Exhibitors highlight China Supply Chain Expo's role in global cooperation

Exhibitors at the just-concluded China International Supply Chain Expo highlighted its growing role in fostering global collaboration.

Held under the theme "Connecting the World for a Shared Future," the five-day expo ran from Wednesday to Sunday in Beijing, drawing 651 companies and institutions from 75 countries and regions. Foreign exhibitors accounted for roughly 35 percent of participants, highlighting the event's growing international influence.

French cosmetics giant L'Oreal, making its debut at this year's expo, emphasized that in the beauty industry, supply chains go beyond product creation. They are essential for getting products into consumers' hands quickly.

To keep pace with China's booming e-commerce sector, the group established its first smart fulfillment center last year in Suzhou, eastern China, a city located just next to Shanghai -- one of the country’s largest consumer markets. Equipped with advanced automation and IT systems, the 46,000-square-meter facility is capable of producing over 7,000 direct-to-consumer parcels per hour.

"Manufacturing in Yichang and Suzhou, the new fulfillment center, which has been implemented in Suzhou, is what we call the smart fulfillment center -- driven by technology, driven by machine learning. The purpose of that is making sure that any consumer can get his product wherever he is, as fast as he needs. I know Chinese consumers are extremely demanding. They want to have the best product, the right product, right now. Us, L'Oreal, on our own, we cannot support the scale and the speed of the China business," said Marc Antoine Poulle, senior vice president of L'Oreal's operations in North Asia and China.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, another first-time exhibitor at the expo, has been operating in China for 40 years, marking a major milestone: the first Airbus final assembly line outside Europe is located in China.

Erik Buschmann, chief operating officer of Airbus China, said local suppliers across the country are helping the company move toward its next goal: greener skies.

"The first one is Tianjin. That's where our manufacturing site is. So the largest and biggest site we have in China is Tianjin. Why Tianjin? It's close to the water, so it's important for the sections to arrive, and it's a big city in China, so therefore it has good conditions for us. We are looking at ways of being in itself more sustainable; using parts, using pieces, using material again, doing a smart way of manufacturing, being in a way in a sustainable production environment. That's where these people help us, and we are very confident that we can do even more in China," said Buschmann.

Exhibitors highlight China Supply Chain Expo's role in global cooperation

As the diplomatic engagement between the United States and Iran continues despite a faltering ceasefire, a former commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said that Iran is prepared to use military power to break the U.S. maritime blockade should the negotiations collapse or run on too long.

Mohsen Rezaee, who also currently serves as a member of the Iranian Expediency Discernment Council, struck a confident tone about Iran's current trajectory in an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Tehran on Wednesday.

He said the country has withstood over two decades of crippling sanctions and continued to move forward.

"We have been under sanctions for more than 20 years. The number of sanctions likely exceeds 2,000, targeting individuals, enterprises, corporations, ships, insurance companies, and even foreign countries that interacted with us. However, we have managed to find solutions to neutralize these sanctions, and we will continue to do so moving forward," he said.

He said Iran aims to ease the sanctions burden through talks with the U.S., although at the same time, he said, Iran is ready to shift to a military response if the path to a peaceful resolution closes.

"Furthermore, we will compel the U.S. to lift these sanctions. We will force the U.S. to end the maritime blockade -- either through negotiations or, should they resist, through direct action and we will attack U.S. warships. Therefore, despite all the pressures, the future of our economy is bright and promising, while the future of the US economy is bleak," he said.

While any new war against Iran would be a dead end, the best way out for the U.S. is to continue talks, according to the senior official.

"We have prepared ourselves so that if the maritime blockade continues beyond a certain timeframe, we will launch an attack and break the blockade. The Americans have no choice but to negotiate. Continuing this war is a journey into a very dark tunnel for the United States. The more America chooses to fight, the deeper it enters a tunnel with no end. Yet for us, the path is perfectly clear. America is moving toward us in the dark, while we are monitoring their every move," he said.

Former IRGC chief says Iran ready to break U.S. naval blockade by force if talks fail