The 16th "Chongqing-Taiwan Week" was held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality from Monday to Friday, further boosting cooperation and deepening exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
The opening ceremony on Tuesday witnessed the signing of nine key cross-Strait economic and trade cooperation projects between seven districts and counties in Chongqing and Taiwan with a total investment of more than 1.6 billion dollars, covering areas including new energy, entrepreneurial services, and new materials. The event, themed "Sharing New Opportunities, Seeking New Development Together," involved 18 activities in economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, youth exchanges and other areas, attracting over 800 guests from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
"I believe that an event like 'Chongqing-Taiwan Week' actually can bring together talents from both sides of the Taiwan Strait on the same platform, allowing for direct communication and a better understanding of each other's needs," said Stephanie Chou, an anchor of CTITV News from Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Cross-Strait "Twin Cities Story" Media Visit also took place in Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan Province this week. Media representatives from the mainland and Taiwan Island visited Chongqing's Liangjiang and Bishan Districts, as well as some cities in Sichuan to learn about technological innovation, distinctive cultural tourism, and more.
At San Su Shrine Museum in Sichuan's Meizhou City, which is the former residence of Su Xun and his two sons Su Shi (Su Dongpo) and Su Zhe, three literary masters of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Taiwanese media workers said that this tour has deepened their sense of identity with Chinese culture shared by the people on both sides of the Strait.
"I've known about Su Dongpo since we began learning to read and write, but I have never been to his hometown. So the feeling of being here today is beyond words. It is indeed a very good thing that this enhances the shared historical memory of the two sides of the Strait," said Peter Sung, executive deputy editor of Meihua Media from Taiwan.
At each spot, reporters from both sides of the Strait listened intently and captured what they saw with their phones and cameras. They noted that they would extensively disseminate their observations and insights from this journey through their respective media platforms.
Chongqing-Taiwan Week held to seek new cross-Strait exchanges
Chongqing-Taiwan Week held to seek new cross-Strait exchanges
Smart technologies have reshaped China's ecological and environmental monitoring system, Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment, said Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress(NPC).
"Regarding ecological and environmental monitoring, we have been promoting the digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization of the entire monitoring process in recent years, reshaping the ecological and environmental monitoring system. For instance, in water environment monitoring and sampling, we have used intelligent drones which can quickly locate sampling points, collect samples accurately, return rapidly, and they are safe and reliable, improving work efficiency by over 70 percent. They are particularly advantageous for sampling during flood seasons and in remote areas," Huang told the press.
"In terms of environmental sample analysis, we have developed 'lights-out laboratories' in recent years. As the name suggests, these labs operate without lights and are unattended. Through robotic arms, robots, and intelligent management systems, they achieve full-process automation and intelligence from sample handover, testing, and analysis to report generation. This has significantly enhanced work efficiency, increasing it by more than eightfold compared to traditional labs. More importantly, it reduces human interference, human error, and even data falsification," he said.
Thanks to the improved ecological and environmental supervision capabilities, the number of environmental violation cases nationwide has decreased from 130,000 five years ago to 43,000 last year, representing a decline of 68 percent, Huang said.
The minister said China has already applied environmental DNA technology in the biodiversity monitoring work.
"In the field of biodiversity monitoring, monitoring aquatic organisms remains a weak point. However, significant progress has been made in recent years as we have developed environmental DNA technology. Although this chip is very small in size, it contains DNA detection information for aquatic organisms, including the finless porpoise and the Chinese sucker, from 19 state-controlled sections in the Jiangsu segment of the Yangtze River. The results showed that over the past five years, more than 20 species of aquatic organisms have increased in this river section, fully demonstrating the tangible effectiveness of the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River," Huang said while showing a chip to reporters.
The 14th NPC, China's national legislature, concluded its fourth session on Thursday.
Smart technologies reshape China's ecological, environmental monitoring system: minister
