JD FOUNDER RESIGNS

JD FOUNDER RESIGNS

Founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD Liu Qiangdong， also known as Richard Liu， has resigned as the legal representative， executive director and general manager of Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co. Ltd.， the chief operating entity of JD.

JD downplayed the change and described it as a “fairly normal management move.” Beginning this year， 47-year-old Liu has stepped down from the top management positions of 46 other JD subsidiaries， including JD Digits， JD Logistics and JD Cloud.

But experts said the move does not mean that Liu will depart from the company as he still has absolute control over JD. Liu holds about 16 percent of JD stock and is the second largest shareholder， controlling nearly 80 percent of the companys voting rights.

Xu Lei， Chief Executive Offi cer of JD Retail， who is responsible for the development， operation and strategy of the companys retail business， took over as the executive director， manager and legal representative.

Teenager Mode Online

China Youth Daily April 14

A recent report released by the Jiangsu Consumer Council revealed that the teenager mode in some live-streaming apps does not work effectively. The teenager mode was designed to protect adolescents by restricting their usage time and some functions， including reward， top-up and withdrawal. But the function can be easily disabled or switched to general mode.

In August 2019， relevant administrations evaluated the teenager mode on 20 live-streaming platforms and instructed them to optimize related functions to create a clean and exclusive channel for teens， but the tool did not work as well as expected. Some platforms claimed to have enhanced the technology to identify adolescent users. In fact， protecting teenagers was not the real motive of those platforms， it was an action taken under external pressure. Actually， those platforms want to attract more young users， who have now become a major customer group.

Now， it seems that such kind of regulation needs to be carried out to urge platforms to fulfi ll their social responsibilities. And since protecting teenagers is not the primary task of the platforms， parents also need to guide children to use the Internet rationally.

Respect for Lives

People.com April 17

The authorities in Wuhan， Hubei Province in central China， hard-hit by the novel coronavirus disease （COVID-19）， revised the number of local residents infected with COVID-19， and the number of deaths caused by the disease， on April 17.

The confirmed infected cases rose from 50，008 to 50，333. And the number of deaths of COVID-19 increased to 3，869， 1，290 more than the previous statistics.

There have been voices accusing China of manipulating the data to downplay the severity of the pandemic.

It is common practice for countries to revise early statistics according to new f indings to correct deficiencies. During the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China， there was a shortage of test kits， hospital beds and medics， making data collection diffi cult. That has also happened in many other countries affected by the virus.

The revision of the data is dictated by professionalism. Wuhan has organized a special group working on data verifi cation and epidemiological surveying. The group has extensively examined and compared statistics from various sources to make sure every single person affected is counted.

Moreover， it is not possible for the local government to manipulate the numbers， especially after some offi cials have been held accountable for poor performance at the initial phase of the outbreak.

The difference in the two sets of data is within a reasonable range， caused by technical reasons rather than intentionally. China has done all it can to ensure the reliability and accuracy of its data.

Quality Guarantee

Beijing Youth Daily April 17

As of April 4， 54 countries and regions and three international organizations had signed commercial procurement contracts for medical materials with Chinese enterprises. Over 80 countries and international organizations are negotiating with Chinese enterprises for procurement. The total value of exported materials nationwide reached 10.2 billion yuan （$1.44 billion）. That shows the appreciation of Chinas progress on coronavirus pandemic prevention and control， as well as the trust in made-in-China products.

The authorities have also taken action to crack down on counterfeiting rings， and have investigated a number of cases concerning products with poor quality. The Ministry of Commerce decided to prohibit companies from exporting medical supplies if their actions disrupted the market order and tarnished the national image. Poor quality will not only cause direct economic losses but also harm Chinas overall exports.

Some of the quality complaints are related to differences in standards and usage habits. But if the export products are found to have quality problems， the manufacturers should be held accountable.

PUBLIC SECURITY OFFICIAL UNDER INVESTIGATION

Sun Lijun， Vice Minister of Public Security， is being investigated for suspected severe violations of discipline and law， the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission， the countrys top anti-graft body， said on April 19.

Sun， 51， from Qingdao in Shandong Province， east China， became the youngest vice minister of public security in March 2018. He is a graduate from the University of New South Wales， Australia， with a masters degree in public health.

Before the investigation， Sun participated in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan， Hubei Province in central China. His last public appearance was at an oath-taking ceremony for new probationary members of the CPC in Wuhan.

“The economic impact of the pandemic will dampen demand and cause supply disruptions， negatively affecting developing countries that rely heavily on commodities.”

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu， World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth， Finance and Institutions， saying in a statement released on April 23

“Were living in the worst of the best of times. Human progress … isnt stopping， despite what will be a particularly severe yet ultimately temporary slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Erik Nilsson， a U.S. journalist who has worked in China for over 13 years and has won the Chinese Government Friendship Award— the highest honor the country bestows on foreigners— writing in an article recently published in China Daily

“E-commerce will be the key for enterprises to survive， for countries to prosper， and for the world economy to get a boost. The virus is a signal for countries around the world to step up their efforts to reinforce their economic systems.”

Jack Ma， co-founder of tech giant Alibaba， in an interview with China Media Group on April 17

“From my personal understanding of virology， there is no evidence to prove that the virus has artificial or synthetic trace. Besides， some scientists believe that synthesizing a virus requires extraordinary intelligence and workload. So I have never believed that we humans could have the capability at this time to synthesize such a virus.”

Yuan Zhiming， a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Director of Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory， telling CGTN on April 18