China's industrial economy had maintained smooth operation in the first three quarters of this year, with key industries and regions making particularly outstanding contributions, said an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Zhao Zhiguo, chief engineer of the MIIT, said that China's industrial economy showed three major characteristics in the January to September period.
"Industrial production had grown steadily, and we had been actively promoting the implementation of policies. In the first three quarters, the added value of industries above the designated size increased by 5.8 percent year on year, with the total industrial added value accounting for 31.8 percent of the GDP," Zhao said.
"Key industries and regions had made outstanding contributions. We had thoroughly implemented the work plan for stabilizing growth in ten key industries, and given full play to the key supporting role of major industrial provinces and cities. The four industries of electronics, nonferrous metals, chemicals, and automobiles contributed nearly half of the growth in industrial production, and the growth rate in nine major industrial provinces exceeded the national average," he said.
"The momentum of development continued to accumulate. We actively promoted equipment renewal and technological transformation in the industrial field, and pushed forward the transformation of sci-tech achievements into productivity. Investment in equipment and tools increased by 16.4 percent year on year. The output of products with high technological content and high added value, such as artificial intelligence chips and servers, had grown rapidly," Zhao said.
Key industries, regions make outstanding contributions to China's industrial growth in first three quarters: official
Romano Prodi, former prime minister of Italy and former president of the European Commission, has warned against the resurgence of a Cold War mentality in an exclusive interview with the China Central Television that aired on Friday, emphasizing that global peace and cooperation depend on the ability of nations to accept their differences and engage in meaningful dialogue.
Reflecting on the shifting global landscape, Prodi said that political issues have become increasingly entangled with economic, human rights, and trade concerns.
He warned that this "mixture of tension" is often used as a pretext to further escalate conflicts rather than resolve them.
"I have insisted my life to a decrease of tension step by step. You know, with, as I told you, the political problem which are mixing with problems of economy, of human rights, of regulation, of trade, and now we have a mixture of tension, in which everything is taken as an excuse to increase that. My political idea is that, you have to talk with everybody. From this point of view, it's a Western mistake that to have, let's say, agreement, you need to have the same political system. This is completely wrong," he said. Prodi challenged the prevailing Western notion that international agreements require identical political systems, arguing that such a mindset ignores the unique historical trajectories of different nations. He stressed that countries must move beyond mere respect to a deeper level of understanding and acceptance of their inherent differences.
"We understand that we were born different. You know, but we have to live as different. And this is the idea that because you are different, I fight against you. And this is everywhere in the world. It's an heritage of the Cold War.We are going back to the old Cold War. If you go on in this situation, we cannot have any type of relaxing our tension," he said.
To break the current deadlock in international cooperation, Prodi called for initiatives in specific fields to restart engagement.
"Somebody must take some initiative in some specific field, you know, in order to start back to cooperate. When people talk, the agreement, or the compromise, is easy to reach. When we are so divided as we are now, it's impossible, because the enemy is the enemy. When you have a dialogue and you have a compromise, we understand that you can live together," said the Italian politician.
Former Italian PM calls for dialogue, acceptance of differences in global cooperation
Former Italian PM calls for dialogue, acceptance of differences in global cooperation
