With the May Day holidays nearing, cancellations on China-Japan flights continue to rise, with some routes fully cancelled, according to Umetrip, China’s aviation data provider.

About 45 percent of scheduled flights from the Chinese mainland to Japan during the 2026 May Day holidays had been canceled as of April 20, with the cancellation rate up about 33 percent year on year, said Umetrip on Monday.

Five routes — Shenyang-Osaka, Tianjin-Osaka, Fuzhou-Nagoya, Ningbo-Osaka and Guangzhou-Nagoya — were completely scrapped, posting 100 percent cancellation rates. Meanwhile, Shanghai, Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou, and Nanjing ranked as the top five cities by number of canceled flights.

Data from VariFlight, another industry data provider, showed that as of press time, 210 flights to Japan during the five-day May Day holidays had been canceled. Scheduled round-trip flights between China and South Korea ranked first, up 11.1 percent year on year.

These figures were released as Japan’s official data also pointed to a similarly negative trend.

According to data released by the Japan National Tourism Organization on April 15, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland to Japan fell 55.9 percent year on year in March, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline on a yearly basis, Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Also, in the first quarter of this year, arrivals from the Chinese mainland to Japan dropped 54.6 percent year on year.

Since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made erroneous remarks on the Taiwan question, the number of visitors from the Chinese mainland to Japan has continued to decline, putting pressure on Japan’s retail, hospitality, and catering sectors.

Data released by the Japan Tourism Agency on April 15 showed that spending by visitors from the Chinese mainland to Japan totaled 271.5 billion yen ($1.71 billion) in the first quarter, down 50.4 percent year on year.

Amid a decline in visitors from the Chinese mainland, Japanese department store operator Takashimaya and J. Front Retailing both posted their first drop in net profit in five fiscal years in the last fiscal year, Xinhua reported. 

J. Front Retailing President Keiichi Ono said at an earnings briefing that the company will be difficult in the short term to offset the impact of the drop in Chinese visitors, the report said.

Chinese traffic data analysis platform DAST also said in a recent statement that a total of 2,691 flights from the Chinese mainland to Japan were canceled in March, with the cancellation rate reaching 49.6 percent, up 1.1 percentage points from February.

Industry insiders said subdued travel sentiment toward Japan has been driven mainly by erroneous remarks from Japanese politicians and a recent spate of safety incidents. Against that backdrop, it is understandable that many Chinese travelers are shifting their attention to other destinations during the May Day holidays. Weaker demand has also led to fluctuations in the number of flights to Japan.

The Chinese Embassy in Japan said on April 3 via its official website that incidents involving Chinese citizens in Japan, particularly tourists, such as travel disruptions and traffic accidents, had recently increased, and it therefore reminded Chinese nationals traveling to Japan to pay close attention to travel safety.

In addition, the Chinese Embassy in Japan said in an April 1 notice reminding Chinese citizens in Japan to be mindful of travel safety that incidents involving Chinese nationals in Japan, particularly tourists, including public security cases, traffic accidents and telecom fraud, had recently become more frequent.

China's State Council on Tuesday issued a guideline on expanding capacity and improving quality in the service sector, aiming to better support industrial upgrading, meet people's livelihood needs, and expand employment over the next five years. Analysts said that the strategic plan will further advance China's economic structural transformation and high-quality growth, while creating broader opportunities for global cooperation.

The document makes clear that by 2030, the sector's total output is expected to surpass 100 trillion yuan ($14.67 trillion), with a development pattern characterized by higher quality, more optimized structure, improved standards and stronger vitality basically taking shape.

It also calls for fostering more "China service" brands, significantly enhancing the sector's global competitiveness and influence, and steadily improving the public's sense of gain.

To achieve these goals, the guideline urges efforts to move producer services toward greater specialization and higher value-added segments of the value chain, while promoting high-quality, diversified and more convenient development of consumer services.

The new guideline comes as a series of recent policy and market signals indicates that the shift toward high-quality growth of the service sector is being put on a faster track, as China's economy enters a new phase of high-quality development.

In producer services, the document identifies six priority areas to shore up weak links across the entire industrial chain: strengthening the support role of science and technology services, enhancing the overall competitiveness of modern logistics, accelerating innovation in software and information services, improving specialized supply chain financial services, promoting the development of energy-saving and environmental services, and upgrading business services.

"This is a top-level design with a clear strategic orientation, targeting key weak links in China's economic structure that urgently need to be strengthened," Song Ding, a research fellow at the China Development Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Song said that while China has built a globally leading manufacturing system, significant room remains to upgrade its service sector, particularly modern services. "This strategy will not only consolidate existing industrial strengths, but also provide a necessary pathway to enhancing China's global industrial competitiveness and influence," he said.

On science and technology services, the guideline further details measures such as fostering leading industrial design firms, enhancing professional capabilities and international standards, and building incubators for emerging industries and industries of the future.

It also specifies steps to advance software and information services, such as accelerating the application of intelligent programming tools, supporting the procurement of large models and intelligent agent services, fostering data cooperation alliances, and building high-quality industry datasets.

With China's high-end manufacturing advancing rapidly, demand for producer services such as research and development (R&D), finance and supply chain management has surged. Song said that upgrading these services and deepening integration with global industrial chains will strengthen China's role and rule-setting capacity in global value chains.

On the consumer side, the guideline also calls for increasing the supply of high-quality household services, improving the adaptability of eldercare and childcare services, enhancing the professionalism of health services, and innovating models in culture, tourism and sports services.

Analysts said that the measures reflect a national strategy of "investing in people," which will improve the quality of life through better services while helping unlock consumption potential, expand service consumption, and support domestic demand and structural upgrading.

In the outline of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) approved by the top legislature last month, China pledged to further advance reform and opening-up in the service sector, refine policy support, and comprehensively enhance its quality, efficiency and competitiveness.

China's service industry strengthened its role as a key growth driver in the first quarter, with its value-added output accounting for 61.7 percent of GDP and contributing 63.2 percent to overall economic growth, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday, citing the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"Since the beginning of this year, operating revenues in major service industries have generally grown at a relatively fast pace, with services enterprises showing a trend of digital technology empowerment and accelerated growth in consumption-driven services," an NBS official said.

Official data also showed that producer services have become an important force driving industrial transformation and upgrading. In the first quarter, the value added of information transmission, software and information technology services rose 10.6 percent year-on-year, while fixed-asset investment in high-tech services increased 12.3 percent.

Meanwhile, consumer services continued to unleash strong consumption potential. In the first quarter, services retail sales grew 5.5 percent year-on-year, 3.3 percentage points faster than the retail sales of goods.

On the international front, the guideline calls for efforts such as advancing the establishment of international industry and standards bodies, promoting the global adoption of Chinese standards, expanding opening-up in areas such as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, and strengthening services trade cooperation with key countries and regions.

China's service trade deficit reached 828.72 billion yuan in 2025, driven by steady imports of high-quality services to meet domestic demand, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

Song emphasized that deeper opening-up of the service sector will not only drive upgrading in manufacturing and growth in strategic emerging industries, but also create more room and opportunities for foreign investment in high value-added sectors.

The Chinese foreign and defense ministries on Friday slammed New Zealand's move to send a military aircraft near Chinese airspace for repeated close-in reconnaissance and harassment recently.

When asked to comment about the New Zealand air force plane, which repeatedly flew near China's airspace and disrupted some civil aviation flights, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press conference on Friday that a P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the New Zealand air force recently conducted repeated close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.

The action undermined China's security interests, increased risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation, and gravely disrupted civil aviation in the relevant airspace, Guo said.

China has responded in a resolute manner and lodged serious protests with New Zealand, Guo said, adding that China urges New Zealand to abide by international law and basic norms governing international relations, and also to respect China's sovereignty and security concerns and maintain the safety and order of civil aviation.
Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, also denounced New Zealand's activities at a press conference on Friday. Zhang said that recently, a P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft of the New Zealand air force has conducted frequent close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace and waters of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea in disregard of China's warnings. The Chinese military has taken professional and forceful measures to respond to and deal with the situation, and has lodged stern representations with the New Zealand side.

Such acts by New Zealand undermine China's sovereignty and security, severely disrupt flight order in the relevant airspace, and may easily trigger maritime and aerial incidents, Zhang said. "We urge the New Zealand side to exercise strict restraint on its frontline forces, immediately stop disruptive and irresponsible acts that jeopardize civil aviation safety, and prevent risks of misunderstanding and miscalculation," Zhang said.

As a relatively advanced long-endurance anti-submarine patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, the P-8A could conduct reconnaissance on China's surface vessels and submarines, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Friday.

Ahead of the Chinese ministries' response to the New Zealand military plane's close-in reconnaissance and harassment near China, the Japanese Foreign Ministry claimed on March 26 that from late March to mid-April, the Royal New Zealand Air Force maritime patrol aircraft P-8A would engage in monitoring and surveillance activities against "illicit" maritime activities in the name of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, using Kadena Air Base under the Agreement Regarding the Status of the United Nations Forces in Japan. It also claimed Japan "welcomes these activities."

The Kadena Air Base, originally a military facility left over from the Cold War, has now been reduced to a "springboard" for non-regional countries to conduct close-in reconnaissance against China and create regional tensions, Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Japan, far from fulfilling its due management responsibilities, has instead turned a blind eye to or even condoned New Zealand's use of the Kadena Air Base to carry out illegal harassment activities targeting China, showing that Japan has hitched itself to the chariot of military confrontation and willingly serves as an accomplice to other countries' provocations against China, the expert said.

The Japanese ministry claimed that it would be the ninth time New Zealand's aircraft had engaged in these activities since 2018.

Song said China is geographically far away from New Zealand, and China follows a defense strategy that is defensive in nature, meaning it has no intention to threaten New Zealand's national security. This move by New Zealand will only invite trouble upon itself.

"A Shared Voyage: China-US Youth Friendship Program," a people-to-people exchange that gathered 20 young participants from China and the US on a research voyage, concluded on Wednesday along Shanghai's iconic Huangpu River.

Ray Dalio, the program's co-organizer and founder of US investment management firm Bridgewater Associates, praised the initiative at a closing ceremony held aboard the research vessel "China-US Youth Friendship (OceanXplorer)" at the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal. Bringing together young people from the two countries and also to deal with the ocean has been a dream come true, Dalio said in his remarks at the ceremony.

The renowned US investor also offered practical suggestions for nurturing cultural and interpersonal ties between the next generations of China and the US, stressing the value of "investing" in people-to-people connections.

"Meaningful work and meaningful relationships are the most important things in life. When they can build on each other ... Something special happens," he told the Global Times after the ceremony.

"I would emphasize that we are at a juncture in which we have to deal with the changing world order," Dalio added, referring to the current global landscape. "So that we can rise above ourselves and realize that, the win-win relationships are better than lose-lose relationships."

The program, implemented in follow-up to the "50,000 in 5 Years" Initiative announced in 2023, was jointly organized by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA), the China-US Exchange Foundation, and OceanX, a philanthropic ocean exploration and media organization founded by Dalio. The initiative seeks to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs over five years.

This program further deepened mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and the US, particularly among young people, said CPIFA Vice-President Geng Shuang. China and the US need more people-to-people exchanges like this to build a solid foundation of public support for a stable, healthy and sustainable bilateral relationship, Geng said in a speech he delivered at the ceremony.

The two-week program covered Chinese cities Hong Kong, Ningbo and Shanghai. Twenty students from Chinese and US universities sailed together to carry out marine science and cultural-exchange activities. During the trip, they also visited historical and cultural sites, high-tech enterprises, new rural development projects and urban civic centers to gain a more authentic, multidimensional and comprehensive understanding of China, according to the organizers.

Two weeks spent together aboard the vessel sowed seeds of friendship and deeper mutual understanding among the young participants. Meredith Kime, a PhD candidate in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, recalled an onboard Chinese cultural activity when two Chinese peers taught traditional painting and calligraphy. "That was one of the first memories I have of all of us really feeling like friends, and that was maybe the second day ... You can imagine how close we all are now," Kime told the Global Times aboard the vessel.

For Kime, learning from one another has been the trip's most rewarding aspect. "I've learned a lot from the Chinese students on board, both culturally and professionally," she said.

Xu Jingtong, a third-year ocean science student at Shanghai-based Tongji University, shared a particularly impressive moment from the voyage. When the vessel entered a rough stretch of sea, US and Chinese participants poured out from their cabins onto the deck and began singing and dancing amid strong winds and waves.

"At that moment, I felt that communication can erase barriers, and that cooperation and friendship can cross mountains and seas," she told the Global Times.

China will intensify efforts to reduce corporate burdens and dismantle institutional barriers this year to ensure the stability of industrial and supply chains and secure business operations, according to an inter-ministerial meeting held in Beijing on Wednesday.

The State Council's inter-ministerial joint conference on reducing enterprise burdens outlined a 2026 work plan focused on addressing pain points across the entire business cycle with comprehensive measures.

The meeting emphasized the need to establish and practice a correct view on governance performance. It called for efforts to conduct grassroots research to identify and resolve the immediate, practical difficulties that enterprises face.

Plans to achieve this goal include optimizing the business environment through standardized administrative enforcement and the implementation of smart and credit-based supervision.

The meeting called for establishing a precision policy-to-enterprise matching mechanism to ensure policies reach the right companies, supported by a closed-loop management system for addressing corporate complaints.

In 2025, regulatory crackdowns on irregular charges and the continued rollout of tax and fee support policies played a significant role in stabilizing market expectations and boosting enterprise confidence.

The office of the inter-ministerial mechanism is housed within the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Recently, LONGi signed a 1GWh strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongtian Technology (ZTT). This marks a significant milestone in bringing its “LONGi ONE” strategy from concept to commercial deployment and demonstrates market recognition for LONGi’s full-stack integrated energy solution.
On April 1, LONGi officially unveiled its “LONGi ONE” Solar-Plus-Storage integration strategy, which redefines the relationship between solar and storage from the ground up. By leveraging fully self-developed, natively integrated technologies, LONGi aims to build a “Solar Generator” that sets global benchmarks for efficiency and safety, breaking down the silo effect between solar and storage systems. The goal is to provide global customers with a unified, efficient, and safe green power solution, along with asset protection.

“LONGi ONE” achieves native integration from high-efficiency BC technology to patented 5S energy storage technologies (BMS, iCCS, EMS, TMS, PCS). Built on the three pillars of “One System, One Platform, One Responsibility,” the company has launched a full-scenario product portfolio covering utility-scale, commercial, and industrial applications. This includes OneBank 2.0 for GWh-scale power plants, OneMatrix 2.0 for flexible, plant-level requirements, and Hi-MO One + EnergyOne solution for commercial and industrial applications. Through system-level coordination, these solutions reduce conversion losses and enable a shift from “passive response” to “active decision-making.”

Notably, LONGi’s proprietary iCCS safety detection system, combined with a multi-dimensional thermal runaway warning model, enables millisecond-level fault isolation and helps mitigate thermal runaway risks.

As a result, from solar modules to energy storage systems, and from hardware delivery to lifecycle operation and maintenance, customers work through a single interface with LONGi and no longer need to coordinate among multiple suppliers. With unified technical standards, an after-sales system, and clear responsibility, issues can be traced and quickly resolved. This reduces coordination issues among different equipment manufacturers.

“LONGi ONE” is not just a technological upgrade; it represents a shift in Solar-Plus-Storage integration from “device assembly” to “integrated system capability.” This transformation addresses current industry pain points and has already gained recognition among customers.

As deployment and large-scale application accelerate, solar-storage integration solutions are poised to provide a more scalable, reliable, and flexible pathway for the global energy transition.

About LONGi

Founded in 2000, LONGi (Stock code: 601012. SH) is committed to being the world's leading solar technology company, focusing on customer-driven value creation for full scenario energy transformation.

Under its mission of 'making the best of solar energy to build a green world', LONGi has dedicated itself to technology innovation and established several business sectors, covering mono silicon wafers, cells and modules, commercial & industrial distributed solar solutions, green energy solutions, building integrated photovoltaic and hydrogen equipment. As an international company, LONGi's business covers more than 160 countries and regions. Actively practicing its "Solar for Solar" concept, LONGi is accelerating the global transition to sustainable energy and promoting energy equity, enabling more people around the world to access affordable clean energy.

The fragile calm that followed the US-Iran ceasefire began to unravel almost as soon as it took hold, raising fresh doubts about the durability of the agreement. On Wednesday local time, Israel launched what appeared to be its most extensive airstrike campaign against Lebanon, with reports indicating hundreds were killed or injured.

Tehran swiftly condemned the strikes as a breach of the ceasefire, announcing the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and warning of possible military retaliation. In a sign of the uncertainty surrounding diplomatic efforts, Iran's ambassador to Pakistan briefly posted, then deleted, a message on X about Iranian delegation's arrival in Islamabad, an episode that underscored how tenuous the path to de-escalation remains.

"Lebanon's sovereignty and security should not be violated. Civilians and their property must be protected. We call on relevant parties to stay calm and exercise self-restraint and deescalate the situation in the region," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday in response to media inquiry over the Israeli strike against Lebanon.

In response to another question on whether China believes Lebanon should be included in the ceasefire agreement that has already been reached, Mao said China hopes relevant parties will take the temporary ceasefire arrangement as an opportunity to resolve disputes through political and diplomatic means and put an end to the conflict.

Strike and spats

Hours after US announcement of the two-week ceasefire deal with Iran on Wednesday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes in Lebanon, which killed 254 and injured 1,165, according to Al Jazeera, citing data from Lebanon's Civil Defence. The media outlet highlighted "100 air strikes in 10 minutes across Lebanon" in its headline.

The Israeli military said the attack was its largest coordinated assault on Lebanon since it started a new military operation in the country on March 2, targeting "more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites," Al Jazeera reported.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that Thursday, April 9, will be observed as a national day of mourning for the victims and injured. He added that he remains in contact with Arab leaders and international officials to step up Lebanon's political and diplomatic efforts aimed at halting the Israeli attacks, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote in an X post on Thursday that renewed aggression by Israel against Lebanon blatantly violates the initial ceasefire. "Such actions signal deception and non-compliance, rendering negotiations meaningless. Our hands remain on the trigger. Iran will never forsake its Lebanese brothers and sisters."

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused the US and Israel of violating the ceasefire deal, and warned that it will respond if Israel does not stop the assault, Al Jazeera reported, citing Iran's state-owned TV channel.

In an X post Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the terms of the ceasefire were "clear and explicit: the US must choose - ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both."

"The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the US court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," Araghchi said.

In addition, regional countries, including Qatar, Syria, Egypt and Turkey, have publicly condemned Israel's strikes against Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday also condemned Israel's latest strikes on Lebanon, stressing that "Lebanon must be fully covered by" the Middle East ceasefire. In a post on X, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Netanyahu's "contempt for life and international law is intolerable" in light of the attacks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Israel's strikes across Lebanon, warning of a rising civilian toll and risks to regional ceasefire efforts, Anadolu Agency reported.

In a joint statement issued in the early hours of Thursday, foreign ministers of Australia, UK, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan and Sierra Leone called for an "urgent end" to hostilities in Lebanon, per Xinhua.

Zhu Yongbiao, a Middle East affairs expert at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Thursday that Israel's strategic objective is to completely overthrow Iran's current regime, and reshape its strategic deterrence across the Middle East. However, Iran's capacity for resistance have thwarted these goals.

As the US seeks to extricate itself from the Middle East and avoid being dragged into a quagmire of war, Israel is attempting to obstruct and disrupt the ceasefire negotiation process, Zhu added. "These actions also serve to 'legitimize' Israel's control over certain Lebanese territories it previously seized."

The Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, warned on Thursday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday risked the deal falling apart, per AP. It wrote in an analysis that "Israel's strikes can be understood both as an effort to drive a wedge between Iran and its proxies and as a response to being allegedly sidelined in the original ceasefire discussions."

US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said, "ceasefires are always messy." He claimed that the US never promised Lebanon would be included in the ceasefire agreement, chalking that up to a "reasonable misunderstanding" between the parties, CBS reported.

Vance told media that Israel had agreed to "check themselves a little bit in Lebanon" to support negotiations, per Bloomberg.

Stalling tactic?

Despite the White House on Wednesday confirming that US Vice President JD Vance will lead the US negotiating team in talks with Iran, US President Donald Trump issued a statement on Truth Social on Thursday insisting that his surge of warships and troops will remain around Iran "until such time as the real agreement reached is fully complied with."

Citing US military officials, The New York Times on Sunday reported that several hundred US Special Operations forces have arrived in the Middle East, joining thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers in a deployment "meant to give President Trump additional options to expand the monthlong war with Iran."

US officials also disclosed that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and its accompanying warships are deploying to the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike groups in the region, the Wall Street Journal said last week.

For the Strait of Hormuz, the fate is still unclear. Although the previous ceasefire announcement from the US suggested the chokepoint is going to be reopened fully, when Israel attacked Lebanon after the truce deal, the IRGC halted all the passages through the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported.

According to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, just three ships were observed leaving the region on Wednesday. More than 800 freighters are stuck inside the Persian Gulf, mostly waiting to leave.

The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that ceasefire requires a "free" reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which includes no tolls imposed by Iran, according to PBS.

Another key dispute is that Iran's 10-point truce plan include the acceptance of Iran's nuclear enrichment rights, while the US demand Tehran to surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium.

Before the talk, the US side has also threatened Iran on the nuclear issue. US defense chief Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program has "always been non-negotiable."

"Both sides had previously agreed to conduct talks in Islamabad, indicating their continued desire to reach a deal. However, the US and Iran hold fundamentally different views on the nature and content of any peace agreement," Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Iran seeks a once-and-for-all resolution to all its issues with the US, including the thorniest nuclear issue and the sanctions. However, the US appears to be avoiding the heavy issues and focusing only on the lighter ones, Ding said.

According to The New York Times, 15-point proposal offered by US mediators, only a cease-fire was on offer, and Iranian officials want to ensure a formalized end to hostilities that is more permanent.

"With the US continuously reinforcing its military forces in the region, it is becoming hard - not just for Iran, but for the whole world - not to doubt America's true sincerity. Many wonder if these negotiations are a stalling tactic," said Ding.

China signed an agreement on Wednesday to contribute to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and called for continued international support for the body, which says it faces an "existential crisis" from the war in Gaza and a severe funding gap.

The contribution agreement, part of Beijing's annual donation, was signed in the Jordanian capital by Zeng Jixin, head of China's office to the State of Palestine, and Karim Amer, UNRWA's director of partnerships.

Zeng praised what he called UNRWA's "indispensable" role in providing humanitarian assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees. He said China has increased its annual donation and provided medical supplies and other aid since the Gaza conflict erupted.

"China calls on the international community to continue supporting UNRWA," Zeng said, adding that Beijing was ready to work toward ending the fighting and achieving a just, lasting solution based on a two-state framework.

The UNRWA has faced a major funding crisis after several key donor countries suspended contributions following Israeli accusations that a dozen of the agency's staff participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks. While many donors have since resumed funding, the agency says it is still grappling with "very big" financial challenges.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA's communications director, said the agency is also undergoing an "existential crisis" amid the devastating conflict in Gaza, where at least 340 of its staff have been killed since the war began.

"China has been a dear friend of the Palestinian refugees, a dear friend of UNRWA. Their contributions are always welcome," Touma said, expressing gratitude for Beijing's support.

Hong Liang, director-general for Boundary and Ocean Affairs of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gourangalal Das, joint secretary of the East Asia Division of the Ministry of External Affairs of India co-chaired the 34th Meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs in New Delhi on Wednesday. 

Representatives from the foreign affairs, defense and immigration departments of both countries attended the meeting, according to a press release by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

The meeting is not merely a technical dialogue — it sends an important signal: Both sides are committed to using this mechanism to further implement the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, stabilize current relations and steadily advance the improvement and warming of China-India relations, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times. 

Guided by the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries, the two sides focused on in-depth communication regarding the implementation of the outcomes of 23rd meeting of Special Representatives for China-India Boundary Question and agreed to jointly prepare for the 24th meeting. 

The two sides spoke positively of the progress made in managing the border situation since last year and held candid and in-depth discussions on issues such as boundary negotiations, border management, institutional development, and cross-border exchanges and cooperation, reaching preliminary consensus. Both sides agreed to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and jointly uphold peace and tranquility in the border areas.

During their stay in New Delhi, the Chinese delegation also paid a courtesy call to Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri. 

Qian said that, since its establishment, this working mechanism has been alternately held by both sides in their respective countries. It has played a positive role in maintaining stability and exercising control over the border situation. The mechanism not only reflects equal cooperation in form but, more importantly, it has enhanced political mutual trust and helped prevent the escalation of potential risks.

"It not only ensures timely communication on border affairs and helps maintain peace and stability along the border, but also reflects an improvement in China-India relations," Tian Guangqiang, an assistant research fellow with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. 

Qian, echoing Tian's comments, said that the current meeting takes place against the backdrop of gradually improving China-India relations. 

Senior officials such as the foreign ministers, defense ministers and national security advisers have repeatedly expressed their support for improving bilateral ties. This continued consultation at the working level is part of the effort to follow through on that strategic guidance, Qian said. 

Five years ago, in February 2020, India suspended Chinese citizens' tourist visa applications. However, the South Asian country announced on Wednesday that it will open tourist visa applications to Chinese citizens from July 24, 2025.

Tian viewed this move as a positive signal. Although some challenges remain, such as the Modi administration's lingering distrust toward China, both sides still demonstrate determination and confidence in improving ties and are taking steps in that direction, Tian added.

Tian said as the one who initiated the deterioration in bilateral relations, India needs to make greater efforts to improve ties and work with China toward the same goal.

A Chinese student sports body on Thursday condemned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for attempt to use sports for their secessionist agenda at the ongoing FISU World University Games in Germany.

During the taekwondo men's team medal ceremony on Wednesday, officials from Taiwan's sports authorities tried to distribute a message to members of the Chinese Taipei delegation in violation of FISU protocols, said the China Student Sports Federation.

The Chinese delegation intervened, during which one staff member was injured due to aggressive behavior by the Taiwan side, it added.

The FISU has expressed support for the Chinese delegation and urged relevant Taiwan officials to abide by Olympic protocol in regulating the delegation's conduct, said the federation.

Noting that the incident runs counter to the expectations of people across the Taiwan Strait, the federation said such political manipulation by the DPP authorities, driven by the party's own interests, lacks public support and is doomed to fail.