China issues guidelines to boost AI-driven job creation, mitigate employment displacement risks

Staff members conduct data collection for various scenarios at a company’s embodied?AI robot data collection and training center in Suqian, East China’s Jiangsu Province on September 3, 2026. Through real-robot simulation, on-site operations, and human-robot collaboration, the center precisely captures multi-dimensional core data such as vision, motion, and environment data, laying a solid data foundation for the optimization and iteration of embodied-AI models. Photo: VCG
 

China has rolled out a set of policy measures to create more jobs through artificial intelligence (AI), improve employment quality and mitigate the impact of job displacement resulting from AI applications, helping build an employment-friendly development model, amid the rapid development and growing use of the technology.

The guidelines, issued by the General Office of the State Council and made public on Friday, outline 18 major tasks across six areas, covering AI-driven job creation, employment-friendly AI adoption, workforce training, employment services, labor rights and social security protections, and employment risk monitoring and response.

The document aims to strengthen AI's positive role in creating job opportunities, enhancing traditional jobs through AI, improving employment quality and stimulating entrepreneurship, while mitigating the impact of AI-related job displacement, according to the guidelines.

It also seeks to promote inclusive development by ensuring that technological progress and industrial upgrading go hand in hand with employment growth and improvements in people's livelihoods.

To strengthen AI's job creation potential, the guidelines call for expanding employment opportunities in emerging sectors, helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises retain and expand their workforce, developing new AI-related employment and entrepreneurship models, and accelerating the development of new AI-related occupations.

The document also calls for building an employment-friendly pathway for AI adoption, including tapping the employment potential of AI in traditional industries, easing job displacement pressures arising from AI applications and establishing mechanisms to assess employment risks associated with the technology.

To improve workers' digital literacy and employability, the guidelines call for coordinated efforts to develop innovative AI talent and the implementation of dedicated AI training programs.

In terms of employment services, the document calls for using AI to facilitate the implementation of employment policies, improve the intelligence and efficiency of employment services, and strengthen support for workers transitioning to new jobs or occupations.

The guidelines also emphasize improving labor rights and social security systems to keep pace with technological changes. Measures include improving labor rights protections to accommodate human-AI collaboration, improving social security arrangements for flexible workers and those in new forms of employment, and refining income distribution mechanisms to adapt to AI development.

To address potential employment risks arising from AI applications, the document proposes strengthening employment risk monitoring and early-warning systems related to AI applications, stepping up research into AI's impact on employment, and improving mechanisms to respond to emerging employment risks.

The guidelines call on local governments and relevant departments to implement the measures in accordance with local conditions. Human resources and social security authorities and development and reform departments at all levels are also urged to strengthen coordination to ensure the measures are effectively implemented.

The latest guidelines are in line with a five-year plan for implementing the employment-firs initiative, fostering more entrepreneurial projects involving innovative AI applications andt strategy released by the State Council in June, which called for advancing the "AI Plus" the commercialization of technological achievements, exploring new forms of work involving human-AI collaboration, and strengthening AI's role in job creation.

Source link : https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202610/1372863.shtml 

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Ninety years on, the great Long March spirit is a light shining on the world

 

The great Long March spirit has been deeply etched into the DNA of Chinese society. It is the determination to rise to challenges and to persist for the long haul; it is the courage to fear no sacrifice and to dare to try; it is the clarity to face reality and actively seek change; and above all, it is the original aspiration of standing with the people through life and death, sharing weal and woe, and striving arduously.

The 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was commemorated at a grand gathering in Beijing on Thursday morning. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the gathering and delivered an important speech.

Xi stressed that the great spirit of the Long March demonstrates the power of loyalty, truth, justice and unity. As an important part of the spiritual lineage of the CPC, it transcends time and space and remains evergreen. It will always be a precious treasure and a powerful driving force inspiring us to overcome difficulties and forge ahead courageously. 

The Long March was a beam of light that burst forth from the Chinese nation at its darkest hour. It showed the world clearly that, even in an old China mired in darkness with no visible way out, there was a group of people striving with all their might to build a new China. In the book The Life Millennium: The 100 Most Important Events and People of the Past 1000 Years, published by the American Time-Life Books, scholars from around the world jointly selected 100 events that shaped the world from 1000 to 2000 AD. The Long March of the Red Army was one of three historical events from China to make the list. It profoundly inspires people that as long as one remains firm in will and unyielding in the face of setbacks, a way out can always be found through continuous exploration, and an entirely new path can be opened.

From Edgar Snow to Henry Kissinger, from Nelson Mandela to Fidel Castro, many observers and strategists have pondered why this Long March in the East was able to succeed. To this day, whenever China astonishes the world with technological breakthroughs or reshapes perceptions with development miracles, the world still asks: "How do the Chinese do it?" These questions all point to the same answer: We have found the right path - a path of never yielding, always moving forward, and never retreating. The Long March is both a spiritual treasure that inspires the Chinese people and a display of the Chinese nation's resilient character to the world.

Today, the term "Long March" has become a shared name for any arduous journey that ultimately reaches its destination. In this sense, the value of the Long March lies not only in the arrival itself, but in the act of continuing to set forth, again and again. After the victory of the Long March, the nation did not stop: It kept marching through the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, kept advancing on the tide of reform and opening-up, and continues to advance under the call of the new era, all the way toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 

Today, the great Long March spirit has been deeply etched into the DNA of Chinese society. It is the determination to rise to challenges and to persist for the long haul; it is the courage to fear no sacrifice and to dare to try; it is the clarity to face reality and actively seek change; and above all, it is the original aspiration of standing with the people through life and death, sharing weal and woe, and striving arduously.

Ninety years on, the great Long March spirit no longer belongs only to history; it is a light that grows ever brighter and shines upon the world. Currently, global governance is experiencing a "darkest hour": climate change, the North-South divide, geopolitical conflicts, and the undercurrents of deglobalization. 

Old paradigms are failing, and new rules have yet to take shape. Solving many major issues requires long-term planning and sustained effort that transcend political cycles and short-term gains and losses. 

The spirit of firm conviction, unity and cooperation, and unyielding struggle transcends national borders and ideologies. It inspires humanity to overcome adversity and pursue a brighter future. This both suggests that global governance needs to blaze new trails toward common development, common security, and common prosperity, and helps the world better understand the spiritual bedrock of the Chinese nation, enabling outsiders to better grasp where this "enabling great power" is heading. 

"Where the spirit lies, there lies the strength." The great Long March spirit resonates with the Chinese nation's cultural tradition of constant self-improvement and has gained new contemporary meaning in the process of Chinese modernization. While it is no longer possible for China today to replicate the march back then, this spirit will always remain, proving to the world that the Chinese nation possesses extraordinary resilience. 

After decades of struggle, China has long since become the world's second-largest economy and is comprehensively advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernization. 

The enduring national resilience behind the great Long March spirit has been a key factor in creating this development miracle. It is the confidence that allows China to navigate storms and seize the historical initiative, and it also provides a stabilizing expectation for a world full of uncertainty.

In the 1980s, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who once served as US national security advisor, walked with his family along the route once taken by the Red Army. He later reflected: "The Long March is more than an epic of almost unmatched heroism." Today, more and more foreigners are coming to China to retrace the Long March route, and places like Loushan Pass have once again become a popular destination for visitors. This is one indication that the great Long March spirit is increasingly needed by the world. As a spiritual monument that the Chinese nation has offered to the world, its importance will become even more prominent in the future. As military writer Wang Shuzeng once described: "The Long March belongs to that category of events in human history which, even after the passage of long years, continue to be sought after by people." 

"The history of the Long March has never faded; the road of the Long March continues to extend." For China, on the new journey, the Long March has no endpoint. 

To carry forward the great Long March spirit is to always maintain a high-spirited posture of storming passes and seizing fortresses, to continue the arduous trek on the journey of Chinese modernization, and to respond to all risks and challenges with an unstoppable fighting spirit. It is to both successfully navigate the Long March of our own generation and infuse a world marked by turbulence and transformation with confidence and strength from the East.

Source link: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202610/1372832.shtml

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105 years on, the world comes to understand why ‘the CPC can succeed

A gathering in celebration of the 105th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on July 1, 2026. Photo: Xinhua

A gathering in celebration of the 105th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday morning in Beijing. 

Addressing the gathering, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called for continuously building a community with a shared future for humanity, holding high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefits, upholding common values of humanity, and implementing the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, so as to lend more positive energy to world peace and development. This important speech profoundly reveals the "key code" to "why the CPC can succeed," enabling the international community to gain a deeper understanding of the CPC's value and future direction. It has attracted wide attention from all sides.

Among political parties in the world, the CPC possesses unique qualities. Some Western parties have long histories, but have never been so closely bound to the destiny of their countries, nor have they possessed such a rigorous organizational system or such profound capacity for social mobilization. Unlike the loose "electoral parties" common in the West, the CPC embraces the lofty ideal of communism and is committed to the great cause of the Chinese nation across generations. It steadfastly shoulders the heavy responsibility entrusted to it by history and the people. It's a party of guiding character and is mission oriented. 

As General Secretary Xi emphasized, the fundamental reason why the CPC has been able to continuously achieve successes throughout its 105-year struggle and why history and the people have chosen the CPC is that the CPC boasts fine qualities with no parallel among other political parties or political forces.

With 105 years of unremitting struggle, the CPC has profoundly shaped the course of world history. Any assessment of the CPC must be placed within a global framework. The international community's close attention to this important speech occurs against two broad backdrops. First, in global governance, the "four major deficits" are intertwined and steadily worsening. Global challenges continue to emerge, and the existing governance system struggles to respond effectively. Second, in domestic governance, the shortcomings of Western party systems have been starkly exposed. Problems such as interest groups hijacking public decision-making, deepening social divisions and widening wealth gaps remain unresolved. A recent CNN article noted that political decay is an endemic in the West. The world is asking: What kind of party can provide stability and hope in this turbulent era?

The CPC has answered with its practice. China has risen from poverty and backwardness to become the world's second-largest economy, completing in just a few decades the industrialization process that took developed countries centuries. For many years, China's contribution to global economic growth has remained stable at around 30 percent. The CPC has also led the largest-scale poverty alleviation campaign in human history, lifting nearly 100 million rural residents out of poverty and contributing more than 70 percent to global poverty reduction. From a country once ravaged by war and economic ruin to a major nation steadily advancing Chinese modernization and helping shape global governance, the CPC has achieved a record of governance that is truly without parallel.

China is home to more than 1.4 billion people - roughly equivalent to the combined population of the Western world. Governing a country of this scale is exponentially more complex than governing one with tens of millions of people. Such a populous country has successfully blazed a path of Chinese modernization, which in itself constitutes a profound contribution to the governance of modern political parties and the evolution of human civilization. At the same time, China has rejected the old path of Western expansion and plunder, enshrining peaceful development in the national constitution and the Party constitution. It advocates equality and mutual benefit, and harmony and coexistence, thereby achieving a powerful transcendence of zero-sum game thinking. The CPC has pioneered a new and outstanding form of human civilization.

Chinese modernization has shattered the myth of "modernization = Westernization." It proves that developing countries with large populations and weak foundations can independently forge their own development path based on their national conditions. For Global South, China offered not only a new option but also renewed hope.

Meanwhile, as profound global changes accelerate, an increasing number of people in Western countries are paying closer attention to China's practices, including its rigorous Party self-governance, grassroots governance, and commitment to self-reform. Many have been drawn to the achievements of Chinese modernization. Even Francis Fukuyama, who famously advanced the "end of history" thesis, recently acknowledged that if China continues on its current development momentum, then the predictions he made about China four decades ago would prove to be wrong, and "the Chinese have created a pretty impressive system" and that it could become "a real alternative" to Western democracy.

To understand China today, one must understand the CPC. It is even more important to gain a deep understanding of Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building. This thought profoundly elucidates the fundamental questions of what the CPC is and what it aims to do. It radiates rational brilliance and personal charisma, and fully embodies the political character, value pursuits, and spiritual demeanor of contemporary Chinese communists. 

The Party's 105-year history has demonstrated that both history and the Chinese people were right in choosing the CPC to lead the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The world today is far from tranquil. Yet the continued success of the CPC has brought a greater degree of certainty to an increasingly uncertain world and expanded the possibilities for humanity's future. This century-old party has infused China with vitality and resilience, while offering the world a source of long-term stability and hope for peace. The CPC advances with an unstoppable momentum. Its vision of working with the world to build a community with a shared future for humanity is as vast as the ocean, and its path is filled with brilliant ligh 

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China says it cannot accept countries acting as 'world judge' after US captures Maduro; China's Strategic Victory in Venezuela: The End of US Dominance?

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US Department of Justice federal officers stand guard outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being held, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, on January 4, 2026. Venezuela's deposed president Nicolas Maduro is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in New York at noon on January 5, to be formally notified about the charges against him, the court said. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized by US forces during a pre-dawn raid on January 3 in Caracas and brought to New York to face charges of "narcoterrorism" tied to alleged trafficking of tons of cocaine into the United States. - AFP

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing cannot accept any country acting as the "world's judge" after the United States captured Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.

"We have never believed that any country can act as ‌the world's police, nor do we accept that any nation can ⁠claim to be the world's judge," Wang told his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar during a meeting in Beijing on Sunday (Jan 4), referring to "sudden developments in ​Venezuela" without directly mentioning the US.

"The sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law," China's top diplomat added, in his first remarks since images of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed on Saturday stunned Venezuelans.

Maduro is in a New York detention centre awaiting a Monday court appearance on drug charges.

Beijing has ambition to become a diplomatic heavyweight, a goal it articulated most clearly after brokering a surprise rapprochement between ‍Saudi Arabia and Iran ⁠in 2023, pledging ‍to "play ​a constructive role in global hotspot issues."

Analysts say Beijing's success in going ⁠toe-to-toe with the US in trade negotiations has only reinforced China's confidence.

However, President Donald Trump's assertion that the US will oversee Venezuela's government for the time being poses a stern test to the "all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership" Beijing and Caracas ‍struck in 2023, marking almost 50 years ‍of diplomatic ties.

"It was a big blow to China, we wanted to look like a dependable friend ‌to Venezuela," said a Chinese government official briefed on a meeting between Maduro and China's special representative for Latin American ⁠and Caribbean affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi, hours before his capture.

Maduro's son visited China's top-ranking Peking University in 2024, where he enrolled in 2016, they said, adding they were unsure whether he would return despite years of diplomatic engagement with Caracas ⁠around his education and ties to China.

The world's second-largest economy has provided Venezuela with an economic lifeline since the US and its allies ramped up sanctions in 2017, purchasing roughly US$1.6  billion worth of goods in 2024, the most recent full-year data available.

Almost half of China's purchases were crude oil, customs data ‍shows, while its state-owned oil giants had invested around US$4.6 billion in Venezuela by 2018, according ⁠to data from the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which tracks Chinese overseas corporate investment. - Reuters

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The evolution of Malaysian foreign policy

Kuala Lumpur once prized non-alignment above all else – now it sees Beijing as more reliable than lectures from the West.- Murni Abdul Hamid

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during a parade for Malaysian Independence Day celebrations last month in Putrajaya, Malaysia (Syaiful Redzuan/Anadolu via Getty Images

Malaysia’s approach in navigating great power rivalry since the Cold War has largely been based on the principles of non-alignment, neutralism, and equidistance. However, two contrasting snapshots of the country’s Independence (Merdeka) Day celebration – half a century apart – offer an interesting perspective on whether Malaysia’s contemporary position has shifted away from these principles.

On 31 August 1973, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, hastily left the joyous Merdeka celebration midway to depart for Algiers and lead the Malaysian delegation to the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit. It was his first time attending the summit. It had taken several attempts for Malaysia to become a NAM member, largely due to Indonesia’s opposition and influence within the Afro-Asian group during the Konfrontasi period. Malaysia’s experience of Konfrontasi and the retreat of the British from the region pushed the country to seek friends among other newly independent states.

When Malaysia finally became a NAM member in 1970, its foreign policy gradually shifted away from heavy reliance on the United Kingdom toward a more neutral and non-aligned stance. Against this background, Tun Razak strongly felt the need for Malaysia to be represented at the highest level in Algiers to signify the country’s commitment to non-alignment – even if it meant leaving the Merdeka celebration halfway.

Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Jump forward just over 50 years to 31 August 2025, Malaysia’s tenth Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, left at the conclusion of the nation’s Merdeka celebration to immediately depart for China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. It was the first time Malaysia had participated in the SCO, in which Malaysia is neither a member nor an observer. It was also the first time a Malaysian leader attended China’s “Victory Parade” in Beijing, which this year took place a few days later, to commemorate the end of the Second World War, alongside other leaders including from Russia, North Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Iran.

Since becoming Prime Minister in late 2022, Anwar has visited China four times, with China’s President and Premier reciprocating accordingly (also a total of four times if including the upcoming ASEAN Summit and other meetings next month).

While China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009, relations with China have further intensified in recent years both bilaterally and multilaterally. These include Malaysia’s active involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). Stronger ties also extend to decisions to allow Chinese companies to develop the country’s second 5G network and to revitalise Malaysia’s national car industry, the recent acceptance of China’s vision of building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind, and the landmark creation of a bilateral mechanism with China to discuss maritime issues. Malaysia’s decision to join BRICS, and the initiative to bring in China into the ASEAN-GCC platform by hosting the first-ever ASEAN-GCC-China Summit in Kuala Lumpur, also illustrate the depth of relations.

The actions of the great powers leave little room for Malaysia to manoeuvre, and siding with the more predictable and reliable power seems to be the less risky option.

While Malaysia’s intensification of cooperation with China should not be viewed as a zero-sum game, it is hard to ignore that this occurred against the backdrop of deteriorating relations with the United States. From the perspective of Malaysian leaders, the more benign power and trusted partner today is not the United States, but China. This, in spite of several challenges, particularly in the South China Sea.

In Anwar’s speech during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Malaysia earlier this year, he praised China as a rational, steady, and reliable partner amid the turbulence of “economic tribalism” and threats to multilateralism and the rules-based order. Last year, when Anwar spoke off-the-cuff at a business luncheon in honour of Premier Li Qiang in Kuala Lumpur, he commended the attitude of the Chinese leadership as “friendly, courteous, full of respect, [and] understanding of cultures and differences”, in contrast to the “narrative from the others” and the “barrage of questions” from others – especially “the western” – on whether Malaysia’s close relations with China would be in Malaysia’s best interest.

Understandably, as an independent nation, no country appreciates being told who it should be friends with, especially when those doing the lecturing neither act as they preach nor have been reliable friends in the first place.

While closer relations with the United States would still serve Malaysia’s interests – particularly in the realms of the economy and defence – they are proving even more elusive under President Donald Trump. His arbitrary tariff impositions, aggressive rhetoric (even against allies), withdrawals from multilateral organisations, disregard for the rule of law, undermining of the global order, and coddling of Israel have been obstacles for Malaysian leaders in promoting closer ties with the United States. Domestically, various opinion polls in recent years have shown a steady decline in Malaysians’ favourable perceptions towards the United States, while favourable views of China and even Russia have increased significantly.

If the above trend persists, Malaysia might find itself moving even further away from its non-aligned, neutral, and equidistant stances that served it well in the past. At present, however, the actions of the great powers leave little room for Malaysia to manoeuvre, and siding with the more predictable and reliable power seems to be the less risky option.

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China in Southeast Asia?

A major new research project published by the Lowy Institute says yes – but there’s more to the story

Exploring rocket town Hainan, China's gateway to space

The writer at the lobby of Hilton Wenchang where models of Chinese rockets were set up for sale. — Photos: FLORENCE TEH

A call from a Beijing-based Chinese journalist friend came suggesting I should make a quick trip to Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, to watch a rocket launch.

“Hainan is just a few hours away from Kuala Lumpur, so here’s your chance to see a real rocket blast. You don’t have to travel all the way to the United States or Russia to see this,’’ he said.

The only problem was that he could not give me the exact date of the lift off as he couldn’t find the details. He apologised and said that the Chinese authorities were often secretive of such information and that the best way to find out was to call up the hotels by the beach, facing the Wenchang space launch site.

When I approached my local travel agent, she was of no help as she had no idea there were rocket ascents in Hainan, but she did promise to call her Hainan counterpart.  

A few days later, the agent called back to say that most of the launch crew had made bookings for a week at the Hilton Wenchang.

“It is most likely that during that one week, the rocket would be launched. You just have to take your chances,’’ the agent said.

Now, there was no way I could book a room there for a week, as the rates had gone up by quite a bit during that period, so an urgent call was made to Beijing again.

More calls and WeChat messages were exchanged and soon, it was narrowed down to three possible dates, with the launch time likely to be at 8.30pm.

That seemed reasonable as I would be able to explore Hainan – dubbed the “Hawaii of China” as it is well-known for its palm-fringed beaches, coconut groves, and luxury resorts – during the day and be back at the hotel in the evenings.

Hainan has long been a destination for vacationers seeking sun, sea, and serenity with its white sand coastlines and subtropical forests.

But unknown to the world, except in China, Hainan is actually fast gaining a reputation as a world-class spaceport, with space tourism as one of its main products.

My wife and I arrived in Hainan via AirAsia, which flies direct from KLIA Terminal 2, hoping to see the countdowns and launch pads.

“You must get a balcony room with a beach view, and just watch the awesome sights and sounds from the room. It will be the best view. That way, you don’t have to jostle with the crowds who will gather at the public beach,’’ my reporter friend reminded me.

White beaches, palm trees and the rocket launch pad. A perfect view from the balcony of Wenchang Hilton in Hainan, China.

To ensure my dates were when the launch was “most likely to happen”, he doubled-checked with his colleagues in the Hainan bureau, and they assured him that it was on and that “it will happen”.

The Wenchang Space Launch Centre, operational since 2016, is the only coastal launch site in China. Most launches take place in desert sites.

The Hainan location allows for the launch of the country’s largest and heaviest rockets – like the Long March 5, which carries modules for China’s Tiangong Space Station and deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars.

Unlike many space facilities around the world, Wenchang’s launch pads are remarkably accessible.

There’s a public beach that’s just a short walk away from the main launch site, where curious onlookers and local families gather to watch the countdowns, to hear the engines roar to life, and to see the rockets pierce through the sky in dazzling displays.

The anticipated day finally came. Roads were sealed. Only vehicles ferrying registered hotel guests were allowed entry into the hotel area.

Space workers in their uniforms were seen walking around the lobby and restaurants. My wife, who speaks Mandarin, asked if the launch would happen. Their lips were sealed but they sportingly smiled and nodded their heads.

The rocket lift-off event at Wenchang, as seen from the writer’s hotel balcony.

The hotel had set up a counter selling miniature rockets, badges and other souvenirs, which was another sign that the launch was on.

There were rocket models in the lobby, and the afternoon tea served cakes and other sweet treats in the shape of astronauts and spacecrafts, though for a pricey RM200.

By 2pm, locals arrived at the public beach with folding chairs and picnic baskets, turning the shoreline into a festive arena. Children waved flags and tourists scrambled for the best camera angles.

Finally, on Aug 22 at 8.25pm, I looked at the balconies next to our room and saw that they were already filled with guests.

Then, the countdown began. When it hit zero, a thunderous roar filled the air. The rocket lifted slowly at first, then accelerated into the clouds, leaving behind a huge column of fire and a trail of awestruck gasps.

It was loud and hot, yet completely unforgettable. I couldn’t believe how close we were to seeing it all. There was no need for binoculars or distant observation decks.

What I also found unbelievable was that there was only a short mention of the launch on the local TV news channel that evening.

One of the hotel restaurant workers, a local, shrugged at my excitement, saying the rocket launches were mainly satellites by the private sector, and that these take place every few months.

A check online indeed showed three launches this year and many locals were no longer excited about these events, “except for the out-of-town local tourists”. My wife and I were the only foreign guests at the hotel.

The writer with his wife, Datin Seri Florence Teh at the Aeronautics City in Hainan.

A record was set between July 30 and Aug 4, when “two launches were carried out within five days”, according to reports.

One big attraction that awaits public opening is the Hainan Science Museum, also called the Hainan Science and Technology Museum, in Haikou. Here, there are galleries within the futuristic six-storey building displaying space technology, ocean science, and mathematics, as well as a few interactive zones.

The design of the building resembles an “updraft” (rising warm air current), with fluid, cloud-like shapes, inspired by Hainan’s tropical rainforests and futurism, according to news reports.

But for now, tourists only have the Astronautics City to visit, which is a modest museum but decent enough.

Since we were already in Wenchang, a quiet “rocket town”, we had to try its Wenchang chicken, a dish so famous it inspired the Malaysian favourite, Hainanese chicken rice.

My verdict? Well, we may be light years behind China in terms of rocket science but as a consolation, our Hainanese chicken rice is way, way better!

The steamed chicken in Hainan is tough as they are free-range chickens. They do not have our chilli sauce as a condiment nor do they use thick caramel soy sauce. The steamed chicken is also pretty plain and dry, really.

One simply has to try the chicken rice in Hainan as that's where it originated, but the writer still prefers Malaysian chicken rice.

What about durians in Hainan? No, it’s not going to happen for a long, long time as they still rely on imported Thai durians.

Haikou, the capital of Hainan, is also known for its Instagram-friendly colonial-era buildings at Qilou Old Street, reflecting both European and Chinese influences, and restaurants.

Further south, the more well-known resort cities like Sanya offer five-star luxury, snorkelling, and rainforest hikes.

But for Malaysians, all these will not really excite most of us ... but seeing a rocket lift off in front of our eyes is definitely worth experiencing.

Hainan is just a little over three hours by flight from KL and not many realise that the place is geographically the closest Chinese province to Malaysia.

Haikou’s Qilou Old Street is a charming town with colonial-style buildings.

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