China congratulated Venezuela on Monday on the success of its presidential election and to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for his successful re-election, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, after media reported that Maduro won the election with 51.2 percent of votes cast. 

Noting that China and Venezuela are good friends and partners, Lin said that China attaches great importance to the development of bilateral relations and is willing to work with Venezuela to continuously enrich the China-Venezuela all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership and bring more benefits to the two peoples.

In an election that was closely observed by the US and some other Latin American countries, Maduro's declaration of victory is "a disappointing news" to Washington. 

"We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tokyo on Monday in comments on the election result, according to media reports. 

Some Chinese observers said if Maduro wins the election and begins his third term, the US may not recognize the results, but the Biden administration, preoccupied with its own issues, is unlikely to support another "Guaido" to challenge Maduro. 

In 2019, then Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido tried to launch a coup and a "color revolution" with the support of the US. However, the continued violence did not topple Maduro's government and Guaido was later ditched by Washington as a worthless pawn, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of China University of Political Science and Law, has been invited by Venezuela's National Electoral Council to serve as an international observer in the country. 

"Many people have great enthusiasm and expectations for this election," Pan told the Global Times.  

"In Venezuelan society, I have not sensed strong extreme or irrational political sentiments. Incidents such as clashes between the police and the public or conflicts between supporters of different groups are rare; at least, I have not seen any in the past few days. However, some citizens are concerned that political disputes and conflicts may emerge after the election," Pan said. 

The Chinese expert said he has spoken with Venezuelans from different social classes and backgrounds about their voting preferences, and the general impression he gets is that middle and lower-class citizens tend to support Maduro more, while those working in the public sector almost universally support him. 

"On the other hand, professionals and overseas returnees who come back to vote are more likely to support Edmundo Gonzalez," Pan said. 

The US and Western media have accused Maduro of fraud and called for a recount. The opposition has criticized the Venezuelan authorities for hastily declaring Maduro the winner before the vote count was complete, suggesting that Venezuela may face a period of unrest in the near future, Xu Shicheng, a research fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

Currently, most Latin American countries are governed by left-wing or center-left administrations. "While it is possible that some right-wing countries, such as Argentina, might not recognize Maduro for a certain period, a situation like the one where the Lima Group refused to acknowledge Maduro's government in 2019 is unlikely to recur," Xu said. 

The US is currently preoccupied with its own problems, and with only six months left in Biden's term, although the White House has made statements regarding the Venezuelan election, it is largely a case of having the will but not the power, the expert added. 

After a series of interviews and observations, Pan said his strongest impression over the past few days is that Venezuelans' main expectation from the next government is "stable jobs."

"Although Venezuela's inflation trend is now stabilizing and the economy is recovering, many Venezuelans have relied on informal employment, such as temporary or part-time jobs, to make ends meet. Stable, formal employment is needed," Pan said. 

"In my view, stabilizing the economy and creating more job opportunities for the people are the most fervent expectations Venezuelans have for the next government," Pan said.

Another expectation is that many people do not want to see large-scale conflict and turmoil in Venezuela once the election results are announced. They hope that political disputes will quickly subside, allowing the country to focus more on economic recovery and addressing people's livelihood issues, Pan added. 

Nvidia, a global leader in AI chips, with a market capitalization topping $3 trillion on average over the past two months, is reportedly working on a version of its new flagship AI chips for the Chinese market that will be compatible with the Biden administration's export control dictate, Reuters reported last week. 

Apparently, the move by Nvidia speaks volume that the US semiconductor heavyweight does not want to lose too much of its market share in China to local competitors, which include Huawei Technologies.

Nvidia will partner with Chinese technology company Inspur on the launch and distribution of the new AI chip, which will be named the "B20," the Reuter report said. Chinese market represented about 9 percent of Nvidia's total revenues in the most recent quarter ending in April, sharply down from 22 percent seen in the same period last year. As a publicly listed company, it is understandable that Nvidia is anxious to snatch back the lost market share in China - the world's largest semiconductor market now. 

It is no secret that Huawei is building a massive semiconductor research and development center in Shanghai as the Chinese tech giant continues to ramp up its own supply chain and chip fabrication capability to counter the US government suppression and crackdown. 

The Biden administration introduced restrictions on Nvidia to sell its most advanced AI chips, including the A100 and H100, to China in October 2022. It further tightened those controls in late 2023. Washington's export controls have largely reduced Huawei's access to high-end chips and semiconductor fabrication tools. And, the US went too far to coerce its allies Japan and the Netherlands to implement similar restrictions on the export of advanced chip fabrication equipment to China. 

However, the US' containment policy has acted as a catalyst in spurring Chinese companies to beef up China's chip self-reliance. The replacement of US semiconductor technology by Chinese firms has ostensibly gained more urgency.

Sales of Huawei Ascend-910B AI chips, whose capability is deemed higher than Nvidia's H20 chips, have increased rapidly in the first half this year as large internet platforms like Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and ByteDance snapped up the home-made chips to train their respective AI models. Chinese market watchers say that, before long, Huawei's advanced AI, database and other-scenario chips will become the dominant chips in the domestic market. H20 was designed by Nvidia for Chinese market to comply with Washington's export controls. 

Dozens of other Chinese semiconductor companies have significantly stepped up investment, striving to localize a greater portion of their own semiconductor supply chain, and improve the country's own semiconductor ecosystem, widely rendered to be increasingly varied and independent from the US ecosystem. 

It is Washington's containing-China policy that leads to growing trajectory of the world's disintegrating industrial supply chain. At the practical level, the past era of close and unfettered cooperation between the US and Chinese scientists and technologists has come to an end, caused by the Biden administration's stringent technology controls designed to stymie China's economy. 

The fragmentation of the world's industrial supply chains, resulting from the US' de-globalization and "decoupling" policy, is in nobody's interest. The notorious US policy will ultimately throttle America's own industries and slow down its economic growth, while placing its green transition in peril. 

Nevertheless, the US' semiconductor technology export controls have, actually, expedited China's indigenous innovation and the development of China's own semiconductor supply chain. The US export controls, if not removed, will inevitably speed up Chinese companies' technology advance, and the US and its allies will get to find their past leverages over China to be diminished and might be totally gone one day as China rapidly develops alternative solutions to replace US technologies.

Increasingly, many in the US say that Biden administration's containment policy is very flawed. In the long run, forcing the US companies to pull out of China's huge market will take a significant toll on US companies' business revenues, depriving them of the capital needed for research and development. 

By all accounts, China's market competition is becoming fiercer, which is actually a good thing for businesses, domestic or foreign-invested, to become nimbler and more capable and sophisticated in a setting of free market contest. 

It is certainly a laurel for any enterprise if it is able to become an integral part of China-based industrial supply chain, with high efficiency, quality and affordability as the market's clear hallmarks. To put it in perspective, the US government's push to "de-risk" or "decouple" from China is ill-willed and injudicious. In the end, those manufacturing companies following the dictates of the US government by leaving the Chinese market will find themselves weakened and become less competitive. 

Any trumpeted effort by the US of a diversification away from China's supply chain is doomed. China has the world's largest number of engineers and well-trained work force, which makes the Chinese market and the country's supply chains theoretically "inescapable" for any enterprise to turn out a viable product and make a good profit.

For sure, China should and will continuously strengthen the resilience and security of its supply chains, such as building up a strategic backup base in the country's vast hinterland for key industries and key resources - including a well-established industry and supply chain with a clearly listed focus on advanced semiconductor chips, industry master machines and advanced new materials. 

Lately, Chinese authorities have pledged to remove all restrictions on foreign investment access to China's mammoth and burgeoning manufacturing sector, and to remove more administrative restrictions in its service sector, too. The friendly gesture, plus China's massive and lucrative market, will attract more overseas companies to invest in China, or expand their operations in the country. So, getting tethered to China's highly-efficient supply chain and staying put in the market competition will bring massive benefits to all types of businesses. 

Centered around the theme of "water," a dialogue between Shanghai and New York with discussions on economic and trade ties, cultural exchanges and waterfront planning, was held in Shanghai on Friday, aiming to foster in-depth explorations of shared opportunities and challenges and strengthen people-to-people exchanges between the two cities.

The event named "Common ideals and common future: a river dialogue between Shanghai and New York," was organized by the Shanghai Public Relations Association, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai), and the Shanghai Institute of American Studies.

Chinese and American experts and industrial observers discussed how to build mutually beneficial economic and trade relationships, strengthen friendship through cultural exchanges, and create more livable waterfront cities through effective urban planning.

Rivers are precious gifts from nature to cities, which not only nourish the land, but also nurture civilizations. Rivers play a crucial role in the development of cities, serving as both transportation arteries, cultural symbols and catalysts for economic growth, Sha Hailin, president of the Shanghai Public Relations Association said at a speech during the conference.

In Shanghai, the Huangpu River nurtures the city, while in New York, the Hudson River injects vitality. Rivers are important witnesses to the exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and New York, China and the US, said Sha. This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the US.

Eric Zheng, president of AmCham Shanghai, delivered a speech highlighting the mutually beneficial and win-win economic and trade relations between China and the US. Despite being affected by geopolitical and economic downturns in recent years, US companies operating in China still consider the Chinese market as a very important strategic market, Zheng said in the speech.

Zheng told the Global Times on Friday that they are optimistic about the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. Many of their member American companies are based in Shanghai, and it is hoped that they can expand from Shanghai to the Yangtze River Delta and even nationwide, Zheng said. Using the concept of urban clusters for development will be more sustainable for the future, Zheng noted.

Along with economic ties, cultural exchanges have also played important roles to push forward the sound development between the two cities.

Shanghai is also an important base for China-US sports and cultural exchanges. The spirit of friendship and cooperation among the younger generations can lay a solid foundation for long-term stable relations between the two countries, Yao Ming, FIBA Asia Chairman and President of the Chinese Basketball Association said via a video speech in the conference.

Jeffrey S. Lehman, executive vice chancellor of New York University Shanghai shared his views of college students acting as the natural bridge between the two cities.

Students at the university come from more than 70 different countries and regions. Lehman said that they encourage students to engage with a classmate from another country through conversation or shared activities, to strengthen communication.

"Shanghai and New York are two cities that share much in common. Both are the economic and financial centers of their respective countries, and both are major port cities situated on their respective countries' eastern coasts, where a major river meets the sea," Justin O'Jack, chief representative of the UVA China Office, told the Global Times on Friday.

"Whether it's the Hudson River in New York or the Huangpu River in Shanghai, both river systems have facilitated the flow of goods to and from the world, contributing to their city's economic development over hundreds of years," O'Jack said.

"I vividly remember 30 years ago the first time I stood on the Bund and looked across the Huangpu River to the Pudong side of Shanghai. What was then mostly low-rise industrial buildings and shipping docks now boasts one of the most impressive skylines in the world," O'Jack said.

As an important part of a city, the planning and design of the waterfront areas reflect a high level of emphasis on the scientific and human-centered approach to urban public open spaces. Waterfront planning emphasizes the full utilization of natural resources and the harmonious integration of the built environment, aiming to create a scientific, rational and healthy urban layout, said Zhang Yan, president of Shanghai Global Spatial Planning and Research Institute.

Boeing confirmed to the Global Times on Wednesday that it has restarted deliveries of the 737 MAX to Chinese airlines, marking progress for the model in China after some setbacks.

The move came after a roughly two-month pause imposed by Chinese aviation regulators to review additional information about batteries used in cockpit voice recorders in Boeing's planes, reported Bloomberg.

It is a "natural move" after Chinese authorities finished the review of the aircraft's equipment, Qi Qi, a Chinese civil aviation expert, told the Global Times. For domestic airlines, accepting the aircraft is conducive to current fleet size's renewal and it can ease the shortage of narrow-body aircraft capacity in the medium and long term.

Deliveries of Boeing passenger aircraft to China have been intermittent since China suspended most orders and deliveries in 2019 following two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX in other countries.

In January of this year, one Boeing 737 MAX flying from Seattle arrived at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in South China's Guangdong Province, which was regarded as the ending of the nearly five-year freeze.

However, in May, Bloomberg reported that Boeing had stopped delivering airplanes to customers in China, due to requests by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for additional information related to batteries used in cockpit voice recorders.

Market analysts noted that the restart of 737 MAX deliveries to China will boost market confidence for Boeing, which is mired in a deep safety crisis and financial difficulties.

It is a "boost " for Boeing, for the redelivery of this model in important global markets will help boost its performance in the capital market, Qi said.

Boeing has been in the spotlight since earlier this year, when a door blew out during a flight overseas. The company has faced supply chain difficulties and slow assembly issues.

Its total first-half orders stood at 156, down 70 percent year-on-year. Boeing's shares are down 28.5 percent this year.

The latest progress in the China's market has been regarded as a glimmer of good news for the company.

Boeing on Tuesday updated its market outlook, raising estimated demand for civilian aircraft in the next 20 years from 42,595 in 2023 to nearly 44,000, and China will lead all markets, being the largest single country market.

Boeing China President Liu Qing told the media in May that Boeing had begun to resume deliveries of new aircraft to Chinese carriers, including the 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner, and said that recent "progress is very good and very smooth."

The move came amid a visit by a delegation of the board of directors of the US-China Business Council, which included executives from the council and some US firms like Boeing. The three-day trip to Beijing ended on Tuesday.

"We appreciate the opportunity to engage with Chinese leaders to promote commercial relations and advocate our priorities for the benefit of our companies and employees," the council's board chair and FedEx Corp President Raj Subramaniam was quoted as saying in a press release. "We support the two governments' efforts to regularly discuss and seek to manage bilateral and global challenges."

China on Monday cut the market-based benchmark lending rate and a key short-term rate in a bid to bolster the real economy.

The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) came in at 3.35 percent Monday, down from the previous reading of 3.45 percent, according to the National Interbank Funding Center.

The over-five-year LPR, on which many lenders base their mortgage rates, was lowered by 10 basis points to 3.85 percent.

In addition, the People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, on Monday lowered the interest rate on seven-day reverse repos from 1.8 percent to 1.7 percent.

The move aims to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments to better support the real economy, the PBC said in an online statement.

A reverse repo is a process in which the central bank purchases securities from commercial banks through bidding, with an agreement to sell them back in the future.

The central bank's move came as the just concluded third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China stressed that China must remain firmly committed to accomplishing this year's economic and social development goals.

Experts expressed confidence that China remains able to achieve its annual GDP growth target of around 5 percent in 2024.

After China reported 5 percent GDP growth for the first half of 2024, some international organizations and multinational banks such as IMF and Singapore-based DBS maintained their forecast for China's economic growth this year, underscoring that global confidence in stable growth in China's economy has remained unchanged.

The Group of Seven (G7) appears to be using so-called economic coercion accusations to put pressure on China, but this strategy only exposes its own hypocrisy and double standards. The fact that the bloc itself is the real one engaging in economic coercion is evident in its own statement.

G7 trade ministers said in a statement on Wednesday that they would use their "trade tools" if needed to "tackle non-market policies and practices, as well as harmful non-market excess capacity and other market distortions resulting from them," Reuters reported.

Reading this statement makes us shudder at the thought of returning to the days of imperial colonial plunder.

The statement makes no mention of China, but it's clear to everyone that China is the target. It is also clear to all who is really distorting the market and weaponizing economic issues.

In the statement, the G7 trade ministers called on countries to refrain from using economic coercion, and they condemned any attempt to weaponize economic dependencies. Nevertheless, this call has been seen as ironic by many, because some G7 member countries are precisely engaging in economic coercion and political blackmail by politicizing economic issues and disrupting normal economic and trade relations.

They remain "committed to effectively using our trade tools, and, as appropriate, develop new tools," according to the statement.

Considering their actions, the double standards and hypocritical rhetoric of G7 member countries will only serve to highlight their true nature as thieves crying "catch the thief," as they are the ones that are actually using economic issues as weapons to maintain their dominant positions in the global economy and further their own political and economic interests.

If G7 member countries are truly committed to maintaining the fairness and transparency of international trade, how can they not see the US abusing its economic hegemony to pressure other countries through trade sanctions, tariff barriers, high-tech sanctions and other means to force them to accept its political and economic blackmail?

Examples of the G7's use of economic coercion can be easily found in its imposition of sanctions on other countries in the past.

For example, Washington's crackdown against the cotton industry of China's Xinjiang region on the grounds of so-called "forced labor" not only constitutes unwarranted interference in China's internal affairs, but is also a politically motivated tactic aimed at exerting economic pressure. Through imposing restrictions on the import of Xinjiang cotton, the US is actively seeking to undermine China's standing in the global supply chain, a move that flagrantly disregards the principles of free trade.

Last week, under a preliminary agreement driven by "security considerations," the German government and telecom carriers in the country agreed in principle on steps to take out components made by Chinese companies from the nation's 5G wireless network over the next five years. This overstretching of the security concept in normal business operations harms Chinese companies' legitimate rights and damages mutual trust between China and Germany. 

Last month, Japan unveiled trade restrictions against firms in China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan over alleged support for Russia. 

These unreasonable sanctions and government decisions are actually typical examples of politicizing economic issues, which have far-reaching negative effects on global economic and trade stability.

While upholding the banner of free trade, the G7 countries take disruptive actions toward global supply chains for political reasons, heightening market uncertainty.

The G7 countries' trade protectionism and economic sanctions against China indirectly affect developing nations and emerging markets, which heavily rely on the China market for exports and development opportunities. China is an integral player in the global economy, and its growth benefits itself and also drives worldwide economic progress. 

In this sense, the G7's attempt to pressure China over its political agenda undermines global supply chains and the global trading system, while jeopardizing the stability and progress of the global economic recovery.

Several Chinese leading telecom operators have significantly increased the volume of Chinese-made CPUs in their centralized procurement lists, reflecting increased support for the domestic industry.

China Telecom said it plans to purchase 156,000 servers in total, of which the ''G series'' servers would total 105,300 units, accounting for 67.5 percent of the procurement, according to news outlet guancha.cn on Thursday. 

Market watchers said the ''G series'' refers to servers specifically equipped with domestic CPUs.

In comparison, four years ago, China Telecom listed domestic CPU servers for procurement for the first time, with domestic CPU servers accounting for only 19.9 percent, while Intel CPUs accounted for as high as 79.4 percent.

China Mobile is also stepping up its support for domestically made chips.

The document showed that China Mobile published 10 ''G-series'' projects out of 13 server procurement tenders.

In 2020, Chinese-made CPUs accounted for about 21 percent of the company's PC server procurement, with today's ratio closer to 43.5 percent,

China Unicom has also seen surging demand for Chinese-made chips since 2020, particularly in Chinese CPUs like Kunpeng 920, Hygon 7165, and Hygon 7185.

Chinese experts contributed the rise of domestically made chips to the diversified development of domestic CPUs, such as in the latest round of centralized procurement by China Telecom, there are not only X86 architectures from foreign manufacturers but also domestic CPU architectures such as ARM, C86, LoongArch, Yongfeng, and SW.

"Chinese-made CPU chips have seen big improvements in the performance and cost-effectiveness, which meet the need of telecom operators," Chen Jing, a vice president of the Technology and Strategy Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

However, Chinese experts said that centralized procurement does not mean that they are closing the door on foreign players. As long as the products of foreign chip giants such as Intel, AMD and Nvidia meet relevant requirements, they will also have the opportunity to win any bid, they said. 

When chairing a symposium on foreign investment work, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng called for action to further attract and utilize foreign investment, according to Xinhua News Agency report on July 1. 

He urged the further relaxation of market access and turning the country's advantages of an ultra-large market into real advantages in attracting capital.

The vice premier said efforts should be made to continue building a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment, support domestic and foreign enterprises on an equal basis to participate in large-scale equipment upgrading, government procurement and bidding, and smooth channels for foreign enterprises to reflect and resolve their demands, while promptly responding to foreign enterprises' concerns, Xinhua said.

For some time, a few foreign media outlets have been seizing upon the development that individual foreign financial institutions are adjusting their business in China to trumpet the narrative of "foreign financial institutions leaving China." It is important to note that the presence of foreign financial institutions is dynamic in China, some entities entering and others exiting this market.

China's continuous commitment to accelerating high-quality opening-up of its financial sector will increasingly earn recognition from a flurry of foreign financial institutions.

Some foreign financial institutions are relocating business from China due to their global strategic adjustments and the change of their localization strategies. 

If foreign financial institutions cannot timely and reasonably arrange their business operations, they may face operational issues. For example, one of the main reasons for the US fund company Vanguard Group to exit from China is the neglect of its localization strategy.

In fact, with the acceleration of China's financial industry opening-up, the scale of business for foreign financial institutions in China is rapidly expanding. By the end of 2023, the number of locally incorporated foreign banks in China had reached 41, with 116 branches and 132 representative offices, and their total assets have exceeded 3.8 trillion yuan ($524 billion).

While some foreign financial institutions have made strategic adjustment to their businesses in China, more foreign financial institutions have chosen to accelerate their expansion in this market. Since 2024, quite a few foreign institutions have applied to enter the Chinese market or establish new institutions.

China continues to expand the breadth and depth of financial opening, enhancing the confidence of foreign financial institutions. At last year's Central Financial Work Conference, it was proposed to steadily expand institutional opening-up in the financial sector and facilitate cross-border investment and financing, so as to attract more foreign financial institutions and long-term capital to invest and operate in China. 

Also, the General Office of the State Council in March issued an action plan to steadily promote high-level opening-up and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment.

In addition to lifting the restrictions on the proportion of foreign ownership in financial institutions, China has also significantly lowered the threshold for market access of foreign investment, further promoting high-quality financial sector opening-up.

The trend of foreign financial institutions coming to China to expand their business shows that in the future, the main focus of foreign financial institutions in China's new business platform will be to provide more comprehensive financial services to global clients. 

With the high-quality development of the Chinese economy and the accumulation of Chinese residents' wealth, the demand from Chinese investors for global asset allocation continues to grow. This is a huge market that any financial institution cannot ignore.

More importantly, China's financial opening-up is rapidly gaining pace, aided by the ever-improving financial technology. China's ability to attract global financial resources is also improving. Foreign financial institutions in China are able to provide more comprehensive and efficient financial services for global investors.

China will continue to promote high-quality opening-up of its financial sector, continuously optimizing the business environment for foreign financial institutions, and sharing development opportunities with foreign institutions and global investors. The opportunities in China are just abundant.

Conditions have now been satisfied for Rio Tinto to invest in the development of the Simandou high-grade ore deposit in Guinea, including the completion of the necessary regulatory approvals from both the Guinean and Chinese sides, the Anglo-Australian mining company said in a press release on Tuesday, marking another step toward production at the world's largest undeveloped iron ore mine. 

The project is seen as strategically crucial for industry players, particularly Chinese companies, as it will enable China to diversify its supply sources instead of overly depending on any single iron ore supplier. It will also help to enhance China's industrial bargaining power on the global stage, which currently remains weak despite its significant role as a key buyer in the global market.

Following the recent approval by the board of Simfer – with Aluminum Corp of China and Rio Tinto Group being the joint shareholders – Simfer can now invest in and fund its share of co-developed rail and port infrastructure in partnership with Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), which is backed by Singaporean and Chinese companies, as well as with China Baowu Group (Baowu) and the Guinean government, according to the company.

More than 600 kilometers of new multi-use trans-Guinean railway together with port facilities will allow the export of up to 120 million tons per year of mined iron ore by Simfer and WCS from their respective Simandou mining concessions in the southeast of the country, Rio Tinto said, noting that together, “this will be the largest greenfield integrated mine and infrastructure investment in Africa.”

Simandou's subsoils contain the world's largest untapped reserves of high-grade iron ore, estimated at over 2 billion tons.

First production from the Simfer mine is expected in 2025, ramping up over 30 months to an annualized capacity of 60 million tons per year, according to Rio Tino.

Simfer's capital funding requirement for the Simandou project as a whole is estimated to be approximately $11.6 billion, of which Rio Tinto's share is approximately $6.2 billion.

The project was temporarily halted by the government of Guinea in July 2022 due to various factors, including infrastructure issues. However, through collaborative efforts from various parties, the Simandou iron ore project resumed in March 2023. 

Tuesday’s announcement by Rio Tinto came roughly a month after WCS and Baowu officially completed the equity transfer for the Simandou project, according to the official WeChat account of Winning International Group. 

On May 30, the Guinean government approved Baowu's investment in the Simandou iron ore project and issued a presidential decree to that effect. 

On June 19, WCS and Baowu completed the establishment of joint venture boards for the mining, railway, and port projects, along with appointing directors and executives and finalizing equity transfers. Baowu also made its initial investment, officially becoming a shareholder in the Simandou project.

"If the discovery seemed like the opening scene of a murder mystery, it is one that Japan prefers to leave unsolved," the New York Times once commented on the startling and frightening discovery in Tokyo in 1989 of more than 100 human skull suspected of being linked to the Imperial Japanese Army's infamous Unit 731.

Thirty-five years have passed, but whence the skulls came from remains a mystery that Japanese authorities still appear reluctant to solve.

But more and more evidence is pointing to Unit 731, which is notorious for engaging in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Chinese people's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), a Japanese non-governmental organization established the year after the skulls were found revealed to the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

Dark history

The discovery of the remains can be traced back 35 years. On July 22, 1989, a large number of human bones were discovered at a construction site at the National Institute of Health and Infectious Diseases (now the National Institute of Infectious Diseases) in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. At thet time, the police identified that several of the remains had been buried for over 20 years.

The site where the bones were found was the former location of the Japanese army medical school. After the September 18 Incident that marked the start of Japan's invasion of China in 1931, army doctor Shiro Ishii established a research laboratory within the school's Epidemic Prevention Department. Soon after, the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department of the Imperial Japanese Army, also known as Unit 731, was established and based in Harbin, Northeast China, which was then called Manchuria, for the development of biological weapons. The Japanese army medical school served as the headquarters of the unit.

As the burial site was located north of the original epidemic prevention laboratory, the Shinjuku district government said that the bones may belong to "the victims of live human experiments conducted by Unit 731 in Manchuria."

Residents of Shinjuku requested that Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare confirm the identities of the deceased, but their request was denied. The ministry then asked Shinjuku to cremate and bury the remains, but Shinjuku refused. Suspicions of medical crimes during wartime arose, prompting Shinjuku to promise an investigation.

In 1991, anthropologist Hajime Sakura, a retired director of the National Science Museum, agreed to examine the bones, revealing evidence of artificial processing and various injuries.

According to investigation and identification released in 1992, traces were discovered of artificial processing such as drilling, sawing, and cutting on multiple skulls, some of which resemble trepanation procedures for neurosurgery or mastoidectomy. Traces of incisions, puncture wounds, and gunshot wounds were also found. Additionally, there were severed limbs bones, some of which appear to have been fixed with formalin, and others that seem to have been dried specimens of exposed bones.

Sakura clearly stated in a press conference that "these bones are related to the war."

However, over the past few decades, Japanese authorities have obstructed all parties from uncovering the truth, or blatantly lied in an attempt to cover up the truth.

New evidence

Now by deciphering the records of recently disclosed military medical school personnel, the Japanese non-government organization - the Association Demanding Investigation of Human Bones Discovered from the Site of the Army Medical College - aims to reveal the connection between the human remains and Unit 731.

"The discovered human bones have long been suspected of being related to Unit 731, and with the disclosure of the new material, those suspicions have only grown stronger," Yasusi Torii, a member of the association, said in an e-email sent to the Global Times last week.

"The new material" Torii refereed to are the testimonies and survey responses of individuals associated with a former Japanese army medical school from 30 years ago but were disclosed by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare just recently.

According to the non-government organization, these records contain firsthand experiences that were not included in the ministry's previous report.

"By deciphering the disclosed records of those affiliated with the Japanese army medical school, we aim to shed light on the relationship between the human remains and Unit 731," the association said in a statement announcing an event on July 20 to mark the 35th anniversary of the discovery of the skulls.

According to the exclusive reply to the Global Times by Kazuyuki Kawamura, representative of the non-government organization, the investigation report from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, quotes one person affiliated with the school as saying, "In the summer of Showa 15 (1940), I remember receiving a formalin-preserved human head in a drum can from Harbin."

However, based on the disclosed material, the actual statement was "In the summer of Showa XX, a formalin-preserved human head in a drum can was delivered from Harbin, and we were forced to participate in the extraction. I remember I was vomiting."

It was revealed that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had omitted the respondents' experiences. From this description, it is reasonable to assume that it was sent from Unit 731 in Harbin, Kawamura told the Global Times.

"We plan to present reports like this at the meeting scheduled for July 20," Kawamura noted.

Never give up

Since its founding, the Japanese association has steadfastly dedicated itself to uncovering the truth.

"We are determined to investigate the truth behind the human bones discovered in Shinjuku and, if possible, identify the remains and return them to the families of the deceased," Kawamura said.

In fact, evidence of Unit 731's bacteriological warfare and numerous victims and their families have been discovered in various locations such as the Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, and Hunan provinces in China. If the identities of the remains unearthed in Shinjuku are confirmed, they will serve as concrete evidence of war crimes committed by Japan.