Opinion

1. Forging new advantages in international cooperation and competition

China will expand high-standard opening up and stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment, as noted at a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting at the end of July. With clear direction and pragmatic measures to advance high-standard opening up, the continuous implementation of policy initiatives will further broaden the space for opening up, unleash development potential, forge new advantages in international cooperation and competition, and promote steady growth in foreign trade and investment.

2. Prioritizing urban renewal

Implementing the guiding principles of the Central Urban Work Conference, China's urban renewal will be advanced with high quality, as noted at a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting at the end of July. Urban renewal is a comprehensive and systematic strategic initiative to promote high-quality urban development. Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, emphasized that building a modern people-centered city requires placing greater emphasis on urban renewal. This involves holistically advancing the construction of quality homes, neighborhoods, communities, and districts, while coordinating a series of projects focused on public welfare, safety, and development to create high-quality living spaces for the people.

Policy

1. China is expected to build a high-quality standard system for industrial mother machines by 2026, as proposed by a construction plan released by the National Standardization Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

2. 90 percent of China's forest stations (farms) will have access to 4G/5G networks by 2027, according to a notice recently issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

3.The State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued a three-year action plan to investigate and address hazard in key industrial sectors (2025-2027). The plan focuses on 84 types of high-risk products across 23 categories—including fire safety products, building insulation materials, and electric bicycles—targeting quality issues and prioritizing key regions and subjects. It directs local market regulatory authorities nationwide to carry out hazard investigation and remediation efforts.

Data

1. The Ministry of Finance released data on August 29 showing that in the first seven months of this year, the operating revenue of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises nationwide reached RMB 47.31109 trillion, remaining largely flat compared with the same period last year.

2. Recently, the 2025 interim performance reports of six major state-owned commercial banks—the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China—were released. In the first half of this year, all six banks maintained an upward trend in revenue, with combined operating revenue reaching RMB 1.8 trillion and a net profit of RMB 684.1 billion.

3. According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, over the seven years since the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Demonstration Zone, 4,803 China-Europe freight trains have been dispatched and received, with an average annual growth rate of 33 percent. A total of 394,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of import and export containers have been transported, carrying goods weighing over 3.3 million tons.

4. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on August 30 that its offshore heavy oil thermal recovery technology system and core equipment have achieved significant progress in large-scale application, with cumulative offshore heavy oil thermal recovery exceeding 5 million metric tons. This achievement marks China as the first country in the world to achieve large-scale thermal recovery of offshore heavy oil.

5. China accounts for 43 percent of the total number of globally authorized nanotechnology patents over the last 25 years, ranking first in the world, said a white paper issued on August 31.

6. According to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., from July 1 to August 31, the national railway system transported a total of 702 million tons of goods, a year-on-year increase of 4.8 percent, with safe and stable operations.

7. In the first seven months, China's software business revenue reached RMB 8.3246 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent. The total profit of the software industry was RMB 1.089 trillion, up 12.4 percent year-on-year. Software business exports reached $33.98 billion, an increase of 5.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

8. Since the beginning of this year, the National Standardization Administration has released over 600 national standards related to the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, providing strong support and guidance for high-end, green, and intelligent transformation in manufacturing, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation.

9. According to the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, in the first half of the year, the company effectively expanded the coverage of export credit insurance, with insured amounts reaching $565.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.5 percent. It served 223,000 customers, an increase of 11.9 percent year-on-year.

10. The Ministry of Commerce released data on September 5 showing that from January to July, China's trade in services grew steadily, with the total import and export volume of services reaching RMB 4.57816 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 8.2 percent.

(Source: Economic Daily)