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The youth are the vanguards of our time, showcasing boundless energy and vibrant personalities. Gen-Zers not only represent the makers of the future but also serve as agents of change in the present. With an open mindset and an international outlook, they actively integrate into the currents of globalization, engaging in deep exchanges, and collaborating with youth from around the world to explore pathways and strategies to address global challenges.

The Global Times launched the "Voice from Gen Z" series, which focuses on the proactive actions and innovative achievements of young people around the world in areas such as global governance, cultural exchange, environmental protection, and technological innovation. Through this column, we aim to showcase the unique charm and future leadership of global Gen-Zers.
A few months ago, Sonjin Aroi stood beside a Nauru booth at a cultural expo organized by the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Chinese university students, teachers and primary school pupils stopped to look, and Aroi found himself introducing the Pacific island country to one visitor after another.

"I was more than happy to tell people about my country," Aroi told the Global Times. "Many Chinese were so curious, and I was really pleased to see how eager they were to learn about Nauru."

In July, Aroi joined 29 other students from 10 Pacific island countries (PICs) at the 2026 Qilu Empowerment Training Camp for Youth from Pacific Island Countries in East China's Shandong Province. The 10-day program combined climate change courses, vocational training and visits to agricultural and industrial projects.

For Aroi, an international politics student at the university, the exchange made the connection between young people in the two countries tangible. It also reflected one of the reasons he chose to study in China: He wanted to understand how a small island country can engage with major powers while preserving its own development choices.

Questions from a small island

Aroi said he chose to study international politics in China for two reasons.

"First, China is one of the few major powers that maintain sincere, equal partnerships with small Pacific island nations like Nauru," he told the Global Times.

He contrasted this with what he described as cooperation offered by some Western powers with strict political conditions attached. He wanted to examine China's diplomatic approach toward developing countries, particularly its relations with PICs.

His second reason came from the challenges facing Nauru itself. "Nauru faces existential climate change risks and limited economic resources," Aroi said. "My main research goals were: How can tiny island nations secure sustainable development cooperation without sacrificing sovereignty? How does China's climate finance and infrastructure aid support vulnerable Pacific communities?"

The University of International Business and Economics' focus on international economic diplomacy offered a place to explore those questions.

Among his courses, a seminar on environmental diplomacy left the deepest impression. The class examined China's environmental policies and cooperation with other countries. Pacific island students also shared their countries' experiences of climate change and international assistance.

In January 2024, China and Nauru resumed diplomatic relations. Mutual political trust and reciprocally beneficial cooperation between the two countries have continued to deepen. The two sides have become good friends and partners who respect each other and pursue development together, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Aroi believes studying in China as bilateral exchanges expanded offered another way to observe how diplomatic decisions move from official documents into education, training and development projects.

His understanding of China before arriving was more complicated than a single media image.

"Before I came to China, my understanding was shaped by limited Western media narratives," he said. "However, I also read some history and watched documentaries about China."

He had read about poets Li Bai and Gao Shi and watched documentaries about the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). He is particularly interested in the history of the Three Kingdoms period (220-280).

Living in China allowed him to revisit that history from the perspectives of Chinese professors and local people, he said. At the same time, experiences such as the university cultural expo allowed the exchange to work in both directions: While he learned more about China, Chinese visitors were also learning about Nauru from him.
From diplomacy to drip irrigation

At the training camp in Shandong, some of Aroi's questions about international cooperation took a practical form. "The field trip to the agricultural sectors in Weifang was the most valuable experience," he said. "Listening to what China can offer to Pacific islands regarding agriculture was impressive."

During the visit, trainees learned about different types of greenhouses, cultivation methods and water-saving agricultural technologies.

Aroi immediately connected drip irrigation with Nauru's limited freshwater resources. He also considered whether greenhouse cultivation and Chinese agricultural expertise could support farming on an island where phosphate extraction has left some areas barren and unused.

"With China's expertise in agriculture, Nauru will be able to increase its agricultural sector," he said.

"Sea level rise is the most concerning issue in Nauru," he said. "Nauruans fear losing our homeland and identity within decades, and we have limited global climate aid to Nauru."

He also pointed to an economy dependent on phosphate mining, which he said is approaching depletion. Young people face limited long-term employment opportunities, with many working in low-paid temporary jobs that offer little room for career development.

Education creates another dilemma. High-quality university education overseas remains unaffordable for many families, Aroi said. Yet young Nauruans who leave to study and work abroad may not return, reducing the number of trained professionals available to support development at home.

Post-mining ecological recovery adds another burden. Aroi said phosphate extraction has damaged soil, constrained agriculture and complicated access to fresh water, while the resources available for restoration remain limited.

These concerns shaped what he looked for in Shandong.

At the opening of the training camp, Chen Dezheng, executive deputy director of the China-Pacific Island Countries Climate Action Cooperation Center, described the participating students as young people who "both understand the real difficulties facing island countries and are gaining advanced knowledge and technologies in China."

Chen said their experience placed them in a position to connect China and PICs while contributing to green development.

Aroi sees such connections operating through several channels. China-Pacific youth forums allow young islanders to present climate and development concerns to policymakers, he said, while Chinese government scholarships make overseas education accessible by covering tuition, accommodation and living costs.

"I want to tell Nauruans that having a balanced green development is achievable," he said, adding that "China has also shown me methods of how they can aid Nauru with their technology, expertise and services."

In response to a media inquiry on China's comment regarding the escalating situation in the Middle East, amid reports that the US is deploying additional military equipment, including aircraft carriers and fighter jets, to the region, that a full-scale war against Iran may resume in the coming days, and that multiple countries have issued advisories urging caution when traveling to the Middle East, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated that China is deeply concerned about the escalation of the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region. The achievements made through negotiations have been hard-won, and the resumption of hostilities serves the interests of no party. The sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of countries in the region should be respected and upheld.

"The parties concerned should remain calm and exercise restraint, cease hostilities, resume engagement and dialogue, adhere to resolving disputes through political and diplomatic means, and achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire at an early date," said the spokesperson.

The first phase of the world's largest nuclear energy and petrochemical industry large-scale coupling demonstration base, located in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province, will supply over 35 million tons of industrial steam annually upon completion. Its outcomes will be replicated and promoted to industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, offering a replicable China's solution for low-carbon transformation of global energy-intensive industries, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Tuesday.

The base, jointly composed of the Xuwei Nuclear Heating and Power Plant and the CNNC Heqi-1 steam supply project, is primarily designed to supply the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industrial Base, one of China's seven major petrochemical bases. This marks China's nuclear energy comprehensive utilization moving from technical demonstration into a new phase of standardization and large-scale application, said CNNC.

Advancing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is a solemn commitment China has made to the international community and an inherent requirement for achieving sustainable development.

The green and low-carbon transformation of the energy structure is key to achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In 2025, China released a white paper titled Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality China's Plans and Solutions, which states that nuclear power is an efficient and high-quality clean energy source. China is committed to developing nuclear power with the absolute requirement that safety is guaranteed, and to promoting the use of nuclear energy in clean heating, industrial heating, and seawater desalination.

The petrochemical and chemical industries, as foundational sectors, bear the important responsibility of supporting national economic development. For the petrochemical industry, carbon reduction transformation under the dual carbon goals is imperative.

The "nuclear plus chemical" approach targets a critical need in the green transformation of the chemical industry: industrial steam, said the CNNC.

Chemical production requires large volumes of steam with high quality standards, and production facilities need long-term, continuous and stable operation. How to ensure large-scale, high-quality and continuous steam supply while effectively reducing carbon emissions has become a real challenge that industrial transformation must address.

Nuclear steam supply, using heat from nuclear power plants to supply industrial steam, is a new pathway that meets the steam demands of the petrochemical industry, reduces overall energy consumption and alleviates environmental pollution.

CNNC's active promotion of the "nuclear plus petrochemical" coupled development deeply integrates nuclear energy's clean advantages with the energy needs of the petrochemical industry, offering new ideas for the green transformation of traditional energy-intensive sectors.

The Xuwei Nuclear Heating and Power Plant is the world's first large-scale nuclear-petrochemical coupled project, the world's first project coupling pressurized water reactors and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, the world's first application of a "reactor-turbine-heat" coordinated control model, and the world's first commercial application of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.

The project is a nuclear power plant primarily focused on industrial heating while also supplying electricity. It employs China's Hualong One - a third-generation nuclear power technology with full independent intellectual property rights - combined with the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, a fourth-generation nuclear technology. 

The first phase of the project plans to build two Hualong One units and one high-temperature gas-cooled reactor unit. The project has conducted over 70 research topics, with more than 40 scientific and technological innovations already applied. It has pioneered integrated technologies including dual-main-pipe continuous heating, low-temperature-difference large-scale heat exchange, and reactor-turbine-heat integrated intelligent regulation, while simultaneously overcoming construction challenges such as undersea tunneling and modular construction. Multiple innovations have filled global technological gaps in nuclear industrial heating.

The Heqi-1 project uses steam from the secondary circuit of the Jiangsu Nuclear Power Units 3 and 4 as a heat source, employing multi-stage heat exchange technology to deliver steam at 1.8 megapascals and 248 degrees Celsius through independent isolated pipelines to the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industrial Base, 23.36 kilometers away.

This project represents the world's first large-scale industrial steam production and supply from pressurized water reactor nuclear power units, with no established standards or engineering precedents to follow. Its key innovation lies in achieving real-time, precise matching of reactor core power, steam supply heat power and grid power. Through the development of large-scale steam supply unit reactor-turbine-heat matching technology, it has successfully addressed the problem of slow automatic reactor power response when steam supply equipment failures cause sudden significant drops in industrial steam flow.

To date, Heqi-1 has supplied over 4.8 million tons of green steam to the Lianyungang petrochemical base, injecting strong green momentum into the development of the petrochemical industry.

Moreover, CNNC has established China's first carbon footprint factor calculation system for nuclear industrial steam supply, effectively giving each kilogram of nuclear steam a "green ID card" that precisely calculates its carbon emissions throughout the entire lifecycle and production process - from seawater to industrial steam - filling a gap both domestically and internationally. This helps enhance the green competitiveness of Chinese products.

China's state broadcaster on Saturday released footage showcasing the expanding Z-20 helicopter family and its service across the country's ground, naval and airborne forces, with images of the shipborne Z-20J conducting takeoff and landing training aboard a Type 075 amphibious assault ship drawing particular attention.

Chinese military experts said the 10-ton-class Z-20 has evolved from a single helicopter model into a highly adaptable platform capable of serving different military branches and potentially law-enforcement, maritime and firefighting agencies. Its balance of payload, endurance and shipborne compatibility could eventually make it one of China's most widely produced and deployed helicopter types, they said.

The footage and photo collection released by CCTV News showed multiple Z-20 variants during training. During an exercise involving an Army aviation brigade, Z-20 and Z-20T helicopters launched missiles that struck their targets and conducted heliborne operations.

On land, the Z-20 family can undertake multidimensional offensive and defensive operations, troop transport, logistical resupply, casualty evacuation and emergency rescue missions, according to the CCTV report.

The report also introduced the naval Z-20J and Z-20F variants, both feature salt-resistant, anti-corrosion coatings and folding rotor blades and tail booms designed for storage and operation aboard warships. CCTV previously noted that the folding design allows the naval Z-20J to be moved and stored more easily in the confined spaces of naval vessels.

The Z-20J is primarily designed for troop transport and vertical assault missions at sea. It can operate from Type 075 amphibious assault ships and Type 071 landing platform docks, as well as Type 055 and Type 052D destroyers and Type 054A frigates, the report said.

The Z-20F, by comparison, is configured for open-seas anti-submarine warfare. Equipped with maritime-search radar, sonobuoys, dipping sonar and anti-submarine torpedoes, it can conduct integrated submarine detection and attack missions.

The report also featured the Z-20K of the Air Force, whose tail boom and horizontal stabilizer can be folded so that the helicopter can be carried inside a Y-20 transport aircraft. Designed as a key air-mobility platform for airborne troops, one Z-20K can carry a complete squad for heliborne deployment while also conducting external-load transport, casualty evacuation and logistical missions.

The development of the Z-20 family reflects the Chinese military's emphasis on adapting common equipment platforms for use across multiple services, Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Saturday.

Other platforms, including the J-35 fighter aircraft, have also been developed for operations across multiple services, Zhang said. Such commonality can simplify operational support and maintenance, facilitate joint operations and avoid duplicated research and development investment.

The deployment of the Z-20J aboard Type 075 amphibious assault ships could significantly enhance their ability to conduct multidimensional landing operations, Zhang said.

A Type 075 can deploy air-cushioned landing craft for a conventional beach assault while using Z-20Js for rapid troop insertion, aerial delivery or attacks against positions behind the beachhead, allowing forces to apply pressure from multiple directions, he said.

The Z-20 family has also recently attracted attention from overseas military media amid speculation that a maritime variant could be associated with the China Coast Guard.

Outlets including Janes and Military Watch Magazine cited images that appeared to show a Z-20F carrying China Coast Guard markings. Military Watch claimed that the footage indicated the maritime helicopter had entered CCG service and described it as a major landmark in the modernization of the service's anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Compared to smaller helicopters previously operated by the service, the Z-20 offers substantially greater endurance, payload capacity and sensor performance, allowing Coast Guard vessels to maintain aerial surveillance over much larger areas while responding more rapidly to incidents at sea, Military Watch said.

The reported appearance of a Z-20F in CCG colors has not been officially confirmed by Chinese authorities.

Song Zhongping, another Chinese military expert, told the Global Times that it would be normal for an advanced 10-ton-class utility helicopter such as the Z-20 to be adopted by different military branches or law-enforcement agencies.

A helicopter in this weight category is not too heavy for shipborne operations, while remaining large enough to provide substantial payload, range and mission capability, Song said. This combination allows the Z-20 to perform effectively in a wide variety of operational environments.

The basic platform can be adapted into shipborne, Army aviation, Air Force and coast guard variants, while related models could also serve maritime and firefighting agencies, according to Song.

"The Z-20 is no longer merely one helicopter model. It has become a platform," Song said. "More and better helicopter variants will be developed on the basis of this platform."

In response to Taiwan authorities' smear on the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, driven by their inherent pursuit of "Taiwan independence" and political interests, are attempting to erase and distort Taiwan compatriots' identification with the Chinese nation. Their repeated baseless attacks and smears against the law are aimed at fabricating excuses for betraying the nation, splitting the country, undermining cross-Straits relations and restricting exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.

The Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress has taken effect. However, the Taiwan local authorities claimed the law is a "unification law" packaged under the guise of ethnic unity, linking "national reunification" with "ethnic unity," and reflects a new stage in the Party's "legal warfare" aimed at forcing unification with Taiwan, shifting from opposing "Taiwan independence" to promoting unification by coercive means.

In response, Chen said the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress clearly stipulates the use of the rule of law to prevent and combat illegal activities related to ethnic affairs. It is based on China's national conditions, consistent with legal principles, and in line with international practices. It is a just and necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

No matter what tactics the DPP authorities use, they cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China, nor can they sever the blood ties and deep affection shared by Chinese people on both sides of the Straits, erase the Chinese cultural imprint among Taiwan society and its people, or stop the historical trend that China will ultimately achieve and must achieve reunification, said Chen.

He noted that if "Taiwan independence" forces dare to carry out acts that split the nation and undermine ethnic unity, we will resolutely punish them in accordance with the law.

Floods triggered by rounds of torrential rains have left 39 people dead and nine others missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Thursday.

The death toll includes the casualties resulting from a severe reservoir breach in the regional capital city of Nanning, according to a flood control and disaster relief press conference held at noon on Thursday.

China's Long March 10B carrier rocket lifted off from the Hainan commercial space launch site at 12:15 pm on Friday. Approximately six minutes after the separation of the rocket’s first and second stages, the first stage made a vertical return and was successfully recovered by an offshore recovery platform. 

This marks China’s first successful implementation of controlled recovery of a launch vehicle’s first stage, as well as the world’s first net-based recovery of a launch vehicle.

Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, is expected to make landfall along the coast between Wenling and Rui'an in east China's Zhejiang Province from Saturday night to early Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Center.

The center said Bavi weakened from a strong typhoon to a typhoon at around noon on Saturday. It is forecast to continue moving northwest at a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour before making landfall.

The National Meteorological Center forecast widespread heavy rainfall across eastern China over the next three days. Zhejiang, Fujian, Shanghai, Jiangxi, Anhui, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and parts of northeast China are expected to experience heavy to torrential rain, raising the risk of secondary disasters such as mountain floods, landslides and urban waterlogging.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the National Meteorological Center continued to issue a red alert for rainstorms and a yellow alert for severe convective weather.

Chinese authorities on Saturday intensified emergency response measures with Typhoon Bavi set to slam into the country's eastern coast, resulting in meteorological, water resources, transport and emergency management authorities issuing alerts and reinforcing flood-control efforts ahead of the expected landfall.

The country's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters activated a Level-IV emergency response for flood and typhoon control in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, all in east China, as well as southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

At the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), two student guides from Shanghai share the story of the CPC's founding.

Over a century after its founding, the Party's spirit continues to inspire younger generations as they pass on China's revolutionary history.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command (STC) and the China Coast Guard (CCG) on Tuesday conducted separate patrol operations in the waters surrounding China's Huangyan Dao, resolutely safeguarding the country's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

On Tuesday, naval and air units of the PLA STC conducted readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas, according to a release from the STC. Huangyan Dao is an inherent part of China's territory.

Since June, forces of the STC have enhanced readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas. Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts. They are meant to resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, said STC.

Footage released by the STC captured a Chinese naval officer demanding a Philippine aircraft to adjust its course immediately and leave the area, telling it that Huangyan Dao is an inherent territory of China.

The video also featured a dialogue between two Chinese Air Force pilots. Pilot Chai Jin asked, "How does it feel to fly this far out for the first time?" Pilot Liao Xiaodong replied, "I'm a little excited, but also a bit nervous."

Chai Jin responded, "We're just patrolling our own backyard - what's there to be nervous about."

Also on Tuesday, the CCG conducted law-enforcement patrols in the territorial sea of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas. Since June, the CCG has enhanced law-enforcement patrols in the territorial sea of Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas, and regulated ships engaged in illegal rights-violation activities in accordance with laws and regulations. 

Such patrols are meant to further strengthen orderly management of relevant waters and resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, according to CCG.