General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the Spring Festival travel rush is a major event concerning the vital interests of the people, economic development, and social stability. During this year's Spring Festival holiday, passenger flow once again reached a new high. In this magnificent population movement, a vibrant and continuously advancing China was showcased to the world. From the southern coast to the snowfields of the north, from bustling cities to remote villages, traffic flowed and crowds surged. During this year's Spring Festival holiday, cross-regional personnel flow across society exceeded 2.3 billion person-times, and for five consecutive days, it surpassed 300 million person-times, with both figures exceeding the same period last year. A convenient and efficient transportation network enabled "spur-of-the-moment" holiday travel. The footsteps of 2.3 billion people not only reflect China's economic vitality but also vividly portray the modernization level of its transportation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that building a safe, convenient, efficient, green, economical, inclusive, and resilient sustainable transportation system is an important measure to support high-quality economic and social development and realize the beautiful vision of "people enjoying their travel and goods flowing smoothly." During the 2023 Spring Festival travel rush, General Secretary Xi Jinping virtually met with and extended greetings to railway passenger transport cadres and staff, demanding that transportation departments enhance their capacity to ensure smooth operations, guarantee safe and healthy travel for the people, and ensure unimpeded and orderly transportation of key materials. Before this year's Spring Festival, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions again on diligently organizing the Spring Festival travel rush and strengthening production safety during his inspection tour in Liaoning. Faced with large-scale personnel movement, a safe, convenient, and smart modern integrated multi-dimensional transportation network is accelerating its formation, ensuring stable and orderly holiday travel. The road network is becoming increasingly dense. This Spring Festival, over 2.1 billion person-times chose road travel. As of now, the national road mileage is approximately 5.5 million kilometers, with expressways totaling about 190,000 kilometers, ranking first globally. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, opened last year, shortened the spatial and temporal distance between the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary. In Zhongshan, vehicles from cities like Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Dongguan were ubiquitous during the Spring Festival. Over 4.6 million kilometers of rural roads, like "capillaries," penetrate deep into the countryside, accelerating the mutual flow of urban and rural resources. During the Spring Festival holiday, many villages became popular destinations for urban residents; meanwhile, more villagers chose to travel outwards. Data from the China Tourism Academy shows that rural residents made 123 million trips during the Spring Festival, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%. The railway network extends in all directions, reshaping the national spatial layout while also making travel more convenient for the public. As of the end of last year, the national railway operating mileage exceeded 160,000 kilometers, including over 48,000 kilometers of high-speed rail. More than ten new lines, such as the Chizhou-Huangshan, Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou, and Jining-Datong-Yuanping high-speed railways, made their Spring Festival debut. The aviation network is more extensive, making public travel more efficient. Currently, China has over 260 transport airports, with an average of 15,000 civil aviation flights soaring in the sky every day. This Spring Festival, the daily passenger volume for civil aviation exceeded 2.48 million, setting a new historical high. Technology empowerment has also brought profound changes to Spring Festival travel, greatly improving transportation efficiency and service quality. The 12306 system's maximum daily ticket sales capacity exceeded 20 million tickets; supercharging piles at expressway service areas reduced the charging time for a 200-kilometer drive from half an hour to 3 minutes; intelligent air traffic control systems precisely directed aircraft takeoffs and landings, achieving a flight punctuality rate of 94%. This Spring Festival not only saw bustling passenger flows but also active and smooth logistics. During the Spring Festival holiday, over 1.9 billion parcels were collected and delivered, with the number of collected parcels increasing by 31% year-on-year; nearly a million intelligent sorting systems and a 98% coverage rate of township express outlets delivered parcels filled with warmth and blessings faster and further. The extensive transportation network carries a vibrant and mobile China.
Premier Li Qiang met with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene in Harbin on February 14, who was in China to attend the closing ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games. Li Qiang stated that China and Mongolia are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries has developed steadily and healthily, and is moving steadily towards the goal of building a China-Mongolia community with a shared future. China is willing to work with Mongolia to firmly grasp the correct direction of China-Mongolia relations, consolidate political mutual trust, carry forward traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, economy, culture, and other fields, and bring more benefits to the people of both countries. Oyun-Erdene said that Mongolia firmly adheres to the One-China policy and looks forward to closer high-level exchanges with China, strengthening the alignment of Mongolia's development strategy with the "Belt and Road" initiative, deepening practical cooperation in trade, economy, connectivity, and other fields, and pushing Mongolia-China relations to a higher level. After the meeting, the two prime ministers jointly witnessed the display of bilateral cooperation documents.
Premier Li Qiang met with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown in Harbin on February 14, who was in China to attend the closing ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games. Li Qiang stated that over the 28 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Cook Islands, the two sides have always treated each other with sincerity and equality, continuously promoted mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and moved forward hand in hand on the path of common development. China is willing to work with the Cook Islands to deepen political mutual trust, strengthen the high-quality alignment of the "Belt and Road" initiative with the Cook Islands' development strategy, and continuously deepen and solidify mutually beneficial cooperation in marine, infrastructure, cultural, and other fields, to better benefit the people of both countries. Brown stated that the Cook Islands highly values its relationship with China, will continue to adhere to the One-China principle, and is willing to deepen cooperation with China in infrastructure, marine, tourism, and other fields, strengthen multilateral cooperation in areas such as climate change, and promote the continuous and in-depth development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. After the meeting, the two prime ministers jointly witnessed the signing of several bilateral cooperation documents. Wu Zhenglong and Chen Yiqin attended the above activities.
Right after the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, all parts of the country immediately entered "work mode." Reporters observed in many places that numerous foreign trade enterprises are focusing on new markets, new business formats, and new products, seizing opportunities to open up new prospects, and new drivers for foreign trade are accelerating their cultivation. In the first week after the holiday, at various container terminals in Shanghai's Yangshan Port, 15 vessels were simultaneously docked, ushering in a new round of production peaks. At Chongqing Railway Port, a batch of "Made in Chongqing" cars were being orderly loaded into containers, soon to be exported to Europe via the China-Europe Railway Express. From deep-water ports to foreign trade ports, behind the hustle and bustle is the "accelerated run" of China's foreign trade after the New Year. In Yiwu International Trade City, the world's largest small commodity market, foreign merchants who had waited an entire Spring Festival poured in, looking for the trendiest "good Chinese products." Catalina from Colombia placed her first order of the new year at a store specializing in 3D printed toys. Following the toy order, the reporter visited the production line, which had been operating throughout the Spring Festival. Relying on new technologies and new materials independently developed by the enterprise, "small" commodities are breaking into "large" markets. Innovation is becoming a new competitive advantage for foreign trade enterprises, and many foreign trade enterprises are also striving to explore new market spaces. Soon after the Spring Festival, all production lines of an electrical grid equipment manufacturing enterprise in Nanjing, Jiangsu, were running at full capacity to rush orders. Focusing on stabilizing foreign trade and promoting high-quality trade development, various regions have also listed their tasks for the new year. Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Henan provinces proposed the integrated development of "cross-border e-commerce + industrial belts"; Guangxi and Chongqing will accelerate the construction of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, solidifying the foundation for unimpeded flow of goods; Sichuan, on the other hand, proposed building national service export bases to promote the "going global" of digital services in fields such as gaming, animation, and intellectual property. A series of new policies and measures will help China's foreign trade seize opportunities and cultivate new drivers.
The latest data released by the People's Bank of China today (February 14) shows that in January this year, financial aggregates continued to maintain reasonable growth, with robust support for the real economy. The data indicates that at the end of January, the balance of broad money (M2) was 318.52 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%, with the growth rate remaining largely stable; in January, the increment of social financing was 7.06 trillion yuan, reaching a historical high for the same period. New RMB loans amounted to 5.13 trillion yuan. Since the beginning of this year, credit投放 has also shown many highlights. Inclusive small and micro loans and medium- and long-term manufacturing loans increased by 12.7% and 11.4% year-on-year, respectively, both higher than the overall loan growth rate. Financial institutions in various regions such as Hebei, Tianjin, and Zhejiang have continuously increased financial support for technology enterprises by utilizing innovative products such as "Technology Cloud Loans" and "Sci-Tech Innovation Loans." In January, the weighted average interest rate of newly issued corporate loans was approximately 3.4%, a year-on-year decrease of about 0.4 percentage points, reaching a historical low. The People's Bank of China stated that the moderately loose monetary policy this year will continue to increase credit issuance and further consolidate the momentum of economic recovery and improvement.
As "Rain Water" approaches, spring field management and spring plowing preparations are successively unfolding from south to north across the country. Various regions are seizing the opportune time to implement detailed measures, solidifying the foundation for a bumper grain harvest throughout the year. The latest agricultural situation report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs shows that currently, winter wheat, the main crop for summer grain and oil, is successively turning green, and winter rapeseed is entering the budding stage, both showing better growth than in previous years. Due to less precipitation since winter, drought conditions have emerged in provinces like Shandong and Hebei. In recent days, the Mawan Irrigation Area, a large Yellow River diversion irrigation area in Dongying, Shandong, started pumping water, and the continuous flow of Yellow River water is pouring into wheat fields, with a daily water supply exceeding 1 million cubic meters. Currently, 21 large and medium-sized irrigation areas in Shandong Province have opened their gates to release water. Early rice in South China has begun seed soaking and seedling cultivation, while northern regions are preparing seeds and fertilizers and overhauling agricultural machinery. The supply of agricultural materials such as chemical fertilizers is sufficient and prices are stable, indicating a good start to spring plowing preparations. This year, Hainan is fully implementing a pilot policy for agricultural machinery vouchers, providing subsidies for agricultural machinery operation services such as rice machine transplanting in the form of electronic vouchers to improve transplanting quality. As of now, over 1 million yuan in agricultural machinery vouchers have been issued. With the rise in temperature, early rice seedling cultivation is successively commencing in Guangdong. Taishan, a major early rice producing area, has built 9 seedling cultivation centers this year. On automated seedling machines, soil spreading, seeding, and watering are completed in sequence, capable of providing seedlings for 33,000 mu, greatly enhancing seedling supply capacity. While the snow has not yet melted, Gongzhuling, Jilin, is stepping up fertilizer spreading operations. In the black soil conservation and utilization project area, growers are spreading well-rotted organic fertilizer onto the fields. The local area has protected soil fertility in this way for four consecutive years, and currently, the organic matter content in the project area's soil has increased by over 3%. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has formulated and issued technical guidelines for spring field management, disaster prevention and reduction, and pest and disease control, and has dispatched 22 working groups and scientific and technological teams to major grain and oil producing provinces to investigate the growth of wheat and rapeseed seedlings, planting intentions, and the distribution of agricultural materials, promoting spring management and spring plowing in a strong and orderly manner.
Beijing continues to build a comprehensive transportation system with rail transit as the backbone, ground public transport as the support, and various other modes of travel as supplements, focusing on strengthening hardware, promoting convenience, and alleviating congestion, thereby further densifying and solidifying its public transportation network. Currently, 108 metro sections under construction in Beijing are being expedited. It is expected that the entire Line 17 will be completed this year, the Southern Extension of Line 6 will be ready for initial operation, and the second phase of Line 19 and the northern section of the first phase of Line R4 will also commence construction. Before this year's Spring Festival travel rush, all Beijing railway stations and airports achieved full metro coverage. Beijing's rail transit has formed a network of 29 crisscrossing lines, with a total mileage of 879 kilometers, and 98 transfer stations making metro travel highly interconnected. In 2024, rail transit passenger volume exceeded 3.6 billion person-times. Simultaneously, Beijing optimized 143 bus routes, re-established stops to facilitate connections, and the transfer ratio between buses and subways within 50 meters reached 88%, continuously enhancing the combined efficiency of the two transportation networks. The proportion of green travel in the central urban area rose to 75.6%. To facilitate citizen travel, efforts are also being made in operational organization. On popular tourist and commercial lines such as Metro Line 1 and Line 10, trains depart every two minutes; direct swiping of overseas bank cards for ticket purchase, a domestic first; and convenient commercial outlets within stations are gradually being rolled out. At the same time, the intelligent ground transportation system is accelerating its advancement. In 2024, 200 green wave roads were dynamically optimized, and the traffic light networking rate within the Fifth Ring Road and in the city's sub-center reached 100%. In addition, Beijing has introduced 352 special lines for specific groups, including lines for students, medical visits, and tourism. The number of customized express bus routes for inter-provincial commuting in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has increased to 11 main lines and 37 branch lines, further solidifying the "one-hour Beijing metropolitan area commute circle."
Recently, Shanghai released a new round of eight policy measures to consolidate the sustained economic recovery and improvement. The new round of policy measures mainly involves eight aspects, including making full use of fiscal and financial policies, vigorously stimulating consumption, expanding effective investment, and solidly guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods. In terms of fiscal and financial policies, in 2025, Shanghai will continue to halve the "six taxes and two fees" for small-scale VAT taxpayers, small and micro enterprises, and individual businesses on the basis of fully implementing national tax reduction and fee reduction policies; it will also continue to temporarily lower medical insurance and unemployment insurance rates, and further reduce the cost of water, electricity, gas, and logistics for enterprises. In terms of stimulating consumption, the new round of car trade-in subsidy policies will be fully implemented to promote car renewal consumption, and the policy of free application for new energy vehicle license plate quotas will be extended until the end of this year. The new measures will vigorously promote high-quality employment, merging and implementing the one-time employment subsidy for key groups and the one-time expansion subsidy. This year, Shanghai plans to complete the renovation of 310,000 square meters of unintegrated old housing and launch 25 "urban village" renovation projects.
Reporters learned from the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine that in the "13th Five-Year Plan" and "14th Five-Year Plan" for improving grassroots Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) service capabilities, the central government has allocated a cumulative transfer payment of over 7 billion yuan to support the construction of TCM clinics. The basic construction of TCM clinics has achieved a transformation from "nothing to something," with the number of TCM clinics increasing from over 3,000 in 2015 to 42,000, basically achieving full coverage in community health service centers and township health centers. Across the country, 99.6% of community health service centers and township health centers are able to provide TCM services, and the coverage of grassroots TCM services continues to expand.
After 12 days of intense and exciting competition, the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin are drawing to a close. Sports delegations from 34 countries and regions across Asia achieved glory and dreams, enhanced friendship and understanding, and jointly wrote a new chapter for an Asian community with a shared future during the Asian Winter Games. Today (February 14), the Olympic Council of Asia and the Harbin Asian Winter Games Organizing Committee held a press conference announcing that the Games featured 64 events and over 180 competitions, with 1,222 athletes from 34 countries and regions participating, setting a record for the largest ever. A total of 64 gold medals were awarded. The Chinese sports delegation, comprising 170 athletes, participated in all 64 events, ultimately topping both the gold medal and overall medal tables with 32 gold, 27 silver, and 26 bronze medals, totaling 85 medals, marking their best performance at the Asian Winter Games. As the largest Asian Winter Games ever, the Harbin Games saw 110,000 spectators at the venues, experiencing the passion of winter sports up close. The venue facilities, competition organization, and event services left a deep impression on everyone. With ice and snow dreams and Asian unity, as "Ha'erbin" met the Asian Winter Games, ice and snow became a bond connecting Asian countries and regions. The excitement and inspiration brought forth by this "City of Two Asian Winter Games" are injecting vitality and dynamism into global winter sports and Asia's prosperity and development.
"Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Copper Industry (2025-2027)" Issued. Eleven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Copper Industry (2025-2027)." The plan proposes that by 2027, the resilience and security level of China's copper industry chain and supply chain will be significantly enhanced. The capacity for copper raw material assurance will continue to strengthen, striving for a 5%-10% increase in domestic copper mineral resources, and further improving the recycling and utilization of recycled copper. Area of Groundwater Over-extraction in Haihe River Basin Reduced by Nearly 30%. The reporter learned from the Ministry of Water Resources that the Haihe River Basin recently completed a new round of groundwater over-extraction zone delineation. Monitoring data shows that the area of groundwater over-extraction in the basin has decreased by 29% compared to 2015, with a significant reduction in groundwater over-extraction volume and severely over-extracted areas. Construction of a Batch of Major Projects Initiated in Sichuan. A batch of major projects have been initiated in Sichuan, involving 2,956 projects in multiple fields such as transportation, energy, and education, with a total investment exceeding 1.1 trillion yuan. Among them, the investment in innovation and industrial development projects accounts for more than half. "High-End Interview" to Air Exclusive Interview with Pakistani President Zardari Tonight. Tonight (February 14), the "High-End Interview" program on CCTV News Channel will broadcast an exclusive interview with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari stated that Pakistan and China have generations of friendship and are neighbors and friends who share weal and woe, and he looks forward to further strengthening cooperation between the two countries. The program will also be simultaneously launched on new media platforms such as CCTV News, CCTV Video, and CCTV.com.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated on the 13th that Russian forces had taken control of another settlement in the Donetsk region that day, and struck Ukrainian drone factories, fuel depots, and other targets, while intercepting Ukrainian guided aerial bombs and rockets. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated today (February 14) that Russian air defense systems shot down 50 Ukrainian drones today in Belgorod, Voronezh, and other regions. According to Ukrainian media reports on the 13th, the Ukrainian Security Service's drones attacked an oil pumping station in Russia's Tver region. The report stated that the attack led to the suspension of the pumping station's operations. Russia says it has started forming a negotiation team on Ukraine issues; Ukraine says it will not accept negotiations without its participation. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov stated on the 13th that after the call between the Russian and US presidents, Russia has begun to form a negotiation team on Ukraine issues. Peskov also stated that Russia's security concerns are a prerequisite for discussing the Ukrainian issue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on the 13th that he would not accept peace negotiations without Ukraine's participation, and that European partners should also be at the negotiating table. NATO Secretary General says Ukraine's NATO membership was never part of a peace deal. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated on the 13th, during a NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, that Ukraine's NATO membership was never promised as part of a peace deal.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement on the 13th saying that the Israeli military struck a rocket launch site in the Gaza Strip that day, from which the IDF claimed a rocket had been fired. This marks the first time rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel since the Gaza ceasefire agreement was reached in January. On the 13th, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) called for an immediate start to the second phase of negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire agreement. According to the agreement, the second phase of negotiations was supposed to begin on February 3, to discuss issues such as continued exchange of detainees and a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Lebanon rejects US request to delay Israeli troop withdrawal. According to Lebanon's National News Agency, the US informed Lebanon that Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanese villages on February 18, but would retain five outposts. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stated on the 13th that Lebanon would never accept the Israeli military retaining outposts. Under the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26 of this year.
Trump calls for "reciprocal tariffs" on U.S. trade partners. U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on the 13th, directing relevant U.S. departments to identify "reciprocal tariffs" with each foreign trade partner. Trump stated that day that imposing reciprocal tariffs means that whatever tariffs other countries levy on the United States, the United States will levy the same tariffs on them. The memorandum did not specify the exact timing for the imposition of "reciprocal tariffs." The U.S. recently announced a series of tariff increases, which have drawn opposition and criticism from various parties, including U.S. allies such as Canada, the European Union, Germany, France, and Japan. Eurozone industrial production decreased by 1.1% month-on-month in December last year. Estimated data released by Eurostat on the 13th showed that in December 2024, the seasonally adjusted industrial production in the Eurozone decreased by 1.1% month-on-month and 2.0% year-on-year, exceeding expectations; industrial production in the EU decreased by 0.8% month-on-month and 1.7% year-on-year. Local analysts believe that the data indicates continued challenges for European manufacturing, including high energy costs, tariff uncertainties, and sluggish global demand. U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier collides with merchant vessel, both damaged. The U.S. Navy issued a statement on the 13th saying that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with the merchant vessel "Besiktas-M" while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea near Port Said, Egypt, late on the 12th. The aircraft carrier sustained some damage but remained in a safe and stable condition, and its engines were not affected by the collision. No injuries were reported in the accident. The statement did not specify the exact extent of the aircraft carrier's damage. According to U.S. media reports, the "Besiktas-M" is a 53,000-ton merchant vessel flying the Panamanian flag. The merchant vessel sustained minor damage. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Two more Greek islands declared emergency due to frequent earthquakes. Frequent earthquakes have recently occurred in the waters near the Greek tourist island of Santorini. The nearby islands of Amorgos and Anafi were successively declared states of emergency on the 12th and 13th. According to Greek media reports, more than 14,000 earthquakes have occurred in the relevant sea area since January 26 this year. Santorini Island entered a state of emergency on February 6.
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