Chinese premier conducts inspection in Shandong

Chinese Premier Li Qiang urged Shandong to leverage local strengths to develop new growth drivers and new quality productive forces during his inspection tour to the province on Monday.

Li visited production lines of JIER Machine-Tool Group, a global leader in making heavy-duty metal forming and metal cutting machinery. He learned about the company's subtractive and additive manufacturing technologies, and its use of new materials.

The premier spoke highly of the company's achievements in making itself more competitive through digital and intelligent upgrade.

Li stressed the need to use artificial intelligence technology to restructure the full chain and cycle of the manufacturing sector, advance scientific and technological innovation on the basis of maintaining advantages in scale, and promote the iteration and upgrade of technical products.

He said investment in research and development should be continuously increased in accordance with the development needs of related industries to provide more high-quality supplies.

Visiting a pump station for the "Liaocheng Heat to Jinan" project, Li emphasized the need to strengthen regional coordination in energy use, promote infrastructure connectivity, accelerate the research, development and application of green and low-carbon technologies, and convert industrial waste heat into a stable and clean heat source.

He also listened to reports about the province's energy construction and nuclear power development, calling for an improvement in technical level and supervision capability to better facilitate the building of a new energy system in the province.

Li also presided over a seminar, with representatives from local governments in attendance.

Li called for better service for enterprises, with a focus on improving government efficiency, implementing preferential policies, and addressing their concerns and demands.

In terms of high-quality development, he said major measures and projects should be planned in combination with the formulation and implementation of local 15th five-year plans (2026-2030).

He also urged greater progress in developing new quality productive forces in accordance with local conditions, strengthening domestic economy, and boosting people's employment and incomes.

Chinese premier conducts inspection in Shandong

International cruise ships brought more than 8,000 tourists to Shanghai over the past weekend, underscoring the growing momentum of the city's tourism market.

Last Saturday, two cruise ships, the Spectrum of the Seas and Mein Schiff 6, arrived in Shanghai with nearly 6,000 tourists, setting a new single day record for daily inbound arrivals at the city's Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal.

Two more ships, the MSC Magnifica and Adora Magic City, arrived the next day, docking alongside Mein Schiff 6. For the first time this year, the terminal received three cruise ships docked simultaneously.

Impressed by China's customs services, tourists shared their feelings after landing.

"The service is very good, very fast. Everything is very quick," said a tourist.

"We're going to Disneyland. It's a cool trip," another tourist expressed her expectations.

During the two-day period, Shanghai port handled more than 20,000 passenger entries and exits, more than half of which were made by international travelers. Over 90 percent of them are benefiting from the visa-free policies.

"[I traveled from] Chengdu to here. I'm here to Beijing and Beijing to the UK," a tourist talked about his schedule, whose destinations in China all covered in the visa-free policies.

"Very good, excellent policy, and anything that reduces the amount of time. We had a week in ten days in China already, then we're gonna come back into the city to do some shopping," another senior visitor said.

Authorities have also introduced measures to improve the visa process.

"To ensure a smooth entry, officials will get on the ships in advance to perform inspections. So, passengers can start their trips as soon as they disembark. While at the airports, we have also provided an online submission system for arrival cards. That will also save their time," said Zhu Xiaoxiang, Deputy Director of Immigration Inspection Division under Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection.

So far this year, Shanghai's customs and immigration agents have processed more than ten million visitors, with 305,000 international passenger trips through cruise terminals, marking a prosperous tourism market.

Over 8,000 cruise passengers touch down in Shanghai, providing major tourism boost