Urban renewal projects to be accelerated in 2025

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has said it will vigorously advance urban renewal projects in 2025.

At the national housing and urban-rural development work conference held in late December, the ministry said in 2025 local housing authorities should complete the renovation of housing complexes that were built in urban areas before the year 2000.

They should also complete the renovation of old gas pipelines, and eliminate pollution and offensive odors in waters in county-level cities.

The ministry required continued efforts to build "whole neighborhoods" that are fully equipped with public and commercial facilities, renovate old neighborhoods and underground pipelines and renew urban infrastructure.

It was disclosed at the meeting that in 2024, renovation projects were launched in 56,000 housing complexes, more than 50,000 kilometers of pipelines in neighborhoods were renovated and more than 25,000 elevators were installed.

Stricter rules introduced for NEV battery recycling

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has revised its standards for the recycling of scrapped batteries of new energy vehicles.

The revised standards require no less than 90 percent of the lithium in the batteries to be recycled during the smelting process, which is five percentage points higher than the previous standards.

Also, no less than 98 percent of the powdered electrodes should be recycled, according to the revised standards.

China launched a pilot program to promote NEVs in 2009, and started to promote their large-scale use in 2014, the ministry said, adding that many early NEV batteries have begun to be retired.

Retired batteries are still valuable for the lithium, cobalt and nickel in them, and it's important to develop the industry to recycle them, the ministry said.

Latest law deepens reform related to value-added tax

Chinese lawmakers voted to adopt a law on value-added tax recently, the largest tax category in China, marking major progress in enforcing the principle of law-based taxation.

The law, passed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the national legislature, will take effect on Jan 1, 2026.

Currently, 14 out of the 18 tax categories in effect in China have already been legislated, covering the majority of tax revenue.

In recent years, China has deepened the reform of the fiscal and tax system and promoted a series of VAT reforms, establishing a modern VAT system.

"The adoption of the law on value-added tax consolidates the achievements of VAT reform in recent years, which is conducive to enhancing the certainty of the tax system, stabilizing expectations and boosting confidence. It is an important achievement in deepening the reform of the fiscal and tax system," said Li Xuhong, vice-president of the Beijing National Accounting Institute.

China's VAT revenue reached 6.12 trillion yuan (about $851.56 billion) in the first 11 months of last year, accounting for about 37.8 percent of the country's total tax revenue.

Li said that a quicker pace of tax legislation is significant for optimizing the business environment and promoting the country's high-quality development.