The State Council, China's Cabinet, has issued a document, "Opinions on Promoting the Development of Private Pensions", detailing the development of the first-ever private pension plan, which indicates that China is trying to develop a multi-pillar pension system.

The rise in novel coronavirus cases and the higher transmissibility of the Omicron variant have increased uncertainties, prompting the government to implement stricter prevention and control measures in the country. For example, cities such as Shanghai and Changchun, Jilin province, have been under lockdown for weeks.

New guidelines ensure Belt and Road will be catalyst for green development

Editor's note: More than four decades of reform and opening-up have not only turned China into the world's second-biggest economy but also changed Chinese people's lifestyle. A veteran journalist with China Daily tries to analyze the changes in people's attitude toward pets.

Having won the presidential election by a razor thin margin of 0.73 percentage points in March, Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative People Power Party will be sworn in as the new president of the Republic of Korea on Tuesday.

There has been a lot of talk about "accelerated withdrawal of foreign capital from China" recently, with some saying China survived the 2008 global financial crisis but may not be able to survive the recent resurgence of outbreaks.

With the election of the sixth-term chief executive-elect on Sunday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region can look forward to a brighter future.

The annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March addressed the question of how to ease the financial burden on parents in order to encourage them to have more children. There have been discussions on proposals such as giving monthly subsidies to families with more than one child and providing free kindergarten care for the third child of every household to increase the fertility rate.

It is now widely accepted that the economic and technological relationship between the United States and China will be characterized by some combination of strategic cooperation and strategic competition.

In the West, international media have portrayed Omicron infections in China as a harbinger of a mass outflow of foreign multinationals from the country. Yet the investment data reflect the opposite.

Midwives save lives.

Editor's Note: May 4 marks the Youth Day of China, and May 5, 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth League of China. How do young expatriates view the Chinese youth through their life and observation? How will the young shape the shared future? Following are excerpts from what some young interviewees told China Daily.

The voice of the youth should be heard, especially in these times when the global landscape is changing at a rapid pace. True, while some young people have chosen to "lie flat", opting out of the race to build a better career, most youths are still striving for a better life and are becoming the main force in global communication in the era of social media.

The friendship between the island country of Sri Lanka and China has been nurtured through the maritime Silk Road for centuries. Today, the two countries have close relations in economic and cultural fields.

The concept of "micro-tourism" or "micro-vacation", which comes from the tourism industry, may not be new, but micro-tourism seems to have become a trend in recent years.

After the second round of the French presidential election on June 24, President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected for a second term of five years. He won 58.54 percent of the votes against Marine Le Pen's 41.46 percent.

The fifth wave of the COVID-19 outbreaks in Hong Kong is fading, with daily confirmed cases and deaths in decline. And it should be noted that the central authorities' aid plays a very important role in helping the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in its fight against the novel coronavirus.

China's pledge to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 is just one example of its determination to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against climate change.

In his keynote speech at the United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference in October, President Xi Jinping stressed the need for a green transition in all aspects of economic and social development.

The resurgence of the novel coronavirus has prompted authorities to restrict people's movement in many places. Many people in some provinces and cities, for instance, have been staying at home for some time now. The more than two years of the pandemic prevention and control measures have also had some psychological effects on the people, increasing the need for better mental health services.

Although it is important to take strict prevention and control measures, including implementing lockdowns if needed, to contain the resurgence of the novel coronavirus, especially the more contagious Omicron variant, it is equally important for local governments to ensure the measures have the minimum effect on economic activity.

Several Chinese cities and provinces are facing a novel coronavirus resurgence, with strict pandemic prevention and control measures, even lockdowns if necessary, being implemented in places where infection rates are abnormally high. Against this background, proper disposal of waste can help prevent the spread of the virus and contribute to the success of the dynamic clearing policy.

Editor's note: The resurgence of the novel coronavirus in some cities in China has prompted the authorities to implement strict pandemic prevention and control measures, even lockdowns if needed, which could affect economic activities. What should the authorities do to minimize the impact of anti-pandemic measures on economic development? Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only claimed more than 6 million lives worldwide but also tested governments' ability to tackle the health crisis. In China, however, the impact of the pandemic has been disproportionately severe on the elderly people due to the rising aging population in the country.

To boost the economy, the first priority is to prevent infections. And China's dynamic clearing policy has proven highly effective in this regard.

By improving the express delivery service system, the authorities can ensure the smooth flow of production factors and strengthen the supply and industry chains, and thus accelerate the construction of a unified national market.

Will you go to the movies during the upcoming May Day holiday? This is really a difficult question amid a resurgence of COVID-19 in many cities.

After two years of the COVID-19 crisis wreaking havoc across the world, the conflict in Ukraine will cause even more harm to the global economy.

Editor's Note: The State Council Information Office of China on Thursday published a white paper titled "Youth of China in the New Era". Following is the full text:

Since Friday many social platforms including popular video apps Douyin (known as TikTok abroad) and Kuaishou have announced that they plan to make locations of users’ IP addresses public on the users’ pages after a customary dry run.

China's GDP grew 4.8 percent in the first quarter of this year despite the pressures of a complicated and grimmer international environment and rising COVID-19 infections in some places, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Food prices and global food security are currently under enormous stress.

The annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, to be held from Wednesday to Friday, at Boao, Hainan province, will focus on how the world should work together to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build a shared future. As usual, Asia will be in the spotlight, especially because the region regained economic strength in 2021, thanks to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, gradual opening-up, and continuous supportive macroeconomic policies.

The US Interior Department on Friday said it's moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and natural gas drilling leases under US President Joe Biden. The announcement comes as Republicans pressure President Biden to expand US crude production and rein in higher gasoline prices contributing to record inflation.

The government's guidelines for accelerating the building of a unified national market are aimed at ending local protectionism and unifying the fragmented market to remove the key hurdles to economic growth. This is part of a wide-ranging push for an effectively regulated, competitive and fully open market across the country.

Since early March, another wave of the COVID-19 infections has hit many Chinese cities including Changchun, Shenzhen and Shanghai. In response, local authorities have adopted strict measures to contain the outbreaks. In fact, many cities, despite not being seriously hit by the latest outbreaks, have tightened their prevention and control measures.

China set an ambitious GDP growth target of 5.5 percent for 2022 at the annual session of the National People's Congress in March. The target is broadly in line with our (Standard Chartered Bank's) forecast of 5.3 percent growth.

Editor's note: The Chinese economy faces severe challenges because the wave of the COVID-19 infections could lower GDP growth. Many provinces and cities have intensified efforts to contain the outbreaks while ensuring the measures have minimum effect on the economy and people's livelihoods. Will these efforts achieve the desired results? Four experts share their views on the issue with China Daily.

Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, has played a significant role in the development of civilizations by linking China, the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Arab countries, Europe and the Horn of Africa, and facilitating long-distance political and economic relations between different civilizations for nearly two centuries. No wonder Mauritius is called the “Star and Key of the Indian Ocean”.

China’s top leader first mentioned the overall national security concept at the first meeting of the National Security Commission of the Communist Party of China on Apr 15, 2014. Over the past eight years the concept has been continuously developed and implemented in various fields, and China’s national security has been comprehensively strengthened.

The risks to nuclear security have increased with the continuation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The above extract from The Little Prince describes good seeds and bad seeds but in essence tells the history of the novel coronavirus, the Omicron variant in particular, and how to destroy it, which is exactly what China's dynamic clearing policy is all about.

The massive tax rebate policy has been implemented nationwide since April 1. The record-high scale of this round of tax and fee reductions is a measure of China's economic capability and political determination to overcome the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and meet the challenges of a new round of geopolitical competition.

The results of the general elections in 10 European countries including Germany in 2021 kept the balance of political ecology in Europe, but tilted a little toward the left. But due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany's policies have shown some deflections with the new government even raising old security and energy issues. As a result, Germany has significantly increased its defense budget, and appears to rely more on NATO and diversify its energy sources.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is expected to further rock global food markets.

After two years of human devastation, the world is learning to live with COVID-19 while trying to balance the protection of public health and livelihoods.

India's foreign and defense ministers will travel to Washington and Tokyo next week to revive their "2+2 dialogues" with the United States and Japan. In Washington, India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and in Tokyo they will meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi.

History has shown that some of the most dangerous periods of pandemics come when life returns to normal too soon. A century ago, a premature "all clear" helped the second wave of the 1918 Flu Pandemic claim far more lives than the first, after a more virulent strain emerged. Today, many G7 and G20 countries are relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and shifting their focus away from pandemic response to pandemic prevention and preparedness (or to other issues entirely). But until every country achieves its national vaccination target, we cannot know whether we are out of the woods.

History has shown that some of the most dangerous periods of pandemics come when life returns to normal too soon.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the third part of its Sixth Assessment Report on Monday.

The COVID-19 outbreaks have prompted local governments to implement stricter prevention and control measures, including lockdowns, in some metropolises such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, and some places in western and northeastern China.

Innovative digital tools including health codes and itinerary codes have played a key role in China's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fast-growing companies and start-ups were once the preserve of Silicon Valley and Seattle. No longer.

The need for real, lasting climate solutions has never been more urgent. Will 2022 be the year when we reach a tipping point for climate action?

To contain the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, an increasing number of Chinese cities have taken strict prevention and control measures including implementing phased lockdowns. That has added to the problems of the already struggling micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

With spring in full bloom in most parts of the country and temperatures rising, gradually, many people are dying to hit the road during the upcoming Qingming Festival holiday from April 3 to 5 and May Day holiday from April 30 to May 4. But due to the resurgence of COVID-19 infections, most prefer going on short trips.

The global food system faces significant risks and threats that could disrupt the food supply chains, and cause massive economic loss to food producers and consumers, and other players in the food sector.