China urges Philippines to investigate killing of Chinese national in kidnapping case

China has urged the Philippines to intensify efforts to investigate the case and take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals in the country, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday.

Mao made the remarks when responding to a media query on a recent kidnapping in the Philippines involving a Chinese citizen who was confirmed dead.

"It has been confirmed that a Chinese national is among the kidnapped victims. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has maintained close contact with the Philippine authorities following the incident, urging the Philippines to make every possible effort to investigate the case and take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country. Our Embassy has also provided support to the family of the victim. The Foreign Ministry will work with relevant government departments to provide instructions to the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines to follow up on the case and handle the incident properly," said Mao.

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has recently been informed that a Chinese national was kidnapped in the Philippines. The embassy immediately activated its emergency response mechanism and assisted the family of the victim in reporting the case to the Philippine National Police's Anti-Kidnapping Bureau.

It also intervened through diplomatic channels, calling for a prompt rescue of the hostages and measures to be taken to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country.

The victim was later declared dead, along with a Chinese-American who had also been kidnapped. The embassy has urged the Philippines to intensify efforts in case investigation as well as capture and severely punish the murderers as soon as possible, according to a statement from the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines.

China urges Philippines to investigate killing of Chinese national in kidnapping case

With the approval of the China National Space Administration, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has acquired lunar soil samples retrieved by Chang'e-5, and will conduct in-depth studies on the samples, the university announced Wednesday.

The samples include one set of 400 milligrams shoveled from the Moon surface and another set of 42.6 milligrams retrieved by deep drilling.

The samples shoveled from the lunar surface were retrieved with special mechanical device developed by a research team of the PolyU.

Researchers at the university said they will study the microstructure of fused debris in the lunar soil, the water content in it and its origin.

The research is expected to contribute to the understanding of soil formation on the surface of the Moon and other celestial bodies without atmosphere, as well as water resources affected by solar wind.

The Chang'e-5 probe was launched in November 2020. It collected 1,731 grams of lunar samples and returned to Earth in December.

Hong Kong's PolyU receives Chang'e-5-retrieved lunar samples