Editor's Note:

At the end of 2022, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government announced the establishment of the Chief Executive's Policy Unit (CEPU), drawing significant global attention. This unit is also considered to be the "think tank" behind the SAR Chief Executive's policy-making. Nearly one year later, Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Bai Yunyi (GT) talked with Stephen Wong Yuen-shan (Wong), the head of the CEPU, at the top floor of the west wing of the HKSAR Government Headquarters.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Wong, who had just returned from research trips in Jiangmen and Zhongshan in South China's Guangdong Province, looked somewhat weary. He said that over the last year, he and his colleagues in the policy unit made frequent visits to the mainland for research and exchange purposes to better align the SAR's policies with the national strategies. They also delved into understanding Hong Kong's public sentiment, and political and social trends, seeking solutions to the city's deep-rooted issues. "Our position for the policy unit is to 'stand higher and look further ahead,'" Wong said, highlighting the important task of providing forward-looking, strategic, and long-term advice for the SAR's future development.
GT: Can you introduce the daily work carried out by you and your colleagues in the policy unit? How does the unit support decision-making for the chief executive and the SAR government?

Wong: The CEPU is an internal research institution serving the Chief Executive. Since its establishment at the end of 2022, our work can be summarized as focusing on "four directions" and fulfilling "one task." Currently, the policy unit consists of 47 members, divided into five teams based on these directions and the task.

The task involves coordinating the annual Policy Address of the Chief Executive. The Policy Address is an important task for the SAR government, and we are the main driving force behind it.

Our four research directions are: First, policy research on integrating Hong Kong into the national development framework. For example, the recent Central Financial Work Conference's emphasis on building a strong financial nation and enhancing Hong Kong's status as an international financial center are of great importance to us, and we explore how Hong Kong can align with these national strategies.

The second direction is international situation analysis. This is why we recently visited Beijing for exchanges with the Foreign Ministry's policy research institutions. As an international city, Hong Kong needs to maintain its unique position while serving the country's diplomatic objectives. We are currently conducting researches on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), focusing on relations with the ASEAN and the Middle East, which is crucial for Hong Kong's future international development.

The third direction is conducting forward-looking, strategic, and macroscopic policy research. Our division of labor with Hong Kong's 15 policy bureaus requires us to "stand higher and look further ahead."

We have exchanged with policy research offices of central government ministries, planning long-term strategies well into 2035, and we aim to do similar long-term planning, such as addressing Hong Kong's deep-rooted issues.

The fourth direction involves analyzing Hong Kong's public sentiment, opinions, political trends, and social movements. We use various channels such as surveys, social media analyses, and big data, including interviews with political figures and stakeholders, to grasp these aspects.
GT: How does the policy unit interact with the chief executive? To what extent do the unit's findings influence the chief executive's and SAR's policy measures?

Wong: We submit weekly research reports to the Chief Executive and report to him in person. He assigns us tasks directly and supervises our work closely. After receiving his directives on certain content, we continue conducting in-depth analyses with relevant policy bureaus, which ultimately reflects in the annual Policy Address.

GT: We noticed that the CEPU includes an expert group with many well-known professionals from Hong Kong and the mainland. How does this expert group contribute to the governance of the SAR, and to what extent are their opinions adopted?

Wong: The CEPU has an expert group consisting of 56 members, many of whom are renowned policy researchers. We have four major communication mechanisms with these experts to align with their key research findings.

For example, each member of the expert group is paired with a senior researcher from the policy unit, serving as the expert's personal research liaison, providing timely, appropriate, and targeted communication and assistance, including at least quarterly interactions.

The policy unit also listens to the research outcomes of the experts, enriching the perspectives and content of our own research. We also conduct in-depth group exchanges with expert group members on specific research topics.

Additionally, earlier this year, the SAR government established a 34-member Chief Executive advisory group, including influential figures from Hong Kong, the mainland and other countries and regions. The policy unit plays the role of the secretariat or office for the advisory group, incorporating the thoughts and opinions of the advisors into our research.

Moreover, I have previously served as a Legislative Council member, a National People's Congress deputy, and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and interacted with influential individuals in the business and industry sectors. Their opinions also form an important basis for our internal research.

To some extent, the policy unit acts as a "think tank of think tanks," absorbing opinions from various sources and transforming them into the governance philosophy of the SAR government.
GT: How frequent do you and your colleagues interact with institutions and enterprises in the mainland?

Wong: Since December 28, 2022, I have been to the mainland nearly 10 times for official purposes. Most of these visits and research objectives were related to the development of the Greater Bay Area, including cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Jiangmen, and I also attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Earlier December, I, along with 19 colleagues, went to Beijing to attend a workshop on "enhancing strategic planning and policy research capabilities" held at Peking University. During our stay, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, met with our delegation. He talked with us for a long time and gave us many important instructions and advice.

In addition, in Beijing, we visited six [central government] ministries and their affiliated research institutions for exchanges, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, to ensure that Hong Kong's policies better align and serve the national development strategy.

I also encourage my colleagues to conduct more researches in the mainland and report back to me, which is very important for our work.

GT: How much attention does the policy unit pay to the national security work of the SAR?

Wong: The policy unit has three deputy heads, and one of whom comes from the Security Bureau [of the SAR government], reflecting the need for Hong Kong to balance "security and development." The Chief Executive is also very concerned about security affairs, so we do a lot of work in this area.

Thus, in the 2023 Policy Address, we mentioned the legislation of Article 23, the establishment of an office to promote Chinese culture under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, setting up two museums to introduce the country's history and the history of resistance against Japanese aggression, and the implementation of patriotic education in primary and secondary schools and in various sectors of Hong Kong society. All these are important aspects of building a national security system.

Every day, the tragic situation of people in the war-torn Gaza Strip, particularly that of sick and wounded children, deeply touches the heart of Guo Yan, the owner of a company based in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. Despite being thousands of miles away, Guo promptly made a donation of 23,800-yuan ($3,334) to support the people in Gaza, which is sufficient to purchase 15-day basic food parcels for 50 families.

"I'm lucky to live in a country where there is no war or famine. But there are still people who live in darkness," Guo told the Global Times on Tuesday. "I think we have the responsibility to light up that small piece of darkness and haze in the world."

Guo and her company are among several Chinese enterprises, individuals, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have voluntarily donated money and supplies to Gaza, besides the humanitarian aid offered by the Chinese government, as they try to lend a helping hand to those enduring the ravages of war.

On October 26, the Beijing One Heart Sphere Charity Foundation (BOHS) and several Chinese civil commonweal groups, such as the Federation of Wenzhou Blazing Youth (Blazing Youth) and the Zhejiang Eternal Love Foundation (ZELF), initiated a campaign to provide basic food parcels that mainly include rice, lentils, oil, canned beef and sugar to more than 1,000 families in Gaza.

Each parcel costs $60, according to Weng Xiaoyou, director of Blazing Youth and ZELF initiator.

The involved organizations purchased the food parcels with financial contributions from Chinese donors including Guo, and hired local volunteers in Gaza to help distribute the supplies, said Ma Bin, who is responsible for the BOHS in Pakistan.

Ma said that people on the front lines understand the challenges of acquiring goods and the risks associated with transporting donated supplies. "Many of the volunteers have previously conducted business in China and have witnessed its development and prosperity, and they experienced the kindness and warmth of the Chinese people. They transformed their gratitude into practical actions, contributing their efforts to the cause of peace," he told the Global Times.

In the war-torn Gaza Strip, children lose their lives every day due to the conflict, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have been forced to migrate from the north to the south of Gaza. Many are now struggling due to the lack of medical care, a shortage of fresh water, and food scarcity, said Ma.

"The donated parcels represent the caring support from ordinary Chinese people to the victims in Gaza and convey their appeal for peace," he said.

In Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, local NGOs Blazing Youth and ZELF have also been actively calling for and collecting donations. Their efforts went toward 200 out of the latest batch of 500 food parcels that the BOHS and local volunteers helped purchase for people in Gaza. According to Lin Weiwei, deputy director of Blazing Youth, who also personally donated 20,000 yuan ($2,796), they are now raising funds for the next batch.

"Fortunately, there was a short cease-fire when local volunteers were distributing the latest batch of parcels in Gaza," Lin recalled. She added that they are trying to raise more funds during the cease-fires, as it allows the frontline volunteers to distribute supplies more safely.

"The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is physically far away from us in China, but I have found that many people in China are paying great attention to it and are willing to help [the victims and their families in] Gaza," Lin told the Global Times. "We live in a global community of shared future, and we want to provide assistance within our capacity."

Though most Chinese donors are not able to send supplies to Gaza in person, their love and care can be felt there in various ways.

Weng shared that they are inviting some teenagers in Wenzhou to draw pictures of love and peace. "The frontline volunteers will then print the soft copies of these pictures and distribute them along with our next batch of donated parcels as a way to express the love and well wishes of the Chinese people," he said.

Prior to the conflict, the BOHS, Blazing Youth, and the ZELF had made joint efforts to donate money and supplies to people in need around the world, including victims of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria earlier this year.

"As citizens of a responsible major country, we are eager to give a helping hand when there are natural disasters or humanitarian crises," said Weng. "I believe that love and care have no borders, and they can bear all things."

China has approved the addition of 24 new majors for undergraduate programs, including national security studies and electronic information materials. Experts said on Tuesday that the adjustment was guided by the goal of supporting the high-quality development of the economy so as to better serve the country's national strategy.

The addition was released by China's Ministry of Education (MOE) on Tuesday, with the ministry saying that the newly approved majors will be open for undergraduate admission in 2024.

According to the MOE, the addition of majors such as national security studies and overseas interests security is based on serving the needs of national strategy, while the establishment of majors such as electronic information materials and intelligent marine equipment aims to cultivate talents in the fields of cutting-edge science and key technologies.

Other important new majors include Chinese classical studies, as well as soccer and sports health preservation, respectively aiming to promote the innovative development of traditional Chinese culture and to help establish China as a leading sporting nation.

The ministry also released the latest version of the undergraduate major catalog for regular higher education institutions, which includes 93 major categories and 816 majors.

The new majors were added in response to overarching development requirements at the national level, spurred by the evolving needs of emerging industries and formats, Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The addition also reflected the guidance and support for universities to establish new majors urgently needed for national strategies and regional development, with a focus on serving the high-quality economic and social development, analysts said.

Regarding the major of national security studies, observers pointed out that it aims to cultivate talents with a solid foundation in national security theory and technical skills, as the current international order is undergoing significant changes.

In addition to adjusting the disciplines and majors of universities according to changes in social demand, Xiong said that each college should also set up relevant majors based on its own situation and characteristics to ensure the quality of talent cultivation in their chosen majors.

In 2023, the MOE issued a reform plan for adjusting and optimizing majors in higher education, stating that by 2025, a new range of disciplines and majors that are in line with new technologies and industries will be established, while those that lag behind in economic and social development will be eliminated.

The optimization and adjustment of undergraduate majors is a long-term process, and it is essential to offer effective teaching and training programs to support the development of each student, so that the academic majors offered by universities are aligned with the evolving demands of the job market, Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The MOE will persist in advancing the dynamic adjustment of majors, tailored cultivation of national strategic and high-demand talents, so as to bolster the role and impact of education in fostering high-quality development.

Airlines from China and the US are on a stable path to increase flights between the two countries, recording the biggest jump since the outbreak of the pandemic, amid recent efforts by the Chinese and US governments to increase flights.

On Monday, US-based Delta Air Lines said that it would increase the frequency of nonstop services between Shanghai-Pudong and Detroit to daily flights, beginning on May 23.
Delta is currently operating daily flights from Shanghai-Pudong to Seattle and three-times-weekly services to Detroit.

After the change, Delta will operate two daily flights from Shanghai to its US gateways.

Delta is not alone.

United Airlines said earlier this month that it would add four weekly flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai starting on August 29. Further, in late October, the Shanghai-Los Angeles route will be increased to daily service. This service complements United's daily service between San Francisco-Shanghai and San Francisco-Beijing.

In addition, six Chinese airlines including Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, which serve routes between the two countries, all announced new flight schedules to the US.

Air China will add one flight per week between Beijing and Los Angeles and two flights per week between Beijing and New York from March 31, and China Eastern will add two weekly flights from Shanghai to Los Angeles and one weekly flight from Shanghai to San Francisco starting from March 31.

China Southern will add one new weekly flight from Guangzhou to Los Angeles on March 31, and two new weekly flights from Guangzhou to San Francisco on April 2.
The new flights between China and the US operated by Chinese airlines are still mostly concentrated in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the western US.

The announcements came after the agreement made by the Chinese and US governments recently. Starting on March 31, airlines from China and the US can operate a total of 100 scheduled round trips per week, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China on February 29.

China and the US have seen increasing flights in recent years, and this round of increases is the biggest jump since the outbreak of the pandemic. There were three rounds of increases in 2023, and the latest was up from 48 flights to 70 flights, starting from November.

However, the total number of flights linking China and the US is still lagging behind the level of 2019. Even after this increase in flights, the level of recovery still lagged behind those among other countries.

In 2019, daily passenger flights between China and the US averaged 165, with a daily peak of 181, data from information provider VariFlight showed.

Data from Fly Master showed that China's outbound passenger flights during the Spring Festival period recovered to 69.3 percent of the level in 2019.

The destinations were concentrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Korea, Thailand and Japan ranking in the top three. In terms of the recovery rate, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the UK exceeded 100 percent.

China will make final review ruling in accordance with the investigation procedures regarding lifting tariffs on Australian wine, Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday. 
On Tuesday, the ministry had disclosed the basic facts on which the ruling was based to the relevant stakeholders in accordance with the investigation procedures, and gave all parties an opportunity to express their opinions. 
Next, MOFCOM will make a final review in accordance with the investigation procedures based on the comprehensive consideration of the opinions of all parties, said He Yadong, a spokesperson of MOFCOM , in response to a media inquiry on whether China is to lift tariffs on Australian wine imports or not. 
The reply of MOFCOM also comes on the heels of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit New Zealand and Australia from March 17-21, and hold the 7th round of China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue.
Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday that China and Australia are making efforts to address mutual concerns through dialogue and consultation, which will help improve the momentum in bilateral relations.
China stands ready to continue stepping up dialogue and cooperation with Australia under the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and seeking common ground while shelving differences, so as to promote the steady and sound growth of bilateral relations, Wang noted.
MOFCOM said earlier that it began reviewing the anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian wine as of November 30, 2023. A five-year series of anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on Australian wine was imposed on March 28, 2021.
While, Australian government officials and media outlets have frequently brought the issue up, indicating the great eagerness of Australian winemakers to return to the Chinese market.
At Thursday's press conference, the MOFCOM spokesperson has also mentioned the disputes such as wind towers from China.
China has serious concerns about Australia's trade remedy measures against China's wind tower and other measures, and hopes that Australia will respect WTO rules and properly address China's concerns, He said.

The share of the yuan in Russia's trade settlements in January further expanded, signaling steady progress for promoting the internationalization of the yuan.

Experts highlighted China's steady economic development and firm support as major advantages contributing to the yuan's global expansion, while outlining lingering challenges going forward.

The yuan accounted for 40.8 percent of Russia's export settlements and 38.5 percent of its import settlements in the first month of 2024. The settlement amounts reached $13.2 billion for exports and $9.1 billion for imports in US dollar terms, data from Russia's central bank showed on Monday.

In December 2023, the yuan accounted 35.8 percent of Russia's export settlement and 37 percent of its import settlement, Sputnik reported.

China's large and continuously growing economy has provided a solid foundation for the yuan's internationalization, and the country's ramped-up policy support for building the financial infrastructure and optimizing the mechanism for cross-border yuan settlements has created a favorable environment for promoting the internationalization of the yuan, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Wang noted that the yuan's stability has been further recognized by the international market as its exchange rate remained steady overall despite some fluctuations in recent years. This remains a significant consideration for global investors.

Cross-border yuan settlements have risen since 2009, accounting for nearly half of China's export payments and settlements. The yuan also ranks third in terms of the weight in the IMF's Special Drawing Rights basket, Lian Ping, chief economist and head of the Zhixin Investment Research Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The yuan is the world's fourth-largest payment currency, third-largest trade finance currency and fifth-largest foreign exchange trading currency, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, told a press conference on March 6, adding that boosting the internationalization of the yuan remains the top priority for promoting high-quality financial opening-up.

Pan said that economic entities have increased internal demand for the use of the yuan, and the yuan has formed an initial network effect for international use with its continuously enhanced international monetary functions such as payments and settlements, investment and financing, and international reserves.

In December 2023, the PBC and the National Bank of Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding to establish yuan-clearing arrangements in Serbia, which will help enterprises and financial institutions of the two countries use the yuan for cross-border transactions and further promote bilateral trade and investment facilitation.

Amid the steady progress achieved for the internationalization of the yuan, experts vowed to tackle lingering challenges, which will contribute to deepen China's financial opening-up.

Both Wang and Lian stressed the importance of continuously expanding the yuan's global usage and market share, as it still has a large gap with major global currencies such as the US dollar and the euro.

Wang noted that China's financial market has further space for opening-up to meet global investors' demand, while more optimized regulations should be formulated to protect investors' rights.

Lian noted that measures such as prudently promoting capital account convertibility for the yuan and its internationalization, while maintaining the basic stability of the yuan's exchange rate and an overall surplus in the balance of payments, will be significant for bolstering the financial sector's high-quality opening-up.

China set to formulate law to promote private economy

The US Senate's homeland security committee approved a bill on Wednesday (US time) to prohibit contracts with Chinese biotech providers including BGI Group, MGI and Complete Genomics, in the latest move by Washington to expand its suppression of Chinese companies in this new field of medicine under the guise of national security.

While the bill has a long way to go before becoming law, it reportedly aims to ban US federal agencies and the US government from contracting with these Chinese firms.

"BGI, WuXi AppTec and other highly subsidized companies seek to undercut their way into dominating the US biotech market while aggressively collecting the genetic and other sensitive medical data of tens of millions of Americans and transferring it back to China for malign or unknown purposes," US Senator Bill Hagerty alleged, according to a post on Hagerty's official website on Wednesday.

In a response, BGI Group said it fully supports the bill's premise of protecting Americans' personal data, but driving BGI out of the US, which is what this bill is intended to achieve, is unlikely to accomplish its goal since BGI does not have access to that data.

"The bill will limit competition and strengthen the market monopoly in the important field of human genome sequencing by using the legislative process to pick winners and losers," BGI told the Global Times on Thursday.

In a statement released on Thursday, WuXi AppTec said that it strongly disagrees with the US Senate's "preemptive and unfair" move of designating it as a "biotechnology company of concern" in its draft bill.

"WuXi AppTec has not posed, does not pose, and will not pose a security risk to the US or any other country," the company said.

Wuxi Biologics (Cayman) Inc clarified on Thursday that it is not a subsidiary of Wuxi AppTec Co. The company said it does not have a human genomics business, nor does it collect human genomic data in any of its businesses, while also stressing that it does not pose any national security risk to the US or any other country.

Chinese observers blasted US politicians, who they said were portraying China as an "imagined enemy" and expanding a crackdown on Chinese bio-tech and new-energy vehicle (NEV) companies.They said that American politicians are purposely setting obstacles to impede normal China-US economic and trade ties.

"This is another typical case in which US politicians purposely make China an 'imagined enemy' to step up suppression of Chinese companies for their own political gains, as the US presidential election draws near," Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Thursday.

What US politicians are concerned about is that they cannot live in a world led by Chinese companies, and they have come up with every excuse to hinder China's development in a wide range of sectors including telecommunications, NEVs and now bio-technology, Li said.

"While China and the US are expanding their dialogues, what the US is doing has posed impediments to normal China-US trade," he said. He urged the US to correct its wrongdoing.

Recent media reports said that US President Joe Biden will sign an executive order to prevent foreign entities from accessing troves of Americans' personal data.

"The US overstretches the concept of national security, falsely accuses China of purchasing Americans' personal and sensitive data for malicious activities, and prevents the transfer of data to so-called 'countries of concern' including China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a recent press conference on February 29, 2024.

"The Chinese government takes data privacy and security very seriously. We have never asked and will never ask any company or individual to collect or provide data, information or intelligence located abroad against local laws for the Chinese government," Mao noted.

China still has room to further cut RRR: central bank governor

China's leading digital economy with its large-scale data resources, diverse data types and rich application scenarios have provided advantages for the country's artificial intelligence (AI) sector, Qi Xiangdong, chairman of Qi An Xin Technology Group, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times on Friday.

Qi said that AI depends on data, and China's rapidly developing digital economy provides a large source of data. He added that the total scale of China's digital economy reached 50.2 trillion yuan ($6.97 trillion) in 2022, and the breadth and depth of digital integration in the real economy has expanded.

Qi An Xin launched China's first industrial-grade large-model security AI product - Q-GPT a cybersecurity robot - which has numerous practical applications, Qi said.

Qi noted that he looks forward to the country accelerating the integration of cybersecurity and AI technology, promoting the application of innovative products in the field of "AI + security," and continuously improving China's ability to cope with cybersecurity risks and uncertainties.