China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China launched a Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket from the waters near the city of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday, placing eight satellites into planned orbit.

The commercial rocket, also known as the Jielong 3, blasted off at 10:31 (Beijing Time), carrying Tianyi-41 and other satellites.

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, headquartered inland in north China's Shanxi province, carried out this offshore launch.

The launch marks the 4th flight mission for the Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket series.

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting