Investment of equipment renewal programs supported by treasury bonds reach 800 bln yuan

The equipment renewal programs supported by treasury bonds this year have a total investment of nearly 800 billion yuan (about 113.7 billion U.S. dollars), enabling the upgrading of over 2 million sets of equipment, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

China unveiled an action plan in March 2024 to implement the renewal program, aiming to expand domestic demand and bolster the economy. The Ministry of Finance has allocated 150 billion yuan (approximately 21.3 billion U.S. dollars) in ultra-long special treasury bonds to local governments in batches to support this initiative.

China's drive to promote equipment upgrades covers a wide range of areas including industrial equipment, environmental infrastructure, operating vessels, new energy buses and agricultural machinery, while consumer goods trade-ins involve products ranging from automobiles to home appliances and electric bicycles.

At the press conference, Liu Dechun, director of the Department of Resource Conservation and Environmental Protection of the NDRC, pointed out that the program has currently supported more than 4,600 projects across various fields, including industry, environmental infrastructure, transportation, logistics, education, cultural tourism, medical care, energy-using equipment, energy and electricity equipment, old elevators in residential compounds, and recycling.

"The potential for energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformations and equipment renewal in China remains significant. The primary purpose of extending the support scope of ultra-long special treasury bonds to the energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformation of key industries is to promote the upgrading of various energy-using equipment, accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies for energy savings and carbon reduction, and enhance overall energy-saving and carbon-reducing capabilities," said Liu.

From January to August this year, the transition of urban public transportation from conventional buses to electric buses (EBs), the renewal of old operating trucks, and the renewal of old operating ships increased significantly. The recycling volume of scrapped vehicles in China reached 4.21 million units, marking a 42.4 percent increase year on year, and accounting for more than 90 percent of the total number of scrapped vehicles last year.

Investment of equipment renewal programs supported by treasury bonds reach 800 bln yuan

China launched a Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket, also known as Jielong-3, from the waters near the city of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday, placing eight satellites into planned orbit.

The commercial rocket blasted off at 10:31 a.m. (Beijing Time), carrying satellites including Tianyi-41 and “Hong Kong Youth Sci-tech Innovation,” the first satellite developed by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

The launch marks the 4th flight mission for the Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket series.

Smart Dragon-3 commercial carrier rocket is developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The four-stage solid-propellant Smart Dragon-3 rocket is a type of cost-effective and highly reliable launch vehicle that is mainly used for launching spacecraft to the sun-synchronous orbit or low Earth orbit, according to the developer.

"Our Jielong-3 rocket used the 'Oriental Maritime Space Port' offshore satellite launch vessel for the first time, which means stronger support and higher launch efficiency. We also used the large yaw technology to make our landing area safer, so that in the future, we will have different options according to the weight of the satellite, to make the launching more cost-saving," said Jin Xin, an engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The "Hong Kong Youth Sci-tech Innovation" satellite is the first satellite funded and supported by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR government. It is also the world's first science satellite using an AI large-model. It is equipped with a high-resolution optical remote sensing camera and high-performance computing power payload, realizing key technologies and functions such as high-resolution earth remote sensing observation, and on-orbit intelligent data processing.

"More than 90 percent of the satellite's research and development staff are young teachers, students and engineers, so it is named 'Hong Kong Youth Sci-tech Innovation.' We will carry out new technology verification such as on-orbit reasoning training of large AI models in orbit," said Guo Tao, chief designer of the satellite.

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket sends eight satellites into orbit

China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket sends eight satellites into orbit