Editor's Note:

As voices from the West continue to dominate global public opinion, it is high time for developing countries to speak louder in the international arena. In a recent email interview, Margarita Simonyan (Simonyan), editor-in-chief of RT, shared with Global Times (GT) reporters Wang Wenwen and Xia Wenxin how media outlets from countries, such as Russia and China, have challenged the West's monopoly on global public opinion by offering alternative voices as well as her personal experiences and RT's development since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.

GT: US media often describe you as the Kremlin's loyal propagandist. What do you think of such a label?

Simonyan: The US media and American broader socio-political establishment have long been "partial" to RT in general and to my person in particular - the US' 2017 national intelligence report on Russia's influence alone cited me no less than 27 times within essentially half of the report dedicated to our news network. I am proud to carry the voice of Russia abroad, in however small or large capacity, and I am glad if this voice resonates with a wide international audience.

GT: Your new book Whirlpool, a collection of short stories, recently got published. What's it about? What do you want to convey to readers?

Simonyan: In my new book I'm paying homage to the great tradition of Russian psychological prose by highlighting vivid sketches of life. Hopefully, the readers will experience a slice of life in Russia that rarely appears on the front pages of newspapers or on TV screens, and perhaps find a universal connection to these very personal stories.

GT: Recently, there was a failed assassination attempt against you. What do you think of the fact that a media figure could be the target in a conflict?

Simonyan: As a matter of fact there have been two; as journalists, we know and accept these risks, whether we are reporting from the front lines or the studio headquarters. That is our job, our duty - to tell the world the truth about the most dangerous places and events. At the end of the day we are all mortal; for me, to die for telling the truth, for defending your Motherland, is a far less frightening fate than a slow death from an incurable disease or a life of shame for something like treason.

GT: Russian and Western media have different angles and narratives when reporting the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Do you find it difficult to make Western audiences believe that RT's reports are objective?

Simonyan: I believe that the truth always wins in the end, as long as someone keeps telling it. Every day we work, we fight for the truth, for people around the world to see what is happening in reality, on the ground in Ukraine. We have known for years that these audiences have long stopped believing the narratives sold to them by their mainstream media - which is why they have tuned in to RT in the first place, years ago - because we showed their reality better than their own channels. These audiences are now finding every way possible to continue to access RT on TV, online, and on social media in the territories where RT has been banned.

GT: Not long after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, RT America was shut down. The EU also suspended RT and Sputnik on the grounds that Russia was engaging in a "systematic, international campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts." What do you think of such moves?

Simonyan: Western establishments have been distorting the facts about what is going on in Ukraine for a decade. They tried to silence RT for years before the Special Military Operation because they couldn't let their audiences decide for themselves what to believe about events in Ukraine, in Russia, around the world and in their own backyards. This is why they implemented any way possible, including illegal and illegitimate, to shut us down and shut us out wherever they could.

By banning RT, the facade of free press in Europe and the US completely crumbled. During all this time nobody had pointed to a single grain of evidence that what RT has reported or continues to report, is not true. Instead, what the members of the Western establishments have said is that what RT brings to its audience is not allowed in their supposedly free media environment. When it comes to the Russian voice, or just a different perspective from theirs, it is simply not allowed to exist.

GT: Both Chinese and Russian media encounter such challenges when they try to expand international influence. How do you view Western dominance of discourse power and how should Chinese and Russian media deal with such challenges?

Simonyan: It is difficult to overestimate how important it is for Russian and Chinese media to work together in the international news space. It is simply a matter of survival of Russian and Chinese voices on a global stage. We are virtually alone in confronting the most powerful army of Western mainstream journalism, and such dominance makes for a dangerous, bellicose world.

We are proud that RT is available in Chinese on popular Chinese social media platforms - Weibo, Bilibili, and Douyin. RT's Weibo account is well ahead of AFP, Financial Times, Associated Press and BBC in terms of audience engagement and follower growth rate.

GT: What do you think of the current Sinophobia and Russophobia in the US?

Simonyan: There has hardly been a period in US history when the American establishment and society at large haven't had some sort of phobia of this kind. From the Salem witch hunts and the persecution of Native Americans to the lynchings of Black Americans by the Ku Klux Klan and the communist scare during McCarthyism — the forces governing American society have always needed someone to turn their anger on, to pin the blame for all the sins and with whom to fight directly, indirectly or in a hybrid warfare. Today's Russophobia and Sinophobia are not much different from classic racism and fascism.

GT: Most American media is not owned by the government. But the US media speaks with one voice on major international affairs. Why? How do American politicians influence and even manipulate the media?

Simonyan: Indeed, it is very telling that American news media, public and private alike, with its thousands of outlets - print, TV, online - speak with a single voice when it comes to American foreign policy. Former White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, got her own TV show on a major channel, MSNBC, within weeks of leaving her government job. Various US government departments openly and proudly cooperate with Hollywood film and TV productions, such as Top Gun, when they show the US military in a good light. Despite their claims to the contrary, the lines between American political and media establishments aren't just blurred - they do not exist.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), China's State Council Information Office released a White Paper titled "The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future" on October 10. The white paper comprehensively reviews and summarizes the development process of the BRI over the past 10 years, from its inception as a Chinese initiative to its international implementation, showcasing tangible achievements. It can be said that the white paper serves as both a report card for the past decade and a grand blueprint for the future of the Belt and Road cooperation.

From the visionary "freehand sketch" in its initial conception to the meticulous "fine brushwork" in its execution, the achievements of the BRI over the past 10 years have far exceeded the initial expectations. In terms of geographic scope, more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have joined the Belt and Road cooperation, encompassing over half of the world. In terms of the areas covered, it includes various fields such as economics, culture, and ecology.

Whether it's the "hard connectivity" of land roads and sea routes, the "soft connectivity" of cooperation in deepening rules and standards, or the "heart-to-heart connectivity" in fields like education, culture, sports, tourism, and archaeology, the BRI has woven a vast network of cooperation and mutual benefit across the globe. The white paper provides a wealth of data and examples that unquestionably demonstrate how the BRI has brought tangible benefits and dividends to the participating countries.

These achievements have been made step by step, inch by inch, by all participating countries. The BRI is a magnificent endeavor in the global concept and practice of shared development. It inevitably involves a process of continuous practical exploration, learning, summarizing, and adjustment. But even those who view the BRI through the thickest colored glasses cannot ignore or deny its influence.

If it weren't for the fact that the BRI aligns with the interests of all participating countries and even all of humanity, conforms to the laws of social development, and addresses the needs of the global economic market, it would never have come this far and wide. What exactly is the appeal of the BRI? The white paper provides a detailed and precise answer to this question through five comprehensive chapters spanning 28,000 words, which can be summarized as follows: The BRI has paved a new path for humanity to jointly achieve modernization.

To accomplish such a significant undertaking, hardships as well as twists and turns are foreseeable and inevitable. The future BRI cooperation is also unlikely to be smooth sailing, and will certainly face and overcome new difficulties, challenges, and even risks. However, with the foundation laid in the first decade, the consensus formed, and the accumulated experience, we have sufficient confidence in the increasing prosperity and broadening of BRI. In fact, the BRI cooperation has deeply embedded itself in the common destiny of humanity. In other words, the future of the BRI will reflect the common destiny of humanity.

Looking at the distribution of countries participating in the BRI, we can observe an interesting phenomenon. Developing countries hold a consistent positive attitude toward the BRI cooperation, while developed countries do not necessarily share the same sentiment. Of course, developing countries have heavier development tasks, but the BRI has never excluded any country and hopes for the participation of as many countries as possible, including developed ones.

The US also once showed interest in joining the BRI, but as the policy of containment toward China dominates in Washington, the US has instead poured cold water on and even undermined the BRI. At the same time, the US and Europe are both introducing alternative plans for BRI. From this perspective, imitation is actually the greatest affirmation. Although the BRI was proposed by China, once it was born and implemented, it belongs to the whole world, with extensive consultation, joint construction, and shared benefits. There is no need to divide it into different versions based on camps.

The future of BRI cooperation holds a lot of opportunities and requires more imagination, and it is also worth looking forward to. As the white paper points out, the BRI is a long-term, transnational and systematic global project of the 21st century and it has succeeded in taking its first step on a long journey. During these 10 years, the BRI has made many good friends around the world, and in the future, we look forward to more countries and regions joining in, making BRI cooperation a grand chorus for all of humanity.

With interest rates for existing mortgages for first-home purchases lowered starting from Monday, some 40 millions borrowers in China will enjoy the benefit of this support policy in the property sector. The move is expected to spur consumption and investment amid current economic headwinds, experts said.

The term "interest rates of existing mortgages for first-home purchases lowered from Monday" hit the hot searches on Chinese social media Weibo on Monday morning.

Most home buyers received text messages from banks or sought information on banks' apps. The reductions vary by the city, the time of purchase and the time when the credit contract was signed with the bank.

Mortgage interest rates in big cities are generally higher, and the total loan amounts are also higher. Buyers in such cities will see their payments fall more than those in smaller ones.

People who bought apartments in 2021, when mortgage policies were tightened and interest rates were relatively high, will more clearly feel the positive effects of rate cuts this time, according to Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute.

"The adjustment of mortgage rates could represent a significant innovation in housing policies. Market sentiment has been quite positive on the first day of the policy's implementation," Yan told the Global Times on Monday.

"Everyone is very supportive of the national policy, which has genuinely brought benefits to people, and their confidence in the real estate market has been further bolstered," Yan noted.

A house owner surnamed Bai, who bought a house in 2021 in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, told the Global Times on Monday that he could save as much as 1,000 yuan ($136.8) per month after the adjustment.

Prior to the adjustment, Bai's mortgage rate was 120 basis points above the loan prime rates (LPR), a market-based benchmark lending rate. Now the rate is the same as the LPR, which is 4.3 percent, he was told by the bank.

"That will effectively reduce my monthly financial burden, which makes me very happy and more motivated to work harder and spend more to improve my living conditions," Bai said.

The move announced on Monday will help reduce borrowers' mortgage interest payments, stabilize and expand housing demand, and promote the sound and stable development of the country's real estate market, Dong Ximiao, chief research fellow at Merchants Union Consumer Finance Co, told the Global Times on Monday.

"It will also help narrow the interest rate gaps between existing mortgage loans and new loans, and ease the early mortgage payment rush," Dong said, adding that the risk from mortgage irregularities will also be diminished.

From a long-term view, these changes will later translate into consumption and willingness to invest, he noted.

The lowering of mortgage rates will benefit about 40 million borrowers. If the interest rate of a 1 million yuan mortgage for a 25-year term is cut from 5.1 percent to 4.3 percent, borrowers' interest payments will drop by over 5,000 yuan each year, according to analysts.

By the end of June, Chinese lenders held 38.6 trillion yuan in outstanding individual mortgage loans, statistics showed.

The support measures for the property sector echoed calls from the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in July, which urged an adaption to a new situation, where major changes have taken place in the relationship between supply and demand in China's real estate market.

Over the past two months, Chinese authorities have launched measures ranging from lowering interest rates to easing restrictions on home purchases in a bid to bolster the stagnant property sector.

Last year was a tough one for the sector, with property investment falling 10 percent on a yearly basis, the first decline since records began in 1999.

During the past 33 years, from Beijing in 1990 to Guangzhou in 2010, and now to Hangzhou in 2023, the three host cities for the Asian Games in Chinese mainland serve as both geographical and historical landmarks. The cities not only record the stories of China's engagement with the Asian Games but also stand as a testament to China's great economic achievements.

During the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, China's economy embarked on a path of rapid development. However, it was still in the midst of the arduous phase of experimenting with reform and opening up, with annual GDP of merely 1.89 trillion yuan - or $395 billion at the exchange rate that time.

Back then, China's voice was considerably constrained on the international stage, with the country often labeled as "backward," "conservative," and "lacking vitality."

After 33 years, when a giant digital torchbearer joined Olympic gold medalist Wang Shun to light the main torch tower at the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Saturday, those labels might be the last words in the minds of global audience.

Economic miracles

The 1990 Beijing Asian Games marked China's inaugural hosting of a large-scale international sports event, for which the country nearly "emptied its pockets of every penny" to sponsor. According to media reports, the preparations for the Asian Games at that time required a budget of 2.5 billion yuan, with a notable 600-million-yuan shortfall.

A grand nationwide fundraising campaign unfolded to help with preparations, with over 100 million people contributing funds and materials to the Asian Games organizing committee. In the end, the total raised reached an impressive 700 million yuan, according to media reports.
"The country was poor at that time and we all chipped in," Jiang Fajun, an associate professor at a college in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, told the Global Times on Monday.

At that time, Jiang had just started his career, and now he's approaching retirement. Reflecting on the nationwide donations for hosting the Beijing Asian Games back then and witnessing the grand opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games now, he was deeply moved, saying that "the lighting of the cauldron was a spectacular sight, and it's exciting to see the country become richer and stronger each day."

The Yangtze River Delta region, where Zhejiang is located, is one of the most vibrant, open, and innovation-driven areas in China's economic landscape.

In 2022, Zhejiang recorded a GDP of 7.77 trillion yuan ($1.06 trillion), ranking fourth among China's mainland provinces. As a main force driving China's foreign trade, the province's high-tech exports increased by 26.8 percent and its mechanical and electrical products exports rose by 11.1 percent, official data showed.

The design and manufacturing of the main torch tower in the Asian Games stadium were entirely sourced from local Zhejiang enterprises for the event. In recent years, Zhejiang has been rapidly forging a modern industrial ecosystem with advanced manufacturing as its cornerstone, marked by a steady surge in corporate research and development investments.

While China as a whole has risen to become the world's second largest economy, with an annual GDP exceeding 121.02 trillion yuan in 2022, an increase of about 64 times compared with 1990.

Building confidence

In 1990, globalization was still in its nascent stage, and the entire Asian economy, especially East Asia, accounted for only about 20 percent of the global economy, experts said.

Two decades later when China's second Asian Games was held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, China has surpassed Japan and became the world's second largest economy, with its manufacturing sector the world's largest, Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Nowadays, China's manufacturing scale has far exceeded that of the US and Japan combined, Tian said.

Moreover, China is now the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions. As the most important engine of world economic growth, China's contribution to global growth has remained at around 30 percent annually for decades.

Also, the internationalization of the Chinese yuan has steadily gathered pace, with more and more countries using yuan to settle foreign trade and investment. China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has also attracted growing number of countries and regions to join hands and seek win-win development, Chinese experts said.

The benefits of hosting large-scale sports events like the Asian Games are not simply driving the growth of certain industries. More importantly, it serves as a distinctive platform to showcase China's achievements in various social and economic sectors, Tian said.

By showcasing China's advanced infrastructure development, cutting-edge technological advancement and high-quality service industry on a global scale, it conveys to people in Asia and around the world the long-term potential and confidence in China's economic future, Tian noted.

It is meaningless for a few Western politicians and media outlets to once again attempt to trumpet the "China collapse" theory. It is not the first time for them trying to dampen investor confidence in China and their attempts will fail again, the experts said.

The development of China's economy has evolved beyond quantitative growth; it now emphasizes qualitative enhancement too. Simultaneously, China has been committed to opening up its market and share growth opportunities with the world, Tian said.

Over the past 33 years, China's economy achieved remarkable progress, and in the future, the nation will continue to assume the role of a responsible major country, actively driving the recovery and development of both Asian and global economies, Chinese experts said.

Chinese airlines are increasing flights and destinations for the coming Golden Week, and the airports are seeing a surge in travelers.

Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) is expected to handle approximately 1.33 million passenger trips, with an average of 166,200 per day, and a total of 8,859 flights will be handled, with an average of 1,107 flights per day.

In terms of the international aviation market, BCIA will have 73 international destinations, covering 47 countries and regions on five continents, with an average of more than 130 international flights per day and more than 35 intercontinental routes, ranking first among domestic airports.

China Southern Airlines said it plans to arrange 3,000 extra flights from Wednesday to October 8 to meet the rising demand. The company plans to fly 2,200 flights per day on domestic routes, and it will also arrange extra flights for routes to Southeast Asia.

Data from industry information provider VariFlight showed that the number of civil aviation flights across the country is expected to exceed that of the same period in 2019, and may reach a new record high.

Domestic routes are expected to see more than 100,000 passenger flights, and overseas routes are expected to have more than 11,000 passenger flights.

The top three most popular domestic routes are Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Shenzhen, and Shanghai-Guangzhou, and the top three outbound destinations are Hong Kong, Seoul and Osaka.

A daily average of 1.58 million entry and exit trips are expected during the holidays, up 300 percent from 2022 and reaching 90 percent of the 2019 level, thepaper.cn reported, citing data provided by the National Immigration Administration on Wednesday.

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for September came in at 50.2, its first time in positive territory since April, after a consecutive increase over the last four months, reads a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) release on Saturday, reflecting recovery momentum across the country’s manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing is a vital pillar in China’s economy, thus the September manufacturing PMI signaled the recovery of the general macroeconomy, Li Changan, a professor from the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician from the NBS, said that recovering market demand had accelerated business activities across the manufacturing sector. In September, the production index came in at 52.7 percent, up 0.8 percentage point month-on-month; new order index recorded at 50.5 percent, up 0.3 percentage point month-on-month.

Specifically, PMI readings for equipment manufacturing hit 50.6 percent, high-tech manufacturing hit 50.1 percent and consumer goods manufacturing hit 51.3 percent, all returning to the expansion territory.

However, the increasing large commodities price and enterprises’ active purchasing lifted the general price index for the manufacturing sector. NBS data showed that the index of raw material purchasing in September reached 59.4 percent, and index of producer price reached 53.5 percent, all hitting a high for 2023.

Zhao noted that ‘China’s manufacturing sector recovery is still facing challenges from fierce competition, high cost and intensive financing, while various policy support measures will further push the momentum of overall economy recovery.

“The steady increase of manufacturing sector in recent months reflected that government’s policy support measures targeting the sector are taking effect, and have been boosted by the government’s focus on fostering advanced manufacturing technologies,” Li said.

In August, profit of China's industrial enterprises above designated size bounced back from negative to positive territory, recording a 17.2 percent year-on-year increase, the NBS revealed on Wednesday.

Observers said that PMI usually reflects market activities which will flow through to private sector profits.

The NBS also revealed the PMI for non-manufacturing in September which stood at 51.7, up 0.7 percentage points from August. The ongoing Golden Week holidays for the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day showed strong momentum across China’s consumption market.

As an important phase of the whole industrial chain, domestic consumption which is under recovery will further advance a f manufacturing recovery, Li noted.

A combination of Tianzhou-5 cargo spacecraft and Long March 7 carrier rocket has been rolled onto the launch pad. The cargo spacecraft will ferry goods to the China Space Station: CMSA

China on Thursday delivered the world's first seaborne drone carrier, the Zhu Hai Yun, capable of operating on its own. The unmanned carrier can be controlled remotely and navigate autonomously in open water. It will undertake marine scientific research and other observations.

The Zhu Hai Yun entered its home port of Zhuhai Gaolan port in South China's Guangdong Province on Thursday morning and was officially put into use after a year and a half of construction.

Built under the auspices of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), the Zhu Hai Yun is the world's first unmanned system scientific research ship with autonomous navigation and remote-control functions, and has been awarded the first intelligent ship certificate by the China Classification Society (CCS).

The design and construction of the Zhu Hai Yun have followed the principles of green intelligence, scientific support for unmanned systems and "sense of the future." Meanwhile, its power systems, propulsion systems, intelligent systems, power positioning systems and investigation support systems have been independently developed by Chinese research teams.

"This is the first professional sea trial of the Zhu Hai Yun, which aims to test its autonomous navigation performance and the launching of the unmanned craft," said Chen Dake, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory.

For the first time, the carrier navigated autonomously for 12 consecutive hours, and realized obstacle avoidance and path planning. It achieved the desired effect and validated the design, Chen added.

The 88.5-meter-long intelligent unmanned carrier is one of the landmark achievements of the Southern Marine Laboratory, with a designed displacement of about 2,100 tons and a top speed of 18 knots.

The ship has a spacious rear deck, which can carry a variety of unmanned air, sea and submarine observation instruments. It can carry out comprehensive marine survey tasks such as ocean surveying and mapping, ocean observation, sea patrol and partial survey and sampling.

China recently carried out a successful rocket vertical landing test at sea, with developers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) saying Thursday that the technology would lay the foundation for future applications including a recyclable near-space experiment platform as well as the development of space travel. 

CAS Space, a commercial spaceflight firm that is partly owned by CAS, revealed that it successfully carried out the launching-from-land and landing-at-sea flight trial in Haiyang, East China's Shandong Province, which verified the rocket stage recovery at sea, communication and spacecraft tracking and measuring technology under the impact of sea clutters. 

Developers also studied the flight environment at the final landing stage and examined the landing precision of the swaying pad at sea, according to the CAS Institute of Mechanics. 

The rocket prototype flew at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, descended in a smooth hovering fashion and then decelerated thanks to the engine reverse thrust. The landing speed was reduced to less than two meters per second at the final stage before the rocket touched down steadily with a landing precision of under 10 meters.

The landing test took about 10 minutes, the CAS institute revealed. 

Lian Jie, a senior engineer with the institute, told the Global Times during an exclusive interview on Thursday that the 2.1-meter-long, 0.5-meter-diameter rocket prototype weighed 93 kilograms by launch, and was powered by twin engines each with a thrust of 550 newtons. A turbojet engine was used during the test to simulate a variable thrust liquid rocket engine being used during vertical landing.

The full success of the vertical sea landing of the rocket prototype has laid the foundation for future technological development for applications including the near-space scientific experiment platform, rocket stage recovery as well as space tourism, developers said. 

The first flight of the near-space scientific experiment platform could come as early as the end of 2023, Lian revealed to the Global Times. 

This kind of rocket recovery technology at sea would be widely applied to future rocket models including the Lijian-3 and Lijian-3 heavy lift launchers, and will contribute to China's future larger scale space exploration with further reduced costs, developers said. 

Wu Weiping, another senior engineer with CAS Space, also elaborated on the prospects of future space travel applications, saying that passengers inside the payload would have a weightless experience at some 100 kilometers above the Earth at near space for three to seven minutes.

Such space travel would answer to the public aspiration of space entry, and such space shuttle would also accumulate precious data for future space exploration and planetary tourism, Wu added. 

US SpaceX managed to realize its first successful rocket stage recovery for its two-stage Falcon 9 rocket at sea on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in April 2016 after four previous attempts ended in destruction of the booster upon impact. 

When asked how the CAS rocket stage recovery at sea is different from that of the SpaceX, Lian explained that "ours is based on the domestic technology, both software and hardware, and we are exploring technology thresholds such as the variable thrust management, precision positioning and the stabilizing technology on our own." 

Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based senior space expert, told the Global Times on Thursday that landing the rocket stage at sea could save the cost for launching significantly, as the landing pad could be moving at sea. 

"To recovery stage on land could save the power the rocket would have to spend to fly back to in-land landing site, which could be some 40 percent loss of rocket's payload carrying capacity, whereas the number for a sea recovery is only 20 percent," Pang explained.

Also, although sea recovery would raise the level of difficulty due to the complicated sea conditions, it could also help avoid the impact damage during an in-land landing attempt when such landing meets a failure, Pang noted. 

As China completed another feat on Tuesday, sending the country's first civilian taikonaut to China's space station, stargazers worldwide expressed willingness to carry out more cooperation with China in the aerospace field, despite an ever-intense China-US relation. Although the US government has not stopped their smears and attacks on China's space development, some academicians and institutes from the West are willing to collaborate with China for the advancement of science, as there is no border, no politics in the vast universe, Olivier Contant (Contant),the French-American Executive Director of the International Academy of Astronautics, and Erick Lansard (Lansard), a professor at the Nanyang Technological University, told the Global Times (GT)in an interview.

GT: Witnessing China's progress in the aerospace field in recent years, how do you believe the development will contribute to the advancement of mankind's knowledge? 

Lansard: In recent years, there has been some acceleration in China's development. The first time I visited China was in 1996 for the 47th International Astronautical Congress in Beijing, first time hosted by China. Over the years, I have witnessed the progress and development of the Chinese space program. The long-term plan that China drafted several years ago has been implemented, and that has been truly amazing. Despite political tensions, the international space community maintains the interest in continuing discussions among different countries and actors.

GT: The US has been continuously hyping a "space race" with China, with NASA Chief Bill Nelson repeatedly attacking China's space programs, accusing China of stealing technology from the US. How do you think about Nelson's remarks and the future cooperation between China and the US in space?

Contant: Everyone has their own political purpose for saying what they say. The NASA chief represents a state organization, but in the science community, we focus more on our research and tend to have more nuanced opinions according to our areas of cooperation.

At the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) we recognize expertise all over the globe. And this year we are jointly awarding the Laurels for Team Achievements to both the Chang'e-5 International Team in China and the International Artemis 1 Mission Team in USA. 

Also, our Academy is having a major role in the IPSPACE annual conference together with the International Peace Alliance and CIIC in China and other international organizations. The moto for 2022 was "One space, One home". This shows so well the efforts we jointly perform to promote international cooperation not only for the future but for the present time. In addition, we have just participated in the inauguration of the International Innovation Research Institute which will also provide opportunities for international cooperation, including between USA and China.

Lansard: Let me say that when it comes to collaboration, regardless of the country involved, establishing trust among different stakeholders is crucial. Trust means ensuring a genuine win-win situation and respecting each other's contributions, including specific know-how and Intellectual Property. Science provides an excellent platform for collaboration because it inherently offers mutual benefits

What's more, it's important to make a clear distinction between space agencies, which are empowered by the governments to implement policies, and individual researchers and scientists, that can collaborate with the blessing of their national space agencies.Science has the power to unite people. 

GT: Several months ago, the European Space Agency announced that they would stop their plans to send astronauts to the Chinese space station. Do you think it is a result of US' pressurization upon Europe? 

Contant: It's important to recognize that each nation has its own considerations. China is opening up, and it's beautiful. Just like in any relationship, cooperation can have its ups and downs. We need to listen to each other, adapt, find middle ground, and move forward together.

At the IAA we are working on cosmic studies with international researchers, experts and leaders and this includes US, Europe, and China. We have published about 80 studies with contributions of specialists from about 45 countries. It's unique as such international participation maintains a balance of different views.

GT: Do you or your colleagues look forward to visiting China's space station one day? What kind of projects do you want to carry to the space station?

Contant: Definitely, as the IAA is a non-governmental academy like a giant family of the most prestigious experts and scientists, where we appreciate each other, know each other, and are friends regardless of countries.

We are open to collaboration with any space station. We envision exciting projects in various fields, such as agriculture, where we can conduct extensive testing on seeds and vegetables that hold potential benefits for humanity on Earth. Additionally, we are interested in exploring energy solutions and carbon capture techniques. Such collective efforts aim to advance scientific knowledge and contribute to the benefit of our shared future.

Lansard: Most likely, scientists and researchers will stay on ground! I would recommend that the Chinese authorities are inviting and facilitating access to space for universities and research labs, by providing opportunities to embark scientific or technological experiments onboard the Chinese space station, as well as small experimental satellites (nanosatellites, cubesats) that could be launched directly from the space station.

This approach would help fostering collaboration between universities and would encourage idea sharing. It's a great way to support universities, especially considering that they often have limited funding but that they are rich in innovative ideas. It takes time to develop an initial idea and bring it to maturity, so having a platform for sustainable collaboration is extremely valuable.

GT: What other potential fields that you would like to engage with China?

Contant: In deep-space, China is investing a lot of effort in finding exoplanets to understand the origin of life and discover any form of intelligence or life on other planets. That would be an important area of collaboration. Additionally, planetary defense is key to mitigate any potential threats to Earth from asteroids or other dangers that need the joint efforts from all space players. Space Solar Power is also a promising field and the Academy has recently set up a Permanent Committee with international players, including China.