Is China challenging US leadership?

Editor's note: While a Gallup poll result on Thursday showed global support for China's leadership was higher than that of the United States in 2017, a Chinese scholar sparked controversy by declaring China has surpassed the US in all major aspects. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Pan Yixuan. Excerpts follow:

Check population decline with urgent steps

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 17.23 million newborns were added to China's population last year, down 630,000 year-on-year, and the birth rate dropped from 1.295 percent in 2016 to 1.243 percent in 2017. The declining newborn population and birth rate indicate China could experience negative population growth in the near future.

West trapped in 'sharp power' hysteria

It used to be called "soft power": information and analyses coming from all over the world, including China, Russia or Cuba. It used to be the loose definition for state-sponsored art projects, academic research, or for culture in general, even sports.

US should see the huge potential ahead instead of condemning China

In November, the United States administration refused to recognize China's market economy status, going back on the promise it had made when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. And last week's US statement suggested it regrets supporting China's entry into the WTO.

US shows it's hell-bent on having its own way

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' weeklong trip to Asia has caught global attention as it comes just two days after the Pentagon revealed its national defense strategy on Friday. Not surprisingly, it has been anticipated that his visits to Vietnam and Indonesia will set out new markers for US strategy in the Asia-Pacific.

Abe must now follow up on his words of friendship

In his policy address on the opening of a new session of parliament on Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once again focused on his idée fixe when he spoke of changing the Constitution so as to shape the future of the country.

Ice house reveals lengths to which govts will go to sweeten environmental data

PHOTOS WERE recently posted online showing the office building of the environmental protection bureau of Shizuishan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, covered in icicles and frost because a water canon truck belonging to the local sanitation station had sprayed too much water over the building in an attempt to manipulate the air quality monitoring data. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Monday:

Cartoon fuss highlights lack of rating system

A MICKEY MOUSE look-alike is hit by a car when crossing the road and lies in a pool of blood. A character that looks like Princess Elsa, a figure in the animated movie Frozen, is given a throat operation that involves bloody scenes. Recently, some companies have been producing such bloody scenes based on familiar characters and spreading them among children. Southern Metropolis Daily comments:

Smartphone users on planes should consider others

ONE AFTER ANOTHER, domestic airlines have lifted the ban on using cellphones on flights. However, there have already been complaints about the noise nuisance as people are using their smartphones without using earphones. Beijing News comments:

Cartoon

Rebalancing geopolitics, geoeconomics

In the discussion on global disorder and the fate of the West, many political and economic experts and pundits are focusing on how to rebalance geopolitics and geoeconomics in 2018. Why is that?

How UK could change its mind about Brexit

Will 2018 be the year when the United Kingdom changes its mind about leaving the European Union? Conventional wisdom says that stopping Brexit is impossible. But what did conventional wisdom say about Donald Trump, that he will win the US presidential election? Or that Emmanuel Macron would become the French president? Or, did it predict the original Brexit referendum? In revolutionary times, events can go from impossible to inevitable without ever passing through improbable. Brexit was such an event, and its reversal could be another.