According to the Sansha authorities in South China's Hainan Province, a Vietnamese vessel, the KHOI NGUYEN 18, sank after encountering distress in waters near Yongshu Reef in the Nansha Islands on July 25. As of now, 45 people have been rescued, with the latest rescued by the Chinese side at 1:42 pm on Sunday, Sansha authorities told the Global Times.

China has dispatched six vessels and one rescue helicopter to assist in the operation, and seven Vietnamese ships are now also participating in the on-site search and rescue effort.

According to the Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities, the distressed vessel was the Vietnamese-flagged KHOI NGUYEN 18, measuring 69.9 meters in length and 10.8 meters in width, with 62 people on board.

As of 8:05 pm on Sunday, 41 of the rescued Vietnamese individuals onboard the distressed KHOI NGUYEN 18 have been safely transferred to Vietnamese ships, and the remaining four will be transferred tomorrow, Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities told the Global Times.

Leading the efforts

China and Vietnam have set up a joint, unified search and rescue command system. The Chinese rescue vessel Nanhai Jiu 115 is serving as the on-site commander. Rescue forces from both countries have demonstrated strong overall coordination, regional synergy, and efficient collaboration, according to Sansha authorities.

Global Times learned more details of the rescue from Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities on Sunday at noon.

On Saturday, at 6:53 pm, the research and rescue authorities received an alert from the Hainan Provincial Maritime Search and Rescue Center, which stated that at 6:23 pm the same day, the Chinese rescue vessel Nanhai Jiu 115, while sailing back to Sanya, spotted a life raft and rescued 29 Vietnamese nationals on board.

According to the rescued individuals, the distressed vessel was the Vietnamese-flagged ship KHOI NGUYEN 18. The vessel sank after encountering distress on Friday night in waters approximately 220 nautical miles east of Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

There were 62 Vietnamese nationals on board who urgently required assistance.

Upon receiving the alert, the Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities immediately activated their emergency plan. A unified search and rescue command system was quickly established with Vietnamese vessels on site, enabling coordinated deployment of forces, regional collaboration, and highly efficient cooperation.

The center also notified relevant military, police, and civilian units and set up a three-level command linkage mechanism involving provincial, city, and district levels.

The Nanhai Jiu 115 was designated as the on-scene command vessel, coordinating with the Nanhai Jiu 113, rescue helicopters, coast guard vessels, and other forces to conduct search-and-rescue operations.

Navigational alerts were issued to alert nearby vessels, coordinating their participation in the rescue efforts. Additionally, the South China Sea Forecasting Center under the Ministry of Natural Resources was asked to produce drift prediction models for personnel in the water to guide the search plan.

Satellite imagery was also used to help locate survivors, while passing ships were reminded to maintain a sharp lookout and report any sightings immediately.

Search-and rescue-operations are still underway.

In response to a question from Global Times reporters, a staff member from the Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities revealed that six more Vietnamese vessels had joined the rescue efforts as of Sunday noon, and fortunately, the typhoon Noul has not impacted the rescue operation.

Yang Linxiang, an official responsible for coordination, information transmission, and the formulation of rescue plans with the Sansha maritime search and rescue authorities, told the Global Times that he had been working round the clock since after 7 pm on Saturday until past 11 am on Sunday.

As of Sunday noon time, China and Vietnam had together located 46 Vietnamese nationals from the distressed vessel. Chinese rescue forces had saved 45 people, while Vietnamese forces rescued two - one survivor and one fatality, Yang told the Global Times.

In a thank-you note written by Nguyễn Văn Toàn, a rescued Vietnamese mechanician, he said "You did everything you could to rescue me, which allowed my two friends and me to survive. For this, I sincerely thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I am deeply grateful to the ship owner and all the brothers and sisters on board. It was you who gave me a second chance at life. My friends and I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to you."

Later on Sunday afternoon, the rescued Vietnamese crewmembers gathered together and expressed their gratitude by saying "Xie xie Zhong guo"("Thank you, China") in Chinese.

Global Times also learned that the survivors had been provided with meals aboard the Chinese rescue vessels and were recovering well.

Search and rescue operations would continue in the afternoon, with rescue efforts and the handover of survivors proceeding simultaneously.

Much-needed public products

Ding Duo, director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday this joint rescue effort is the latest example among countless emergency search and rescue operations in the vast waters of the South China Sea. It clearly demonstrates the core elements required for effective maritime search and rescue under complex sea conditions and sudden emergencies: rapid response capabilities based on a clear legal framework and emergency mechanisms, the humanitarian and public welfare nature that transcends maritime disputes, and efficient multi-party, multi-level coordination, he noted.

More importantly, it once again confirms China's irreplaceable role and undeniable efforts as a responsible major country and major coastal state in fulfilling its international obligations in the South China Sea, providing international public goods, and promoting functional maritime cooperation, Ding said.

According to the expert, China has long regarded safeguarding navigation safety in the South China Sea as an important responsibility. Through the establishment of search and rescue coordination institutions such as the Sansha and Nansha maritime search and rescue centers, the optimization of rescue force deployment, and the gradual building of a three-dimensional air-sea emergency rescue system, China is committed to providing maritime public services and navigation safety guarantees for ships from neighboring countries, regional waters, and international shipping lanes.

This precisely shows that any discourse that ignores concrete practice, disregards the actual contributions of major providers of public goods, and attempts to obscure the common need for non-traditional security cooperation through one-sided narratives runs counter to the fundamental goal of safeguarding navigation safety and humanitarian values in the South China Sea, he noted.

Two veteran scientists won China's top sci-tech award for the year 2025 on Wednesday for their groundbreaking contributions to the fields of lithium batteries and radar technology, respectively, as the country honored 258 projects and 11 experts for scientific and technological achievements.

Chen Liquan, 86, a researcher at the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and Ben De, 88, a researcher at the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and also a CAE academician, received the nation's highest scientific honor at a meeting in Beijing.

Chen, born into a rural family in southwest China's Sichuan Province, grew up in the dim light of kerosene lamps, which sparked his lifelong pursuit of bringing electricity to the people. He is widely recognized as the founder, pioneer and leader of China's lithium battery sector.

Chen built China's first solid-state ionics laboratory from scratch. His team produced China's first lithium-ion battery and established the country's first pilot production line using entirely homegrown technology, equipment and raw materials.

He pioneered and realized the in-situ solidification battery technology approach, advancing sodium-ion batteries from fundamental research to commercial-scale deployment, and cementing China's strategic lead in next-generation battery technologies.

Ben, born in a farming family in northeast China's Jilin Province, entered Harbin Institute of Technology, located in Heilongjiang Province in the northeast, in 1957. He is acclaimed as the founder of China's airborne pulse Doppler radar technology, a major pioneer of phased array radar technology, and a forerunner of space-based surveillance radar technology.

Ben successfully developed China's first airborne pulse Doppler fire-control radar and its first large-scale long-range phased array early-warning radar. The two fundamental modern radar technologies he pioneered, pulse Doppler and phased array, have guided the development of China's land, sea, air and space early-warning and detection systems.

Wednesday's meeting conflated the national science and technology award conference, the general assemblies of the members of the CAS and the CAE, and the 11th national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology.

In addition to the two top honorees, 51 projects received the State Natural Science Award, 58 projects the State Technological Invention Award, and 149 projects the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award. Meanwhile, nine foreign experts were presented with the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

AWARDS HIGHLIGHT INNOVATION DRIVE

This year's awards tell a compelling story about where Chinese science is heading.

For the first time since 1999, three first prizes of the State Natural Science Award were presented, which is a clear sign that the country's strategic drive to bolster basic research and original innovation is paying off.

Take the single-atom catalysis project, for example. The original concept was first proposed by Chinese researchers and has since gained global recognition across fields including catalysis, chemical engineering, materials, biology and energy.

Another winning project precisely measured the strength of a single hydrogen bond using a quantum approach, opening up entirely new possibilities in condensed matter physics, while in the information field, researchers developed a phosphor-free pure-chip LED technology that has produced micro-displays and the world's first yellow-light AR glasses.

Many award-winning projects are also directly tied to national strategic needs. One team developed a system that recreates extreme space conditions right here on Earth, using electrostatic, ultrasonic and electromagnetic fields to simulate microgravity and pioneering new ways to process high-temperature metals.

Another project pushed the limits of ultra-deep drilling, retrieving 8,187 meters of continuous terrestrial rock cores from the Cretaceous period in northeast China's Songliao Basin. It is the world's most complete record of its kind. The findings have helped Chinese scientists establish a high-precision, multi-disciplinary system for geological dating and paleoclimate reconstruction.

There are also the innovations that touch people's daily lives. In agriculture, researchers tackled long-standing bottlenecks in hybrid rice seed production by developing new parent lines with superior outcrossing performance and super-high-yield hybrid varieties, while also advancing mechanized, high-efficiency seed production techniques.

The breakthroughs directly address the challenges of low per-unit yields, insufficient seed production capacity, and high seed costs, helping to secure China's food security at the very foundation of the supply chain.

In healthcare, researchers developed a specialized bedside MRI device for stroke diagnosis, along with new methods to suppress complex flow signals around cerebral vessel walls. The system has slashed confirmation time for acute stroke from 40 minutes to under 10 minutes, enabling rapid, accurate diagnosis even at primary-level hospitals. This breakthrough has fundamentally changed the international diagnostic paradigm for acute stroke.

China's State Council has issued an action plan for carbon peaking during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), outlining key tasks and measures to achieve the goal.

By 2030, China's carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 17 percent from the 2025 level, and the share of non-fossil energy consumption will reach 25 percent, according to the plan.

These measures aim to ensure the timely achievement of a carbon peaking goal and lay a solid foundation for meeting the country's nationally determined contributions target for 2035 and advancing carbon neutrality.

The plan outlines key tasks across five areas, including accelerating the adjustment and optimization of the energy structure, promoting green and low-carbon industrial development, and deepening the green and low-carbon transition in key sectors.

To accelerate the optimization of energy structure, China will vigorously advance the development of non-fossil energy, promote clean substitution of coal consumption, and continuously optimize the structure of oil and gas consumption.

Efforts will be made to advance energy conservation and carbon-reduction transformation in traditional industries, accelerate the construction of zero-carbon parks and zero-carbon factories, promote the green and low-carbon transformation of computing infrastructure, and leverage the circular economy to reduce carbon emissions.

The plan also highlights carbon reduction in buildings, public institutions, and transportation, as well as the enhancement of ecosystem carbon sinks.

On the policy front, the plan emphasizes improving laws, regulations and standards; enhancing the carbon emissions statistical and accounting system; increasing financial backing; and refining pricing and market-based mechanisms.

The document urges local governments to fulfill their responsibilities, calls for broader public participation in green and low-carbon initiatives, and pledges to deepen international cooperation.

China has set the dual carbon goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah attended a signing ceremony of cooperation documents in Beijing on Friday.

Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ships Nanning and Hengyang entered the waters of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Thursday morning.

The two vessels will be open for public visits at the PLA Hong Kong Garrison's naval base on Stonecutters Island.

Fox News issued an apology over the weekend for airing unsubstantiated claims made by businessman and television personality Kevin O’Leary who alleged opponents of a data center project he is involved in are proxies for the Chinese government, according to US media reports. 

A Chinese expert noted though FOX made a rare apology for this case, it cannot offset the negative impacts of the habitual blameshifting and invoking China at every turn – a mentality prevalent yet misleading in the US.

O’Leary made certain claims relating to the opponents of his project. He has now corrected the record and explained he has “no evidence” that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Josh Kantor or Taylor Knuth (opponents to the project) are funded by China, according to the statement, which was read by anchors on a number of Fox shows, reported the Hill. 

Fox News Media is “likewise aware of no evidence that they are funded by, or acting in the direction of, or in coordination with Chinese interests in opposing Mr. O’Leary’s project,” the network said, adding that “Fox News Media also apologizes for the error,” The Hill reported. 

The 40,000-acre artificial intelligence data center campus in Utah has sparked major pushback over the project’s scale and environmental concerns from local residents. O'Leary made the accusation against China in May and wrote in a Facebook post on June 25 local time that he had no evidence that the opponents he called out on Fox, which included the Alliance for a Better Utah and Elevate Strategies, are working with China, according to The Hill. 

A Chinese expert who requested to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Tuesday that blaming China for domestic problems has increasingly become a habitual response of many people in the US. They tend to cite China as excuses for both matters they support and those they oppose, which in turn leads to a kind of internal cognitive confusion. 

For the US itself, this is also something that warrants vigilance, as it is very detrimental to forming a rational public opinion environment domestically. The issue of computing power centers is entirely a matter of internal interest distribution and strategic gaming, and has nothing to do with China at all, the expert added. 

Such mentality has become so prevalent in the US that when FOX apologizes for one data center, there are loads of other groundless accusations within the framework of “China threat” remain unaddressed and keep misleading the public, experts said. 

The US media outlet’s apology over false claims linking China to data center development reflects a growing recognition that attributing domestic problems to China is an increasingly untenable narrative, another Chinese expert who requested to keep anonymous told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

This incident also reflects changes in segments of US public opinion, media, and some elites in how they perceive China’s development process as well as the US’ own internal problems. The tendency to blame China for domestic issues risks undermining media credibility, deepening the divide between elites and the public, and weakening the US’ capacity for self-reflection and governance reform, the expert said. 

The expert also said that apologies on China-related issues by the US media are rare, and this case stood out because the claims were seen as so far removed from common sense that a correction was necessary to avoid undermining credibility. 

China's reusable carrier rocket Zhuque-3 successfully completed a static fire test on Monday in northwest China, laying a solid foundation for subsequent flight missions, according to its developer LandSpace.

A static fire test is a critical pre-launch procedure in which a rocket's engines are ignited while the vehicle is secured on the ground to verify its performance and safety.

The test, conducted at the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone, comprehensively verified the rocket system, the launch site system, and their compatibility, said the Beijing-based rocket manufacturer.

All systems functioned normally during the test, with the data and results meeting expectations, confirming the accuracy and coordination of system operations, said LandSpace.

All key ground verification work before the launch has now been completed. In the next phase, the test team will carry out launch preparations as planned, fully preparing for the flight test mission, it added.

Zhuque-3 is a domestically developed, reusable launch vehicle powered by liquid oxygen-methane. It has been developed for large-scale satellite constellation networking missions.

The rocket's first stage is equipped with a reaction control system, grid fins and landing legs, enabling vertical landing and reuse after liftoff.

The rocket completed its maiden flight on Dec. 3, 2025. Its second stage entered its designated orbit, but the recovery of its first stage failed.

Its first-stage booster experienced anomalous combustion during recovery, failing to achieve a soft touchdown on the landing pad, according to LandSpace.

China will improve standards and specifications for the protection and utilization of traditional villages and buildings, a housing official said on Sunday.

Qin Haixiang, vice minister of housing and urban-rural development, said more detailed technical standards should be developed for protection, restoration, repair, renewal and adaptive reuse, in order to avoid one-sided or oversimplified approaches and provide stronger technical support for higher-quality protection and utilization work.

Qin made the remarks at a meeting in Beijing marking the establishment of a branch of the Urban Planning Society of China dedicated to the protection of traditional villages and buildings.

China has placed 8,155 villages on the state protection list of traditional villages, while more than 5,000 villages have also been included on provincial-level protection lists.

From 2026 to 2028, central government funds will support selected counties with sound foundations, strong initiative and distinctive local features in building thematic conservation zones for traditional villages, with the aim of creating a number of national-level cultural brands.

Qin urged local authorities to systematically review the planning and construction concepts and methods embodied in traditional villages and buildings, summarize practical experience in their protection, repair and utilization, and carry forward the wisdom of traditional Chinese culture.

An official from the Shanxi bureau of China's National Mine Safety Administration is currently under supervisory investigation in connection with the deadly coal mine gas explosion that killed 82 people at Liushenyu coal mine in North China's Shanxi Province in May, local authority said on Monday. 
Geng Qinglu, a third-level researcher of the eighth law enforcement division of the Shanxi bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration, is suspected of serious violations of law in relation to the coal mine gas explosion and is now under investigation by the Shanxi provincial supervisory commission, according to the official website of the Shanxi provincial commission for discipline inspection and supervision.

On June 7, three officials from the emergency management system in Qinyuan county, Changzhi, Shanxi Province, are under disciplinary and supervisory investigation following the deadly coal mine gas explosion, Xinhua reported.

The three officials are suspected of serious violations of Party discipline and the law. They are currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities in Shangdang District of Changzhi, Qinxian county, and Huguan county, respectively.

At 7:29 pm on May 22, a gas explosion occurred underground at the Liushenyu Coal Mine, operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Group in Qinyuan county, Changzhi. The accident has left 82 people dead, two missing, and 128 injured.

A preliminary investigation found that the Shanxi Tongzhou Group, the company that runs the coal mine, had committed serious violations of laws and regulations. Investigators discovered discrepancies between the number of workers displayed on underground personnel information boards and the actual number of people underground. Mine maps provided by the company were also found to be inconsistent with actual conditions. Regulatory records show that the company had been penalized at least five times over the past five years, Xinhua reported.

Hong Kong Police on Monday provided an update on the HK$7 million ($892,906) gold robbery case, announcing that six more suspects have been arrested, bringing the total number of arrests to 13, and thanked Shenzhen authorities for helping detain and hand over four suspects, Shenzhen Media Group reported on Monday.

A gold robbery involving six gold bars worth about HK$7 million occurred at Hong Kong International Airport in the early hours of last Thursday. Hong Kong Police reported on Monday that, in addition to the four men and three women previously arrested, officers carried out further operations from Saturday to Monday and arrested another five men and one woman, aged between 16 and 25, with some suspected of having triad backgrounds. Among them, four fled to Chinese mainland after the incident and were later arrested by police in Shenzhen, South China’s Guangdong Province, before being handed over to Hong Kong authorities, chinanews.com reported on Monday. 

The Hong Kong Police said the six arrested individuals in this case played roles throughout the criminal operation, including the mastermind behind the operation, an insider responsible for leaking information, armed robbers who carried out the robbery at the scene, and members who purchased the knives used in the crime, chinanews.com reported. 

Hong Kong Police believe that the vast majority of the syndicate’s key members have been arrested, with eight suspects charged and appearing in Shatin Magistrates’ Court. Police are continuing to trace the gold bars, and further arrests have not been ruled out, the police said, according to chinanews.com. 

A 36-year-old Hong Kong man, who was hired by a mainland businessman, was ambushed by three masked knife-wielding suspects at Hong Kong International Airport early last Thursday while transporting six gold bars from Indonesia to Hong Kong. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was hospitalized in stable condition, while the attackers fled in a getaway vehicle with the gold, according to chinanews.com.

Hong Kong police disclosed on Saturday that seven people had been arrested in connection with the premeditated gold robbery, including masterminds and accomplices. Charges include conspiracy to rob and related offenses. Hong Kong police believed the case was not a random robbery but a premeditated crime, with clear evidence that inside information had been leaked, suggesting possible insider involvement or that the perpetrators were acquaintances.