Measures to support people emerging from poverty

Authorities have rolled out a series of measures to urbanize the areas to which poor people from inhospitable regions have been relocated, as China pursues high-quality development.

The National Development and Reform Commission and 17 other central government departments have issued a guideline mandating efforts to urbanize the resettlement areas of relocated people.

The guideline, published on Saturday, also stressed the importance of helping formerly impoverished areas develop industries to create jobs for the relocated, building support facilities at resettlement sites, and ensuring residents have equal access to basic public services.

Measures must be taken to ensure that those who have been resettled have the means to better themselves, thus laying a solid foundation for once-impoverished regions to modernize in a timely manner.

The guideline also stressed the importance of accelerating the orderly registration of the relocated as permanent urban residents, saying that their rights and interests should be properly protected.

Illegal fishing crackdown successful, police say

Police resolved more than 7,760 cases of illegal fishing last year amid a crackdown on the crime in the Yangtze River Basin.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Security on Jan 20, members of some 750 gangs suspected of catching 400,000 kilograms of fish illegally have been arrested, and 15,000 items of fishing equipment have been seized.

The ministry said that the numbers of police reports, criminal cases, and tip-offs involving illegal fishing have declined continuously since September. In addition, the aquatic species that can be monitored in the Yangtze River Basin have significantly increased as the environment has improved.

R&D spending up 10 percent year-on-year, estimate shows

A preliminary estimate showed that total spending on research and development hit nearly 3.1 trillion yuan ($450 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 10.4 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Jan 20.

It was the seventh consecutive year that national R&D spending saw double-digit growth.

According to the bureau, R&D spending intensity, or the expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP, surged to a record 2.55 percent in 2022.

Li Yin, a statistician with the NBS, said that China's R&D spending intensity now ranks 12th in the world, surpassing that of several countries known for innovation, including France (2.35 percent) and the Netherlands (2.32 percent).

Despite challenges, the steady growth of China's R&D expenditure continues to inject vitality into national innovation and development, Li said.

China maintains security during Spring Festival holiday

Overall security across the country during the Lunar New Year holiday was calm and stable as of Jan 27, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

During the holiday, fire and rescue teams stationed in priority areas helped rescue and evacuate 4,425 people.

Meanwhile, specialized rescue teams provided services to 736 companies to help them prevent risks and maintain safety in production, the ministry said.