China will continue to be open and active in its technological cooperation on the world stage, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Thursday.

In June, Beijing will host the Eighth Clean Energy Ministerial, followed by the Fifth BRICS Science and Innovation Ministerial in July, said Ye Dongbai, the ministry’s director of international cooperation.

In addition, dialogue on innovation and technology will be held with Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Israel and other countries this year to facilitate practical cooperation, Ye said.

“International cooperation in science and technology can increase China’s global influence, promote breakthroughs in scientific and industrial bottlenecks, and create a friendly environment to facilitate economic reform,” he said.

Beijing has established cooperative ties in science and technology with 158 countries and regions, inking 111 intergovernmental agreements, he added.

It has also joined more than 200 intergovernmental organizations dedicated to boosting such cooperation, as well as sending 146 technology diplomats to 71 Chinese embassies and consulates abroad.

China has become a major global research and development player, accounting for 20.4 percent of the world’s total R&D spending last year, according to the Industrial Research Institute, a US nonprofit think tank for industrial management and innovation.

Last year, the country broke into the world’s top-25 innovative economies, becoming the first middle-income country to do so, according to a report by the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization, INSEAD Business School and Cornell University.

“China should actively propose new ideas, new initiatives and new plans on the world stage, so that we can play a leading role in facilitating cooperation in global production and equipment manufacturing,” Ye said.

A private zoo on Thursday dismissed allegations that a tiger shown in a video that went viral was abused.

Videos showing a keeper pulling a tiger’s tail and sitting on him at an animal park in Xiuwen county, about 30 kilometers from the provincial capital of Guiyang, Guizhou province, have been reposted by media outlets and individuals on Sina Weibo and WeChat.

One of the videos starts with a keeper pulling a tiger’s tail. The keeper then walks behind the animal several times around a small artificial hill. The keeper was also shown sitting on the tiger’s back and pulling its ears.

A red line on the body of one tiger later aroused suspicion that the tiger was injured by the keeper. Some netizens also said they saw no teeth in the tiger’s mouth.

“The video is clipped from a live-streaming video done three months ago. They were in a training session,” said Wang Shulin, manager of the zoo. “It didn’t receive much attention when the live streaming was being done. I don’t know why it suddenly went viral.”

The zoo, which was established in 2006, has 30 tigers.

Yao Shiming, the keeper seen in the video, has been with the 2-year-old tiger since it was a cub and “it’s common that they play in that way”, Wang said, adding that they “didn’t interfere with the live streaming” done by employees.

“I spent at least one hour and, at most, four hours a day with the tiger for more than two years. It sometimes bites me for fun, but never injures me,” Yao said. “It just considers me a tiger and we have a very good relationship.

“I asked my colleague to take the video and I only wanted to share that in my WeChat. Others are afraid of the animal, but I can play with it.”

Ren Yuewu, director of Xiuwen’s ecological civilization department, said an investigation by police found no evidence that the keeper had abused the animal.

“The red line on the tiger was not blood, but red paint, and there is no problem with the tiger’s teeth,” Ren said.

However, supervision of the zoo will be strengthened, while keepers’ behavior will be regulated to avoid future misunderstandings, he added.

China will launch its most advanced communications satellite in April as it builds a large capacity network that will enable passengers on jetliners and high-speed trains to use the internet.

Shijian 13, developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, will be lifted on a Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The satellite, which weighs 4.6 metric tons, will stay for 15 years in a geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above Earth, the academy said.

The satellite features a Ka-band broadband communications system capable of transmitting 20 gigabytes of data per second, making it the most powerful communications satellite the nation has developed.

Shijian 13 will use electric propulsion after it enters orbit, which will extensively reduce the chemical fuel the satellite carries. Moreover, it will conduct space-to-ground laser communications experiments, the academy said.

In June, the Shijian 18 communications satellite, the first developed based on China’s new-generation DFH 5 satellite platform, will be lifted by a Long March 5 rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, according to the academy.

It said the transmission capacity of the satellite to be launched in June is double that of current Chinese communications satellites, allowing more television channels and clearer programs to be transmitted. The new satellite will also improve internet connectivity and accessibility as well as reduce users’ costs.

Wang Min, deputy head of the academy’s Institute of Telecommunication Satellite, said China plans to establish a constellation of advanced communications satellites based on DFH 4 and DFH 5 platforms by 2025 and, after the plan is fulfilled, people will be able to use high-quality Wi-Fi service anywhere and anytime, including on bullet trains and planes.

Li Feng, chief designer at the institute, said many domestic users have said they look forward to the service of new-generation communications satellites, while some foreign satellite operators have also expressed interest.

The academy has made seven communications satellites for overseas users, including Pakistan, Venezuela and Laos, and is implementing export contracts for more than 10 such satellites, said Zhou Zhicheng, head of the Institute of Telecommunication Satellite.

However, he said the country still needs to catch up with the top developers of communications satellites in the United States and Europe, such as Boeing and Thales Alenia Space, when it comes to satellite technology and capacity.

Cobi, a giant panda named after the mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, died this month at the age of 25 at a zoo in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

Cobi passed away on Feb. 2, despite two days’ of emergency treatment after he suddenly fell into a coma on Jan. 31, the Chengdu Zoo announced Thursday.

The age of the male giant panda is equivalent to about 75 human years. He was healthy before his sudden illness though he had some symptoms of aging such as loss of appetite.

Cobi was named by Juan Antonio Samaranch, former president of the International Olympic Committee. He was born on July 26, 1992 Beijing time, coinciding with the opening day of the 25th Olympic Games in Spain.

He fathered nine cubs, most of whom have further descendants.

The average lifespan of wild pandas is 15 years, but those in captivity usually live longer due to better nutrition and living conditions.

A survey found China with an estimated 1,864 wild pandas and 375 in captivity in 2013.

China plans to develop the smart health and elderly care industry in the next four years to grants universal access to health management services and home-based elderly care, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Thursday.

According to an action plan jointly made by the MIIT, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China will build a smart health and elderly care industry with more than 100 industrial leading enterprises and a number of brands by 2020.

The country will also have more than 100 model bases for the industry in the next four years, said the plan.

Efforts should be made to make breakthroughs in core technologies and promote the development of intelligent analysis technologies such as real-time health status analysis and health trend analysis based on big data, so as to provide more types of health-care services to the public.

The government will also encourage the development of advanced health devices such as health management wearables, portable health monitors and home service robots, it said.

The MIIT said the it will build a unified information sharing system to improve the quality and security of the service network of the smart health and elderly care industry.