China on Thursday rejected a review of key developments in Hong Kong by the U.S. State Department.

“We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to that document and the irresponsible remarks by the United States,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Thursday at a daily press briefing.

Hua said that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kong affairs fall within China’s domestic affairs and no country has any right to intervene, she said.

She urged the United States to be prudent in its words and actions on affairs concerning Hong Kong.

It is undeniable that the principle of “one country, two systems” and the Basic Law have been comprehensively implemented, and Hong Kong residents have enjoyed their rights and freedoms in accordance with the law since Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, according to Hua.

“The Chinese government’s resolve to implement ‘one country, two systems’ and ‘Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong’ with a high degree of autonomy is unwavering, and will not be changed,” she said.

Customs authorities in Xiamen, a city on China’s east coast, announced on Thursday that they had seized 700 bottles of bear bile.

A male passenger took a flight from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Xiamen, the customs authorities said in a statement. Customs inspectors used X-ray machines on his luggage and suspected it contained a large number of small bottles.

Inspectors found 100 bottles of bear bile from the man’s luggage. Based on his report, another 600 of vials were found from the luggage of his companion. Each bottle contained one milliliter of the bile.

According to Chinese law, passengers must obtain certified documents if they wish to carry bear parts through customs. Smuggling is subject to legal punishment of fines or even imprisonment.

China is working on reusable launch vehicles and has achieved progress in some key areas, a carrier rocket official said Thursday.

The processes under development include parachute-landing and propulsion-landing, said Lu Yu, director of Science and Technology Committee of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017).

Reusable lift-body launchers will be developed in three stages — rocket-engine partial reusable vehicle, rocket-engine full reusable vehicle and combined cycle-engine reusable vehicle, said Lu.

The Long March carrier rockets still have room for improvement, Lu said, adding that the CALT is developing a heavy-lift launch vehicle with a payload of 140 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 50 tonnes to lunar transfer orbit.

The heavy-lift carrier rocket is currently called the Long March-9, and it should be sent into space by 2030, he said.

According to Lu, a low-cost commercial medium launch vehicle, the Long March-8. is under development, and based on the Long March-8, a new high-orbit medium launch vehicle should be designed to improve the Long March series and enhance competitiveness.

Since China’s space transportation system started in 1960s, a total of 17 types of launch vehicles have been developed. As of May 2017, Long March series carrier rockets have conducted 246 flights with a success rate of 96 percent, fulfilling missions including the launch of manned spacecraft, a moon rover and the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

Lu said that China has carried out international space transportation cooperation through piggyback- and commercial-satellite launches and in-orbit delivery.

As of present, the Long March series have finished 55 international launches, sending 64 payloads into orbit for more than 20 countries and regions.

China will also enhance cooperation by renting foreign launch sites to improve launch flexibility, building international launch sites at equatorial regions, and developing sea-based launch platforms with other countries, he said.

China’s State Council has vowed to strictly punish those responsible for problematic subway cables in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

Earlier this year, a story posted online claimed subway Line 3 in Xi’an used substandard cables and posed safety risks.

An investigation team has found that the company involved in the case has severely violated the law by producing and selling substandard products, while some individuals and institutions were found to have colluded in the purchase and use of those cables, according to an official statement.

Related local government departments have been found to be at fault for a lack of supervision and negligence of duty, and some officials have violated the discipline on integrity, the statement said.

Eight suspects from the cable manufacturer will be arrested, while 122 government officials responsible will be held accountable, according to the statement.

All authentication certificates of the cable manufacturer will be revoked. The company’s business license and production permit will also be rescinded.

Projects involved should be checked thoroughly for risks while all substandard cables should be removed and replaced as soon as possible, the statement said.

In the meantime, the Shaanxi Provincial government should prepare a written statement reflecting on the issue to the State Council.

Officials should learn from the lesson and strengthen supervision on product quality, the statement said.

China will open its space station to scientists worldwide after the station is completed around 2022, according to a Chinese space expert.

Wei Chuanfeng, a researcher at the Institute of Manned Space System Engineering under the China Academy of Space Technology, said the China Manned Space Engineering Office has drafted a strategic framework with United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to offer opportunities on the application of Chinese space station to members of United Nations.

Wei made the remarks on Thursday at the 2017 Global Space Exploration Conference, which was held in Beijing.

Under the framework, China will open its experimental resources on the Chinese space station to serve payloads from other countries. UN members, especially developing countries, could conduct scientific and technological experiment on Chinese space station, Wei said.

China’s first astronaut Yang Liwei, who is also deputy director of China Manned Space Engineering Office, said the nation would launch the first core module of the space station in 2019, followed by two experiment modules. The space station will enable astronauts to stay in space for up to six months.

At the conference, the designers behind the Chinese space station proposed possible technical approaches that could help scientists from other countries utilize and perform experiments on the space station. China will also help astronauts and payloads specialists from developing countries to enter into space, Wei said.

The Chinese space station will be composed of three modules, including a core module and two experiment modules. The space station will have three docking sites, enabling the dock and berth of the “Shenzhou” manned spacecraft, the “Tianzhou” cargo spacecraft and other vehicles, according to Wei.