Uncertainty,the Only Certainty for Afghanistan

正Afghanistan is the battlefield where the U.S.army fought the longest overseas.Since U.S.President Joe Biden took office in January,the war's future course has come in the spotlight.According to an agreement signed between the Donald Trump administration and the Taliban in late February 2020,the U.S.     

The No.1 Priority

At the beginning of each year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly release the first document of the year, dubbed the No.1 Document. The issue discussed in the No.1 Document is, of course, the most important to the current economic and social development of the country.     

The Way Forward

As two major countries in the world, China and the U.S. must work together to combat global challenges. At a three-day webinar on China-U.S. relations hosted by the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation and the China Center for International Economic Exchanges from January 26 to 28, the participants examined the main issues in the relationship and the key areas the two should focus on.     

MARKET WATCH

OPINION More Flexible Yuan Following a roughly 2-percent fall in the exchange rate against the U.S. dollar in the first seven months of this year, the yuan began to rebound at the end of July. On November 12, the central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar hit 6.292, a record high in the past six months.     

AN EXTRAORDINARY RELATIONSHIP

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Shanghai Communique by China and the United States, Beijing Review North America Bureau reporter Chen Wen intervie wed sever al exp e r ts on their views of the significance of the docu-ment for China-U.S . relations and the future of the relation ship between the two countries. They are: 1. Henry Kissinger , then assistant to the U.S . president who visited Beijing secretly in 1971 and then accompanied President Richard Nixon during his groundbreaking tour to China in 1972; 2. Jeffrey A. Bader, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center and Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution; 3. Minxin Pei , Senior Associate and Director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.; and 4. Jerome A. Cohen, an expert on the Chinese legal system and professor of law at the New York University School of Law,who witnessed the history of the normalization of China-U.S .relations from the late 1960s to the 1970s.Excerpts of the interviews follow:     

Resounding Music Within the High Walls

The No. 4 Prison in Yunnan Province is resounded with beautiful music every day, striking the note of the care about the cultural life among the inmates inside the high walls. The prison organized the orchestra in October 1999. Despite the tight pocket of the prison, it spent nearly 20,000 yuan buying electronic organs, guitars, drums, violins, saxophones and trumpets and later to the orchestra were added such Chinese musical instruments as Sheng, Gu Zheng, Piba and clarinet. Now the orchestra boasts 53 pieces of musical instruments in 22 categories. The members of the orchestra have increased from the original 23 to 29. The name of the orchestra "Concern" signifies that the prison needs the understanding and support from the society and prison inmate needs social care and assistance in their correction. At the beginning, few of the members knew anything about music. The prison     

From Cypro-Chinese Friendship Association

Mr. President, C.P.A.F.F.C. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Chinese People's Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries, the Cypro-Chinese Friendship Association wishes you all the best and success in your efforts to strengthen Friendship between the People of all countries of the World.     

Savior of the World Economy

The credit crunch and generally tightened monetary policy caused by the subprime crisis in the United States are still being widely assessed around the globe.Worries are that a further downturn of the U.S.market in the coming year will intensify cash flow shortages and spur more economic losses,resulting in a complete decline of the U.S.market and therefore slowing down the world economy.Another theory has surfaced assuming that China and the United States are the double-barreled engines of the world economy.As China's influence spreads,it will have to complement the United States to rid the world of this crisis. Ding Yifan,Deputy Director of the Institute of World Development under the Development Research Center of the State Council,has made clear China's growing impact on the global economy.However,as Ding wrote to the Global Times,a Beijing-based daily publication,the knockdown effect of the mortgage crisis is apparent,and emerging markets look even more vulnerable because of it.Excerpts follow:     

COOKING CLASS

(Muxu Rou)Rinse the pork, cut out the sinew and shred. Beat one egg, mix with soy sauce and cornstarch and coat the pork with the mixture. Set aside. Clean and shred the green rape, carrots and fun- gus. Beat the remaining eggs and mince the scal- lions. Heat vegetable oil in a wok, and add the coated pork shreds. Stir-fry for a while, remove and drain off the oil. Heat oil in the wok and stir-fry the eggs. Add green rape, carrots and fungus, followed by salt, cooking wine and soy sauce. Sp…     

Sweet and Sour Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish

Clean and scale the fish, and cut out gills and guts. Cut off the fish head and halve. Cut open the fish along the length of its backbone, leaving the tail on. Cut out the backbone and ribs. Make diagonal cuts on the surface of the fish. Marinate the fish flesh and head in cooking wine and salt. Dice onions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and carrots, and scald them. Heat oil in wok. Coat the fish head and meat in flour and egg yolk. Deep fry until     

Spreading the Olympic Spirit

The Olympic Truce dates back to the eighth century B.C. and served as the cornerstone of the ancient games for more than 1,200 years. Throughout the duration of the peace accord, from the seventh day prior to the opening of the Olympic Games to the seventh day following the closing, all conflicts should cease according to the truce.     

STRATEGIC RE-EVALUATION

正After nearly 20 years in the shadows,Taliban forces once again took control of Kabul,capital of Afghanistan,on August 16.The rapid Taliban takeover and the withdrawal of U.S.troops from the country denoted the end of the Afghan War first launched by the George W.Bush administration in 2001.Furthermore,it indicated the failure of U.S.policy in the Greater Middle East region,leaving the local geopolitical structure facing a new round of profound adjustments.     

A Game With No Winners

正Open and free trade is in the interests of China,the U.S.and the world In October 1929,the U.S.stock market crashed.Over the course of the following weeks and months,billions of dollars in wealth evaporated,banks failed,companies collapsed,and millions of ordinary people in the United States and around the     

Tigers Get a Lifeline

They say you never miss the water until you see the well run dry.It's certainly true in the case of the world's endangered species.And especially in the instance of the South China tiger.By the time the conservation authorities hit the panic button it was already too late and the big beautiful cats had disappeared from the wilds of China,culled by hunters and poachers,and squeezed out of their habitat by the march of civilization and its voracious appetite for land. Now bred in captivity and rewilded,the tigers'numbers inch upwards.Growing public awareness helps. But replacing nature's work artificially brings its own challenges.     

CASE

At present, the marriage registration agencies of dis-tricts and counties in Beijing have made the promise that itwill take only 3 days to perform the procedures for a divorce. According to the provisions of the Regulations ofBeijing Municipality on Administration of the MarriageRegistration, the period for going through the proce-dures for a divorce is within 30 days. Now, as a resultof the increase of work efficiency, the period of 30 dayshas been decreased to 3 days, which signifies the im-portant change of the administrative function of the civiladministration system. In the past. the personnel of the     

Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor in Chinese History

On a day in January 259 B.C., a boy was born in Handan (now Handan City, North China's Hebei Province) to the family of Yi Ren. Handan was the capital of the State of Zhao. Named Ying Zheng, the baby was to become the First Emperor of China.In 238 B.C., at the age of 22, Ying Zheng was coronated. After the coronation and victory with the struggle for the throne, King Qin applied the strategy of     

Dangshen with Astragalus Root Soup

Wash the red dates, astragalus root, and dangshen.Draw the chicken, and wash the lean pork.Add water to the pot, add the chicken and lean pork, bring to the boil, and pour off the water.     

Don’t Blame RMB Appreciation

The United States seems serious about for cing a sharp and rapid appreciation of the Chinese currency. So serious in fact that the U.S . Senate Finance Committee and Senate Banking Committee passed two recent billsto this effect. The action is a clear indication of the way some Americans areth in king , brin g ing to the for e the belief that appreciating the renminbi willease the U.S trade deficit with China and reduce the hammering beingmeted out to some U.S . industries. Xia Bin, Director of the Finance ResearchInstitute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, chal-lenges the thinking in an article published in China Business News . Excerpt s follow:     

Exchange Rate in Focus

China announced the reform of its decade-old RMB exchange rate regime last July, linking the RMB to a basket of currencies rather than the U.S. dollar alone, and allowing the RMB to appreciate 2 percent against the U.S. currency. Since then, different viewpoints on the new regime have been voiced. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a statement in late March that it would further improve the system, broadening the foreign exchange market, increasing the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate and maintaining the basic stability of the currency. In a recent interview with Caijing magazine, Wu Xiaoling, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, talks about issues related to the RMB exchange rate. Her main ideas follow:     

The U.S. QE Policy and Its Ripple Effect

SINCE the onset in 2008 of the devastating financial crisis, the U.S. has suffered soaring unemployment and a sluggish economy. To fuel the domestic economy, on December 16, 2008 the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered the overnight federal funds rate to between zero and 0.25 percent.