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.

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.

A white paper released by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China on Monday showed that more than half of Japanese companies increased or maintained investment in China last year, underlying the resilience of the Chinese market.

Experts said Tokyo's move of following the US to seek "decoupling" with China in some fields have affected Japanese companies' investment in China, calling for the Japanese side to rule out external disturbance and pursue new cooperation areas with China for win-win results.

Conducted between November 23 and December 13, 2023, the survey collected responses from over 1,700 Japanese companies doing business across China. It covered a wide range of industries from electronic machinery to chemicals, food and medicine, according to a report sent to the Global Times on Monday.

About 38 percent of Japanese companies said that they maintained the same investment level last year as 2022, while another 15 percent said they "significantly increased" or "increased" their investment in China.

Reasons given for increased investment include business expansion in the wake of the COVID-19, conforming to the electrification and intelligence of the automotive industry, and increasing efficiency and functionality through automation.

Around 54 percent of the companies surveyed said they are satisfied with the business climate in China, up 3 percentage points compared with the chamber's last survey, it said.

Those surveyed said their businesses in China is relatively "grim," but slight improvement is also being made, it said, stressing that 51 percent of Japanese companies considers Chinese market their "most important market" or "one of the three most important markets."

"The result of the survey revealed the contradiction state of mindset of Japanese companies. Japan's China policy has shown tendency of following the US in recent years, and the Japanese side's 'industrial decoupling' from China have affected some Japanese companies' investment and operations in China," Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

Despite geopolitical volatility, about half of Japanese companies are willing to maintain or increase their investment in China, which underscores the resilience and potential of the vast Chinese market, Xiang said.

Looking ahead to 2024, Xiang is cautiously optimistic about China-Japan economic and trade relations. Customs data showed that Japan is still a major trade partner of China and the complementary nature of the two economies persist, but the Japanese side ought to rule out external meddling to explore new cooperation areas with China for greater win-win results, he said.

According to data released by the General Administration of China, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Japan dropped 10.7 percent year-on-year to reach $318 billion in 2023.

Japan announced in March 2023 a draft revision to a ministry ordinance on its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, adding 23 chip-manufacturing items that require government approval for export, which includes equipment for cleaning, checkups and lithography, a technology essential in producing cutting-edge chips. It took effect in July.

Last year, Chinese enterprises including major technology brands expanded their footprint on the global market. It was also the first year for upgraded versions of "Made in China" to compete in the markets of the developed economies in all aspects. 

In 2023, China's foreign trade and investment rose steadily, with a trade surplus of more than $730 billion in the first 11 months. China was the only major economy with an inflation rate lower than the central bank's 2-percent target.

In retrospect, in the fields of semiconductors, artificial intelligence, new-energy vehicles or batteries, the technological value of Chinese manufacturing was increasingly recognized globally. In the second half of the year, many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs chose to return to China, seeking cooperation with the world's largest factory, known for its high manufacturing efficiency and growing competitiveness.

In 2024, the globalization of the high-tech sector will be irreversible, and Chinese high-tech companies will continue to "go global." There will be more and more Chinese companies setting up factories in both the developed and developing economies, and concurrently, there will also be an increasing number of young Chinese entrepreneurs appearing on the international business stage.

The rapid development of the Chinese economy over the past 45 years can be attributed to the reform and opening-up policy. Maintaining a competitive advantage in the global manufacturing industry is crucial for China's industrial transformation and upgrading of the economy, as well as ensuring the stability of the yuan's exchange rate and the well-being of the public in the face of global challenges.

The development of Chinese economy demonstrates that China's goal is not to "dominate the world", but to share the dividends of its development. This explains why China's foreign policies won't follow the heels of the traditional colonial powers by bullying the weak and poor, and China's contributions have been widely recognized by countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Under the long-term goal of maintaining steady and sustainable development, the Chinese economy saw a robust recovery in 2023. In addition to effectively controlling inflation, various indicators such as electricity generation, transportation of goods and passengers and retail sales all exhibited a gradual recovery, surpassing market expectations. 

The improved economic data can be attributed to the continuous implementation of policies such as poverty alleviation, the BRI and the development of high-end manufacturing. They also stem from the continuous improvement in the capital intensity of modern agriculture and manufacturing, offsetting insufficient growth momentum caused by a slowdown in the real estate sector.

Investors' expectations for the economy's future are diverging. There is a common saying in the international investment community: "optimists tend to be successful and pessimists tend to be right." China's market size and development potential are enormous, and only optimistic entrepreneurs who keep up with the times can get their due rewards.

The main battlefield of competition for Chinese companies has long expanded from first- and second-tier Chinese cities to county towns, which benefits more Chinese consumers, as brands and consumption patterns that used to only exist in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are increasingly entering local towns and rural areas. 

The upgrading of the financial industry will also be an important aspect of the Chinese economy in 2024. Commercial banks such as China Agricultural Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank have all lowered their deposit interest rates, which for the first time are below the benchmark interest rate set by the People's Bank of China. 

This is a new milestone in Chinese financial history. It signifies that China has transitioned from a period of relying on foreign investment during the early stages of reform and opening-up to a new stage where domestic capital is abundant. 

China saw more than 40,200 deceased organ donations from 2015 to the end of 2022, with 120,100 major organs donated. Additionally, more than 6.55 million people have voluntarily registered for organ donations, according to the China Organ Transplant Development Foundation (COTDF).

The COTDF revealed the figure at the 7th China-International Organ Donation Conference and the Belt & Road Symposium on Organ Donation and Transplantation International Cooperation Development, which kicked off in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Saturday.

Currently, China ranks second in the world and first in Asia in terms of the number of organ donations, benefiting numerous patients in need. The COTDF said that 5,628 deceased organ donations were made in 2022, an increase of 6.75 percent compared to 2021.

More than 20,000 organ donations are made in Chinese mainland each year, ranking second in the world in terms of data. However, organ donors per million people (PMP) is less than 4 percent, which is far from satisfactory compared to the 47 percent in developed countries, Huang Jiefu, chairman of China Human Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee and chair of the COTDF Advisory Board, told the Global Times on Saturday.

He pointed out that there are not enough hospitals in China to satisfy patients' demand for organ transplants. "China currently has only slightly more than 70 hospitals that perform heart and lung transplants. Thus, there is still a shortage of doctors and hospitals to meet the needs of the people," said Huang.

In October, China's State Council held an executive meeting that adopted a draft revision to the regulations on donation and transplantation of human organs.

The government aims to establish a system for tracing and supervising the whole procedure of donating and transplanting human organs. It will enhance ethical reviews on how human organs are obtained and crack down on crimes involving human organs, according to the meeting.

Talking about the revision, Huang used the phrase "scraping poison off the bone" to describe the determination in China's organ donation reform.

He said that under the leadership of the central government, this reform has achieved significant victories and has been widely recognized by the international community. The revision of the regulation demonstrates the Party and the country's emphasis on organ donation, providing strong legal protection for the high-quality development of the organ donation cause, said Huang.

Huang said that the word "donation" carries special meaning. With the coming of the regulation, organ donations will be more transparent, and it also calls for more people to get involved in organ donations and transplants. In the future, it is hoped that China's organ transplantation technology will spread to more countries in the Belt and Road Initiative via the Organ Donation and Transplant under the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, said Huang.

Talking about China's recent achievements in organ transplantation, John Fung, president-elect of the Transplantation Society, told the Global Times that in terms of survival, China meets international standards.

"The primary accomplishment of China's transplant efforts is that a country that had very limited transplants 30 years ago is now able to compete with any other transplant program in the world in terms of quality," said Fung.

However, Fung also mentioned that the primary challenge in China is that "it has a very large population and still not enough access to transplants. There are many barriers to transplants for the common people in terms of costs as well as a shortage of organs."

Yet he said that China is getting there as the trajectory of donations in the country is increasing fast, thus he is confident that five years from now China will move to a much higher rate of donation.

The Belt & Road Symposium on Organ Donation and Transplantation International Cooperation Development held a launch ceremony, during which those in attendance agreed to establish a series of action plans in the areas of leadership, management, quality control and technological innovation in organ donations and transplantations based on the principles outlined by WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation.

Through continuous strengthening of interaction, deepening of mutual trust, and fostering of friendship, the goal of self-sufficiency in organ donation will be achieved.

Fung also mentioned that there is an organized conspiracy on the international stage that tries to play down the accomplishments of China's organ donation experience, by feeding misinformation about transplants in China to further damage the country's reputation.

For example, a new wave of accusations of "organ harvesting" in China has emerged. Following some Western media reports from the China Tribunal, which accused the Chinese government of "harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners" and Uygurs "detained in camps" since June 2019, VICE magazine's France version also released a new report on the same topic on June 19, offering more so-called "evidence."

By digging into those stories, the Global Times has found out that such claims are lies interwoven by members of the Falun Gong cult, separatists from Xinjiang and overseas anti-China forces with the purpose to further paint China as a devil mistreating minorities in Xinjiang, to smear the country's organ transplantation and donation system and its anti-terrorism work in Xinjiang, and to instigate the international community to further pressure China.

In response to this recent slander, Huang said that China's reform on organ transplantation is to keep friends close and keep enemies closer. "You can never wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep… we are not afraid of those slanders, as long as what we are doing is justified and is on the right course."

Fung suggested that more publications about "China's organ transplantation be disseminated globally for people to understand that China complies with international standards and that their outcomes for transplantations are as good as anybody else's. As transplantation society president I will do my best to make it more open for the world to understand and appreciate w