BEIJING: China urged the United States on Monday to cancel unilateral tariffs announced by President Donald Trump after the US Supreme Court struck down many of his measures. The court ruled six to three on Friday that Trump does not have the authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 law he has relied on to impose sudden levies on individual countries, upending global trade. Trump reacted furiously, announcing first a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-vows-10-global-tariff-after-stinging-court-rebuke" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">10% global duty</a> on imports under a different legal authority, before&nbsp;raising it to 15%&nbsp;on Saturday. China&#39;s commerce ministry said on Monday it was conducting a &quot;comprehensive assessment&quot; of the ruling&#39;s impact, and called on Washington to lift the tariffs. &quot;China urges the United States to cancel its unilateral tariff measures on its trading partners,&quot; the ministry said in a statement. &quot;There are no winners in a trade war, and that protectionism leads nowhere.&quot; The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-announces-hike-in-us-global-tariff-rate-from-10-to-15" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">new 15% global duties</a> are due to kick in on Tuesday and are expected to last 150 days, with exemptions for some products. The Chinese foreign ministry also noted that it was paying &quot;close attention&quot; to potential moves by the United States to maintain increased tariffs. &quot;The United States is currently planning alternative measures, such as trade investigations, to maintain increased tariffs on trading partners. China will continue to pay close attention to this and resolutely safeguard China&#39;s interests,&quot; it said. The Supreme Court ruling was a stunning rebuke to Trump from a judicial body that has largely sided with him since his return to office. It marked a major political setback in striking down his signature economic policy that has roiled the global trade order. Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump&#39;s subsequent tariff announcements. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told US media on Sunday that the country&#39;s trade deals with China, the European Union and other partners will remain in force despite the ruling.

BUSAN: US President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping greet each other as they arrive for talks at the Gimhae Air Base, located next to the Gimhae International Airport in Busan on October 30, 2025. -- Photo by AFP/File

Asia

Commerce ministry says it is conducting a 'comprehensive assessment' of the ruling's impact, and calls on Washington to lift the tariffs.

China urges US to cancel unilateral tariffs after Supreme Court ruling

BEIJING: China&#39;s foreign minister told his French and German counterparts that Beijing was not to blame for Europe&#39;s economic and security problems as he pushed for more cooperation at a summit in Munich, a foreign ministry statement said Saturday.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-hails-coming-of-multipolar-world-ahead-of-trumpxi-talks" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wang Yi</a> made the comments at a meeting with France&#39;s Jean-Noel Barrot and Germany&#39;s Johann Wadephul on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.&nbsp;He sought to promote China as a reliable partner of the European Union at a time when the bloc is trying to reduce its dependence on both Beijing and an increasingly unpredictable Washington.&nbsp;&quot;China&#39;s development is an opportunity for Europe, and Europe&#39;s challenges do not come from China,&quot; Wang said, according to the statement.&nbsp;Warning that &quot;unilateralism, protectionism, and power politics&quot; were on the rise globally, he said he hoped Europe would &quot;pursue a rational and pragmatic policy towards China&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;The two sides are partners, not adversaries; interdependence is not a risk; intertwined interests are not a threat; and open cooperation will not harm security.&quot;&nbsp;The meeting came against the backdrop of trade tensions between the two giant economies and disputes over what the EU sees as China&#39;s support for Russia&#39;s war in Ukraine.&nbsp;The EU is seeking to cut its reliance on China for strategic goods like rare earths while also rebalancing a trade relationship that sees it run a large deficit with the world&#39;s second-largest economy.&nbsp;In recent years, the two sides have clashed over Chinese electric-vehicle exports, which Brussels argues are based on unfair subsidies and threaten Europe&#39;s car industry, and Chinese tariffs on EU goods ranging from cheese to cognac.&nbsp;Wang urged&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/germany-blames-russia-for-cyberattack-on-air-safety-election-interference" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Germany</a>&nbsp;and France to help &quot;give a clear direction for the development of China-Europe relations&quot;.&nbsp;In a separate meeting with Wadephul, also on Friday, Wang touted economic and trade cooperation as &quot;the cornerstone of China-Germany ties&quot;, according to a foreign ministry readout.&nbsp;Wang also met Britain&#39;s foreign minister, Yvette Cooper, telling her that Beijing and London should &quot;explore more potential for cooperation&quot;, while the two sides also discussed Ukraine and Iran.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) attends a bilateral meeting with the US Secretary of State (not in picture) in Munich, on February 13, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). (Photo: AFP)China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) at

Wang Yi makes the comments at a meeting with France's Jean-Noel Barrot and Germany's Johann Wadephul on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.


China FM tells EU diplomats not to blame Beijing for bloc's problems

BEIJING:&nbsp;Beijing will take &quot;all necessary measures&quot; against foreign espionage activities, the foreign ministry said Friday, after the US spy agency issued a recruitment video targeting Chinese military personnel. The CIA&#39;s Chinese-language video, published on the agency&#39;s YouTube channel on Thursday, appears to target disaffected officers and appeals for information on <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-chinas-xi-to-visit-us-toward-the-end-of-the-year" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">China&#39;s leaders</a> and armed forces. &lsquo;Anti-China forces&rsquo;China&#39;s foreign ministry condemned what it called <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-rejects-us-claims-of-secret-nuclear-tests" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">&quot;anti-China forces&quot;</a> and vowed action to protect national security. &ldquo;China will take all necessary measures to resolutely combat infiltration and sabotage activities of foreign anti-China forces and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests,&rdquo; foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a press conference when asked about the CIA video. He did not provide any details on the measures Beijing could take. The video depicts a fictional Chinese officer deciding to contact the US intelligence agency after concluding that &ldquo;the only thing leaders are protecting is their own interest&rdquo; and that &ldquo;their power is based on countless lies&rdquo;. &lsquo;Please contact us&rsquo;It shows the officer at home with his family, then driving past a checkpoint in pouring rain before taking out a laptop in the car and typing on it as he says: &quot;Picking this path is my way of fighting for my family and my country.&quot; Chinese text accompanying the clip appeals for leaks on Beijing&#39;s leaders and military as well as other areas. &quot;Do you have information about high-ranking Chinese leaders? Are you a military officer or have dealings with the military? Do you work in intelligence, diplomacy, economics, science, or advanced technology fields, or deal with people working in these fields?&quot; &quot;Please contact us. We want to understand the truth,&quot; the text says, adding that the CIA can be contacted &quot;securely through our Tor hidden service.&quot; &lsquo;Naked political provocation&rsquo;The latest appeal came after the agency released a number of videos last year that its Director John Ratcliffe said were aimed at recruiting Chinese officials. They are &quot;just one of many ways that we&#39;re adjusting our tradecraft&quot;, Ratcliffe said. Beijing condemned the posts at the time as &quot;naked political provocation&quot;, saying Washington &quot;not only maliciously smears and attacks China, but also openly deceives and lures Chinese personnel to surrender&quot;.

Americas

The CIA's Chinese-language video, published on the agency's YouTube channel on Thursday, appears to target disaffected officers and appeals for information on China's leaders and armed forces.

Beijing vows 'measures' after CIA Chinese-language recruitment ad

TOKYO:&nbsp;Japan seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its skipper, authorities said Friday, an incident that could deepen a spat between the Asian giants. The episode on Thursday off southern Japan came three months after Prime Minister <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/japan-pm-takaichi-basks-in-historic-election-triumph" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sanae Takaichi</a> suggested that Japan would intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force. &quot;The vessel&#39;s captain was ordered to stop for an inspection by a fisheries inspector, but the vessel failed to comply and fled,&quot; Japan&#39;s fisheries agency said. Captain arrested&nbsp;&quot;Consequently, the vessel&#39;s captain was arrested on the same day,&quot; it said in a statement. The boat was inside Japan&#39;s exclusive economic zone 89.4 nautical miles (166 kilometers) south-southwest of Meshima island in the Goto archipelago, Japan&#39;s statement said. China was yet to comment. It was the first time since 2022 that the Japanese fisheries agency has seized a Chinese fishing boat. The captain was named as Chinese national Zheng Nianli, 47.&nbsp; The status of the other 10 people on board the vessel, named the Qiong Dong Yu, was unclear. Major diplomatic incident&quot;To prevent illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels, we will continue to take firm action and engage in enforcement activities,&quot; chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said. China has a number of territorial tussles with Japan, and there have been repeated incidents around the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China. The 2010 arrest of another Chinese fishing boat captain off those islands in the East China Sea became a major diplomatic incident. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Taiwan spat&nbsp;</h2>Japan and China have close economic ties but Takaichi&#39;s comments about Taiwan have sent relations spiraling downwards again. China has long insisted that Taiwan, occupied for decades by Japan until 1945, is its territory and has not ruled out force to achieve &quot;reunification&quot;. After Takaichi&#39;s comments, Beijing summoned Tokyo&#39;s ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and conducted joint air drills with Russia. In December, J-15 jets from China&#39;s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan. China also tightened controls on exports to Japan for items with potential military uses, fueling worries that Beijing may choke supplies of vital rare-earth minerals. Japan&#39;s last two pandas were even returned to China last month. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Hawkish leader&nbsp;</h2>Takaichi, 64, was seen as a China hawk before becoming Japan&#39;s first woman prime minister in October. She won a landslide victory in snap elections on Sunday, putting her in a strong position for the next four years to stamp her mark on Japanese domestic and foreign policy. Takaichi said Monday that under her leadership Japan -- which hosts some 60,000 US military personnel -- would bolster its defenses and &quot;steadfastly protect&quot; its territory. She also said that she was &quot;open to various dialogues with China&quot;. &lsquo;Takaichi&#39;s erroneous remarks&rsquo;But China&#39;s foreign ministry said &quot;genuine dialogue should be built on respect for one another&quot;. &quot;Proclaiming dialogue with one&#39;s mouth while engaging in confrontation -- no one will accept this kind of dialogue,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Tuesday. &quot;If Japan truly wants to develop a strategic and mutually beneficial relationship with China, it&#39;s very easy and clear: withdraw Takaichi&#39;s erroneous remarks about Taiwan,&quot; he said.

The 2010 arrest of another Chinese fishing boat captain off those islands in the East China Sea became a major diplomatic incident.

Japan seizes Chinese fishing vessel, arrests captain

ISLAMABAD: China on Monday denied US allegations it had conducted secret nuclear explosive tests, accusing Washington of making excuses to start up its own trials. At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Friday, Thomas DiNanno, US under secretary of state for arms control, accused China of conducting the tests, including one on 22 June 2020, and of preparing for more tests with massive yields. &quot;The US allegations are completely groundless and are outright lies. China firmly opposes the US attempt to fabricate excuses for its own restarting of nuclear tests,&quot; China&#39;s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement to AFP on Monday. It also urged the United States to &quot;immediately stop its irresponsible actions&quot;. US President Donald Trump said in October that Washington would start testing nuclear weapons &quot;on an equal basis&quot; with Moscow and Beijing, but without elaborating or explaining what kind of nuclear testing he wanted to resume. DiNanno&#39;s comments came as he was presenting a new US plan calling for three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons, after the expiration of New START -- the last treaty between top nuclear powers Washington and Moscow, which expired last Thursday. China has already rejected joining disarmament negotiations &quot;at this stage&quot;.

President Donald Trump steps off of Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport on February 6, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Corum / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

China

Beijing dismissed US claims of covert nuclear testing as baseless, accusing Washington of seeking justification to resume its own trials, while rejecting calls for trilateral arms control talks following the expiry of the New START treaty.

China rejects US claims of secret nuclear tests

NEW DELHI: Bangladesh&#39;s elections next week could reshape South Asia&#39;s balance of power, as Beijing seeks to consolidate influence and ties with India falter, analysts say.&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bangladesh-election-commission-says-poll-preparations-complete" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Feb. 12 poll</a>&nbsp;will be the nation&#39;s first since a student-led uprising toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina&#39;s autocratic regime in August 2024.&nbsp;India&#39;s sheltering of Hasina &mdash; despite extradition requests &mdash; has angered Dhaka&#39;s interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has deepened engagement with China and Pakistan.&nbsp;The Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people maintained strong trade and defense ties with China under Hasina, but New Delhi was Dhaka&#39;s pre-eminent partner, an arrangement that analysts say is shifting.&nbsp;Beijing pivot&quot;The interim government in Bangladesh, and a future government, is really pivoting to China,&quot; said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.&nbsp;&quot;Bangladesh has now become central to China&#39;s strategic thinking regarding the Bay of Bengal, and China is increasingly confident that Bangladesh will play a pro-China role in this strategy.&quot;&nbsp;Yunus&#39; first state visit was to China, signalling a strategic shift.&nbsp;The two countries in January inked a key new defense agreement for a drone plant at a proposed northern airbase near India.&nbsp;&quot;Whatever the outcomes of the elections, there is an irreversible possibility of further deepening Bangladesh-China relations,&quot; Delwar Hussain of the University of Dhaka said.&nbsp;&#39;Unremitting hostility&#39;Conversely, New Delhi and Dhaka have regularly sparred since Hasina&#39;s ouster.&nbsp;India&#39;s foreign ministry in December condemned what it called &quot;unremitting hostility against minorities&quot;, pointing to the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh.&nbsp;Police say around 70 members of Bangladesh&#39;s minority communities were killed in sectarian violence in 2025.&nbsp;Dhaka has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence. But there have also been sporadic efforts at reconciliation.&nbsp;India&#39;s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Dhaka in January for the funeral of former leader Khaleda Zia, whose Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is widely seen as a frontrunner in the election.&nbsp;Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sent a condolence message to her son Tarique Rahman, 60, who is seen as a potential prime minister if the BNP wins.&nbsp;But things unravelled when a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bangladeshs-minister-calls-for-moving-t20-world-cup-after-ipl-drops-mustafizur" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bangladeshi cricketer was removed</a>&nbsp;from the Indian Premier League after Hindu right-wing protests, leading Bangladesh to withdraw from the T20 World Cup in India.&nbsp;&#39;Stability over disruption&#39;Praveen Donthi of the International Crisis Group said both sides are likely to be pragmatic.&nbsp;&quot;Both New Delhi and Dhaka are fully aware of the costs of not addressing the deteriorating relations,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Dhaka has also deepened engagement with Pakistan, resuming direct flights in January after more than a decade.&nbsp;Experts say a new government will likely continue to normalize ties with Islamabad without undermining relations with New Delhi.&nbsp;&quot;The new dispensation will likely prioritize stability over disruption,&quot; Donthi said.&nbsp;Retired diplomat Hyumayun Kabir predicted ties could stabilize under an elected government, especially if the BNP wins.&nbsp;But even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/bangladesh-religious-party-leader-eyes-power-after-decades-in-politics" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jamaat-e-Islami</a>, the Islamist party once sharply at odds with India, has projected &quot;a kind of pragmatic realism&quot; in its campaign, he said.&nbsp;Despite heated rhetoric, the material core of the India-Bangladesh relationship remains.&nbsp;Trade has stayed stable, and only one Hasina-era bilateral deal, for Indian tugboats, has been scrapped.&nbsp;&quot;China delivers infrastructure in a way India cannot,&quot; said former Indian diplomat Dilip Sinha, who has served as New Delhi&#39;s deputy high commissioner in Bangladesh.&nbsp;&quot;But India provides things Bangladesh critically needs &mdash; power and yarn for the garment industry.&quot;&nbsp;Analysts suggested that inevitably stronger ties with China also need not mean hostilities with India.&nbsp;&quot;It is not an either-or situation,&quot; Kabir said. &quot;Both relationships can thrive at the same time.&quot;

Bangladeshi workers load empty ballot boxes onto a truck at the Election Commission building in Dhaka on February 7, 2026, ahead of the upcoming national elections. Photo: AFP/File)

Bangladesh

Analysts suggest that inevitably stronger ties with China also need not mean hostilities with India.


Bangladesh elections test ties with India as China deepens outreach

BEIJING: An explosion on Saturday at a biotech factory in northern China has left at least eight people dead, AFP reported, quoting Chinese state media. State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities. Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm&#39;s legal representative had been taken into custody. The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometres west of Beijing. Xinhua said cleanup operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the explosion site. Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added. Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards. In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighbouring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.

In this file photo, taken on November 21, 2025, the local fire and rescue detachment is working to extinguish the fire in Anyang, Central China's Henan Province. (CCTV News/File)

The cause is under investigation, amid ongoing concerns over industrial accidents and safety standards. 

North China factory explosion kills 8: State media

GENEVA: A senior US official on Friday criticised the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-urges-new-nuclear-treaty-after-russia-agreement-ends" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">last nuclear treaty </a>between Russia and the United States for <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/last-usrussia-nuclear-treaty-ends-in-grave-moment-for-world" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">failing to include Beijing</a>, speaking at the United Nations a day after the New START deal expired.&nbsp;&quot;In a nutshell, New START was flawed,&quot; said Thomas G. DiNanno, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, pointing out that it had not covered all nuclear weapons, &quot;and it didn&#39;t include China&quot;.&nbsp;Speaking to reporters in Geneva before addressing the Conference on Disarmament, he said US President Donald Trump &quot;has been pretty clear that he wants a better agreement&quot;, and &quot;clarified again last night that he wants a new treaty&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;He&#39;s been crystal clear. He&#39;s been consistent on it too, since his first administration,&quot; DiNanno said.&nbsp;&quot;So we&#39;ll see how it plays out.&quot;&nbsp;Asked if China had agreed to anything, DiNanno said: &quot;We&#39;re always willing to talk to them.&quot;&nbsp;China said on Thursday it would not join nuclear talks &quot;at this stage&quot; after the treaty&#39;s expiry that day triggered fears of a new global arms race.&nbsp;Campaigners have warned that the expiry, which ended decades of restrictions on how many warheads Russia and the United States deploy, could encourage China to expand its own arsenal.&nbsp;The New START treaty ended at the turn of the calendar on February 5, after Trump did not follow up on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin&#39;s proposal to extend warhead limits in the agreement for one year.&nbsp;Russia and the United States together control more than 80 percent of the world&#39;s nuclear warheads, but arms agreements have been withering away.&nbsp;New START, first signed in 2010, limited each side&#39;s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads -- a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.&nbsp;It also allowed each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other&#39;s nuclear arsenal, although these were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.&nbsp;The Conference on Disarmament negotiating forum, which is comprised of 65 member states and meets in Geneva.

A senior US official says the expired New START nuclear treaty is flawed for excluding China, as Washington pushes for a new deal and Beijing refuses talks, raising fears of a renewed global arms race.

New START nuclear treaty 'was flawed': senior US official

BEIJING: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer begins a three-day visit to China on Wednesday, where he will defend London&#39;s &quot;pragmatic&quot; partnership with the Asian giant after years of fraught relations. It is the first visit to Beijing by a UK prime minister since 2018 and follows a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent weeks, pivoting from a mercurial United States. Starmer will also make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the trip is an opportunity to show Beijing can be a reliable partner at a time when President Donald Trump&#39;s policies have rattled historic ties between Washington and its Western allies. Starmer, who is battling record-low popularity polls and hopes the visit can boost Britain&#39;s beleaguered economy, is to arrive in Beijing around 09:30 GMT on Wednesday. He will meet with Xi for lunch on Thursday, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang. The talks will touch upon &quot;trade, investment and national security,&quot; Downing Street said in a statement, with Starmer promising &quot;stability and clarity in the government&#39;s approach&quot;. Starmer said on Wednesday this visit to China was &quot;going to be a really important trip for us&quot;, vowing to make &quot;some real progress&quot;. There are &quot;opportunities&quot; to deepen bilateral relations, Starmer told reporters traveling with him on the plane to China. &quot;It doesn&#39;t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China; it&#39;s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security,&quot; he added. China, for its part, &quot;is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to enhance political mutual trust&quot;, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said ahead of the trip. Faced with Trump&#39;s threats to impose tariffs on Canada for signing a trade agreement with China, and the US president&#39;s attempts to create a new international institution with his &quot;Board of Peace&quot;, Beijing has been affirming its support for the United Nations to visiting leaders. Reset tiesUK-China relations plummeted in 2020 after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, which severely curtailed freedoms in the former British colony. They soured further, with both powers exchanging accusations of spying. Starmer, however, was quick to deny fresh claims of Chinese spying after the Telegraph newspaper reported Monday that China had hacked the mobile phones of senior officials in Downing Street for several years. &quot;There&#39;s no evidence of that. We&#39;ve got robust schemes, security measures in place as you&#39;d expect,&quot; he told reporters on Wednesday. Since taking the helm in 2024, Starmer has been at pains to reset ties with the world&#39;s second-largest economy and Britain&#39;s third-biggest trade partner. In China, he will be accompanied by around 60 business leaders from the finance, pharmaceutical, automobile, and other sectors, and cultural representatives as he tries to balance attracting vital investment and appearing firm on national security concerns. The Labour leader also spoke to Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024. Jimmy Lai&nbsp;The prime minister is also expected to raise the case of Hong Kong media mogul and democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, 78, a British national facing years in prison after being found guilty of collusion charges in December. When asked by reporters about his plans to discuss Lai&#39;s case, Starmer avoided specifics, but said engaging with Beijing was to ensure that &quot;issues where we disagree can be discussed&quot;. Reporters Without Borders urged Starmer in a letter to secure Lai&#39;s release during his visit. The British government has also faced fierce domestic opposition after it approved this month contentious plans for a new Chinese mega-embassy in London, which critics say could be used to spy on and harass dissidents.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Keir Starmer delivering his first address as prime minister of the United Kingdom, 10 Downing Street, London, July 5, 2024. (FILE/Encyclopedia Britannica)

United Kingdom

In an effort to boost trade and reset strained ties, Britain’s prime minister travels to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders, seeking investment and diplomatic engagement while balancing shifting global alliances.

Starmer lands in China to defend 'pragmatic' partnership

BEIJING:&nbsp;China said on Monday that a preliminary trade deal with Canada &ldquo;does not target any third parties&rdquo; after the United States threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if the agreement were finalized. Under the deal, announced this month, Beijing is expected to reduce tariffs on Canadian canola imports and grant Canadians visa-free travel to China. But over the weekend, the United States --&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-threatens-canada-with-100-tariff-if-it-completes-china-trade-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">Canada&#39;s traditional ally</a>&nbsp;-- threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian products if the deal were to go ahead, saying it would allow China to &ldquo;dump goods&rdquo;. China&#39;s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday that the trade deal was not aimed at Washington. &lsquo;New type of strategic partnership&rsquo;&quot;China and Canada have established a new type of strategic partnership... it does not target any third party,&quot; China&#39;s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference. &quot;China advocates that nations should approach state-to-state relations with a win-win rather than zero-sum mindset, and through cooperation rather than confrontation,&quot; he added. The deal was announced during Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney&#39;s visit to Beijing this month, as he seeks to distance himself from a volatile United States under President Donald Trump. Trade war&nbsp;Canada and the United States have been caught in a trade war since the Trump administration imposed import duties on its northern neighbor. On Sunday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-axes-canadas-board-of-peace-invitation" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump</a>wrote on social media that negotiations between Ottawa and Beijing amounted to China &quot;successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada&quot;. Following the president&#39;s comments, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told US media that &quot;we can&#39;t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the US&quot;.

China's foreign ministry spokesman says China advocates that nations should approach state-to-state relations with a win-win rather than zero-sum mindset, and through cooperation rather than confrontation.

Articles tagged with "China"