NANJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 84.2 percent of the drugs added to China's national medical insurance drug catalog through price negotiations recorded increases in both procurement value and volume in 2025, according to an annual report released in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province.The 2026 report on drug procurement through China's national medical insurance information platform showed that 530 drugs had been added to the national medical insurance catalog through negotiations by the end of 2024, following the introduction of dynamic adjustment mechanism in 2018. Most of these medicines are innovative drugs.Since 2018, China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has made nine adjustments to the catalog of medicines covered by basic medical insurance. Following the latest adjustment, the catalog will contain 3,331 medicines, covering both Western and traditional Chinese medicine. The updated list will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.In 2025, drug procurement through the national medical insurance information platform totaled nearly 1.05 trillion yuan (about 156 billion U.S. dollars), up 5 percent year on year, said Ding Yilei, an official with the NHSA.Of this, procurement of drugs included in the national medical insurance drug catalog through negotiations reached 172.5 billion yuan, surging 48 percent from the previous year, Ding said.The growth rate in procurement value of negotiated drugs was nearly 10 times that of overall drug procurement, demonstrating strong growth momentum, he said.China aims to support the development of innovative medicines and ensure that patients gain timely access to valuable new drugs, while upholding the fundamental role of basic medical insurance in providing essential coverage and reducing the public's burden of medication costs, Ding said.

BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts have strengthened judicial protection of national security, social stability, economic development and people's livelihoods, contributing to the country's efforts to advance Chinese modernization under the rule of law.Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, courts across the country have faithfully performed their duties, upheld fairness and justice, and continued to deepen judicial reform to improve the quality and efficiency of judicial proceedings.Safeguarding national security and social stability have remained key priorities. In 2025, Chinese courts concluded 46,000 cases involving serious violent crimes and 41,000 telecom and online fraud cases. Over the past five years, they also concluded 9,326 cases involving crimes endangering cyber-security.Chinese courts have strengthened efforts to prevent and resolve disputes at an early stage. From January to October this year, they successfully mediated more than 4.86 million cases before formal litigation, while primary-level courts have established a presence in all county-level centers for comprehensive social governance across the country.Judicial services have supported China's high-quality economic development by safeguarding fair market competition, protecting businesses' legitimate rights and interests, and strengthening intellectual property protection.In late May 2025, after the private economy promotion law came into force, a division of China's top court applied it for the first time, ordering a government department to pay over 8 million yuan (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars) to a company in one case.In 2025, as part of the efforts to ensure the healthy development of China's digital economy, Chinese courts concluded 908 cases involving disputes over data ownership and transactions, up 25.6 percent year on year.Judicial proceedings have further strengthened the country's environmental and resource protection. By the end of 2025,...

HONG KONG, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The opening of the annual maritime week on Sunday and the launch of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited's (HKEX) offshore renminbi bond index scheduled for Monday highlighted the value-added development of Hong Kong's financial and trade sectors, said Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.The HKEX Offshore RMB Bond Index, which includes over 300 dim sum bonds, or offshore renminbi bonds issued in Hong Kong, showed that Hong Kong's dim sum bond market has grown large enough to warrant its own benchmark, Chan wrote in his blog on Sunday.Dim sum bond issuance has seen a notable increase since 2026, accounting for 38 percent of total bond issuance in Hong Kong in the first three quarters of this year. This gave RMB-denominated bonds the biggest share in Hong Kong's bond market.Chinese mainland tech firms, foreign governments and overseas financial institutions are warming up to dim sum bonds as an important financing vehicle, said Chan.The HKEX index will serve as a reference for fund management firms to issue index funds and exchange-traded fund products, said Chan, adding that it will also be a barometer for global investors to gauge market trends when they invest in RMB-denominated assets.As firms and investors worldwide are looking to reduce risks and diversify their assets at a time of heightened geopolitical tension and protectionism, Chan said that the RMB is being used more often, citing data like the 20-percent year-on-year increase in outstanding offshore RMB loans in the first three quarters.Since much of the offshore RMB is used in global trade and global shipping carries over 80 percent of global trade, Chan said that Hong Kong's strengths in finance and shipping can complement each other well as the city becomes an even more trustworthy super-connector in an increasingly fragmented world.

China's experience in poverty reduction, rural development, industrialization and technological advancement offers useful lessons for developing countries, a Myanmar expert has said.