According to the United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics in December, China was the only country among the UK's top five trading partners with which bilateral trade in goods increased in the first half of 2020－due mainly to a 17.2 percent increase in goods imported from China.

Lantern Festival, which marks the end of Spring Festival, falls on Friday this year. Spring Festival, the most important festival in China, has been celebrated for 15 days for almost 4,000 years. The festival represents the Chinese core values and cultural spirit, which are important to not only China but also today's world.

Reflecting on being a good neighbor, I came across four articles on China's evolving international vaccine assistance initiative prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year, each from a different perspective. The first, on the front page of China Daily's Feb 9 edition, features a small photograph of Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti welcoming Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccines in Peru's capital of Lima.

Editor's Note: The Chinese economy faces many challenges despite achieving positive growth last year. How can China overcome these challenges and realize sustainable growth in the long run? Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily. Excerpts follow:

The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, once inked by the European Union and China, will become an important milestone for the two major economies. To some extent, the CAI, on which the two sides wrapped up negotiations on Dec 30, can be considered more important than a trade agreement for the EU.

US President Joe Biden implemented a number of "new policies" on his first day in office, terminating or changing many of the Donald Trump administration's decisions, and announcing that he will adopt policies, both domestic and foreign, significantly different from those of his predecessor. The most important changes are expected to be made in the US' China policy.

Saturday marks the entry into force of a new international agreement promoting paperless trade, reminding us, once again, of how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought digital solutions to regional development challenges into the limelight.

January 2021 marked the 29th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the People's Republic of China. It is gratifying to note that in recent years multifaceted cooperation has deepened in virtually all areas including trade, investment, energy and transportation.

The year 2020 was an extraordinary year for the world, especially because of the challenge the COVID-19 posed to the global economy and international community. In the face of the complex international situation, China has, as always, upheld the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, advanced major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, boosted the global fight against the pandemic, and promoted global peace and development.

Although vaccination against the novel coronavirus is on in full swing in many parts of the world, there is still a lack of effective global response and balanced vaccine distribution. We therefore need to keep our fingers crossed and hope vaccines will be used to serve the primary purpose of saving lives, and not be abused to win geopolitical and big-business races.

Every day, we are bombarded with headlines and news flashes. Reading those pings, we could all be forgiven for asking: "Will this year be any different from the last?"

Local political leaders have urged Paul Harris, the newly elected chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, to resign for making “irresponsible and misleading” remarks about the National Security Law for Hong Kong.

The choices we make now will set humanity on a new journey

With Joe Biden assuming the office of the United States president, the world has laser-focused on China-US relations.

The Leaders’ Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries will be held online on Feb 9. The 9th summit was originally scheduled to be held in Beijing in 2020 but was deferred due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

To buy or not to buy? That is a difficult question at a time when housing prices are rising again in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Albeit, the authorities are taking measures to curb speculation in the housing market.

At the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which concluded on Feb 1, Vietnamese leaders set the country's future development goals, which include making Vietnam an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and a developed, high-income economy by 2045.

With new cinemas popping up, from big cities to counties and small towns, over the past more than one decade, watching movies during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday has become a new form of celebration for many Chinese people. In 2013, Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons by Hong Kong director Chow Sing-chi reaped 780 million yuan ($120.77) at the box office, kicking off the Spring Festival film season.

Wellness provides a more balanced and holistic view of a country's development than its per capita gross domestic product. And a new tool is helping policymakers measure wellness in society.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson led his country out of the European Union on grounds of uncontrolled mass immigration from Africa and the Middle East, yet he is offering visas to hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents.

The year 2020 will go down in history as a period when the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of more than two million people worldwide in 12 months. Just entering the 2021, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization gave the public an even more frightening statistic: there were 19.29 million new cancer cases and 9.96 million cancer deaths globally in 2020.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Jan 29 imposing sanctions on four Chinese companies including Skyrizon Aviation, which had sought to buy a stake in Ukrainian aerospace company Motor Sich.

A recent post on the official website of the Ministry of Education saying that it would enhance physical education and psychological direction, in response to a proposal from a top policy advisor, to strengthen "masculinity" education among boys has triggered a fierce debate online.

The British government announced last year that it would offer British National Overseas visas to BNO passport holders and their close family members starting in January.

Trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) started on Jan 1 this year.

Low interest rates have been prevalent worldwide since the end of the last century.

Feb 4 marks one year to go. One year until the world's best winter athletes come together.

The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment is good for both the European Union and China, and it should be since it took the two sides about seven years to wrap up negotiations.

Climate change poses a serious threat to humankind, and the threat is increasing by the day thanks to continuous rise in emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

At the 75th United Nations General Assembly in September, President Xi Jinping pledged that China will strive to reach peak carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

If we look at China-US relations from a historical perspective, there are many factors that define them, such as commerce and differing values.

A number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and clusters have been reported in some parts of China of late, revealing the loopholes in the pandemic prevention and control measures especially in rural areas.

A year after the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out, efforts to control the spread of the virus have yielded uneven results around the world. China, however, has largely contained the epidemic, creating a relatively safe environment. And although sporadic coronavirus clusters have been reported in some parts of the country, the authorities have worked out ways to prevent large-scale outbreaks.

The fourth industrial revolution, driven by the digital economy, is ushering in profound changes. If traditional economic drivers remain lackluster, the digital economy will become a main engine powering the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

China sits today at the confluence of a number of important global changes－technological, energy and industrial revolutions.

The 5G-enabled methodology has powered the rapid development of the telemedicine sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities and structural weaknesses of many economies across the world, and their recovery is likely to be slow, arduous and uneven.

That the new novel coronavirus clusters reported in many parts of China is alarming news goes without saying. But what is perhaps of greater concern is the high percentage of infections among elderly people compared with earlier figures.

The British have often taken pride in dubious achievements, from the "victorious" retreat from Dunkirk during World War II to the bare-minimum Brexit agreement recently reached with the European Union.

Although there is a global consensus, in general, on multilateralism, the connotation of multilateralism varies from country to country.

The young are the generation that will be most affected by climate change. This has bestowed on Chinese youth a greater sense of historical responsibility to take actions to combat climate change. The Report on Climate Awareness and Actions of Chinese Youth released by the China Youth Climate Action Network in December 2020 surveyed over 5,000 people between the ages of 18 to 24 at colleges across the country, including top-tier establishments and vocational schools.

The threat of climate change is very real and is a matter of common ground for China, the United States and all nations around the world. It is also a matter of perception whereby global understanding of this threat is very much driven by communicative factors as evidenced in the US.

The alarming increase in new clusters of COVID-19 infections has prompted renewed calls for strengthening anti-pandemic measures such as wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding big gatherings. The central and local governments have already asked people to stay where they work during the Spring Festival holiday in order to reduce the risks of infection.

In just three months since we released our last forecast in October, recorded COVID-19 deaths have doubled to over 2 million, as new waves have lifted infections past previous peaks in many countries. In these same three months, multiple vaccines have seen unexpectedly strong success and some countries have started ambitious vaccination drives.

China is trying to strike a balance between encouraging fintech development and preventing financial risks via prudent regulation.

As China roars ahead, driving global recovery, it is time for the United States, the world's largest economy, to review its ties and policies for the common good.

China's climate transition is ambitious, and it will not be easy to achieve. It implies major changes in virtually all sectors, and requires action by all actors in society. And the transition must start immediately.

In recent years, a new generation of digital technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the internet of things and 5G, has developed rapidly. The digital economy has become a critical driving force for global economic and social development. It has gained even more momentum thanks to the prominent role of digital technologies in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus and resumption of economic activities during the pandemic.

Many local governments have appealed to people to stay where they work during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday to reduce the risk of infection in the wake of sporadic outbreaks of the novel coronavirus in some parts of the country. Some local authorities have even unveiled plans to give people subsidies to persuade them to stay in the places where they work, and rural communities are encouraged to take care of the left-behind children and the aged people during the festival.

As a recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute makes clear, current breakthroughs in biological science and advanced data analytics could help us solve major human challenges, from reducing climate risk and strengthening food security to fighting pandemics. But realizing the revolution's potentially huge benefits will require us to think carefully about how to mitigate the potentially severe risks.

President Xi Jinping's appeal to a divided world to return to sanity and join hands to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and meet other global challenges is also a call to the new US administration to end the ugly era of stigmatization and accusations－created by former US president Donald Trump and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo－and write a new chapter in Sino-US relations marked by cooperation and win-win partnership.

In the next two minutes, one woman will die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. She will die from entirely preventable causes during one of the most beautiful moments of human life, giving birth. The good news is that there are some solutions that are inexpensive and effective.

On Thursday Shanghai took urgent measures trying to rein in the recently rapidly rising housing prices in the metropolis. In fact, it’s worrying that in 2020 the average land sales in China reached 676.2 yuan per square meter, an 18 percent year-on-year increase.

One of the first controversies Donald Trump stoked after being inaugurated as US president four years ago was claiming that his crowd was bigger than that of predecessor Barack Obama. It was a lie.

Editor’s note: On Thursday China announced sanctions against outgoing US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 27 other officials in Trump administration for seriously violating China’s sovereignty and derailing China-US ties. Five experts share their views with China Daily on this issue. Excerpts follow:

China and the European Union wrapped up the negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment on the second-last day of the year 2020 which marked the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides.

Much of the world was riveted by scenes of a riotous mob of Americans storming the Capitol in Washington on Jan 6. Militant protesters, some armed, arrived in their thousands to support Donald Trump's shameless claim that he had been robbed of victory in the presidential election and to stop the formal counting of state submitted, electoral college votes by a joint session of Congress.

China's GDP grew by 2.3 percent in 2020 to reach 101.59 trillion yuan ($15.66 trillion), achieving better than expected results in most sectors and crossing the threshold of 100 trillion yuan. China now accounts for 17 percent of the global economy, and its per capita GDP of close to $11,000 places it among the upper-middle-income countries, narrowing its gap with high-income countries.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the introduction of the new family planning policy that encourages all couples to have two children so as to raise the birth rate to cope with rapid aging population problem.

The United Kingdom implemented the second round of national lockdown in November 2020 and the third round in January 2021.

After being sworn in as US president on Wednesday, Joe Biden is likely to move quickly to transform most dimensions of US policy. A glaring exception is China. But if Biden maintains his predecessor Donald Trump's confrontational approach to the world's second-largest economy, he will come to regret it.

China should increase household consumption and reduce its reliance on investment

China-US ties have soured under the Donald Trump administration. But as well as challenges, there are also opportunities for the relationship under the incoming Joe Biden administration.

he Chinese people have always attached special importance to education. In the 20th century, China has gone through a long, arduous journey from one-teacher schools to world-class universities and achieved excellence in different fields including science and technology. What will China's education journey be like during the rest of the 21st century?

Four years ago, real estate developer and self-described political outsider Donald Trump raised the anti-establishment banner, unleashed a populist political storm in the United States, and won the US presidential election, overturning power in Washington and changing the country's foreign policy.

China's willingness to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership has taken many by surprise, and its entry into the CPTPP, if realized, will generate many new reactions for regional trade.

Addressing the housing problem in major cities and developing the housing rental market are one of the eight key objectives of the central authorities for 2021, which will set the tone for the overall development of the real estate sector. The importance attached to housing by the Central Economic Work Conference, which was held in December, is the most elaborate guideline for the property sector since 2016.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is marking its fifth anniversary. Facts speak louder than words, and by all accounts, the Beijing-based multilateral development bank has been doing quite well.

Despite 2020 being full of hardships and uncertainties, China continued making progress on several fronts and, in the process, safeguarding national interests, and helping the world fight the novel coronavirus pandemic and rejuvenate the global economy.

Netizens from the Republic of Korea flocked to Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun's Twitter account and video star Li Ziqi’s YouTube account in recent days, claiming kimchi is Korean after the two shared videos and pictures about kimchi. Two experts shared their views on the kimchi debate with China Daily. Excerpts follow: