Increased military budget meets needs of the times

China is willing to join hands with other countries to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, Premier Li Keqiang said in the Government Work Report he delivered on Sunday.

Subsidies called for to encourage couples to have a second child

THE LOW BIRTH RATE has been a focus for discussions at the ongoing annual sessions of the National People's Congress, the nation's top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body. Liu Dajun, a CPPCC National Committee member, has suggested offering subsidies to encourage couples to have a second child. Beijing News comments:

Better protect rights of express delivery workers

OF THE MORE THAN 1 MILLION EXPRESS DELIVERY WORKERS NATIONWIDE, 90 percent work without a formal contract with their employers; some of them only sleep four hours a day. The bad working conditions and low pay of express delivery workers have aroused nationwide attention. And if their situation does not improve, that might hurt the nation's burgeoning e-commerce industry. National Business Daily comments:

Free kindergarten education could be piloted in big cities

MA GUANGYU, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, recently called for more investment in pre-school education and extending free compulsory education so it includes kindergarten. Guangzhou Daily comments:

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Belt and Road projects ideal for Western firms

The Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, has borne enough fruits in its third year, yet it is expected to yield much more in the future.

Seoul should stop dancing to wrong tune of THAAD

The Republic of Korea's defense ministry signed a land swap deal with Lotte Group on Tuesday to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the country, which China and Russia believe will further compromise regional security. Reports say THAAD could be installed as early as June, before the ROK elects a new president.

The future of the economy looks bright

China's supply-side structural reform met with preliminary success last year. Some favorable factors stabilized the economy, improving the quality of and optimizing the economic structure. Thus the expected GDP growth of about 6.7 percent was realized.

Abe's dream of change to constitution failing test of public opinion

In his first speech to Congress last week, US President Donald Trump kept asking friends and partners from Europe to the Middle East to the Pacific to pay their "fair share" of the cost of the alliances.

Xi's anti-poverty vision people-centric

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, CPC Central Committee General Secretary Xi Jinping has delivered several important speeches on poverty alleviation that not only clarify the basic strategy and specific measures to alleviate poverty, but also provide significant methodological guidance on how to lift people out of poverty.

Moderate hike in defense budget a national necessity

China's defense budget has always made headlines during the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee. This year the defense budget will increase by about 7 percent, and the military spending will account for about 1.3 percent of GDP, according to the NPC press release on Saturday.

A new globalization trend is emerging

Editor's note: At a recent forum on "China's choice at the crossroad of economic globalization" held in Beijing, some Chinese experts shared their views on the importance of China continuing its opening-up. Excerpts from their speeches follow: