South Africa's Absa Group, a leading pan-African bank, announced on Wednesday the official launch of its new non-banking subsidiary in Beijing. The ambitious move aims to unlock more trade and investment opportunities between China and Africa.

The new office will enable the Johannesburg-based company to offer local support to Chinese clients and stakeholders to conclude transactions across the African continent, helping to support clients' needs, according to a statement issued by the Absa Group in January.

This business expansion demonstrates Absa's emphasis on and robust confidence in China's market. It also reflects China's persistent endeavors to foster growing economic ties with the rising Global South, experts said.

Amid the evolving global economic landscape, cooperation between the two sides has progressed from basic energy and infrastructure projects to financial collaboration, which are more pivotal and forward-looking areas, and this is likely to deepen bilateral ties in the real economy sector, Yang Baorong, director of African Studies of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The new office in Beijing will allow Absa to provide general advisory services to clients based in China, according to a statement. The lender will also be able to distribute some research about the macroeconomic environment and securities reports to some institutional clients in China, Bloomberg reported.

The move will help the bank become a "facilitator of trade flows into Africa", Absa said in its latest financial report, published in early March, according to media reports. 

"Our expansion into this dynamic market represents an exciting opportunity to unlock new avenues of growth and prosperity for Africa and China," said Arrie Rautenbach, the CEO of Absa Group, at a ceremony earlier this year, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In recent years, investment cooperation between the two sides has steadily grown, with annual manufacturing direct investment exceeding $400 million and infrastructure construction cooperation exceeding $37 billion, supporting Africa's industrialization and economic diversification, said He Yadong, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce, at a regular press conference on April 11.

The cooperation has boosted China-South Africa ties under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, this initiative has significantly improved economic development and livelihoods in Africa. 

"Removing constraints on financial flows is crucial for deepening the bilateral ties," Song Wei, a professor with the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The launch of the subsidiary signifies Africa's financial institutions' participation in China-African financial cooperation, which is expected to bolster mutual benefits in settlement and investment, Song added.

The world's first 300MW/1800MWh advanced compressed air energy storage (CAES) national demonstration power station in Feicheng, Shandong Province has been successfully completed and connected to the electricity grid.

At 11:18 am, on April 30, the world's first 300MW/1800MWh advanced CAES national demonstration power station with complete independent intellectual property rights in Feicheng, successfully achieved its first grid connection and power generation. The power station utilizes advanced CAES technology independently developed by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhongchu Guoneng (Beijing) Technology Co, Ltd invested in the project and led its construction. Power China Nuclear Engineering Company Limited is the construction party. It is currently a new type of CAES power station with advantages in scale, efficiency, and cost.

The R&D team made breakthroughs in key technologies for the 300MW CAES system, overcoming technical challenges such as a multistage wide-load compressor, a multistage high-load expander, a high-efficiency supercritical heat storage and heat exchange unit, an optimized design at full operation condition, and the integration of the whole system.

Compared to the 100MW CAES system, the unit cost of the 300 MW CAES system has decreased by more than 30 percent, and the system has 100 percent independent intellectual property rights. All core technologies are also independent and controllable.

The power station has a capacity of 300MW/1800MWh, with a total investment of 1.496 billion yuan ($207 million). Its rated design efficiency is 72.1 percent. It can achieve continuous discharge for six hours, generating approximately 600 million kWh per year.

This provides power support for about 200,000 to 300,000 households during peak electricity demand, saves about 189,000 tons of standard coal annually, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 490,000 tons.

The recent closure of several government bodies' new media accounts has ignited a lively social discussion. Analysts noted that this move highlights a reflection on pointless formalities on digital platforms, which is also an effort to alleviate the workload of grassroots workers, as well as providing more efficient services for the people by integrating resources.

According to media reports, a large number of grassroots government bodies in cities such as Kunming, Changsha, Xi'an, Qingdao, Zhangjiagang and Nanjing recently announced that their official WeChat and Weibo accounts would stop updating and they would start the cancelation process, and relevant information will be released on their respective local government websites.

In those announcements, the reasons for closing the new media accounts include avoiding waste of resources caused by duplicate operations, promoting centralized management and unified release channels, thereby promoting the healthy and orderly development of new media under local governments.

The closure of the public-service accounts came after some shortcomings were exposed by many new media platforms under grassroots governments. According to Capital News, certain information is outdated and inflexible, leading to low readership and minimal user engagement. Additionally, some apps are redundant, providing services that duplicate existing government software, leading to poor operational efficiency.

The recent wave of concentrated closures has ignited a lively debate among netizens regarding the future development of new media platforms for local governments. Some argue that it is crucial to utilize social platforms but the corresponding departments should prioritize addressing the needs of the people. Additionally, there are suggestions from netizens to promote a single platform that can efficiently handle multiple tasks in order to streamline processes and minimize complications.

Zhang Yiwu, a professor of cultural studies at Peking University, told the Global Times on Thursday that one contributing factor to the closure of numerous accounts is that certain departments have discovered that the reach and impact of their new media platforms have not met expectations despite prolonged operation.

"Some departments are not aware of the distinct characteristics of different new media platforms, including appropriate style and language, which makes it challenging for them to understand and create content that aligns with these differences," he said.

An official in East China's Jiangxi Province, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Thursday that operating a WeChat or Weibo account requires professional individuals, but due to time constraints and the lack of personnel with new media capabilities, many accounts perform poorly. Moreover, some departments do not update information on their platforms in a timely manner, sometimes only releasing new post every few days or even once a week, leading to many government accounts being discontinued or shut down, according to the official.

The closures of multiple public-service accounts with limited reach highlight the local governments' reflection on formalities, showing that they are looking into how to eliminate the useless and convoluted information, and instead delivering more valuable and accessible information and services to the people by consolidating resources effectively, analysts said.

These initiatives are also aimed at alleviating the workload of local grassroots officials, enabling them to concentrate on ensuring information is readily available to the public, rather than solely managing specific social media platforms, they said.

Certainly, the closure of accounts does not signify that new media is irrelevant in grassroots efforts. In fact, it serves a crucial function in delivering services to the public and promoting policy information, Zhang noted.

"It is imperative for staff members to deepen their understanding of new media's unique features, tailor their efforts accordingly and leverage its strengths to effectively communicate in specific areas. By doing so, they can maximize the impact of new media in their work and achieve success in targeted initiatives," he said.

The official from Jiangxi told the Global Times that simply reporting on meetings or research in a rigid manner is unlikely to capture the interest of readers. Instead, government official accounts should offer a diverse range of content and utilize various forms to attract and engage audiences, the official said.

In December 2023, China's Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission issued a set of opinions on strengthening the management of applications and accounts of government bodies and public institutions to prevent and control pointless formalities on digital platforms.

The opinions stressed the principles of overall planning, high efficiency, safety and reliability in the construction, operation and management of such applications and accounts, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

As a result of the Cuban government's Saturday announcement of a visa-free policy starting this month for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports, searches for related tourism products on Chinese travel platforms surged 40 percent, and direct flights between China and Cuba are set to resume soon. 

The announcement was made by Cuban Tourism Minister Juan Carlos Garcia during the 42nd Cuban International Tourism Fair (FITCuba 2024), which was held at the seaside resort of Cayo Coco in Cuba's province of Ciego de Avila. 

Garcia also said that China will be the guest of honor of the Cuban Tourism Festival 2025 and that direct flights between China and Cuba will resume on May 17.

Half an hour after the visa-free policy was announced, searches for keywords such as Cuban hotels and flights increased by more than 40 percent on travel platform Ctrip compared with the previous day, the leading domestic online travel agency told the Global Times on Sunday. Residents from Beijing, Shanghai, and provinces including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian showed a very high level of enthusiasm regarding information about Cuba, according to Ctrip. 

Currently, there are no direct flights between China and Cuba, but Air China has scheduled to resume the Beijing-Havana direct flight, the only direct route between China and Cuba, on May 17. 

According to data from Chinese travel platform Qunar, the current price for a one-way Beijing-Havana ticket is around 8,200 yuan ($1,132), with two flights per week, while the return trip costs about 5,700 yuan. 

At a business forum held in Beijing in November 2023, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz called to establish direct flights between Beijing and Havana as soon as possible to facilitate trade and business. He said that both sides had agreed to push forward bilateral cooperation deals in a comprehensive way. 

The resumption of the flight between China and Cuba is of great significance in promoting South-South cooperation and advancing cooperation between China and Cuba, Song Wei, a professor with the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday. She noted that since Cuba is facing greater fragility due to its size and its status as a developing island country, enhancing connectivity and strengthening its integration into global value chains are particularly crucial for its development. 

The resumption of the flight route will facilitate stronger connections between Cuba and the outside world, enhance its trade relations, and contribute to consolidating its development basis, Song said. It also helps mitigate the impact of the decades-long US embargo and enhances its economic ties with the rest of the world as an opposition against hegemony and unilateral sanctions.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decades-long US embargo, geopolitical uncertainties and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Cuba's situation is complex, and it has been facing many difficulties. Marrero said during his visit to China in November that the primary task for the Cuban government is to set economic and development goals, and the tourism sector will be a major source of growth. Marrero expressed his anticipation for the resumption of direct flights in 2024. He also said he hoped to see a record-breaking number of Chinese tourists visiting Cuba after the resuming flights.

As of April 26, Cuba has received more than 1 million international tourists in 2024, according to data from the Cuban Ministry of Tourism. The Cuban government expects to receive 3.5 million international tourists by the end of the year.

Due to factors such as distance and cost, Cuba is not a traditionally popular outbound destination for Chinese tourists. However, Cuba, as well as countries like Mexico and Brazil in Latin America, boasts unique cultural and natural landscapes, which are highly attractive to Chinese tourists, Qin Jing, general manager of Public Affairs at Ctrip Group, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

According to Song, for countries like Cuba, which are developing small island countries in the Caribbean, the tourism industry is a crucial economic pillar. Strengthening flight connections between China and Cuba can allow Chinese consumers to reach Cuba more conveniently, thereby greatly promoting its economic development. 

The visa-free policy for China starting in May can better assist Chinese travelers in expanding consumption in Cuba, thus boosting the Cuban economy, Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Pan said that China aims to help Cuba in the services industry and trading activities through civilian initiatives, and the positive impact of visa-free entry lies in facilitating easier economic and trade cooperation in the tourism and services industries with Cuba.

Moreover, the upcoming flight from China to Cuba is truly visa-free, as a transit visa is not required on this route, Pan said.

Apart from the Beijing-Madrid-Havana route, Air China also resumed its Beijing-Madrid-Sao Paulo route on April 28. This route, known as the longest in the world, covers approximately 17,500 kilometers in total, with a total travel time of 23 hours and 20 minutes including the stopover. Meanwhile, China Southern Airlines recently launched a new route from Shenzhen direct to Mexico City. Covering a total length of 14,147 kilometers and with a flight time of approximately 16 hours, it is one of the longest routes in the world. 

According to Song, the resumption and launch of air routes between China, Cuba, and other Latin American countries also reflect the strengthening of ties between China and Latin America. 

Traditionally, Latin America has always been considered the "backyard" of the US, which sees the region as being within its own sphere of influence, leading to economic difficulties in the development of Latin American economies, Song said. 

How to free themselves from the economic hegemony of the US and seek more development partnerships for their own economic development, and thereby solidifying their independent political and economic development, are particularly important for Latin America countries, which is also the reason why Latin America attaches great importance to developing relations with China, Song remarked. 

Since the beginning of 2024, several countries have implemented visa-free entry policies for Chinese travelers, which have significantly boosted outbound tourists from China. During this year's May Day holidays, the numbers of flight bookings to visa-free destinations exceeded those in 2019. 

According to Qin, with this visa exemption policy and the immediate opening and resumption of direct flights from China to destinations in Latin America such as Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba, the time and cost for Chinese tourists to travel to these destinations are expected to be significantly reduced. It is anticipated that more Chinese tourists will embark on trips to Latin America. 

The third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will be held in Beijing in July, according to a decision made at a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting on Tuesday.

According to the main agenda of the session, the Political Bureau will report its work to the Central Committee, and the session will primarily study issues concerning further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization.

The Political Bureau meeting also analyzed the current economic situation and economic work, and deliberated a document on policies and measures for continuously advancing the high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting. 

On Saturday afternoon, a powerful tornado struck a district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, resulting in five deaths and 33 injuries. The local meteorological bureau announced on Saturday night that strong convective weather is expected to continue occurring frequently in the city in the coming days.

Around 3 pm on Saturday, the tornado hit Zhongluotan town in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, impacting an area approximately one kilometer wide and affecting four villages.

By 10 pm on Saturday, on-site search and rescue operations had been largely completed. The disaster resulted in 5 deaths and 33 injuries, with the injured promptly transported to hospitals for treatment. 141 factories sustained damage, but there were no reports of collapsed residential buildings.

Following the disaster, the city swiftly organized six working groups, including those for rescue, repair, post-disaster support, and order maintenance, and initiated emergency response procedures. Medical, public security, traffic police, fire, and housing construction departments, along with personnel from the town and villages, were mobilized to conduct comprehensive search and rescue efforts.

The local meteorological bureau reported that since noon on Saturday, hail and tornadoes occurred in Guangzhou, accompanied by widespread moderate to severe thunderstorms and heavy rain, along with short-lived strong winds and intense lightning.

In the Saturday afternoon, a strong convective cloud system entered Guangzhou, later moving into Renhe town and Zhongluotan town in Baiyun District, lasting approximately 40 minutes.

During this time, a tornado occurred near Liangtian village in Zhongluotan town of Baiyun District. The local meteorological station recorded a maximum gust of 20.6 meters per second (Beaufort scale force 8) approximately 2.8 kilometers from the tornado's point of occurrence.

A preliminary survey has been conducted on the tornado's impact path, covering approximately 1.7 kilometers. The maximum width of the impact is about 280 meters. Based on preliminary assessment, the tornado is judged to be of strong intensity, equivalent to an EF2 tornado on the Fujita scale.

The local authority explained the reason for the occurrence of the tornado in Guangzhou.

Over a period of time, warm and humid air currents from the southwest of the South China Sea continuously strengthened, delivering a large amount of moisture and energy to Guangzhou. This led to a prolonged period of high temperature and humidity, resulting in atmospheric instability near the surface with the accumulation of significant unstable energy.

Furthermore, on Saturday morning, warm and humid air currents near the surface continued to intensify, with several observation stations recording unusually high absolute humidity levels.

Additionally, during the daytime on Saturday, the low-level jet stream intensified, exacerbating the unstable layering of "warm below, cold above," thereby creating favorable conditions for the formation of tornadoes and hail as the 0-6km wind shear, conducive to create tornadoes and hail, exceeded 25m/s.

Lastly, the convergence of mesoscale convergence lines on the ground and the passage of high-altitude fluctuations acted as triggering conditions, initiating strong updrafts, which led to the intense development of the parent storm for the tornado.

Implanted in the brain is a small, soft film connected by delicate threads. Through this, a monkey with its hands tied up can control a robotic arm with "just its thoughts" and grasp a strawberry.

This high performance of the brain-computer interfaces (BCI) technology revealed at the Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum on Thursday is backed by a core brain chip, called "Neucyber," independently developed by Chinese scientists. Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his brain-chip startup Neuralink implanted a brain chip in a sick man.

The high performance is attributed to the three core components in Neucyber independently developed in China — high-throughput flexible microelectrodes, two high-speed neural signal acquisition devices and a generative neural decoding algorithm.

"The BCI involves capturing subtle changes in brain electrical signals, decoding brain intentions, and achieving 'thought' control of 'actions,' allowing the control of machines without physical contact," said Luo Minmin from the Chinese Institute for Brain Research.

The performance of BCI lies in the clarity of capturing brain electrical signals and the precision of their conversion, which rely on electrodes and algorithms, respectively.

The electrode acts as a "sensor," implanted in the brain to "read" brain electrical signals, with its performance determining the quantity and quality of captured brain signals.

Brain tissue is very soft and moves rhythmically with a person's heartbeat and breathing. In the past, the implantation of electrodes made of hard materials such as steel needles caused damage to brain tissue, triggering inflammatory reactions and leading to the encapsulation of the electrodes, which over time weakened the signals, says Li Yuan, Business Development Director of Beijing Xinzhida Neurotechnology, the company that developed this BCI brain chip system.

Implantable electrodes use flexible materials, greatly reducing damage to the brain and ensuring long-term stable signal acquisition. The flexible electrode has been stably implanted in the monkey's skull for nearly a year, and is still able to collect high-quality signals, according to Li.

The Neucyber is the first system in the world to realize the brain control interception of two-dimensional moving objects by rhesus monkeys through mind control. In the future, this could offer new hope for paralyzed people to be able to touch and grasp things in the physical world, Li noted.

Industry observers said the BCI technology is a systematic project that has higher requirement for stability and involving electrodes, chips, algorithms, software and materials. Key technologies are still needed to be further broken through.

Previously, China's prestigious Tsinghua University announced that Chinese scientists had made a breakthrough in the world's first patient BCI rehabilitation trial.

A team, led by principal Biomedical Engineering researcher Hong Bo from the School of Medicine with Tsinghua University, designed and developed the wireless minimally invasive implanted BCI technology device NEO (Neural Electronic Opportunity). The NEO was successfully implanted into a patient's brain for the BCI-assisted treatment trial at the Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing, on October 24, 2023.

Ahead of the 24th World Intellectual Property Day that is set for April 26, China's cultural enforcement departments jointly signed the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Regional Copyright Enforcement Cooperation Agreement in Beijing on Friday. Officials and experts highlighted that the move will further deepen regional cooperation in copyright enforcement and promotion, social services, as well as talent cultivation.

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. World Intellectual Property Day 2024 and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Copyright cooperation forum, themed "Promoting Cultural Inheritance and Development, Stimulating Innovation and Creativity," focused on promoting the inheritance and development of excellent Chinese traditional culture under new technological trends, emphasizing the role of copyrighting in empowering the creative transformation and innovative development of culture.

Liu Jinquan, head of the Tianjin Copyright Association, told the Global Times that future cooperation among Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in copyright matters will become more frequent and convenient, enhancing copyright recognition and strengthening exchanges and cooperation to make the region a model area for the innovative development of the copyright business in China.

At the event, the China Copyright Association released 10 major copyright events in China in 2024, including the 50th anniversary of China's cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization, a significant increase in national copyright registrations, and discussions on whether AI-generated works constitute infringement.

On Saturday, as part of the series of activities, a forum on copyright governance and artistic development in the AI era was held at the Communication University of China. Discussions focused on new challenges in copyright governance and artistic development in AI scenarios, including AI technology development and application, AI and copyright management, the impact of AI on artistic development, and more were held.  

Feng Hua, Secretary-General of the Capital Copyright Association, stated at the event, "This year, we will focus on the field of artificial intelligence, including discussions on copyright protection for AI-generated products, such as copyright and ownership after the generation of works."

Feng told the Global Times that China is at the forefront of AI-generated copyrights globally, and while various countries are continuously optimizing their approaches, suggestions and guidance on the use of AI should be provided, encouraging the development of the AI industry.

She emphasized that the greatest copyright infringement risks in the training database's input and output stages involve the infringement of reproduction rights and adaptation rights. 

"Solving intellectual property challenges associated with generative artificial intelligence requires the use of multiple institutional tools, the establishment of diversified solutions, and the creation of a comprehensive solution," she said.

The event also launched many other activities, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei copyright campus tour, focused on exhibiting intangible cultural heritage crafts and their innovative achievements, such as the Beijing Jingtailan cloisonne, the traditional Beijing mascot Lord Rabbit, known as Tu'er Ye in Chinese, Tianjin folk art Clay Figure Zhang, and more.

Editor's Note:

The youth are the vanguards of our time, showcasing boundless energy and vibrant personalities.

Gen-Zers not only represent the makers of the future but also serve as agents of change in the present. With an open mindset and an international outlook, they actively integrate into the currents of globalization, engaging in deep exchanges, and collaborating with youth from around the world to explore pathways and strategies to address global challenges.

The Global Times has launched the "Voice from Gen Z" series, which focuses on the proactive actions and innovative achievements of young people in areas such as global governance, cultural exchange, environmental protection, and technological innovation. Through this column, we aim to showcase the unique charm and future leadership of global Gen-Zers.
At the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Museum and China Table Tennis Museum in Shanghai, Wu Yiman held Abigail Barr's hands, and taught her how to catch the ping-pong balls served by a training robot in front of her step by step.

The two offered a contrasting image of the sport. While Wu has played ping-pong for 16 years and is a postgraduate student at the China Table Tennis College, Shanghai University of Sport, Barr, a sophomore at the University of Virginia (UVA), barely has experience in the sport. Minutes later, at the museum, the two participated in a friendly table tennis match between Chinese and US youth as partners.

With the match set to start, Barr continually expressed her apprehension to Wu, and each time Wu reassured the rookie.

"It's just a game," Wu said to Barr in English. "Have more fun."

Wu's words were magical. Of the two matches they had that day, Wu and Barr won the first, better than they had expected.

Moreover, the Chinese and US youth formed a valuable bond of friendship in just two short days of being together. "This was a far more precious present for me compared to the match result," Wu told the Global Times.

A surprising victory

Wu first met Barr the night before the friendly match, at a welcome dinner at a hotel in downtown Shanghai. "She was so beautiful and graceful," said the 23-year-old, recalling her first impression of Barr. "My eyes were involuntarily drawn to her."

Barr was among a US student delegation that came to China in early January for a China-US youth ping-pong exchange.

As the first batch of US youth visiting China under the program meant to "invite 50,000 US students to China over the next five years," the inaugural delegation hoped to promote better understanding between the two countries' younger generations, similar to "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" 53 years ago, a milestone in the history of China-US relations.

The delegation consisted of 12 UVA students, and a few teaching and administrative staffers from the university. They visited Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai during their trip to China.

The friendly ping-pong doubles match was held in Shanghai on January 9, 2024. The young delegation members partnered with experienced local student players. They learned ping-pong skills from each other, and enhanced mutual understanding in cooperation.

Some of the US students have been playing table tennis for many years, while others, including the 20-year-old Barr, are newbies with little experience with the sport. In Wu's eyes, Barr was curious about table tennis, although she was reluctant to try at the beginning. "Barr told me that she was afraid she wouldn't play well and could 'drag me down' as a partner," Wu recalled.

That night after the welcome dinner, Wu wrote a letter to Barr to encourage her. "Don't be anxious about winning or losing the game," she wrote. "All I hope is that you can feel the friendship and the joy of sports."

The next day, before the friendly match, Wu took Barr to practice ping-pong in anticipation of their impending friendly match. The practice included trying the fancy training robot at the museum. Wu said she could feel that Barr was becoming increasingly positive about the match. "When she gradually discovered that she could intercept the ball by herself, she gained a sense of accomplishment, and her interest grew."

That day, when Wu and Barr won their first match, the two embraced joyfully and cheered, as though they had been partners for years. "We were very satisfied with this result," Wu told the Global Times. "It was a surprising victory."
Precious friendship

For Wu, the highlight of the friendly match was not their victory, but an impressive and friendship-filled moment at the end of the match.

That day, a few renowned former ping-pong champions, including Wang Liqin and Zhang Yining, were also present. Before the friendly match ended, when most members of the US delegation gathered around the champions for signatures, Barr came to Wu, inviting her to sign her new commemorative medal from the friendly match.

"I was almost moved to tears," said Wu. "I mean more to her than world champions."

Wu and Barr became good friends in less than two days of spending time together. They, as Wu said, are both extroverted and have a lot to talk about. Apart from table tennis, their topics ranged from family and growing up, to their respective universities and majors.

Barr told Wu that she once dreamed of being a top ballet dancer, and had spent much time on working toward this dream. "But unfortunately, she didn't realize this dream because of her injured knee(s)," Wu sighed.

Through these conversations, Wu was also delighted to find that Barr had much more interest in and knowledge of China than she had initially thought. Barr showed great command of intermediate Chinese and even had a Chinese tutor.

"Before meeting her, I spent a night cramming some professional English ping-pong terms, but later I only used a few of them," smiled Wu. "It's nice that we have no language barrier."

With family members living in China, Barr said she has been to China several times. On the day of the friendly match, Barr wore a mahjong-shaped earring, a Christmas present from her younger sister.

The UVA delegation left China in mid-January. Wu and Barr still keep in touch via WeChat and Instagram, sharing memes and fun details about their lives, and even sent each other best wishes over Chinese New Year.

Barr told Wu that she would come to China again. "I look forward to meeting her again in China soon," Wu said.

Vigorous envoys

In April 1971, the US ping-pong delegation conducted an ice-breaking visit to China at China's invitation. Prior to that, the two countries had had no official contact for more than two decades.

This was the start of the well-known "Ping-Pong Diplomacy," which paved the way for the normalization of China-US relations in those hard years filled with ideological confrontations.

Fifty-three years ago, young ping-pong players from China and the US jumpstarted the process of normalizing China-US relations in Beijing, hence the much-told stories of "the little ball being able to move the big ball" were shared by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a press conference on January 9, the day when the friendly ping-pong match was held in Shanghai.

Mao mentioned the UVA delegation's visit, praising it as "adding new chapter to the stories of China-US friendship that began with Ping-Pong Diplomacy and new impetus for people-to-people exchanges."

Echoing Mao, Wu thinks that Chinese and the US Gen-Zers are vigorous envoys of the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Compared to older generations, younger generations are more open and inclusive, have more innate goodwill, and are curious about each other, she said.

Wu recalled that one of the UVA delegation members received a small gift with Chinese elements from his Chinese ping-pong partner - a Spring Festival couplet. "He was so excited and intrigued, that he kept asking us the meaning of the Chinese characters on the couplet."

Wu had met many young people from the US previously. At the international summer camps annually hosted by the China Table Tennis Collage, Wu guides young ping-pong players and enthusiasts from all over the world, including those from the US. She described the overall impressions that US students gave her: "Confident, humorous, and it's relaxing to be with them."

"They are similar to our Chinese youth," Wu concluded. "We are not so different. We are equally confident, friendly, and conversable."

Having played a receptionist role during the UVA delegation's visit to China, Wu is pleased to serve as a window for the US youth to know more about Shanghai and China. "I believe that the future belongs to the youth," she told the Global Times. "I hope that we Gen-Zers can lay a good foundation for the promising future of China-US relations."

A fan of the US musical Hamilton herself, Wu said she is very interested in the history, culture, and people in the US. She also looks forward to visiting the US in the near future, and taking a closer look at the country and making local friends.

"It would be even better to meet Barr again there," she smiled.

In its latest foreign policy report, Japan is following the cliché of smears against China by playing up the so-called China threat and interfering in China's internal affairs, yet at the same time, it restored language that states it needs "strategic and mutually beneficial relations with China." Analysts said this exposes the country's opportunistic and double-dealing motives in its China policy.

In a joint statement in 2008, China and Japan agreed to promote a strategic relationship of mutual benefit in an all-round way. In November 2023, two heads of state reaffirmed the positioning of comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations at their meeting in San Francisco. 

However, in recent years, Japan appears to have abandoned the consensus reached with China and intensified China-bashing language in its defense, diplomacy and other official documents.

According to Kyodo News on Tuesday, the 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook said Japan will promote a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests" with China, using wording last seen in the 2019 report, although still claimed its neighboring country poses "an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge."

The report mentions "serious concerns" over China's "attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo" and "a series of dangerous acts" in the South China Sea as well as the importance of accelerating trilateral collaboration among the US, Japan, and the Philippines to deal with them, Kyodo News reported.

In response, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a Tuesday press briefing that China is firmly opposed to the Japanese document which has followed the cliché of smears and accusations against China, hyped the so-called China threat and interfered in China's internal affairs unreasonably.

We urge the Japanese side to correct its wrong actions, stop provoking and creating bloc confrontation, truly position the strategic and mutually beneficial relations with China as a guideline for the development of bilateral ties, and make unremitting efforts to build constructive and stable China-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era, Lin said.

The two Asian neighbors remain at odds over various issues with Japan intensifying its efforts in joining the US to contain China.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has just returned from a high-profile trip to the US, where he tried to show diplomatic results by emphasizing "strengthening the US-Japan alliance." 

"During his visit to the US, the prime minister's face was filled with a smile never seen in Japan," Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on Tuesday.

The report noted that it is undeniable that with the infinite deepening of the integration process between Japan and the US, Japan will undoubtedly be more firmly integrated into the strategy of the US to contain China. 

"Does Kishida's rarely seen smile in the US really herald a new level of cooperation between the US-Japan alliance?" questioned Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

The expert noted that even as China and the US are in competition in multiple aspects, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink have visited China in succession, therefore there has been significantly more high-level communication between China and the US than between China and Japan.

According to Da, the political elite and economic circles in Washington must have a consensus - the level of engagement of US-Japan relations cannot be compared with that of China-US relations. In this context, the first risk Japan faces is whether it can bear the consequences of blindly following the US' inducement to "de-risk" or "decouple" with China. The second risk is that Japan's participation in the US strategy to contain China will inevitably provoke geopolitical instability, which is not desirable for countries that desire peace. As an Asian country, it is uncertain whether Japan can cope with the tension with its neighbors.