China

LONDON/BEIJING, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years for a trip this week to Central Asia where he will meet Russia's Vladimir Putin, just a month before he is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

The trip, Xi's first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows just how confident he is about his grip on power in China and just how perilous the global situation has become.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court sentenced five speech therapists to nearly two years in prison Saturday for their role in the publication of children’s books deemed seditious.

The penalties are the latest sign of China’s hard line against free speech and any sign of political opposition in the city following the 2019 antigovernment protests.

Beijing responded to the monthslong demonstrations by imposing a sweeping National Security Law and disqualifying, imprisoning or silencing political opponents, many of whom have sought asylum abroad.

BEIJING, Sep 9 (APP): The first Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Scientific and Expert Forum on Information Security was held in Tashkent at the initiative of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev the other day (September 6).

The Forum was organised by the Institute of Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in association with the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), according to SCO Secretariat here.

BEIJING, Sep 9 (APP): China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions government has donated a batch of relief supplies worth RMB one million to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) for tackling the flood.

The relief supplies include quilt with cotton wadding, cotton-padded clothes, tents and others. All the relief supplies were handed over to GB authorities at a ceremony held at the Khunjerab pass, according to China Economic Net (CEN).

Gilgit-Baltistan has been severely affected by rains and floods, according to a Gilgit-Baltistan government report issued in August.

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (APP): Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque said, “Last year Pak-China trade volume hit a record level. We expect that in the next 3 to 5 years, we can double this level”.

“Every year CIFTIS is growing and becoming bigger and bigger. I think this is China’s strength – innovations, new technologies, new approaches, new development…” Moin ul Haque said in an interview with China Economic Net (CEN) during China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll in this week’s earthquake in western China has jumped to 74 with another 26 people still missing, the government reported Wednesday, as frustration rose with uncompromising COVID-19 lockdown measures that prevented residents from leaving their buildings after the shaking.

The 6.8 magnitude quake that struct just after noon Monday in Sichuan province caused extensive damage to homes in the Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Region and shook buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million citizens are under a strict COVID-19 lockdown.

BEIJING, Sep 6 (APP): Chinese meteorological company will set up an automatic weather station and is looking forward to building meteorological labs in Pakistan.
“Currently, we are working on the provision of automatic weather stations (AWS) and technologies. If conditions permit, we are also looking to building meteorological labs with our Pakistani partners, Zhuge, CEO of ZOGLAB, a professional Chinese manufacturer specialized in instruments for atmosphere and environment, told China Economic Net (CEN).

BEIJING, Sep 6 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque expressed condolences over the loss of precious lives in the earthquake in southwest Sichuan province of China and said that the Pakistani nation stood in solidarity with China in this natural calamity.

“We are deeply saddened over the loss of so many precious lives in the earthquake in Sichuan. We share the grief of bereaved families and convey our condolences. We stand in solidarity with China in this natural calamity,” he said in a message here on Tuesday.

BEIJING (AP) — At least 46 people were reported killed and 16 missing in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown.

The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after noon, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southwestern China’s Chengdu have maintained strict COVID-19 lockdown measures on the city of 21 million despite a major earthquake that killed at least 65 people in outlying areas.

Footage circulating online Tuesday showed workers wearing top-to-bottom protective gear preventing residents of apartment buildings from exiting through locked lobby doors following Monday’s 6.8 magnitude quake centered in the surrounding province of Sichuan.