China's electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has maintained rapid growth this year, with the total number of facilities reaching 18.06 million units by the end of September, up 54.5 percent from a year earlier, official data showed Monday.
Public EV charging facilities stood at about 4.48 million units, an increase of 40 percent year on year, according to the National Energy Administration.
Private charging facilities expanded at an even faster pace, jumping 60 percent to nearly 13.59 million units, the administration said.
The robust growth in charging infrastructure is in line with the steady expansion of China's new energy vehicle (NEV) market. From January to September, both production and sales of NEVs posted double-digit increases.
During the period, NEV production surged 35.2 percent year on year to about 11.24 million units, while sales jumped 34.9 percent to nearly 11.23 million units.
NEV sales accounted for 46.1 percent of the total sales of new vehicles during the period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
By the end of 2027, China aims to establish a nationwide network of 28 million charging facilities, with public charging capacity surpassing 300 million kilowatts -- sufficient to meet the demand of more than 80 million EVs, as outlined in a government plan on Oct 15.
China's EV charging infrastructure expands 54.5 pct in single year: data
A Chinese military spokesman on Friday strongly condemned Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te for his recent actions, accusing him of betraying the interests of Taiwan people by courting the United States in pursuit of secession.
At a press conference in Beijing, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, responded to a media query regarding recent visits by U.S. congressional lawmakers to the Taiwan region and Lai's provocative remarks.
"Taiwan is a part of China. There is no such a thing as 'defense budget' for Taiwan region. Lai Ching-te, driven by the selfish separatist agenda, squandered hard-earned money of people in Taiwan to fawn on the United States. This is nothing but a treacherous act of selling out Taiwan, bringing disaster to the island, and pushing Taiwan towards the danger of military conflict. Certain forces in the United States are ripping Taiwan off, and care nothing about the safety of Taiwan. All they truly care about is making more money and even profiting from the war," Zhang said.
"We warn the DPP authorities that soliciting U.S. support for secession will not bring security, and resisting reunification through military buildup are doomed to fail. We urge the United States to immediately cease all forms of military contacts with the Taiwan region, stop sending wrong messages to Taiwan separatist forces, and stop undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," he added.
DPP authorities' attempt to court U.S. for secession doomed to fail: spokesman
