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As the largest sports event in the South Pacific, the Pacific Games which is set to open on Sunday have abundant Chinese elements, including the sports venues built with Chinese assistance, athletes who have trained in China, and the Chinese police and medical team that ensure the safety of the athletes during the games.

The 17th Pacific Games will be held from November 19 to December 2 in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, and will see the participation of over 5,000 athletes from 24 countries and regions in the South Pacific. This is also the first large-scale sports event held by the Solomon Islands since its independence in 1978.

The islanders are eagerly looking forward to sharing with the world their newly constructed sports center, which was a project aided by China.

The 2023 Pacific Games Stadium Project consisted of seven separate project components, with the main venue being a 10,000-seat National Stadium complex with a full-size football and rugby field and running tracks that comply with international standards. The project also has a swimming pool, a six-court tennis center, a five-a-side hockey field and a multi-purpose hall.

Paul Dere has worked on the project with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation since it began two years ago, and now he serves as a local manager. Inside the azure sports complex, he told the Global Times, "I feel immensely proud, and everyone around me is excited about this stadium."

Meanwhile, an additional 10-member Chinese police force dispatched for the Games arrived in Honiara on November 12. They will assist with the installation and commissioning of security equipment and will maintain the safety of the event alongside local police during the Games, the Global Times learned.

Previously, on October 30, a handover ceremony for the security equipment provided by China to the Solomon Islands for the Pacific Games took place at the Solomon Islands police headquarters.

Months beforehand, at the request of the Solomon Islands government, China arranged for 80 Solomon Islands athletes and coaches to undergo three months of training in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. And at the end of October, nine Chinese coaches went to the Solomon Islands for 40 days of intensive pre-game training and competition guidance.

The Global Times learned from the Chinese medical team assisting the Solomon Islands that doctors from the acupuncture department will take turns on duty at the multi-functional clinic for the Games, providing athletes and other staff with traditional Chinese medical care such as acupuncture, cupping, and massage for health and recovery.

Ding Yonghua, Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Solomon Islands, told the Global Times that China's support for the Solomon Islands in hosting the 17th Pacific Games includes both hardware and technical aspects, moral guidance, and practical support. This is part of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, a true reflection of being good friends and brothers, and a vivid practice of building a community with a shared future for humanity.

"China believes that the Solomon Islands will fulfill the dream of generations by hosting a splendid, green, and safe Pacific sports event, leaving a valuable legacy for the development, revitalization, and national unity of the Solomon Islands," he said.

China and the Solomon Islands established diplomatic relations in September 2019, and their relationship has developed rapidly since then.

Manasseh Sogavare, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, told the Global Times in a previous interview in August that in the past four years, significant developments have occurred in the country. "Notably, a case in point is the infrastructure for the upcoming Pacific Games, with the investment totaling over $1 billion," he said.

Yu Lei, a researcher at the Pacific Island Countries Research Center of Liaocheng University, told the Global Times that China's economic aid, infrastructure assistance and technical support to the Solomon Islands have played an important role in helping the Solomon Islands develop its economy, improve people's livelihoods, increase employment, and raise living standards.

From October 26 to 28, the British Council participated in the 24th China Annual Conference for International Education and Expo (CACIE 2023) as a CACIE Honorary Partner, and hosted two sub-forums on higher education: "From Study to Work: Global Talent Mobility and Development" and "English Teaching and Assessment to Enhance International Understanding Education in Secondary Schools." 

The former focused on the current trends and challenges of talent cultivation and mobility in the context of international education, while the latter addressed the hot topic of international understanding education in the K12 sector. 

"Through the two forums, we shared our insights on the mobility and development of Chinese students abroad, and introduced our comprehensive assessment solutions and ecosystem value chain from study to work, represented by the British Council's IELTS test. We were also honored to invite our partners, top universities and enterprises from home and abroad, to share their best practices and explore how to better support the lifelong growth and development of international education in China," said You Zhuoran, director of examinations at the British Council China. 

China urges the US not to instigate trouble in the South China Sea or take sides on the South China Sea issue, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said in a statement released on Wednesday in regards to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks on South China Sea issue during his visit to Manila, claiming that the US and the Philippines have a shared concern about China’s “provocative actions.”

In response to Blinken’s comments, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said in the statement that China is not the one that provoked the recent tense situation in the South China Sea, and thus the responsibility for the recent situation at sea does not lie with China. China was made to take necessary steps to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in face of infringement of our rights and interests and provocation.

We firmly oppose the groundless accusations made by Blinken regarding China’s legitimate and lawful actions in the South China Sea and his thinly veiled threat to invoke the so-called Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) obligations between the Philippines and the US, the spokesperson said.

Liu Jinsong, the Director-General of the Asian Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with Ambassador of the Philippines to China Jaime A. FlorCruz on Tuesday, to exchange views on the fundamental principles and strategic direction of China-Philippines relations.

Liu expressed serious concerns and strong dissatisfaction with the Philippine side’s recent negative statements regarding China, as well as issues related to Taiwan and the South China Sea, and conveyed China's firm stance. The Philippine envoy expressed a willingness to manage differences and promote the stabilization and improvement of bilateral relations, according to a readout on the website of China’s Foreign Ministry.

According to the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, freedom of navigation in the South China Sea has never been an issue. Under its pretext of safeguarding freedom of navigation, the US is actually seeking freedom of rampage of its warships in the region. By going out of their way and encroaching on the doorstep of China to bluff and stir up tension, US warships and military aircraft are demonstrating true hegemon. It is the US and not anyone else that’s threatening peace and stability in the South China Sea, the spokesperson added.

The US is not a party to the South China Sea issue and has no right to interfere in the maritime issues between China and the Philippines, the spokesperson stressed, noting that the recent tension in the South China Sea would not have occurred without the US pushing the Philippines.

Indeed, the US admits to banding together a small number of countries to offer verbal support to the Philippines. The US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty is a vestige of the Cold War. The military cooperation between the US and the Philippines should not undermine China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, the spokesperson said.

China urges the US not to instigate trouble in the South China Sea or take sides on the South China Sea issue. China remains committed to all necessary measures in firmly safeguarding our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea, the spokesperson added.

During his visit to the Philippines for a trilateral cooperation mechanism of the US, Japan and the Philippines which Chinese experts believe to be a move by Washington to create an AUKUS-style clique in Asia aimed at China in the South China Sea, Blinken said that the US stands by the Philippines and stands by the ironclad defense commitments including the Mutual Defense Treaty, adding that Article IV of the treaty extends to armed attacks on the Filipino armed forces, public vessels, aircrafts, including those of its coast guard anywhere in the South China Sea. What the US is doing is to engage in intensive diplomacy so that a number of other countries have made clear statements in support of the Philippines.

China has announced plans to deepen engagement with the Mekong River countries through a series of activities to celebrate the "Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Week" scheduled from Monday to Sunday, Chinese Foreign Ministry revealed on Monday.

The events, aimed at commemorating the 8th anniversary of the LMC's inception, is expected to involve more than 20 ministries and provincial and municipal governments from China. They will work with the five countries along the Mekong River to host more than 80 events, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday.

The activities include discussions and field visits focused on water resource cooperation, round-table dialogue on green and low-carbon policies, exhibitions showcasing achievements in aquatic biodiversity conservation and fisheries cooperation, as well as seminars on wetland conservation management, Lin added.

The LMC is a regional cooperation mechanism co-constructed by China and the five countries along the Lancang-Mekong River -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. The mechanism aims to build a community of shared future in the region, Lin explained.

Supported by Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, the involved countries have implemented projects to benefit local residents by ensuring food, vegetable, and fruit supply. Emerging collaborations in digital economy, new energy and aerospace, alongside the acceleration of the Lancang-Mekong Innovation Corridor, are expanding, with cooperation in the fields of cultural tourism and media continuing to deepen, Lin said.

The spokesperson reaffirmed China's commitment in ensuring downstream flow from the Lancang River, sharing hydrological information throughout the year. The country strongly supports Mekong River countries in coping with floods and droughts. Countries of the LMC have made joint efforts in combating transnational crimes, including online gambling and telecom fraud, to help maintain peace in the region.

At the 4th LMC Leaders' Meeting and the 8th LMC Foreign Ministers' Meeting last year, significant areas of consensus were reached among the six countries on deepening cooperation in connectivity, green development, and non-traditional security issues, said the spokesperson, and the adoption of the Five-Year Plan of Action on Mekong-Lancang Cooperation has charted the course for further collaboration. 

Amid the changing world, building a united, stable, and prosperous Lancang-Mekong zone remains a shared aspiration of LMC countries. China pledges to adhere to its diplomatic principles of mutual benefit and inclusiveness, aiming to deepen the construction of a community of shared future for Lancang-Mekong countries, Lin said.

Giving prosthetics real feeling and controllable with mind, or treating epilepsy, Alzheimer's, depression, Parkinson's and other neurological disorders, can be realized through the brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, evolving with deep cross-fertilization of life sciences and information technology.

BCI refers to the establishment of communication and control channels for direct interaction between human brain and external devices. That is to say, through BCI, the fantasy of human beings controlling external objects with their minds may become a reality.

A research team at Tsinghua University recently published the details of cases in which two paralyzed patients regained a degree of movement through wireless, minimally invasive BCIs. At the end of January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his brain-chip startup Neuralink implanted brain chip in a sick man.

All these seem to indicate that the concepts that once existed in science fictions are moving from academic exploration to practical use. As the future industry is on the way, how is China's progress in this cutting-edge technology? How will BCI change people's lives?

The concept of the BCI has been around for more than 50 years, and research in China has been underway for more than 20 years.

Evolving technology

During a meeting held by China's Brain-Computer Interface Industrial Alliance on Monday, a number of experts and industry insiders discussed the country's BCI technology results as well as development prospects.

According to the way of neural signal acquisition, BCI can be divided into two categories: invasive and non-invasive. The former implant the electrodes directly into the patient's cerebral cortex through surgery, and the latter can be done without surgery by directly attaching the electrodes to the scalp.

"The country strongly supports the future technologies including meta-universe, humanoid robots, BCI and quantum computing. In terms of the noninvasive BCI, I am confident to say that China has achieved self-resilience, ranging from the concept to technology including electrode chip and algorithm," Gao Xiaorong, a professor of Tsinghua University engaging in the BCI for 20 years, told the Global Times on the sidelines of the meeting.

China and the US run different technology routes in BCI, but the final application scenarios are the same, Gao said, adding that China and some European countries mostly research non-invasive BCI while the US focuses on invasive BCI.

"Our team has always been guided by the principle of altruistic sharing, so we are completely open to international cooperation for mutual benefit," Gao said.

Lü Baoliang, a professor from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told the Global Times that China now plays a leading role in some researches on non-invasive BCI for emotional treatment such as depression.

According to an article published by an Italian university in 2022, two subsets of the emotional electroencephalogram dataset "SEED," made public by the university in 2015, are being used more than 50 percent worldwide; while the DEAP dataset, published by the EU in 2012, is used 27 percent of the time worldwide, Lü noted.

"At present, the research and development in BCI has continued to explore a variety of fields, including bionics, medical diagnostics and intervention, consumer electronics and virtual reality," Wu Xia, a professor from Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times.

Wu noted that non-invasive BCI technology is well suited for industrial safety monitoring and is expected to improve industrial productivity. "In addition, the technology has the potential to improve machine efficiency through brain-controlled machinery, and to improve human efficiency through skills training such as instrument operation and equipment driving."

New growth driver

During the meeting, Liu Bochao, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said that the BCI is an important track to cultivate new engine for economic development, create a new driver for economic growth and develop new quality productive forces in China.

The MIIT has laid out a batch of future industries represented by the BCI, in order to seize the opportunity of the development of new-generation information technology.

"Some basic researches of BCI industry like basic electrodes, core storage and high-grade algorithms have to be carried out by the so-called 'national team,' including national scientific research institutions, national medical centers, and large state-owned technology enterprises," Wang Changming, an associate researcher at the Beijing-based Xuanwu Hospital, told the Global Times during the conference.

However, relying on the "national team" does not mean that private enterprises only play a small role. It is clinical to define clear functional requirements for BCI products as well as standards, Wang said, expecting that there will be a lot of BCI products to emerge in the second half of this year.

The 2024 Government Work Report delivered by the State Council, the cabinet, noted that China will strive to modernize its industrial system and develop new quality productive forces at a faster pace. The report listed a series of tasks, including industrial and supply chain improvement and upgrade, and the cultivation of emerging industries and future-oriented industries such as hydrogen power, new materials, bio-manufacturing, commercial spaceflight, quantum computing and life sciences.

China accounted for 35 percent of global patent applications for non-implantable acquisition and sensing technology, the Xinhua News Agency reported. By 2040, the comprehensive market size of China's BCI industry is expected to exceed 120 billion yuan ($16.68 billion), according to a report by QbitAI, an industry services platform focusing on artificial intelligence and the BCI technology.

To further boost the healthy development of the BCI industry, Chinese experts noted that the country ought to improve relevant laws and regulations and provide more support to the private enterprises, which will help promote the coordinated development of the industry.

The “three requirements” that India government is reportedly asking of Chinese smartphone makers operating in the Indian market, are not something that a country governed by the rule of law or a market-oriented economy would do, industry analysts said.

According to India’s Economic Times, the Indian government wants Chinese smartphone companies to appoint Indian nationals to run the management and administration of local plants. New Delhi also wants the companies to appoint Indian distributors to localize their distribution structure in India. Starting next month, Vivo will replace its agents in some states of India with Indian distributors, according to local media reports.

The third requirement is for Chinese companies to use local contract manufacturers. According to a recent report of the Economic Times, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme have started, or are in the process of starting, smartphone manufacturing with Indian contract manufacturers.

A source familiar with the situation in India told the Global Times that Chinese smartphone brands are shifting their production to local Indian companies. "Changing distributors to Indian companies should also be true," the source said.

Another industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Global Times that Chinese smartphone companies are seeking to make India an important production and export hub in order to expand their exports to neighboring countries and continue to maintain their overseas market advantage.

"This may be why the Indian government is confident that these Chinese companies will accept New Delhi’s so-called localization demands," the insider noted.

The Indian government has been cracking down on Chinese smartphone makers, citing allegations of tax evasion and money laundering. They are also making stringent demands on many Chinese companies.

In June, Chinese smartphone makers were asked to appoint Indian nationals to hold positions including the chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and chief technical officer, the Business Standard reported.

The Indian government's crackdown on foreign companies, including Chinese companies, shows a clear intention to achieve localization, or put it more concisely, is a government-led “robbery” out of foreign enterprises, Lin Minwang, a research fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies, Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

"This short-sighted approach will ultimately undermine India's economic openness and the image of the Modi government's commitment to economic development," Lin said.

Real estate companies that are seriously insolvent should be handled according to market-based principles and rule of law, either subject to bankruptcy or restructuring as appropriate, China's housing minister said on Saturday, pledging measures to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

Although the task of stabilizing the real estate market remains challenging, there is still great potential and room for growth in China's real estate sector. Development of the real estate market should be viewed from a medium and long term perspective, rather than short term perspective, Ni Hong, minister of housing and urban-rural development, told a press conference on Saturday during the ongoing two sessions.

"We believe that as long as we have confidence, respect the rules, and persist in solving problems as they arise, we can promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market," Ni said.

This year's Government Work Report noted that China will refine real estate policies and meet justified financing demands of real estate enterprises under various forms of ownership on an equal basis, so as to promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.

Regarding measures to ensure stable and healthy development of the real estate sector, Ni emphasized focusing on stabilizing the market with city-specific policies, defusing risks, and promoting transformation of the sector.

In defusing risks, the financing needs, a prominent issue facing real estate enterprises, of all companies of different ownership types will be supported equally, Ni noted.

To meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate companies, a whitelist coordinating mechanism has been established covering 312 prefecture-level cities and above across China, Ni briefed.

From the reported whitelist projects, more than 6,000 have been completed, with 82 percent of these projects by privately-owned enterprises and mixed-ownership enterprises. As of the end of February, the approved loans through commercial banks have exceeded 200 billion yuan, according to Ni.

While pledging measures to meet the rational funding needs of real estate companies, the minister also emphasized the importance of continuing to strengthen supervision.

In 2023, faced with the individual real estate companies' funding chain breaking, the real estate market adjustment and other challenges, the ministry, together with relevant departments, have introduced a series of policy measures, securing the bottom line of preventing systemic risks, Ni said.

For behaviors from housing developers that harm the interests of the public, they should be resolutely investigated and punished according to law, making them pay the due price, the minister stressed.

Developing new quality productive forces has become a major theme in China's policymaking since it was first put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2023. It is also listed as a priority for this year's economic tasks outlined in the Government Work Report delivered to the ongoing two sessions in Beijing.

"China will strive to modernize the industrial system and develop new quality productive forces at a faster pace this year," noted the report, which placed sci-tech innovation high on the government's agenda.

The national lawmakers and political advisers have expressed full confidence on the prospects of China's sci-tech advance and economic development, saying that the rapid development of strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and new green energies will shore up sustainable momentum to support the high-quality development of Chinese economy.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Tuesday stressed developing new quality productive forces in China in accordance with local conditions during the second session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), the Xinhua News Agency reported.

President Xi called for focusing on high-quality development as the top priority, urging efforts to step up innovation, foster emerging industries, adopt forward-thinking plans for developing future-oriented industries and improve the modernized industrial system.

New growth drivers

The term - new quality productive forces - emerges from continuous breakthroughs in science and technology, which will drive the development of strategic emerging industries that may bring disruptive technological advances in the era of intelligent information.

Developing new quality productive forces is a decisive step in the economy's high-quality development course, Guo Guoping, an NPC deputy and a vice director of the Key Laboratory of Quantum Information of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.

"The concept offers guidance for our country to take advantage of the historical opportunity of a new round of technological upgrade and aims to develop strategic emerging industries and future industries," Guo said, noting it is of great importance for China to implement innovation-driven development strategy, seize the high ground in global industrial competition and build up China's manufacturing edge.

Currently, the development of new quality productive forces in China is picking up pace.

Official data showed that China's output of new-energy vehicles reached 9.44 million in 2023, up 30.3 percent on a yearly basis, while the output of solar panels rose by 54 percent to reach 540 million kilowatts. Last year, the country's production of service robots reached 7.83 million sets, up 23.3 percent year-on-year.

The development of new quality productive forces has great potential in China, as its huge market place ensures full testing, application and evolution of new technologies and new business models, Xu Jiuping, a professor of Sichuan University and a member of the National Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the Global Times.

Xu advocated that enterprises, with the support of national innovation policies, make full use of the market demand to help China's manufacturing sector overcome shortcoming and boost the development of new quality productive forces in China.

AI Plus initiative

In recent years, the economic growth in the world was mainly driven by new technologies, which would give birth to new industries and then form new productivity. In order to promote the development of new quality productive forces in China, analysts said the country should firmly adhere to deepening scientific research and technological innovation.

China is now beefing up support for building new manufacturing lines that are integrated with advanced tech breakthroughs such as AI, quantum computing and new and green energies. China ranked 12th place in the 2023 Global Innovation Index, and became the country with the largest number of top 100 sci-tech innovation clusters in the world for the first time, according to the latest ranking by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

It's projected that global AI competition will become a systemic contest in 2024, which will also be a crucial year for China and the US to compete in the in-depth application of generative AI breakthroughs said Liu Qingfeng, chairman of Chinese artificial intelligence company iFlytek who is also a deputy to the NPC.

Liu suggested that China should accelerate technological advances in key sectors including neural science, brain-like intelligence innovation, and quantum computing so as to achieve an overtaking on the curve.

Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile and also a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, suggested that the country boosts an AI Plus initiative in the national level by strengthening top-level design and clarifying development goals and key tasks, in order to fully give play to the huge potential of AI in achieving leapfrog development of technologies, industrial upgrade and productivity.

Comprised of AI and the manufacturing sector, smart manufacturing is an important part of forming new quality productive forces. However, China's smart manufacturing faces three major problems: Supply capability need to be strengthened, application needs to be promoted, and a standard system needs to be established, said Zhong Zheng, an NPC deputy and vice president of Midea Group.

She suggested that the country support leading companies in various industries to take the lead in developing industrial solutions so as to help more companies set up world-leading smart factories.

While putting focus on emerging and future industries, Chinese analysts said the country should aggregate high-level innovation talent to foster the whole chain of innovation. In addition to independently nurturing high-level talent, the country should also deepen reforms in talent introduction channels and set up a new mechanism to attract talent from all over the globe.

A Chinese national lawmaker has called for more progress in implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, so as to be able to produce fully domestically made systems and related products and eventually gain dominance in the key emerging industry.

Huang Li, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, and chairman of Wuhan Guide Infrared Co - a high-tech firm specializing in infrared thermal imaging technology - said he has submitted a motion that focuses on supporting research and development in the BCI field at the ongoing NPC annual session in Beijing.

"The country should improve laws and regulations, break through institutional barriers, and encourage the development of fully domestically produced, independent, and controllable BCI system platforms and related products to compete for dominance in the industry," Huang told the Global Times in an interview.

BCI technology has broad application prospects in medical and healthcare fields. It can be widely used in detection and diagnosis, screening and monitoring, treatment and rehabilitation for neurological and psychiatric diseases, according to Huang.

"It is an important means to explore unknown fields of the brain, and is also one of the technological highlands that many countries are competing for," he said, adding that the technology also has broad application prospects in areas such as education, entertainment and the military.

China has begun a push to step up research and development in disruptive and frontier technologies. The Government Work Report, which was delivered to the NPC on Tuesday, said that China will vigorously advance new industrialization, make more breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, and promote the cultivation of emerging industries and future-oriented industries such as hydrogen power, new materials, biomanufacturing, commercial spaceflight, quantum technology and life sciences.

"Cultivating future industries such as BCI is a way for our country to seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation," Huang said.

China has already made solid progress in the field. In the latest major development, a research team at Tsinghua University recently unveiled cases in which two paralyzed patients regained a degree of movement through wireless, minimally invasive BCIs. One of the patients, who had been paralyzed for 14 years, successfully drank water from a bottle using robotic hands for the first time.

Still, greater efforts are needed to accelerate the research and development of BCI in China, as enterprises and scientific research institutions that have mastered the core technologies in this field are mainly based in the US, Huang said.

Huang also called for a green channel for registration and approval of BCI products and a comprehensive medical-engineering platform for conducting basic research into neurotechnology and clinical applications. Another key area is the need to tackle looming ethical concerns, he said.

The threshold for China's individual income tax exemption should be raised to ease pressure on middle- and low-income earners and propel domestic consumption and economic recovery, according to Dong Mingzhu, a prominent entrepreneur and deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC).

The current monthly individual income tax cutoff point is 5,000 yuan ($694.6), enacted in 2019. Dong's motion suggests it be raised to 8,000 yuan or 10,000 yuan.

Dong, chairwoman of Chinese home appliance giant Gree Electric Appliances, has been calling for raising of the individual income tax threshold for many years, while also optimizing the progressive tax rates, in order to extend more tax reduction benefits to the low and middle-income groups.

During a recent media interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily, Dong reiterated that she will continue to ask for raising the individual income tax threshold at the NPC session this year, given the cutoff point remaining at 5,000 yuan for many years. "Now it's high time the threshold needs to be hiked," Dong said.

Dong has been elected as an NPC deputy for five consecutive terms, ever since 2003. Data reveals that her past motions proposed during the annual two sessions have consistently focused on raising the individual income tax threshold.

Zhang Xuewu, another NPC deputy and chairman of Yanjin Shop Food Co, took the side of Dong by putting forward a motion asking the individual income tax threshold be raised to 8,000 yuan to increase household income for ordinary people while boosting broad consumer confidence in the country.

"In 2024, sustaining economic recovery hinges on restoring and expanding consumer demand, which entails implementing effective measures to ramp up residents' disposable income and their confidence to consume," Zhang said.

Their motions have triggered heated debate among netizens, and raising individual income tax threshold has quickly been trending on Weibo, China's social media platform, gaining over 62,000 likes and 3,400 comments as of press time.

There is a groundswell of support for the motions among Chinese netizens, who uttered that raising income tax threshold is necessary and imperative which will greatly benefit low-income groups and help them cope with life burden.