China

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing’s parks and museums including the ancient Forbidden City reopened to the public Friday after being closed for months by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Forbidden City, past home to China’s emperors, is allowing just 5,000 visitors daily, down from 80,000. And parks are allowing people to visit at 30% of the usual capacity.

Large-scale group activities remain on hold and visitors must book tickets in advance online, according to Gao Dawei, deputy director of the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.

Beijing, Apr 30 (AP) China's manufacturing activity weakened in April as the coronavirus pandemic clobbered global consumer demand, hampering Beijing's efforts to revive the world's second-largest economy, two surveys showed on Thursday.

China became the first major economy to reopen factories in March after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the outbreak. But the United States, Europe and other major markets have yet to lift controls that are keeping consumers from spending.

Beijing, Apr 30 (PTI) Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed China's battle against COVID-19 as a major strategic achievement, as the ruling Communist Party is all set to hold the postponed Parliament session on May 22 amid a steady decline in the coronavirus cases.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) on Thursday said the country reported only four new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number to 82,862, while no death due to the disease was registered. The virus has claimed 4,633 lives in the country.

Beijing, Apr 29 (PTI) China will hold its annual Parliament session from May 22 which was earlier scheduled to be held from March 5 and got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the country, the state media reported on Wednesday.

The decision was made at a regular session of the National People's Congress' (NPC) Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

BEIJING, Apr 28 (APP): China, more than anyone else, wants to see a harmonious relation between Pakistan and Afghanistan and will contribute to any effort that helps improve the mutual trust and relations between the two sides, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Claims that the novel coronavirus came from China's National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) were groundless and contradict all available evidence, said lab director Yuan Zhiming in a recent written interview with Reuters.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- BRICS countries Tuesday evening agreed to enhance collaboration in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consensus was reached during the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Extraordinary Conference on COVID-19 via video link, which was chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and gathered Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets gained Wednesday after France and Spain joined governments that plan to ease anti-virus controls and allow businesses to reopen.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Southeast Asia advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Wall Street retreated overnight, hurt by declines in health care and tech stocks that have been among the winners during the coronavirus pandemic.

BEIJING (AP) — China has decided to hold the annual meeting of its ceremonial parliament late next month after postponing it for weeks because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday said the National People’s Congress would open in Beijing on May 22, according to a decision made by its standing committee, which handles most legislative affairs outside the annual two-week session of the full body.

BEIJING, April 28 (APP): China has begun construction of an airport on Pamirs Plateau, Taxkorgan, only county-level city in northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that borders three countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

It will also be the region’s first plateau airport upon completion, according to a report of China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Tuesday.