COMMENT
8 | Thursday, August 22, 2019 CHINA DAILYCHINA DAILY WORLDWIDE
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[email protected]Start of national campaign
to build a healthy China
CONSTRUCTION OF A HEALTHY CHINA requires supply-side structural reform in the field of healthcare services.
People’s Daily comments:The State Council, China’s Cabinet,
has recently issued a guidance docu-
ment on implementing the Healthy Chi-
na Action Plan (2019-30). This indicates
a nationwide health campaign has offi-
cially started.
People’s health is the basic foundation
for people’s all-round development as
well as the nation’s social and economic
development. Good health is not only
people’s common pursuit, it is also an
important factor for national prosperity
and strength. Therefore, health is a sig-
nificant part of national and local gov-
ernance. Ensuring a healthy China
requires building a comprehensive
healthcare system, improving national
health policies and further promoting
people’s awareness of a healthy lifestyle.
China has made great achievements
in health management since New Chinawas founded. Since the 1950s, China has
made great efforts to address people’s
growing demand for medical care, and
gradually established a medical and
health service system from the provin-
cial to the village level. Since reform of
the health system was implemented in
2009, a basic medicine system has been
gradually established nationwide, and
basic public health services are provid-
ed for free throughout the country. With
a comprehensive urban and rural resi-
dent medical insurance system covering
all its citizens established, China has
built the world’s largest medical insur-
ance system.
With the country’s rapid social and
economic development in recent years,
as well as social changes including
urbanization, industrialization and an
aging population, people’s health ser-vice demands have also changed. As
more and more chronic diseases related
to unhealthy lifestyles have become the
main threats to people’s health, national
health management needs to change
from dealing with disease to people tak-
ing responsibility for their health.
Therefore, health service supply-side
structural reform is required to adapt to
the new health management demands.
To promote supply-side structural
reform of the health service, a team of
qualified general medical practitioners
and a scientific hierarchical diagnosis
and treatment system need to be estab-
lished. Big hospitals should actively
cooperate with grassroots hospitals to
provide them with quality medical tal-
ent and technologies, in order to
achieve greater equality in the provision
of medical services.Some HK journalists should feel ashamed
ON TUESDAY, after the end of a police news conference in Hong Kong, about 20 Hong Kong journalists surrounded a
female colleague from the Chinese mainland and used harsh words against her. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang com-
ments:The whole incident was soon made
clear as it was caught on video. The
female journalist from the mainland is
Chen Xiaoqian, head of the Hong Kong
branch of Guangdong Radio and Televi-
sion. During the news conference, she
tried to make a video record of the Q&A
with her smartphone, which made some
of the Hong Kong journalists angry.
At the end of the news conference,
about 20 Hong Kong journalists sur-
rounded her, accused her of being a
“fake” journalist, and demanded to see
her press card. The whole incident was
recorded on video.
It seems these Hong Kong journalists
lack both courtesy and awareness of
how a news conference works. At a
news conference, all the information is
considered open to public, and every
participating journalist has the right to
make a video record as long as he/she
makes an unbiased record and credits
the colleague who asks the question. Ifany Hong Kong journalist wanted to
speak with Chen, he/she should have
talked to her politely.
Besides, it is the organizer that is
responsible for checking Chen’s press
credentials, not the participating jour-
nalists. The fact that Chen was admitted
to the news conference venue shows shehad a valid press card.
Putting all these things aside, the
Hong Kong journalists who surrounded
her simply blared at Chen and refused
to let her answer. Whenever Chen
uttered a word, they stopped her by
shouting at her in groups.
Is that civilized behavior? Do the
deeds of those Hong Kong journalists
match Hong Kong’s reputation as a civi-
lized society?
It is fair to say that the Hong Kong
journalists involved are badly educated
and lack the most basic manners. When
they disagree with somebody, they sim-
ply aim to talk the loudest. When they
are in conflict, they always make sure
they outnumber the other side to gain
“confidence”. Their deeds are in every
aspect contrary to the behavioral rules
of any modern society.
What these Hong Kong journalists
did on Tuesday brought shame upon
journalism.Deal-making art that’s
leading US into recession
Editorials
Opinion Line
T
he US leader may deserve a pat on
the back, at least for having the
courage to eat his own words. For
the first time rather than dismiss-
ing fears the US is heading for a recession,
he has acknowledged that his trade attack
on China may also mean economic pain for
his country.
“Whether it’s good for our country or bad
for our country, short term, it had to be done,”
he said on Tuesday while trying to justify his
plan to “take China on”, something that he
insists is “imperative”. “My life would be a lot
easier if I hadn’t taken China on. But I like
doing it because I have to do it,” he said.
The remarks are a far cry from his previous
claim that “trade wars are good, and easy to
win”. Although he still brushed aside worries
that the trade tension could tip the US into
recession — any signs of a slowdown would
be very bad news for one who is betting on
robust economic performance to secure him
a second term in office.
But declining factory output and home sales,
as well as muted investment activities because
of uncertainties from his aggressive trade poli-
cies are telling a different story. A majority of
economists expect a US recession in the next
two years, according to a survey released on
Monday by the National Association for Busi-
ness Economics, while Federal Reserve officials
estimate that the gross domestic product of the
country will fall to about 2 percent this year,down from 2.5 percent last year.
The impact of heightened tensions between
the world’s two largest economies goes far
beyond their own borders, of course.
According to Reserve Bank of Australia Gov-
ernor Philip Lowe, the Sino-US trade war pos-
es the biggest risk to global economic stability.
In a private meeting on Tuesday, Lowe said the
trade dispute was hurting global investment,
wages and economic growth, the Sydney
Morning Herald reported. That corroborates
an earlier alarm about the trade war sounded
by the International Monetary Fund in May,
saying it will “jeopardize” global growth.
Yet despite all the negative consequences,
the US leader has tried to rationalize the
hefty tariffs he has imposed on Chinese
goods by holding China responsible for all
the US woes. “China has been ripping this
country off for 25 years”, he said on Tuesday,
ignoring the fact that Sino-US trade relations
have benefited both sides over the years and
their disputes — which exist among all trade
partners — can only be solved through talks
based on equality and mutual respect rather
than hard-handedness.
Maximizing pressure may be part of his
deal-making art. But as the trade dispute
stretches into its second year, the confronta-
tional stance on the part of Washington has
only proved counterproductive.
For trade talks to make progress, the US has
to take concrete actions to show its sincerity.Washington creating avoidable dilemma
I
n his speech for the National Day Rally
on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minis-
ter Lee Hsien Loong touched upon the
implications of the US-China tensions
for the city state. Lee urged the United States
to recognize that stopping China’s rise is nei-
ther possible nor wise, and encouraged Chi-
na to put itself in other countries’ shoes and
take into account their interests and views.
That this is the second time Lee has raised
the same topic in three months — in his
opening speech at the 2019 Shangri-La Dia-
logue on May 31, Lee also highlighted the dif-
ficulty of having to choose sides in the
confrontation between the US and China —
shows the acute dilemma countries such as
Singapore face.
Both Beijing and Washington should heed
Lee’s words, since he has voiced the concerns
of many countries as the trade war between
the two giants intensifies. But it is Washing-
ton that has more to learn from Lee’s message,
because not only has it always held the initia-
tive to continue or stop the trade frictions,
since it single-handedly started them, but it is
also the major agenda setter in global affairs,
as well as being the most devastating sabo-teur of the international rules-based system.
China is not the source of problems. It is
the source of growth and stability. And, sit-
ting atop the pyramid, the US, which is the
largest beneficiary of China’s rise and eco-
nomic globalization, should know that Chi-
na’s development will only continue to stoke
its prosperity. Even if China’s economic size
neared that of the US, China’s per capita
income, the most viable indicator of a coun-
try’s national strength, would only reach
about one-quarter that of the US. Not to men-
tion that China has no desire to become
another US-style superpower, which is not in
its cultural genes.
Given their close and productive connec-
tions both in times of peace and in times of war,
the leaderships of the two sides should demon-
strate more wisdom and flexibility, as Lee sug-
gested, and strengthen mutual trust between
the two governments, armies and peoples.
Their differences foster complementarities
from which cooperation and opportunity
thrive, so differences need to be respected,
and should not be the cause of discords and
confrontation.
— LI YANG, CHINA DAILYThe US has long been engaged in
large-scale and organized cyber espio-
nage and surveillance activities against
foreign governments, enterprises and
individuals.
No country in the world can match
the US in cyber spying. According to
information disclosed by Edward Snow-
den, a former US intelligence employee,
the notorious “Prism” program operat-
ed by the US government monitors peo-
ple’s emails and social media
communications without authorization,
and even the leaders of some countries
and international organizations have
long been under covert monitoring by
the US intelligence agencies. WikiLeaks
released nearly 9,000 classified docu-
ments in 2017, showing the CIA had
secretly infiltrated mobile phones, com-
puters, smart TVs and other smart devi-
ces with its powerful hackingcapabilities. Western media reports
point out that “the US monitors 90 per-
cent of global communications”.
What is more alarming is that US mil-
itary and intelligence agencies have cre-
ated the world’s largest cyber arsenal
that is comparable to nuclear weapons,
triggering a cyber arms race around the
world. In 2009, the US military estab-
lished its Cyber Command, which was
upgraded in 2017 to the 10th Joint Oper-
ations Command. According to Wiki-
Leaks founder Julian Assange, the US is
the world’s leading cyber weapons pow-
er, with 2,000 kinds of weapons.
According to a 2018 report published
by National Computer Network Emer-
gency Response Technical Team/Coor-
dination Center of China, the US has
launched the largest number of cyber
attacks, and in 2018, 3,325 IP addresses
located in the US planted Trojan horseson 3,607 websites in China, a 43 percent
increase over 2017. There is plenty of
evidence that shows cyber theft and
hacking are routine for the US.
As a global concern, cyber security
bears on the common interests of all
countries and needs to be safeguarded
by the international community. Chi-
na firmly upholds cyber security and
has never participated in any commer-
cial spying. China is also a strong
advocate of international cooperation
on cyber security, insisting that com-
mercial spying and hacking against
government networks should be reso-
lutely countered in accordance with
relevant laws and international con-
ventions.
Cooking up the cyber espionage argu-
ment in an attempt to smear China’s
image has exposed the sinister inten-
tions of some in the US.Cyber thief yells ‘Stop thief!’ while stealing all it can
What They Say
Editor’s note: Some in the United States take great pains to fabricate “crimes” against China, and a new crime has been cooked
up recently, that China is “hacking US computers to steal business secrets”. Zhong Sheng, a columnist for People’s Daily, com-
ments:Three neighbors show shared intent
T
he ninth China-Japan-Republic of
Korea foreign ministers’ meeting
was an inspiring sign that the three
Northeast Asian neighbors share a
common will to maintain regional stability.
That the meeting materialized while Tokyo
and Seoul are embroiled in a fierce trade
standoff indicates neither wants their cur-
rent spat to get in the way of joint endeavors
to sustain the region’s growth momentum.
The broad consensus among the three coun-
tries came as a timely boost to the otherwise
dimming prospects of trilateral cooperation.
If, as the foreign ministers agreed, the
three countries can work together to facili-
tate completion of the negotiations on the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partner-
ship and hold a successful summit of the
leaders of the three countries by the year’s
end, that would be remarkable progress.
These would be accomplishments that
would not only serve to repair the strained
ties between Japan and the ROK, but also
demonstrate solidarity indispensable for
their ambitious vision of an “East Asia Com-
monwealth”.
While the prospect of such a common-
wealth remains rather distant at this point,
the consensus the three parties reached in
Beijing on various aspects of trilateral cooper-
ation and regional integration covers plentyof immediately operational projects, whose
implementation will surely inject fresh vitali-
ty into the now 20-year-old cooperation
mechanism.
Beijing’s idea for the three parties to
enhance collaboration on big data, artificial
intelligence and 5G, for instance, may not
only help Tokyo and Seoul end their present
standoff, but present itself with some resour-
ces increasingly inaccessible elsewhere.
The protectionist and self-centric
approach of the United States to internation-
al trade and traditional multilateral coopera-
tion mechanisms has created tremendous
uncertainty in the global economic land-
scape. Which in turn puts all trade-depend-
ent nations in danger. Not to mention that all
three countries have found themselves in
trouble with the US to varying degrees when
it comes to economic and trade ties.
Beijing’s call for the three to offer certainty
to the region and beyond is an opportune one
given that volatile backdrop. The conceptual
document they come up with on “China-Ja-
pan-ROK+X” cooperation is a well-thought-
out prescription under the current
circumstances. It may see even greater
potential once incorporated with the Beijing-
proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
The only question now is how far they can
go together down that path.Cai MengTo The Point
JIN DING / CHINA DAILY