China urges pressing ceasefire in Gaza, avoid dragging entire region into catastrophe: envoy

China

China urges pressing ceasefire in Gaza, avoid dragging entire region into catastrophe: envoy

2024-06-26 11:23 Last Updated At：19:17

China's permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong called on the international community to make concerted efforts for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

At the meeting, Fu called on all parties to exercise restraint, and refrain from actions that could escalate tensions, so as not to plunge the entire Middle East region into an even greater catastrophe.

"After announcing a three-phase ceasefire proposal on May 31, the United States pushed for the adoption of Resolution 2735 by the Council, urging both Israel and Hamas to accept and implement the proposal. At that time, the United States claimed that Israel already accepted the proposal. Regrettably, until now, we haven’t seen tangible signs from Israel of its agreement to the lasting ceasefire. On the contrary, we have witnessed its continued large scale military operations, resulting in new and major casualties, and putting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other humanitarian agencies in danger," said Fu.

There must be an immediate ceasefire, and once that is achieved, there should be no resumption of the war. It is the core essence of the Council Resolutions 2728 and 2735. To rescue hostages, creating more civilian casualties is not the way to go, the envoy said.

"China urges Israel to follow the overwhelming call of the international community for it to immediately cease military operations in Gaza and immediately stop the collective punishment of the Gazan people. We call on countries with important influence to work sincerely in an impartial and responsible manner to push for the cessation of hostilities," he said.

China calls on the international community to take all necessary actions to bring about an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, an early relaunch of the process of implementing the two-State solution, and the realization of lasting peace and security in the Middle East at an early date, Fu added.

Guangdong's Zhongshan sees robust growth in housing market activities

2024-06-30 15:20 Last Updated At：15:37

Zhongshan City of south China's Guangdong Province has experienced a surge in property market activities ahead of the opening of a cross-sea passage between the cities of Shenzhen and Zhongshan.

The 24-km-long cross-sea link is scheduled to open to traffic on Sunday afternoon. Upon operation, the travel time between south China's major cities of Shenzhen and Zhongshan will be reduced from the current two hours to approximately 30 minutes.

So far in May, 2,050 homes have been sold in Zhongshan, up 23.6 percent from the previous month, breaking the record of 2,000 sets for the first time this year, according to data from Hefu Research Institute.

From June 17 to 23, the online trading for homes in Zhongshan registered a 39-percent growth compared with last month, the data showed.

The number of inquiries for home purchase has also surged, according to real estate agencies in the city.

"Since June 15, we have received more than 300 batches of potential customers, and sold 70 homes," said Huang Yanqing, a real estate agent.

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is a core transportation hub project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It consists of one underwater tunnel, two bridges and two artificial islands, making it one of the most challenging cross-sea cluster projects in the world.

Zhongshan is embracing a new opportunity arising from the opening of the passage. The city will work with Shenzhen to jointly develop the urban resources in culture, tourism and historic relics and welcome people from afar with also gourmet food.