China has upgraded security facilities on 1.23 million kilometers of rural roads nationwide over the past decade, ensuring smooth and safe traffic in rural areas across the country, according to a white paper released on Friday.
China's State Council Information Office on Friday released a white paper titled "China's Rural Roads in the New Era" to introduce the achievements and vision of rural road development in the new era, and to share China's experience in this regard.
The total mileage of rural roads across China reached 4.6 million kilometers by the end of 2023, an increase of 21.7 percent over 2013, enough to circle the equator 115 times, the white paper said.
In addition to road construction, the white paper also briefed on China's efforts and achievements in improving safety on rural roads.
According to the white paper, over the past decade, China has implemented road safety and life protection projects on a total of 1.23 million kilometers of rural roads, continuously enlarging the coverage of safety facilities like signs and markings, speed bumps and traffic lights.
Meanwhile, China has renovated dangerous and old bridges in rural areas. Over the past decade, China has renovated a total of 58,000 rural bridges that were estimated as dangerous and old ones, with the number of dangerous bridges decreasing year by year, the white paper said.
The proportion of bridges that are in normal use has increased from 83.2 percent to 98 percent, according to the white paper.
So far, China has put in place a rural transport infrastructure network in which county roads connect rural and urban areas, township roads crisscross, and village roads facilitate travel between households and farmland, the white paper said.
China upgrades security facilities on 1.23 million km of rural road over past decade: white paper
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs' Deputy Director Driss El Hadani highlighted the need for more international cooperation and building capacities for space activities, while attending a Thursday conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Regional Center for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (China), affiliated to the United Nations.
Delegates from 14 countries attended the event in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province.
The center in Hangzhou is the sixth center to be established under the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. As of September 2024, the center had cultivated 395 master's and doctoral students from 33 countries, and had conducted more than 30 short-term training courses -- training over 2,000 participants from more than 70 countries. Originally inaugurated at Beihang University in Beijing in 2014, it relocated to Hangzhou earlier this year.
"From our discussions this morning and the seminar this afternoon, it is clear that the regional centers have a very important role in terms of capacity building indication. The center was created with the aim to offer the opportunity to developing countries to benefit and to contribute to space activities. The regional center in China and especially the one in Hangzhou, I think is offering a new opportunity to all member states to contribute to the lunar program. And there is a large place for this center to contribute to the capacity building and to bridge the gap between the spacefaring nations and the emerging nations in terms of space activities and especially for lunar activities," said Driss El Hadani.
As part of the celebrations, international delegates toured the center and its laboratories. They explored how the center is advancing space research and fostering international cooperation in areas like satellite technology, remote sensing and lunar space station.
UN official highlights cooperation, capacity building for space, lunar activities
