Liaoning strives to achieve comprehensive revitalization: governor

Northeast China's Liaoning Province pledges to make more efforts for the comprehensive revitalization to recapture its vigor, said the governor of the province Li Lecheng at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Liaoning is located in the country's former heavy industry heartland.

Last year, according to Li, the province's GDP grew by 5.3 percent, surpassing the national growth rate for the first time in a decade.

In the first quarter of 2024, Liaoning's growth rate increased to 5.4 percent, demonstrating even stronger resilience, vitality and creativity in high-quality development.

The governor said efforts will be made in four aspects to achieve comprehensive revitalization in province, including developing new quality productive forces, making breakthroughs in deepening reform and opening up, consolidating advantages in promoting green development, and improving the well-being of the people.

"First, we will strive to excel on the development of new quality productive forces. We will rely on the advantages of scientific and educational resources to accelerate the creation of regional science and technology innovation centers with national influence. We will focus on the four trillion-yuan-level industrial bases of advanced equipment manufacturing, petrochemical and fine chemicals, new metallurgical materials, and high-quality characteristic consumer goods, striving to transform the 'largest variable' of scientific and technological innovation into the 'largest increment' to promote high-quality development," Li said.

"Second, we will strive for new breakthroughs in deepening reform and opening up. We'll continue to improve the business environment and comprehensively deepen reforms so as to promote high-quality development. Third, we will build our strengths in pursuing green development. The green, low-carbon and intelligent transformation of traditional industries is in full swing now. This year, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy will reach 50 percent [in the province]. Fourth, we will take active steps to improve people's well-being," he said.

Liaoning strives to achieve comprehensive revitalization: governor

The recent Israeli airstrikes on multiple sites in Yemen, including Hodeidah Port in the north, could have devastating consequences, potentially further worsening the humanitarian situation in the country, an United Nations official said on Friday.

On Dec 19, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Houthi targets in northern Yemen, resulting in the destruction of two major power stations in the capital, Sanaa, and several ports along the coast of the Red Sea.

A total of three ports in Hodeidah Province were affected by the airstrikes: the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef, and Ras Isa.

On Thursday, Israel launched another round of airstrikes targeting key infrastructure and Houthi-controlled sites in Sanaa and Hodeidah, according to media reports.

Julien Harneis, UN resident coordinator in Yemen, stated that 80 percent of food and nearly 90 to 95 percent of medical supplies needed in northern Yemen rely on Hodeidah Port for passage, making the port extremely important.

He emphasized that if the port were to break down, it would have catastrophic consequences, leading to a rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

"So, the airstrikes some days ago which destroyed the two tugs was estimated to reduce the harbor capacity by 50 percent. Now, we don't know how long that reduction in capacity will be and we have yet to done a thorough analysis of what the impact of yesterday's airstrikes. So, we're still collecting information and trying to understand that," Harneis said.

The UN predicts that by 2025, the population in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen will rise to 19 million people. If the internal conflict in Yemen persists, this situation may worsen even further, Harneis noted.

Israeli airstrikes on Yemen may trigger devastating consequences: UN official