China releases white paper on Belt and Road cooperation

A China–Europe freight train, which set out from Duisburg, Germany, carrying exhibits for the sixth China International Import Expo arrives in Shanghai, east China, Oct. 29, 2023.

China's State Council Information Office on October 10, 2023, released a white paper titled "The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future."

The white paper will give the international community a better understanding of the value of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), facilitate high-quality cooperation under it, and ultimately deliver benefits to more countries and peoples.

Since its launch, the BRI has evolved from ideas into actions, from a vision into reality, and from a general framework into concrete projects. It has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform.

Over the past decade, BRI cooperation has delivered real gains to participating countries. It has contributed to the sound development of economic globalization and helped to resolve global development challenges and improve global governance system.

It has also opened up a new path for all humanity to realize modernization and ensured that the efforts of building a global community of shared future are delivering real results, the white paper said.

Looking forward, China stands ready to work with other countries to pursue closer and more fruitful cooperation under the BRI framework, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

China issues reform plan for collective forest tenure system

An aerial view of Changkou Village in Sanming City, where China issued its first batch of forest carbon credit stamps in a move to use market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions, in southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 14, 2023. [Photo by Zhang Bin/China News Service]

China has issued a plan on deepening reform of the collective forest tenure system to increase farmers' incomes and promote green development.

By 2025, the country aims to have generally formed a collective forest tenure system with clear ownership, unified responsibilities and rights, strict protection, orderly circulation and effective supervision, according to the plan jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council.

On this basis, multiple measures will be taken, including further developing appropriate-scale operation of the forestry industry, promoting more scientific and efficient management of forest resources, and diversifying channels for increasing the value of forest tenure to constantly improve the ecological quality of forests and increase farmers' incomes.

Projects will be introduced to accurately improve forest quality and promote efficient forest management models, while green industries such as ecological tourism, forest health care and nature education will be developed with a view to protecting forest resources and ecology, says the plan.

It also urges efforts to explore and improve the mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products and encourage financial institutions to up loan support for the forestry industry.