The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy hospital ship, Auspicious Ark, departed from a port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, on Wednesday for a humanitarian medical service mission in Africa and South Asia.
Mission Harmony-2026, the 12th iteration of Mission Harmony since 2010, is scheduled to last more than 200 days, during which the ship will visit multiple African and South Asian countries to provide free medical services to local people.
The vessel left the port at around 10:00 on the day, marking the first overseas mission since its commissioning.
The hospital ship houses 18 clinical departments and five diagnostic support departments, enabling it to perform more than 60 types of examinations, treatments, and surgeries across general surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, and other disciplines.
It is also equipped with eight standard operating rooms.
"The hospital ship Auspicious Ark shoulders the responsibility of spreading peace. For its first overseas mission, it will visit many countries and have long port calls. All officers and soldiers on the mission will build a maritime bridge of friendship through professional medical services," said Gao Guozheng, a crew member.
The crew will also carry out cultural exchanges with people in those countries.
Chinese navy hospital ship sets sail for humanitarian medical mission in Africa, South Asia
China aims to join the ranks of the world's automotive powerhouses by 2030, with stronger advantages across the entire industrial chain of intelligent connected new energy vehicles (NEVs), according to a five-year industry development plan released Friday.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and nine other central government departments jointly drafted and released the plan, with the above general objective and four subgoals.
The plan sets targets for NEVs to account for 70 percent of new passenger vehicle sales and 40 percent of new commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market by 2030.
Vehicles equipped with autonomous driving functions are expected to see large-scale application by 2030, while highly automated driving is expected on expressways, urban express roads and some urban roads.
The plan calls for further advances in key technologies, setting targets for average passenger vehicle fuel consumption at 3.3 liters per 100 km and average electricity consumption of pure electric passenger vehicles at around 11.5 kilowatt-hours per 100 km by 2030.
The plan also calls for continued optimization of the industry's structure and a relatively high level of digital and intelligent development, with overall labor productivity targeted to rise 15 percent from the 2025 level.
It also aims to foster several automakers that rank among the world's top 10 by sales, as well as auto parts companies that rank among the global top 100.
Latest industry data showed that NEVs further consolidated their dominant position in China's auto market in August, with NEV sales accounting for a record 60.6 percent of monthly new car sales.
In August, NEV output and sales reached over 1.65 million and 1.64 million units, respectively, both up nearly 20 percent year on year, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
China aims for global leadership in intelligent connected new energy vehicles by 2030
