Opinion

On November 6, 2022, China held a World Laureates Forum in Shanghai. Chen Jining, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Wan Gang, Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, Shen Haixiong, Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the China Central Radio and Television Station, and Roger Kornberg, Chairman of the World Top Scientists Association and winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

China’s state media Global Times published a commentary discussing the objectives of the forum. Below are the main points from the commentary:

“At the opening ceremony of the Fifth World’s Top Scientists Forum (World Laureates Forum) held in Shanghai, the first World Top Scientists Association Award (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Top Scientists Award’) was awarded. The World’s Top Scientists Association initiated the award and hosted the event along with  the Shanghai World’s Top Scientists Development Foundation. The ‘Top Scientists Award is a science award for global scientists. It was officially announced at the 4th World’s Top Scientists Forum on November 1, 2021. The Top Scientist Award is awarded once a year. At present, two individual awards have been established, the ‘Intelligent Science or Mathematics Award’ and the ‘Life Science or Medicine Award.’ Ten million Chinese Yuan (~US$1.5 million) is given to each award winner. The same award can be given to and shared by up to 4 people. This award is also the highest bonus science and technology award established by China to date.”

“The establishment of the Top Scientist Award has a certain significance for the development of science and technology in China.”

“First of all, among the fiercely competitive world science and technology awards, large-scale investment in the establishment of international science and technology awards shows the determination and confidence of Chinese entrepreneurs and the scientific and technological circles to dare to participate in the competition for the world’s top science and technology awards.”

“Second, the international science and technology awards issued locally will help to increase the public attention given to science and technology, broaden the horizons of the scientific and technological circles and the public, and deepen the understanding of international scientific and technological progress and of global scientists.”

“Third, the Top Science and Technology Association Award is an international award led by non-governmental organizations and recommended by top scientists. It highlights its non-governmental, academic, and international nature, and is conducive to showing China’s more open international image in the field of science and technology and to promoting global academic exchanges and cooperation with scientific research to build a more open scientific community.”

Source:
1. Website for China Association for Science and Technology                                                                                                                      https://www.cast.org.cn/art/2022/11/6/art_79_201895.html

China’s state-run media Global Times rejoiced over the resignation on November 1 of Zhong Peiquan as the editor-in-chief of the Hong Kong independent media Stance News (立场新闻). Global Times named Stance News as being an anti-China, Hong Kong-destabilizing media similar to Hong Kong’s “Apple Daily.”

The article said, “Over the years, the online media have often published biased or even fabricated reports on the SAR government and the mainland.” “In April, after the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, Stance News published an interview with the then Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association Xia Boyil. Xia claimed that this was the first time that a Hong Kong court sentenced a ‘Peaceful Unapproved Assembly’ to prison, and declared that, “If citizens cannot vent their grievances through peaceful demonstrations, they may eventually turn to violence,” downplaying the actions of violent mobs. In May, Stance News reprinted an article entitled, ‘Looking at the Future of the Hong Kong Resistance Movement from the Experience of the Irish Resistance,’ which compared Northern Irish militants with the so-called ‘Hong Kong Resistance’  and encouraged the mobs to ‘make a last stand.’”

Global Times indicated that, “Even though Zhong resigned, he can still be investigated by law enforcement agencies for related criminal responsibility.”

It concluded with a comment published in Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily. “The clean-up of Hong Kong’s anti-China forces is just the beginning. Some of the opposition’s public opinion tools and media are still intact. They only managed to be more restrained after the fall of the Apple Daily. The article said that it is not enough to eradicate Apple Daily now. The soil of the media industry must be changed. ‘Some media must separate themselves from their history and be politically sensible.”

Source: Global Times, November 8, 2021
https://china.huanqiu.com/article/45Ul70y5260