Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks. On Monday, National Public Radio (NPR) published an article titled "For a new generation of Marines, 9/11 is history." The article mentioned, "For many Americans, 9/11 is now simply a date to mark, much like December 7 with the Pearl Harbor attacks." 

Americans have not learned the lessons of the 9/11 attacks after 22 years. Instead, they shift the focus of the country's national security strategy from fighting terrorism to focusing on great power competition. They have abandoned the most effective way of combating terrorism: great power collaboration in favor of great power competition. This is unfortunate for the US.

The article also mentions that Americans are engaging in "an exercise of forgetting," quoting Carter Malkasian, who chairs the defense analysis department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He says September 11 isn't spoken about much nowadays. He goes on to say that there is "a recognition among nearly everyone across ranks and civilian positions that we all need to focus on China and Russia."

The US' continuous attitude reveals that without question it's a unique nation that feeds on instability and confrontation, and its hegemonic status is difficult to demonstrate in the absence of an adversary. Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times, "It is obvious that the US military is making every effort to create an enemy for the American public and society. Their characteristic is that they have to create enemies if there are none." Over the past 22 years, the US has increasingly solidified this mindset, which has trapped them in a vicious cycle of making one major mistake after another. At the same time, due to the global scale of the US, its tragedy inevitably spreads worldwide. This is not only a tragedy for the US itself but also the world.

The American politicians, who are locked in this vicious cycle, continue to think in bellicose, hegemonic ways to advance their own short-term political interests. They continue to shape distorted perceptions among the American people, ignoring history and focusing only on the "future threats" they deliberately create.

For the American people who experienced the 9/11 attacks, this pain is indelible. It is important for the younger generation in America to reflect on this event and prevent similar tragedies from happening again. However, their worldview is also being shaped by certain American politicians for their own political interests. Their reflections on 9/11 are also being washed away by these "self-interests."

Diao Daming, Deputy Director of the US Research Center at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times, "The current political narrative of American politicians is very dangerous. The US has shifted the focus of the problem from terrorism to great power competition, with the aim of covering up domestic divisions." Unlike the "war on terror" that united the country, the two major parties in the US now have irreconcilable differences in social welfare, military spending, minority-related politics, and other areas. American politicians are pointing overseas, hoping to achieve their political goals by deceiving the public and avoiding addressing the real problems within the US.

However, this approach is like drinking poison to quench your thirst. The effect of American politicians hyping up the China-related issue is very limited and only exacerbates the ongoing accumulation of social woes in the US. This is extremely irresponsible for the American people. China is not a remedy for America's internal turmoil. Using China as a scapegoat whenever there is a problem not only harms the US itself but also poses a threat to the world. If the US continues to persist in this way, its self-destructive path will not be too far off. The containment strategy that the US is implementing against China today will not succeed. Its failed trade war with China is as clear as its disastrous defeat in the war in Afghanistan. The actual resistance it faces in actively building an anti-China alliance far outweighs any formal gains. The end of the war in Afghanistan may allow the US to allocate some resources toward dealing with China, but it cannot change the tide of the times. 

Some commentators have analyzed how the 20 years after the 9/11 attacks turned the US into a declining great power with a tarnished reputation. Arrogantly believing that waging wars can reshape the world, the US has gradually pushed itself into a declining abyss. American politicians fail to reflect on the lessons learned and, despite leaving behind numerous "messes" internationally with their "military counterterrorism" efforts, they selfishly shift their strategic focus from "counterterrorism" to "great power competition" and aggressively suppress China and Russia, attempting to create more troubles. The US hopes to continue maintaining its hegemonic status, but the decline of American-style hegemony is an inevitable law of historical development.

Influenced by the US' strategic competition against China, some Western countries have clearly become hostile toward China in recent years. South Korea and Australia, as two typical "middle powers" of similar economic scale which have close trade ties with China, are both US allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and their relations with China have deteriorated for some time. However, the recent "ice-breaking" of China-Australia relations and the continuous "freezing" of China-South Korea relations are in stark contrast.

Recently, China and Australia have witnessed warming ties. Amid the East Asia Summit, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on September 7 that he will visit China later this year after talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, with both sides agreeing to resume exchanges in various fields. As leader of the Labor Party, Albanese has shown a different stance toward China from his predecessors since he came to power last year. On the same day, the 7th China-Australia High-Level Dialogue was held in Beijing, the first in three years. It is noticed that the Australian delegation covers all sectors of politics, business, academia and the media, with many former politicians from both the Liberal and Labor parties in attendance. This is seen as a consensus between the two parties of Australia to improve relations with China.

Australia's shift has been very positive. However, the same cannot be said about South Korea's performance. Since coming to power in May last year, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has focused on the South Korea-US alliance, highlighting the "values" orientation of its foreign policy and displaying a distinctive "pro-US" tendency. With regards to its relations with China, the Yoon administration blatantly interferes in the Taiwan question and attempts to follow the US and Japan in terms of the South China Sea issue. These moves have further led to tension and a standstill between Beijing and Seoul.

The Yoon administration, perhaps realizing that its policy toward China is too paranoid, has recently tried to send positive messages to China. In the meeting with Premier Li, Yoon emphasized that the South Korean side is willing to work with China to practice multilateralism and free trade and promote the stable and healthy development of the South Korea-China relationship. However, so far, these signals released by South Korea have not yet been put into practice.

Looking back at the China-South Korea and China-Australia relations over the years, the turning point occurred after the change of government in South Korea and Australia last year. After the Australian Labor administration came to power, it made adjustments to the anti-China "microphone diplomacy" of its predecessor under Scott Morrison and sent out frequent signals to repair relations with China. Therefore, the leaders of the two countries met during the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November last year, which promoted the improvement in bilateral relations.

In contrast, the Yoon administration, which also came to power last year, took the opposite approach, changing the previously balanced route between the US and China to the "pro-US" orientation, which caused the deterioration of its ties with China.

The impact of such two different policy orientations is prominent. From January to July this year, China-South Korea bilateral trade fell 16.6 percent year-on-year. Some analysts said that the negative effects of South Korea's policy of following the US and "decoupling" from China are becoming apparent. Meanwhile, bilateral trade between China and Australia saw an increase of 5.4 percent year-on-year, which is particularly striking against the backdrop of a general slowdown in the global economy. Clearly the improvement of political relations between China and Australia has played a crucial role in boosting bilateral economic and trade ties.

For Seoul and Canberra, there are many similarities in their relationship with Beijing. Both South Korea and Australia have no historical or territorial disputes with China, but have maintained close economic and trade ties. Furthermore, China does not pose any threat to either country. In particular, the Australian and South Korean economies are heavily dependent on trade with China, so stabilizing and developing relations with China is essentially in the national interests of both countries. The latest improvement in China-Australia relations is exactly due to Canberra's return to rather independent and pragmatic policy toward China, which should be an inspiration for the Yoon administration.

As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward during his meeting with the Australian delegation, it is necessary for the two sides to draw useful experience and lessons in the bilateral relations. He urged the two sides to look at each other objectively, calmly and kindly, understand that China and Australia should remain partners rather than rivals, and advance bilateral relations independently and without any influence or interference from any third party. These three points are also helpful suggestions for South Korea.

The author is a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

The South and East China Seas are among China's major security concerns in its neighborhood. Despite this, the US still hypes up competition with China in these regions to cover up the tendency of its hegemonic expansion.

The US Congressional Research Service (CRS) recently published a report which pointed out that the South China Sea in the past 10 to 15 years has become the arena of US-China strategic competition, while actions by China's maritime forces at the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea are another concern for US observers. "Chinese domination of China's near-seas region… could substantially affect US strategic, political, and economic interests in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere," said the CRS report.

The South and East China Seas hold different strategic positions for China and the US. On one hand, as China's military strength has rapidly progressed, the Chinese navy no longer prioritizes near-shore defense. Instead, it actively and comprehensively seeks to safeguard China's sovereignty and security in these waters. China's activities in the South and East China Seas are among the first indications of its rise as a global power.

On the other hand, the South and East China Seas are at the forefront of US hegemonic power. Despite being geographically distant from these waters, the US still perceives China's near-seas region as a place to show off its military presence and political influence due to the pervasive nature of the US global hegemony. This situation is unlikely to change unless the US hegemonic strategy collapses.

It is evident that the situation in the South and East China Seas has become complicated over the years. Experts told the Global Times that Washington is the biggest driver of the intensifying China-US competition in these regions, noting the US deliberately creates problems in these regions for its own interests. In other words, the US aims to showcase the strength of its hegemony, while simultaneously containing China's development through its Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Managing the China-US competition in those regions has become an urgent yet difficult task. When China's growing determination to protect its national security encounters the US' pursuit for global hegemony in the South and East China Seas, a collision can easily occur. The US will do anything to make sure its needs override China's, leading to the emergence of more confrontations and future deterioration of bilateral relations.

The intense strategic competition between Beijing and Washington in China's near-seas region may also affect policymaking in the US. The CRS is a major congressional think tank under the Library of Congress that serves members of Congress and their committees. Its recent report is obviously intended to clarify congressional responsibilities in the China-US strategic competition in the South and East China Seas, so that Congress can better help Washington gain an advantage over Beijing.

The US Congress has passed bills to institutionalize anti-China activities, which in itself will lead to further tensions in the bilateral relationship. This year, the South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act of 2023 has already been introduced in the Senate; we cannot rule out the possibility that Congress may use more legislative resources against China's development.

But from a strategic point of view, the US actually hopes China's neighbors in the South and East China Seas to fight Beijing at the forefront, while the US provides strategic support from behind. The question is, as Washington's sinister intentions of exploiting its allies and partners become increasingly prominent, how many countries will be willing to pay for US hegemonic strategy?

In the face of the US' intense competition with China in China's neighboring waters, China should, on one hand, strive for a more favorable international environment through diplomatic means to ensure a long-term peaceful and stable surrounding environment conducive to its development.

On the other hand, the country should not neglect the development of its hard power, including military capabilities. During critical moments, China must demonstrate its determination through action to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and interests, making it clear to those who provoke that there is no room for maneuver when it comes to issues involving China's red line.

The one-year anniversary of the unsolved Nord Stream explosions on September 26 is a timely occasion to reflect on one of the largest acts of sabotage in history and the broader geopolitical tensions within which it took place. Several underwater blasts destroyed most of the Nord Stream I and II pipelines that day. Russian gas exports to Germany through the first pipeline were already reduced by that time while the second never entered into operation. 

After the sabotage, Russia and the West predictably blamed each other. Russia argued that the US had a self-interested hegemonic motive in blowing them up in order to undermine the crucial energy component of Russia-Germany relations in parallel with selling more expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU. The West, meanwhile, couldn't formulate a cogent explanation for why Russia would blow up its own pipelines. 

It wasn't until early February 2023 that some credible leads finally emerged regarding who was responsible. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh published a detailed report on Substack citing what he described as unnamed Biden Administration officials who allegedly informed him that the US began preparing to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines last summer. The US denied the claims, after which the New York Times reported their own version of this story in early March. According to their unnamed sources, a rogue group of Ukrainians purportedly rented a yacht from Poland that they then used to move professional divers to the site to plant the underwater explosives that later thereafter blew up those pipelines. They were apparently motivated to asymmetrically attack Russia in response to its special operation despite their plans also harming the interests of NATO-member Germany, though many Ukrainians were annoyed with Berlin back then for not sending more arms. 

It remains to be seen whether undeniable evidence will ever emerge and be shared with the public and prove who the guilty party is. Until then, one can only speculate about who was responsible, which is why it's more constructive to look at the consequences of this incident in the year since it happened. 

Russia-Germany relations markedly deteriorated in the aftermath as Berlin finally agreed to dispatch heavy weapons to Ukraine. Europe no longer heavily relies on Russia for oil or gas, and this "decoupling" of their previously strong and strategic ties seems to have led to the continent losing all sense of restraint in this conflict. Almost every country, most of which are also NATO members, has since supplied Ukraine with plenty of arms. 

As a result, Russia-EU relations as a whole deteriorated much further than before upon Russia's ties with Germany, the bloc's largest economy, deteriorating after the Nord Stream explosions. Meanwhile, relations with the US comprehensively strengthened, especially in the energy domain. Accordingly, American influence surged to levels last seen since the height of the Cold War or first few years after World War II. 

These objectively existing outcomes extend credence to Russia's claims of US complicity in last year's incident, which if true, would amount to a de facto declaration of war against its own German NATO ally due to the military nature of what happened. The same also goes if Ukraine were responsible since it too had a motive seek these outcomes. In any case, Russia-Germany relations and especially Russian-EU relations since the start of the special operation decisively changed for the worse since that attack. 

Bearing all this in mind, it can be said that the legacy of the Nord Stream explosions still lingers one year on, and will likely persist across the coming years due to its game-changing consequences. Any hopes of a Russia-Germany rapprochement and thus a Russian-EU rapprochement influenced by Berlin's energy interests, irrespective of conspiratorial speculation of a secret deal between them, were dashed. The EU then fell more fully under the US' influence, which intensified the NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine. 

Considering that this outcome worsened that conflict, one can conclude that the continued civilian suffering in Ukraine is partially connected to this incident. Russia's setback in Kherson Region less than two months later in early November, and that which it experienced in Kharkov Region in early September just prior to the Nord Stream attacks, could have in theory provided a chance for Germany to mediate a ceasefire if it was still motivated by the desire to resume gas transit. 

That's not to suggest that it was secretly conspiring with Russia about this before the incident happened, but just that Russia's subsequent setback in the Kharkov Region at the onset of winter might have inspired Germany policymakers to independently explore this possibility if the Nord Stream pipelines were intact. Alas, their destruction led to the preceding hopes being nothing but a thought exercise, though it's still worthwhile wondering in terms of the bigger picture on the one-year anniversary of that attack. 

Out of options. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The 23rd China International Industry Fair, which drew to a close on Saturday in Shanghai, attracted over 200,500 visitors from more than 2,800 enterprises across 30 countries and regions, offering a unique platform for domestic and foreign manufacturing companies.

As a window and platform to promote global industrial economic exchange, the fair, which has now been run for 22 years, has attracted higher attendances and publicity. 

The proportion of international brands participating in the exhibition has increased to 30 percent, the organizer said, according to Xinhua. 

Alongside companies from traditional manufacturing powers such as the US, Germany, Japan, and Italy, there were also first-time exhibitors from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Cuba. In addition, the companies from Italy have further expanded its scale, with the number of exhibitors increasing to 65, an increase of 30 percent over the same period of the previous session.

As the process of industrial digitization accelerates, technologies such as artificial intelligence and industrial Internet are reshaping the global production system.

Zhejiang Sineva Intelligent Technology Co, a tech company aiming to provide mobile robot solutions, displayed the SIBOT series of composite robots that have been recognized by customers in the semiconductor industry.

In 2023, the company has launched a variety of products such as SIBOT series composite robots and W series water tank robots, focusing on the core capabilities of precise handling, connection and transportation, and automatic loading and unloading, to help partners further improve logistics performance and production efficiency.

"We are helping customers improve the digitalization and intelligence level of production and operation links to realize 'Chinese speed'," Liu Changlun, CEO of Zhejiang Sineva, said. 

At the exhibition, Schneider Electric released a white paper on the highly integrated 5G+PLC solutions together with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and the China United Network Communications Group Co, which are designed to explore the value arising from the connection between 5G networks and controls. 

It also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Sunshine Pumps (Tianjin) Co Under the agreement, the two parties will focus on the production and operation of high-end smart devices to explore opportunities for collaboration on digital and software solutions. 

Pang Xingjian, senior vice president and head of industrial automation China of Schneider Electric, said that digital acceleration and sustainable development have become two long-term strategies that are both inseparable and complementary to each other for industrial enterprises: digital solutions underpin sustainable development, whereas sustainable development provides new stages and drivers for digital solutions. 

Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology said at the opening ceremony on Tuesday that the ministry will work with other parties to foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, continuously deepen international innovation cooperation, and safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.

China's idea of building a global community of shared future has broken up the zero-sum mentality of certain Western countries, and illuminated a new development path for human society. It is a holistic approach that embodies China's wisdom and vision in global governance, foreign scholars said on Tuesday.

The comment comes after China on Tuesday released a white paper entitled "A Global Community of Shared Future: China's Proposals and Actions." The white paper, which summarizes the meaning of building a global community of shared future, its practices and development, is released at the 10th anniversary of China's proposal about building the global community of a shared future.

"In the past decade, globalization has seen signs of retreating, due to US-inflicted trade war, tech barrier and unilateral sanctioning, which mirrors that the West-led international order is purely based on Western interests. Against this backdrop, the global community has been in urgent need for a new governing system," Wirun Phichaiwongphakdee, director of the Thailand-China Research Center of the Belt and Road Initiative, told the Global Times.

Countries, especially the Global South, wanted to change the current system, which is unfair and disproportionate. As a result, many countries are looking at China's proposal as an engine to boost their own economic recovery by aligning with it, Maya Majueran, director of Bel t&Road Initiative Sri Lanka (BRISL), told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The implementation of the concept of building a global community of shared future has entitled individual country with equal rights to development, and make the developing world able to lift them out of poverty and genuinely participate in global governance, Wirun said.

"It shows what China says that development is an inalienable right of all countries, not a privilege of just a few countries," Majueran said. He exemplified by various China-constructed BRI projects in Sri Lanka, which has led to a huge overhaul of Sri Lankan infrastructure which had dragged down its economic development for generations. BRI also helps Sri Lanka's economic growth, job creation and people's livelihood improvement, according to him.

Wirun took note of a number of BRI projects in Southeast Asia including the China-Thailand High-Speed Railway now being built, which he said demonstrates how China and the ASEAN are working together to build a community of shared future.

According to the white paper, China's vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support over the past decade. To date, China has constructed community of shared future in different forms with dozens of countries and regions. China-proposed Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative have gained public support from more than 100 countries, while the Global Civilization Initiative has also received warm feedback from many countries.

"The concept is a major public good that China has provided to the world. And it is of vital importance that China's wisdom helps build more consensus, maintain peace, and allow more countries to participate in the building of a community of shared future for the mankind," Wirun added. 

Cambodia highly appreciated the current development of economic and trade cooperation with China, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Aun Pornmoniroth told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.

Pornmoniroth, who is also the minister of economy and finance, said many infrastructure projects, technology transfer, and investments in Cambodia, which are a crucial source of economic growth, have been promoted under the Cambodia-China financial cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The trade volume between the two countries is increasing yearly, even with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. "It is believed to increase further in upcoming years."

Cambodia can export agricultural products to China directly, including bananas, mango, and longan, just to name a few, he added.

Besides, the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, which took effect in 2022, demonstrate the commitment of participating countries to safeguarding the multilateral trading system, maintaining economic openness, and upholding a spirit of cooperation, which will, in turn, enhance socio-economic development.

"Undoubtedly, the two agreements will largely contribute to Cambodia's graduation from its status as a least-developed country in the next five years and an achievement of Cambodia's vision to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050," Pornmoniroth said.

He added that the bilateral economic and trade cooperation reached another significant level during the official visit of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to China, resulting in the signing of a crucial document, namely, the action plan on building a Cambodia-China community with a shared future in the new era (2024-2028).

Also, he said both countries agreed to enhance trade facilitation to promote high-quality development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, including making full use of the CCFTA and RCEP, promoting e-commerce cooperation, China International Import Expo, China Import and Export Fair, China-ASEAN Expo, China International Consumer Products Expo, and China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair, among others.

Pornmoniroth said the signed action plan emphasizes the key priority areas of cooperation, such as politics, production capacity, agriculture, energy, security, and people-to-people exchanges, called the Cambodia-China Diamond Hexagon cooperation framework.

He added that the action plan clearly reflects the two countries' commitment to deepening the building of a high quality, high level, and high standard Cambodia-China community with a shared future in the new era.

With the China Manned Space Agency's announcement on Thursday of an open call for space breeding experimental projects, China's "space greenhouse" is ready to embrace the planting of more new species, as recent years have seen a significant increase in the variety of crops that have toured around space. Many of these crops have already entered ordinary households and are served on dinner tables, and space breeding is playing a greater role in contributing to China's food security. 

"Staple crops and vegetable crops are the main species that have been promoted on a large scale on the ground after space breeding. They include rice, wheat, corn, peppers, tomatoes, space lotus and other varieties," Zhao Hui, secretary-general of the Space Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance, told the Global Times. 

Many space-bred crops have now been planted on a large scale, Zhao said. For example, the rice seeds carried by the Shenzhou-10 manned mission have produced nearly 10 new varieties of high-quality, high-yielding rice in the past five years.

The average yield of wheat production in China is around 400-600 kilograms per mu (0.67 hectares), Zhao said, while the new variety of wheat seeds bred from the ones carried onboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in 2013 will have an average yield of more than 800 kilograms per mu. The new variety of seeds is expected to be planted over an area of more than 500,000 mu from 2021 to 2023. 

What's more, more than 5,000 vegetable variant strains of good quality have been bred onboard the Shenzhou series of manned spacecraft, creating over 20 new varieties of vegetables such as space peppers and space tomatoes. 

The vitamin C content in space pepper is 20 percent more than ordinary ones, and they are available for market sale some 15 days earlier. The yield is also significantly improved, bringing considerable economic benefits to farmers.

In addition to staple crops and vegetables, the yield of grass and flowers and Chinese herbal seeds has also increased through space breeding.

Other than boosting yields and quality of seeds, the benefit of China's space breeding is also reflected in its contribution to the nation's food security.

The China space station, completed last year, has now entered the application and development phase. A large number of biological samples have been carried to the in-orbit station, obtaining space mutagenesis under cosmic radiation in the microgravity environment during spaceflight.  

A great number of experimental materials have returned to Earth with the Shenzhou spacecraft and have been handed over to researchers for seed selection and ground breeding, the Global Times has learned. Shenzhou-14 and -15 have carried more than 1,000 crop seeds and microbial strains from over 100 institutions, and Shenzhou-12 and -13 also returned more than 1,000 seeds from 88 institutions. 

"At present, whether in laboratory testing of microbial strains or experimental planting of crop materials, important mutant strains with scientific research value and application potential have been found, such as rice in South China, forage grass in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, cotton in Central China's Henan Province, and maple, fir, and red beech for forest breeding," Zhao noted. 

These valuable strains will lay the foundations for the innovation of China's agricultural and forestry resources and play an important role in the development of the country's food security and ecological civilization, he said. 

Space breeding has produced more than 240 varieties of staple crops in China, significantly improving crop yield and quality and increasing grain production by about 1.6 billion kilograms, the Global Times has learned. The varieties, with optimized cultivation techniques, have greatly reduced costs, bringing farmers more income. 

For example, the new variety of space rice in South China can be sown directly, which avoids the transplanting process and reduces the burden on farmers. 

Space mutagenesis has greatly improved the properties and quality of materials, and further expanded their commercial use. 

At present, staple food crops such as rice and wheat, or space peppers, tomatoes and eggplants have all been served on people's tables. With a large number of breeding materials sent into space in recent years, more new varieties with new traits and tastes will enter the market soon in the future, enriching people's lives, Zhao said. 

As for safety issues from space-bred crops that aroused public concern, Zhao said the public need not worry at all. He explained that for one thing, the introduction of exogenous or endogenous genes is not involved in the process of space mutagenesis, so it is no different from traditional physical radiation breeding; for another thing, under the protection of the spacecraft, the radiation concentration is much lower than that of traditional radiation mutagenesis, and the offspring of spaceflight breeding will not be radioactive.

"Our taikonauts on the China Space Station and astronauts on the International Space Station have all eaten space lettuce and other kinds of space-bred crops and no safety issues have ever occurred. That suggests that space-bred food is safe," Zhao noted. 

Chinese technology giant Huawei has successfully replaced internal software management systems it once sourced from US vendors with its own in-house version in 88 overseas subsidiaries, as the company continues to reduce foreign reliance amid prolonged US curbs.

According to an article published on Huawei's online community for its employees Xinsheng.huawei.com, the 88 overseas units in 75 countries were the first batch of Huawei's global branches to complete the switch to its self-developed MetaERP, covering business sectors including cloud computing, devices, and information and communication technology. 

Huawei said it plans to accomplish the switchover in all of its more than 200 overseas units within the year.

ERP software is used by companies to manage key business operations ranging from accounting to supply chain management. It is widely seen as the most critical enterprise management IT system.

"The global switchover to MetaERP, and its ability to support the normal operations of Huawei's diverse lines of business worldwide, will prove to be an all-around victory," said the company.

In May 2019, the US Commerce Department added Huawei to a trade blacklist over alleged security concerns. The move has cut it off from a range of services and products, including ERP tools it largely purchased from US vendors.

Since then, the company has launched a transformation project to guarantee ERP continuity. After three years of efforts, the company successfully piloted the MetaERP system in Malaysia in September 2021, and applied it to key subsidiaries including Huawei Technologies in July 2022. 

In January 2023, MetaERP successfully supported the company's yearly settlements, representing a key victory for the system.

In late April, Huawei held an internal ceremony to celebrate the switch in Dongguan, South China, attended by the company's rotating Chairperson Meng Wanzhou.

"We were cut off from our old ERP system and other core operation and management systems more than three years ago. Since then, we have been able not only to build our own MetaERP, but also to manage the switch and prove its capabilities. Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through the blockade. We have survived!" Tao Jingwen, a Huawei board member and president of the quality, business process and IT management department, said during the ceremony.