The Hainan provincial government on Monday announced a five-year plan to establish a pilot zone to develop its sports tourism sector. The plan is aimed at transforming the province into a leading global tourist destination.
The pilot zone will be built between 2020 and 2025 and gain initial progress in pioneering the development of the country’s sports tourism and cultivating a brand image by 2022. The successful experiences in Hainan will be copied and promoted nationwide.
Hainan will continue to make use of the advantages in its pilot free trade zone and free trade port, as well as its unique and rich natural and cultural resources, to build an integrated world-class sports tourism site.
Hainan will introduce diversified international competition sports tourism products and make efforts to build its own brand competition events that cover sailing, golf, marathons, surfing, beach volleyball, boxing, chess and e-sports events.
Imported patients
China will take stronger measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 virus from entering the country through its land borders, according to a meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.
In a meeting on Monday, the Central Leading Group for Covid-19 Prevention and Control said the number of infected people arriving in China through the land borders had exceeded those arriving by flights in recent days. It said the risk of having more patients coming through land borders was rising.
All provinces that have their borders connecting with other countries should strengthen their anti-epidemic measures ad ensure sufficient supplies of medical resources and protective gear, the Leading Group said. Customs and markets near the borders should take extra measures to control the epidemic but at the same time maintain a smooth flow of goods across the borders, it said.
The Leading Group also said measures of early discovery, reporting, quarantine and treatment should be fully implemented, which have proven to be the most effective steps to prevent any rebound. Cases involving confirmed, suspected and asymptomatic patients should be reported and dealt with in time, and made public in an open, transparent and practical manner.
Medical management and epidemiological investigation of asymptomatic patients should be thoroughly done, along with those who test positive again after being discharged from hospitals.
Bond issuance
New bonds issued in China amounted to a total of 12 trillion yuan (US$1.71 trillion) in the first quarter of this year, up 14% from the same period last year. The outstanding amount of bonds issued increased 4% to 103 trillion yuan at the end of March from the end of last year.
China’s bond market continued to grow steadily and provided financial support for the country to overcome the Covid-19 epidemic and maintain economic and social development, said the People’s Bank of China.
In the first quarter this year, 26 overseas institutions had participated in China’s inter-bank bond market for the first time, while the net amount of inter-bank bonds they purchased was 59.7 billion yuan.
As of the end of March, 822 foreign institutional investors had participated in China’s inter-bank bond market and were holding 2.26 trillion yuan of inter-bank bonds, said the PBoC.
UnionPay
Unionpay International, together with Huawei Technology and the Singapore branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), recently launched the Huawei Pay service in Singapore. Huawei and Honor mobile phone users can use the mobile payment service in 47 countries and places after they added their ICBC credit cards to their Huawei Pay accounts.
At present, UnionPay mobile payment service is available in more than 4.5 million shops in 57 countries and places. UnionPay e-wallet service is available in 13 countries and places.
Company news
China Three Gorges Renewable (Group) Co Ltd, a wind power generator, said it planned to raise 25 billion yuan through an initial public offering in the A-share markets, according to its listing prospectus. The company could be the largest IPO candidate in China this year, or the 16th largest ever in the country, in terms of its fund-raising size.
The company will use 20 billion yuan from its net proceeds to invest in seven offshore wind power projects that can supply 300 megawatts of electricity annually each.
At the end of 2019, the company’s offshore wind power projects that had commenced operations or were under construction had a combined annual output of 1.47 million kilowatts. The figure will grow to 6 million kilowatts at the end of this year.
The story written by Xu Jiangshan and Wang Xiaohan and was first published at ATimesCN.com.