Tag: NEWS

(Xinhua)09:17, July 03, 2019

BOAO, Hainan, July 2 (Xinhua) — The 2019 World New Energy Vehicle Congress kicked off in the city of Boao, southern Chinas island province of Hainan, Tuesday.

To be concluded on Wednesday, the congress focuses on discussions about new energy vehicles (NEVs) market among leading worldwide vehicle manufacturers.

China is a global leader in manufacturing NEVs with over 200 types of new energy cars launched in the first half of 2019, and the Chinese government has a clear road map to beef up the industry, said Horbert DIESS, chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, at the congress.

Reform and opening up is a driving force for Chinas auto industry since it enables the industry to go global and attract world attention, said Fu Yuwu with the China Society of Automotive Engineers.

The ongoing technological revolutions have also propelled the auto industry into vigorous and prompt actions, said Wan Gang, president of the China Association for Science and Technology.

Wan added that auto retailers around the world should seek cooperation and innovation and make due contribution to the industrial upgrading of the auto market.

By the end of 2018, over 5.64 million NEVs have been sold around the world, and China accounted for 52.8 percent of them.

(Xinhua)09:35, July 03, 2019

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has started a one-year campaign on data security protection, targeting security risks including data leakage and data abuse.

The four-stage campaign aims to finish data security checks on all telecom companies, 50 major Internet companies and 200 popular applications by the end of October, according to an action plan released by the MIIT.

The plan called for establishing an industry data security protection mechanism, developing data protection catalogs and formulating security standards in more than 15 industries.

The regulator will also select no less than 30 innovation demonstration projects in data security protection, pledging to effectively build a security management system in telecom companies and Internet firms.

As Chinas online population surges, online data security has become a major public concern, prompting authorities to tighten regulation to prevent illegal data leakage and abuse.

According to a draft regulation released by the Cyberspace Administration of China in May, network operators must not force or mislead users to agree to the collection of their personal information on the pretext of improving service quality, enhancing the user experience, sending customized push messages or developing new products.

(CRI Online)09:39, July 03, 2019

Chinas high-speed train Fuxing. [File photo: people.cn]

Chinese scientists are eyeing new breakthroughs in the high-speed train technology, two years after the launch of the self-developed Fuxing bullet train.

Construction work for the high-speed railway line linking Beijing and the northern Chinese city of Zhangjiakou has been completed.

The railway line was built in preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics as the event will be jointly hosted by the two cities.

It will be put into operation by the end of the year.

An autonomous technology, which enables the train to start, operate, stop and open autonomously, will be used in trains running on the railway line.

The same technology has already been put into use in the Beijing-Shenyang high-speed railway, with a test speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Zhang Kai is one of the drivers.

Before, I have to operate, check and confirm the procedures. But now, Im just part of a backup system. Technology is working and I supervise.

Zhao Hongwei is a leading researcher at the Chinese Academy of Railway Sciences.

He says the maintenance of high-speed railways will also become more and more intelligent in the future.

Now we do the maintenance work regularly. In the future, we just need to do repairing work when problems appear. The intelligent system will let us know timely when the train needs to be repaired.

At the beginning of this year, the first Fuxing bullet train with a speed of 160 km per hour started operation.

Fuxing bullet train with a speed of 250 km per hour is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

Yao Jianwei is with the Chinese Academy of Railway Sciences.

Now we are able to produce the Fuxing bullet train. But we still need to strengthen our national soft power. We should actively take part in making international standards, to improve our ability.

By the end of last year, Chinas high-speed rail business mileage reached 29-thousand kilometers, more than two thirds of the worlds total.

(Xinhua)11:03, July 03, 2019

LOS ANGELES, July 1 (Xinhua) — NASAs InSight lander has completed the first step to get its heat probe digging again on Mars, according to a release of the InSight mission on Monday.

InSight, a Mars lander designed to study the inner space of the planet, uses advanced instruments such as seismometer and heat-flow probe to collect preliminary data.

The heat probe, also known as the mole, can dig below the Martian surface and measure the heat coming from inside the red planet.

The mole is a self-hammering spike which will dig as much as five meters below the surface and record the temperature of Mars. However, the mole has not been able to dig deeper than about 30 cm below the Martian surface since Feb. 28.

According to the release, InSights robotic arm successfully removed the support structure of the mole last week, and placed it to the side. Getting the structure out of the way gives the mission team a view of the mole – and perhaps a way to help it dig.

We have completed the first step in our plan to save the mole, said Troy Hudson, a scientist and engineer with the InSight mission. We are not done yet. But for the moment, the entire team is elated because we are that much closer to getting the mole moving again.

Scientists and engineers have been conducting tests to save the mole at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which leads the InSight mission, as well as at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which provided the heat probe.

Based on DLR testing, the soil may not provide the kind of friction the mole was designed for. Without friction to balance the recoil from the self-hammering motion, the mole would simply bounce in place rather than dig, according to the release.

The team plans to press on the soil near InSight using a small scoop on the end of the robotic arm, in a bid to provide the necessary friction for the mole to dig.

According to the mission team, it is also possible that the mole has hit a rock. While the mole is designed to push small rocks out of the way or deflect around them, larger ones will prevent the spikes forward progress.

The team will be discussing what next steps to take based on careful analysis. Later this month, after releasing the arms grapple from the support structure, they will bring a camera in for some detailed images of the mole, said the release.

(Xinhua)15:07, July 03, 2019

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) — The second Wanshou Dialogue on Global Security opened Tuesday in Beijing under the theme of global security in the context of major changes.

Hosted by the Chinese Peoples Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD), the event attracted government officials, renowned security experts and representatives of peace organizations from more than 20 countries.

Addressing the opening ceremony, CPAPD head Ma Biao stressed that at present the general trend of peace is irreversible, but the competition among major powers is intensified, and the regional security order has undergone profound adjustment.

Ma, also vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, called on all parties to adhere to the original aspiration of peace, shoulder the responsibilities of the times and contribute wisdom and strength to the maintenance of international and regional peace, security and stability.

The forum, which will last until Wednesday, includes four panel discussions: new changes in major country security relations, new adjustments in regional security order, new and emerging technologies and global security and evolution of security concepts and global security governance.

Martin Jacques, a senior fellow at Cambridge University, forecasted that the Wanshou conference is going to grow and become very important because it is needed in the context of what is happening globally.

He said it was particularly good for this conference to bring together a very wide range of people, mainly from the developing world, to discuss these kinds of security questions.

Tran Dac Loi, vice president of the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation, said this conference will help participants to deepen their understanding of the complexity and dangerous situation caused by the policy of unilateralism, hegemony and confrontation.

It also stressed the need for joint efforts to promote collective security and to build a shared future of prosperity for all, said Tran Dac Loi, also former deputy head of the Commission for External Relations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Wang Yizhou, Boya chair professor of Peking University, said holding the forum reflects Chinas dedication to a multilateral approach in addressing security issues through wide-ranging dialogues.

It can be seen that in the face of difficulties, China is not encouraging confrontation and populism but is using dialogue to give full expression to different views, seeking space in a calm manner and seeking common ground while reserving differences, according to Wang.

He also stressed that the dialogue could build trust and dispel suspicions on Chinas rise, as well as help China understand the worries and concerns of other countries.