China's second aircraft carrier is transferred from dry dock into the water at a launch ceremony in Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 26, 2017.(Xinhua/Li Gang)
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DALIAN -- China launched its second aircraft carrier Wednesday morning in a Dalian shipyard in Liaoning Province, northeast China.
The new carrier, the first developed and built by China, was transferred from a dry dock into water at a launch ceremony, starting about 9 a.m. in the Dalian shipyard of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.
It is China's second aircraft carrier, coming after the Liaoning, a refitted Soviet Union-made carrier put into commission in the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in 2012.
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BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that her country supports the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and wishes success for the Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation to be held in Beijing next month.
Merkel made the remarks while meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who came here to attend the Chinese-German Strategic Dialogue on Diplomatic and Security Affairs, as the two countries are marking the 45th anniversary of the ambassador-level diplomatic relations.
Merkel spoke highly of the recent development in bilateral ties, saying she wished the two nations' comprehensive strategic partnership could be enhanced through a trove of important high-level exchanges this year.
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NEW YORK -- Chinese direct investment in the United States tripled in 2016 with Chinese companies employing more than 140,000 Americans, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Already on a steep growth trajectory for the past five years, Chinese investment in the United States jumped to 46 billion U.S. dollars last year, a 200-percent increase from the previous record of 15 billion dollars set in 2015, according to the report published by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Rhodium Group, a New York-based economic research firm.
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BEIJING -- China voiced its grave concern to Washington and Seoul Wednesday after parts of the THAAD anti-missile defence system were moved into the Republic of Korea (ROK) for deployment.
China urged the United States and the ROK to withdraw the equipment and stop the deployment, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang at the daily press briefing.
Geng said, the deployment of THAAD anti-missile defence system will damage strategic balance in the region, worsen the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, do no good for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and threaten regional peace and stability.
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BRUSSELS -- External players of the Syria crisis should draw lessons from Iraq and Libya if they are mulling a "regime change," said China's special envoy on Syria on Tuesday.
Ambassador Xie Xiaoyan underscored that the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in nature Syria's internal affairs which should be left for the Syrian people to decide.
"External forces do have a role to play, but there is a line beyond which is meddling in the internal affairs of another country," Xie told reporters in Brussels.
