Some leading officials in Gansu province, from the provincial to the county level, have been held accountable for severe pollution and damage in the Qilian Mountain National Natural Reserve, the central government said on Thursday. A statement issued by the general offices of the State Council and CPC Central Committee said other governments should consider the action a lesson to make environmental protection a priority and fully implement related measures. A special inspection headed by the central government from Feb 12 to March 3 found long-existing pollution problems and damage in the Qilian Mountain National Natural Reserve had not been solved. The reserve dates from 1988. Mining and exploitation activities inside the reserve destroyed the vegetation cover and eroded the soil. Fourteen mines were allowed to keep working after the central government banned the practice in 2014, the statement said. Forty-two hydropower stations were operating in the reserve without necessary documents, and the excessive exploitation dried up some rivers. Inspectors found some nearby companies discharged toxins excessively, severely polluting the reserve. The central government said the severe pollution and damage were mainly caused by the poor performance of the province and city and county governments. "The leadership did not give environmental protection sufficient attention. Then they did not make every effort to implement instructions from the central government," the statement said. Yang Zixing, deputy governor, was given a severe warning within the Party. As a leading official in charge of environmental protection in the reserve, Yang failed to control illegal mining and other harmful activities. Li Rongcan, Party chief of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, and Luo Xiaohu, who was executive deputy governor during the inspection, received serious criticism and were summoned to have talks with disciplinary authorities. They were also ordered to make self-criticisms at meetings of the province's leading officials. Another eight senior officials also received punishments including dismissal and stern warnings. To prevent similar problems elsewhere, seven ministries including the environmental protection and water resources ministries have jointly launched an inspection of all 446 national-level natural reserves since mid-July to last until year's end. Inspectors will check human activities, especially mining, and encourage the public to take part in the supervision, according to a document from the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Inspection results will be handed to the central government by the end of December and released to the public. lost child wristband24hourwristbandspersonalized rubber braceletscheap custom wristbandscustom printed wristbands1 inch wide rubber bandscustom livestrong braceletssilicone rubber bands
HQ-9 air-defense missile is one of the air-defense missiles developed by researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy. FAN SONG/FOR CHINA DAILY China has become a world leader in air-defense technologies thanks to the hard work and dedication of researchers at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp's Second Academy, the country's major developer of air-defense weapons systems. Researchers from the academy's Zhang Yiqun Laboratory have been playing a vital role in the development of China's new air-defense missile system by designing its control systems - the brain of any missile. Compared with previous generations of air-defense missiles, the new-generation missile system will have a wider range of targets and be much more technologically sophisticated, taking China into the ranks of just a handful of nations capable of designing and producing such a system. The cutting-edge missile's control systems need to be extremely efficient and accurate, said Wang Mengyi, deputy head of the Second Academy's General Design Department and former leader of the laboratory. Metaphorically put, the mission of these control systems is to guide a needle to fly 1,000 kilometers to pierce the eye of another needle, he said. For researchers from Zhang Yiqun Laboratory, their mission is to turn this seemingly impossible task into reality. Wang said control systems are mainly tasked with working out a missile's best trajectory and making sure it can hit its target. The successful development of China's new air-defense missile system would be unachievable if researchers at the laboratory had failed to design world-class control systems, he said, noting that they adopted new design methods that have reduced design time tremendously and improved missile performance. Wang Xiaodong, a laboratory researcher, said members of the laboratory spent numerous days and nights improving the accuracy of control systems and optimizing the algorithms that are central to them. For example, we worked 10 consecutive days and slept little each day to detect and resolve one extremely rare abnormality because all of us are aware that our nation's air-defense networks can only be reliable if we are meticulous and responsible toward our work, he said. The laboratory, named after Zhang Yiqun, a top researcher at the academy and former head of the laboratory, has been granted 11 National Science and Technology Advancement Awards and 28 National Defense Science and Technology Progress Awards due to its extensive contribution to China's air-defense networks. It has also registered more than 130 defense technology patents. In the laboratory, members of the Communist Party of China play a vanguard, exemplary role, leaders of the laboratory said. They always take the lead in innovating, carry out their assignments carefully, with scrupulous attention to detail, and also display an inspirational level of diligence and devotion toward their work.
