UN chief extends his National Day greetings to China

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres extended his National Day greetings to China, commending its significant achievements in global sustainable development and poverty alleviation.

China's National Day falls on Oct 1 and the National Day holiday lasts from Oct 1 to 7.

In a recent interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Guterres offered his congratulations to the country, emphasizing that it has made substantial contributions to the UN's peace and development goals and set an example for the world.

"Well, congratulations. This should represent a moment of a renewed deep commitment of China with multilateralism and with UN, which represents two traditional ways of China to assert itself in the world. Having said so, China -- because of the dimension of your economy and because obviously you came to a large extent the factory of the world -- China has also a huge effort to make in reduction of emissions in the next few years, and we trust the determination of China to play that role," he said.

The secretary-general stressed that all developing countries should learn from China's experience to see to what extent they can benefit from it in order to overcome significant development gaps.

"At the same time, it is very important to say, and we saw it in President Xi's intervention in the Belt and Road, that green development is a fundamental objective in the development corporation of China with African countries. China was able to eradicate extreme poverty. China is still a developing country, but China is in the top performance of some of the most sophisticated areas of technology. And so I believe that to study what China has done, to learn with the Chinese process is something that would be very important. Of course, no one size fits all countries are different, but it's an experience that all developing countries should study to see to what extent they can profit from that experience to overcome the dramatic development gaps," said Guterres.

UN chief extends his National Day greetings to China

China's 7-day National Day holiday is driving a resurgence in international travel, with more Chinese travelers opting for long-distance trips overseas.

From Oct 1 to 7, the number of inbound and outbound passengers at Beijing airports is expected to exceed 400,000, marking a 54 percent year-on-year increase, according to Beijing Immigration Inspection.

"To effectively manage the peak flow of passengers, the Beijing Immigration Inspection will strategically deploy police forces to ensure smooth and orderly processing, especially before and after the National Day holiday, which sees a peak in tourist traffic," said Zhang Shaohang, a staff member at the inspection station.

Data from a travel booking platform indicates that about 60 percent of Chinese travelers plan to embark on long-haul trips during the National Day holiday, up from 39 percent last year.

"The restoration of many international flights - some destinations even have more flights than in 2019 - is one of the reasons for this surge," said Liu Dong, director of the platform's Public Affairs Department.

Top destinations include Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan.

"These destinations have very favorable visa policies for Chinese tourists, such as visa exemptions or simplified procedures like e-visas, which is a favorable element," said Liu.

China's 7-day National Day holiday boosts int'l travel