Blockchain unlocks travel amid the coronavirus pandemic

Blockchain technology allowed 17 million people to travel between China’s Guangdong province and Macau amid the coronavirus pandemic.

• Macau and China’s southern Guangdong province have a mutually recognised health code system powered by blockchain
• This allows both sides to validate the health status of travellers without directly exchanging personal data, hence complying with local privacy laws

Pedestrians wear face masks as they walk outside the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau on January 22, 2020. Photo AFP

EVEN amid a global travel standstill due to the coronavirus, more than 17 million people travelled between Macau and China’s southern Guangdong province since May.

This is thanks to a mutually recognised QR health code system using a crucial piece of technology: blockchain.

Blockchain technology is seen as a secure way to transfer data as it stores records in a network of computers instead of a centralised system. Each new record is linked to previous ones, making it extremely difficult for anyone to make changes.

The mainland China-macau health code system, based on technology by Chinese opensourced blockchain platform Fisco Bcos and Webank, a fintech developer backed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings, provides a solution to a major challenge to crossborder travel, Fisco Bcos said in a press release.

“Health authorities in Chinese mainland and Macau need to verify the health information submitted by users crossing the border and yet they are not supposed to exchange data directly with each other to stay in compliance with their corresponding regulations,” the blockchain platform said.

The health code system uses blockchain to encrypt the identification and personal health information of travellers, storing it in a consortium blockchain network which grants access only to authorised organisations.

This way, health authorities on both sides are able to verify whether travellers are in good health and have been in contact with any known Covid-19 cases without actually accessing personal data, thus complying with privacy regulations on both sides of the border that prohibit the direct exchange of such information.

With the code and valid negative coronavirus test results, Macau travellers are now exempt from a 14-day quarantine when entering China.

Chinese travellers from outside Guangdong province can also participate in the system to travel into Macau without quarantine requirements as long as they allow Guangdong authorities to access their data.

“The whole process does not involve transmission of data between back-end platforms,” said Fan Ruibin, head of blockchain technology at Webank.

“The original data is still stored in the local authority’s data centre.”

The technology “greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of information verification across borders” and saves travellers the trouble of filling in personal information repeatedly on different platforms, Fisco Bcos said.

The average time of setting up the mutually-recognisable health code for the first time is 100 seconds and it takes less than three seconds to repeat the procedure thereafter, according to the statement.

Technically speaking, the system allows “both authorities to recognise a person’s health conditions through asymmetric cryptographic technology”, which uses a pair of related keys to encrypt and decrypt a message and protect it from unauthorised access or use, said Gao Chengshi, a cryptography expert and a member of the Blockchain Committee of the China Computer Federation.

“The technology itself isn’t complicated, and can be easily introduced to other countries and regions as long as the authorities are willing to conduct such mutual recognition of health identities,” Gao said.

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Global economic rebound stricken by Covid-19 surge

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde (pic) said the economic recovery is “losing momentum more rapidly than expected” after the partial rebound seen in the summer. She warned that the risks to Europe’s economies are “clearly tilted to the downside”.

THE recent resurgence of the Covid-19 infections has cast a new shadow over the global economy, with lockdown measures taking place.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron has declared a nationwide lockdown starting today. It comes just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a four-week shutdown of bars, restaurants and theatres.

This week’s decline in global equities comes as investors grow increasingly worried about the economic recovery due to the sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in Europe and in the US.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a series of new restrictions in many countries, including Malaysia, that make it harder to know where the economy is heading.

On Thursday, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the economic recovery is “losing momentum more rapidly than expected” after the partial rebound seen in the summer.

She warned that the risks to Europe’s economies are “clearly tilted to the downside”.

The latest round of infections are causing a heightened level of uncertainties for governments to prepare fiscal and monetary responses.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath called on governments to continue fiscal support, including credit lines for small and medium businesses, wage subsidies and grants until the recovery is underway.

“To prevent large scale bankruptcies and ensure workers can return to productive jobs, vulnerable but viable firms should continue to receive support, wherever possible, through tax deferrals, moratoriums on debt service, and equity-like injections, ” she said in mid-October.

“Most economies will experience lasting damage to supply potential, reflecting scars from the deep recession this year, ” she added.

The IMF pointed out that Covid-19 remained the critical factor in economic recovery, and that “many more millions of jobs are at risk the longer this crisis continues.”

According to a recent estimate by the World Bank, up to 150 million more people may be pushed into extreme poverty by 2021.

The global economy is expected to decline by 4.4% this year before it expands to 5.2% in 2021, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report published recently.

Interestingly, IMF data shows that emerging markets are likely to see a lower contraction of 3.3% this year compared to 5.8% decline in developed economies.

For the eurozone economy, the agency expects a slump in GDP by 8.3% in 2020, a level not seen since the 1930s Great Depression, with Spain likely to suffer the most.

The report predicts the Spanish economy to slide 12.8% followed by Italy, down by 10.6.%. Even the EU’s economic powerhouse, Germany, could contract by 6%.

Advanced economies’ recovery in 2021 would be slower than emerging economies, with GDP expected to grow 3.9% compared to 6%, the IMF believes.

The IMF said China, where the first cases of Covid-19 were reported, will be the only economy with positive growth for this year, with 1.9% expansion.

“While recovery in China has been faster than expected, the global economy’s long ascent back to pre-pandemic levels of activity remains prone to setbacks, ” it said.

China’s recovery from the pandemic is mostly coming from accelerating industrial production and robust export growth.

The US economy grew at a record pace in the third quarter. It expanded by an annualised 33.1% quarter-on-quarter following a plunge of 31.4% q-o-q in the preceding quarter as economic activities gradually resumed.

With the second wave of pandemic infections, though, some market observers suggest that a recovery remains uncertain.

MIDF Research said that on an annual basis, the US economy contracted 2.9% year-on-year in the third quarter, which is a “significant recovery” from the 9% fall registered in the second quarter this year.

“The recovery remains incomplete as the pandemic-induced crisis is far from over and the number of daily Covid-19 cases remains elevated.

“Tighter rules in other parts of the world such as in some European countries could be echoed by the US, which threatens the continuous recovery in the country, ” it said in a report yesterday.

In a report by Reuters, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said rising Covid-19 cases, particularly in the winter months, could means a second economic hit from the virus, which is likely to be worse than the first time around.

He expects more business failures should the number of cases continue to spike.

“A lot of businesses were able to navigate together with the PPP money (Paycheck Protection Programme loans). Of course, consumers were able to hang in there, because they got all that consumer support from the government, ” he said.

“This time, if the pandemic intensifies and infections rise, it is going to be very difficult for these businesses to make it through, ” he added.

“We will see more business failures and the scarring effect, as economists say, will make it much more difficult for the economy to get back on track and get back to full employment.”

The IMF, meanwhile, has called on governments to rethink their spending priorities and direct funding to projects that will boost productivity, including green energy investments and education.

With debt on the rise in many countries, it said policymakers may need to increase taxes on the highest earners, cut out loopholes and deductions, and ensure that corporations pay their fair share of taxes while eliminating wasteful spending.

“This is the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and it will take significant innovation on the policy front, at both the national and international levels, to recover from this calamity, ” IMF said.

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WASHINGTON: The United States passed nine million reported coronavirus cases on Friday and broke its own record for daily new infections for the second day in a row, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, as Covid-19 surges days before the country chooses its next president.

The U.S, which has seen a resurgence of its outbreak since mid-October, has now notched up 9,034,295 cases, according to a real-time count by the Baltimore-based school.

On Friday the country set a record for new daily infections of more than 94,000 in 24 hours, breaking the record of 91,000 it had set just one day earlier.

With the virus spreading most rampantly in the Midwest and the South, hospitals are also filling up again, stretching the health care system just as the nation heads in to flu season.

“We are not ready for this wave,“ Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University school of public health, warned on ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday.

Authorities in El Paso, Texas, imposed a curfew this week to protect “overwhelmed” health care workers and began setting up field hospitals.

But a judge’s attempt to shut down non-essential businesses in the city has been challenged by the mayor and the state’s attorney general, the Washington Post reported.

Midwestern state Wisconsin has also set up a field hospital in recent weeks, and hospital workers in Missouri were sounding warning bells as cases there rise.

Hospitals in the western state of Utah were preparing to ration care by as early as next week as patients flood their ICUs, according to local media.

‘Utterly disqualifying’

The pattern of the pandemic so far shows that hospitalizations usually begin to rise several weeks after infections, and deaths a few weeks after that.

More than 229,000 people have died of the virus in the US since the pandemic began, the Hopkins tally showed as of Friday, with the daily number of deaths creeping steadily upwards in recent weeks also — though at present it remains below peak levels.

For months public health officials have been warning of a surge in cases as cooler fall weather settles over the U.S, driving more people indoors.

As the weather changes, New York and other parts of the northeast, which were the epicenter of the U.S outbreak in the spring but largely controlled the virus over the summer, were reporting a worrying rise.

Some epidemiologists believe that Covid-19 spreads more easily in drier, cool air.

Rural areas, which in the spring appeared to be getting off lightly compared to crowded cities, were also facing spikes with states like North Dakota charting one of the steepest rises in recent weeks.

The state is so overwhelmed that earlier this month it told residents they have to do their own contact tracing, local media reported.

With four days to go until the election, Donald Trump was battling to hold on to the White House against challenger Joe Biden, who has slammed the president’s virus response.

“It is as severe an indictment of a president’s record as one can possibly imagine, and it is utterly disqualifying,“ Biden said Friday as the toll passed nine million.

Trump downplays the virus even as the toll has been accelerating once more, holding a slew of rallies with little social distancing or mask use.

He has repeatedly told supporters that the country is “rounding the curve” on Covid infections.

But Americans, wary of crowded polling booths on Election Day as the virus spreads, are voting early in record numbers. — AFP

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Summary of the 13th Five-Year Plan 2016-20 Infographic: GT

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, from 2016 to 2020, China has made great strides in improving the economy, people's livelihood and other fields. China has contributed over 30 percent to global economic growth, with GDP hitting almost 100 trillion yuan ($14.9 trillion). Over 50 million people have been relieved from poverty, and 53.78 million new urban jobs have been created. New standard bearers in technology emerged, including high-speed trains, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and domestic passenger aircraft C919. This rapid technological development can be attributed to investment in research and development, which totaled 2.17 trillion yuan in 2019, accounting for 2.19 percent of GDP and up 56.3 percent from 2015. 

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Highlights of the fifth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee Infographic: GT

With decisive progress in the past five years and a strategic victory against the COVID-19, top leadership of the Communist Part of China (CPC) on Thursday unveiled a steady and bright picture for the country's future, as it sets sweeping social and economic development goals for the next five to 15 years that aim to build the world's most populous nation into a modern socialist power in the economic, technological and other fields by 2035.

In a wide-ranging communiqué released after the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC ended in Beijing, top officials conclude that  China remains in a major strategic development period, citing "decisive achievements" in the past five years and "major strategic results" of the COVID-19 epidemic, and offered sweeping solutions in a wide range of areas, from economy, to security, and to governance.

While the communiqué projected confidence in China's development paths and prospects, certain targets, particularly in economic areas, reflected a cautious and pragmatic sentiment among top officials, given mounting domestic and external pressure on growth, while other goals such as greenhouse gas reductions underscored the country's determination to pursue high-quality growth and tackle global issues, experts said.



Sweeping targets

"Having deeply analyzed the profound and complex changes our country faces in its development, the plenary session believes that China's development remains in an important strategic period," the communiqué said, calling for strategic patience in overcoming challenges and striving for progress.

Among the key takeaways from the communiqué are sweeping targets sets for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and long-range goals through the year 2035. Coming at a critical inflection point for China, the four-day meeting and the targets for the coming five to 15 years are essential steps in China's long-term goal for national rejuvenation. The 14th Five-Year Plan would also mark the start of the pursuit of the second centenary goal to build a modern socialist country.

"Previously, we usually set five-year plans, but this time we mentioned the 'long-range goals for 2035' for the first time. The time span extended from five years to 15 years. That shows we have become more strategic," Yang Xuedong, a professor of political science at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Under the goals in the communiqué, China will achieve modern socialism by 2035. What that entails includes achieving "big leaps" in economic strength, technological prowess as well as overall national strength, the document said. Total economic output and urban and rural income will reach a "new level," and major breakthroughs would be made in core technologies.

"I think those targets are very pragmatic as they reflect our advantages and long-term development goals, as well as the many challenges we have to face," Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Though the document refrained from offering specific empirical targets, Tian said that those goals could mean that China would double its current GDP of around 100 trillion yuan in 2035, and double current per capita GDP of $10,000. "That would require a real GDP growth of around 3.5 percent annually; it is a big target but can be done if China's full potential is realized," he said.

In keeping with a decades-long tradition, the communiqué also included goals for the 14th Five-Year Plan. During the coming five-year period, China will aim for "new achievements" and "sustained and sound growth" based on improvements in quality. The domestic market will be further boosted and economic structure would be improved, it said.

In a breakaway from previous five-year plans, the 14th Five-Year Plan did not include an annual growth target. In the 13th Five-Year Plan, an annual growth target of around 6.5 percent, which, experts say, could be missed due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

That decision reflected the considerable risks and challenges the country is confronted with, including the COVID-19 pandemic, experts noted.

The new five-year plan came at a critical juncture for the Chinese economy. Though China has effectively reined in the epidemic and embarked on a steady economic recovery path with a 4.9 percent growth in the third quarter in the year, the deadly virus continues to ravage across the world, which is already mired in rising trade and geopolitical tensions.

While the 6,200-word communiqué focused mostly on economic issues, it also touched on a long list of issues, including governance system, security, social fairness, education, healthcare, and environmental protection - all part of China's long-term strategy to build a modern socialist society.

In security, the communiqué called for modernizing its military. On environmental protection, the communiqué said that China will continue to reduce carbon dioxide emissions after reaching a peak by 2035, which experts called a "bold" pledge that reflects China's determination to tackle climate and environment issues.

Paths to success

The communiqué also outlined strategies and paths that China would take to overcome those challenges, and reach its goals in the medium-to-long term.

Among the major steps listed in the document is a strategy that has already gained widespread attention - the "dual circulation" model. In line with previous speeches from top officials, the communiqué called for forming a "powerful" domestic market and establishing a new growth model, where the internal circulation would play a main role in driving growth, though the external circulation would also be boosted. "Consumption would be boosted and room for investments would be expanded fully," the document said.

Though China is at a transitory period where both opportunities and challenges are abundant, "fully grasping the 'dual circulation' would turn this into a period of opportunities," Wang Huiyao, an adviser to China's State Council and president of the think tank Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Thursday.

With China's exports, which have already been declining in recent years, facing a tough situation due to the raging pandemic and tensions, Chinese policymakers are counting on the massive domestic market to ensure economic growth and security. China, which already has a middle-income population of over 400 million, is set to overtake the US as the world's biggest consumer market in the coming years.

Aside from the "dual circulation" strategy, the communiqué also highlighted the country's focus on technological innovation to drive sustainable growth, calling it an "innovation-driven" development strategy, and aiming to become a global leader in innovation. The Chinese character for innovation appeared nearly 20 times in the document, and for technology, 13 times.

"One of the most important points in the communiqué is mentioning innovation as a core national strategy… Facing the complex global situation, China needs to improve these areas," Wang said.

However, as the communiqué has made clear, focusing on the internal circulation does not mean China will turn inward and stop its long-standing opening-up policies. China will firmly adhere to its opening-up paths, and will continuously expand opening-up at a higher level, the document said.

"When we talk about the 14th Five-Year Plan, we shouldn't stress its effect on domestic development. It also has a significant meaning globally. China's economy is the engine for the global economy. China achieving a strategic victory against the epidemic and sustained economic growth is also a dose of confidence for the world," Yang said. 

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