Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft, is expected to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab three times after its planned launch in April.
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BEIJING -- China's 2017 defense budget will expand by about 7 percent, a spokesperson for the annual session of the country's top legislature said Saturday.
Fu Ying, spokesperson for the 12th National People's Congress annual session, said the increase is in line with China's economic development and defense needs.
The new increase could be the country's slowest defense budget rise in at least a decade, marking the second time for the defense budget increase to dip into the single digits since 2010. In 2009, the figure was about 15 percent.
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BEIJING -- China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 is expected to dock with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab three times after its planned launch in April, sources said Saturday.
Tianzhou-1 will be sent into space from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province aboard a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket, according to a spokesperson of China's manned space program.
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BEIJING -- China has established the world's largest 5G test field in the race to standardize the mobile communication technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Friday.
Industry giants including Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp are participating in the test programs at the outdoor test site in Huairou District, Beijing.
The tests, set between 2016 and 2018, will include three stages for key technology verification, technological solution verification and system verification respectively, said Zhang Feng, chief engineer of the MIIT.
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BEIJING -- The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will continue exchanges with the U.S. Congress this year to boost communication and understanding, a spokesperson for the NPC annual session said Saturday.
"There are a lot of exchanges between the NPC and the U.S. Congress," Fu Ying told a press conference a day ahead of the session.
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BEIJING -- China's health authority said Friday that the H7N9 epidemic had been on the decline since emergency measures were taken.
From Feb. 24 to March 2, China reported 22 H7N9 cases, including 4 deaths, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, areas with H7N9 cases shut down live poultry markets and suspended cross-area live poultry transport, preventing further spread of the epidemic.
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UNITED NATIONS -- A Chinese envoy to the UN on Friday called on international community to step up efforts to combat illegal trade in wildlife through law enforcement.
Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, made the appeal at a General Assembly meeting, saying law enforcement from production to marketing and trafficking is required.
"Countries should address the root causes and remove the market driving forces leading to poaching and illegal trading of wildlife," said Liu.
