The first giant panda cub born in Indonesia, has reached the important 40-day milestone on Tuesday in good health, marking a substantive achievement in panda conservation cooperation between China and Indonesia.
The panda cub was born on Nov 27 at the Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) in Bogor of West Java province, to female panda Hu Chun, one of the two giant pandas sent to Indonesia in 2017 under a 10-year conservation cooperation program with China.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto officially named the newborn Satrio Wiratama, which means a brave and honorable knight with noble character, expressing hopes for resilience and strong cooperation between Indonesia and China in protecting endangered species, with the cub later taking on the shorter nickname of 'Rio'.
The 40-day milestone is seen as a key marker of a newborn panda cub's health, as it is around this point it begins to open its eyes and sees fur growth.
At a press conference at TSI's Panda Palace on Tuesday, Indonesian government officials and zoo staff reported that Rio has shown steady weight gain, increasing responsiveness, and promising growth so far.
Currently, the young cub remains under strict care, with plans for public viewing and related educational programs set to be unveiled further down the line.
Rio's parents, Cai Tao and Hu Chun, arrived from southwest China's Sichuan Province more than eight years ago and have been hugely popular attractions for visitors, who say they are now looking forward to seeing the newborn.
"We come here twice a year. So we also know the growth of these pandas also. And then seeing this baby born is really happy for us," said a tourist.
According to the TSI, the expanded panda family will attract even more visitors and boost sales of related merchandise at the zoo, which attracts more than 5 million visitors annually.
With fewer than 2,000 pandas remaining in the wild and only about 300 in captivity worldwide, every successful birth of panda marks a major victory for conservation efforts. Breeding pandas in captivity remains a formidable challenge and female pandas ovulate only once a year and are fertile for just 24 to 72 hours.
First panda born in Indonesia in good health 40 days after birth
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
