A snow leopard, an endangered species under first-class state protection, has been released back into its natural habitat following special care in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The adult snow leopard was previously captured after wandering into a herder's sheep pen in Wensu County.
Then it was safely transferred to a temporary care station where veterinarians and researchers from the Tomur Peak National Nature Reserve and the Eco-Bridge Continental, a Beijing-based nature conservation NGO, gave it a thorough physical checkup.
With the animal confirmed to be in good condition, the team wore it a satellite tracking collar and returned it to its original territory on Tuesday afternoon.
"Through the real-time satellite data transmitted by the collar, we can monitor the snow leopard's range of movement and intensity of its activity, so as to predict some of its behavior," said Liu Yixuan, a researcher with the Eco-Bridge Continental.
Snow leopards typically live in alpine zones between 3,000 and 5,000 meters above sea level. Thanks to strengthened conservation efforts in recent years, the snow leopard population in Xinjiang's Tianshan Mountains has shown promising signs of steady recovery.
Rescued snow leopard released back into wild in Xinjiang
A senior Finnish diplomat has expressed strong confidence that Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's ongoing visit to China will yield tangible business outcomes in key areas including the green transition.
Marko Tiesmaki, Minister Counselor at the Finnish Embassy in Beijing, was speaking with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Sunday as Orpo arrived to start a four-day official visit to China on the same day.
Tiesmaki believes the prime minister's visit will help further reinforce the strong diplomatic relations between Finland and China, which have spanned decades and have been strengthened through regular high-level meetings in recent years.
With Opro leading a delegation of executives from over 20 Finnish enterprises, Tiesmaki said he expects there will be several "concrete business takeaways" from the trip, with new agreements and contracts opening up new opportunities for various companies.
China is one of Finland's key trading partners, with cooperation focusing on areas such as the low-carbon economy, the circular economy and climate change mitigation.
In 2023, there were over 200 subsidiaries of Finnish companies operating in China, generating a turnover of more than 14 billion euros (16.5 billion U.S. dollars). In 2024, Finland's goods exports to China reached 3.5 billion euros and service exports totaled 1.82 billion euros, while goods imports from China amounted to 7.5 billion euros.
Tiesmaki said that many more Finnish companies are keen to tap into the vast potential of the China market.
"We have at the moment about 250 Finnish companies that we are closely following here [and there are] up to 300 companies we are discussing that are looking into coming into China," he said
"What I personally think and observe, one, is that China has a very strong ecosystem for production manufacturing. And the second thing is that for newcomers, especially, bringing a new innovation from Finland and taking the benefit of the China market, and helping it to scale up and putting them into commercial use, is a very strong combination," he continued.
Tiesmaki also emphasized that the green transition -- an field where Finland is already thriving as it pursues its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2035, 15 years ahead of most other European countries -- is another key sector for cooperation with China, as Finnish firms look to leverage their own innovative solutions.
"The green transition that China is very actively embarking on is a huge opportunity for Finnish companies. Finland is living in the forest. Many Finnish companies for decades already have developed solutions for the energy transition, developing circularity, making sure that there are sustainable solutions available. I believe we have a lot of these type of proven solutions already developed in the Finnish market where China is now moving into. And that gives a natural win-win combination by bringing this competence and applying them into the China market," he said.
Regarding tourism, Tiesmaki noted a 20-percent increase in visitors from China, while eligible Finnish passport holders are now able to enter China visa-free thanks to an expanded policy. With the deepening cooperation and ties between the two countries, the official expressed hope that more flight routes will be opened up to help encourage travel.
"We have, of course, high hopes because we expect that there will be more flight capacity added between our countries. So, if everything goes as planned, there should be 50 percent more flight capacity between China and Finland and this all feeds into the positive development," he said.
Finnish PM's visit to China to deliver concrete business outcomes: official
