Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Russia have found the right way for neighboring major countries to get along with each other which features non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party.

In his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi said China-Russia relations have come a long way, and made a series of pioneering achievements.

Xi arrived in Kazan earlier in the day for the 16th BRICS Summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on "BRICS Plus" countries to strive for common security, common development and harmony among civilizations.

Xi made the remarks while addressing the "BRICS Plus" leaders' dialogue.

Noting that the collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the great transformation across the world, Xi said that Global South countries marching together toward modernization is monumental in world history and unprecedented in human civilization.

Meanwhile, peace and development still faces severe challenges and the road to prosperity for the Global South will not be straight, he pointed out, urging "BRICS Plus" countries to use collective wisdom and strength and stand up to their responsibility for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Xi said that "BRICS Plus" countries should uphold peace and strive for common security, come forward together to form a stabilizing force for peace, strengthen global security governance, and explore solutions to address both symptoms and roots of hotspot issues.

"BRICS Plus" cooperation has accelerated the transformation and improvement of the existing world order by providing multiple alternatives. The expansion of BRICS will, in fact, contribute to the cohesion of consensus among the Global South amid a complicated international background, said Chinese experts.

President Xi has chaired or attended the BRICS summits for 12 years running, promoted the establishment of the New Development Bank, and put forward the "BRICS Plus" cooperation format and a good number of important proposals and initiatives, giving a strong boost to BRICS cooperation, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday.

Through this summit, China stands ready to work with other BRICS countries to open a new horizon in the high-quality development of greater BRICS cooperation, and make BRICS' contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind, Lin said.

BRICS leaders issued a joint declaration covering a wide range of issues from the reform of the United Nations (UN) to ongoing global conflicts, following the association's summit that took place on Wednesday in Kazan.

New centers of power, policy decision-making and economic growth are emerging in the world, BRICS countries said Wednesday in the Kazan Declaration.

The BRICS countries also called for the reform of the Bretton Woods system to enhance the representation of emerging markets and developing countries in the Kazan Declaration, according to Xinhua.

In the process of the collective rise of the Global South, the BRICS Plus countries have played a role in introducing alternatives to the tools that maintain the West-dominated international order, Cui Heng, a scholar from the Shanghai-based China National Institute for SCO International Exchange and Judicial Cooperation, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Many developing countries are worried about what is happening around the world, be the economic or security problems, that's why they came here to Kazan for the summit, that's why Global South countries want to follow BRICS, Lidia Zhelamkova, a Russian journalist, told the Global Times.

BRICS Plus has played a very important role in promoting consensus among the Global South and has positively contributed to its economic development, Song Wei, a professor from the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

Reaching consensus

In recent years, there have also been doubts as to whether further BRICS expansion would affect the organization's unity and the process of reaching a consensus. Al Jazeera published an opinion piece last year saying that taking in more members too quickly could leave BRICS incoherent, weakening rather than strengthening the bloc.

Shadrack Andile, a reporter from BRICS Africa Channel, said that the essence of pushing forward cooperation between BRICS and Global South countries is for countries to reach consensus, and that the new members will not dilute its unity. "Bringing more countries into BRICS means leaving no one behind. It's not about competing; it's about collaborating for a better world."

BRICS has sent a clear message that the status quo in global governance is no longer acceptable to the majority of the world's population. The persistent economic and political disparities will become increasingly untenable, driving more countries to seek alternative alliances. The success of BRICS initiatives, such as the New Development Bank, is solidifying the appeal of the BRICS model, Ahmed Moustafa, director of the Asia Center for Studies and Translation in Egypt, told the Global Times.

In the foreseeable future, the BRICS mechanism will evolve into a formidable force, influencing the decisions of established global institutions. The growing membership and influence of BRICS will send a powerful message that the future of global governance lies in collaborative, inclusive and equitable models, said Moustafa.

Foreign intelligence agencies have been conducting remote sensing detection on China through high-precision satellites, with the intention of observing and stealing secrets from space in recent years, China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) revealed on Wednesday.

The MSS stated that certain countries' intelligence agencies have conducted infiltration activities toward China's aerospace sector, using bribery, networking, and coercion to target Chinese researchers to steal the cutting-edge advancements in the aerospace technology.

The national security agencies, together with relevant departments, have investigated and dealt with several illegal cases in which the cutting-edge advancements in the aerospace field were stolen through bribery, coercion, and manipulation effectively dealing a blow to foreign spy and intelligence agencies, according to the MSS.

Space is increasingly becoming a key area for economic growth, military conflicts, and national security. Major powers and medium-sized powers all prioritize the development of space.

The competition for space resources is growing increasingly intense, as space exploration confronts a scarcity of orbital and spectrum resources. High-speed debris, including abandoned satellites and rocket remnants, is proliferating in space, heightening the risk of collisions with spacecraft, said the MSS.

The arms race in space is intensifying, with some Western countries establishing space combat forces and honing their space operational capabilities, often positioning China as their primary competitor in this domain. They promote theories of space dominance and engage in an arms race, exerting considerable effort to suppress and contain China, thereby threatening the peaceful environment in space, according to the MSS.

China urges Japan to face and reflect on its history of aggression, act prudently on historical issues and to make a clean break with militarism, and to earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete actions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday, after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reportedly sent an offering to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine. 

The Yasukuni Shrine is a spiritual tool and symbol of Japanese militarists responsible for the war of aggression. The place honors 14 convicted Class-A war criminals with grave responsibilities for the war crimes committed during that war of aggression, Mao said.

Ishiba, who took office on October 1, made a ritual "masakaki" tree offering under his name as prime minister on Thursday on the occasion of the shrine's autumn festival, according to Jiji Press.  

Kyodo News cited a source close to Ishiba, saying that he is expected to refrain from paying a visit in person.

Lü Chao, an expert at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the attitudes of Japanese politicians toward the shrine reflect their understanding of history. With many politicians leaning right, Ishiba is apparently under pressure from right-wing factions, which forced him to adopt a more rightist stance.

Japanese politicians should adopt a clear stance and a correct understanding of history. If they cling to remnants of militaristic thought and waver on the issue of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, it will be difficult for neighboring countries to view Japan with trust, Lü said. 

South Korea on Thursday voiced "deep regret" after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent an offering to a war shrine in Tokyo seen as a symbol of its militaristic past, according to Yonhap News Agency. 

"We urge the leaders of the new Japanese cabinet to squarely face history and show through action humble reflection and genuine atonement for past wrongdoings," South Korean foreign ministry spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said in a commentary.

China expresses strong indignation over and opposition to the European Parliament resolution, and will lodge serious protest with the EU, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday, after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that condemns the Chinese government's "human rights violations" in Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong, Macao and the Chinese mainland.

The European Parliament resolution lacks factual basis and calls white black. It attacks the human rights situation in Xinjiang, grossly interferes in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty, and seriously violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations, Mao said.

It's the Chinese people, not the European Parliament, who have the best say on the human rights situation in China. Xinjiang today enjoys social stability and economic growth and the people there live a happy life. It is enjoying development progress like never before, and China's Xinjiang policy is widely supported by the people. These are facts that no one can deny, Mao noted.

While showing concerns for the unfounded accusation of "forced labor" in Xinjiang, the European Parliament turns a blind eye to serious human rights issues in Europe and humanitarian disasters in Gaza. This again reveals to the world the double standards it applies, the spokesperson said.

"We strongly urge the European Parliament to immediately stop making up lies to smear China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty in the name of human rights, and stop applying double standards on human rights issues," Mao said.

The European Parliament is in no position and has no right to lecture others on human rights. Instead, it needs to reflect on itself, abandon arrogance and prejudice, see squarely China's achievements on human rights and respect China's sovereignty and the human rights development path independently chosen by the Chinese people, Mao noted.

In response to the European Parliament's resolution, the spokesperson for China's Mission to the EU said in a statement on Friday that the relevant resolution adopted by the European Parliament makes false accusations and confounds black and white. By maliciously attacking the human rights situation in China's Xinjiang and relevant judicial cases, it constitutes a gross interference in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty, seriously violating international law and basic norms of international relations. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this act.

Xinjiang, with its social stability, economic development and people living and working in peace and contentment, is currently in the best period of development in its history. The European Parliament has neither the right nor the qualification to criticize the human rights situation in Xinjiang, the spokesperson noted.

The European Union boasts that it respects the rule of law, but the European Parliament has repeatedly meddled in other countries' judicial cases, blatantly violating the spirit of the rule of law and fully exposing its hypocrisy and double standards. The facts cannot be distorted and the truth cannot be denied. Any attempt to attack and slander China's policy on Xinjiang, smear China's image or hinder China's development is bound to fail, the spokesperson said.

The China Coast Guard (CCG) said that its formations 2901, 1305, 1303 and 2102 conducted law enforcement patrols in the waters surrounding Taiwan island on Monday.

It is a practical action to lawfully enforce control over Taiwan island in accordance with the one-China principle, said Liu Dejun, spokesperson of the CCG.

Nearly 1,000 identity cards that were lost were collected by the lost-and-found office of a train station in South China’s Guangdong Province during China’s National Day holidays, widely referred as the “Golden Week,” according to China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday.

The increase in lost items followed a surge in passenger traffic at major train stations, leading to a significant increase in items reported lost at the lost-and-found offices, according to the CCTV.

A staff member at Guangzhou South Railway Station told media that around 1,000 identity cards were found from October 1-6. 

The lost-and-found office was “overwhelmed,” with the number of lost items doubling. Items such as identification documents, backpacks, and suitcases filled multiple storage racks, according to the report.

Railway officials suggested that travelers who lose their belongings at stations or on trains can retrieve them in a variety of ways, including by phone, online websites, or on-site enquiries.

While recent shifts in US trade policy have created opportunities for companies from countries like India to gain greater access to the US solar market, ongoing protectionist challenges confronting the global photovoltaic industry underscore the necessity for collaboration and engagement among key solar industry players, particularly those from China.

Indian companies are moving to fill the gap left by the exclusion of Chinese exports from the US solar industry, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The news came amid the backdrop last week that the US Commerce Department had announced preliminary duties on solar imports from Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand - countries that account for the majority of US solar cell and module imports, where Chinese solar manufacturers have established operations, according to Bloomberg.

On the surface, the US move seems to target the "transshipment hub" strategy that circumvents its tariff barriers on Chinese-made products, potentially opening new market opportunities for countries like India, which have a solid foundation in the photovoltaic industry. However, this approach does not fundamentally address the contradiction between the US goal of protecting its own solar industry and its ongoing reliance on imports.

Despite the US government's efforts to restrict imports of Chinese solar products, many American solar companies continue to depend on imported raw materials and components. Given the fact that India's production capacity and technological capabilities currently fall short of fully meeting US market demands, this US policy may lead to a constrained market supply, driving up costs for solar projects and slowing the deployment of solar technologies.

Thus, relying solely on tariffs and trade barriers is inadequate to address the structural challenges facing the US solar industry. Such an approach may instead complicate international trade relations and market dynamics.

While India and other developing countries may seize this opportunity, they need also be aware of the potential protectionist risks it entails. It has become more common than ever for the US to adjust its tariff policies to protect domestic industries. It employs a trade strategy that resembles a "whack-a-mole" game, constantly hitting threatening targets to protect industrial interests. This approach exposes countries and companies reliant on the US market to significant risks. 

Consequently, India and other developing nations need to stay vigilant against the possibility of stricter market access conditions or a new wave of trade barriers, as the solar tariffs imposed on four ASEAN countries may signal the beginning of a more self-centered trend in Washington aimed at protecting its industries.

In addition, it is important to note that the US cannot squeeze China out of the global solar industry chain and supply chain. As India has amped up its production of solar panels, it has remained dependent on China's renewable energy supply chain.

After the US restricted imports of Chinese solar panel material because of so-called human rights issues, Indian exports of solar panels to the American market spiked in 2022, increasing in value by almost 150 percent, according to US government trade figures. The next year saw an even sharper increase. 

However, India sourced between half and all of its solar panel components from China between 2021 and 2023, according to a report by The Washington Post.

China's dominant position in the global solar supply chain is underscored by its comprehensive industrial ecosystem, which encompasses the production of polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells and modules. This advantage stems from large-scale production capacity and ongoing technological innovation. 

China's solar industry clearly excels in both production costs and product competitiveness, spanning the entire spectrum from raw material supply to equipment manufacturing and end applications. 

In contrast, while India's solar industry has established a foundation, it still requires enhancements in the completeness of its industrial chain and technological innovation capabilities. 

Nevertheless, the relationship between the solar industries of the two countries is not solely competitive; rather, it presents a substantial opportunity for collaboration. By fostering enhanced cooperation, both nations can strengthen the competitiveness of their respective photovoltaic industries and also play a pivotal role in advancing the global solar energy sector.

Data shows that Chinese mainland tourists traveling to Hong Kong saw a notable increase in the weeklong National Day holidays, which concluded on Monday, than the Golden Week last year, suggesting Hong Kong's sustained attraction and vitality.  

Flight bookings to Hong Kong during the holidays went up 80 percent year-on-year. Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Haikou are the top five cities of source of travelers to Hong Kong, according to a press release sent to the Global Times by Qunar, one of leading online travel agencies in China.

More than 980,000 mainland visitors arrived in Hong Kong between October 1-5, up 35 percent from the same period last year, according to the Immigration Department of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Sunday, as reported by the Xinhua News Agency.

More than 220,000 mainland visitors arrived in Hong Kong on October 1, National Day, alone, a significant increase compared with about 177,000 on the same day last year.

The figures reflect the popularity of various activities held by the HKSAR government, and also show that Hong Kong still has its attractiveness, Benson Kwok, director of Immigration of the HKSAR government told the media.

The director also expects the total number of arrivals and departures to reach 300 million by the end of this year.

More than 400 activities were held in Hong Kong around the time of the National Day, filling the city with joy, according to Xinhua.

About 3,600 restaurants, some cinemas, and various public transportation in Hong Kong also offered discounts on October 1, and there were also free admissions to many museums and parks.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum has extended its opening hours during the Golden Week, according to its official website.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum, the Hong Kong Space Museum, and the Hong Kong Museum of History also presented special exhibitions introducing China's past and present.

A Beijing resident surnamed Guan told the Global Times that she visited Hong Kong during the National Day holidays in the hope of avoiding crowds at mainland sightseeing spots, only to find there were many people who had similar plans.But the experience was still delightful as Guan very enjoyed city walks, local snacks and the view of the Victoria Harbor.

Guan and her friend also went for a two-day hiking of one section of the MacLehose Trail, which is gaining increasing popularity among mainland travelers against the backdrop of an outdoor sports maze.

While the Forbidden City and Great Wall remain Beijing's iconic attractions, Beijing's National Tennis Center and Shougang Park have emerged as new hotspots for sports fans during China's week-long National Day holiday, also known as "Golden Week," which started on October 1.

On the western side of Chang'an Avenue, Beijing's main thoroughfare, Shougang Park hosted the World Table Tennis (WTT) China Smash, the largest international table tennis event held in China's capital since the 1961 World Championships.

Meanwhile, in the northern part of the city, along the Beijing Central Axis - which was recently included in the UNESCO World Heritage List - the China Open was staged at the National Tennis Center.

During this Golden Week, sports events have captivated audiences across China, and have offered opportunities to integrate sports, culture and tourism.
THRILLS AND SPILLS

Less than two months after the conclusion of the Paris Olympic Games, Beijing welcomed the world's best table tennis players, including Olympic champions Sun Yingsha and Ma Long, for the 2024 WTT China Smash, the top-tier event in the WTT series.

"Following the wonderful success of the Paris Olympics for table tennis, it's really important to see high-level events come to the dual Olympic city of Beijing," said Steve Dainton, CEO of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Group and World Table Tennis (WTT) director.

In one of the tournament's biggest surprises, world No. 1 Wang Chuqin was upset in the round of 32 by Denmark's Anders Lind.

"It's a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life, and it gives me a lot of confidence going forward," Lind said after his win.

The 25-year-old Dane thrived in the energetic atmosphere, with the packed crowd cheering throughout the match.

"The atmosphere in the hall was electrifying, playing in front of so many spectators. I love this sport so much and really wish we could play more in fully-packed halls like this," he added.

At the China Open, Zheng Qinwen, who had made history in Paris by winning China's first Olympic tennis singles gold medal, was one of the most anticipated players.

"People start to get tired at the end of the season. For me it's different," said the 21-year-old. "I'm really motivated to come and play in China, in front of my people. I know they're going to support me."
The men's singles final became an instant classic, with Carlos Alcaraz coming from a set down to defeat world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the longest match in China Open history.

"I think for people who don't watch tennis, probably thanks to these kinds of matches, they will start to watch tennis or even practise it," said Alcaraz.

Beyond tennis and table tennis, other sports also contributed to the Golden Week excitement.

In Shanghai, the Formula 1 World Powerboat Championship (F1H2O) dazzled fans with its high-speed action at the Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal.

Elsewhere, the World Snooker Wuhan Open opens on Sunday, and football players from China and Malaysia participated in the inaugural "Belt and Road" friendly match at the Guizhou Village Super League, also known as "Cun Chao".

FLOURISHING SPORTS TOURISM

According to Tongcheng Travel, a leading travel platform in China, sports tourism has become a growing trend, especially among younger generations. Their latest report shows an 87 percent year-on-year increase in sports tourism searches from January to July 2024. This year's array of elite sports events has further boosted this trend during Golden Week.

At Shougang's Smash Park, which covers 40,000 square meters of outdoor space, thousands of fans gathered to watch WTT matches on big screens, surrounded by food and entertainment areas.
Yan Xueying, a fan from Shanghai, relaxed on an inflatable sofa, enjoying the atmosphere and rooting for her favorite player, Lin Gaoyuan. "The park allows us to relax, enjoy the holiday with friends, and feel the culture of WTT," said Yan.

Shougang Park, once an industrial steel mill, has been transformed into a world-class venue, impressing both players and fans. Ni Xia Lian, the 61-year-old Chinese-born paddler now representing Luxembourg, fondly known as "Grandma Ni," marveled at the changes in Beijing.

"Beijing has changed a lot these years. It's a smart decision to transform the industrial zone of Shougang into a modern resort," said Ni, who was competing in Beijing for the first time since 2008.