EU should seek synergies with Belt and Road

The world is at a critical moment and more constructive and persuasive intellectual contributions to jointly boost connectivity, instead of putting up barriers, are badly needed.

Trump should not be too eager to jump to the gun

Targeting one individual, 27 entities and 28 vessels, some of them Chinese, the United States announced on Friday what its Treasury Department called "the largest North Korea-related sanctions tranche to date". Whose failure, according to US President Donald Trump, may lead to a "phase two", which he said would be "very rough", and "very, very unfortunate for the world".

Australia has to match its change of words with action

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been a prominent cheerleader for the China-bashing among Western leaders. However, when he embarked on his visit to the United States last week, he abruptly changed his tune and started to talk favorably about China.

Local officials' unwillingness to leave comfort zones holding back reform

AS THE THIRD-LARGEST provincial economy, Shandong province's gross domestic product was 7.27 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 7.4 percent on 2016 and markedly higher than the national average of 6.9 percent. The per capita GDP in the province reached 72,851 yuan, exceeding the benchmark of wealthy nations. Beijing News comments:

Abductor is not exempt from law

A BABYSITTER SURNAMED HE, working for a family in Chongqing, took the 1-year-old she was employed to care for to her poverty-stricken rural home in Nanchong, Sichuan province, without telling the parents - the child's real mother was a doctor and the father a military officer - 26 years ago. The woman brought up the boy as her own son, but finally regretted her action and surrendered herself to the police last year. The boy's real mother surnamed Zhu was found on Feb 6. Southern Metropolis Daily comments:

Blacklist of illegal organizations is just a name game

THE MINISTRY of Civil Affairs has disclosed in three batches the names of more than 200 illegal social organizations this month. Beijing News comments:

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Quality of GDP statistics improving

Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that China's GDP grew by 6.9 percent in real terms to reach 82.7 trillion yuan (nearly $13 trillion) last year. Between 2010 and 2017, the size of China's nominal GDP has increased from 39 percent to 63 percent of the United States' GDP, and it will overtake the United States to become the largest economy by 2025 even if its speed of catching up were to slow a bit.

Chinese students are not spies

Following a deadly Florida school shooting, that resulted in 17 deaths, including that of a Chinese-American student who held the door to let classmates escape, we learned that the FBI received a tip-off about the shooter last month, but failed to act.

US, ROK will ruin legacy of Winter Olympic Games with military drills

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, which came to a close on Sunday, offered the two sides on the Korean Peninsula a chance to deescalate tensions. The international community is closely watching developments after the games.

Credit reference platform gets nod

Baihang Credit Scoring, China's first credit reference firm which provides ratings on individuals borrowing money from online finance companies, is expected to start operations soon, having received the green light from the country's central bank on Thursday.

Xiaomi, Microsoft plan AI cooperation

Xiaomi Corp inked a deal with Microsoft Corp on Friday to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and laptops, as part of the Chinese smartphone vendor's going-global efforts this year.