China | Pakistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has welcomed the recent stance by Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan against the establishment of foreign military bases in and around Afghanistan. This position was affirmed in a joint statement released after foreign ministers from the four countries met on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York. They emphasised respect for Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and said re-establishment of foreign military bases is “not conducive to regional peace and security.” According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, his country not only welcomed the stance of the four countries but said that “Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used against other countries, nor permit armed groups to operate from its soil.” While the joint statement did not refer to any specific country seeking bases in Afghanistan, it follows one by US President Donald Trump where he said Washington was trying to get...

China’s former minister for agriculture and rural affairs was sentenced to death with reprieve for bribery at a court in Jilin province on Sunday, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Tang took bribes, including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan ($37.6 million) in various positions held from 2007 to 2024, Xinhua said. The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes, it added. China’s Communist Party expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post. Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar investigations into Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe. President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure police, prosecutors, and judges are “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable”. Tang was governor of the western pr...

ISLAMABAD - The Government of China has announced an additional package of flood relief supplies worth 100 million yuan RMB to further support Pakistan’s ongoing efforts in disaster relief and post-flood reconstruction.

The Government of China has announced an additional package of flood relief supplies worth 100 million RMB to further support Pakistan’s ongoing efforts in disaster relief and post-flood reconstruction.

GILGIT - Yunnan Forestry Technological College (YFTC), China, will host 40 students from Karakoram International University (KIU), Pakistan for a year-long program in forestry and agriculture.

Typhoon Ragasa, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, barreled towards tens of millions of people in southern China on Wednesday after killing 14 people in Taiwan, leaving scores missing and lashing Hong Kong with ferocious winds and heavy rains. Some 129 people are missing in Taiwan’s eastern Hualien county, after a barrier lake overflowed and sent a wall of water into a town, the Taiwan fire department said on Wednesday, with Ragasa’s outer rim having drenched the island since Monday. Many residents in the tourist town of Guangfu complained there was insufficient warning from Taiwan authorities, who are used to moving people out of potential danger zones swiftly on the island, which is frequently hit by typhoons. As rains inundated Taiwan, Hong Kong grappled with huge waves that crashed over areas of the Asian financial hub’s eastern and southern shoreline, breaking into white-water streams as they rushed along pavements and submerged some roads alongside residential properties. At the Fulle...

ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of People’s Republic of China Jiang Zaidong has said that China is willing to work with Pakistan to implement the important outcomes of President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit, advance the action plan to foster an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era (2025-2029).

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China has dispatched emergency aid to support Pakistan’s flood-hit communities, reaffirming Beijing’s role as a close ally in times of crisis.

China’s top internet regulator said Tuesday it would take action against ByteDance-owned news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba’s internet browser company UCWeb for allegedly displaying harmful content, a day after announcing a two-month social media crackdown. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) vowed on Monday to combat content containing “malicious incitement of conflict” and “negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness”. Beijing requires social media companies to moderate content on their platforms, with posts strictly controlled to avoid anything deemed to be too subversive, vulgar, pornographic or generally harmful. The CAC had already announced penalties this month against three popular digital platforms — micro-blogging platform Weibo, short video app Kuaishou and Instagram-like Xiaohongshu — for allegedly neglecting content management duties. Authorities have not specified what punitive actions are being taken against those platforms. The CAC said Tuesday that measures taken against news a...

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari’s just concluded visit to China has reaffirmed the enduring depth of Pakistan-China friendship, as both sides pledged to expand cooperation in trade, industry, agriculture, and cultural exchanges during high-level engagements in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Lahore - Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has said that China has always stood by Pakistan in every sector, and if this friendship continues with the same spirit, Pakistan will soon overcome its challenges.

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has departed for China to attend the 14th Joint Coordination Committee meeting on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, scheduled in Beijing on Friday.

China’s top internet regulator announced on Monday a sweeping two-month crackdown on social media, vowing to combat content containing “malicious incitement of conflict” and “negative outlooks on life such as world-weariness”. Beijing requires social media companies to moderate content on their platforms, with posts strictly controlled to avoid anything deemed to be too subversive, vulgar, pornographic or generally harmful. The notice from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) follows announcements of penalties this month against three popular digital platforms, which it said had neglected content management duties. On Saturday, the CAC said it would carry out “disciplinary and punitive measures” against micro-blogging platform Weibo and short video platform Kuaishou, accusing them of highlighting celebrity news and “undesirable” content. The announcement followed similar action taken by the CAC on September 11 against the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu, known as Rednote in English. Authorities have not sp...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday departed to Pakistan from Kashgar, China.

ISLAMABAD - The China-Pakistan Study Centre (CPSC) at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) organised the launch of its latest book titled “Pakistan and China: Connecting at People’s Level” here.

China on Friday strongly reacted to United States President Donald Trump’s plan to retake control of Afghanistan’s Bagram air base and said “hyping up tensions and creating confrontation” in the region runs counter to people’s aspirations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the country’s future should be decided by the Afghan people, according to state-run Global Times. “China respects Afghanistan’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and that the country’s future should be decided by the Afghan people,” he said. “Hyping up tensions and creating confrontation in the region runs counter to people’s aspirations,” Lin said, adding that China hopes all parties will play a constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability. On Thursday, Trump said that his administration is trying to secure the return of the Bagram air base from the Taliban, though specifics on the hitherto secretive negotiations remained scarce. Trump said part of his motivation for attempting to reacqu...

United States President Donald Trump hailed on Friday what he called progress with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including on selling blockbuster app TikTok, and said he would visit the Asian power, which offered a more cautious assessment of their talks. The leaders of the world’s two largest economies spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China. Trump told reporters ahead of the call that he hoped it would finalise a deal to take out of Chinese hands TikTok, the social media platform hugely popular with young Americans that the Republican mogul has turned to himself to garner support. Neither side reported a final agreement but Trump said the call was “very productive”. “We made progress on many very important issues, including trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platfor...

Pakistan and China have signed Memorandums of Understanding to enhance cooperation in the areas of textile, livestock industry and advanced emergency equipment.

The United States and China have reached a framework agreement to switch short-video app TikTok to US-controlled ownership, top US officials said on Monday, with President Donald Trump set to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the agreement after a meeting between senior US and Chinese officials in Madrid, but declined to give any of the commercial terms of the agreement. Bessent told reporters that further details would wait to be determined in a call on Friday between Trump and Xi. Trump said on Monday that trade talks with China had gone very well and hinted that a deal had been reached to resolve issues the US has over TikTok ownership. “The big trade meeting in Europe between the United States of America, and China, has gone very well! It will be concluding shortly,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “A deal was also reached on a certain company that young people in our Country very much wante...

President Asif Ali Zardari reaffirmed on Sunday that Pakistan and China would continue to expand collaboration in defence production and aviation, further deepening their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, according to a statement issued by the President’s Secretariat. Zardari, who is on a 10-day trip to China, asserted this during a visit to the the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) — the country’s aerospace and defence conglomerate engaged in the design and production of a wide range of military and civilian aircraft, including J-10C fighter jets that Pakistan employed during an escalation with India in May. The use of these aircraft is said to have played a crucial role in shooting down India’s fighter jets, including Rafales, during the four-day escalation that ended with a ceasefire on May 10. The statement by the President’s Secretariat today said: “On the 128th day since the ceasefire with India, President Asif Ali Zardari, constitutionally the supreme commander of the armed for...