Hotan County, located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has entered a harvest season for a variety of high-quality aquatic products.
The products, including crabs, lobsters and sea bass, were bred in the technically treated saline-alkali water in the world's second-largest shifting sand desert. Over the past few years, local farmers have transformed the once-barren land into a thriving aquaculture base through scientific water diversion and soil improvement measures.
Thanks to technologies such as salt and alkalinity reduction, freshwater circulation and probiotic regulation, the pH level of cultivation water has been stabilized within an optimal range, enabling the large-scale cultivation of aquatic products.
At a breeding base in the county, workers are rowing small boats through the ponds to net crabs, with daily catches averaging around 500 kilograms. The crabs were put into the ponds in March and have grown up for harvest after seven months of culture.
"The crab production is estimated at around 40 tonnes this year, and the output of sea bass will be approximately 30 tonnes. The yield of blue lobsters might be slightly lower, at a few tonnes. We expect the total production to be over 70 tonnes," said Lai Jun, an employee of the desert aquaculture base in Hotan County.
The aquaculture area in Hotan County currently exceeds 253 hectares, with total output exceeding 1,000 tonnes in the first half of this year.
Desert aquaculture base in Xinjiang enters harvest season
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have reaffirmed that they will not seek normalization of ties with Israel, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump's call for the two countries to join the Abraham Accords.
Saudi Arabia's position on the Palestinian issue remains unchanged, a Saudi source told Al Arabiya TV on Monday.
The source affirmed the need for "an irreversible pathway to a Palestinian state".
The remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Muslim-majority and regional countries to normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords before the U.S. reaches a peace agreement with Iran.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it would not normalize relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday that Pakistan will not join any agreement to normalize ties with Israel, adding that the country will not accept any deal that "conflicts with its fundamental ideologies".
Trump on Monday urged Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan -- countries involved in mediating U.S.-Iran talks -- to immediately join the Abraham Accords, warning that otherwise they should not participate in the mediation.
He added that if a U.S.-Iran deal is reached, Iran should also join the agreement.
The Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States in 2020 during Trump's first term, were established between the Israeli government and Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, aimed at rapidly advancing the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries.
Before the outbreak of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in October 2023, the United States had been pushing for normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
After the conflict erupted, Saudi Arabia suspended normalization talks with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan reject Trump's Abraham Accords demand
