BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China's first offshore million-tonne carbon storage project was put into operation on Thursday in the South China Sea, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

The project is designed to store a total of more than 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is equivalent to planting nearly 14 million trees, according to the company.

The project, serving the Enping 15-1 oil platform 200 km southwest of Shenzhen, captures and processes CO2 from oilfields and then injects CO2 into a "dome" geological structure at a depth of around 800 meters under the seabed and about 3 km from the platform.

The operation of the project signifies China's achievement in acquiring a complete set of technologies and equipment for capturing, processing, injecting, storing and monitoring CO2 at sea.

It also opens up a new course for China to realize its "dual carbon" goal of peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, the company said.

On the basis of this project, CNOOC has initiated China's first 10-million-tonne carbon capture and storage cluster project in Huizhou, south China's Guangdong Province, and will capture CO2 emitted in Daya Bay and ship it to the Pearl River Mouth Basin sea area for storage.

Technology has become a strong driving force in accomplishing China's mission of reducing carbon emissions.

In August last year, China revealed a plan for fulfilling this aim through technology, seeking to achieve breakthroughs in key low-carbon core technologies in key industries and sectors by 2025, with an 18 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP compared with 2020.

According to the plan, by 2030, China will have conducted further research and made more breakthroughs in many cutting-edge and disruptive carbon-neutral technologies to effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by more than 65 percent from the 2005 level. ■

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- China's fixed-asset investment in the transport sector reported robust growth from January to April, official data shows.

The total investment in transport came in at 1 trillion yuan (about 140.8 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, rising 13.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Specifically, investment in waterway development surged 29.8 percent year on year to 56 billion yuan. Investment amounting to approximately 786.1 billion yuan was channeled into road construction, an increase of 14.5 percent year on year.

In April alone, transport investment grew by 13.6 percent year on year to 315 billion yuan, the data shows. ■

Viking Cruises has officially returned to serving the Chinese market after a hiatus of three years.

AMSTERDAM, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The multinational travel company Viking Cruises has resumed its European river cruise operations catering to the Chinese market.

On June 1, more than a hundred guests from China embarked on the Viking Eistla cruise ship, which was anchored in Amsterdam, commencing their 11-day "Rhine Charming Journey."

"Welcome 'home,'" Captain of Viking Eistla Marius Valencia Andries led the crew in extending a warm welcome to each Chinese guest, expressing their greetings in Chinese.

The crew took a group photo with the Chinese guests holding a banner with the words "Welcome Chinese Guests 'Home.'"

A tourist cruise ship is seen from the Pharo Palace in Marseille, France, Sept. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

"After three years, it's really nice to welcome Chinese guests back on board," Andries told Xinhua.

Viking Cruises has officially returned to serving the Chinese market after a hiatus of three years, he said. "We're glad to have Chinese guests on Viking cruise ship to not only enjoy the real Europe but also rediscover the world in comfort."

Liu Xiaowen, a manager of Viking Eistla, said the crew was overjoyed to welcome the Chinese guests boarding the ship.

"We are fully prepared to extend our warm all-Chinese service and offer a comfortable travel experience. We welcome our Chinese guests back 'home' with open arms," she said.

 Chinese tourist Cao Rong (R) takes paragliding in Fethiye, southwestern Mugla province, Turkey, on July 23, 2018. Fethiye, famous for paragliding and sea tours, is a popular resort in Turkey. (Xinhua)

Brendan Tansey, managing director of Viking Cruises China, told Xinhua in a written interview that the company is optimistic about China's economic prospects and market potential.

"The resumption of European river cruise operations for the Chinese market reflects Viking Cruises' unwavering dedication and a strong commitment to investing in China," Tansey said.

Viking Cruises initially entered the Chinese market in 2016 by launching European river cruise operations catering to Chinese visitors.

People watch as a cruise liner docks at Valletta's Grand Harbour in Valletta, Malta, on May 10, 2021. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)■

The drilling of China's first borehole over 10,000 meters deep for scientific exploration began on Tuesday in the Tarim Basin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The operation started at 11:46 a.m. on Tuesday. It represents a landmark in China's deep-Earth exploration, providing an unprecedented opportunity to study areas of the planet deep beneath the surface.

With a design depth of 11,100 meters, the borehole is located in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert, the largest desert in China.

During the drilling process, the equipment, including drill bits and drill pipes weighing more than 2,000 tonnes, will go deep into the Earth, penetrating more than 10 continental strata, including the Cretaceous system.

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A "ro-ro" ship carrying 3,061 MG vehicles, including 1,722 new energy vehicles, made by China's major automaker SAIC Motor set off Sunday from east China's Xiamen Port to Bristol Port in Britain. #GLOBALink

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BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting on cultural inheritance and development last week received an enthusiastic response from all sectors of the Chinese society.

Experts and scholars in the relevant fields said that under the guidance of the speech by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, efforts should be made to shoulder the new cultural mission of further promoting cultural prosperity and developing a great culture in China and a modern Chinese civilization from a new starting point.

At Friday's meeting, Xi summarized five prominent features regarding Chinese civilization -- consistency, originality, uniformity, inclusivity, and peaceful nature.

From a strategic perspective encompassing the holistic development of both the Party and the country, Xi has introduced fresh views on the inheritance, promotion and innovative development of Chinese civilization, creatively enriching and developing the Party's thinking on cultural development, said Wang Bo, vice president of Peking University.

"These five prominent features point the way forward for the advancement of the modern Chinese civilization," Wang added.

Xing Guangcheng, director of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said these five interconnected features constitute the general attribute of Chinese civilization.

"At such a historical juncture critical to realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it is all the more important to unify the whole nation as a community with a shared future with a higher degree of identity and cohesion," Xing said.

Xi pointed out that a profound understanding of the history of Chinese civilization is essential to promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture in a more effective manner.

Xu Qinhua, a professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, said Xi's words have struck a chord with her.

"The rise of all countries is spearheaded and based on cultural innovation and civilizational progress," said Xu. "Only by creating a new form of civilization can the strength of a country be translated into civilizational prosperity."

When addressing Friday's meeting, Xi said that it is natural to integrate the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and fine traditional culture if we are to create and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics on the basis of the profound Chinese civilization of more than 5,000 years.

"The integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China's fine traditional culture highlighted by Xi represents another endeavor to emancipate our minds, which has brought new vitality to Marxism," said Han Zhen with the Beijing Normal University.

Han's views were echoed by Lyu Jian, president of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House.

"We will employ the strength of Marxism to energize traditional culture, inject new vitality into the publishing of ancient books, and make efforts for the innovation of Chinese civilization," Lyu said.

According to Su Bomin, president of the Dunhuang Academy, Xi's speech has enabled him to better understand the far-reaching significance of openness and inclusiveness to Chinese civilization.

Su said that the academy will leverage its advanced concepts and technologies in the fields of murals, earthen sites, and digitalization of cultural relics to increase global cooperation and facilitate the advancement of modern Chinese civilization.

Fan Di'an, president of the Chinese Artists Association, said he found great inspiration in Xi's comprehensive insights and analysis of major theoretical and practical issues concerning the inheritance and development of Chinese culture.

"As art workers, we should adhere to innovation on the basis of what has worked in the past, and contribute to the building of a modern Chinese civilization," Fan added. ■

BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China's pursuit of a unified domestic market will provide various market entities, including foreign-invested enterprises, with a better environment and a bigger arena, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday.

"The unified domestic market we are constructing will be a global-oriented and fully open market," ministry official Zhou Qiang told a press conference, adding that more efforts will be made to make full use of China's super-sized market and promote high-level opening-up.

The country will relax market access further for foreign investors, Zhou said, pledging measures to appropriately shorten the country's negative list for foreign investment and align with high-standard international economic and trade rules to deepen reforms and steadily advance institutional opening-up.

Economic expos, trade expos and special working mechanisms for major foreign investment projects will be leveraged in an improved manner to provide more platforms and better services, Zhou said.

Efforts will also be made to protect the legitimate interests of foreign investors better, building a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, he said. ■

An International Dragon Boat Festival opened in the Australian city of Darwin on Sunday, promoting sports and cultural exchanges between Australian and Chinese cities.

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BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhua) -- A new batch of scientific experiment samples has been brought back to Earth with the return capsule of China's Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship from China's space station Tiangong, the Science and Technology Daily reported Monday.

The samples have been delivered to the scientists of the space application system for subsequent research and studies.

The space application system, along with the return capsule of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship, sent back the experimental samples of a total of 15 scientific projects, according to the report.

The samples, weighing more than 20 kilograms, will be used in life experiments and material experiments.

The scientists will conduct molecular biology, cell biology, in-orbit growth and metabolism analyses on the samples in life experiments.

The samples of the material experiments will be tested and analyzed in the laboratory to study the physical properties and chemical changes of the materials that are difficult to know in the ground gravity environment.

Shenzhou-15's return capsule touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 6:33 a.m. (Beijing Time) on Sunday. ■

Sanjiangyuan in Qinghai contains the headwaters of China's three major rivers. President Xi Jinping underlines the importance of preserving the area and has shown deep care for how it has integrated ecological protection with improvements to local people's livelihoods.

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