The Day Xi's Basic Research Call Echoed Across State Media

The day began with state media uniformly leading on Xi Jinping's call to strengthen basic research, following his Shanghai symposium on April 30. This narrative dominated morning coverage across People's Daily, Guangming Daily, CCTV, and others. By midday, the focus shifted to Xi's Labor Day greetings, which were also echoed uniformly. External outlets diverged: SCMP reported on Chinese mathematicians potentially boycotting a US conference, Pakistan commissioning its first Chinese submarine, and global banks bullish on China housing. VOA covered high-level US-China phone calls ahead of Trump's Beijing visit. The Tokyo Trials translation launch was highlighted by Global Times as a rebuttal to Japan's right-wing forces. In the afternoon, state media returned to Xi's stories with workers, while SCMP covered DJI grappling with a Beijing sales ban and Japan's new arms export rules.