Siyabonga Cwele, Ambassador of South Africa to China, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview ahead of the 14th BRICS Summit, which is held virtually this week, that BRICS is a significant force in terms of helping the global community deal with the current challenges.

The Office of the Chief Executive-elect was unveiled on Wednesday together with the list of the new Executive Council (Exco) meeting members, and among 16 non-official members, nine will continue serve the position and Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the chairperson of the New People's Party, will serve as the convener of the meeting. The nomination is expected to take effect from July 1.

As the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s return to the motherland approaches, officers at the Hong Kong Police College in Wong Chuk Hang are practicing the Chinese-style foot drills of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). People familiar with the matter believed that their smooth movements in a decisive manner fully underscored the spirit of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) in the new era.

Hong Kong residents lamented that one of its most iconic landmarks, the Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsized in the South China Sea on Monday night, and some of them said it indeed marked “the end of an era.”

The State Council, China's cabinet, approved the list of key officials proposed by the six-term chief executive for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Sunday. By forming a new team with some new faces, the new government is expected to unveil a new chapter for Hong Kong on the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland.

"Hong Kong has never been a colony of Britain," this truth is being introduced into the new Citizenship and Social Development (Citizenship) textbooks in Hong Kong, setting right people's understanding of the region and correcting some long-held flawed thinking in the city's education system, with the aim of respecting our history, former Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) president and veteran councilor for the education sector Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday.

With the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), hailed as the "Russian Davos", beginning on Wednesday, Russia-China cooperation under the theme "New opportunities in a new world" came under the spotlight, as, the Kremlin's interests appeared to shift toward the East in the face of mounting Western sanctions and pressure.

The latest Yang-Sullivan meeting, which came after US President's Asia trip that was widely seen as Washington's concrete efforts of building an ideology-driven small clique in containing China and was held before the upcoming NATO meeting, delivered an important message to Washington that it should quickly, effectively and concretely adjust its wrong and extreme China policy to avoid strategic miscalculations, Chinese experts said.

While US ambassador to China revealed that the US will open a new office for its Consulate General in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, in September, experts on China-US relations hardly see it as a big step for the improvement of bilateral ties, considering Washington's series of immature moves in diplomacy toward China over the past two years.

Japan has continued walking down a dangerous path as a former Japanese prime minister recently urged allies to "force China to give up seizing the island of Taiwan" and its current prime minister is reportedly preparing to attend NATO summit amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis later this month, a move that is seen as to help NATO's expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. Experts warned that, as Tokyo constantly plays with fire over the Taiwan question, those reckless tactics could lead to severe consequences beyond damaging China-Japan relations, escalating confrontation and causing instability in the region, and Asian countries should remain vigilant over Japan reviving militarism.

Nearly half a century of exchanges between China and the Pacific Island countries have proven that the exchanges have not and will not affect regional security and stability in the future, we focus on economic development and care about the improvement of people's standard of living, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his counterpart from Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) via video link on Thursday.

Following a meeting between US President Joe Biden and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who highlighted the so-called "shared concern" over China's influence in the South Pacific, the two sides released a 3,000-word joint statement on Wednesday, reiterating Washington's commitment to the region, which, however, reflects the US' anxiety of fixing its perceived "backyard" and is seen as full of empty promises as the US only treats Pacific countries as bait for serving its own political goals.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met John Lee Ka-chiu, the newly appointed sixth-term chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Monday in Beijing, during which he praised Lee for his patriotism and contributions for safeguarding national security and Hong Kong' s stability and assured that Lee has the full trust from the central government. The Chinese top leader also stresses the central government's resolve of unswervingly implementing the "one country, two systems" and that the city's new electoral system must be treasured and upheld, hoping that the new HKSAR government can unveil new new chapter for the city's development.

Beijing and Shanghai, China's two megacities, are gradually walking out of the shadow of Omicron outbreaks, providing valuable experiences for the country in carrying out the dynamic zero-COVID strategy that once again proves to be the most effective approach in containing the highly contagious virus at the minimum costs to the economy and people's life.

From July 1, 2022, the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) will officially abandon British-style foot drills and perform Chinese-style foot drills of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). On that day, Hong Kong will hold a major commemorative event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland.

After Chinese Foreign Ministry urged on Wednesday a US lawmaker to make a correction after he mistakenly told CNN that the “Chinese delegation” did not applaud Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech at the World Economic Forum (WFF) in Davos and walked out, CNN said in an email to the Global Times on Thursday that it had made a clarification on air on Tuesday, saying that CNN has confirmed that delegation was not from China.

The deadly shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday which killed 21 people has shocked not only the US but also the world. It was the deadliest shooting at a US grade school since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and it came just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that claimed 10 lives.

The new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met separately with US President Joe Biden on Tuesday on the sideline of the Quad summit, affirming a strong partnership and emphasizing regional security and cooperation under the AUKUS alliance. Experts who tried to find positive signals viewed Albanese's diplomatic debut as a show under his predecessor Scott Morrison's shadow because distinct foreign policy can't come overnight, especially when it comes to the political correctness of "putting the Australia-US alliance first" he has to follow.

With no suspense, the World Health Assembly (WHA) - the decision-making body of the WHO - rejected the proposal of inviting the island of Taiwan to the WHA as an observer for the sixth consecutive year, as any ill-intentioned attempt to use the occasion to deceive the international community and play political tricks to challenge the one-China principle will end up in vain.

Shortly after Australia's Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese is sworn in on Monday, the country's new prime minister will head for Japan for a Quad summit where he will “renew” his acquaintance with US President Joe Biden and meet other leaders of the group including the Indian and Japanese prime ministers.

Chinese officials, legal experts and lawmakers refuted the remarks made by the US, Canada and the EU concerning the latest law enforcement activities in Hong Kong, after the Hong Kong police on Wednesday night arrested four trustees of the "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund" including former bishop Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and singer Denise Ho Wan-see who actively supported the black-clad riot in the city in 2019.

As leaders from Southeast Asian countries arrived in Washington on Wednesday ahead of the US-ASEAN summit, they are scheduled to meet US officials and business leaders on Thursday ahead of the meeting with US President Joe Biden, during which the Ukraine crisis, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the influence of China are expected to be in focus.

While the Chinese public shares high interest in ASEAN members, Singapore has become the country that attracted them the most, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by the Global Times Research Center and Centre for Chinese Foreign Strategy Studies, Renmin University of China.

While over 75 percent of the respondents hold a positive view toward the future development of China-ASEAN ties, as the latest survey jointly conducted by the Global Times Research Center and Centre for Chinese Foreign Strategy Studies, Renmin University of China showed, the question of the South China Sea has become a major focus of China-ASEAN ties, which has been hyped and manipulated by countries like the US and Japan in stirring conflicts between China and ASEAN.

While China-related topic is expected to dominate the upcoming US-ASEAN summit, a recent survey showed that nearly 80 percent of Chinese respondents said the US is the biggest disruptor of the sound relations between China and ASEAN members but about 90 percent considered the China-ASEAN ties as friendly and over 75 percent hold a positive attitude toward their future.

The day after John Lee Ka-chiu won the Hong Kong chief executive (CE) election on Sunday with the highest votes, he met with incumbent CE Carrie Lam, President of the Legislative Council Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen and Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Andrew Cheung Kui-nung before paying a visit to the four central government offices in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon.

Beijing continued to tighten control over the latest COVID-19 flare-up, after more local infections were reported in the city, in particular, a bank in Shunyi district reported cluster infections that involved 21 cases in six districts on Monday.

After about three hours of voting and vote counting, the former Chief Secretary for Hong Kong and former Security Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu, who is also the sole candidate in the Chief Executive Election, gained 99.16 percent supporting votes, becoming the new leader and he is expected to usher Hong Kong into a new chapter of development, after it had been heavily impacted by social turmoil and the COVID-19 epidemic.

By securing 99.16 percent supportive votes from the Election Committee members who cast their votes on Sunday, the sole candidate John Lee Ka-chiu was elected as the sixth-term Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Major countries should set an example for others by following the international rules rather than being “exceptions” and the US should learn a lesson from the Russia-Ukraine crisis as it assumes the main responsibility for the security of Europe, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told a think tank panel on Friday. There are three major aspects of the lesson – the Cold War mentality should be abandoned, unilateral sanctions have to be dropped and a proxy war should not be launched, he said.

In two days, 1,461 Election Committee members in Hong Kong are expected to cast their votes at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai as the sole candidate John Lee Ka-chiu is aiming for the city's top job.

John Lee Ka-chiu, the candidate for the upcoming election for Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, unveiled his policy platform on Friday, focusing on strengthening local governance, fixing housing woes, enhancing the overall competitiveness of the city and building a caring society for young people.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Friday presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to analyze the current economic situation. The meeting stressed coordination of anti-epidemic work and economic development, and urged officials at all-levels to take responsibility in guarding against all kinds of "black swan" and "grey rhino" events amid risks linked to epidemic flare-ups and the Ukraine crisis.

As the EU and the US are moving ahead with their adjusted responses to COVID-19 despite avoiding saying that "the pandemic is over" after warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO), countries, including China, must be prepared for increased risks of the virus spreading and mutating rapidly, as Western countries plan to scale down their anti-epidemic efforts and relax travel restrictions, Chinese experts warned on Thursday.

In response to some reports' hype of China's influence following Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it was just “guessing” without any factual basis. While Musk described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” some Chinese observers, who have been tagged as “China state-affiliated media” on Twitter, are calling on the platform to stop throwing labels around as the first step if Musk really values freedom of speech. Otherwise, it's just another example of playing double standards. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, asked on Twitter if Musk's $44 billion cash deal to purchase Twitter would give China “a little bit of leverage over town square,” Reuters reported on Tuesday. The report said it was unclear what this deal means for Twitter's China content policy, given that Musk's Tesla depends heavily on China to produce and sell its vehicles.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron for winning reelection. Xi gave high credit to the development of bilateral relations in the past five years under Macron's governance, and stressed the stable development of ties has grown more prominent amid the increasingly complicated international atmosphere.

French voters began casting their ballots in the second and final round of the presidential election on Sunday as the centrist incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen face a final runoff. The US-led West is closely observing the result as some 48.7 million eligible French voters got to the polls, with most Western media and Wall Street anxiously waiting for the result.

The suspension of the YouTube account of John Lee Ka-chiu, the only candidate for Hong Kong's Chief Executive Election, sparked discussions in Hong Kong about whether it's necessary to come up with countermeasures - for example, by introducing the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law into China's Special Administrative Region (SAR). As the suspension came after US sanctions on Chinese officials on Hong Kong affairs, some experts said the sanctions could be a badge of honor for true patriots, who will not be deterred by those unilateral moves.

While the Russia-Ukraine crisis enters a new phase as fighting in the Donbas region intensifies, the US and its Western allies pledged more military assistance to Kiev, ramping up efforts to pressure and consume the power of Russia.

Chinese officials have sought to dispel growing misconceptions and speculations about the country's dynamic zero-COVID strategy and reaffirmed their confidence in what has been widely considered to be the best strategy still to both contain the epidemic and ensure stable economic development, as the battle against the outbreak in Shanghai shows some positive signs and the city is at a crucial stage to strive for zero-case goal in the communities.

The Election Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) announced on Monday the only validly nominated candidate - John Lee Ka-chiu - for the upcoming Chief Executive election, who told reporters that if he is elected, he will immediately launch the work aimed for border reopening with the Chinese mainland.

As Russian claimed that its troops had cleared the urban area of Mariupol, the strategically important port city in southeastern Ukraine, setting a deadline for Ukraine troops in the city to surrender, some experts considered that the battle could be seen as a crucial turning point for the Ukraine-Russia conflict that would have last for two months. Taking Mariupol will help lay the foundation for Russia's next phased military operations in the Donbass and taking the port city could create a land corridor from Lugansk to Donetsk to Crimea.

As the city of Shanghai is going through the most difficult time in its fight against Omicron, doubt, anxiety and fatigue are noticeable among local residents and some heart-wrenching stories could easily arouse the public's mood, but more people are finding ways to cheer up, help each other and suggest solutions, as patience and persistence are more crucial to win this hard battle.

The number of Shanghai's daily new COVID-19 cases may peak this week and the fresh wave may finish as early as the end of next month, experts said, although China's financial hub reported a record high number of daily new infections on Thursday, bringing the total infections in Shanghai to more than 250,000 since March.

After meeting with about 100 Election Committee members online and listened to their feedback about the government's future policies , John Lee Ka-chiu said he had secured more than 700 nominations as of 6 pm Tuesday. The former chief secretary for the administration, who is now running in the upcoming chief executive election, also highlighted the national security legislation before he planned to submit his nomination form to the Electoral Affairs Commission on Wednesday.

Considering the lessons from Shanghai's response to the Omicron resurgence, a number of provinces and cities across China are taking more decisive preventive measures to screen out possible COVID-19 infections through massive nucleic acid testing.

Wuhan, the capital city of the province, also required passengers who take public transport such as bus and subway to hold a 48-hour valid nucleic acid test results, the Wuhan Metro Operation Company and Wuhan Public Transport Group announced on Monday as 12 of 33 silent carriers were reported in the city on Sunday.

Hong Kong Police Force's national security department arrested Allan Au Ka-lun, a media veteran and former host of a RTHK program, on Monday morning for colluding and publishing inflammatory publications, local media reported. The reports said the case is related to Stand News.

French voters headed to the polls to cast their vote in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, which is expected to be a tight race between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Two days after China's central government, the State Council, approved the resignation of John Lee Ka-chiu from the post of Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong in accordance with the Basic Law, Lee announced on Saturday via an online press conference that he is joining the upcoming Chief Executive election, a decision made out of "the loyalty for the country, love for the city, and sense of duty toward local residents."

China's central government, the State Council, on the recommendation of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), decided on Thursday to remove John Lee Ka-chiu from the post of Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong in accordance with the Basic Law, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said on Friday.

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) celebrates the 73rd anniversary of its 1949 establishment, a new poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) showed that the majority of Russian people hold a negative attitude toward the bloc that is widely considered as the product of the Cold War. As the real initiator and driving force behind the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the NATO is destroying Europe, some Russian media said, while Chinese experts noted that the only way for Europe to reach its goal of having strategic autonomy is to shake off the long-term US control in terms of security.

Shanghai has been beefing up its COVID-19 preventions measures after a 3,000-official meeting on Wednesday night and vowed to adopt a strategy of what it termed "static management of the whole region," citywide nucleic acid testing as its officials admitted being ill prepared for the latest wave of fast-rising infections.

The resignation of two UK judges from Hong Kong's top court is a political decision and won't affect the city's judicial independence as the special administrative region (SAR) is ensured by the Basic Law, officials and legal experts said. Experts also refuted the groundless accusations made by some foreign politicians over the matter in an attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet EU leaders at the China-EU leaders' meeting on Friday during which the Ukraine crisis is expected to be one of the major topics, some Chinese experts said.

With public attention focused on surging COVID-19 infections in China's largest metropolis Shanghai, some public health experts have called for greater efforts in fixing severe loopholes in local anti-epidemic work in Northeast China's Jilin Province particularly after a number of workers were reportedly infected during the construction of local Fangcang makeshift hospitals and local residents are faced with a food shortage amid an Omicron flare-up.

Chinese financial hub Shanghai is now under the city's most stringent antivirus measures ever in a bid to stamp out the surging number of COVID-19 infections, as the ordered two-phase mass testing and sealing-off plans press the "pause" button on the usually bustling metropolis. Public transport, taxis and car hailing services have been suspended in targeted areas, while cross-river bridges and tunnels have been closed. Meanwhile, the government is ratcheting up the building of isolation sites, conducting nucleic acid tests on the city's 24 million people while guaranteeing food supplies and smooth medical channels for its residents.

As NATO leaders gathered on Thursday to discuss the Ukraine crisis, the US has been mulling new sanctions on Russia to further pressure it. While the military alliance plans to boost military deployments in eastern Europe, it also targeted China - an extraterritorial third-party that has been calling for peaceful dialogue to de-escalate the situation - and continued to distort its role, which, some Chinese experts said, would only fan the flames, resulting in a prolonged conflict and a growing humanitarian crisis that heavily weighs on Europe.

On the same day as a seven-hour meeting between senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Rome on Monday which was described by some media outlets as "intense," US Air Force General Kenneth Wilsbach blatantly threatened to teach China a lesson from the Ukraine situation, which could be applied to the Taiwan question. Such conceit was defied by the first direct high-level engagement between Chinese and US officials over the situation in Ukraine on which Washington had tried to misguide Beijing to serve its own interests, although failing to do so as the Chinese side stressed its consistent stance on the issue and urged the US side to correct its wrong words and deeds.

China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in the Italian capital of Rome on Monday, elaborating on China's position on the situation in Ukraine and calling on the international community to jointly support Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The two sides also had candid, in-depth and constructive discussions on China-US relations and agreed on jointly implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state and managing the differences.

Chinese lawmakers on Friday passed a method for Hong Kong to elect deputies to the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) at the closing meeting of the fifth session of the 13th NPC, which stressed that national legislators elected from the special administrative region must be firm patriots and those who have been convicted for harming national security be disqualified.

The last batch of 115 Chinese students who had been stranded in Sumy under siege safely arrived in western Ukraine's Lviv by train on Wednesday and were warmly received by the Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine, drawing a perfect conclusion to one of China's largest evacuation operations in history. It marked the successful completion of the mission as all 6,000 Chinese nationals in the country were moved to safe regions, the Global Times learned from the Chinese embassy in Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had a virtual summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday in Beijing, supporting France and Germany in promoting a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework for the interests and lasting security of Europe.

China's top legislature vowed to enrich the country's legal toolkit and develop a more comprehensive system of laws and regulations concerning foreign affairs in 2022, after it passed milestone laws and regulations including the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law last year and adopted necessary countermeasures against unjustified extraterritorial application of foreign legislation amid US-led bullying sanctions.

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Monday expressed the central government's concerns about the raging COVID-19 epidemic in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), as he met with HKSAR deputies to the country's top legislature in Beijing.

While about half of Hong Kong deputies and political advisors to the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are reportedly missing this year's "two sessions" in Beijing due to severe epidemic resurgence in Hong Kong, some came up with proposals about enhancing medical services cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, considered some system bottleneck hindering joint anti-epidemic fight against the fifth wave outbreak that has caused more than 280,000 infections.

As Russia's military operation in Ukraine entered its seventh day, the world is closely observing the situation as the rising cost of the war is being felt not only by Russia and Ukraine, but also Europe, and has made the second round of negotiations for a possible ceasefire an urgent issue.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam reiterated on Wednesday that Hong Kong will not have a citywide lockdown and the mass testing will take into account the local situation, refuting the circulating rumor that there will be a "full lockdown."

An international cat fancier society decided to slap harsh restrictions against cats bred in Russia and those belonging to people living in Russia, a latest sanction amid Russia-Ukraine conflict that shocked Chinese netizens, which is trending top on Chinese social media with many netizens questioning "what's all this crisis going on with animals?"

In one of the largest Chinese citizen evacuations in history, the Chinese embassy in Ukraine has already arranged the departure of some 2,300 fellow citizens from the country in just two days. The vast majority of the evacuees, about 2,200, traveled in buses escorted by embassy staff and local police forces to ensure a safe and quick exit to neighboring countries, with the rest going by train, still one of the safest ways out apart from by road.

As the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games will take place in three days, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that he expected the same high level of the Games as was seen in the Winter Olympics Games, which were impressive, splendid and safe, and the level of accessibility will remain high, given many efforts that China has made in past years on this aspect.

China evacuated the first batch of its citizens from Ukraine on Monday, including over 400 Chinese students from Odessa and 200 from Kiev. There will be nearly 1,000 more Chinese citizens to be evacuated from Ukraine on Tuesday to neighboring countries such as Poland and Slovakia, the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine said.

With just three days to go until the start of the Paralympic Winter Games, the competition venues, transportation systems, the Paralympic Villages and medical services are speeding the transition from the Winter Olympics for a streamlined, safe and green Winter Paralympics.

Shortly after the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine told the Global Times exclusively on Sunday that it is mulling alternative plans to evacuate local Chinese apart from charter flights, some Chinese nationals there said they are considering driving from Kiev to neighboring countries, and the embassy is coordinating with other Chinese embassies in Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland to facilitate Chinese nationals' trips.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) reported a record high of 26,026 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total amid the fifth wave of the outbreak to more than 150,000. As the number of infections continues to rocket, local hospitals are struggling with shortages of manpower, facilities and experience in treating severe infections, for which the Chinese mainland is ready to offer any help at the request of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has been recording surging COVID-19 infections in recent days, heavily weighing on its local public health system, regarding which Fan Hung-ling, chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Hong Kong society acknowledged shortcomings in dealing with the epidemic ahead of the fifth wave, and the city has to learn from the Chinese mainland in its dynamic zero-COVID policy in tracking patients, increasing medical resources like temporary hospitals, and rigorously carrying out quarantine measures.

The Ukraine crisis sees new change as Russia has decided to recognize two regions in eastern Ukraine as "independent and sovereign states," and the UN Security Council has met on the issue, with China calling on all parties to continue dialogue and consultations and seek reasonable solutions.

Hong Kong will launch mandatory mass nucleic acid testing in March for its 7.3 million residents, who are expected to receive COVID-19 tests three times within the period, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced on Tuesday.

Andy Boreham, a Shanghai-based New Zealander, was recently labeled by Twitter as "China state-affiliated media." This might be the first time a foreigner "gains this coveted title," he told the Global Times in an interview adding that "Twitter is anything but a space for sharing ideas. It is a tool for hegemony and the status quo. And the unfair media coverage of China is just part of the systemic and high-level campaign to continue painting China in the worst possible light."

For some foreign athletes, the trip to Beijing for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games has been unforgettable as some special moments underscore not only the sportsmanship, friendship and solidarity, some qualities the world needs the most amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but also how destiny ties people together, especially those who are living thousands of miles away from each other.

By citing the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Executive Council agreed to postpone the Chief Executive Election, which was originally scheduled for March 27, to May 8 as the Chinese city fights the COVID-19 outbreak, Carrie Lam, chief executive of the HKSAR government, announced on Friday.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are coming to a conclusion, and many moments have conveyed the true spirit of the Olympics to inspire athletes around the world. And for some IOC members, the Beijing Games are considered as special forever amid the rising challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong said in a Wednesday statement that it will implement the instructions of Chinese President Xi Jinping on the COVID-19 control work in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and will fully support the government's anti-epidemic fight amid a fresh surge in the city, which reported over 4,000 new cases on Wednesday.

Former US President Richard Nixon, a Republican, made a historic trip to China in 1972, unveiling a new page for US-China relations. But 50 years later, more Republicans take China as a threat with an ideology-centered perspective, as some even began manipulating the symbols of peace and love like the panda and long-term giant panda cooperation research, and breeding programs between China and zoos overseas have now become a new target for the anti-China campaign. The trend reflects a failing country and hysteria of some US politicians, Chinese experts said.

Hong Kong sounded the alarm with another 986 COVID-19 infections registered on Thursday, after the city reported a four-digit daily tally on Wednesday for the first time, which threatens to engulf the city's medical system.

Lithuanian alpine skier Andrej Drukarov shared some videos showing the venues and facilities in the Yanqing area, one of the three venues of the 2022 Winter Olympics, on social media. He told the Global Times on Thursday that his experience has been good and it's indeed a dream come true attending the Olympic Games. The athlete said he does not care much about the diplomatic spat between Lithuania and China.

Following the highly anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, China and Russia issued a lengthy joint statement that elaborated on shared views and consensuses on major global and regional issues and delivered a scathing rejection of the US-led West's hegemony that increasingly threatens global security and stability, a move that experts say ushers in a new era of international relations.

Over the past decade or so, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have shared many memorable moments during their interactions. They have celebrated each other's birthdays, shared various delicacies and attended sports events together - all pointing to the close friendship between the two leaders as well as the two countries they lead.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived at Beijing on Thursday night for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, his second visit to China since the COVID-19 outbreak began in late 2019 and early 2020. 

As one of the tropical countries to the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, Brazil sent a delegation of 11 athletes scattered throughout disciplines such as alpine skiing, skeleton and bobsled. One of the Brazilian athletes said that for countries like Brazil and China, which are in the stage of ice sports development, athletes being able to compete at the Winter Olympics is already a huge accomplishment, and further engagement with the public will help grow people's enthusiasm for the ice sports.

A day ahead of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese media that the meeting of the heads of state plays a crucial role in the close cooperation between Moscow and Beijing on the basis of mutual political trust. President Putin noted the two nations will play a pivotal role to safeguard stability in today's challenging world.

​After a video posted by Czech ice dancer Natalie Taschlerova showing how much she enjoyed life in Olympic Village and how happy she was when she received a gift bag with Bing Dwen Dwen inside, the 20-year-old Czech athlete shared her excitement with the Global Times on Wednesday, saying that she almost cried when she received the mascot souvenir and has been enjoying her first trip to Olympics to pursue her dream.

As Juan Antonio Samaranch, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games says, the Games will not only present the world a wonderful 16-day sporting festival but also will leave an Olympic legacy for the public to become more active in winter sports. The Beijing's first Winter Olympic Games community - Gaojinglu - where he visited in December 2019, is a good example.

In three days, the world will witness the grand opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, marking Beijing as the world's first city to hold both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. Juan Antonio Samaranch, chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Monday that the organizing committee has prepared everything extraordinarily. In full confidence, the Beijing 2022 Games, with the best venues and best winter athletes from around the world, will deliver extraordinary Games in the most difficult circumstances.

For US bobsledder Carlo Valdes, a member of the US team to the 2022 Winter Olympics, the experiences in Beijing have been awesome so far.

World athletes are arriving in Beijing, as the world shares the cheerful atmosphere of the great union of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, which kindles hope for the world which has been struggling with the pandemic and needs solidarity more than ever. On Friday when the UN resolution to observe the Olympic Truce for the upcoming Winter Olympics took effect, the risks of regional conflict on the Russia-Ukraine border linger.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, and hold a welcome banquet for at least 32 foreign heads of state, heads of government, members of the royal family and heads of international organizations, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced on Friday.

Hong Kong on Thursday released a highly anticipated guideline for the upcoming chief executive election, and set the nomination period for the race from February 20 to March 5, with the election date set on March 27.

During a New Year address to Hong Kong society on Wednesday, the central government's top official in Hong Kong expressed confidence in the “one country, two systems,” spoke highly of the city's new changes following the implementation of the national security law and the improvement of the electoral system, and stressed that the future of Hong Kong lies in the city resolutely integrating into the overall development of the country.

Different accents and training backgrounds highlighted the diversity of the Hong Kong Special ­Administrative Region (­HKSAR) as an international city that is expected to be a bridge of ice sports exchanges in Asia, Ski Association of Hong Kong Chairman Edmond Yue told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Tuesday when he referred to the different experiences of three Hong Kong athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics 2022, and said that they are Hong Kong youth who are also Chinese.

Some of China's port cities, which have been at the frontline in fending off the risks of imported COVID-19 cases over the past two years, were again caught in a resurgence of coronavirus cases in recent days.

Amid new cluster outbreaks in Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, vowed to push forward a vaccine bubble plan and mass vaccination. With a daily testing capacity that can increase to 150,000, Lam said she remained open to assistance from the Chinese mainland when asked by reporters during a weekly briefing on Tuesday.

The Taliban delegation headed by the Afghan interim government's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi started its first visit to Europe since the Taliban took over Kabul in mid-August last year and met with Western diplomats in Oslo on Monday, a move that has been seen by some observers as the Taliban's new diplomatic efforts to seek humanitarian assistance and international recognition.

China warned the UK on Sunday not to follow the Cold War playbook, as it will lead it nowhere, after Britain's top foreign and defense officials talked with their Australian counterparts, aiming to advance AUKUS and convene an ideological clique to counter China and Russia.

Less than two weeks from the start of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Fan Lingzhi (GT) interviewed Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, vice president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong.

Hopes for the border reopening of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) with the Chinese mainland around the Spring Festival have been dashed, experts said on Sunday, after the city reported 140 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, including 104 cases related to the Kwai Chung Estate outbreak.

Even though Chinese Americans have been living in the US for more than 175 years, "we are still seen as perpetual foreigners," said the president of an elite group promoting China-US ties, who called for the federal state, local government and communities to do more to defy long-held stereotypes.

As the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is sending its largest-ever athlete delegation to the Winter Olympics, which is composed of two alpine skiers and one short-track speed skater, Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, vice president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday that their participation in the Winter Olympics is expected to inspire enthusiasm of Hong Kong youth for ice sports and provide opportunities for exchanges with national team athletes.

A senior official from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) praised the anti-epidemic work in the closed loop, saying that the IOC team is able to work very efficiently and the life is easy. A combination of measures such as frequent testing and mask mandatory in line with the Beijing 2022 Playbooks guarantees success.

In response to remarks made by some NBA players on China-related matters, former NBA star player Yao Ming said the sport serves as a bridge of communication, and as long as the bridge exists, time will fix many issues and he is happy to welcome those players who have a negative impression on China to visit the country and see a full picture.

About two weeks ahead of the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, former NBA star Yao Ming, also one of the leading Chinese sports figures to back Beijing's bid for the Beijing 2022, told the Global Times on Monday that he is confident that the Games will be a great success despite COVID-19 risks.

While the Hong Kong Disciplined Services have been gradually introducing Chinese-style marching since the beginning of 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) decided to fully transform from British style to the Chinese-style foot drills starting from July 1 in both ceremonies and all levels of foot drills and daily etiquette, a spokesperson of the HKPF told the Global Times on Thursday.

As the 7th Legislative Council (LegCo) completed its first meeting on Wednesday after electoral reform ensured that only patriots can govern the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the chamber not only featured a new look that underscores the constitutional status of the city, but was also filled with a rational and constructive atmosphere.

Just one year ago, Capitol Hill in Washington, DC was stormed by supporters of former US president Donald Trump, yet the US continues to suffer from the failure to handle the COVID-19 pandemic and the endless struggle between left and right, or red and blue, with many Americans and even observers worldwide believing they attached too much hope on the new Democrats' administration led by President Joe Biden to fix the problems and clean up the mess.

The closure of several Hong Kong online media outlets triggered criticism from some Western media over a so-called deteriorating or eroding freedom of the press in the city, which was refuted by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) officials and observers, as the fate of two online media - Stand News and Hong Kong Citizen News - has nothing to do with press freedom, and anti-China forces challenging the bottom line of the rule of law of Hong Kong in the name of press freedom must be held accountable.

According to the Center for Health Protection of Department of Health of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong reported 29 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 40 cases that tested preliminarily positive on Sunday. Analysts said it "will make sense" if the reopening plan between Hong Kong and the mainland is further delayed due to the resurgence in cases.

When Americans in New York, Boston, Las Vegas and elsewhere were celebrating the New Year with shouting, kissing and dancing while ignoring health experts' advice to wear masks and keep social distance, the epidemic in the US is riding a roller coaster going up at speed, breaking daily records in case numbers and leaving many to wondering when this latest wave will peak, and how high it will be.

Hong Kong's 90 new lawmakers were sworn into office on Monday, as the seventh-term Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) began its four-year term of office on Saturday. Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, administered the oath-taking ceremony.

Hong Kong's online news outlet, Citizen News, is scheduled to stop operations on Tuesday, a decision that was made following the shutdown of Stand News. While the chief writer and editor of Citizen News claimed on Monday that the decision was made over concerns on whether future coverage would violate the law, observers said the ambiguous stance cannot disguise the fact that Citizen News has played a notorious role in instigating social divergence and defying the constitutional order of Hong Kong.

No matter how hard US-led Western forces such as politicians and media outlets try to distort law enforcement on Hong Kong news site Stand News and use so-called freedom of the press to slander Chinese authorities, their ill-intentioned attempts won't change the fact that the site is suspected to have violated local laws, and Chinese authorities, including the HKSAR government, will spare no efforts to safeguard national security. Such resolute determination only makes foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs much weaker, even trivial, experts said.

After the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) arrested seven people on suspicion of sedition on Wednesday and searched the offices of Stand News in Kwun Tong, the online news site announced it would cease operations after police froze HK$61 million ($7.82 million) of its assets. Some senior executives and former senior executives of the news site such as the former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and a board member Denise Ho, who is also an infamous secessionist singer, were among the arrestees, on the charge of colluding and publishing multiple inflammatory articles.

Jailed Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, as well as six other people with the newspaper, faced a new charge of printing and disseminating inflammatory publications as they returned to local court for another pretrial hearing on Tuesday, which experts said would provide the public with a much clearer view of inflammatory publications and lead local media outlets to have much more freedom in their work.

With the approach of the New Year and the Spring Festival, the most important occasion for Chinese families' reunions, Hong Kong residents have embarked on their long-overdue journeys back to their hometowns in the Chinese mainland despite long queues at the border checkpoints and the 14-day mandatory quarantine upon entering the mainland.

A week after a white paper on Hong Kong's democratic progress under the "one country, two systems" policy was released on the heels of the Legislative Council (LegCo) election, three senior experts on Hong Kong affairs, including a former official from the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, further clarified the democratic path that Hong Kong has to pursue, saying that the white paper serves as an official textbook for Hong Kong's democracy and fighting back against US-led Western criticism over the latest LegCo election.

Top Chinese policy advisors on Hong Kong affairs slammed the recent criticism made by some Western-led blocs such as the G7, Five Eyes and EU over Hong Kong's electoral system reform and the Legislative Council (LegCo) election, saying such criticism only reflects the old-fashioned colonial mindset of the West while they face severe crises in their own democracies.

The former socialist superpower the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed on December 25, 1991, while China, a major power which chose the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics different from that of the USSR, has become the biggest economy on a purchasing power parity basis. It is also the most powerful and successful socialist country en route to realize modernization and industrialization without choosing the Western capitalist model, as well as "the most important strategic competitor" in the eyes of the US.

Nurses spent Christmas this year in ICUs in France amid the Omicron surge, while thousands of flights were canceled globally due to the spread of the new variant, keeping many families apart. Many people around the world are tired and frustrated of having to spend another Christmas with COVID-19, but after the WHO forecast that the pandemic will end next year, many have asked the question: Was this the last Christmas under the shadow of COVID-19?

The next Legislative Council (LegCo) will not become a 'rubber stamp' legislature, as the true purpose of free speech is to solve problems in a rational way rather than opposing each other violently. The previous LegCo became a place just for the opposition only because of different political positions, and it even led to street violence, former LegCo president, Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, who is also a member of the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

The Yanqing ski hub in northwestern Beijing, a major venue for alpine skiing for the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, entered the final preparations and the highly expected event also created new job opportunities such as skiers specialized on electricity maintenance.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) on late Wednesday night dismantled a controversial statue previously known as the Pillar of Shame from its campus, to rule out potential safety risks posed by the aged, fragile statue and potential legal risks based on local laws in Hong Kong.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in Beijing on Wednesday for her annual duty report trip, two days after the Legislative Council (LegCo) election successfully concluded, which ushered in a new era for local governance.

After Hong Kong concluded a successful Legislative Council (LegCo) election, G7, EU and Five Eyes alliance could not wait to point a finger at it, which was considered as a staged political farce and a scene of "crying foul" after the West-led cliques completely lost the battle to contain China by interfering in Hong Kong affairs, experts and officials said. They noted that using so-called democracy as cover for such an ill-intentioned attempt is their last fig leaf as China wields an anti-interference battle.

Chinese Foreign Ministry's commissioner officer in Hong Kong, the Chinese embassy in the UK, the liaison office of the central government in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government condemned the smears and irresponsible remarks made by Five Eyes countries, the EU and G7 on Hong Kong's Legislative Council election, urging them to stop any form of interference in Hong Kong affairs, which are China's internal affairs.

All the 90 members of the 7th-term Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) were elected on Monday. They were elected by the Election Committee constituency (40 seats), functional constituencies (30 seats), and geographical constituencies (20 seats) after over 1.35 million Hong Kong residents voted on Sunday.

As some Western media outlets, along with secessionists like Nathan Law Kwun Chung and Ted Hui Chi-fung, questioned the legitimacy of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) elections by hyping the absence of pan-democratic candidates, Tik Chi-yuen, former vice chairman and founding member of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that as a candidate from the opposition camp who had been nominated and supported by pro-establishment figures, his participation in the election fully shows that the central government is expecting a diverse LegCo with broad representation.

The highly expected Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) election, the first since the electoral reform ensuring patriots governing Hong Kong, started on Sunday morning. Some local residents told the Global Times that they got up very early to cast their votes as the new election signaled a new era for local governance.

Hong Kong law enforcement authorities are on high alert to fend off any act of sabotage and illegal acts of interfering in the fairness of the Legislative Council (LegCo) election, which is scheduled to take place from 8:30 am to 10:30 pm on Sunday, with the police deploying over 10,000 police officers. The local disciplinary watchdog issued a new warrant to arrest secessionists like Nathan Law who constantly smear the election and call for blank votes.

It has been a very busy week for candidates running for the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) election, to be held on Sunday, as some of them have a packed schedule for campaigning, attending forums to mobilize the public to vote, and using all kinds of social media platforms.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) sued two people on Thursday for reposting a post of Ted Hui Chi-fung, the absconded former opposition lawmaker, which was instigating others to cast blank votes in the upcoming LegCo election. It was also the first time to bring up such new offense since the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance amendment in May. Legal experts in Hong Kong pointed out that the case also showed that relevant regulations play a role of deterrence, and such determined law enforcement could stop anti-government rioters from manipulating the election.

With the upcoming 2021 Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) elections, it is hard to fathom how chaotic the past few years have been with opposition lawmakers using the filibuster and other malicious tactics to paralyze the legislature and causing a large number of bills related to people's livelihoods to be blocked or delayed.

Three days ahead of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) election, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung warned of a “lone wolf” style of attack and domestic terrorism, as some lawmakers may interfere in the process by hindering voters from entering polling stations.

More than 440,000 residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) have applied for Hong Kong health code accounts as of Tuesday morning, and 150,000 of the accounts have been activated, said HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam, amid reports which suggested that the border between the city and Chinese mainland would reopen around December 21 to resume quarantine-free travels.

A work group dispatched by the State Council has urged Manzhouli, a land port city in North China's Inner Mongolia - epicenter of this round of epidemic resurgence where 449 confirmed COVID-19 infections were registered - to further tighten up epidemic control measures and guard the gateway of the country.

China has lodged solemn representations and expressed strong opposition to the US' "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and will take firm countermeasures, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, while Chinese and foreign experts said the US is making itself a joke not only by announcing a boycott of the Games that had not invited US politicians and also by citing lies of "genocide" against China as an excuse to politicize the Olympics in an attempt to create momentum for its upcoming democracy summit.

Less than two weeks ahead of Legislative Council elections in Hong Kong, the Global Times reporters Chen Qingqing and Bai Yunyi (GT) had an exclusive interview with Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, to look back on her experience in governing Hong Kong, especially during the most difficult period in 2019 amid social turmoil, how she sees the implementation of the national security law for Hong Kong, and how electoral reform has changed the landscape of political life and helped bring back social stability. Lam also shared her expectations for the upcoming elections and responded to some doubts such as possible low turnout rates.

To understand today's China, one must learn to understand the Communist Party of China (CPC), Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated at a conference on understanding China on Thursday. Experts said that such a signal, sent at a time when the West's anti-China narrative, shepherded by the US, is doubling down to portray antagonism between China and the West, should serve as a reminder for the West that it is time for them to discard their prejudice and understand China, and also it should have the courage to understand how the Chinese system works. Only such an understanding will endow them with wisdom to cooperate with China, peacefully co-exist with China and create a future together with China, they said.

The Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) expressed its indignation and firm opposition on Thursday to the unilateral decision made by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) on Wednesday to suspend tournaments in China, citing so-called concerns about the well-being of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, according to a statement obtained by the Global Times exclusively.

Manzhouli, China's largest land port city in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is in the spotlight as the latest coronavirus flare-up has seen 142 new infections as of Wednesday, which was caused by contaminated imported goods. As a city bordering Mongolia and Russia where many China-Europe freight trains passing through every year, Manzhouli, like some other Chinese port cities, has been standing at the frontline in fighting against imported virus cases. Epidemiologists and insiders warned that loopholes in port management challenge China's dynamic zero-COVID policy.

The Chinese Embassy in France voiced strong opposition to a resolution adopted by the French Assembly which encourages the participation of the island of Taiwan in international organizations such as the WHO and the International Criminal Police Organization, as the French move clearly violates the one-China principle, blatantly interferes in China's internal affairs, and intentionally advocates "Taiwan independence."

A number of Chinese netizens complained on Friday night that Google Translate wrongly translates "AIDS" as "Communist Party of China Central Committee," or "AIDS patients" as "Wuhan residents," as some posts of screenshots of the problematic translation showed. Google China later said in an email to the Global Times that it is working on a fix.

With the Legislative Council election in Hong Kong approaching, some candidates have received suspicious packages from the island of Taiwan, and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) confirmed with the Global Times on Friday that the case is being handled as a case of criminal intimidation.

Shortly after the Biden administration officially released the list of participants to its upcoming “summit for democracy,” which includes the island of Taiwan, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said “it's a mistake” and reiterated its firm opposition to any formal interaction between the US and the island.

The former leader of Hong Kong pro-secessionist group Studentlocalism, Tony Chung Hon-lam, was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to secessionism and money laundering, local media reported on Tuesday. Legal experts hailed it as an appropriate sentencing which would serve as a warning to secessionists.

China might help the US curb soaring oil prices and fears of inflation by releasing its own crude oil reserves to a certain extent as a favor, experts said on Tuesday. But the US must return the favor with sincerity in pushing for a better environment for China-US cooperation, particularly it should refrain from heaping ungrounded pressure and crackdown on China in areas where they don't need China's help, experts said.

The central government dispatched a delegation of epidemic prevention and control experts to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Saturday, which could be the final step toward the resumption of quarantine-free travel between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, observers said.

China has no intention of seeking conflict nor confrontation with any country, and whether China and the US handle their relationship well will define the future of the world, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a summit on Saturday, urging some politicians to stop playing the "Taiwan card."

After the island of Taiwan opened its so-called representative office in Lithuania, sparking strong opposition and protest from the Chinese government, experts warned the most severe consequence the Baltic state will face could be severed diplomatic ties by China, and that more countermeasures by China such as sanctions and restrictions of business ties could be imposed on political figures from Lithuania, who have colluded with the secessionist DPP authority on the island and blatantly violated the one-China principle and international rules.

The Department of Justice in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) have vowed to carry out a thorough investigation and punishment of the perpetrators in accordance with the law.

A rare extended virtual meeting between the top leaders of the world's two major powers concluded on Tuesday and the leaders agreed on two consensuses in principle such as rejecting a new cold war and reaffirming the importance of China-US relations. During the meeting, which came at the request of the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out three principles and four priorities for growing bilateral ties in the new era, demonstrating Beijing's high-minded manner and full confidence in pushing Washington to correct mistakes that have led the bilateral relationship to deviate in recent years, experts said.

Ahead of a virtual meeting between Chinese and US top leaders, some senior US officials hinted at lifting tariffs in resolving the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Ahead of the highly anticipated virtual meeting between the top leaders of the world's two largest economies this week, senior Chinese diplomat warned the US to stop manipulating "the Taiwan card" to contain and encircle the Chinese mainland. The warning came after several recent misconducts by Washington politicians, and experts predict the Taiwan question will be a major topic of concern at the meeting.

Visa issuance is a matter of sovereignty, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has the right to make decisions on visa applications based on "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law of the HKSAR, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday in response to the recent handling of the visa renewal procedures for a journalist from The Economist.

Ma Chun-man, a 31-year-old man dubbed as the "Captain America 2.0" who repeatedly advocated for "Hong Kong independence" in anti-government movements two years ago, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on Thursday, which was hailed by local legal experts as a “rightful sentence” compatible with the Basic Law.

China has made great contributions to global climate governance through its green development, participation in international negotiations, and multilateral cooperation. During the COP26, the Global Times (GT) reporters Shan Jie, Chen Qingqing and Zhao Yusha talked with Xu Huaqing (Xu), a senior expert from the Chinese delegation and director at the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation to understand China's position and expectations to the achievements of COP26.

Chinese mainland's Korean War-themed blockbuster The Battle at Lake Changjin, the highest-grossing film worldwide in 2021, has debuted in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions on Thursday. The film was immediately met with full bookings throughout the following weeks, drawing tremendous popularity among the local communities, especially the youths.

The Chinese mainland has made stern warnings after a delegation of US lawmakers sneaked into the island of Taiwan via US military aircraft on Tuesday night, the second time since US President Joe Biden took office. Experts said that the US lawmakers' visit is driven by a mixture of political and business interests, as well as to embolden the pro-secession DPP authority, and it could also speed up the deployment of the mainland and the process of final reunification between the two sides of the Straits.

While some countries like the US resumed international travel, new COVID-19 cases spiked in countries like Germany and France as global infections surpassed 250 million. When more Western countries reopen their borders, China has to continue adhering to its zero-tolerance policy, remaining as a must-have strategy to contain the virus at the lowest cost, Chinese senior epidemiologists warned.

Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, said at a press conference on Tuesday morning that Hong Kong and the mainland are discussing details about quarantine-free border reopening, which has not been affected by the resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks in the mainland.

The latest remarks of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, which claimed that the Biden administration is not seeking a fundamental transformation of the Chinese system, appeared to signal a softer rhetoric of the Biden administration on bilateral relations, but experts warned that China should remain vigilant on the duplicity in US' China policy and potential flip-flops.

A secessionist group on the island of Taiwan reportedly plans to sell self-made calendars that are composed of distorted history and content smearing the Chinese mainland, the Communist Party of China, Hong Kong and Macao. Local legal experts have warned that selling these calendars in Hong Kong will violate the law.

Chung Pui-kuen, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong digital news outlet Stand News, announced he stepped down from the position for family reasons, local media reported on Sunday. Experts in both Chinese mainland and Hong Kong said the decision was not surprising and signals the end of an anti-government media whose legacy is its infamous role in the social unrest in Hong Kong.

The online petition launched by French writer Maxime Vivas calling for objective views on China is unavailable on the website where it was first posted - change.org, the world's largest petition platform - with no specific reason given, and the French writer and one signatory slammed the West's so-called freedom of speech.

"We have the right to speak differently about China!" Maxime Vivas, French writer and journalist, started on Tuesday a petition on the world's largest petition platform, change.org, to share his stories of being insulted and attacked for his objective views on China and called on all sectors of society to have an objective view of China.

India is playing a petty trick by using its absence in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as an excuse for its own reluctance to make emissions reduction promises and to scapegoat China for its difficulties to obtain membership, Chinese experts said on Monday. They urged India to put aside political elements and return to the consensus on cooperation and development reached by Chinese and Indian leaders.

India reportedly refused to announce a net-zero carbon emissions target ahead of next week's climate conference, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland when countries around the world are expected to push actions to deal with the rise in the global temperature. Experts noted that India's reluctance to set a target shows its difficulties in balancing economic development and decreasing emissions and challenges lie ahead the upcoming climate summit.

In a recent interview with CNN published on Thursday, Taiwan's regional leader Tsai Ing-wen confirmed for the first time that US troops are present on the island for "training purposes." Experts said that this provocative announcement is for Taiwan secessionists to show off that they have got protection from the US, but in fact, there is no chance for them to escape punishment.

Cheng Jingye, the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, said in a farewell address as he was leaving the position of the Chinese envoy to the country that the current situation of China-Australia relations is saddening. Chinese experts have said that Canberra is the only one to be blamed for the worsening relations between the two countries.

Ahead of the COP26, China issues a white paper to share with the world its achievements and experience in tackling climate change

Ma Chun-man, a 31-year-old man with the nickname of "second generation Captain America" who constantly advocated for "Hong Kong independence" in anti-government movements has been convicted of inciting others to commit secession. A local judge will announce the sentence in November, Hong Kong media reported.

Chan said that in the fight against COVID-19, China has given full play to the political advantages of the socialist system, and has always been the first to pursue cooperation with the WHO based on scientific, open and transparent principles. She opposes politicization and stigmatization of origins probe and calls on joint cooperation from the international community.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer who returned to China from Canada on September 25, went back to work at the company's Shenzhen headquarters, as an online video showed on Monday. Huawei staff welcomed her return with cheers and balloons.

Hua Chunying, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's information department, was promoted to the position of Assistant Foreign Minister, according to the ministry's website. The promotion was widely praised by Chinese netizens on social media on Sunday as many were impressed by Hua's kindness and graceful manners while also replying with incisive and smart responses to the smears and attacks led by the West against China amid US-led geopolitical confrontation with China.

The latest COVID-19 resurgence, which has spread into 11 Chinese provinces in just one week, was triggered by a new imported source identified as being of the Delta variant, according to officials from China's top health authority. Some Chinese epidemiologists see the current sporadic outbreaks as having outpaced the epidemic flare-up in Nanjing in late July that was the worst since the 2020 outbreak in Wuhan.

With EU lawmakers pushing forward a resolution in deepening so-called "political and economic ties" with the island of Taiwan and the Biden administration's pick for ambassador to China vowing to make the island "a tough nut to crack," some European and US politicians have continued sending the wrong signals on the Taiwan question, creating a false image of West-led pressure on the Chinese government at a time when tensions have been rising in the Taiwan Straits.

China-UK cooperation on zero emission vehicles is expected to remain strong in the future as both nations are ramping up efforts to realize their commitment on zero emissions on a certain deadline, Caroline Wilson, UK Ambassador to China, said on Wednesday.

With the UK hosting COP26 and China hosting COP15 this year, the UK and China have a unique opportunity to work together to protect our planet, our economies and our livelihood, and we will play an active role in negotiations and use COP26 to deliver solutions that also support biodiversity, Caroline Wilson, the British Ambassador to China, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) National Security Department has so far received over 180,000 messages reporting possible clues for national security issues, and it has vowed to push forward an all-out campaign in mobilizing the residents in joining the counter-terrorism work, according to a statement the HKPF sent to the Global Times on Tuesday night.

As to the US military's silence over the USS Connecticut's recent accident, Li said it is linked to the previous flaunt of US presence in the South China Sea, which "reinforces the possibility that the USS Connecticut made an embarrassing stupid mistake in the South China Sea that they do not want to talk about."

China and India held the 13th round of corps commander-level talks on Sunday, during which India insisted on unreasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command said in a statement released on Monday.

At a gathering marking the 110th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the Taiwan question will be resolved along with national rejuvenation and warned that secessionists are a serious threat to that mission, and that those who betray the country will be judged by history.

In her latest policy address on Wednesday, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam unveiled a plan to transform northern Hong Kong into a metropolis covering about 300 square kilometers. Experts noted that it is the best time in Hong Kong for this ambitious plan, which is expected to be a historic opportunity for the city to get back on track.

Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, recently signed a deferred prosecution agreement with the US and returned to China after being detained in Canada for over 1,000 days. Meng's story reminds many of a similar incident that occurred years ago when the US used its long-armed jurisdiction powers to strike down a senior executive from the French energy and transport company Alstom. Former Alstom executive Frederic Pierucci, who told this story in his book titled Le Piège Américain (The American Trap), talked with the Global Times (GT) reporter Chen Qingqing in the latest interview, sharing his thought on the Meng incident and its significance, especially concerning counteracting the US' use of its legal system to wage an economic war.

China's victory on the incident of Huawei's Meng Wanzhou could help slow down the process during which the US uses its legal system to wage an economic war against specific companies and inspire more countries to stand up in counteracting the long-arm jurisdiction of the US, former Alstom executive Frederic Pierucci told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday.

While some observers considered resolving the incident of Huawei's senior executive Meng Wanzhou as pulling out a nail in China-US relationship, a Chinese official urged the US to take action in correcting other mistakes on the two lists that China presented to the US in July after it has corrected one - the release of Meng.

McDonald's in Hong Kong apologized after it was slammed for being cold-blooded as its "crispy chicken wings" advertisement sparked an outrage for disrespecting a Hong Kong police officer who sacrificed her life during an anti-smuggling operation.

The man who stabbed Hong Kong's pro-establishment legislator Junius Ho Kwan-yiu in 2019 during a district election has been sentenced to nine years in prison, after he confessed his assault was on purpose, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) said on Monday. However, Ho said the final verdict is unfair as the court decided to charge the man of intentional assault rather than the original charge of intentional murder. Ho said the man's intentions to kill were clear when the man stabbed him on his chest in 2019.

Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou arrived at the Shenzhen Baoan Airport Saturday night after a 13-hour flight from Vancouver after she was freed by the US and Canadian authorities that found her not guilty, with no punishment in fraud charges.

Huawei's Meng Wanzhou reached a landmark deal with the US Justice Department on Friday that will allow her to return to China, under which the senior executive of the Chinese company has not pleaded guilty. It marks the end of Meng's nearly three-year detention in Canada, and may help ease the frozen China-Canada tie and frictions between China and the US, experts said.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Liang Wannian, the Chinese leader of the WHO-China joint expert team, denounced the lab leak hypothesis put forward by some politicians under the continuing US-led politicization of the SARS-CoV-2 origins tracing, saying that some who insist on the hypothesis have mixed personal feelings or personal subjective judgments.

an exclusive interview with the Global Times(GT), Liang Wannian, team leader of the Chinese side of the WHO-China joint expert team, reiterated that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had never contacted, stored, or studied any novel coronavirus before December 30, 2019.