HAIKOU /China/, February 15. /TASS/. Hainan authorities have pushed forward the accelerated development of selective breeding and seed breeding, as well as marine and space research over the past few years, Li Jinsong, secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Hainan Provincial Department of Science and Technology announced.

"In the past three years, Hainan has secured a comparative advantage by concentrating our country's advanced innovation power in seed breeding, deep-sea marine research and space science," China News Service quoted the official, who spoke at a scientific conference held in Haikou, the administrative center of the region. "Our province has boosted the formation of a developed platform for these areas, accelerating the process of scientific, technological and innovation integration in China."

The Party Leadership Group secretary noted the importance of laboratories in Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City and the strong potential of the National Salt-Tolerant Rice Technology Innovation Center in Sanya, as well as the rapid development of the seed breeding Silicon Valleyin the southern part of the island. He also mentioned successfully progressing research and development projects in modern tropical agriculture. Li Jinsong emphasized that Hainan has become "a guide in science, technology and innovation for the formation of industry chains in the seed industry."

According to the news service, the conference also addressed China's first commercial spaceport in the city of Wenchang (northeast coast of Hainan), whose first launch pad was commissioned at the end of last year. It is designed to launch medium and small launch vehicles using liquid and solid fuel. A cluster related to rocket and satellite technologies and developments related to aerospace data is being built up in this part of the island.

Hainan also continues to play a key role as a base for organizing important oceanic expeditions, the report noted. According to official data, more than half of the manned deep-sea dives in the world were carried out by China during 2021-2023, which led the world in the number of missions at depths of more than 10,000 meters during this time period. China's southernmost province has been a major contributor to this.

Hainan is considered the PRC's advanced research center in the field of astronautics, deep-sea research and breeding. Innovative projects implemented in these areas in Haikou, Sanya and Wenchang attract the attention of high-tech companies and major universities from all over the world.