China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, said a spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday in Beijing.
He Yadong, the spokesman, made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a related media query on US recent sanctions.
The United States recently announced sanctions on nearly 300 entities and individuals, including 20 companies based in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, under the pretext of "alleged support for Russian defense and energy development."
"China has always opposed unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law or mandate from the United Nations Security Council. The United States, while maintaining trade with Russia for its own interests, imposed sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of alleged involvement with Russia. The move is a typical act of unilateral bullying and economic coercion, and China strongly opposes it. The United States should immediately cease its unjustified suppression against Chinese companies. China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," said He.
China to take necessary measures to safeguard legitimate rights, interests of Chinese enterprises: spokesman
A total of 11 tech groups from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) are conducting the sampling mission in 16 provinces in the Yangtze River Basin from April to June this year to monitor the ecological environment in the longest river in China.
Researchers were collecting samples of aquatic organisms in the Poyang Lake section of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Poyang Lake is the largest lake that is connected to the Yangtze River in the middle and lower reaches.
It is an important spawning and feeding ground for fish in the Yangtze River, and also an important habitat for rare aquatic organisms such as finless porpoises. It plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem structure in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
"We need to monitor the basic water quality parameters, as well as three major categories: phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic organisms. We collect samples from the bottom, the middle, and the surface, in order to identify the distribution of organisms across various levels. The white organisms (in the bottle) that occasionally jump are zooplankton," said Hu Sheng, senior engineer of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision and Administration Bureau.
In order to ensure the quality, the samples were screened and sealed immediately after collection, and then taken to the monitoring ship for fixation.
Nowadays it is common to see finless porpoises in the Yangtze River. According to statistics, the number of finless porpoises in the Yangtze River has reached 1,249, achieving a historic rebound.
"The finless porpoise is the flagship species in the Yangtze River and the species at the top of the food chain. When the fish population recovers and the finless porpoises have more food, its population will also increase," said Zhang Jing, senior engineer of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision and Administration Bureau.
The pilot monitoring of water ecology assessment in the Yangtze River Basin began in 2022 and has been carried out for three consecutive years, and this year is the last pilot year.
"In the next step, we will conduct a comprehensive and systematic analysis and evaluation of the monitoring data to lay a good foundation for the formal water ecological assessment work in the Yangtze River Basin next year," said Xu Chong, head of the Yangtze River Basin Ecological Environment Supervision and Administration Bureau.
China conducts last pilot ecological assessment in Yangtze River
