BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping called on countries to protect the &ldquo;central role&rdquo; of the United Nations in international affairs, urging his Brazilian counterpart on Friday to help safeguard international norms, state media reported. The comments come after US President Donald Trump unveiled plans for his new &ldquo;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/what-is-trumps-board-of-peace" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Board of Peace</a>&rdquo; at the World Economic Forum. While China and Brazil have both been <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-confirms-invited-to-join-trumps-board-of-peace" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">invited to join Trump&#39;s new grouping</a>, neither has confirmed participation. Xi told President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during their Friday morning phone call that in the current &ldquo;tumultuous&rdquo; international situation, China and Brazil &ldquo;are constructive forces in maintaining world peace and stability&rdquo;, according to a readout published by state broadcaster CCTV. &lsquo;Right side of history&rsquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;They should stand firmly on the right side of history... and jointly uphold the central role of the United Nations and international fairness and justice,&rdquo; Xi said. While in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said that once complete, the board &ldquo;can do pretty much whatever we want&rdquo;, while adding that &ldquo;we&#39;ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations&rdquo;. Beijing&#39;s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that &ldquo;no matter how the international situation changes, China firmly upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core&rdquo;. Brazil has also expressed skepticism about the Board of Peace, saying it could represent &ldquo;a revocation&rdquo; of the United Nations. Multilateral trading systemLula&#39;s special adviser, Celso Amorim told Brazilian media that &ldquo;we cannot consider a reform of the UN made by one country.&rdquo; During Trump&#39;s global tariff onslaught last year, China and Brazil sought to present their countries as staunch defenders of the multilateral trading system. Xi told Lula in August that they could set an example of &quot;self-reliance&quot; for emerging powers.

China

Beijing's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that ‘no matter how the international situation changes, China firmly upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core’.

China's Xi urges 'central role' of UN in call with Brazil's Lula

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the country&#39;s economy is expected to have grown &ldquo;around five percent&rdquo; in 2025, despite &ldquo;pressure&rdquo; during a year he described as &ldquo;very unusual&rdquo;, state media said. The announcement came in a New Year&#39;s Eve speech by Xi to a top political consultative body, reported by state news agency Xinhua. Such an annual expansion would be in line with the official government target and on par with the five percent growth recorded in 2024. The world&#39;s second-largest economy has come under increasing pressure in recent years, with consumer sentiment having so far failed to recover from a pandemic-induced plunge. &lsquo;Faced challenges head-on&rsquo;A persistent debt crisis in the property sector, industrial overcapacity, and heightened trade conflict with Washington have also darkened the outlook. &ldquo;We faced challenges head-on and strived diligently, successfully achieving the main goals of economic and social development,&rdquo; Xi said in his remarks to the Chinese People&#39;s Political Consultative Conference, Xinhua reported. &ldquo;The growth rate is expected to reach around five percent,&rdquo; he said. He added that &ldquo;overall social stability was maintained&rdquo; and an anti-corruption drive was &ldquo;relentlessly pursued&rdquo;, according to the report. Gathering in early MarchExperts widely expect Beijing to announce a similar economic growth target for 2026 at a major annual political gathering in early March. Data released Wednesday offered a positive sign for policymakers, with factory activity in December inching into expansionary territory to snap an eight-month streak of contraction.

Business

The Chinese president says, ‘We faced challenges head-on and strived diligently, successfully achieving the main goals of economic and social development’; experts widely expect Beijing to announce an economic growth target for 2026 at a major annual political gathering in early March.

President Xi says China to hit 2025 growth target of 'around 5%'

BEIJING: China suspended an export ban to the United States that had targeted gallium, germanium and antimony, metals crucial for modern technology, including semiconductors, Beijing&#39;s commerce ministry announced Sunday. The restrictions banned the export of so-called &quot;dual-use&quot; goods, materials that can have both civilian and military applications. Imposed in December 2024, the ban will now be suspended until November 27, 2026, Beijing&#39;s commerce ministry said in a statement. The announcement comes after leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met on October 30 in South Korea and agreed to walk back some punitive measures imposed during their tit-for-tat tariff escalation. At one point, duties on both sides reached prohibitive triple-digit levels, hampering trade between the world&#39;s two largest economies and snarling global supply chains. Throughout the trade war, China has sought to leverage its chokehold over the critical minerals underpinning everything from smartphones to advanced military technology.

Americas

The announcement comes after leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met on October 30 in South Korea and agreed to walk back some punitive measures imposed during their tit-for-tat tariff escalation.

China halts export ban to US of some 'dual use' materials: ministry

HONG KONG: Asian stocks were subdued Thursday morning, with investors closely watching talks between the leaders of the United States and China for potential breakthroughs to defuse a damaging trade war. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met for the first time since 2019 in Busan, South Korea, engaging in high stakes talks about the relationship between the world&#39;s top two economies.&nbsp;The meeting comes after days of a tech-fueled bull run in global markets, boosted further by an interest rate cut in the United States, confirmed Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. But Powell&#39;s announcement also cast doubt on an additional cut in December, jolting US markets and lifting the value of the dollar. The Nasdaq later recovered, finishing at a fourth straight record after another gain by artificial intelligence giant Nvidia, which became the first company to reach a $5 trillion market value. A &quot;cautious reaction&quot; is expected in Asia, wrote Lorraine Tan, director of equity research for the region at Morningstar, in a note. &quot;The decline in US rates provides more flexibility to the Asian central banks to lower if they want to as there may be some pressure on the USD,&quot; she said. Main benchmarks were nearly flat during Thursday morning trading in Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Hong Kong &mdash; back from Wednesday&#39;s public holiday &mdash; and Taipei tracked moderate gains. Stocks in Seoul surged by more than one percent, helped partly by tech giant Samsung Electronics posting a 32 percent rise in profits on-year for the third quarter and strong automotive gains. Attention is now laser-focused on talks between Trump and Xi, which began with a handshake and friendly greetings before closed-door discussions between the two sides&#39; delegations. Before the talks kicked off in earnest, Xi said the two countries &quot;should be partners and friends,&quot; while Trump said they would have a &quot;fantastic relationship for a long time.&quot; Markets have been boosted by comments this week by Trump expressing confidence that a sweeping deal can be struck with Beijing. Among the key issues that could be discussed are the supply of rare earth minerals &mdash; a strategic sector currently dominated by China &mdash; competition over artificial intelligence and computer chips and geopolitical hotspots, including Ukraine and Taiwan. Key figures at around 0230 GMT&nbsp;Tokyo - Nikkei 225:&nbsp;UP 0.1 percent at 51,368.71&nbsp;Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index:&nbsp;UP 0.5 percent at 26,475.53&nbsp;Shanghai - Composite:&nbsp;DOWN 0.2 percent at 4,009.86&nbsp;West Texas Intermediate:&nbsp;DOWN 0.6 percent at $60.09 per barrel&nbsp;Brent North Sea Crude:&nbsp;DOWN 0.6 percent at $64.53 per barrel&nbsp;Euro/dollar:&nbsp;UP at $1.1615 from $1.1595 on Wednesday&nbsp;Pound/dollar: UP&nbsp;at $1.3205 from $1.3187&nbsp;Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.49 yen from 152.82 yen&nbsp;Euro/pound:&nbsp;UP at 87.96 from 87.94 pence&nbsp;New York - Dow:&nbsp;DOWN 0.2 percent at 47,632.00 (close)&nbsp;London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,756.14 (close)

The meeting comes after days of a tech-fueled bull run in global markets, boosted further by an interest rate cut in the United States.

Asia stocks muted with all eyes on Trump-Xi meeting

BEIJING: China said that leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump will have &quot;in depth&quot; talks on &quot;major issues&quot; on Thursday, as expectations grew for their high-stakes talks in South Korea. Trump has said he expected their first face-to-face meeting of his second term to result in the United States lowering tariffs imposed on China in relation to fentanyl. Beijing confirmed the face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which is taking place in the city of Gyeongju. The Chinese foreign ministry said the talks would take place in Busan, a short flight from Gyeongju. &quot;During this meeting, the two leaders will have in depth communication on strategic and long-term issues concerning China-US relations, as well as major issues of mutual concern,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news conference on Wednesday. &quot;We are willing to work together with the US side to ensure that this meeting yields positive outcomes, provides new guidance, and injects new momentum into the stable development of China-US relations,&quot; Guo added. Trump said earlier he expected a &quot;lot of problems&quot; to be solved with Xi in their talks on dialling down their hugely damaging trade war.

The two leaders are set to exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest.

China says Xi, Trump to have 'in depth' talks on 'major issues'

BEIJING: China&#39;s foreign minister warned on Monday that a &quot;multipolar world is coming&quot;, a veiled jab at Washington ahead of key talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.&nbsp;Global markets are watching closely to see if Thursday&#39;s planned meeting between the two presidents can halt a trade war sparked by the sweeping tariffs Trump announced after returning to office this year.&nbsp;Speaking at a forum in Beijing on Monday, Wang Yi urged &quot;an end to politicizing economic and trade issues, artificially fragmenting global markets, and resorting to trade wars and tariff battles.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Frequently withdrawing from agreements and reneging on commitments, while enthusiastically forming blocs and cliques, has subjected multilateralism to unprecedented challenges,&quot; Wang said, without naming specific countries.&nbsp;&quot;The tide of history cannot be reversed, and a multipolar world is coming,&quot; Wang said.&nbsp;Trump began a tour of Asia on Sunday, which is set to culminate in a meeting with Xi in South Korea -- the first face-to-face talks between the two leaders since the US president began his second term in January.&nbsp;US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China&#39;s Vice Premier He Lifeng have already held two days of trade talks, seeking an agreement to avoid additional 100% tariffs set to take effect on Nov. 1.&nbsp;China&#39;s vice commerce minister, Li Chenggang, said a &quot;preliminary consensus&quot; had been reached.&nbsp;Bessent told ABC that the extra tariffs had effectively been averted and signaled that a deal on rare earths and American soybean exports had been reached.

Asia

Global markets are watching closely to see if Thursday's planned meeting between the two presidents can halt a trade war sparked by the sweeping tariffs Trump announced after returning to office this year.

China hails coming of 'multipolar world' ahead of Trump-Xi talks

BEIJING: The foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to deepen bilateral ties and resist hegemonism, a likely reference to their pushbacks against the United States. Their meeting in Beijing on Sunday came about three weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first summit in more than six years and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Kim and Xi earlier attended a massive Beijing military parade marking the end of the World War II, with other world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The joint appearance of Kim, Xi and Putin, the first of its kind, displayed a potential three-way unity against the United States, though it&#39;s unclear how far China would go in such an anti-US partnership. In a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui cited Kim as saying that further bolstering ties with China is North Korea&rsquo;s unwavering position. Choe expressed an intent to deepen and develop friendly ties with China in line with the spirits of Kim-Xi summit, the North&rsquo;s Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. Wang said China maintains a firm position that it intends to solidify bilateral ties, saying it&rsquo;s necessary to boost strategic communications and exchanges, KCNA said. China&#39;s Xinhua News Agency cited Wang as saying China oppose &ldquo;all forms of hegemonism&rdquo; and stands ready to strengthen cooperation with North Korea in international and regional affairs. It quoted Choe as saying that North Korea &ldquo;is willing to closely cooperate with China in multilateral affairs, jointly resist unilateralism and power politics and promote a fairer and more just world order.&rdquo; The comments likely referred to their countries&#39; separate confrontations with the United States &mdash; China over strategic competitions with the US and North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. KCNA said Choe and Wang exchanged views on regional and international affairs reached a complete consensus on the issues, but didn&#39;t elaborate. Kim&#39;s attendance at the Beijing military parade was his first attendance at a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule. In recent years, North Korea has been focusing on expanding cooperation with Russia by supplying combat troops and ammunitions to support its war against Ukraine. But experts say Kim now feels the need to improve ties with China, North Korea&rsquo;s biggest trading partner and aid benefactor, as he has to brace for the war&rsquo;s end. They say China, for its part, would want to maintain influence over North Korea, as bilateral ties reportedly cooled in the past few years. Attention has turned to the makeup of the delegation China might send to North Korea when it commemorates the 80th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers&rsquo; Party next month. North Korea is expected to mark the anniversary with its own military parade to display new weapons targeting the US and its allies.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shakes hands with visiting North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui prior to a meeting, in Beijing. (Xinhua via AP)

North Korea and China agreed to deepen bilateral ties and resist US hegemonism following a recent summit between their leaders. Both countries pledged closer cooperation on regional and international issues. 

Articles tagged with "Chinese President Xi Jinping"