Local favorite Zhang Zhizhen beat Japan's Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 7-6(7) at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Saturday to capture China's first men's singles gold medal in nearly three decades.

Pan Bing won the men's title for China at 1990 and 1994 Asian Games.

Another Chinese player Wu Yibing, silver medalist at Jakarta 2018, suffered an early exit after a shock third-round defeat on Tuesday.

The head coach of China's speed skating team said that she has been trying to instill a champion mentality among the young athletes, as the team held an open training session at the Capital Skating Oval in Beijing on Monday.

The team has been gearing up for the 2023-2024 ISU Speed Skating World Cup, an international tournament consisting of six events. The season begins on Friday in Obihiro, Japan and will end on February 4 in Quebec City, Canada. The skater with the most points in a given distance at the end of the series is the World Cup winner in that distance.

Chinese skaters will leave for Japan on Tuesday for the first leg of the world cup series and they are excited to make their mark in the second leg which will take place at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, or "Ice Ribbon," from November 17-19.

Li Yan, the head coach, told the Global Times that she expects more young players will make breakthroughs in the new season.

"We've been working hard to improve the overall strength of the team in the past year. We want to develop the champion mindset within our team in practice and competition," said Li.

The team is led by Gao Tingyu, who broke the Olympic record to win the men's 500m in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It was also China's first gold medal in men's speed skating in the Winter Olympic Games. 

In addition to the short distance, China has made up ground in the medium- and long-distance races. In the 2023-24 season, four Chinese skaters have qualified for each of the women's 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events. In the men's 500m, 1000m and 1500m, four skaters have also secured their spots respectively. 

Meanwhile, two skaters will compete in the men's 5,000m and 10,000m, the events for which China failed to qualify in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. 

"We have realized our primary goals of having more male skaters participating in international long-distance events and improving women's long-distance results. Our objective is to forge ahead and change the status quo and we will take it one step at a time," Li noted. "We are also enhancing the athletes' capability of competing in multiple events, which is a trend of speed skating development."

Foreign coaches Jan Bos from the Netherlands and Alexander Rumyantsev from Russia also joined the team to help the skaters.

Li Qishi, who took her first world cup victory in 2014, told the Global Times after training that the participation of more young skaters has given fresh impetus to the team. 

"I think this is good for the development of speed skating in China. With more young skaters to compete in international events, there will be opportunities to create better results," said Li, adding that she has improved her starting recently. 

Young skater Liu Bin told the Global Times that Gao has set a good example of self-discipline and he will try to find his feet in the coming event. 

The world cup in Beijing is the first major international tournament held at the "Ice Ribbon" since the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. 

As one of the legacies of Beijing 2022, the "Ice Ribbon" has opened to the public after the Games.  

"I look forward to our skaters achieving better results on the home ice and we're excited to revisit the fast and furious atmosphere created by the cutting-edge venue," Li said. 

Taking advantage of the legacy of Beijing 2022, more international winter sports events have come to China and provided young skaters with opportunities to progress. 

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final will take place in Beijing from December 7 to 10. Currently, the Chinese figure skating team is gearing up for the fourth leg of the figure skating series, which will be held in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from November 10 to 12. 

Meanwhile, the third leg of the 2023-24 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup will take place in Beijing from December 8 to 10. China's short track speed skaters wrapped up the first two legs with four golds, one silver and one bronze. 

Olympic champion Su Yiming will take part in the second leg of the 2023/2024 FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard Big Air World Cup, which will be held at Shougang Big Air in Beijing from November 30 to December 2.

The 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will take place in Shanghai from January 30 to February 4, 2024.

The COP28 Presidency has co-hosted the second Global Dialogue series with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Abu Dhabi, gathering policymakers, representatives, and experts from 140 governments, as well as participants from the private sector.

The Global Dialogue, held in Abu Dhabi Global Market from 15-17 October, is the largest UNFCCC mandated event held in the emirate to date, and focused on accelerating the energy transition and decarbonization of the transportation sector.

Those attending, including COP28 Chief Executive Officer Adnan Z Amin, drove technical alignment and produced a report that will help jumpstart upcoming discussions at Pre-COP from 30-31 October, where up to 100 ministers will discuss key priorities in Abu Dhabi for COP28.

Attendees agreed that decarbonizing the transportation system will make a significant contribution to a just and equitable energy transition, and will boost economic diversification by creating green jobs and invigorating industries in developing countries.

Solutions discussed for decarbonizing transportation included the deployment and shift to collective and non-motorized transportation models, energy and resource efficiency in the transportation sector, vehicle electrification, and the adoption of low- or zero-carbon fuels.

A sustainable transport sector is central to our shared success in keeping 1.5°C within reach,” Mr. Amin said at the event. According to the IPCC’s sixth assessment report, the transport sector emits 8.7Gt per year, representing roughly 23 percent of global emissions, he said, so “transport would need an accelerated electrification and associated deployment of charging infrastructure in the coming decades.”

While Papua New Guinea has recently signed a security pact with the US, former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Neill told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that his country will not be used by other countries to attack China.

"We should not be used by other countries to advance their own issues, and we are not in conflict with China. We have no problems with China. We should be able to maintain our strong, very good, friendly relationship that we have established since our independence 48 years ago," he told the Global Times. 

According to media reports, the US signed a defense agreement with the Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea in May, allowing US military access to the country's waters and ports. Some analysts expressed concern that this agreement will strengthen Washington's presence in the Western Pacific, and that the provisions of the defense agreement will play a crucial role for Washington if a conflict erupts in the Taiwan Straits. 

During the interview, the former Prime Minister stressed that Papua New Guinea should not be involved in the China-US game, and the country has no conflict with China. Adding that Papua New Guinea should develop ties with China.

"China is a very important business partner, economic partner and a friend, and has strong people-to-people relationship with our country. That is something that we need to continue," he said.

He also stressed that "We've always said that there is one-China policy. We've always believed in one-China policy. Papua New Guinea is maintaining that policy and we will stand by that policy."

O'Neill sat down for an exclusive interview with the Global Times during an event hosted by the think tank Center for China and Globalization on Wednesday. 

In recent years, relations between China and South Pacific Island nations have developed rapidly. However, this win-win cooperation has attracted attention from countries including the US and Australia who have sought to strengthen their presence in the region as a way to "counter" China's influence. Some Western media outlets even hyped up the vicious rhetoric that China is a "destroyer" of peace and stability in the region. 

Regarding these accusations, O'Neill told the Global Times that China has a great opportunity to silence those critics, who certainly are not doing as well or as much as China in the Pacific. 

"China is doing more than these critics in the Pacific. China is building roads, China is building hospitals, China is building schools. This is sort of a development partner that the Pacific and Papua New Guinea need. We don't need people just talking. I think China has been a great friend and I think we can do more," he said.

The former prime minister pointed out that China is doing a great job in the Pacific. "Don't let some of the critics tell you otherwise. I believe very strongly that China has more to do and to work with the Pacific in terms of bringing up more economic opportunities."

O'Neil also noted that China's experience in development over the past decades is important for them to learn from.

"China has got a great opportunity to share some of the experience. China has gone through in the past 40 or 50 years in development. We have the same challenges in the Pacific. We are very small countries, we've got large population, we have got difficulties in developing our people's standard of living to improve, just like China has done in the past. 

"China has experience in making sure that its population has got better standard of living, better health, better education, better infrastructure, access to IT. All those are challenges that we face and I think we can learn a lot from China."

In 2018, then Prime Minister O'Neill, led a delegation to visit China and signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), making Papua New Guinea the first Pacific Island nation to join the BRI.

Reflecting the changes that the BRI has brought to the country over the past five years, O'Neill said "My feeling is that the BRI has helped Papua New Guinea build better infrastructure. We have an access to finance and we've never had funding for this type of  infrastructure before. The terms of the finances are very, very concessional, meaning that it is cheap and it is affordable for a country to build roads that will add economic value to the nation."

"I think you will find that China has done a lot for Papua New Guinea and we want to continue to improve on our trade. We want to export more to China and buy more from China. It's a win-win situation for both countries," he said. 

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in China held a ceremony to launch the "Belt and Road Ambassador Scholarship," on July 26. The ceremony unveiled scholarships for Sino-Sri Lankan student exchanges in 2023, an evaluation work plan, timeframes of awarding recipients and details of  financial support, and elected Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Palitha Kohona as the chairman of the Evaluation Committee. This activity aims to expand the humanistic exchanges and cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. 

Kohona stressed at the ceremony that, "The Belt and Road Ambassador Scholarship aims to adapt to the globalization of travel, to respond to the great initiative of the Global Community of Destiny, and to promote educational and cultural exchanges among Belt and Road developing countries." He expressed hopes to influence more peace-loving and common development-minded enterprises and people in various fields around the world to actively participate in this project, and to make contributions toward friendly mutual assistance, synergetic development among all countries, and for the civilization and progress of the peoples of the world.

The event marks an important step in the China-Sri Lanka friendship in the field of Belt and Road educational exchanges. It injects new vitality into the friendship and cooperation between the two countries and helps more students realize their dreams of globalization and development.

As Chinese hit movie No More Bets that exposes digital scammers, fraud farms and gangmasters went viral, the topic of telecom scams in Southeast Asia, especially in northern Myanmar, has once again made a splash across Chinese social media. Terrifying stories in northern Myanmar involving kidnapping and human trafficking have once again brought the long-standing, difficult problem into the public spotlight and prompted heated discussion, which has deterred Chinese tourists from visiting the country, a previous hot travel destination.

This time, we witness an unprecedented effort by the Chinese government to combat telecommunications fraud. The government of Myanmar's Wa State, which has become known as a hub for telecom fraud, recently issued an internal document demanding a strict crackdown on the criminal activity, particularly those targeting Chinese citizens, according to a notice circulating online.

Although the Global Times could not verify the authenticity of the notice, the determination of the Chinese government is apparently driving effective cross-border cooperation on cracking down telecom fraud.

The public security force of border city Pu'er, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has joined hand with their counterpart in Myanmar to launch a crackdown campaign along the border. A total of 1,207 suspected criminals involved in fraud from northern Myanmar were successfully handed over to Chinese police, including 41 fugitives wanted online.

This is the latest major achievement in the crackdown on fraud following the previous capture of 269 suspected criminals and dismantle of 11 telecom fraud dens from northern Myanmar on September 3, CCTV News reported.

Multilateral mechanism is also at work, as China, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos have vowed to protect people from gambling fraud and related crimes through joint special operation.

Who are these people engaged in fraudulent activities? What drives them to telecommunications fraud, and how were they caught up in it? What is the truth behind popular online claim of "extract their kidneys and sell their organs?" What are the challenges faced by border police working on the frontline with the mission of persuading individuals trapped in the clutches of telecom fraud to return? The Global Times reached frontline police officers, victims, and insiders to reveal how China has ramped up its efforts to crack down on telecom fraud, a plague that has spread in the era of digital payment and harmed numerous Chinese families.

Disappearing at the border

As rampant telecom fraud news and stories in Southeast Asia swept Chinese social media in recent weeks, various industries in China launched a massive anti-fraud campaign. From anti-fraud training as the first lesson for students at the beginning of the school year, to community police officers visiting homes to convince people installing anti-fraud apps on their mobile phone, and the widespread broadcasting of anti-fraud videos on public transportation, China's determination and efforts to combat telecom fraud have reached a new peak.

Frontline police officers involved in anti-fraud work highlighted the strengthened efforts.

A police officer surnamed Lin in East China's Fujian Province - a high-risk area for telecom fraud in China - told the Global Times that the local government has been investing more resources and manpower into large-scale anti-fraud campaigns since 2019.

As the three years of the COVID-19 epidemic led to an increase in the fraudulent calls, special task forces have been established since then, Lin said.

Due to intensified efforts, 80 percent of those who went from Fujian to Southeast Asia to engage in telecom fraud have been successfully persuaded to return, Lin said. However, there are still some individuals who cannot resist the temptation of making a quick buck and go back again.

Northern Myanmar, a breeding ground for violence in telecom fraud, is seen as a gold rush destination by some jobless Chinese youngsters, as fraud gangs in northern Myanmar do not set any educational threshold and offer "high salaries," catering to the desire for quick wealth.

According to data released by the China's State Council, as of March 2022, among 10,589 illegal immigrants, 70 percent of them were engaged in telecom fraud.

Lin participated in anti-fraud and persuasion campaigns in northern Myanmar in the spring of 2021. He found that only 3-5 percent of people there could actually make big money. The majority of them dreamed of "earning a big fortune," and many of them were lured by their fellow villagers or friends.

Who exactly makes up the majority of telephone fraudsters in northern Myanmar? Du Guanglei, deputy director of the public security bureau of Xiangyang, Central China's Hubei Province, conducted a survey on criminal activities along the China-Myanmar border in 2020.

The study showed that the majority of illegal immigrants were rural residents, with the majority being males, and 56 percent of them were between the ages of 20 and 30. They generally have lower education levels, with 69 percent having only completed junior high school.

The northern region of Myanmar is typically a vacuum zone in terms of systematic and efficient government management, which provides a breeding ground for crime. Some local warlords in northern Myanmar secretly supported the telecom fraud industry and collected "protection fees" from it. They used epidemic lockdowns as an excuse to obstruct those engaged in telecom fraud from returning to China over the past three years, according to Lin.

Yang, an 18-year-old who was once deeply involved in telecom fraud, shared his painful experience in Myanmar with the Global Times. With the help of a snakehead, he crossed the border from Yunnan to Myanmar in December 2020.

Upon arrival, he discovered that the "comfortable and luxurious office environment" promised in the ads was a few shabby scattered in houses in a grassy field. As soon as he met his contact, he was taken to a dim room and forced to hand over his phone, bank cards, and ID. Subsequently, Yang had his freedom restricted by armed personnel until he signed a labor contract.

Yang recalled that those who failed to meet their targets would be dragged into a room and brutally beaten, or handcuffed and electrocuted. He often heard screams. He was not spared from this ordeal either.

In February this year, after experiencing nearly two years of nightmare in Myanmar, Yang finally saved enough money to redeem himself and regain his freedom. As soon as he left, Yang went straight to the border checkpoint in the border city of Ruili and surrendered himself to Chinese police officers.

"The past three years of the pandemic have seen the greatest efforts and the highest number of successful persuasions for returnees. There have indeed been cases of people queuing up online to voluntarily surrender and return to the country," said Lin.

"Persuasion involves reasoning with them and appealing to their emotions. For those who have been listed as fugitives by the public security organs, I advise them to return and surrender themselves, as having mitigating circumstances can reduce their punishment. We also mobilized their family members to persuade them. Some people, upon seeing their parents coming to the border crying and urging them to come back during video calls, have chosen to turn back from the wrong path," said Lin.

Paying a ransom and fleeing have become the mainstream ways to escape the scam hub, according to the veteran policeman. He said that the majority of people who return are able to find jobs and resume their normal lives. For those who are unable to find jobs for a period of time after returning, the local government will provide training and support.

Cross-border cooperation upgraded

Recently, the public security authorities have investigated and sorted out a batch of clues related to criminal activities involving Myanmar in the northern region. Over 1,100 of them were telecom fraud cases, involving a total amount of 120 million yuan ($16.37 million), media reports said.

An insider from the Yunnan border police department told the Global Times that due to the absence of an extradition treaty between China and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, Chinese police face difficulties in enforcing the law overseas to crack down on fraud gangs abroad. The cost of rescuing a person from criminal gangs is also high. However, the governments in the China-Myanmar border regions are currently holding meetings to negotiate the establishment of a long-term mechanism to combat telecom fraud crimes.

According to CCTV News, on August 15, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, the Royal Thai Police, the Myanmar Police Force, and the Lao Ministry of Public Security jointly launched a special cooperative operation against gambling fraud and related crimes such as human trafficking, kidnapping, and illegal detention in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The four parties decided to establish a comprehensive coordination center for the special operation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and set up joint action points in areas where gambling fraud is rampant to crack down on crimes such as human trafficking, kidnapping, and detention.

The parties also expressed their determination to crack down on the criminal groups, and firm determination to protect people through concrete actions.

A journalist surnamed Zhao based in Bangkok, who has been reporting telecom fraud crime for years, told the Global Times that the crime is mainly concentrated in the Thailand-Myanmar border area, especially in areas with lax security and rampant corruption.

A small portion of the Chinese involved in telecom fraud may move on to organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking and even human trafficking. But the widely circulated online rumors about people being force to sell their organs are exaggerated, said Zhao.

Zhao emphasized that in recent years, with China's strengthened crackdown efforts, the Thai government has also attached more importance to the fight against telecom fraud.

Lin believes that as the border reopened after the pandemic, the space for cross-border cooperation in combating crime has expanded, and the breeding ground for criminals is shrinking.

"I hope that one day I will no longer receive calls from victims of telecom fraud crying for help or calls from the families of fraudsters seeking salvation for their children," Lin said.

Editor's Note:

In the universe there is only one Earth, the shared home of humanity. Unfortunately, this planet on which we rely for our subsistence is facing immense and unprecedented crises, both known and unknown, both foreseeable and unforeseeable.

Whether human civilization can survive these has become an existential issue that must be squarely faced More and more people have come to the realization that rather than amassing material wealth, the most pressing task is to find a guiding beacon for the sustainable development of human civilization, because we all care about our future.

Chinese President Xi Jinping propounded the idea of building a global community of shared future ten years ago, answering a question raised by the world, by history and by the times: "Where is humanity headed?"

His proposal lights the path forward as the world fumbles for solutions and represents China's contribution to global efforts to protect our shared home and create a better future of prosperity for all.

Over the past decade the idea has been steadily enriched.In 2015, Xi fleshed it out with a five-point proposal in his speech at the General Debate of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly. In 2017, he further proposed five goals for the world in his speech at the United Nations Office in Geneva. This represents the steady increase in the depth and scope of the vision of a global community of shared future.

The past decade has also seen steady progress in implementing the vision. From bilateral to multilateral and from regional to global dimensions, ground-breaking results have been achieved on every front. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative(GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) have taken root and borne fruits, bringing prosperity and stability to the world and creating substantive benefits for the people.

On the occasion of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Chinese government has released this white paper to comprehensively introduce the historical context in which the concept of building a global community of shared future was born, the ideological connotations the concept contains, the cultural soil it is rooted in, the path it advocates for realization and the vivid practices it has achieved.The purpose is to enhance international understanding and comprehension, foster broad consensus, and better collaborate with countries around the world in building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Our journey ahead will be a lengthy and arduous one. But as long as we press ahead with perseverance, there will be much to expect. Successes and setbacks await us, but hopes abound.

Building a global community of shared future depends on the joint actions of all countries. When all countries unite in pursuing the cause of common good, plan together, and act together day by day toward the right direction of building a global community of shared future, we can build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity and jointly create a better future for all of humanity.

During US President Joe Biden's recent visit to Vietnam, it was announced that the Vietnam-US relationship was upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership dedicated to "peace, cooperation and sustainable development," making the US Vietnam's fifth "comprehensive strategic partner."

The strengthening of Vietnam-US relations has been brewing for a long time. It seems grand in scale, but the essence of "peace, cooperation and sustainable development" needs to be carefully examined.

First, the US has always been quite enthusiastic about enhancing its relations with Vietnam, but not for the sake of "peace." During his visit, Biden expressed his "goodwill" not to let the consequences of the Vietnam War influence their bilateral relations, pointing out that the two peoples have overcome the "bitter past" together. However, it is worth questioning whether Washington can truly reflect on history.

In fact, through Biden's trip, Washington attempted to induce Vietnam to play a greater role in the US' Indo-Pacific containment circle against China and to divide ASEAN. The US is not pursuing peace. We still remember the lessons of the Vietnam War vividly, and Washington has not given up on provoking a "new cold war." No different from half a century ago, it still seeks hegemony, opposes communism and stirs up chaos and wars globally.

Second, as for "cooperation," Washington has always had a carrot-and-stick policy toward Hanoi instead of cooperation. And this is likely to continue after the enhancement of their ties. The history of Vietnam-US relations shows that every time a US leader visits Hanoi, there are voices in the US demanding pressure be put on Vietnam regarding democracy and human rights issues, claiming that Washington cannot "surrender" to Hanoi just because the former needs something from the latter. 

Moreover, the two countries' semiconductor partnership, one of the striking achievements of this visit, is also more about the interests of "American industry, consumers and workers." This is not genuine win-win cooperation. In addition, historical evidence has shown that when the interests of Hanoi and Washington clash, the US is quick to resort to threats of sanctions.

Third, "sustainable development" is what Vietnam is most concerned about. For Vietnam, the enhancement of relations with the US is primarily motivated by economic considerations. In other words, Vietnam aims to leverage US power to facilitate economic recovery and transformation. 

In fact, if the US changes its indifferent and episodic attitude toward Southeast Asia and develops normal and legitimate diplomatic relations and economic exchanges with Vietnam, enhanced Washington-Hanoi ties can promote prosperity and development in Vietnam and also Southeast Asia. However, the key is that the US has to first implement the agreements already reached before discussing so-called sustainable development.

In fact, after the talks with Biden, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized the keywords "independent" and "peace" at the press conference. It is believed that Vietnam can make its own rational judgment and truly implement its 2019 defense policy of "Four No's," the "bamboo diplomacy" concept grandly launched in 2021, and the new consensus reached by high-level visits between Vietnam and China in 2022. Vietnam should make every effort to avoid becoming a pawn for the US and ensure that the strengthening of their relations truly brings "peace and cooperation," thus providing a prerequisite for achieving "sustainable development." China will not have any objections to this, and such Vietnam-US relations can also benefit China-Vietnam relations.

On the contrary, if Vietnam follows the US to develop bilateral relations to target China or other third parties, engage in maneuvers on multilateral occasions, and cause chaos in the region, it will undermine the consensus between Beijing and Hanoi. If this were to happen, the establishment of China-Vietnam community with a shared future will likely face great storms. This is also very detrimental to Vietnam's image as a "responsible partner of the international community."

The developer of an unmanned suspension railway has finished its phase I construction and started testing on Monday in Shanghai, the latest step in intelligent monorail testing in China. 

The Baoshan demonstration line project finished its 400-meter-long phase I construction and started testing, aiming to offer passengers a new experience of traveling with a sense of technology.

Designed by EPN Skytrain Development Co, the demonstration line project, with a designed length of 940 meters, has two stations and one repair facility with a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

In line with the development trend of intelligent and unmanned urban rail transit in Shanghai, the system is equipped with a Grade of Automation 4 autonomous train operation system, the highest level in the industry.

Putting unmanned intelligent technology on a suspension railway is an innovative move in the industry, and it shows the developer's high-level development capability for intelligent systems, Sun Zhang, a railway expert from Shanghai Tongji University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Founded in 2018, the company introduced a German prototype system that had a safe operation history of nearly 40 years, after five years of independent research and development. The localization rate of the system has exceeded 90 percent, reported news outlet thepaper.cn.

Unlike traditional railway systems, suspension railway systems offer greener transportation while using less land and costing less money. They also give passengers a better view of the city, said Sun.

On April 27, 2006, Shanghai unveiled a maglev train, which was also the first maglev line in China. With German technology, the train was put into use on a 30-km track between downtown area and Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR), the first HSR in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, officially began operation on Monday. 

The high-speed line, a landmark project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), connects Indonesia's capital Jakarta and another major city Bandung. Observers said it will have a demonstration effect for future BRI developments in Southeast Asia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday declared the official operation of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR at Halim Station in Jakarta, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

At the ceremony, Widodo announced the name of the HSR - "Whoosh" - inspired by the sound of the train, saying that the high-speed train marks the modernization of Indonesia's transportation system, which is efficient, environmentally friendly and integrated with other public transportation networks, Xinhua reported.

The Indonesian Transportation Ministry issued an operating license Friday to PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), a consortium of Indonesian and Chinese firms responsible for developing and operating the Jakarta-Bandung HSR line.

From September 7 to 30, the high-speed railway conducted trial operations, having offered free rides to local residents, according to media reports.

A spokesperson of the China Railway No.4 Engineering Group Co told the Global Times in September that ridership of the HSR could exceed 10 million trips in the first year of operation.

China Railway No.4 Engineering Group Co participated in the construction of the rail line.

Connecting Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and Bandung, the fourth-largest city in Indonesia, the Jakarta-Bandung HSR is 142 kilometers long and has a maximum design speed of 350 kilometers per hour. It will cut the journey between the two cities from 3.5 hours to just 40 minutes.

The HSR passes through the hinterlands of West Java province and has several stops including Halim, Karawang, Padalarang and Tegalluar.

The grand opening of the HSR received a warm welcome from the locals, who see the project as a symbol of national pride and a dream come true.

Grace Jessica, an Indonesian assistant director at the Tegalluar station of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR, told the Global Times that the "beautiful day" for a rapid ride has finally arrived. "Before the opening, many friends asked me for train tickets, and my family also longs for a chance to get on board," she noted. 

As the HSR becomes a reality, Zhang Chao, executive director of the board of KCIC, told the Global Times that his feelings could be compared to "sitting the national college entrance exam," and he is excited to see eight years of hard work pay off, while having a sense of responsibility to ensure the line operates smoothly.

The Jakarta-Bandung HSR is the first time that Chinese high-speed railway technology was implemented in an all-round way outside of China, with the whole system, all elements and entire industrial chain.

Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lu Kang told the Global Times in a recent interview that in the long term, the HSR will further optimize the local investment environment, increase job opportunities, drive commercial and tourism development along the line, and even create new growth points to speed up the building of an HSR economic corridor.