The Chinese military once again expressed its firm opposition to the deployment of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system in South Korea, stressing its opposition “will never be just in words.”

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, Ministry of National Defense (MOD) spokesperson, speaking at a routine press conference on March 30, said China was serious about opposing THAAD.

“The deployment of THAAD will never make South Korea any safer. The Chinese military’s opposition against THAAD will never be just in words,” he insisted.

The MOD’s strong stance came after two THAAD launchers, along with support equipment, were delivered to a U.S. base in South Korea, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. Analysts said that THAAD might be fully operational in April.

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, recently impeached on corruption charges, agreed to the THAAD deployment on the grounds of the nuclear threat from North Korea.

Sr. Col. Wu refuted this. He said that China opposes any country jeopardizing another state’s safety, as well as regional stability, under the pretext of the ballistic missile threat from North Korea.

Apart from China, Russia also opposes THAAD, believing it disturbs the regional strategic equilibrium. On March 28, Chinese and Russia military delegates held their second meeting on joint anti-ballistic missile issues in Geneva on the sidelines of the Conference on Disarmament.

Their first meeting was held last November during the 7th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing. Soon afterwards, they conducted a joint computerized anti-ballistic missile (ABM) test.

As to whether the next such test would involve a live firing, the MOD spokesperson responded only vaguely.

“The THAAD system deployed by the United States and South Korea far exceeds the defense needs of South Korea,” he said, citing a memo issued after the Geneva meeting. “We oppose any country deploying the military facilities whose capacities are beyond their own defense requirements.”

Recent American reports speculated that North Korea might conduct its sixth nuclear test shortly. Hence, both the United States and South Korea stepped up their vigilance, and were keen on knowing whether the PLA would strengthen its border defenses with North Korea in case of such a nuclear test.

The MOD spokesperson declined to respond to a “hypothetical question,” but emphasized that the Chinese military maintained normal combat readiness and training.

China’s large amphibious aircraft AG600 will embark on its maiden flight in May from the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, according to the Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC) Thursday.

The AG600, designed to be the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, will conduct a full resonance test before its maiden flight over land in late May and on water in the second half of 2017, said AVIC.

The 37-meter AG600, with a wingspan of 38.8 meters, has a maximum take-off weight of 53.5 tonnes. It can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.

With excellent maneuverability and a relatively wide search scope range, the AG600 will be very useful for marine resource exploitation, marine environmental monitoring, resource detection and transportation.

The draft of the urban overall plan of Beijing for 2016 to 2030 has been completed under the guidance of Beijing authorities.

The plan is expected to treat and heal the megacity ailments of Beijing. It aims to limit the population at 23 million in 2020 and keep it at that level for the long term. Besides the restriction on population growth, the city also plans to shrink the land area for rural and urban construction to 2,760 square kilometers by 2030 while expanding its ecological control area.

More trees will be planted around Beijing. According to the draft, the forest coverage rate in Beijing will reach over 45 percent by 2030 and the “green space” of the city’s parks will be remarkably increased, with the area of “green space” for each citizen standing at 16.8 square meters in 2030.

The plan will stipulate an 80-percent green travel rate by 2030, with a minimum rate of 12.6 percent on bicycles. In 2020, the total length of the metro system in Beijing will reach 1,000 kilometers according to the plan.

It also requires the hospital bed-to-municipal population ratio to rise to 7-to-1,000 and has set a bottom number of 180,000 beds in nursing homes across the city by 2030.

The plan aims to cut the concentration of hazardous fine particle matter PM2.5 to 56 micrograms per cubic meter in 2020 and 35 micrograms per cubic meter in 2030, which means theair quality can meet the national standard by 2030.

People can make a reservation online on the Beijing Municipal Planning and Land Resources Management Committee website using an ID card or passport, and to pay a visit to the planning exhibition. It will be available from March 29 to April 27.

The ancient Chinese martial art of Tai Chi Chuan has been a must-take class in Xi’an Jiaotong University, one of the most prestigious universities in China, for almost 20 years. Students there have been required to take the class before receiving their degree since 1998.

The news of Tsinghua University linking swimming ability with bachelor’s degrees has made waves on Chinese social media recently. But Tsinghua is not the first or the only university in China that sets up special compulsory courses.

Apart from Tsinghua, several other Chinese universities, including Peking University, Xiamen University and Sun Yat-sen University, have at least once made swimming a prerequisite for graduation.

However, some of them have changed it to optional due to an increased number of students and the shortage of swimming space.

While listing swimming as a required course may lead to campus swimming pool overload, Tai Chi Chuan class is convenient to promote, because it requires limited teacher and special resources.

Prof. Wang Yunbing, director of Xi’an Jiaotong University’s sports center, said, “Tai Chi Chuan is not only a sports exercise to help keep fit, but also a tradition embodying ancient philosophical ideas. Moreover, students can practice it with little space”.

“The once-a-week class teaches the basics of Tai Chi Chuan, namely, the simplified 24 forms. Most of the students are interested in learning them. When the test approaches, we practice the movements all around the campus,” said a senior student surnamed Tang from the university’s foreign language school.

Located in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Xi’an Jiaotong University is a comprehensive university which traces back to 1896.

The next big scientific discovery could be made in China if the country could create a more pro-science environment, according to a visiting American Nobel laureate.

China has many outstanding scientists doing very good work, however, real breakthroughs will only be made if the country can strengthen its universities and research institutes and allow more space for regions to compete with each other, James D. Watson told China.org.cn in an exclusive interview in Beijing on March 29.

“Given the wealth and all the devotion from society, China could be the No.1 or No.2 science nation in the world within the next 50 years if it can spend money wisely, create good institutions and encourage individual science projects.”

The 88-year-old Nobel Prize-winning biologist, credited with the co-discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, is visiting China on a 10-day trip during which he will talk with the country’s scientists and college students, visit science institutions and attend an international meeting on precision medicine in Shenzhen.

The greatest strength for the world’s most populous nation on which it can draw is its people, said Dr. Watson who is also the principal science consultant with the CheerLand Investment Group.

He also stressed the importance of building a stable structure that puts the best people in the top position.

Scientific strength in the United States comes from competition among states, because central planning is not always the best way to make good decisions. He said that suggesting money expenditure in R&D should be decentralized so that individual regions could have some real power to engage in competition which is the key to driving innovation.

The most important purpose for Watson’s China trip is to promote the launch of “The Watson Bioscience Center”, with an emphasis on cancer treatment.

By launching a world-class center on precision medicine, China now has an opportunity to make strides in the field and make cancer treatment widely available and affordable, he stressed.