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ISLAMABAD: Chinese industrial e-commerce giant IBI Beijing United Technology&#39;s President&nbsp;Qian Xiaojun&nbsp;said that establishing Digital Economy Headquarters in Pakistan would serve as a command center for digital transformation and provide significant opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. In a meeting with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on Friday, Xiaojun said that the Digital Economy Headquarters in Pakistan would help connect&nbsp;the small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan with the Chinese market.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2055176373405450512&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=2f7d50b64432d66d7196b2a1892872b2a552a726&theme=light&widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 721px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" data-tweet-id="2055176373405450512"></iframe></div></div>Pakistan launched the IBI Pakistan Digital Economy Headquarters in Islamabad on May 14. This is an integrated platform under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) focused on trade facilitation, supply chain digitization, and SME empowerment. A statement from the Prime Minister&#39;s Office said that an 11-member delegation, led by Xiaojun called on the prime minister at the Prime Minister&rsquo;s House in Islamabad. PM Sharif welcomed the high-level Chinese business delegation and reaffirmed Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to strengthening economic and digital cooperation with China. The PM said Pakistan and China enjoy historic ties and remain all-weather strategic cooperative partners. He praised the remarkable development achieved by China under the leadership of Xi Jinping and said he was looking forward to his upcoming visit to China later this month. Prime Minister Sharif appreciated IBI Group&rsquo;s decision to establish its Pakistan Digital Economy Headquarters in the country and expressed satisfaction over growing business-to-business cooperation between Pakistan and China. He said it was encouraging that the company intends to promote cooperation in the digital economy, investment facilitation, and industrial collaboration. Expressing confidence in Pakistan&rsquo;s economy, Xiaojun said IBI aims to help build the digital backbone for Pakistan&rsquo;s economic transformation. He said the establishment of the Digital Economy Headquarters in Pakistan would serve as a command center for digital transformation and provide significant opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises by connecting them with the Chinese market. The delegation&rsquo;s visit follows the Pakistan-China business-to-business investment conference held in Beijing in September 2025 during Prime Minister Sharif&rsquo;s visit to China. Federal Minister for Investment Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Haroon Akhtar, SAPM Tariq Fatemi, and senior officials also attended the meeting.

Economy

IBI Beijing United Technology's President Qian Xiaojun tells Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif that Digital Economy Headquarters Pakistan will serve as a command center for digital transformation and provide significant opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Chinese e-commerce giant says IBI Pakistan to provide opportunities to SMEs

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States wants to help China, not hurt it, striking a conciliatory tone days after threatening an additional 100 percent tariff on the world&#39;s second-largest economy.&nbsp;Trump&#39;s statements on Friday as well as his threat to cancel a meeting with Xi later this month sent Wall Street stocks tumbling into negative territory as traders worried the trade war between Washington and Beijing could reignite.&nbsp;&quot;The USA wants to help China, not hurt it!!!&quot; Trump said in Sunday&#39;s post on Truth Social, adding that &quot;respected President Xi (Jinping)doesn&#39;t want Depression for his country.&quot;&nbsp;Trump on Friday said that he would impose the extra levies from November 1 in response to what he called &quot;extraordinarily aggressive&quot; new Chinese export curbs on the rare-earths industry.&nbsp;Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of acting unfairly, with its Ministry of Commerce on Sunday calling Trump&#39;s tariff threat a &quot;typical example of &#39;double standards.&#39;&quot;&nbsp;The ministry said Washington had ratcheted up economic measures against Beijing since September.&nbsp;&quot;Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China,&quot; it said in an online statement.&nbsp;Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of 30 percent under levies that Trump imposed while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade as well as unfair trade practices.&nbsp;China&#39;s retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10 percent.&nbsp;Rare earths have been a major sticking point in recent trade negotiations between the two superpowers.&nbsp;They are critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware and renewable energy technology but produced and processed almost exclusively by China.

Americas

China

President Trump stated that the US wants to help China, not harm it, following earlier threats of higher tariffs over rare-earth exports. China criticized the tariff threat as unfair, amid ongoing trade tensions affecting global markets.


Trump says US wants to help China, not hurt it'

WASHINGTON: The United States issued nearly one-fifth fewer student visas in August, following a crackdown by President Donald Trump, led by a steep drop for India, which overtook China as the top country of origin, data showed on Monday.&nbsp;The United States issued 313,138 student visas in August, the most common start month for US universities, a 19.1% drop from the same month in 2023, according to the International Trade Commission.&nbsp;India, which was the top source of foreign students in the United States last year, experienced the most significant decline, with 44.5% fewer student visas issued compared to the previous year.&nbsp;Visa issuance also dropped for Chinese students, but not nearly at the same rate.&nbsp; The United States issued 86,647 visas to students from mainland China in August, more than double the number issued to students from India.&nbsp;The statistics do not reflect the overall numbers of US-based students, many of whom remain on previously issued visas.&nbsp;Trump has put a top priority since returning to the White House, both on curbing immigration and on weakening universities, which his administration sees as a key power base of the left.&nbsp;Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly suspended the processing of student visas in June, a peak month, as he issued orders requiring US embassies to vet applicants&#39; social media.&nbsp;In rules that affect Indians in particular, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for applicants to apply for visas outside the jurisdiction of US consulates in their home countries, even when there are backlogs.&nbsp;Trump has taken a series of actions at odds with India, which for decades had been courted by US policymakers of both parties, who saw the billion-plus nation as a natural counterweight to China.&nbsp;Trump has also imposed a hefty new fee on H-1B visas, which are mainly used by Indian technology workers.&nbsp;Trump, however, has voiced hope for ramping up the number of Chinese students to boost relations between the two powers, a sharp contrast to earlier messaging from Rubio, who had vowed to &quot;aggressively&quot; revoke visas from Chinese students he accuses of exploiting US technical know-how.

Asia

US student visas fell 19% in August. India saw the biggest drop, while China became the top source. New rules made it harder for Indians, but more Chinese students are being encouraged.

Indians lead drop in US university visas

NEW DELHI: India and China will resume direct flights between their two countries this month after a five-year suspension, officials said, with bookings opening on Friday.&nbsp;Direct flights between the world&#39;s two most populous countries were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and were not resumed as tensions grew between Beijing and New Delhi over border disputes.&nbsp;Relations between the Asian rivals have since thawed, and their leaders spoke in China in August and in Kazan in Russia last year.&nbsp;Following technical discussions, &quot;it has now been agreed that direct air services connecting designated points in India and China can resume by late October&quot;, an Indian government statement released on Thursday said.&nbsp;&quot;This agreement of the civil aviation authorities will further facilitate people-to-people contact between India and China, contributing towards the gradual normalization of bilateral exchanges,&quot; it said.&nbsp;Indigo, India&#39;s largest commercial operator, said on Thursday it would start direct daily flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from October 26 and later expand operations to New Delhi.&nbsp;The airline opened bookings on Friday and said the direct flights would &quot;re-establish avenues for cross-border trade and strategic business partnerships and promote tourism between the two nations&quot;.&nbsp;India and China announced in August that they would restart direct flights, advance talks on their disputed border and boost trade.&nbsp;Relations between China and India plummeted in 2020 after their soldiers clashed along a disputed border in the Himalayan mountains.&nbsp;Four Chinese soldiers and 20 Indian troops were killed in the worst violence between the two countries in decades.&nbsp;In June, Beijing granted permission to Indian pilgrims wishing to trek to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a holy site for Hindus and Buddhists, for the first time since the 2020 clash.

New Delhi and Beijing will resume direct flights this month after a five-year suspension due to COVID-19 and border tensions. Indigo begins services on October 26, aiming to boost trade, tourism, and bilateral ties.

Articles tagged with "CHINA"

Chinese e-commerce giant says IBI Pakistan to provide opportunities to SMEs

Trump says US wants to help China, not hurt it'

Indians lead drop in US university visas

India and China to resume direct flights after five years