of China Central Committee, far side of the moon, footprints, global hi-tech sector, Great Hall of the People, Han Zheng, humankind, international organizations, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, lunar exploration, lunar project, Magpie Bridge, mankind's exploration of the universe, mission, multiple countries, multiple innovations, pioneering sectors, President Xi Jinping, Queqiao, representatives, science and technology, scientific research, shared growth, Southwest China, space scientists and engineers, strategic, Uncategorized, Wang Huning, wang yang, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Zhao Leji | Leave a Comment »

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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China and US must find ways to get along and avoid new cold war, says Foreign Minister Wang Yi

Coronavirus: Chinese academics’ open letter urges Beijing, Washington to come together to beat Covid-19

Chandrayaan-2: India space launch delayed by technical problem

What is this mission all about?

How will it get to the Moon?

A new frontier for India’s space programme

How long is the journey to the Moon?

Who is on the team?

Xi meets Chang’e-4 mission representatives

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