Some hostile foreign forces are using marine buoys as “spy devices” to gather sensitive oceanic data, attempting to steal sensitive marine data of China. Military, dual-use, and research buoys are commonly used for covert data collection, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in an article released on its official WeChat account on Saturday. 

A marine buoy is a type of ocean observation device primarily used to monitor hydrology, water quality, and meteorological data. It provides valuable support for marine scientific research, offshore oil and gas development, and national defense. 

Marine buoys come in various forms. They are low-cost, highly mobile, and can be deployed from the air, surface, or underwater. However, some external forces deploy these as “covert sentries” in the deep ocean. The article lists three main categories. 

Military marine buoys are integral to a certain country’s anti-submarine warfare arsenal, the MSS article said. These buoys come in multiple subtypes and can be deployed individually or combined for specific mission needs. They are widely deployed in target areas through surface ships, anti-submarine helicopters, and anti-submarine patrol aircraft and can operate at depths of hundreds of meters.

Dual-use buoys can serve both military and civilian purposes, distinguished by the precision and sensor types they employ for data collection. Data usage is a key indicator of whether these buoys serve intelligence purposes, according to the MSS. 

Research buoys are particularly deceptive, often blending in with normal marine research buoys. Some countries use the guise of international marine monitoring organizations to develop specialized buoys that are mixed with genuine research buoys and deploy them in sensitive marine areas of China under legitimate channels, using a facade of legitimacy to extract data, the ministry revealed.

The MSS notes that identifying espionage capabilities in marine buoys requires specialized oceanographic expertise and detection technology beyond general observation.

To distinguish whether the suspected buoys are for espionage purposes, three critical factors must be considered: source, intended purpose, and data destination, the ministry said. 

Safeguarding national security requires extensive public participation. For buoys that cannot be identified or suspected of foreign origin, the public should promptly report via the national security hotline and the online reporting platform, the ministry said. 

When conditions permit and personal safety is not at risk, suspicious buoys can be salvaged and safely transferred to state security agencies. These actions are eligible for rewards under national security regulations, according to the MSS.

Senior Chinese official Li Xi met with Italian leaders in Rome to deepen strategic ties, marking the 20th anniversary of the China-Italy comprehensive strategic partnership and advancing cooperation in areas like green energy and digital technology.

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, met with Italy's Senate President Ignazio La Russa, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Rome during his visit from Wednesday to Saturday at the invitation of the Italian Senate.

During the meetings, Li highlighted the enduring ties between China and Italy, and called on the two sides to advance the consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in July.

Li emphasized cooperation through the "China-Italy Action Plan," which aimed at enhancing political trust and collaboration in existing and emerging sectors like green energy, the digital economy, and artificial intelligence. He also highlighted the importance of enhancing people-to-people exchanges and multilateral coordination in multilateral arenas such as the United Nations and Group of 20 (G20) to elevate China-Italy relations.

China and Europe share extensive common interests in upholding multilateralism, addressing climate change, and promoting global economic recovery, Li said, noting that China advocates for resolving relevant economic and trade issues through consultation based on pragmatic and balanced principles.

He urged the Italian side to view China-Europe economic and trade relations "with an open attitude and a long-term perspective," and play a constructive role in China-Europe consultations and negotiations.

The visit came after a video call on October 25 between Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao and European Commission (EC) Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis at the latter's request. The two sides agreed to conduct further consultations over the EU's planned additional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles (EVs) during the call.

Some 10 countries, including France, Italy, and Poland, supported imposing the tariffs on Chinese EVs of up to 35.3 percent, coming on top of existing duties of 10 percent, AFP reported. Five countries, including Germany and Hungary, voted against, while 12 abstained, including Spain and Sweden. 

Italian Foreign Minister Tajani emphasized China's role as a vital economic partner, noting that Italy hopes to strengthen economic and trade exchanges with China, fostering a balanced and mutually beneficial relationship. He reiterated Italy's commitment to open economic policies and to actively working toward resolving trade frictions between Europe and China through negotiations.

The EU's imposition of additional tariffs on China-made EVs is not a purely economic and trade issue, nor is it purely a technical negotiation, Zhao Junjie, senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told the Global Times.

Zhao noted that despite major differences, continued consultation should be the main way to resolve disputes.

"We need to focus on negotiations where the two sides can meet each other halfway and refrain from making unreasonable demands. It would be ideal to reach a solution that is acceptable to all," Zhao said. "But if the EU still holds an uncompromising stance, and blindly oppresses and restrains Chinese companies, we also have the toolbox to fight back."

On Thursday, He Yadong, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said that the EU has followed many unreasonable and non-compliant practices in the anti-subsidy investigation of China-made EVs. China has always put forward a comprehensive defense and submitted a large number of comments and evidential materials to the EU, which have not been fully considered.

"Voices from the EU, such as the German chancellor, recently reiterated their opposition to tariffs on China-made EVs, which I think represents there are divergences within the EU. Also, the EC is facing pressure from the industries within the bloc, not just in the EV industry," Wu Shuocheng, a veteran automobile industry analyst, told the Global Times.

MOFCOM announced on August 21 the decision to launch a countervailing investigation into certain dairy products originating in the EU with immediate effect. In June, MOFCOM said it will launch an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products originating from the EU.

In June, Ksenija Simovic, senior policy adviser for trade at Copa-Cogeca, Europe's largest farming lobby, said that "this is of course not acceptable for us. The EC should make sure that once again, our sector is not the one picking up the bill for disputes concerning other sectors," according to a report by Politico.

Following the recent passing of assessments by China’s first corgi police dog, his “smell of work”— a term coined by Chinese netizens to describe the exhaustion often felt by people in the workplace— captured public interest, with many humorously commenting that “even a dog has it in the workplace.”

This follows the recent sharing of a photo by the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, showing Fu Zai post-certification as a police dog. 

Many netizens commented that they could see the intense “smell of work” in his eyes, suggesting that there are many stories to be told from his gaze, especially in comparison to his previously iconic happy expression.

Fu Zai, who has attracted people’s attention with his iconic happy face, officially moved from reserve status to a fully certified role this month, according to the public security bureau in Weifang in East China’s Shandong Province.

In accordance with the assessment standards and Fu Zai’s individual capabilities, the police tailored the evaluation to match his abilities. Under the guidance of his trainer, Fu Zai successfully completed assessments on obedience, luggage and vehicle searches, room searches, and obstacle navigation. Many netizens also sent their best wishes to him following the good news.

After making his debut in March at the open day event held at a police camp in the city of Weifang, Fu Zai went viral thanks to his iconic smiley face, cute short legs, and impressive skills in bomb search, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

Fu Zai was spotted at just two mont

The National Bureau of Statistics is set to launch a nationwide sampling survey on 2024 population changes beginning on Friday, with multiple regions recently releasing specific survey procedures. 

Demographers told the Global Times that as China undergoes a significant demographic transition, this survey holds increasing importance. There was an expectation of a slight baby boom in the Year of Dragon and this survey in some extent can help verify that expectation.

The annual survey is crucial for formulating national economic and social development plans, improving relevant policies, and promoting high-quality population development, demographers said.

Three percent of Beijing's 21.8 million residents will be surveyed. The survey will be conducted either through in-home registration by surveyors or by residents filling out the information independently via a WeChat mini-program. Surveyors, equipped with official identification, will visit homes to conduct the survey to carry out their work, Beijing Daily reported citing Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics.

To accurately reflect the population changes, the Liaoning provincial government increased the sample size for the population change survey from 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent this year. In 2023, Liaoning recorded a net inflow of 86,000 people from other provinces, reversing the trend of continuous net outflow that had persisted since 2012, the Liaoning Daily said. 

The survey will be conducted by households, and the survey content was the basic information of the population and households, including name, citizen ID number, gender, age, ethnicity, education level, migration and mobility, work, marriage, childbirth, death and housing, Liaoning Daily reported.

This annual population change sampling survey, launched by the National Bureau of Statistics in the late 1980s, involves sampling one-thousandth of the national population to calculate and publish various demographic indicators each year, Chen Wei, a professor at the Center for Population and Development Studies, Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

As China undergoes a significant demographic transition, with rapid changes in marriage, fertility, and population structure, this survey has gained increased importance. It provides essential foundational data for monitoring these shifts, analyzing population trends, and evaluating fertility support policies, Chen noted. 

According to the National Census Regulations, a national population census is conducted every ten years, and typically, a one percent population sampling survey is conducted midway between censuses, usually in years ending in 5. In other years, a 0.1 percent population sampling survey is conducted.

Additionally, Chen mentioned the survey could help determine whether 2024, known as the Year of Dragon in the Chinese lunar calendar, will see a modest increase in births as many demographers forecasted. 

However, since the survey was conducted in November, births from November and December, months that often see high birth rates, were only partially included. January of next year will also fall within the Year of the Dragon, he added. 

"The Year of the Dragon ushered in a baby boom. Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center is presenting special commemorative envelopes for 'Dragon babies,'" Yangcheng Daily reported earlier in October. 

Zhai Zhenwu, a professor at Renmin University of China, said that the Chinese population holds a special fondness for the ''Dragon'' zodiac sign. During the last Dragon Year in 2012, there was a slight peak in birth rates. A modest increase in births is anticipated for 2024.

While zodiac sign preferences can influence birth rates, their effect on broader population trends is relatively minor, demographer Yuan Xin told the Global Times. He said the key lies in enhancing young people's willingness to marry and have children, as well as significantly reducing the burden of childbearing and upbringing on families.

The obesity rate among Chinese adolescents surged from 0.10 percent to 8.25 percent during the 34 years from 1985 to 2019, with adolescents from rural areas facing greater nutrition and health risks, the Global Times learned from a research team of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Health (ICAH), Peking University, on Tuesday. 

According to the team's latest study, which was published online by The Lancet on Monday, from 1985 to 2014, the average obesity prevalence among urban children and adolescents was consistently higher than that of their rural counterparts. With the exception of 1985 and 1995, rural children persistently exhibited greater prevalence of thinness compared with their urban counterparts. 

The study predicts that the prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity will continue to rise nationwide in both urban and rural areas. 

Our projections indicate that the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity in rural and lower socioeconomic status areas will dominate a future pandemic of obesity among Chinese children and adolescents. China will gradually exhibit similar patterns of nutritional inequality as seen in some industrialized high-income countries, Dong Yanhui, a corresponding author of the study from the ICAH, told the Global Times. 

Obesity and underweight during childhood and adolescence have a profound impact on health in adulthood. Over the past 30 years, there has been a global shift in the nutritional patterns of children and adolescents from predominantly undernutrition to predominantly overnutrition, a phenomenon closely related to socioeconomic development, Dong said.

In China, obesity of adolescents has also been a major concern of Chinese parents and relevant Chinese authorities in recent years. The National Health Commission recently released China's first authoritative guideline for multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of obesity in order to further improve the standardization of obesity diagnosis and treatment in the country, People's Daily reported on October 23. 

According to People's Daily, from 2015-2019, the overweight rate and obesity prevalence among Chinese adolescents aged 6 to 17 are 11.1 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, while the overweight rate and obesity prevalence among children under 6 years old are 6.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. 

Previous studies have revealed narrowing obesity gap between adolescents in urban and rural areas. But there still lacks recent data regarding contemporary nutritional inequities among children and adolescents, particularly in relation to urban-rural residence and regional socioeconomic status, according to Dong. 

Our study revealed that, children and adolescents in underdeveloped regions face significant nutritional and health risks, marking them as a particularly vulnerable group. Notably, these risks are now more closely associated with obesity rather than underweight. Considering this, there is an urgent need to take action to eliminate the potential health inequalities related to obesity among current and future Chinese children and adolescents, which requires more comprehensive and extensive preventive health investments, Dong noted. 

The study of the ICAH focused on children and adolescents aged 7-18 years in China. It covered 1,677,261 participants from 30 provincial-level regions, the Global Times learned.