China's urbanization to focus on improving life quality: experts

China's new-type urbanization will focus on improving the quality of people's life and work in urban areas, demonstrating a transformation of urban development mindset, urban planning experts said on Tuesday following the Central Urban Work Conference attended by the country's top leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out overall requirements, key principles and priority tasks for urban work at the conference held in Beijing from Monday to Tuesday.

"The meeting notably put forward the general goal of building modern cities of the people that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart. We can see richer connotations in the new goal compared with the previous goal to build livable, resilient, and smart cities. I believe the new goal is in line with the objective demands of high-quality development of modern cities," said Wang Kai, deputy president of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design.

The country's urbanization is shifting from rapid growth to stable development, and urban development is shifting from a stage of large-scale expansion to one focused on improving the quality and efficiency of existing urban areas. Greater emphasis must be placed on adopting a people-oriented approach, fostering distinctive features, enhancing governance capacity, and strengthening coordination, according to the meeting.

"The core concept of urban development is actually people-oriented. China's new-type urbanization is actually a people-centered strategy of urbanization. We must focus on people's needs in their production and living and push the cities to develop and grow in a way satisfying the needs of various groups of people. It is indeed a transformation of the mentality for urban development," said Bao Jiawei, director of policy research department of the China Center for Urban Development.

China, a traditionally agricultural country, has seen its urbanization pick up after the reform and opening-up drive began in the late 1970s. More than a decade ago, the country's urban population exceeded the rural population. By 2024, the proportion of permanent urban residents had risen to 67 percent.

China's urbanization to focus on improving life quality: experts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Ukraine stands ready to agree to security guarantees based on NATO's Article 5 as part of a compromise in the peace process, according to media reports.

"From the very beginning, Ukraine's desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the United States and Europe did not support this direction," the Ukrinform news agency quoted Zelensky.

Zelensky said Article 5-like guarantees from the United States and from European partners, as well as from other countries, "would provide an opportunity to prevent another arrival of Russian troops." He also called it "a compromise on our part."

Zelensky said he was not yet ready to disclose specific details of the proposed security guarantees, saying they would be known in a day or two.

Ukrainian president arrived in Berlin on Sunday afternoon for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other European leaders.

German newspaper Bild reported that Zelensky may also hold talks with representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump, but did not elaborate further.

According to Ukrinform, Zelensky said the same day that Ukraine must be prepared for any possible developments regarding elections.

"I asked our partners to assist with the security situation if elections are held, and I said that lawmakers should prepare options for how this could be implemented if the situation develops in that direction. They should work out, in the near future, options for holding elections," he said in a statement in response to journalists' questions.

He said he had received "signals" from the United States and President Trump regarding Ukraine's presidential election.

Ukraine says ready to accept NATO-style security guarantees