The Network of Partner Cities in New Industrial Revolution was officially launched on Wednesday at the BRICS New Industrial Revolution Partnership Forum held in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province.
The network was jointly initiated by 11 cities, including Durban in South Africa, Lagos in Nigeria, Belgrade in Serbia, Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan, Kaposvar in Hungary, and the Chinese cities of Xiamen, Nanjing, Wuhan, Yinchuan and Chengdu.
The network's focus is on green and low-carbon development, digital transformation, industrial chain collaboration, and talent cultivation. It aims to create a new platform for international inter-city cooperation through regular communication mechanisms, industrial matchmaking and the sharing of innovation resources.
"Using cities as key nodes, we aim to build the Network of Partner Cities in New Industrial Revolution. This approach will enable precise alignment of local resource advantages and industrial needs, effectively integrate innovation resources and manufacturing capabilities, as well as market channels across cities. This will ultimately reduce the costs of cross-border cooperation for businesses," said Zheng Hong, director of the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and director of the China Center for BRICS Industrial Competencies.
Jointly hosted by the MIIT and the Fujian provincial government, the forum includes an opening ceremony, a main forum, parallel sessions, as well as related events.
Network of Partner Cities on New Industrial Revolution launched at BRICS forum in Xiamen
Japan's ongoing push to revise its pacifist constitution and expand military buildup escalate regional tension, warned Japanese lawyer Kyoko Oe, who urged adherence to pacifism and vigilance against the government's dangerous moves.
Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October, the Japanese government has renewed its push to revise the country's pacifist constitution and accelerated a series of military expansion measures, including increasing defense spending, deploying long-range missiles, and easing restrictions on arms exports.
Speaking on the dangerous policy shifts, Oe criticized the Takaichi administration for bypassing public will.
"We believe that when Japanese citizens are not demanding constitutional reform, pushing it forward through a parliamentary majority clearly violates the principle of popular sovereignty and the obligation to respect the constitution. Moreover, the content of the revision itself is extremely dangerous. [The government] is attempting to change pacifist principles of the Japanese constitution -- the most fundamental part -- and abandon basic concepts, including the renunciation of war and not maintaining military forces," said Oe.
The Japanese government has aggressively accelerated war readiness even under the current constitution, said Oe, adding that amending it will grant the Self-Defense Forces even greater freedom of action at the constitutional level.
"If the constitution is amended, the Self-Defense Forces will gain greater freedom of action at the constitutional level than they have now, and legal interpretations will develop in that direction. Even while the current constitution remains effective, the Japanese government has already forcibly advanced war preparations. For example, manufacturing long-range missiles, which were previously considered unacceptable to possess, and deploying them domestically; conducting joint war games and military exercises with the United States; and massively manufacturing and exporting weapons overseas," said Oe.
The lawyer also criticized Takaichi's provocative remarks on China, saying they have sharply strained bilateral ties and undermined peace and stability in the region.
"We believe that due to Takaichi's remarks made last November, China-Japan relations have become very tense and are deteriorating. Legal experts believe that Takaichi's remarks contain multiple obvious errors. Takaichi should frankly retract the relevant remarks and apologize. Only by building mutual trust with neighboring countries can we maintain our peace, and the peace of East Asia and even the peace of Asia. We believe that what the Takaichi administration is doing runs completely counter to what the Japanese people truly wish to achieve," Oe said.
Japan's constitution revision, military buildup fuel regional tensions: lawyer
