The eighth Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs was held on Friday as part of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Delegates told the Global Times that the forum presents new opportunities for China-Africa industrial chains to further integrate, with significant potential to be unlocked in areas such as digital infrastructure, data centers, and smart cities.

A diverse range of companies participated, representing both traditional industries such as energy, mining, infrastructure, and financial trade, as well as emerging sectors like electronics, technology, communication satellites, and biomedicine. This conference has received significant attention from African countries, with around 1,000 participants, official data showed. 

Phuti Jackson Mampa, chief executive officer of a South Africa-based security company who traveled to Beijing for the first time, told the Global Times he was excited about the increase in Chinese investment in Africa, particularly in key areas such as infrastructure, information technology, communications, and agriculture, as it is extremely important for a continent that needs long-term, sustainable development.

Mampa said that Africa is rich in resources with abundant arable land, and a growing population, as well as mineral resources, but many are unemployed and living in poverty. The collaboration between China and Africa will bring even greater benefits to Africa. 

"[There is] great collaboration potential between China and African countries in digital technology waiting to be unlocked," Didier Nkurikiyimfura, chief strategy and growth officer from Rwanda-based Smart Africa Alliance, told the Global Times.

The use of technology is essential to accelerate the stalled transformation and the internal modernization of Africa, which is an area where China has a competitive advantages, Nkurikiyimfura said.

Many African countries are seeking digital solutions such as digital infrastructure, data centers, smart city solutions, e-agriculture and financial payment solutions - more specific collaborations with China can be discussed based on the needs of each African country, Nkurikiyimfura said.

Echoing Nkurikiyimfura, a spokesperson from China-based AI company 4Paradigm, a firm which assisted in building a smart hydropower system for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, told the Global Times that his company eyes to empower more industries in Africa with AI technology thus contributing to the upgrade of infrastructure and the modernization of industries.

Another delegate from Tanzania, Joseph Kahama, secretary general of Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association, told the Global Times that infrastructure is an area where the two sides can further integrate. 

China has been great in terms of financing, funding, infrastructure, while Africa has an infrastructure gap. With the building of ports, roads, modern railways, movement of products would be easier, faster and cheaper for Africans, he said. 

The business community has always been an important link in the friendly cooperation between China and Africa. China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, with trade volume between the two steadily increasing.

"Hello, boss. This electric wire cannot be wound around the steel pipe frame. Be careful that after the insulation of the wire is worn out, it may cause electric leakage and harm people!" On the evening of August 26, staff members of State Grid Turpan Electric Power Supply Company shuttled among the stalls of the Grape Night Market in Gaochang district, Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

They inspected power consumption equipment such as power strips, power sockets, and electric lights for stall owners, and promptly dealt with potential safety hazards in electricity usage and publicized safety knowledge. This is also a microcosm of the company's initiative to serve the "night economy" and escort the "vitality of city life".

Since the Grape Night Market reopened on May 1, it has become a popular place for tourists to check in. The night market covers an area of 40 mu and is divided into three major sections: the food area, the parent-child activity and amusement area, and the cultural and creative tourism area. There are 70 merchants and 210 stalls in total, and it can accommodate more than 3,000 people to dine at the same time.

The development of the "night economy" cannot be separated from sufficient and stable power support. State Grid Turpan Electric Power Supply Company makes elaborate arrangements and organizes relevant professionals to strengthen the inspection and maintenance of power supply lines in key areas. Intelligent monitoring equipment is used to monitor the operating status of lines in real time to discover and deal with potential hidden dangers in a timely manner. 

At the same time, for temporary power consumption such as night markets and snack streets, a "green channel" is opened, the installation application process is simplified, and a dedicated person is arranged for docking to ensure that merchants can get electricity quickly. In addition, the company also increases the arrangement of nighttime emergency repair personnel, vehicles and materials to ensure that on-site services can be provided in the first time when power failures occur at night market stalls, and makes every effort to ensure the safe and reliable supply of power.

To ensure the safety of electricity consumption in the night market, State Grid Turpan Electric Power Supply Company regularly organizes employees to conduct door-to-door visits to customers, deeply understand the electricity consumption needs and actual electricity consumption loads of stalls, and conduct careful "diagnoses" from aspects such as power supply access, safe wiring, and power facility performance. 

State Grid Turpan Electric Power Supply Company has carried out electricity inspections at night market stalls 20 times, eliminated 16 potential safety hazards in electricity usage in a timely manner, and distributed more than 500 copies of safety electricity usage brochures.

In the next stage, the company will continue to provide electricity services for the "night economy," continuously optimize the business environment, meet the growing electricity demand of night market merchants, and safeguard the "vitality of city life."

"Welcome home!"

On August 22, at the Langjiu Estate by the Chishui River, Chairman Wang Junlin warmly greeted attendees, heralding another grand gathering for Langjiu members.

This festival is crafted by Langjiu to fulfill consumer aspirations, dedicated to its extensive membership.

Hundreds of Langjiu members from across China were invited to convene at the Langjiu Estate, where they partook in a premier intellectual feast.

Professor Zhou Qiren of Peking University, a renowned economist, presented "Breaking Through in Business: Cognition First," discussing how companies can transcend economic cycles and avoid growth pitfalls.

As the host, Langjiu had exciting news for its members on-site:

With immediate effect, Langjiu said it will partner with Pernod Ricard, a global leader in spirits and wines, boasting esteemed estates like Martell and Royal Salute, to establish the World Winery Alliance. This initiative will deepen collaboration and foster development under a global framework.
During a panel discussion with Ji Keliang, former chairman of Guizhou Moutai Group, Ma Yong, vice president of the China Food Industry Association, Guo Binchen, CEO of Pernod Ricard China, and Ding Jiachuan, managing director and Global Partner of Boston Consulting Group, Wang Junlin was asked what this partnership would bring to Langjiu members. He responded with a smile, and said he hopes to take Langjiu members to visit various Pernod Ricard wineries around the world next year.

Following this, the big screen displayed a montage of the past seven years, showcasing the development of the Langjiu membership system. It highlighted the company's commitment to the philosophy "The customer is supreme, serving a beautiful life," illustrating its shared growth with members.

Amid applause, representatives of long-standing members who had accompanied Langjiu's growth for seven consecutive years, including Vice Chairman Chen Genping of Sichuan Xingrui Health Industry Group, Chairman Hu Haiqing of Luohe Hairun Food Co, Ltd, and Chairman Yang Jingcong of Qingdao Guangrunchuan Industrial & Trade Co, Ltd, among 17 others, were invited on stage. They were personally awarded the Membership Honor Medals by Langjiu Group's Vice Chairman Fu Rao and General Manager Wang Bowei, elevating the event's atmosphere to a climax. This ceremony marks the highest accolade given at the Langjiu Estate Members' Festival since its inception in 2021, and it certainly sets a new benchmark for Langjiu's "ultimate service."

Over the next two months, the fourth Langjiu Estate Members' Festival will continue with sub-events in 12 major cities including Nanjing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Dalian, facilitating face-to-face interactions with tens of thousands of members nationwide.
Holding an annual Members' Festival, where renowned experts and scholars are invited to share insights and wisdom, is just one of Langjiu's focused initiatives to empower its members.

Adhering to the principles of "service, empowerment, value, and symbiosis," Langjiu has over the years built numerous bridges of value connection for its members, enhancing the ultimate membership experience through various channels including culture, sports, and tourism.

In the realm of culture, Langjiu established strategic partnerships with prestigious academic institutions such as Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, CEIBS, and Tsinghua University's EMBA program, as well as various chambers of commerce. It also regularly organizes events like entrepreneur forums and introduces fine liquors to renowned companies. In November 2023, Langjiu even constructed the Cheung Kong GSB Sidu Chishui Teaching Center at the Langjiu Estate, providing an excellent educational environment and facilities for the business school students, empowering enterprises with the spirit of Sidu Chishui.

In sports, after more than a decade of development, Langjiu has successfully established two major golf tournament systems: the Hongyun Lang Cup for top Chinese universities and the Qinghua Lang Cup Golf Tour. These events attract thousands of participants annually.

The creation of elite communication platforms has significantly enhanced Langjiu's influence among Chinese entrepreneurs, attracting an increasing number of members to the brand.

According to statistics, before the first Langjiu Members' Festival in 2021, the precursor to Langjiu's membership system, "Qinghua Hui," had already reached over 220 cities nationwide in three years. Through more than 1,000 high-end dinners and over 4,000 Qinghua dinners, it connected more than 20,000 members, facilitating 700,000 instances of high-frequency interactive communication.
Create value with valuable people, in valuable places.

Following the 2021 upgrade of Qinghua Hui, with the activation of the Langjiu Estate Membership Center, Langjiu enriched its elite social networking system for members through events like the Tri-Product Festival (focusing on Quality, Brand, and Taste), the Ceramic Art Festival, and the Qinghua Lang · China TOP20+ Club Development Forum, all hosted at the Langjiu Estate.

Renowned individuals have been invited to experience the Langjiu Estate, becoming key contributors to the gathering and creation of value at Langjiu.

Today, Langjiu Estate welcomes nearly a thousand members daily from across the country, including entrepreneurs, business elites, distributors, and partners from various sectors. Taking photos at Shilixiang Square, experiencing historical shifts at Tianbao Cave, or learning to blend their own signature sauce-flavored Langjiu … Being invited to board a chartered flight to visit Langjiu Estate has become a symbol of prestigious status.

Pernod Ricard China CEO, Guo Binchen, who attended the Members' Festival, was full of praise for Langjiu's various practices in empowering its members. During the roundtable discussions, he repeatedly mentioned the need to "observe and learn." In his view, superior quality is the foundation of any liquor company, but a rich experience is also a crucial aspect that modern consumers highly value. Creating one memorable gathering after another is a shared pursuit of both Pernod Ricard and Langjiu.
"Pernod Ricard is willing to direct its spirits enthusiasts to the Langjiu Estate. For Langjiu's members, Pernod Ricard, with its more than 40 world-class wineries around the globe, can open another window to a different kind of splendor," said Guo Binchen.

As these two leading liquor companies from China and abroad join hands, Langjiu's members can look forward to welcoming new friends into their social circles.

Many countries in the world now face a shrinking, and simultaneously aging, population, which, if not promptly reversed or mitigated, could negatively impact the sustainable growth of their economies. A sufficient number of people is indispensable for running and reinforcing the operation of a functioning economy. 

Consequently, policymakers or relevant government authorities need to take note of the evolution of the ongoing changes of demographic patterns, and readjust and optimize their population policies so as to plan for a resilient future and avert economic upheavals caused by a rapidly aging population. 

Japan and South Korea, the two East Asian countries with fairly developed economies, have been searching, in the past decades, for effective cures to ease their population aging, but to little avail, if any, as many couples in the two countries refuse to get married or to have babies. 

China, currently the world's largest emerging market economy, shares a largely similar Asian societal and family culture as its two neighbors. Increasingly, China's younger generations - the millennials and Generation Z - are reluctant to have a big family, with many couples preferring to give birth to only one child or choosing to be "dink" (double incomes, no kids). As a result, China will most likely encounter a shrinking and aging population, too. 

China's population dropped for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country's population declined by 2.08 million in 2023 to 1.409 billion people. In 2023, about 9.02 million babies were born, compared with 9.56 million in the previous year. 

It is of great importance to change this by inspiring and incentivizing couples to have more babies. Chinese demographers advise that a national campaign to spur births is imperative.

As seen in many developed economies, such as Japan and Germany, a continuously plummeting fertility rate will cause a shift toward an aging population that will ultimately strain national health insurance, social security programs and healthcare infrastructure. Any country with a shrinking and aging population will inevitably have to contend with a labor shortage, which may restrict the potential of economic development. 

The resolution adopted in July by the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee proposed ramping up incentives, including childbirth subsidies, more affordable child-care and other measures of efficacy to spur more births. The country ought to do more to arrest the trend of its population decline and mitigate drastic changes in demographic patterns that may produce unwanted complications for the economy. 

China started to implement the "third-child" policy in 2021, after having adopted the "second-child" policy in 2015. However, new births in 2022 and 2023 did not see year-on-year growth. It won't be easy to persuade young couples to agree to the evolving demographic change in the country and embrace more births. More efforts should be made to support the government's pro-birth push. 

As a matter of fact, many couples in China, especially the wives, are increasingly concerned about the costs in time, labor and money for raising a child, which has led them to eye parenthood with reluctance and fear. The concerns are realistic and sensible. 

Nowadays, Chinese women are more educated and economically independent than ever, and they even outnumber men in attending higher education programs. Naturally, more women prioritize their careers and self-development opportunities over traditional mileposts such as marriage and childbirth. No one is willing to miss out on promotion opportunities in their golden years of careers.

The authorities ought to factor in the changing social dynamics and the younger generation's preferences as well as apprehensions about readjusting population policy. In addition to providing childbirth subsidies, the authorities could consider doling out more benefits, such as child-care grants, free schooling, cheaper housing, higher tax incentives and extended parental leave or taking other effective measures that may motivate couples of reproductive age to give birth to more babies.

Some provinces like Sichuan have tried out dropping stern restrictions on unmarried women giving birth, granting single parents access to the benefits previously reserved for married couples, which is also effective in spurring more births. 

A new set of rules for implementing China's Law on Guarding State Secrets took effect on Sunday, further refining the management of classified information, encouraging technological innovation in this field and enhancing cyberspace management to avoid information breach.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang signed a decree of the State Council to unveil the regulations on July 22, consisting of six chapters and 74 articles, aiming to ensure the effective implementation of the newly revised Law on Guarding State Secrets.

A special clause on the Communist Party of China's leadership in confidentiality work is added to the regulation, further emphasizing the adherence to and strengthening of the Party leadership, improving the system and mechanism of Party leadership, and specifying the responsibilities of central and local levels of relevant institutions. This will ensure confidentiality work follows the correct political direction, a spokesperson with the National Administration of State Secrets Protection said.

It also specified the requirements to establish and promptly update a list of state secrets, as well as clarifying the responsibilities of designated personnel, while outlining specific scenarios for derivative classification.

The "list of state secrets" is one of the highlights of the new regulations, which clearly and visually lists state secret contents, classification levels, confidentiality periods, scope of knowledge and the basis for classification, Liu Changsong, a lawyer from the Beijing Mugong Law Firm, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Furthermore, it clarifies the scope and specific responsibilities of individuals accountable for classification, help prevent issues such as shirking responsibilities due to unclear definition of duties, Liu said. 

Meng Bo, a lawyer at Beijing Jingsh Law Firm, added that another highlight of this regulation is the management of network information and data confidentiality, strengthening the confidentiality management of network usage. This management clarifies the obligation of network operators to cooperate in investigating and alerting on confidentiality violations, and enhances the data confidentiality management system.

"These are important measures to adapt to the era of informatization and digitalization, effectively protecting information and data security," Meng told the Global Times.

Responding to Western media hypes that the new regulation could "scare away" foreign enterprises in China, Liu said such "worries" are completely unnecessary. 

"It only makes it clearer for foreign enterprises to understand what areas involve China's national security concerns and which do not," Liu noted.

Prinat Apirat, Consul General of the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Shanghai, welcomed Major General Pratuang Piyakapho, and the participants in the first group of trainees in Thailand defense for future management training programs at the Consulate General of Thailand in Shanghai.
The Consul General also gave an overview of bilateral relations between Thailand and Shanghai. She exchanged views on issues of interest to the delegation, such as expanding strategic cooperation between Thailand and China, promoting Thai-made products to the Chinese market, and promoting Thailand's tourism market in China and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region.

At the end of July, the Thai Consulate-General in Shanghai, in conjunction with the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, organized the 7th Bangkok - Shanghai Economic Conference on the topic "Accelerating Innovation Cooperation between Thailand and the YRD" in Shanghai.

The conference focused on creating a comprehensive innovation ecosystem, promoting joint innovation, and expanding business and exploring investment opportunities.