China-Europe freight train services boost regional economic growth in Inner Mongolia

The 110,000th China-Europe freight train on Thursday departed from Erenhot, one of China's key border railway hubs in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and embarked on an international journey towards Moscow.

The Erenhot port now connects with over 70 logistics hubs across more than 10 European and Central Asian countries, including Germany, Poland, and Russia. The port has handled over 19,000 China-Europe freight trains so far, playing a good role in boosting economic growth in related regions.

Local authorities have leveraged transporting capabilities of the freight trains and the connected cross-border logistics network to attract companies from industries including iron ore and timber processing to gather in Erenhot. As a result, a third of the imported iron ore powder is processed by local companies and transported across China.

"We process imported iron ore powder by leveraging the transportation capacities of the railway and return trips of China-Europe freight trains. This not only extends our local iron ore processing industry's value chain, but also helps deal with the challenges of transporting iron ore powder and the ensuing environmental pollution," said Yang Feng, head of an iron ore refining enterprise in Erenhot.

Located over 300 kilometers from the Erenhot port, Qisumu International Logistics Park is the largest China-Europe freight train dispatch hub in Inner Mongolia.

Local specialty agricultural products such as sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are all shipped to European markets via the railway. Since 2016, nearly 900 China-Europe trains have departed from the logistics park, boosting its establishment as an export processing industrial base for characteristic agricultural and livestock products.

"With the regular operation of the China-Europe Railway, the transportation time for our products to Europe has been reduced from 45 days to 15 days, saving approximately 600 yuan (about 83.4 U.S. dollars) per ton in logistics costs. This has laid a solid foundation for the development of locally distinctive agricultural product industry," said Cui Xuesong, a manager of Qisumu International Logistics Park.

Linking 128 Chinese cities with hundreds of European and Asian cities, the China-Europe freight train service has transported more than 450 billion U.S. dollars worth of commodities in its 14 years of service.

China-Europe freight train services boost regional economic growth in Inner Mongolia

Japan should better inform its younger generations about its history of aggression during World War II (WWII) to raise anti-war awareness in society, according to descendants of Japanese invaders in China during WWII.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese troops attacked Chinese forces at the Lugou Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing, marking the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China and China's nationwide resistance against the Japanese invaders, initiating a whole-of-nation war effort that opened the main Eastern battlefield in the global war against fascism.

In a recent interview with China Media Group, Kuroi Akio, one of the five descendants who visited China last year for an apology tour, warned about the lack of information in today's education system regarding Japan's wartime invasion of China and other Asian countries.

"Three years ago, I asked a group of children between the ages of six and 10 if Japan had ever been in a war and where it was fought. About 70 children raised their hands, so I asked them one by one. Every child answered 'America,' and not one mentioned any other country. The children knew about the war with the United States and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, they didn't know about Japan's invasions of China, the Korean Peninsula, China's Taiwan region, Indonesia, and the Philippines. This is the reality, and that's why the education in Japan is so hopeless," said Kuroi, who knelt down before the Chinese people during his apology tour in northeast China's Jilin Province last September.

Kurokawa Yasuko, another descendant, also called for better education in Japan about its wartime history, saying it was essential for a properly informed public opinion.

"I think that [the lack of war history education] is wrong. It's important to teach students the history of Japan's invasion to others in the modern world, otherwise the public opinion of this country will be steered in the wrong direction," she said.

"We hope to create a strong anti-war public opinion in Japan. My activities are called 'micro-power' in Japan, a tiny power indeed, but by gathering voices of support and agreement, such drops of water will become a stream, a river, and eventually an ocean. Without a peaceful future, mankind can't survive. Humanity's future can only be realized through the belief in peace," Kuroi said.

Japan should better inform younger generations about its wartime atrocities: WWII descendants