China | Pakistan

The 99th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the People’s Republic of China was commemorated at the General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi.

China urges US to stop making unwarranted accusations against Chinese research institutions

China says US threatens AI firms over alleged model copying without factual or legal grounds

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has appointed seasoned career diplomat Ali Asad Gilani as its new Ambassador to China, replacing Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, who has completed his three-year tenure in Beijing, in a move aimed at sustaining the momentum in the strategic partnership between Islamabad and Beijing amid deepening political, economic and.

TEHRAN: Iranian-made ‘Zulfiqar’ missiles are displayed at Azadi Square. As the US kept up its missile strikes on Iranian targets, the IRGC vowed to ‘kill a member of the US forces for every Iranian killed’.—AFP • Exploratory talks held during Iranian interior minister’s recent Islamabad visit • Dar meets Araghchi at SCO summit; Qatar calls for implementing Islamabad MoU • Beijing concerned as Red Sea closure would compound Hormuz woes • Trump says Iran getting serious about talks; warns China, Russia against ‘getting involved’ in conflict • Says US will punish Iran for attacks on ships by Houthi rebels • Four die as US continues strikes on Iran ISLAMABAD / DUBAI: Pakistan is said to be exploring a path towards a resumption of stalled US-Iran talks to end their nearly five-month-old war, following a push initiated by China. The development came as US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extendi...

China weighs steps to stop Western acquisition of advanced technology firms, report says

Tech firms are racing to roll out advanced smartphones that use artificial intelligence to do everything from ordering food to composing messages upon a simple voice command. Wide adoption of phones running on so-called AI agents would be a revolution, but would also take control away from major apps, which aren’t always happy about it. At least three firms were showcasing so-called agentic phones at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai this weekend — heralding what may be to come. Smartphone maker Nubia unveiled its NaviX Ultra, a phone powered by Doubao, China’s massively popular AI chatbot tool run by TikTok creator ByteDance. “A new era of AI agent smartphones begins,” Nubia said, sharing images of the handsets online. A limited run of a prototype dubbed the “Doubao Phone” sold out fast in December. Initially, the prototype could follow simple voice commands to execute tasks across apps, including ordering food and comparing shopping prices. However, days after it was released, tech gi...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Friday agreed to enhance cooperation in immigration, border management and institutional collaboration. An understanding to this effect was reached during a meeting of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry with a delegation of China’s National Immigration Administration led by Director General Qi Jingyang here. The two sides agreed to make joint operations more effective against illegal immigration, arms smuggling and cross-border crimes. It was also decided to finalise an agreement soon to expedite the immigration process. A Pakistan-China joint working group on border management and security will be established. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said cooperation with China on land borders, seaports and immigration management would be further enhanced. “The government of Pakistan is pursuing a zero tolerance policy against illegal immigration, border crossing and smuggling,” he said, adding that action was being taken without discrimin...

Macron says France and Germany share China concerns, citing a €1 billion daily trade deficit and job losses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday cast ‌Beijing as the champion of a new global AI order, using China’s premier tech conference to promote open-source technology and challenge US influence over the rules governing the fast-moving sector. In a speech to the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Xi urged countries to “seize the rare and historic opportunity” of open-source AI, and pledged to help developing ​nations build AI capabilities, warning against the emergence of “new historical injustices” from unequal access to the technology. The remarks amounted to Xi’s clearest articulation yet ​of China’s ambition to shape global AI governance, framing its open-source models as a global public good and positioning Beijing ⁠as an alternative to Washington at a pivotal moment in the race for technological leadership. Comparing AI’s significance to the invention of the steam engine and electricity, ​Xi outlined a vision in which China shares AI technology and expert...

China and Pakistan on Friday called on the United States and Iran to end fighting and return to the negotiating table, after they met in Shanghai, according to a government statement issued by Beijing. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar jointly “expressed concern over the deterioration of the current situation, calling on the involved parties to immediately cease hostilities… (and) return to dialogue”, the statement by Beijing’s foreign ministry said. Both countries have sought to mediate in the months-long Middle East conflict, which rekindled with renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz a month after the signing of a preliminary deal aiming to end the war. That agreement was “hard-won”, Wang said. “Peace is before our eyes, (we) cannot fall at the last hurdle and even more so cannot lose what we have gained,” he added. It should be mentioned that DPM Dar was in Shanghai for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office (...

Islamabad - Pakistan signed the agreement on the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) at a signing ceremony that was held in Shanghai, China on Thursday.

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday revived sweeping and unsupported claims of voter fraud and Chinese meddling — firing a clear warning shot ahead of midterm elections that many expect him to dispute. In a primetime White House address, Trump portrayed the US electoral system as dangerously exposed and urged lawmakers to adopt new restrictions on voting, despite scant appetite for the measures even within his own Republican Party. “We can never watch a stolen election again,” Trump said, referring to his 2020 defeat by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump said he was declassifying intelligence that showed, among other things, that China had illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files. “Over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history,” he said from the White House. Trump also claimed that more than 250,000 non-US citizens were registered to vote in four states. He then atta...

$20b MoUs signed with China as UK assures support for reform agenda

China evacuated more than 600,000 people on Saturday ahead of Typhoon Bavi hitting the major eastern city of Wenzhou after pummelling Japan’s southern Sakishima island chain with heavy rain and violent winds and brushing past northern Taiwan. Even as Bavi continues to slow and weaken on its northwesterly path over cooler seas, the typhoon is still a potent risk due to the sheer volume of moisture it holds within its rain bands, about the size of France from end to end. Bavi is forecast to make landfall around Wenzhou, home to some 10 million people, in the early hours of Sunday. State media said more than half a million people had been evacuated in Zhejiang province, where Wenzhou is located, and more than 100,000 in neighbouring Fujian province. People ride electric scooters in the rain as Typhoon Bavi approaches, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China July 11, 2026. —Reuters “I’m a little worried, but I think it’ll be ok. We’ve been through typhoons before. We’ll get through it,” said Wenzhou resident Huang X...

China on Friday successfully tested an experimental rocket retrieval system using a net attached to a sea platform, state media reported, in the hope of breaking US dominance in reusable rockets. The Long March 10B rocket lifted off from the Hainan commercial space launch site in southern China at 12:15pm (9:15am PKT) and, about six minutes after separation of its booster and upper stage, the booster returned vertically and was recovered on an offshore platform, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The test marks China’s first successful retrieval of an orbital-class rocket, putting the country closer to developing reusable rockets. The rocket had sent a satellite into preset orbit on Friday, state media said. Shares in Chinese aerospace firms jumped on the news, with China Spacesat and China Satellite Communications hitting daily limits. The Long March 10B has been compared to the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s widely used medium-lift rocket. It was developed for commercial aerospace by the country’s main state rocket devel...

Chinese Embassy in Washington says China firmly opposes all forms of cyberattacks

Pakistan and China have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their strategic security partnership, expanding counterterrorism cooperation, enhancing border management, combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking, and facilitating greater people-to-people exchanges during a high-level meeting held at the United Nations Headquarters.

A Chinese industry regulator warned users on Wednesday of a “security backdoor” embedded in versions of US artificial intelligence company Anthropic’s coding tool, Claude Code. The alleged backdoor could allow the software to “transmit sensitive information”, including users’ locations and identity-related identifiers, back to Anthropic’s servers without users’ consent, said China’s National Vulnerability Database (NVDB), a cybersecurity platform. Claude Code is an AI coding agent that can generate computer code, debug software and review code based on user prompts. San Francisco startup Anthropic blocks users and companies in China and other nations it deems adversarial from accessing its products, but it is still possible to use them in the country through a VPN or third-party proxy services. The NVDB, which is affiliated with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said on its website that it had recently “detected that the AI coding tool Claude Code contains security backdoor risks, posin...

BEIJING: The death toll from devastating storms in parts of China rose to 17 on Tuesday, with hundreds more injured and tens of thousands evacuated, as President Xi Jinping urged “all out” rescue efforts. Over 130,000 people were evacuated, but 11 are still missing, regional officials told a news conference, adding that the rain has damaged nearly 13,000 acres of agricultural land. Dramatic video shared by state broadcaster CCTV showed a torrent of muddy water rushing past the crumbled concrete walls of a reservoir dam that had burst in the southern region of Guangxi, the worst-hit area. Rescue workers wearing life vests searched for missing people in inflatable boats, while authorities erected emergency shelters to house those displaced. 40 rivers and waterways overflowing in southern Guangxi region Intense rain and severe flooding from typhoon Maysak killed six people in Guangxi, where authorities raised the flood control emergency response to its highest level in the regional capital, Nanning. The state br...