Latest news with #ZhangGuoqing
Bangkok Post
11-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
China to speed up bullet-train connectivity with neighbours
China will further enhance connectivity with other countries by expanding its high-speed railway network, a senior politician has pledged. The country intends to promote both the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure and the "soft connectivity" of standards and rules to position high-speed rail as a cornerstone for advancing the nation's Belt and Road Initiative, Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing said at the opening ceremony of the 12th World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Beijing on Tuesday. "China is committed to implementing both major projects and smaller, people-centred initiatives that deliver tangible benefits," Zhang said at the event, which has become a global showcase for high-speed developments and technology. "In carrying out high-speed rail projects abroad, we will enhance support for infrastructure and skills training to better benefit people in all countries." Beijing will continue to advance major landmark rail projects - such as the Hungary-Serbia railway, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, and the China-Thailand railway - while participating in the formulation of international railway standards, Zhang added. Marking China's first high-speed rail entry into Europe, the Hungary-Serbia route is designed to connect the two countries' respective capitals, Budapest and Belgrade, and part of the line in Serbia has been operational since 2022. The full route is expected to be completed by 2026, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier this year. The project, particularly the Hungarian section, has also faced scrutiny from the European Union, which is increasingly wary of China's growing influence in the region. The Thai government approved the second phase of the China-Thailand high-speed railway project earlier this year, and it is expected to begin operations in 2030. This would be nearly a decade later than originally planned, as construction has faced delays and disagreements over financing and design, plus disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic. Having been in limbo for decades, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which looks to connect China's northwestern frontier with several cities in the two Central Asian countries, began full construction earlier this year. With a total investment of US$4.7 billion, the first phase is expected to be completed by the end of the decade. "Against the backdrop of today's crisis-ridden and challenging environment, marked by geopolitical divisions and global instability, opening up new transportation routes is of critical importance," said Bakyt Torobayev, deputy prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, at the same event. "The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is such a solution." The 304-kilometre railway line will establish the shortest rail corridor between the East and West, providing direct access for goods to European and Middle Eastern markets and forming a vital transport artery, Torobayev said. "The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will reshape the trade landscape." China will strengthen the alignment of high-speed-rail development plans with various countries, and it is willing to share its experience in high-speed rail planning, construction, equipment manufacturing and operation management with other countries, Zhang said. As of the end of 2024, China's high-speed rail network spanned 48,000 kilometres, accounting for more than 70% of the world's total high-speed rail mileage, according to official data. China has collaborated with more than 40 countries and regions across Asia, Europe, North America and Africa in railway planning, design, construction, and operation, according to Wang Lixin, vice-president of the state-owned China Railway. /////////
South China Morning Post
08-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China to speed up bullet-train connectivity with neighbours
China will further enhance connectivity with other countries by expanding its high-speed railway network, a senior politician pledged on Tuesday. The country intends to promote both the 'hard connectivity' of infrastructure and the 'soft connectivity' of standards and rules to position high-speed rail as a cornerstone for advancing the nation's Belt and Road Initiative , Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing said at the opening ceremony of the 12th World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Beijing. 'China is committed to implementing both major projects and smaller, people-centred initiatives that deliver tangible benefits,' Zhang said at the event, which has become a global showcase for high-speed developments and technology. 'In carrying out high-speed rail projects abroad, we will enhance support for infrastructure and skills training to better benefit people in all countries.' Beijing will continue to advance major landmark rail projects – such as the Hungary-Serbia railway, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, and the China-Thailand railway – while participating in the formulation of international railway standards, Zhang added. Marking China's first high-speed rail entry into Europe, the Hungary-Serbia route is designed to connect the two countries' respective capitals, Budapest and Belgrade, and part of the line in Serbia has been operational since 2022. The full route is expected to be completed by 2026, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier this year. The project, particularly the Hungarian section, has also faced scrutiny from the European Union, which is increasingly wary of China's growing influence in the region.
The Independent
03-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
China on high alert for floods as record rain triggers landslides and building collapse
Swathes of China are on high alert for flash floods and landslides as unrelenting rain triggered deadly disasters and forced evacuations in multiple provinces. The torrential downpours, part of the annual 'Plum Rains' season, have swept from the southwest through central China and up to the northeast, prompting red alerts in Sichuan, Gansu and Liaoning provinces. In Henan province's Taiping town, rescue workers recovered five bodies and were searching for three missing people after a nearby river burst its banks, unleashing a sudden flash flood. More than 1,000 emergency personnel have been deployed to assist residents, state media reported. Vice premier Zhang Guoqing urged officials in Hebei to act urgently to protect lives as the rain continued. In neighbouring Gansu province, two people died when heavy rains caused a landslide at a construction site. Dramatic scenes unfolded in Guangxi, where video footage showed a five-storey building under construction collapsing into the Lengshui river as the ground beneath it gave way in waterlogged soil. The river saw its worst flooding since at least 2005, local media reported. In Guangxi 's Pingliu village, landslides destroyed two houses and forced the evacuation of 21 people. The Plum Rains have disrupted travel, with train services to Beijing suspended and flights delayed or cancelled at one of the capital's airports. The Chinese finance ministry this week announced an additional £14.3m in emergency disaster relief funds to support affected regions in Guizhou and Hunan provinces. The allocation followed a disbursement of £16.3m on 23 June. Guizhou's Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, including Rongjiang and Congjiang counties, have been particularly hit hard. Rongjiang, known as the birthplace of China's popular Village Super League football tournament, has suffered two severe floods in less than a week, with the stadium submerged twice in five days. The ministry said the funds would go towards meeting urgent needs, including search and rescue operations, relocation of affected residents, temporary living assistance, and rebuilding of damaged homes. Authorities said the support would help restore daily life and economic activity as quickly as possible in the worst-hit communities. Extreme rainfall and severe flooding, increasingly linked by experts to the climate crisis, are testing China's ageing flood defences and threatening its vast agricultural heartland. Last year, economic losses from similar storms exceeded £7bn. The national meteorological centre forecasts more storms across the north and the west even as the east coast bakes under a scorching sun.
Al Jazeera
03-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
China's north and west on red alert for heavy rains after deadly floods
Northern and western China remain on high alert as torrential rain threatens to bring more flash flooding and landslides, following weather-related deaths in other parts of the country. Red alerts were in force on Thursday as rains made their way to Gansu province in the northwest and then up to Liaoning province in the northeast. The weather warnings came as more than 1,000 rescue workers were sent on Wednesday to Taiping, a town in the central Henan province, where five people died and three were declared missing after a river burst its banks, according to state media. Another state media report confirmed that two people were killed by a landslide at a construction site in Gansu after heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, a record summer downpour hit the city of Xianfeng in China's central province of Hubei, bringing more than a month's rain in just 12 hours, with local videos showing torrents washing away cars. On Tuesday, the authorities there evacuated 18,000 people, closed schools and suspended bus services. During a two-day trip to the northern province of Hebei, China's Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing urged local officials to ramp up the scale of evacuations. Although China has a nationwide system to forecast and monitor severe weather, scientists say it is hard to make localised predictions, especially in rural communities that lack forecasting capabilities. 'Accurately forecasting the intensity and exact location of heavy rain remains challenging, especially with climate change and the complex terrain of rural areas,' Meng Gao, a climate modelling specialist at Hong Kong Baptist University, told the Reuters news agency earlier this week. Last July, the 'plum rains', which coincide with the plum-ripening season, caused more than $10bn in economic losses in China.
Reuters
29-05-2025
- General
- Reuters
China's vice premier stresses production safety after deadly chemical plant blast
BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - China's Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing on Thursday urged authorities to learn from recent incidents and remain vigilant about production safety, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Special attention must be paid to key industries including firefighting, hazardous chemicals, gas, mining, transportation and construction, Zhang said. The vice premier made the remarks at a production safety event after a chemical plant explosion in China's eastern province of Shandong on Tuesday killed at least five people and six remain missing.
