Since the beginning of this year, multiple places across China have reported corruption cases in the funeral service industry. Experts said corruption in the sector can leave a negative influence on social morality and funeral services, as a public service sector, should not be profit-oriented.

Data shows that at least 18 practitioners in the funeral service sector from across the country including East China’s Anhui, Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces, Southwest China’s Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and Northeast China’s Jilin and Liaoning provinces, have been caught in corruption investigation since the beginning of this year, as regions across China kicked off a campaign to root out misconduct and corruption in the funeral and burial sector.

Experts noted Monday that corruption in the funeral industry is not just about money but represents a negative impact on social morals, trust, and respect, as well as a significant harm to traditional culture.

Among these personnel in question, 12 were directors, deputy directors or former heads of the local funeral homes, and another six were incumbent officials or former officials from the local funeral management bureaus in the counties, according to a report from Chinese Newsweek on Sunday.

Several people among the personnel investigated have been engaged in the funeral industry for a long period of time. For example, Yang Tao, general manager from Kangrong Industrial Co in Quxian county in Dazhou city, Sichuan, who was placed under investigation for corruption this May, has been working in the sector for over 30 years.

So far, Dazhou authorities have prosecuted 89 suspects, according to chinanews.com.

Since April, multiple places including Anhui, Liaoning and Jilin have launched campaigns against misconduct in the funeral service sectors targeting problems such as charging illegal fees, illegal construction and operation of cemeteries and corruption among personnel.

Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times on Monday that the misconduct of these “flies,” or corrupt low-ranking officials, not only directly affects people’s lives but also undermines Chinese tradition.

Chinese people pay great respect to the deceased, therefore the corruption in the funeral industry harms public interests and the social custom, Zhu said.

According to Zhu, the phenomenon of excessive and arbitrary charges, from the morgue all the way to the cemetery, has damaged traditional Chinese culture. He noted that as a public service industry, the funeral service sector should not be profit-oriented.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, announced on Tuesday to choose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. 

"One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It's personal. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his own," Harris said in a statement, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Walz, 60, previously served as a US House representative. He was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. He emerged from the most accelerated vice presidential search in modern history from a shortlist that included half a dozen Democrats, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, according to CNN.

In his remarks to a raucous crowd of more than 10,000 at Temple University, Walz described his upbringing in a small Nebraska town, his 24 years serving in the Army National Guard and his prior career as a high school social studies teacher and football coach, Reuters reported. 

Democrats hope that having Walz on the ticket will help shore up support in key battleground states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Those are strongholds of the Democratic party, although Harris' opponent and former President Donald Trump flipped them when he clinched the White House in 2016. US President Joe Biden flipped them back to the Democrats with his 2020 victory. This time around, the three states are crucial to winning the election.

According to polling data compiled by the US election information website Real Clear Politics, as of Tuesday, Harris leads Trump by an average of 0.5 percentage points in national polls, but Trump still leads in several key swing states, media reported. 

In reaction to the selection of Walz, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that "this is the most Radical Left duo in American history. There has never been anything like it."

Scientists from Tsinghua University have unveiled a pioneering method for photonic computing that could significantly enhance the training processes of optical neural networks. This advance, coupled with the release of the Taichi-II light-based chip, is poised to offer a more energy-efficient and faster alternative for training large language models.

Chinese researchers Lu Fang and Dai Qionghai, along with their team, published their findings in a paper titled "Fully Forward Mode (FFM) Training for Optical Neural Networks" in Nature magazine. The paper, released on Wednesday, highlights the potential to advance both applied and theoretical fields including deep neural networks, ultrasensitive perception, and topological photonics.

The current standard for training AI models relies heavily on digital computer emulation, which is limited by its high energy demands and dependence on GPU hardware. The FFM learning method developed by Tsinghua allows these computer-intensive training processes to be conducted directly on the physical system, which significantly reduces the constraints of numerical modeling, according to the research team.

While photonic computing has offered high computational power with lower energy consumption compared to conventional methods, it has been restricted to preliminary computations. The precise and complex calculations required for advanced AI training have continued to rely heavily on GPUs, Liu Gang, chief economist at the Chinese Institute of New Generation AI Development Strategies, explained to the Global Times on Thursday.

The new technology developed by Tsinghua's team promises to overcome these limitations, potentially eliminating the need for extensive GPU use and leading to more efficient and precise training of AI models, Liu added.

The first generation Taichi chip, also developed by Tsinghua University and released in April, was featured in Nature magazine. This chip utilizes photonic integrated circuits, which process data using light instead of electrical signals, enabling ultra-fast data transmission and significantly reducing energy consumption.

Compared to its predecessor, the Taichi-II chip has been specifically engineered to perform in-situ training of large-scale neural networks using light, filling a critical gap in photonic computing. This innovation is expected to accelerate AI model training and to excel in areas such as high-performance intelligent imaging and efficient analysis of topological photonic systems.

Energy consumption in the AI industry remains a substantial challenge. According to Rystad Energy, a research institution based in Norway, the combined expansion of traditional and AI data centers, along with chip foundries in the US, is projected to increase energy demand by 177 terawatt-hours (TWh) from 2023 to 2030, reaching a total of 307 TWh. In comparison, the US Energy Information Administration reported that 4,178 TWh of electricity was generated at utility-scale facilities across the US in 2023.

The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII), under the auspices of China's central bank, announced on Wednesday that it will conduct an investigation into four rural commercial banks over suspected manipulation in the treasury bond trading market.

The move came as the authorities are taking actions to water down the treasury market frenzy and mitigate the associated financial risks.

The four banks were named as Changshu Rural Commercial Bank, Jiang'nan Rural Commercial Bank, Kunshan Rural Commercial Bank and Jiangsu Suzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co - all based in East China's Jiangsu Province, according to the statement.

The regulator said that these banks are "suspected of manipulating prices and transferring benefits in the secondary market trading of treasury bonds."

This came as part of the authorities' efforts to cool down the bond market rally recently seen in China, analysts said.

Earlier in July, yields on 30-year treasury bonds in China once fell below 2.5 percent, and 10-year yields dropped below 2.3 percent, attracting significant market attention.

Following China's long-term treasury bond yields, the People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, recently announced plans to execute treasury bond borrowing operations with the primary dealers in the open market, a move analysts said will increase treasury bond yields and diversify China's monetary policy toolkit.

Pan Gongsheng, governor of the PBC, in June at the 2024 Lujiazui Forum emphasized the importance of maintaining a normal upward-sloping yield curve to preserve market investment incentives.

Bond issuance is an important part of this year's proactive fiscal agenda, which will help boost market confidence and expectations, and better support economic development, according to analysts.

China will replenish 35 billion yuan ($4.9 billion) to this year's third batch of ultra-long special treasury bonds on Friday, the Ministry of Finance said on August 2.

The bonds will be issued at the Beijing Stock Exchange with a term of 50 years and an interest rate matching that of the previous issuance of the third batch of such bonds at 2.53 percent, it said.

The Chinese economy maintained stable expansion in the first half of 2024, with more than half provincial-level regions across the country showing a stepped-up recovery trajectory over the period - which was fueled by robust industrial growth, new drives from the creation of new quality productive forces and comparatively strong external demand, provincial government data showed.

A total of 16 provincial-level regions saw their GDP growth rate higher than the national average of 5 percent in the first half. The output of both South China's Guangdong and East China's Jiangsu provinces exceeded 6 trillion yuan ($913.64 billion), ranking top two among all provinces, relevant data showed.

Chinese analysts said the figures prove the resilience of the world's second-largest economy while showing potential for long-term growth. They expressed firm confidence in the country's ability to achieve annual GDP growth target of around 5 percent, calling for stepped-up policies to expand domestic demand, especially through increasing residents' income.

New and green growth

Among the 31 Chinese provinces and municipalities that have released their GDP growth for the first half of the year, 16 recorded a GDP expansion above 5 percent. North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region took the lead with a GDP growth rate of 6.2 percent, followed by Southwest China's Chongqing and Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region by both 6.1 percent, according to data released by local governments.

In the first six months, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in North China, East China's Yangtze River Delta region and nine Chinese mainland cities within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) generated total output worth 25.5 trillion yuan, accounting for about 41.6 percent of national total economic output.

All these major economic regions have shown a good momentum in the growth of high-tech manufacturing and new quality productive forces. For example, investment in advanced manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing in Guangdong rose by 18.6 percent and 23.9 percent, respectively. In North China's Shanxi Province, the investment in high-tech manufacturing jumped by 50.6 percent and investment in new energy power generation rose by 34.9 percent.

"The data are remarkable, indicating a stable and upward trend of the Chinese economy," Cao Heping, an economist from Peking University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Specifically, the regional economy represented by the GBA has become a locomotive engine leading China's economy, as the in-depth integration of digital technologies and real economy has given birth to new industries and new business models that dominate these regions' growth, Cao said.

Zhou Jingtong, deputy dean of the Bank of China Research Institute, attributed central and western regions' remarkable performance to policy support, complete infrastructure facilities and comparatively lower labor cost. "Take Yibin city in Southwest China's Sichuan for example. Previously, Yibin was famous for producing Chinese baijiu, but now new energy industry booms in the city, underscoring the positive impact of industrial transfer," he said.

Zhou added that industrial transfer and the rapid growth of the central and western regions of China will contribute to the country's balanced economic development.

China's coastal cities have sound growth basis and large economic volume, but they also face pressure in maintaining relatively high GDP growth rate. These regions should enhance efforts to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces to handle the negative impact of the restructuring of global industrial chains, according to Zhou.

Robust momentum

On the heels of the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in mid-July and a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee last week, various government departments have moved swiftly to arrange economic work for the second half of the year as the authorities strive to accomplish the goals for economic and social development in 2024.

Recently, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, cut several major short and long-term interest rates, including one-year loan prime rate (LPR) and five-year LPR, in a fresh move to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments and increase support for the real economy.

Thanks to strong policy support, positive factors are accumulating despite persistent pressure from complex external environment, lack of effective demand domestically and temporary challenges in economic transformation and upgrading, analysts said, expressing firm confidence in the growth prospects for the world's second-largest economy.

Growth in China's services activity picked up in July as employment expanded at the quickest pace in nearly a year, a Caixin-sponsored survey showed Monday.

The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index, which provides an independent snapshot of operating conditions in industries such as retail and tourism, ticked up 0.9 points to 52.1 in July, coming off an eight-month low, it noted.

"In the second half, the Chinese economy is expected to rebound following the implementation of a series of policies," said Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, calling for confidence and patience for the Chinese economy.

Citing that boosting consumption is crucial to bolster the economy, Yang said efforts are needed to increase residents' income and encourage the development of enterprises so as to create more jobs. Moreover, stabilizing the real estate market and stock market will increase residents' property income and thereby greatly promote consumption recovery, he said.

Zhou said fiscal policies should step up, and stimulus policies should shift from expanding production to expanding consumption. "From increasing jobs to income, and even direct subsidies are possible methods," Zhou said.

China recently submitted a working paper, "No-first-use of Nuclear Weapons Initiative," to the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that opened in Geneva. The initiative encourages the five Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nuclear-weapon states, namely the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, to negotiate and conclude a treaty on "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons" or issue a political statement in this regard. It is of great significance for avoiding a nuclear arms race, reducing strategic risks and promoting global strategic stability.

It has always been China's position that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. At the same time, China has been encouraging nuclear-weapon states to commit to no-first-use of nuclear weapons and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear weapon free zones. 

China's efforts have achieved positive results. In September 1994, China and Russia mutually agreed not to use nuclear weapons against each other or to target each other with strategic nuclear weapons. Also, in 1999, China and the US announced their decision not to target nuclear weapons at each other. Unilaterally, the five NPT nuclear-weapon countries have made several pledges regarding negative security assurances. Yet, except for China, the other four countries all have reservations about not using, or threatening to use, nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear weapon free zones. This time, China's proposal for the no-first-use of nuclear weapons initiative builds upon its traditional policy stance while introducing innovative elements. The initiative outlines four key elements for a "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons" or a political statement in this regard. 

It reaffirms that nuclear weapons cannot be used and nuclear war must not be fought; it reiterates China's commitment to work for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all types of weapons of mass destruction; it encourages the five NPT nuclear-weapon states to negotiate and conclude a treaty on "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons" or issue a political statement in this regard; it notes each state party shall in exercising its national sovereignty have the right to withdraw from the treaty if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country; and it makes clear this treaty shall be of unlimited duration, and the articles of this treaty shall not be subject to any reservation.

These concise elements cover crucial content of the initiative, including its purpose, applicability, withdrawal conditions and duration, providing a solid foundation for international discussions on future treaties or declarations.

So far, other nuclear-weapon states have refused to commit to no-first-use of nuclear weapons mainly for the following reasons. 

First, they believe that such commitments are untrustworthy. Second, they think committing to no-first-use of nuclear weapons may stimulate nuclear proliferation. Some argued that nuclear weapons have a deterrent effect on conventional conflict. 

From my perspective, these reasons and excuses hold no water. 

First, commitments by nuclear-weapon states to mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons, as a confidence-building measure, is of great significance to reduce the risk of nuclear escalation during crises. If no-first-use is truly worthless, why did the Obama administrations once consider adopting this policy? In current regional conflicts, where the specter of nuclear war looms, mutual commitment to no-first-use of nuclear weapons is realistic and meaningful.

Second, the concept of "extended deterrence" itself is a major contributor to nuclear proliferation. It spread nuclear weapons geographically, posing a nuclear threat to countries outside the US nuclear umbrella, impeding the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones. 

Therefore, China suggests that relevant nuclear-weapon states abolish arrangements for "nuclear sharing" and "extended deterrence." China also advocates withdrawing all nuclear weapons deployed overseas. 

Based on practical considerations, international negotiations on a treaty on mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons can proceed step-by-step. The first step should be negotiating a legally binding treaty on "negative security assurances," committing to not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear weapon free zones. The second would be a political statement pledging not to use the threat of nuclear weapons. Finally, the negotiation and conclusion on a treaty on "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons" or the issuing of a political statement in this regard.

China vows to promote the high-quality development of its services sector, in a bid to tap the potential of consumption, which will be realized through multiple measures, including the extension of the visa-free policy to more countries and the further expanded opening-up of the services industry.

The State Council, China's cabinet, on Saturday released guidelines on boosting high-quality development of service consumption to unleash consumption potential. 

Analysts said domestic consumption will be boosted by attracting foreign investors and tourists. Also, China will optimize the overall quality of its services sector to better serve the demand of domestic and foreign consumers. More importantly, China's opening-up policy will let the world share the opportunities and dividends of the country's development.

The guidelines include 20 specific targeted sectors in six categories, calling for improving the service quality of the catering industry and encouraging world-renowned catering brands to open their first or flagship store in China. The quality of accommodation services and foreign-related services should also be improved.

An array of measures will be taken to boost the vitality of life-enhancing consumption, including expanding visa-free policy to more countries, read the guidance.

The signal is clear, and the direction of future economic work has been further clarified, Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"China has begun to enter a mature economy, and it is imperative to increase the proportion of the tertiary industry - services sector - in China's economy," said Pan.

Making service consumption a major driver in the expansion and upgrading of consumption was among the arrangements for economic work in the second half of 2024, which was outlined at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held on July 30 to analyze the current economic situation. 

Analysts said China is in the stage where its service consumption growth rate is faster than commodity consumption, which means that service consumption has become the main source of increase in household consumption. 

However, compared with the average level of high-income economies at the same stage of development, the proportion of service consumption in household consumption in China is still low, and there is huge potential for development, they stressed.

The current domestic effective demand is insufficient. Promoting high-quality development of service consumption is a powerful measure to expand domestic demand, Hu Qimu, deputy secretary-general of the Digital-Real Economies Integration Forum 50, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"The consumption of foreign tourists will have a spillover effect on domestic industries, especially on services industries such as catering, accommodation, entertainment and tourism-related industries," Hu said.

Hu also said the fact that China has been the world's largest goods trader means there is little space for growth in goods trade. The new drive for growth will lean on the trade of services.

"The services industry has a strong ability to accommodate the labor force. Boosting service consumption is conducive to solving the current employment problem in China and will create more jobs in the future," said Hu.

Analysts pointed out that inbound tourists have created and will continue to create more jobs in the tourism sector.

"In the future, China's visa-free policy will be extended to almost all countries with a stable political and socioeconomic situation, including developed countries and some middle-income countries," said Pan.

Currently, the 72/144-hour transit visa-free policy has been implemented for tourists from 54 countries. China's visa-free policy covers tourists from more than 15 countries.

"Based on China's current technical capabilities, it is completely feasible to allow the vast majority of applicants to obtain e-visas online and greatly improve the convenience of visa applications," Qin Jing, vice president of Trip.com, a Chinese online tourism agency, said in a report the company sent to the Global Times in July.

The number of inbound entries in China continued to increase with China's extension of visa-free policy. In the first half of 2024, 14.635 million foreigners entered China, up 152.7 percent year-on-year, of which 8.542 million enjoyed visa-free policy, up 190.1 percent year-on-year.

The recent threat by US lawmakers to cut funding for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over its investigation into alleged doping cases involving Chinese swimmers is a blatant attempt to hijack international organizations. This politicization of sports not only exposes the arrogance and prejudice of US politicians but also underscores their hegemonic mindset, analysts said.

On Tuesday, US Republican and Democratic lawmakers introduced the "Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act of 2024," which would grant the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) permanent authority to reduce or revoke US funding for WADA, Reuters reported.

This is the US' latest move to intensify its hype and accusations against Chinese swimmers and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA.

The US and WADA have been locked in a fight over how to handle doping cases after the US was unhappy with how WADA handled the Russian doping case. In 2020, the US passed a law giving federal authorities power to investigate sports doping. IOC recently awarded the 2034 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City but inserted language in the contract demanding its leaders pressure the US government to lobby against the 2020 law, media reported.

The farce made by the US around the cases of Chinese swimmers fully exposes its long-arm jurisdiction which not only violates international law but also attempts to hijack international organizations and such move fully exposed its hegemony and politicization of sports events, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Since April, the US began sensationalizing the incident of 23 Chinese athletes testing positive in a 2021 contamination case. Moreover, earlier this month, the US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the 2021 contamination case.

Li said that the US is now using every possible issue for geopolitical competition with China and what they are doing is using sports as a weapon and a tool, which reveals a loss of basic rationality among American political elites in their China policies.

WADA on Tuesday also released a statement regarding the contamination cases in China, saying that it and the relevant International Federations had all had the opportunity to review the cases. And it "thoroughly reviewed" the cases with all due skepticism, and concluded that there was no evidence to challenge contaminated meat as the source of the positive tests.

WADA also highlighted the recurring issue of contamination, particularly food contamination. Numerous cases worldwide, including several intricate scenarios in the US recently, indicate a significant contamination problem.

"The politicization of anti-doping continues with this latest attempt by the media in the United States to imply wrongdoing on the part of WADA and the broader anti-doping community. As we have seen over recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers but has no mandate to participate in that," said the statement.

According to statistics from World Aquatics on July 23, Chinese swimmers are now the most tested Olympians ahead of the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. Analysts said that it is in stark contrast between the Chinese athletes' cooperation with doping tests to prove their innocence and the US' politicization of international sports events for selfish reasons.

Blaming Russia, Iran and China for "shaping" US elections serves as Washington's tactic to divert attention from the chaos of its presidential election to outside imaginary enemies, said Chinese experts, after US officials accused the three countries of recruiting Americans to spread propaganda to advance their interests ahead of the US presidential election.

Some US citizens have been knowingly helping foreign governments "seed, promote and add credibility to narratives that serve the foreign actors' interests," the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Monday in its latest update on election security. 

Others in the US have been duped into aiding the foreign actors, according to the report.
The report claimed that Russia has been making efforts to build and use networks of US and Western "personalities" to create and disseminate Russian-friendly narratives."

Similarly, the Chinese government has collaborated with a China-based technology company to enhance its "covert influence operations, including to more efficiently create content that connects with local audiences," anonymous officials at the Office of US National Director of Intelligence were quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

They declined to name the company involved.

In response, Lin Jian, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that China has never and will never interfere with US elections. "We firmly oppose US disseminating false information to smear China and make China an issue in US elections."

The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed as absurd US intelligence assertions that Russia is seeking to meddle in the presidential election and said that US spies were intent on casting Russia as an enemy, Reuters reported. 

"As for these accusations, they are absurd, and we strongly reject them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the reports from Washington.

"There will be a lot of such statements as the US elections approach because Russia and the head of the Russian state personally are essentially significant factors that both Republicans and Democrats exploit during their political struggle, especially in the election campaign," said Peskov.

The recent smear campaigns against China, Russia and Iran for allegedly interfering with the US election are tactics used by Washington to treat internal problems by blaming external forces, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

By shifting the blame for the chaos in its own elections onto external parties, it implies that US political elites have no genuine intention of addressing their domestic issues. Instead, they hope to divert attention by creating animosity toward other countries, Li said. 

"We will definitely not interfere with the internal affairs of this country [US]," Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told Russian news agency Tass on Sunday. 

Bloomberg cited US officials as saying that although China does not seek to influence the outcome of the presidential election, there is the possibility that Beijing-related actors may try to denigrate down-ballot candidates seen as threatening to China's core interests. 
China has made it clear that no matter which candidate sits in the Oval Office, its policy regarding China will continue to be unfriendly and antagonistic, said Li, noting that overhyping the China factor during the US election is an attempt by American officials to provoke an unfriendly consensus among the public toward China.

Continually recklessly smearing China will only make US policy toward China less rational and more emotional, ideological and extreme, posing obstacles to broader China-US cooperation on various issues, Li noted.