Chinese envoy urges Israel to cease attacks on Syria

A Chinese envoy on Thursday urged Israel to cease its attacks on Syria and called on the international community to make concerted efforts to prevent the flames of war from further spreading to the whole Middle East and causing worse disasters.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, condemned Israel's airstrikes on Syria over the past month which have caused a large number of casualties and violated Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"China called on all parties concerned to earnestly respect Syria's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, and immediately stop illegal military operations against Syria. Foreign troops must end their illegal military presence in Syria at an early date," said Geng.

Since the recent escalation of tensions between the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah and Israel, more than 500,000 refugees have poured into Syria, making the already severe humanitarian situation in the country even worse.

Geng said China supports UN agencies in taking active action and providing emergency humanitarian assistance to Syria, welcomes the Syrian government's decision to extend its permission for the use of relevant crossing points, and appreciates the Syrian government's efforts to properly resettle refugees.

China calls on all parties to increase humanitarian resources in Syria, fulfill their donation commitments in a timely manner, ensure the smooth implementation of humanitarian projects and help improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, he said.

Geng stressed China firmly supports the Syrian government's anti-terrorism efforts and called on the international community to put an end to double standards and adopt a zero-tolerance attitude to jointly support the Syrian government in combating terrorist forces within its territory in accordance with international law and the Security Council resolutions.

"China reiterates that relevant countries should immediately lift unilateral sanctions against Syria, immediately stop illegally plundering Syria's resources, and create favorable conditions for Syria's economic recovery and development," Geng said.

Chinese envoy urges Israel to cease attacks on Syria

China's cold-chain logistics demand maintained steady growth in the first three quarters of the year, driving the recovery of the sector in both total volume and revenue, according to the data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on Friday.

From January to September, the total demand for cold-chain logistics reached 304 million tons, an increase of 4.7 percent year on year, data showed.

In the period, China's domestic market for cold-chain logistics rose by 4.2 percent year on year to 6.4 trillion yuan (about 885 billion U.S. dollars), and the total revenue of the sector rose by 3.6 percent year on year to 417.8 billion yuan (about 57.75 billion U.S. dollars), according to the CFLP.

The federation attributes the growth to the surge in fresh produce and catering consumption since the third quarter and the thriving fresh food e-commerce.

"Both the market size and revenue of cold-chain logistics picked up, thanks mainly to a peak season of agricultural products consumption since the third quarter, particularly the surge in catering consumption. Another contributor is the fast development of fresh food e-commerce, which saw double-digit growth in online sales. All these have driven the rapid growth in cold-chain logistics," said Cui Zhongfu, vice president and secretary-general of the CFLP.

In the first three quarters, the nationwide online sales of fruits surged by 11.94 percent year on year, with the growth rate of fresh fruits reaching 18.23 percent year on year.

China’s cold-chain logistics market maintains steady growth in first three quarters