01

China's State Council has approved setting up more cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in 27 cities and regions as the government seeks to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investments. The new pilot zones, including those in Erdos in Inner Mongolia and the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, will replicate and advance the experience learned from the previous five batches of pilot zones, according to a statement released by the State Council.

02

Avantor, a leading B2B provider of mission-critical products and services in biopharma and healthcare among others, announced that it plans to continue expanding its customer network in China in the coming two years to meet the growing demands in the market.

03

The Chinese mainland on Tuesday recorded 73 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. Of the new local infections, 72 were reported in Guangxi and one in Liaoning, the commission said in its daily report.

04

The Beijing Winter Olympics have been warmly welcomed in Japan with its promotional video drawing attention at Tokyo's iconic crossing. The video, which was made by the China Media Group, exhibits the charms of winter sports along with subtle but touching elements of the Chinese capital city. It was played multiple times on all major screens in the Shibuya Scramble Crossing starting from Wednesday.

05

Southeast Asia is embracing its "digital decade" with the region's internet economy expected to soar on the back of a fast-growing base of digital consumers and merchants. A report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company said Southeast Asia is on track to become a $1 trillion digital economy by 2030.

06

Cambodia inaugurated a Chinese-funded stretch of National Road No 7 on Monday, which connects rural and urban areas in Northeastern province.

Linking between Kratie provincial town and Sambour district, the 93.5-km-long and 11-meter-wide road was built by the Shanghai Construction Group under the grant aid from the Chinese government, and it took 24 months to be completed.

07

Local governments in China are doubling down on plans to accelerate 5G rollout this year. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the United States where the federal government is likely to face a shortfall in funding for its plan to replace Chinese equipment in telecom networks, posing connectivity challenges to people in rural areas in the US, experts said.