China

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will tighten COVID-19 restrictions despite a lack of local outbreaks to better align with China’s policies and increase chances of quarantine-free travel between the territory and mainland, leader Carrie Lam said Tuesday.

BEIJING, Oct 25 (APP): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will transport 15 million Sinovac vaccines by five special aircraft from the Capital International Airport Beijing to Islamabad from October 29 to November 2. The national flag carrier will launch PAK-6857, PAK-6858, PK-6856, PK-6852 and PK-6853 respectively to transport Covid-19 vaccines from October 29 to November 2, PIA Country Manager, Qadir Bux Sangi told APP here on Monday.

HONG KONG, Oct 25 (Reuters) - International rights group Amnesty International said on Monday it would close its Hong Kong offices because a China-imposed security law had now made it "effectively impossible" for rights groups to work freely without the risk of reprisals.

Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, the chair of Amnesty’s international board, said in a statement that the two offices would close by year-end, noting an intensification of a crackdown that has forced at least 35 groups to disband under the law this year.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets rose Monday after Wall Street slipped and China tightened travel controls in some areas in response to coronavirus infections.

Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced while London and Frankfurt opened higher. Tokyo declined.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.1% higher.

BEIJING, Oct 24 (APP): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying has been promoted to the post of China’s assistant foreign minister, the ministry’s official website stated on Sunday.

Born in Jiangsu Province, Hua Chunying joined the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as staff member and Attaché, Department of Western European Affairs in 1993.

During her career, she served in Chinese Embassy in Singapore and Chinese Mission to the European Union and also worked on different positions in MFA.

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- A total of 11 provincial-level regions have been affected within a week as a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 emerged in China, a spokesperson with the National Health Commission (NHC) said Sunday.

Sporadic cases reported in various regions have been increasing ever since Oct. 17, Mi Feng, spokesperson for the NHC, told a press conference.

Most of the cases have inter-region travel histories, increasing the risk of virus transmission to other regions, Mi said.

BEIJING, Oct 22 (APP): Expressing pleasure over progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin Friday said that this flagship project has achieved new outcomes and entered a stage of high quality development.

We are glad to see that CPEC has achieved new outcomes and entered a stage of high quality development, he said while responding to a question asked by APP during his regular press conference held here at the International Press Center (IPC).

HONG KONG, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government on Friday criticised Washington for its "safe haven" scheme for Hong Kongers to stay and work in the United States amid Beijing's crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in the Chinese territory.

In August, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a temporary safe haven scheme for Hong Kong residents, allowing what could be thousands of people to extend their stay in response to the crackdown.

Biden cited "compelling foreign policy reasons" for the plan given China's continued "assault on Hong Kong's autonomy".

LANZHOU, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- As a new wave of COVID-19 infections hits various regions in China, local authorities are taking targeted and intensive measures to contain its spread, highlighting the country's principle of putting people's lives and health first.

As of Thursday, new locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in 10 provincial-level regions, including Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Beijing.

BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday said there is “no room” for compromise or concessions over the issue of Taiwan, following a comment by U.S. President Joe Biden that the U.S. is committed to defending the island if it is attacked.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reasserted China’s longstanding claim that the island is its territory at a daily briefing after Biden made his comment a day before at a forum hosted by CNN.