More than 100 scholars and history researchers from China, Japan and South Korea called for peace and mutual understanding in Nanjing, which became China’s first International City of Peace on Saturday.

Ye Nanke, head of the Nanjing Academy of Social Sciences, said Nanjing has set up international peace schools, peace communities and peace research institutes to educate the next generation and bring peace to the public.

“Nanjing plays a key role in peace education and international communications because of its history,” he said. “In the future, the city will establish more peace museums, squares, hospitals and schools.”

Ye made the comments at China’s Concept and Practice of the Right to Peace Seminar, which was held in Nanjing on Monday.

Starting on Dec 13, 1937, some 300,000 Chinese people were killed by Japanese troops in a six-week rampage－one of the most brutal massacres in modern history.

International Cities of Peace, a global nonprofit association dedicated to connecting, promoting and encouraging peace worldwide, approved the city’s application on Aug 31.

Cui Yuying, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office and deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at the seminar that China adheres to peaceful development as it tries to promote common development globally.

“China has always been peace-loving, and peace is one of the core values of Chinese civilization,” she said. “Over the years, China has made a significant contribution to the maintenance of peace, both for the Chinese people and the peoples of the world.”

Chang Jian, deputy director of the Human Rights Research Center at Nankai University in Tianjin, said the right to peace means the right to enjoy a peaceful life.

“To enjoy peaceful lives, people should not be threatened by organized violence. Many methods should be adopted to eliminate violence and its causes,” he said.

“Researchers should look at how violent methods used to eliminate violence can be controlled and what alternatives can be used instead,” he said.

Chen Xiaolyu, director of the European Union Research Center at Nanjing University, said that long-term peace can only be acquired when the interests of all parties are respected without the influence of military forces.

“China doesn’t want to realize its goals by forcing other countries,” he said. “We say that China is a peace-loving country, and that is not empty flattery. Plenty of evidence can be provided to prove that.

“China will be an important force in safeguarding world peace. Its development will benefit not only the Chinese but also the peoples of the world.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday stressed global cooperation to combat desertification, which he said is a common challenge for mankind.

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to a high-level meeting of the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP13) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which opened Monday in Ordos City in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In the letter, Xi said land desertification is a major ecological issue affecting the existence and development of mankind, and the situation for controlling desertification remains grave despite the progress the world has achieved since the UNCCD came into effect 21 years ago.

Xi wished the conference a success. He said the conference, with the theme of “Combating Desertification for Human Well-being,” intends to develop a new strategic framework for the UNCCD, which will be significant and positive for guaranteeing global ecological security.

China will unswervingly fulfill its obligations under the UNCCD, and continue to push forward communication and cooperation with all member parties and international organizations to work for the targets set during the conference and create a better world, Xi said.

A new cooperative mechanism to combat desertification was launched on Sunday in Ordos, Inner Mongolia for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Monique Barbut, executive secretary of UNCCD and Zhang Jianlong, minister of the State Forestry Administration (SFA) launch the Belt and Road Cooperative Mechanism to Combat Desertification in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, Sept. 10, 2017. [Photo by Han Lin/ China.org.cn]

Monique Barbut, executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Zhang Jianlong, minister of the State Forestry Administration (SFA) attended the launch ceremony along with more than 300 officials and guests, which was held during the ongoing 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD from Sept. 6 -16.

The Belt and Road Cooperative Mechanism to Combat Desertification will enhance mutual trust, establish consensus and promote the cooperation among countries, to develop a strong collective power to fight desertification.

The new mechanism will have a mix of membership including countries, international organizations, NGOs and enterprises. The framework will involve a conference mechanism, information sharing, technology training and project demonstration. Member countries will discuss and decide four funding channels, make development strategies every five years, set the phased goals and tasks and evaluate the results.

Zhang said the co-building of the green Silk Road is consistent with China’s avocation and the broad consensus of countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. He noted the new mechanism is a Chinese solution to resolve challenges and difficulties, and to maintain the global ecological safety.

Zhang contended that the mechanism can enhance the communication and coordination to effectively contain the desertification and land degradation and contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development approved by the United Nations in 2015.

Barbut hoped the participating countries can find their most effective fit in the cooperation. She said the mechanism will help to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and bring forward the green development concept, technologies and investments to countries within the Belt and Road Initiative.

She stressed that the cooperative mechanism is a very important platform to share the best global anti-desertification practices, innovate the cooperation approaches among UN member countries and start a broad pragmatic cooperation to benefit people of the world.

In 2016, the SFA and UNCCD jointly issued the “Belt and Road Joint Action Initiative to Combat Desertification” to call on countries within the initiative framework to work together as many countries suffer from desertification.

Ahcene Boukhelfa, Algerian Ambassador to China; Sokhun Ty, state secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Cambodia and Daniel Calleja Crespo, head of the Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Union also attended and addressed the ceremony.

The homemade engine Changjiang-1000 that domestically developed passenger plane C919 will use is under development, reported thepaper.cn on Sept 9.

Cao Chunxiao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and senior researcher at the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, said the engine will replace the engine purchased abroad, in a summit in Nanchang, Jiangxi province.

Currently, French engine LEAP-1C powers the country’s first large passenger aircraft.

The LEAP-1C engines and the outer-layer nacelles for the aircraft were made through CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture between Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric.

Cao said the usage of titanium alloy in Changjiang-1000 takes up 23 percent of the weight.

It is said titanium has much lower density but similar intensity compared to steel, which can significantly reduce the engine weight.

Cao and his colleagues first discussed the idea of using titanium in aviation in 1964.

According to him, aero-engine development is the result of high technology and the symbol of the innovation and national power.

It is not yet known when Changjiang-1000 will power C919.

Five people have been detained on suspicion of dumping 300 tonnes of diseased pigs in a mountainous area of Huzhou city, eastern China’s Zhejiang province.

The city government issued a circular Monday accusing the Huzhou Industrial and Medical Waste Treatment Company of sending pigs that died of disease to a landfill rather than for cremation between 2013 and 2014.

Police investigation shows that the company, which is responsible for disposing the city’s dead pigs, has a refrigerated storage facility with a capacity of 50 tonnes. For six times, the company dumped diseased carcasses at three sites at Dayin Mountain whenever the facility was full.

Over the last week, the Huzhou government had dug out 224 tonnes of decomposed carcasses and sludge, which will be cremated.

A sample-test report by the municipal agricultural department said that no human-infecting pig diseases, such as H5 and H7 bird flu viruses and foot-and-mouth disease, had been found.

The authorities have ordered that the public security bureau, agriculture and environmental department and the local government to collectively ensure no carcasses are left in the soil. Later, local environmental service center will carry out an environment impact assessment.

The Zhejiang provincial government has sent inspectors to oversee the treatment process.

East China provinces are known for breeding pigs, and there are rules for disposing of carcasses. However, illegal dumping occasionally occurs when dealers try to save on bio-safety costs.