Xi extends condolences over Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent messages of condolence to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev over the casualties in the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane.

Xi said that he was shocked to learn that a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines crashed, causing casualties.

On behalf of the Chinese government and people, Xi deeply mourned the victims. Also in the messages, he offered sincere sympathy to the bereaved families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

External financial assets of China's banking sector exceeded 1.56 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of September, according to official data released on Thursday.

The banking sector's external financial liabilities stood at about 1.5 trillion dollars at the end of September, resulting in 61.3 billion dollars of net external assets, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Among the external financial assets, deposit and loan assets totaled 953.7 billion dollars, accounting for 61 percent of the total; bond assets stood at 238.2 billion dollars, accounting for 24 percent of the total; and other assets, including equity, were 238.2 billion dollars, accounting for 15 percent of the total.

Among the external liabilities, deposit and loan liabilities were 712.9 billion dollars or 47 percent of the total; bonds investment reached 379.7 billion dollars, accounting for 25 percent of the total; and equity and other liabilities were 410.3 billion dollars or 27 percent of the total.