Category: Flash News

On March 8th, the Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that in the early hours of that day, Ukraine used drones to attack a refinery in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is reported that an explosion occurred in the factory facilities, and at least one oil storage tank was damaged in the attack. The Russian side has not yet responded to this.

On March 8th, according to Al Aqsa Television controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem announced that a delegation of Hamas leadership led by Hamas Consultative Council Chairman Mohamed Darwish had arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo. He stated that the delegation will hold talks with Egyptian leaders on the outcome of the Arab emergency summit and the implementation of the conference decisions, as well as the necessity of launching the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

On March 8th, according to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), ICBC has recently completed the privatization deployment of DeepSeek’s latest open-source large model among its peers, and integrated it into the bank’s “ICBC Intelligent Surge” large model matrix system to promote the intelligent upgrade of financial business scenarios.

On March 8, according to the news on the “Shanghai Jiading” WeChat official account on March 8, Shanghai Anting Economic Development Center and Huaxing Mitochondrial Life Sciences (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recently signed a contract, and the “Huaxing Mitochondrial Anting Project”, a project in the field of mitochondrial regenerative medicine with a total investment of about 1.6 billion yuan, landed on the plot related to Bao’an Highway. The project will construct an industrial innovation base including a national mitochondrial technology research center, academic exchange center, intelligent manufacturing factory, comprehensive outpatient clinic, headquarters office building, and related supporting facilities. After the project is completed and put into operation, it is expected to have an annual output value of no less than 1.5 billion yuan and an average annual tax payment of no less than 300 million yuan, with the potential to create over 800 mid to high end jobs.

On March 8, the presidium of the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress held its second meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the afternoon of the 8th. Zhao Leji, Executive Chairman of the Presidium, presided over the meeting. On the afternoon of March 5th and the morning of March 6th, each delegation carefully reviewed the government work report. The representatives fully affirmed the work of the State Council over the past year and generally agreed with the arrangements for this year’s government work. During the deliberation, representatives also put forward some opinions and suggestions. The State Council has revised the government work report based on the deliberation opinions of the representatives and the opinions of relevant parties. The Executive Chairman of the Presidium recommended the approval of the government work report based on the deliberation opinions of the representatives and the revision of the report, and drafted a draft resolution on the government work report on behalf of them. After a vote, the meeting decided to submit the draft resolution on the government work report of the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress to all delegations for deliberation. Zhong Shan, Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, presented the report of the Finance and Economic Committee on the implementation of the 2024 National Economic and Social Development Plan and the review results of the 2025 National Economic and Social Development Plan. The Financial and Economic Commission recommends that the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress approve the Report on the Implementation of the National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2024 and the Draft National Economic and Social Development Plan for 2025 proposed by the State Council, and approve the draft national economic and social development plan for 2025. Xu Hongcai, Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, presented the report of the Finance and Economic Committee on the implementation of the central and local budgets in 2024 and the review results of the central and local budget drafts in 2025. The Finance and Economic Commission recommends that the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress approve the Report on the Implementation of the Central and Local Budgets in 2024 and the Draft Central and Local Budgets in 2025 proposed by the State Council, approve the draft central budget in 2025, and approve the general debt limit and special debt limit of local governments in 2025. The meeting passed two review results reports of the Finance and Economic Committee through a vote. On the afternoon of March 6th and the morning of March 7th, each delegation carefully reviewed the plan report and draft plan, as well as the budget report and draft budget. The State Council has made revisions to the plan report, draft plan, and budget report based on the review opinions of the representatives. The Executive Chairman of the Presidium, based on the review opinions of the representatives, the report and draft modifications, and the review results report of the Finance and Economic Committee, recommended the approval of the plan report and plan draft, budget report and central budget draft, and drafted two draft resolutions on the plan report and plan, budget report and budget. After a vote at the meeting, it was decided to submit the draft resolution on the implementation of the 2024 National Economic and Social Development Plan and the 2025 National Economic and Social Development Plan, as well as the draft resolution on the implementation of the 2024 Central and Local Budgets and the 2025 Central and Local Budgets, to each delegation for review. In the afternoon of March 7, delegations carefully considered the draft amendments to the Law on Deputies to the National People’s Congress and local people’s congresses at all levels. The Constitution and Law Committee of the National People’s Congress deliberated on the draft amendment and proposed a draft decision on the amendment of the Representation Law on the basis of the deliberation opinions of the delegations. The presidium meeting listened to the report on the review results of the draft amendment to the Representative Law by the Constitutional and Legal Committee Chairman Xin Chunying. After a vote at the meeting, the report on the deliberation results and the draft decision on amending the Representative Law were approved. It was decided to submit the draft decision on amending the Representative Law to all delegations for review.

On March 8th, according to the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on March 7th, 2025, the Director General of the International Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shen Bo, met with the visiting Director General of International Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, Rongsdottir. Both sides exchanged views on the work of multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and related international and regional hotspot issues.

On March 8th, recently, there has been a significant increase in the price of waste paper in many places. The data shows that the short-term increase per ton has reached nearly 100 yuan. For example, the price of waste paper in Taiyuan increased from 890 yuan/ton on March 3 to 980 yuan/ton on March 7. Analysts believe that due to the rising costs of imported pulp and other raw materials, as well as other comprehensive costs, paper mills have frequently issued price increase letters. Waste paper, as a substitute for imported pulp, has seen a price increase. In addition, spring is the peak season for printing teaching aids, and the increase in downstream demand also boosts the price of waste paper. (Zhongzheng Taurus)

On March 8, the first meeting of the Standing Chairmen of the Presidium of the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the afternoon of the 8th. Zhao Leji, standing chairman of the presidium and chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, presided over the meeting. The meeting heard the report of the Congress Secretariat on the review and revision of the government work report made by Liu Qi, the Standing Chairman of the Presidium, the Deputy Secretary General of the Congress and the Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and reviewed the draft resolution on the government work report. The meeting listened to Zhong Shan, Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, who reported on the implementation of the 2024 National Economic and Social Development Plan and the report on the review results of the 2025 draft National Economic and Social Development Plan by the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, and reviewed the report on the review results. The meeting listened to the report of Xu Hongcai, vice chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, on the implementation of the central and local budgets in 2024 and the review results report of the central and local budget drafts in 2025, and reviewed the review results report. The meeting listened to Liu Qi’s report on the draft resolutions of the Secretariat of the conference on the implementation of the 2024 National Economic and Social Development Plan and the 2025 National Economic and Social Development Plan, as well as the draft resolutions on the implementation of the 2024 Central and Local Budgets and the 2025 Central and Local Budgets, and reviewed the two draft resolutions. The meeting heard the report of the NPC’s Constitution and Law Committee on the results of its deliberations on the draft amendment to the Deputies Law of the National People’s Congress and local people’s congresses made by Xin Chunying, chairman of the NPC’s Constitution and Law Committee, and considered the draft decision on amending the Deputies Law. The meeting agreed to submit the above-mentioned draft, report, etc. to the second meeting of the presidium of the conference for review.

On March 8th, according to the official website of the Ministry of Commerce, on March 6-7, Ling Ji, Deputy Minister of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations, went to Beijing to carry out a special visit activity on “Service Guarantee for Foreign Enterprises”, and together with Beijing, hosted a roundtable meeting for foreign-funded enterprises in Beijing to listen to their demands and opinions on issues related to investing in Beijing. Ling Ji visited two foreign-funded enterprises, Sanofi and Deutsche Bank, as well as the Beijing Arbitration Commission. Representatives from over 20 foreign-funded enterprises in Beijing, including Volkswagen, CP Group, Saudi Aramco, Starbucks, Merck, Sony, DBS Bank, Amazon, and Kangda Xingjian, attended the roundtable meeting. Ling Ji stated that the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to foreign investment work. In February of this year, the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission released the “Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment in 2025”, and relevant measures will be implemented within 2025; At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to work with relevant departments to carry out the “Service Guarantee for Foreign Enterprises” special activity, actively promote the resolution of the reasonable demands of foreign-funded enterprises, and continuously improve the business environment, so that foreign-funded enterprises can operate and invest with peace of mind in China. As a leader in the comprehensive pilot demonstration of expanding the opening-up of the national service industry, Beijing has implemented a series of institutional opening-up measures in the 2.0 plan, which have been effective and continue to enhance its investment attractiveness. Looking towards the future, the Chinese market will become increasingly open, and foreign-funded enterprises have broad development space in China.

On March 8th, Yi Huiman, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Deputy Director of the Economic Commission, said at a panel discussion in the economic sector, “I have observed a phenomenon that fraud and information network crimes have remained high in recent years from the perspective of criminal prosecution structure.” Yi Huiman stated that this is a phenomenon brought about by the development of social informatization, networking, and intelligence, whether in the financial field, illegal fundraising, financial chaos, or in the social field. With the development of AI technology, the challenges brought by new types of crimes have put forward new requirements for regulation and justice, and it is necessary to think about how to shift from post judicial punishment to pre prevention. This is challenging and requires continuous attention and effective management measures.