Editor’s Note: As President Xi Jinping put, understanding China today, one must learn to understand the Communist Party of China. Under the leadership of CPC, great achievement has been made in the fields of diplomatic relations, education, and space science at home and further strengthening the ability for international governance abroad. Today’s coverage will inform you of the aforementioned news.

1. President Xi Jinping stresses engagement with CPC at Understanding China Conference

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech via video at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province on Thursday. Our world is experiencing changes unseen in a century, said Xi, stressing that it is all the more important for us to exchange views, have more interactions and cooperation, and contribute our wisdom and strength to jointly address global challenges.

"To understand China today, one must learn to understand the Communist Party of China (CPC)," Xi said in his address. Noting that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, Xi said the CPC united and led the Chinese people in making unremitting efforts to fundamentally change Chinese people's destiny and exert a profound impact on the course of world history.

2. Chinese FM pledges to promote ties with Vietnam

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday called on China and Vietnam to promote the sustained, healthy and stable development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

Wang made the remarks during a meeting in Anji of Zhejiang with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. He said this year is very important for the development of bilateral relations, and the two sides should follow the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries and work together to promote the sustained, healthy and stable development of the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. Bui Thanh Son said Vietnam has always supported China to play a greater role in international affairs.

The two sides exchanged in-depth views on bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields and reached an important consensus. They agreed to strengthen political leadership, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and enhance cooperation on fighting against the pandemic. 

3.85% of China's population to speak Mandarin by 2025

The number of Chinese people who speak Putonghua, or Mandarin Chinese, will be increased to 85 percent of China's population by 2025, according to a recent circular. The circular, released by the Ministry of Education, stressed the fundamental role that schools play in the teaching of the standardized Chinese language and characters.

It also called for wider access to standardized Chinese education in ethnic minority areas and urged the protection of the spoken and written languages of ethnic minorities as well as the improvement of their quality of education.

The study of and guidance over new words and expressions, acronyms, and foreign language words will be strengthened, while the use of language on new media will be standardized, the circular said.

It stressed the importance of promoting Chinese language education and services internationally, as well as the language's influence in the academic field.

4.DiDi announces delisting in the U.S., to work on Hong Kong IPO

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing Inc. on Friday announced it would begin work to delist in the United States immediately and will commence preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 

5. Crew to offer live lecture from China's orbiting space station

Crew members of China's Shenzhou XIII mission will soon give a space-based lecture from the orbiting Tiangong space station to students around the world, the China Manned Space Agency said on Thursday. It said the lecture will take place in the coming days and will be broadcast live to audiences around the globe. It will mark the launch of the Heavenly Palace Class, China's first extraterrestrial lecture series to popularize space science, it added.

Heavenly Palace is the English translation of Tiangong, the most sophisticated endeavor in China's manned space program, which aims to build a massive space station about 400 kilometers above Earth.

6. WHO spokesperson: Travel bans won't keep cases out of countries

World Health Organization through its spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said on Thursday that travel bans will not keep Omicron COVID-19 variant infections out of countries, but if they are put in place, they should be used well to buy time.

"Dr. Fauci is right that if you do something as drastic as a travel ban, use it well to buy time," Harris said about the top U.S. infectious disease expert's comments about the effectiveness of temporary travel bans. "But we do know that it won't keep cases out. Usually, by the time where countries are aware that there is a risk of importation, that's already happened."

The duration of a travel ban should be used to ramp up surveillance, including looking at how and where people will be tested, and what will happen when there are positive cases, what the situation is in hospitals, how vaccination can be accelerated, and how to advise people and help them protect themselves, she added.

7. China dominates table tennis titles, earns points on diplomacy

The Chinese team dominated the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships, which concluded on Monday in Houston, Texas, but the event is just as likely to be remembered for China and the United States' gesture of unity. Four of five titles were won by China, with 265 players from 56 nations competing in the championship, organized by the International Table Tennis Federation, which took place from Nov 23 to 29.

For the first time, China and the United States joined together to enter two combined teams in the mixed doubles event. One of the pairs－Lin Gaoyuan from China and Lily Zhang from the US－secured a bronze medal. It was the first medal won by the US at the championships since 1959, and also a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, which helped the normalization of Sino-US relations. The combined teams had strong support from both Chinese and US fans.

8. 76th UNGA adopts Beijing Winter Olympic Truce Resolution

The 76th Session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted the Beijing Winter Olympic Truce Resolution drafted by China and the International Olympic Committee.

9. Russia says the U.S. is not 'beacon of democracy'

The United States and its allies with numerous problems at home cannot and should not claim that they are a "beacon of democracy," the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

The Western countries have many "chronic problems" regarding freedom of speech, election administration, corruption, and human rights, the ministry said in a statement, commenting on the upcoming US "summit for democracy." The ministry pointed out the "hypocrisy" at the core of this summit to be held on Dec 9-10 at the initiative of the US administration.

"We urge all foreign partners not to engage in 'democratization,' not to draw new dividing lines, but to return to the observance of international law and to recognize in practice the principle of the sovereign equality of states, enshrined in the UN Charter," it read. Russian officials and experts have criticized the so-called summit for being "chimerical" and only beneficial to US geopolitical interests.

Editor: Huang Yan