Foreign Ministry
China to hold talks on EU investment pact at its own pace
China will conduct talks on an investment pact with the European Union at its own pace, raising doubts about whether a deal can be sealed by year-end. China’s Foreign Ministry said, on Friday, that negotiations for the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, which would grant European companies greater access to the Chinese market, have gone on for six years. An EU official said earlier that a deal was close, following a push from Germany, which holds the EU presidency until the end of the year and is the biggest European exporter to China. But the latest comments by the Chinese government suggest otherwise. China will “conduct talks at its own pace on the premise of safeguarding its security and developmental interests’’, foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, told a news briefi...
Chinese embassy says Australia ‘misread’ offending social media post
China’s embassy in Australia said politicians there had “misread” a tweet showing a digitally-altered image of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife to the throat of an Afghan child, and were trying to stoke nationalism. Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday called the tweet posted by China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, “truly repugnant”, and called for an apology. On Tuesday the tweet was pinned to the top of Zhao’s social media account, and China’s Global Times newspaper, known for nationalistic views, interviewed the Chinese artist who created the image. “The rage and roar of some Australian politicians and media is nothing but misreading of and overreaction to Mr Zhao’s tweet,” the Chinese embassy in Canberra said in a statement on Tuesday. Australia...
Taiwan tells China to ‘back off’ as airspace ‘incursions’ rise
Taiwan on Tuesday demanded that China “back off” and accused it of threatening peace, after recent incursions and a Beijing official openly rejecting a largely respected marine boundary. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu urged Beijing to “return to the civilised international standards” after a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said there was no so-called median line in the Taiwan Strait “as Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory”. The tension between China and the island Beijing claims as its own is at its highest in years, with Taiwanese fighter jets scrambling to intercept the Chinese aircraft last week. “The median line has been a symbol of preventing military conflicts and maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait for many years,” Wu told reporters. “The Chinese forei...
Russia, China, Iran reject Microsoft’s hacking allegations
Agence France-Presse China, Russia and Iran have rejected accusations by software giant, Microsoft, that hackers from their countries are targeting U.S. presidential campaigns ahead of the November elections. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman suggested on Friday that Microsoft and the U.S. were inventing the allegations. “With regard to the U.S. elections, I have repeatedly said the U.S. elections are an internal matter and we have no interest or intention of interfering.” A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry made a similar statement on Friday, saying that it didn’t matter to Tehran who won the election. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Microsoft’s conclusions didn’t require attention as long as there was no proof, according to the TASS news agency. The countries listed b...
27 Stranded Nigerian girls evacuated from Lebanon arrive Abuja
Another batch of 27 stranded Nigerian girls evacuated from Lebanon by the Federal Government and the Lebanese Government, as well as its community in Nigeria arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Sunday. Receiving them, Ferdinand Nwonye, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who represented the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the evacuation was in fulfillment of the Nigerian Government’s promise to ensure no Nigerian is left stranded in Lebanon. Newsmen report that there have been several pleas from Nigerians stranded in Lebanon for assistance to enable them to return home. Nwonye said the Nigerian Government was aware of the unfortunate situation they experienced in Lebanon, hence the collaboration to ensure their safe return to t...
Tehran, Brussels reject Donald Trump’s ‘snapback’ plan for Iran sanctions
Iran and the European Union have both rejected United States President Donald Trump’s plan to trigger the “snapback” mechanism in the Iranian nuclear deal to impose sanctions on Iran. “The Americans got out of the atomic deal in May 2018 and they know very well that the implementation of the snapback is something illegal and, therefore, absolutely unacceptable,’’ Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Sunday, according to state media. The snapback was granted to the participants in the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement between major world powers and Iran in the event that Tehran violates it. However, under Trump, the United States withdrew unilaterally from the agreement in 2018. “Since Washington withdrew from the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of...
China takes over closed US consulate in Chengdu
The American flag was lowered at the US consulate in China’s Chengdu city on Monday and Chinese authorities entered the building, as Beijing carried out a Cold War-style retaliatory closure of the mission. Earlier in the morning state broadcaster, CCTV showed footage of the flag being lowered, after diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security. Beijing later confirmed the consulate had closed at 10am (0200 GMT). “Afterwards, Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance and took it over,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Relations have deteriorated in recent weeks in an intensifying standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of Beijing’s consulate in Hou...
China criticizes US joint carrier drills in South China Sea
China on Monday accused the U.S. of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea by conducting joint exercises with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the strategic waterway. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the exercises were performed “totally out of ulterior motives” and undermined stability in the area. “Against such a backdrop, the U.S. deliberately dispatched massive forces to conduct large-scale military exercises in the relevant waters of the South China Sea to flex its military muscle,” Zhao said at a daily briefing. The U.S. Navy said over the weekend that the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan along with their accompanying vessels and aircraft conducted exercises “designed to maximize air defense capabilities, and extend the reach of long-range precision ...
Turkey and Russia put off talks expected to tackle Libya and Syria
Russia and Turkey have postponed ministerial-level talks which were expected to focus on Libya and Syria, where the two countries support opposing sides in long-standing conflicts. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov decided to put off the talks during a phone call on Sunday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. “The two countries deputy ministers will continue contacts and talks in the period ahead. Minister-level talks will be held at a later date,” the ministry said in a statement. Lavrov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had been set to visit Istanbul for the discussions. The Russian foreign ministry said discussion will be held on the date of the ministers’ meeting. The United Nations said this week that warring sides had begun ne...
Sudan summons Ethiopia envoy over deadly cross-border attack
Sudan has summoned the Ethiopian embassy’s chargé d’affaires over a border attack by suspected Ethiopian rebel fighters that killed and wounded several Sudanese army personnel and civilians, Khartoum said in a statement on Saturday. Thursday’s attack targeted a camp in the eastern city of al-Qadarif, the official SUNA news agency said. A Sudanese military spokesman blamed fighters “supported by Ethiopia” for the attack, according to SUNA. There was no immediate comment from Addis Adaba. Some Ethiopian groups have used farmland in the Sudanese al-Fashqa border region for decades. The former Sudanese government of deposed veteran leader Omar al-Bashir turned a blind eye, but the current transitional authorities in Khartoum are trying to expel the groups. On Friday, Sudan’s army spokesman, Ge...
Tanzania summons US official over coronavirus warning
Tanzania said on Tuesday it had summoned the top official at the US embassy to object to an advisory that warned of “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases in the east African nation. The embassy’s “health advisory” published earlier this month contained inaccurate information, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The advisory reported, for instance, that “many hospitals” in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital, “have been overwhelmed in recent weeks”. This claim “is not true and could cause panic among Tanzanians and foreigners”, the foreign ministry’s statement said. The US embassy’s charge d’affaires, Inmi Patterson, met with Wilbert Ibuge, permanent secretary at the foreign ministry, who reminded Patterson about the two countries’ “historical cooperation”, the foreign ministry said....
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Ethiopia dam reservoir filling as talks with Egypt, Sudan stall
The reservoir behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is filling, its water minister said on Wednesday, a day after talks with Sudan and Egypt on the giant Blue Nile hydroelectric project stalled. Sudan and Egypt both fear the $4 billion dam could lead to water shortages in their own nations. “The construction of the dam and the filling of the water go hand in hand,” Ethiopian Water Minister Seleshi Bekele said in televised comments, a transcript of which was provided to Reuters by his office. “The filling of the dam doesn’t need to wait until the completion of the dam.” The water level had increased from 525 metres to 560 metres, he said. The comments by Seleshi did not address whether Ethiopia had closed the gates of the dam. The area has also seen recent heavy rainfall. “My understan...