China could achieve major annual economic targets, says Premier: Xinhunaet
December 13, 2021
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Monday that China could achieve significant annual economic targets. It stands ready to work with the World Bank to enhance cooperation in capital and knowledge to support multilateralism and global development causes. Li made the remarks in a virtual meeting with the president of the World Bank Group, David Malpass, in Beijing. Click here to read...
China to build 100 national major cold-chain logistics bases by 2025: Xinhuanet
December 13, 2021
China plans to set up about 100 national backbone cold-chain logistics bases during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the country's top economic planner said on Monday.The move aims to enhance service capacity and boost the efficiency of the cold-chain logistics sector, Zhang Jiangbo, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission told a press conference, adding that the first batch of the 17 key bases is under construction. Click here to read...
China submits position paper on regulating military applications of AI: China Military
December 14, 2021
China submitted its position paper on regulating the military applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the sixth review conference of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons opened here on Monday. Li Song, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, said that the position paper is China's first proposal to regulate the military applications of AI, and it is also the first of its kind under the framework of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Click here to read...
8 HK activists including Jimmy Lai sentenced to 4.5 to 14 months in an unauthorized assembly case: Global Times
December 13, 2021
Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned owner of Next Digital Media, was sentenced on Monday to another 13 months in prison over an unauthorized assembly in 2020. The Hong Kong District Court sentenced Lai and seven other defendants to between four-and-a-half months and 14 months in jail for their role in an unauthorized assembly last year. Click here to read...
Mainland reports first case of COVID-19 Omicron variant: China Daily
December 14, 2021
The Chinese mainland reported on Monday its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron COVID-19 variant in Tianjin as authorities in Zhejiang province stepped up measures to control outbreaks of the Delta strain. The Tianjin Health Commission reported on Monday an imported asymptomatic patient, who was later confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant. The carrier arrived in the city on Thursday, the commission said. Click here to read...
Afghanistan receives second batch of China-donated winter supplies: People’s Daily
December 14, 2021
The second batch of winter supplies donated by China has arrived in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Afghan deputy minister of refugees and repatriation affairs of the caretaker government Arsala Kharoti and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu attended the handover ceremony on Monday in a depot of the ministry in Kabul. Click here to read...
Listed companies halt production in Zhejiang due to surge in Covid-19 cases: Global Times
December 13, 2021
Multiple A-share listed companies in East China’s Zhejiang Province have suspended production in a bid to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus amid a tightening of local policies following the recent flareup. Several Zhejiang-based companies have issued statements saying that production and operation has been suspended, but they said it will have a limited impact on their yearly performance. Click here to read...
Ministry removes homework help apps, citing impact on student learning: Global Times
December 13, 2021
China's Ministry of Education on Monday ordered the temporary removal of homework help apps that allow students to take pictures of their homework and search for answers online, citing the apps' impact on students' independent thinking ability, in another move aimed at strengthening regulation of China's online after-school tutoring sector. Click here to read...
China’s Inner Mongolia region aims to earn five times more from rare earths by 2025: South China Morning Post
December 14, 2021
China’s northern Inner Mongolia region is aiming for a fivefold increase in rare earth production value by 2025. This comes as the country’s near-total dominance of global supply raises concerns about its possible use as a bargaining chip. “Inner Mongolia’s rare earth industry is in the unique position of having three elements – resources, manufacturing, and research and development – in one place,” deputy chief of industry and information technology Wu Suhai said as he called for a consolidation of industry chains.
The region aims to reach rare earth production value of 100 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion) by 2025, he said on Sunday, an increase of about five times over 2020 figures. Click here to read...
China’s first floating nuclear reactor may withstand once-in-10,000-years weather event, engineers say: South China Morning Post
December 14, 2021
China’s first floating nuclear power station may be able to withstand an extreme, once-in-10,000-years weather event, according to testing by marine engineers. But they said the ship-like facility’s mooring crane would need strengthening to avoid the entire plant breaking loose if it tried to ride out the storm at a dock. The 60-megawatt floating reactor is being built to power oil rigs and islands off the east coast of China in the Bohai Sea, an inner sea where the waters are relatively calm. At an extreme weather simulation facility in Hubei province, marine engineering scientist Kong Fanfu and a team with the Wuhan Second Ship Design and Research Institute put a scaled-down model of the nuclear plant through its paces. Click here to read...
Weibo fined by Chinese regulator for publishing illegal information:Reuters
December 14, 2021
Chinese social media platform Weibo Corp has been slapped with a 3 million yuan ($470,000) fine by China's internet regulator for repeatedly publishing illegal information. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said Weibo had violated a cybersecurity law on the protection of minors as well as other laws but did not give further details. It also said Beijing's local cyberspace regulator had imposed 44 penalties on Weibo totalling 14.3 million yuan for the year to November. Click here to read...
