A newly established international tourism organization initiated by China is expected to push the global tourism industry forward and further facilitate cooperation around the world, insiders said.

Gino Andreetta, chief executive of Club Med Greater China, said the World Tourism Alliance initiated by China will play a leading role in the development of the world tourism industry and also will contribute to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Tokozile Xasa, tourism minister of South Africa, said he believed the alliance would connect the tourism industry around the world by offering a good platform for them to cooperate and share the experience of developing tourism with each other.

They spoke as the World Tourism Alliance was officially set up on Tuesday in Chengdu, Sichuan province, where the 22nd General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization is being held.

Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulory message to the inauguration ceremony of the World Tourism Alliance.

According to Duan Qiang, the newly elected first chairman of the alliance, it was proposed by the China Tourism Association and is a nongovernment, nonprofit organization for tourism consultation and cooperation.

“Following the vision of ‘better tourism, better world’ and the objectives of promoting development and poverty alleviation, the alliance aims to enhance international exchanges and cooperation in the global tourism community,” he said.

He said the alliance has 89 founding members, many of which are tourism associations, enterprises, think tanks and research institutes.

More than 60 percent of the members are from overseas. The headquarters and secretariat of the alliance are based in Beijing.

Duan, who also serves as president of the Beijing Tourism Group, one of the biggest tourism enterprises in China, said the establishment of the China-proposed tourism alliance is a “natural outcome”, as the country is becoming increasingly influential in the development of the world tourism industry.

According to a report on travel and tourism competitiveness released by the World Economic Forum in April, China, ranked 15th among the 136 countries and regions involved in the rating, has become the largest tourism market in the world and is making greater contributions to the development of tourism worldwide.

Li Jinzao, director of the China National Tourism Administration, said that in an era when the tourism industry worldwide faces opportunities as well as challenges, nongovernmental organizations have been a major force in the global tourism governance system.

“The establishment of the alliance is one of the milestones in the history of world tourism,” he said.

“I hope that the World Tourism Alliance will get involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, so the tourism industry in China will take the opportunity to deepen cooperation with countries involved in the initiative,” he said.

The investigation and trial of Taiwan resident Lee Ming-che had been conducted strictly in accordance with the law and legal due process, said a Chinese mainland spokesman on Wednesday.

Taiwan resident Lee Ming-che stands trial in a court in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, on Monday, September 11, 2017. [Photo provided by the court]

An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a press conference that the rights and interests of the defendant and his family had been fully protected.

The spokesperson warned that any attempt to politically manipulate or use the case to smear the mainland’s political and legal system would prove futile.

China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) Wednesday continued its orange alert for Typhoon Talim, which could intensify to a super typhoon and is likely to hit China’s southeastern coast Thursday or Friday.

At 5 a.m. Wednesday, the eye of Talim, this year’s 18th typhoon in the region, was above the northwestern Pacific Ocean, 760 km southeast of Zhejiang Province, packing winds up to 38 meters per second.

The NMC forecast that Talim would move northwest at a speed of 20 km per hour toward the coast of Zhejiang.

It warned that Talim would grow stronger and could escalate to a super typhoon with winds up to 52 meters per second, expecting it to land in coastal areas of Zhejiang between Thursday night and Friday morning.

It is possible that Talim will move north in waters near Zhejiang Friday and then turn northeast.

From Wednesday to Thursday, Talim will bring gales and rainstorms to the southern East China Sea, waters in the Taiwan Strait and east of Taiwan, as well as Fujian Province.

China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Chinese authorities are reportedly preparing to start construction on what will be the world’s largest quantum research facility, reports the South China Morning Post.

The facility is reportedly being built in Anhui’s provincial capital, Hefei. It’s to be home to research into new technologies.

The report suggests the scientists will be working on the development of “quantum metrology,” a process which could help improve submarine’s stealth operations.

Submarines equipped with a quantum navigation system should – theoretically – be able to operate underwater for more than 3 months without having to surface to receive satellite positioning signals.

The South China Morning Post is also reporting the facility in Hefei will be used to develop a quantum computer capable of decoding encrypted messages within seconds.

Developers will be invited to bid for the contract later this month. Construction is expected be completed by 2020.

China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, completed an automated fast-docking with Tiangong-2 space lab at 11:58 p.m. Tuesday.

Controlled from Earth, Tianzhou-1 began to approach Tiangong-2 at 5:24 p.m. Tuesday and it took six and a half hours to complete the fast-docking with the space lab.

It was the third docking between the two spacecraft using fast-docking technology. Previously, it took about two days to dock.

The experiment tested the cargo spacecraft’s capability of fast-docking, laying a foundation for future space station building.

Tianzhou-1 was launched on April 20 from south China’s Hainan Province, and it completed the first and second docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab on April 22 and June 19, respectively.

The cargo spacecraft will conduct the third refueling of the space lab before returning to Earth.

The two spacecraft completed their first in-orbit refueling on April 27 and their second in-orbit refueling on June 15.

China is the third country, after Russia and the United States, to master refueling techniques in space, which is crucial in the building of a permanent space station.

Tiangong-2, which was sent into space on Sept. 15, 2016, is China’s first space lab “in the strict sense” and a key step in building a permanent space station.

Cargo ships play a crucial role maintaining a space station and carrying supplies and fuel into orbit.