The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive John Lee revealed on Tuesday that the National Forestry and Grassland Administration has selected a pair of male and female giant pandas, aged between 5 and 8 years, to make their new home in the city, emphasizing that efforts are being made to ensure the giant pandas to arrive in Hong Kong by October 1.

These two giant pandas are in their prime and adulthood, and are in robust health, Lee said, expressing the hope that they will thrive and reproduce in Hong Kong.

The male panda, weighing around 120 kilograms, agile, very energetic, is characterized as "intelligent and active," while the female panda weighs about 100 kilograms and is described as "gentle, elegant, and described as docile and cute," Lee told a group of reporters on Tuesday in Southwest China's Sichuan as he is currently visiting the province to work on the details for welcoming the pair of pandas to Hong Kong.

The pair of pandas are currently undergoing acclimatization at the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, and will undergo a 30-day quarantine there, followed by another 30-day quarantine upon arrival in Hong Kong. They will need to adapt to their new environment before they can meet the public.

Lee announced on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland on July 1 that the city will welcome the new pair of pandas.

Lee said the most important task during his visit to Sichuan this week is to expedite the arrival of the giant pandas in Hong Kong, select the pandas, and finalize the agreement as soon as possible. The details of the agreement will be announced later.

Upon returning to Hong Kong, there will be a series of follow-up tasks, including the Cultural, Sports, and Tourism Bureau and Ocean Park designing promotional activities, the CE noted.

"We hope to make the great event of the giant pandas coming to Hong Kong as perfect as possible," he said, with the goal of having the next generation of giant pandas born in Hong Kong.

Experts will closely monitor the pandas once they enter their breeding period and will make appropriate arrangements.

If the pair of giant pandas gifted to Hong Kong could give birth to a panda, we hope it will not just be a single cub, as giant pandas have also given birth to twins. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly understand the health and state of these giant pandas, as the breeding period is very short, Lee said.

The agreement between the two sides stipulates that if mainland experts are needed in Hong Kong for assistance, discussions will be held based on the specific situation. He described the birth of a new generation of giant pandas as very rare and symbolically significant under the One Country, Two Systems principle, adding that Hong Kong residents are eager to see the birth of the next generation of giant pandas.

Ocean Park is preparing for the arrival of the pair of giant pandas. This includes sending caretakers to Sichuan for training and understanding the habits of the pandas that will relocate to Hong Kong, to ensure proper care in the future, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung was quoted as saying in the media reports on Tuesday.

The park will also improve the current facilities for the pandas, such as adding plants or climbing structures, and consider increasing photographic equipment to enable real-time sharing of the pandas' activities, the Hong Kong official said.

Also, before the pandas depart for Hong Kong, bamboo grown in South China's Guangdong Province or at Ocean Park will be sent to Sichuan to allow the pandas to become accustomed to it in advance.

Ocean Park will also support health check procedures for the pandas and cooperate with the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department to ensure the quarantine process in Hong Kong is completed smoothly, Yeung said.

The office of the food safety commission of the State Council established a joint investigation team on Tuesday as public concern continues to foment following a report by The Beijing News, which revealed a startling scandal of the mixed use of tankers for edible and chemical oil.

Companies such as Hopefull Grain and Oil Group and China Grain Reserves Oil and Fat (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. have been implicated in this scandal.

The office of the food safety commission of the State Council said it attaches great importance to the issue raised by the media outlet and has organized a special meeting with multiple relevant national departments.

They vowed to severely punish the illegal activities of the companies and individuals involved according to the law, with no tolerance. At the same time, measures will be taken to conduct a special inspection on hidden risks in the transportation of edible oil. The results of the investigation will be promptly announced, according to the announcement.

On Saturday, China Grain Reserves Oil and Fat (Tianjin), a subsidiary of the China Grain Reserves Management Group Sinograin, announced on social media that they have initiated a comprehensive investigation throughout their entire system.

While probes launched both by the authorities and Sinograin are underway, netizens were shocked to discover that similar accusations of the "contaminated transportation" of food and chemical oils in the same vehicles had been going on for a long time in the country, citing news reports separately released by ngzb.com in 2005 and a program on Hunan TV in 2015.

Legal experts reached by the Global Times on Tuesday highlighted the deficiencies in food safety supervision that require immediate attention and rectification. Also, they stressed that food safety problems should be nipped in the bud and called for more relevant companies to conduct self-examination and self-correction.

The public outcry began in early July when The Beijing News reported that tanker drivers were engaging in a common practice of transporting food and chemical liquids in the same vehicles without cleaning them in between loads. This revelation exposed a longstanding issue within the tanker industry that had previously gone unnoticed.

Many domestic cargo tanker trucks transport both edible liquids including syrup and soybean oil, as well as chemicals including coal oil, according to the news report.

In order to save on costs, some operators do not clean the transportation tanks, and edible oil producers do not check the tanks according to regulations, resulting in chemical residue and contamination of edible oil, The Beijing News reported.

In response, Sinograin has launched a large-scale special inspection.

According to a statement issued by Sinograin on its official Weibo account on Saturday, all affiliated companies are required to rigorously check whether the transportation tools entering and leaving their warehouses meet the requirements.

Additionally, they are required to examine whether the carriers' transportation tools are in compliance with food safety regulations, and whether the operation meets the relevant standards.

On Tuesday, a representative from the Hopefull Grain and Oil Group told the Global Times that the company is conducting a thorough self-inspection and more detailed updates are awaiting notification from the publicity department of the city of Sanhe in North China's Hebei Province, where the company is located.

According to Chinese media outlet nbd.com.cn, on Tuesday, China Grain Reserves clients have received notification from the company requesting verification of the sources of the last three loads on their transport vehicles, particularly focusing on the loading records of oil products. One individual described this incident as a "rare occurrence" that touches upon the "moral bottom line and basic conscience."

The scandal also prompted probes from local authorities.

An official from the Sanhe government told the Global Times on Tuesday, that the local authorities are paying great attention to the incident, with the relevant departments actively conducting an investigation.

Both the market supervision authority in Hebei's Langfang, which administers Sanhe, and that of Tianjian, responded to inquiries from Chinese media outlets on Tuesday, stating that an investigation into the incident is currently underway with the probe results to be made public.

The Global Times found Tuesday that some Sinograin's edible oil products have been taken down from Taobao, a popular Chinese e-commerce platform. Only one product from the Jinding brand, which is owned by Sinograin, was still available on Taobao. But Jinding products are still being sold on JD.com.

The incident has sparked public concerns about food safety with many urging the recall of problematic edible oils and a demand for a thorough investigation and stiff punishments for the people responsible. Also, some netizens expressed their respect toward the journalists who followed up on food safety issues and exposed them in the investigative news reports.

Zhu Wei, a vice director of the Communication Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the incident has shaken public confidence on the effective enforcement of food safety regulations, noting the mixed use of tankers for edible and chemical liquids without cleaning is a clear violation of regulations and laws.

"When it comes to food safety issues, we must take preventive measures rather than waiting until something happens and then make corrections," Zhu said, calling for more companies involved in food security to self-examine and self-correct.

Reviews and summaries of data monitoring and netizens’ reporting on online rumors by China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform show that internet rumors circulating during June primarily focused on hot topics such as disasters, exam and recruitment policies and travel information.

According to the platform, rumor mongers used tactics such as fabrication, exaggeration and misrepresentation to create falsehoods, disrupt public perception, interfere with flood control and disaster relief, and disrupt the orders of exam and recruitment work, which have harmed the public interests and caused a negative impact.

In terms of fabricating and spreading disaster-related rumors that disturb flood control work, individual we-media accounts and netizens took the opportunity as many regions across the country have fully entered the flood season in June with natural disasters occurring frequently to fabricate or exaggerate disaster situations, disrupt the normal orders of disaster relief and causing public anxiety and panic.

Rumors such as “floodwater flowing into underground parking garages in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan Province” and “heavy rains triggering mudslides that destroyed numerous homes in Guilin, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region” either distorted facts and rehash old news, or fabricated stories maliciously, seriously misleading overall public perception of actual events.

In addition, rumors related to recruitment of colleges and senior high schools often involved risks of fraud and harmed the public’s interests. Some institutions impersonated official authorities to engage in events such as paid consultation activities for college entrance examinations and admissions to scam candidates and parents.

Some other institutions and individuals made use of social media to scam job applicants of “service fees” and “consultation fees” during the job-hunting process.

Furthermore, tourism-related rumors also have been increasing as the vacation peak season approaching, which disturbed the public’s opinions.

The rumor saying that “each person receives a subsidy of 3,169 yuan for traveling to Southwest China’s Yunnan Province” seriously misinterpreted Yunnan’s tourism policy which is entirely false publicity meant to deceive the public. The rumors of “Mount Qomolangma being closed indefinitely” and “merchants spreading nails on the Duku Highway in Usu city, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to earn money for tire repairs” are either misunderstandings or distortions and sensationalism, causing public concerns over the troubles of the local culture and tourism industry.

In addition to these misleading rumors, some we-media and netizens fabricated social events, concoct false information, mislead public understanding, and disrupt social order. The rumor about “a livestock farm in Deyang, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, falsely reported inventory to fraudulently obtain 200 million yuan in subsidies” fabricates facts and seriously damages the credibility of policies benefiting the farmers and agriculture. Other rumors such as “Yongfu Temple in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province being sold for 70 million yuan” used sensational headlines to maliciously attract attention, causing negative social impacts.

As the peak of the summer vacation travel season and college admissions approaches in July, rumors and scams related to people’s livelihood such as travel, traffic safety, enrollment policies, and job markets may appear more frequently. China Internet Joint Rumor Refutation Platform reminded the public to maintain a calm, rational and objective attitude, effectively enhancing their abilities in identifying, distinguishing and preventing rumors.