Shandong high-quality development provides opportunities to international firms, individuals

China

Shandong high-quality development provides opportunities to international firms, individuals

2024-09-21 08:30 Last Updated At：14:47

The high-quality development of east China's Shandong Province featuring innovation and green development has been providing opportunities to foreigners ranging from business promoters to even internet influencers.

As leader in the country's foreign trade, the coastal province of Shandong has been making consistent efforts to push forward its high-level opening-up.

In the first half of this year, Shandong imported and exported 1.62 trillion yuan (230 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods, marking a 4.3-percent year-over-year increase, according to the customs data released in mid-July.

The province's export to regions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union (EU), South Korea, and Brazil continued growing during the period.

Ryan Norman, an American living in Rizhao City, has been witnessing all the changes for years as Shandong's close economic ties with the world have boosted its development.

By sharing short videos of him wondering in local markets and making dishes in a big wok, Ryan has attracted over one million followers on social media.

"I am Ryan Norman, an American from California. Now I am married with a Rizhao woman. I have been in China for 19 years. I did some business before, but in recent years I've been making short videos. If the weather is good, staying on beach makes me happier. There is a 28-kilometer sunshine seaside track and every summer, we run back and forth along the track," he said.

The high-quality development of Shandong comes together with green development. In 2023, the province generated over 158 billion kilowatt-hours of green power from new energy and renewables, increasing by 21.9 percent year on year and representing 24.4 percent of the total power generated, up 3.6 percent from 2022.

Last year, the province issued a three-year action plan on promoting green and low-carbon high-quality development, as the province is set to pursue a deep integration of culture and tourism.

"As the environment is getting better and better, more locals like to visit our tea tourism cultural park and its good reputation has attracted droves of tourists," said Yan Zaoning, director of a local tea park.

Sebastian Valcic from Germany now works in an innovation zone in Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. He said in recent years, he witnessed over 500 enterprises from countries like Germany, France, Finland, and Japan setting branches in the innovation zone, and these changes boosted his confidence in China's high-quality development.

"Thanks to the institutional and mechanism reform of the Jinan Innovation Zone, I, as a German, can have the opportunity to join the investment promotion department of the Jinan Innovation Zone management committee. I am responsible for attracting global investment. Over the recent years, our team has signed over 100 projects. The Jinan Innovation Zone is a national new- and high-tech development zone, a free trade zone, a comprehensive bonded zone, a pilot zone for upgrading development engine, and a sci-tech innovation financial reform pilot zone. The innovation zone has so many institutional innovations and preferential policies for expanding opening-up. Every time we have an investment promotion event, I always want the investors to know how special here is," said Sebastian Valcic, an external liaison officer of the management committee's investment promotion department.

Apart from attracting investment, Sebastian Valcic said his team will also work to connect enterprises so that they can cooperate with potential partners up and down the industrial chain.

"We will introduce companies up and down the industrial chain to the enterprises so that they can connect, communicate, and cooperate with one another," he said.

According to its three-year action plan, Shandong will continue to enhance the quality and level of its trade and investment by enhancing the efficiency of using foreign investment and deepening international economic and trade cooperation.

China's individual income tax cuts exceed 70 billion yuan in 2023: data

2024-09-21 13:19 Last Updated At：13:37

China's individual income tax cuts exceeded 70 billion yuan in 2023, greatly reduced the burden on its residents, while foreign trade and inbound tourism showed positive signs in the first eight months of this year, according to the latest data from the State Taxation Administration on Friday.

China has raised the bar of special additional deductions for individual income tax, covering children nursing expenses, children's education, and elderly care expenses, to further benefit its people and improve their livelihoods.

"About 67 million taxpayers nationwide have benefited from an increase in special additional deductions for individual income tax. The total individual income tax reduction surpassed 70 billion yuan (about 9.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, including 36 billion yuan, 29 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan, respectively, for children's education, elderly care, and nursing expenses for infants under three years old," said Shen Xinguo, director of the administration's department of tax service.

The taxation data also indicated enhanced resilience of China's foreign trade and a boom in inbound tourism.

"From January to August, the direct export tax refunds handled by taxation departments nationwide for enterprises were up 10.1 percent year on year, showing the resilience and fast growth of export enterprises. Meanwhile, tax refunds for the goods bought by overseas travelers increased by 1.5 times, showing soaring popularity of China travel among overseas visitors," said Huang Yun, director of the general office at the State Taxation Administration.

Chinese border ports saw a whopping 110 million inbound and outbound trips in July and August this year, averaging nearly 1.78 million per day, the country's National Immigration Administration said in early September.

A total of 10.89 million trips were made by overseas travelers, marking a 52.8-percent rise from last year.