1.Xi, Trump hold phone talks
Chinese President Xi Jinping held on Friday a telephone conversation with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
President Xi congratulated Trump on his reelection as President of the United States. Xi noted that they both attach great importance to their interactions, and both hope for a good start of the China-U.S. relationship during the new U.S. presidency. Xi expressed his readiness to secure greater progress in China-U.S. relations from a new starting point.
President-Elect Trump thanked President Xi for the congratulations, and said he values his great relations with President Xi. He hoped they would keep talking to each other, and looked forward to meeting with President Xi soon. As the most important countries in the world, the United States and China should get along well for years and beyond and work together for world peace.
The two leaders also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and other major international and regional issues of mutual interest.
2.TikTok users flock to Chinese app RedNote as U.S. ban looms
TikTok users in the U.S. are migrating to a Chinese app called RedNote with the threat of a ban just days away. The move by users who call themselves "TikTok refugees" has made RedNote the most downloaded app on Apple's U.S. App Store on Monday.
Chinese users of the RedNote welcomed "TikTok refugees" from the U.S. with selfies and messages on Wednesday, and they exchange details about their daily lifes as Beijing said it encouraged stronger cultural ties with other countries in response to the sudden influx.
3. China releases details on actor Wang Xing's Thailand-Myanmar border missing issue
Several Chinese nationals, including actor Wang Xing, were lured to the Thailand-Myanmar border by fake job postings, sparking public concern.
China's Ministry of Public Security announced Friday that Wang and others have been rescued and safely returned to China after coordinated efforts involving embassies and consulates.
Authorities are investigating a human trafficking ring in Myawaddy, Myanmar, linked to multiple cases. Joint operations by Chinese and Thai police have resulted in 12 arrests, with further investigations and efforts to apprehend additional suspects ongoing.
4.China's Spring Festival travel rush begins, 9 billion trips expected
As the Spring Festival draws near, Chinese travelers packed into cars, trains and planes on Tuesday, kicking off the landmark chunyun, the world's largest annual human migration.
Chinese authorities expect an unprecedented 9 billion inter-regional trips during this year's chunyun, or Spring Festival travel rush. The 40-day travel period began on Tuesday and will continue through Feb. 22.
5. China carries out world’s first gene-edited whole pig liver xenotransplantation surgery in brain-dead patient
China has successfully performed the world's first gene-edited pig xenotransplantation surgery for whole liver transplantation in a brain-dead patient, achieving the complete replacement of a human liver with a gene-edited pig liver, according to a statement the Xijing Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
The surgery was conducted on Tuesday by the hospital, led by Dou Kefeng, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with more than 10 disciplinary expert teams from the entire hospital. This achievement follows the hospital's success last year, when it first used a gene-edited pig for auxiliary liver transplantation in a brain-dead patient.
6. Officials: Shanghai in talks with Taylor Swift's team over possible show this year
Authorities in Shanghai have expressed optimism about the possibility of hosting a concert by renowned singer-songwriter Taylor Swift in the city this year.
During a public consultation session on Tuesday at the ongoing third session of the 14th Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or CPPCC, the city's political advisory body, Zhang Qi, deputy-director of Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, revealed that a team representing Swift had already visited the city for preliminary discussions about a potential concert.
"As for whether they can make it, the final decision hinges on market factors and Shanghai's overall appeal," Zhang said. "But we are optimistic that there stands a chance this year."
7. China reports 5% GDP growth in 2024
China's gross domestic product expanded by 5 percent in 2024 - meeting the country's preset annual growth target of around 5 percent, fueled by a slew of policy measures taking effect gradually last year, official data showed on Friday.
The country's annual GDP came in at 134.9 trillion yuan ($18.4 trillion) in 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. For the fourth quarter of 2024, the Chinese economy grew 5.4 percent year-on-year, following a 4.6 percent growth in the third quarter.
8. China adds 7 U.S. companies to unreliable entity list
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday that seven U.S. companies have been added to the unreliable entity list for selling arms to China's Taiwan region.
The decision was made by the unreliable entity list work mechanism in accordance with laws and regulations, the ministry said, adding that a series of restrictive measures targeting these U.S. companies have also been unveiled.
The companies in question are Inter-Coastal Electronics, System Studies & Simulation, Iron Mountain Solutions, Applied Technologies Group, Axient, Anduril Industries and Maritime Tactical Systems.
They are prohibited from engaging in China-related import or export activities, and from making new investments within China, according to the MOC.
9.U.S. Children’s Choir singing 'Ru Yuan' in Beijing goes viral
The video that One Voice Children’s Choir from the U.S. sang the Chinese song “Ru Yuan” (“As You Wish”) at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing went viral on social media and received over one million likes.
Chinese FM spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the popularity of this well-received video shows once again that more people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the U.S. are what the people want and support. He said the key to state-to-state relations lies in close bonds between peoples. We hope the seeds of China-U.S. friendship will take root and sprout, rain or shine, and more and more young envoys of friendship will write new chapters of a stable, sound and sustained China-U.S. relationship.
10. China completes main structure of world's tallest bridge
China on Friday finished the construction of the main structure of a bridge in its southwestern Guizhou Province, which is set to become the world's tallest bridge.
The last steel girder weighing about 215 tonnes was precisely hoisted into place on Friday afternoon, connecting sections of the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge currently under construction.
A project of Guizhou Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd., the suspension bridge has a vertical height of 625 meters from the bridge deck down to the river surface -- roughly twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.
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