China

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile person charged under the national security law, will remain in custody after the city’s top court said it would announce its verdict on his bail application at a later date.

Lai had been in custody since Dec. 3, except for when he was released on bail for about a week late last year. He was granted a HK$10 million ($1.3 million) bail by a lower court on Dec. 23 only for the Court of Final Appeal to bring him back into custody on Dec. 31 for another hearing.

WUHAN, China (AP) — A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has visited a provincial disease control center that had an early hand in managing the outbreak.

The WHO investigators arrived in the Hubei provincial capital, Wuhan, last month to look for clues and have visited hospitals that treated many of the earliest patients and a seafood market where cases of infection with the then-unknown virus emerged in December 2019.

BEIJING, Jan 31 (APP): Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts on the Kashmir issue have achieved remarkable results and the entire international community including the United Nations has realized that if the Kashmir issue is not resolved fairly, it will seriously affect the regional stability and world peace.

These views were expressed by Cheng Xizhong, visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and former Defense Attache in South Asian countries in an article issued here on Sunday.

BEIJING, Jan 31 (APP): A special Pakistan Air Force (PAF) plane with the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses left here for Islamabad on Sunday evening.

China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi during a phone call with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi last week had promised to provide 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan by January 31.

Beijing had asked Islamabad to send an airplane to get the vaccines.

WUHAN, China (AP) — A World Health Organization team looking into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday visited a market known to be the food distribution center for the Chinese city of Wuhan during the 76-day lockdown last year.

The team members were seen walking through sections of the Baishazhou market — one of the largest wet markets in Wuhan — surrounded by a large entourage of Chinese officials and representatives.

BEIJING, Jan 30 (APP): The media was playing an increasingly important role in eliminating the information barrier between China and Pakistan and become an important bridge to help enterprises of two countries to carry out extensive and in-depth cooperation in various fields.

This was stated by Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law and Senior Fellow of the Charhar Institute on Saturday.

BEIJING, Jan 29 (APP): China launched the second Type 054A/P frigate for Pakistan on Friday in Shanghai, as the Pakistan Navy Chief Naval Overseer highlighted at the launch ceremony that induction of the Type 054A/P warships will significantly enhance Pakistan’s maritime defense and deterrence capabilities.

The launch of the second Type 054A/P frigate was held at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai on Friday, reads a statement the Pakistan Navy sent to the Global Times on the same day.

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China will no longer recognize the so-called British National Overseas (BNO) passport as a travel document and ID document from Jan. 31, and reserves the right to take further actions, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing Friday.

The decision was made after the British government announced that it will begin accepting citizenship applications for BNO-eligible Hong Kong residents starting from Sunday.

WUHAN, China (AP) — A World Health Organization team visited a hospital on Friday where China says the first COVID-19 patients were treated more than a year ago as part of the experts’ long-awaited fact-finding mission on the origins of the coronavirus.

The WHO team members and Chinese officials earlier had their first in-person meetings at a hotel ahead of field visits in and around the central city of Wuhan in the coming days.

BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China’s crackdown but Beijing said it would no longer recognise special British passports offered to residents of the former colony.

Britain and China have been bickering for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong, though Beijing says the West’s views are clouded by misinformation and an imperial hangover.