British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly is to visit China today, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
During the visit “the two sides will have in-depth communication on China-UK relations and on international and regional issues of shared concern,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a regular briefing.
“It is hoped that the UK side will work alongside China in upholding a spirit of mutual respect, conduct in-depth exchanges, enhance understanding,and promote the stable development of China-UK relations,” Wang said.
Photo: AP
“As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies in the world, China and the UK shoulder the common responsibility of promoting world peace, stability and development,” he added.
The visit was expected to take place last month, but was postponed due to the mysterious disappearance of then-Chinese minister of foreign affairs Qin Gang (秦剛).
Cleverly would be the first British foreign secretary to visit China in more than five years, following Jeremy Hunt’s trip in 2018.
Since then relations between the UK and China have soured over a number of issues, including human rights violations, technology and Beijing’s crackdown in the former British colony of Hong Kong.
Last month, China accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after Cleverly slammed Hong Kong’s decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy advocates based overseas.
On Sunday evening, China’s state-backed Global Times demanded that the British Museum “return Chinese cultural relics for free,” setting off a domestic social media firestorm.
Hawkish elements in the UK’s ruling Conservative Party have urged London to take a tougher stance on China.
However, Cleverly has called for a pragmatic, constructive and united Western approach to China’s rising clout, acknowledging the need to work in partnership with Beijing.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS