China’s water infrastructures advance rapidly during 14th Five-Year Plan period

China built the world's largest and most comprehensive conservancy infrastructure network that benefits the largest population during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to data released by the Ministry of Water Resources on Wednesday.

The data showed that 88 rivers had been restored by the end of September this year, following the launch of the "mother river rejuvenation" action plan in 2022, with 79 of those rivers fully reconnected to the nation’s river network.

In the Haihe River Basin, 30 previously dried-up rivers have started flowing again and 102 springs have been restored, reversing a long-standing trend of dry channels and polluted waters, according to the ministry.

Between 2021 to 2025, China invested more than one trillion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars) in water conservancy projects for three consecutive years, breaking historical records. The investment funded a new generation of water source, diversion, and irrigation projects, boosting the nation's total water supply capacity to 900 billion cubic meters.

The first phase of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project's eastern and middle routes, the backbone and main artery of the country's major water network, delivered more than 83 billion cubic meters in total, benefiting about 195 million people. The water network coverage rate is expected to reach 80.3 percent by the end of 2025.

"Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, [we] have been focusing on high-quality development and ensuring China's water security so as to comprehensively advance water conservancy infrastructure construction, which has helped form the world's largest and most functional water conservancy infrastructure system that benefits the largest population," said Zhang Xiangwei, director of the Department of Planning and Programming at the Ministry of Water Resources.

From 2021 to 2025, China has built 95,000 water reservoirs with a total capacity exceeding one trillion cubic meters. The country now ranks first globally in the number and types of reservoirs and the number of high dams.

Also, during the 14th Five-Year Plan, irrigated arable land has expanded to 1.09 billion mu (about 72.7 million hectares) across China, providing crucial water resources to support a record grain output of more than 700 million tonnes in 2024.

In addition, China has established the world's largest centralized rural water supply system, with 96 percent of the rural population expected to have access to tap water by the end of 2025.

China’s water infrastructures advance rapidly during 14th Five-Year Plan period

The multilateral system is "under attack" amid global turmoil, President of the 80th UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock warned in her remarks on Wednesday.

In her briefing on the priorities for the resumed 80th Session of the General Assembly, the UNGA president noted that the current multilateral system does not collapse all in a sudden, but "crumbles piece by piece" in divisions, compromises, and lack of political commitment.

The president called all the UN member states to defend the UN Charter and international law and promote cross-regional cooperation.

She also urged to push forward the work of the UNGA on certain critical issues with a strong majority, rather than an absolute consensus among all member states. Such act is not a failure of multilateralism, but "an affirmation of it," she said.

The foundational principles of the institution should not be eroded by appeasement, she said, calling the member states to show courage, leadership, and responsibility at the UN's "critical make-or-break moment."

"The UN needs you. Your support, your leadership, your principle, stand, your cross-regional cooperation, if we are to preserve and modernize this institution, if we are to make it, rather than break it," she said.

UNGA President warns global multilateral system "under attack"