Foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Tuesday agreed to deepen cooperation as South Asian countries are facing a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a video conference with his five counterparts, discussing efforts to consolidate anti-coronavirus cooperation including vaccine supply, to boost post-epidemic economic recovery, and to maintain sound international environment for the development of all countries.

China is ready to provide support and assistance to the best of its capability to help India fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

In a phone conversation with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Wang said that China is very concerned about the new wave of COVID-19 infections in India, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a message of sympathy to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

People’s health is the foundation for human civilization and social progress, and a significant symbol of national prosperity and strength, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted on March 6.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks when he visited national political advisors from education, medical and health sectors attending a joint group meeting at the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, in Beijing, capital of China. Xi joined them in the discussion and heard their comments and suggestions.

The State Council Information Office held a news conference on the outcome of the seventh national population census on Tuesday. Here are the highlights:

 - Chinese mainland registers a population of 1.41 billion, with an annual growth rate of 0.53 percent in the past decade, down from 0.57 percent recorded from 2000 to 2010.

China has seen a surge in interest among young consumers in domestic brands and products that incorporate traditional Chinese style and culture over the past few years, according to an industrial report.

Chinese people's interest in domestic products soared by 528 percent compared with 10 years ago, said a report jointly released by Internet giant Baidu and an institute under People.cn.

China shot straight out of the box office gate with a new record as Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New year was celebrated on Friday.

China's box office takings on Spring Festival, which fell on Feb 12 this year, topped 1.7 billion yuan (about $264 million), according to figures released by the China Film Administration.

The figure surpassed the 1.4 billion yuan generated on Spring Festival two years ago, achieving a new Chinese daily box office milestone.

The weeklong Spring Festival holiday, usually a busy moviegoing period in China, started on Feb 11.

China has been making continuous efforts to protect copyrights for online literature, including introducing a revised copyright law and increasing the awareness of industry players toward copyright protections.

Last year, China's top legislature adopted the latest amendment to the country's copyright law, which will come into force on June 1, 2021, and is expected to ensure the better protection of online literature copyrights.

China has embraced its 71th anniversary of founding, after winning a series of remarkable fights against the COVID-19 epidemic and floods, which helped it turn crises into opportunities and successfully responded to changes.

Withstanding the tests, China is now standing on a new point of history, from which billions of Chinese people, with confidence and pride, will embark on a great journey in the new era.

The State Council, China's cabinet, on Wednesday stressed measures to support new industries and patterns to boost new types of consumption and foster economic recovery.

It also specified measures to speed up the innovative development of medical education, ensuring that workers do their best to protect people's health, according to a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.

In Shanghai, preparations for the third China International Import Expo (CIIE) are in full swing, as the world's first import-themed national-level expo is only one month away.

It has been a bumpy year for many global companies as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world economy. Yet, foreign firms' passion for the upcoming CIIE was not hindered by the pandemic, and the event's business exhibition area will expand to 360,000 square meters from last year's 300,000 square meters to cope with foreign exhibitors' demand, according to Sun Chenghai, vice director of the CIIE Bureau.

China announced earlier that it would provide 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the global vaccine sharing initiative COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries, showing a strong sense of responsibility at such a critical moment.

It is another major move of China to promote equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, push ahead international anti-pandemic cooperation and put into practice the vision of building a community of common health for mankind.

China will relax rules for foreign investment, increasing its market appeal to global investors and signaling its determination to deepen opening up.

The country's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has made public its plan for formulating regulations and laws in 2021, putting on agenda the revision of the guideline on foreign strategic investment in Chinese listed firms.

Wearing a ponytail and a red backpack, China’s first virtual student Hua Zhibing made her debut at the 2021 Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) Conference on June 1.

Photo shows the virtual character Hua Zhibing, whose face and voice were virtually synthesized. 

China on Wednesday voted against a draft resolution on Belarus submitted by some European Union member states to the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The draft resolution expressed concerns about alleged human rights violations that occurred in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election in Belarus and in its aftermath.

China-Africa cooperation is flourishing, but not everyone is happy about it. Speculation against China-Africa cooperation has almost become daily headlines in the West. Some Western media and politicians enthusiastically demonize China's role in China-Africa cooperation, accusing it of setting up "debt traps" and conducting imperialism in Africa. But is this the case?

The answer is obvious. The exchanges between China and Africa are based on win-win cooperation and mutual development that deliver tangible benefits to people from both sides. Such baseless accusations are merely a feeble attempt to defy China and sow discord between China and its partners.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a rolling review of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, the EU's top drug regulator announced Tuesday, and experts said that once the vaccine is approved, China will further fulfill its international responsibilities as a major power and provide support to the international community in the pandemic fight.

Sinovac and another China-produced COVID-19 jab, Sinopharm, are also under WHO assessment for emergency use, and results are anticipated in a week.

During the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dialogue Relations and the 6th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, both held in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality from June 7 to 8, participants reached a general consensus on enhancing China-ASEAN cooperation and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation, showing their wish to jointly create a brighter future through solidarity and deeper cooperation.

Poverty is a huge problem for countries all over the world, and poverty alleviation has long been a difficult task for the international community. People who live in extreme poverty are deprived of basic human needs such as food, clean drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, shelter, and education. The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all prioritize eradicating poverty and hunger. Whether in its own modernization efforts or in implementing the UN's MDGs and SDGs, the Chinese government has always placed a high priority on poverty issues and actively investigated ways to alleviate poverty.