China's State Council, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, has announced plans to pump out major stimulus projects this year, following an executive meeting yesterday. The announcement comes with new signs of weakness in the economy; an HSBC gauge released the same day showed a continuing contraction in manufacturing. Eighty new projects will be launched in a host of sectors including railway, ports, clean energy such as hydropower, wind, and photovoltaic power, and modernization projects in the oil and gas and chemical industries, reported the China Daily on April 24.