China's Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea has enjoyed a healthy and well-developed coral reef ecosystem, according to an official report released on Wednesday.
The Investigation and Assessment Report on Marine Ecology and Environment Status of Huangyan Dao indicates that the island has an average of live coral cover of 28.6 percent in 2024, remarkably higher than that in 2015. The reef-building coral species in the waters adjacent to the island are also in their richest quantities since the survey record was started in the area.
Coral cover is a measure of the proportion of reef surface covered by live stony coral. It is a key norm reflecting the health of coral reef ecosystems.
The replenishment of coral larvae, or coral recruit, in the waters of the island is abundant, counted more than 5 per square meter, even better than the level of the Great Barrier Reef reported in the literature.
The Huangyan Dao waters also enjoys rich biodiversity. The report said the latest survey recorded 125 species of 23 families of reef-dwelling fish, and other important ecological groups, including giant clams, crustose coralline algae, and sea anemones.
"In the northeast of Huangyan Dao, we found a fairly high coral cover of more than 30 percent in our survey. This figure is actually equivalent to the level of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. As we all know, the Great Barrier Reef is well preserved and the coral reefs there are well developed, so its coral cover is high. And our Huangyan Dao area is similar to it, which is an important feature we discovered in our survey," said Yu Kefu, a professor of Guangxi University.
Huangyan Dao enjoys well-developed coral reef ecosystem: official report
The second meeting of High-Level Consultation Mechanism on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges between China and Japan, was held in Beijing on Wednesday, with 10 important agreements reached there.
Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese foreign minister, and Takeshi Iwaya, Japanese minister for foreign affairs, jointly attended the meeting.
The 10 agreement are as follows.
First, the two sides will promote youth exchange visits, and encourage and support study trips between the two countries.
Second, the two sides will deepen cooperation in the field of education, strengthen the exchange of overseas students, and support primary and secondary schools in the two countries to establish sister schools and institutions of higher education to carry out inter-school cooperation.
Third, the two sides will support tourism cooperation and introduce more facilitation measures to promote mutual visits between tourists from the two countries.
Fourth, the two sides will build more bridges for exchanges between sister cities and make good use of mechanisms and platforms such as the China-Japan Governor Forum, the China-Japan-ROK Cultural Exchange Year and the Culture Cities of East Asia to expand friendly exchanges at the local and non-governmental levels.
Fifth, the two sides will strengthen sports exchanges and cooperation, and support each other in hosting major sports events such as the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in 2026.
Sixth, the two sides will support continued cooperation in film, television, music, publishing, animation, games and other cultural and entertainment industries, exchange visits of high-level art groups, and support the translation and publication of classic works between the two countries.
Seventh, the two sides will strengthen exchanges and cooperation between media and think tanks, play a positive role in bilateral relations, and strive to improve public opinion and the environment for public opinion. The two sides will support exchanges and cooperation in new media and encourage exchanges between positive vibes of the two countries.
Eighth, the two sides will conduct exchanges between women's groups and share experience on promoting the common development of men and women. China invites Japan to attend the Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
Ninth, the two sides will build the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Kansai, into a platform for exchanges and friendship between the two peoples. China supports Japan in hosting the expo, while Japan welcomes China's participation and will provide assistance in the preparation and operation of the China Pavilion.
Tenth, the two sides will hold the third meeting of China-Japan high-level consultation mechanism on people-to-people and cultural exchanges in Japan in due course.
Noting that next year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, Wang said that the purpose of remembering this history is to draw lessons from it and cherish the hard-won peace.
China hopes and believes that Japan can once again demonstrate its determination for peaceful development and work with China to promote the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations in the spirit of facing history squarely and looking to the future, said Wang.
Iwaya said Japan is willing to work with China to improve the quality of people-to-people exchange projects, deepen exchanges between sister cities and take more measures to facilitate personnel exchanges.
China, Japan reach 10 agreements on people-to-people, cultural exchanges
