Page 21 - Xi Jinping

China, Pakistan pledge to safeguard CPEC against critics and opponents

Pakistan and China on Friday vowed to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from its "detractors and adversaries", as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang and assured Beijing of providing complete security to Chinese personnel working on the USD 65 billion project. Sharif is currently on a visit to China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, seeking to upgrade cooperation under the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. In a statement, the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office said during the meeting, the two sides discussed the significance of Gwadar as an important pillar of the CPEC and agreed to expedite the timely completion of all related infrastructure projects to transform Gwadar in Balochistan province into a regional economic hub. "They also expressed their firm commitment to protect CPEC from its detractors and adversaries and to upgrade CPEC in the form of

Pak PM in Beijing for talks with Xi to seek more investments, boost ties

Visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reached Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders to elevate all-weather bilateral ties and prospects of more aid and investments to bail out his cash-strapped country from the current economic crisis. Sharif, on a five-day official visit to China since June 4, toured the southern high-tech city of Shenzhen on Wednesday and addressed the investors meeting. During his stay here, Sharif will meet Xi, Premier Li Qiang and other leaders, Pakistan's state-run APP news agency reported. He will also attend a Pakistan-China Friendship and Business event and have meetings with the CEOs of leading Chinese companies working on the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. Several MoUs between the two countries on cooperation in various fields are likely to be signed, the report said. Cash-strapped Pakistan's economy is facing severe headwinds, and it has formally requested the International Monetary Fund (

China declines invitation to Swiss peace conference on Ukraine next month

Beijing declined the invitation because the conditions for them to participate were not met, including the participation of both Russia and Ukraine

US Defence Secy Austin to meet Chinese counterpart to discuss thorny issues

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have sought to manage tensions, and in November the two leaders agreed to resume direct military talks

China considers record penalty for PwC over Evergrande auditing work

PwC has been under the spotlight after China launched one of the biggest investigations of financial fraud in history involving developer Evergrande

Xi Jinping tells politburo China needs financial regulations with teeth

Monday's Politburo meeting also reviewed measures to promote development of six central provinces including Shanxi, Anhui and Henan

China creates $47.5 billion semiconductor fund to back nation's firms

The latest investment vehicle, known as Big Fund III, underscores a renewed push from Xi Jinping's government to build its own semiconductor industry as tensions with the US escalate

China's Qiang praises 'restart' of engagement with Japan, South Korea

They may also agree to resume three-party free trade agreement negotiations, which have been stalled since 2019, according to Japanese media reports

China's middle class remains cautious on property spending, reveals survey

Despite the Xi Jinping govt's efforts to stimulate spending, a recent study indicated that families' expectations for future expenditures are even lower than pre-Covid pandemic time

President Xi's China EV dream comes true, 10 years on, walls going up

China has become the world's largest auto market and sells more electrified vehicles than any other country, with 9.5 million cars delivered last year

Pak PM Sharif to visit China next month for launch of 2nd phase of CPEC

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit China in the first week of next month to join the formal launching of the second phase of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, according to a media report on Saturday. A source in the Prime Minister's Office told the Dawn newspaper that Prime Minister Sharif was scheduled to leave for China on June 4, but the date of the visit could slightly be changed. The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan's Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is opposed by India as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Infrastructure and energy projects were part of the CPEC's first phase. In CPEC-II, both countries will focus on agriculture, Main Line-I of Pakistan Railways, businessmen-to-businessmen deals and realignment of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) etc. While presiding over a meeting of representatives of Chinese companies on Friday, the prime minister said that Pakistan wanted to benefit from Chinese ..

China's latest AI chatbot trained on Xi Jinping's political ideology

China's latest artificial intelligence chatbot is trained on President Xi Jinping's doctrine, in a stark reminder of the ideological parameters that Chinese AI models should abide by. China's cyberspace academy earlier this week announced the chatbot trained on Xi Jinping Thought, a doctrine which promotes socialism with Chinese characteristics." The chatbot was trained on seven databases, six of which were mostly related to information technologies provided by China's internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or CAC. Xi Jinping Thought was the seventh database that the chatbot was trained on, according to a WeChat messaging service post by CAC's magazine about the AI model. The Xi-trained large language model is the latest effort by authorities to spread the Chinese leader's ideology and ideas. Students have had to take classes on Xi Jinping Thought in schools, and an app called Study Xi Strong Nation was also rolled out in 2019 to allow users to learn and take ..

China launches AI model based on Xi Jinping's philosophy to counter ChatGPT

The move to embed Xi Jinping's philosophy in AI comes as China tries to balance strict free speech controls with advancing AI development like OpenAI's ChatGPT

Putin focuses on trade, cultural exchanges after reaffirming ties with Xi

Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on trade and cultural exchanges on Friday on his state visit to China that started with bonhomie in Beijing and a summit with China's leader Xi Jinping that deepened their no-limits partnership as both countries face rising tensions with the West. Putin will attend the China-Russia Expo in the northeastern city of Harbin and meet with students at Harbin Institute of Technology. Harbin, capital of China's Heilongjiang province, was once home to many Russian expatriates and retains some of these historical ties in the city's architecture, such as the central Saint Sophia Cathedral, a former Russian Orthodox church. Though Putin's visit is more symbolic and short on concrete proposals, the two countries, which both face rising tensions with the West, nonetheless are sending a clear message. At this moment, they're reminding the West that they can be defiant when they want to, said Joseph Torigian, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoove

China's housing market crash could hurt millions of promising careers

The value of new-home sales from the 100 biggest real estate companies was down about 45% in April from a year earlier

Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping pledge new era, cast US as Cold War hegemon

Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary U.S. dominance is crumbling after perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China

China, Russia ties stabilising factor, conducive to peace, says Putin

Russia's President Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing on Thursday for a two-day state visit to China, in a show of unity between the authoritarian allies as Moscow presses forward with a new offensive in Ukraine. Putin's visit comes as Russia has become more economically dependent on China following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. On the eve of the visit, Putin said in an interview with Chinese media that the Kremlin is prepared to negotiate over the conflict in Ukraine. We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours, Putin was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. The Russian leader's two-day trip comes as his country's forces have pressed an offensive in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region that began last week in the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began, forcing almost 8,000 people to flee thei

As Putin visits China to meet Xi; here's what to know about the allies

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China starting on Thursday underlines an increasingly close partnership between the two allies who oppose the US-led democratic order. China, led by President Xi Jinping, has offered robust diplomatic support to Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine and has emerged as a top export market for Russian oil and gas, helping fill the Kremlin's war coffers. Russia also has relied on China as the main source of high-tech imports to keep its military machine running. Once Communist rivals, the two countries that share a 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) border have become closer in recent years. A look at that relationship: DEAR FRIENDS' Putin and Xi have met over 40 times and developed strong personal ties to bolster their "strategic partnership as they both face soaring tensions with the West. Xi last travelled to Moscow in March 2023, where they addressed each other as dear friend and exchanged compliments. Putin went to Beijing in October for a su

Defying west, President Putin scheduled to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing

Blinken said Beijing's supply of dual-use goods was 'powering Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine'

Xi's visit to Hungary, Serbia brings new Chinese investment in Europe

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hungary last week, he arrived to one of the few places in the European Union where his country is considered an indispensable ally rather than a rival. By the time he left on Friday, he'd secured deals that provide fertile ground for China's plans of economic expansion in Europe. After meeting with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday, the leaders addressed a small group of select media in Hungary's capital, Budapest, announcing the formation of an all-weather partnership" that would usher in a new era of economic cooperation. As most EU countries make efforts to de-risk their economies from perceived threats posed by China, Hungary has gone in the other direction, courting major Chinese investments in the belief that the world's second-largest economy is essential for Europe's future. While Xi and Orban didn't unveil concrete agreements following their meeting, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto later said in a video that a de