WHY WERE THE DEALS NEEDED? The poorest in the world were hit worst by the rising global food prices. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned in March last year that its ability to feed some 125 million people was under threat because 50 per cent of its grain cameContinue Reading
In January, the WHO named four other countries it was working with – Timor Leste, Cambodia, Senegal and the Philippines – to track whether any of the tainted syrups had reached their markets. There is no current risk to the population in the countries the WHO has named, Kuwana said,Continue Reading
BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping told his “old friend” Bill Gates on Friday (Jun 16) that China had always placed its hopes in the American people, after the Microsoft co-founder’s foundation pledged US$50 million to help Chinese efforts to battle disease.
Gates – one of the world’s richest men – is the latest in a string of Western business leaders to visit China since the country ended strict COVID-19 controls that largely closed it off from the world for almost three years.
The visit is Gates’ first to China in four years, and included a rare sit-down between the Chinese head of state and a foreign business leader.
“You are the first American friend I have met in Beijing this year,” Xi told Gates in Beijing, according to the state-run People’s Daily.
“We have always placed our hopes on the American people, and hoped for continued friendship between the peoples of the two countries,” Xi added.
Gates, in turn, said he was “very honoured to have this chance to meet”, according to a recording of the meeting shared by state broadcaster CCTV.
“We’ve always had great conversations and we’ll have a lot of important topics to discuss today,” he said.
“I was very disappointed I couldn’t come during these last four years, and so it’s very exciting to be back.”
A state media readout also quoted Gates as praising China’s efforts in “tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, setting a good example for the world”.
The meeting comes ahead of an expected visit to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday.
It also follows an announcement by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday that it would give US$50 million to support Chinese efforts to fight malaria and tuberculosis.
The foundation announced it would renew a collaboration with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) – a Beijing-based group set up by Gates, the Beijing municipal government and Tsinghua University.
The US$50 million will support “efforts to improve health outcomes worldwide through lifesaving therapies for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, which disproportionately affect the world’s poorest”, the Gates Foundation said in a statement.
On Thursday, Gates gave a speech at GHDDI, the Gates Foundation said, hailing China’s efforts in eradicating malaria and poverty reduction.
“China has made significant gains reducing poverty and improving health outcomes within China,” Gates said.
“I’m hopeful China can play an even bigger role in addressing the current challenges, particularly those facing African countries.”
Gates last visited China in 2019, where he met with first lady Peng Liyuan to discuss his foundation’s work in HIV/AIDS prevention.
During a visit to the country the previous year, he brandished a jar of human waste at a forum in Beijing in a bid to draw attention to the shortage of toilets in the developing world.
A string of American business leaders have visited China this year, talking up their optimism about its vast market and trade ties between the two economic powerhouses.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon visited China in recent weeks, as did Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who made his first visit in more than three years.
Musk, who has extensive business interests in China, met senior officials in Beijing and visited Tesla’s Gigafactory on the outskirts of Shanghai for a late-night meeting with staff.
In March, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Beijing, saying his company enjoyed a “symbiotic” relationship with China.
AHMEDABAD, India: Roofs were blown off houses and trees and electric poles uprooted in several parts of India’s western state of Gujarat as a severe cyclone made landfall overnight and heavy rain continued to lash the coast early on Friday (Jun 16). No casualties were reported. More than 180,000 peopleContinue Reading
HONG KONG: Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp’s co-founder, is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday (Jun 16) during his visit to China, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The meeting will mark Xi’s first meeting with a foreign private entrepreneur in recent years. The people saidContinue Reading
PRAGUE: Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu met the head of the upper house of the Czech parliament on Tuesday (Jun 13) as part of a European trip that has angered China. Wu, on a second trip to the central European NATO and European Union member country after a 2021 visit,Continue Reading
NEW DELHI: The United States is set to remove obstacles that prevent smoother trade with India in critical areas such as defence and high technology, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday (Jun 13). Washington sees New Delhi as a vital partner in its efforts to push backContinue Reading
NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have launched an inquiry into an allegation that a local pharmaceutical regulator, in return for a bribe, helped switch samples of cough syrups that the World Health Organization (WHO) had linked to the deaths of children in Gambia before the samples were tested at an IndianContinue Reading
TOKYO: NATO will set up a liaison office in Tokyo in 2024 and use it as a hub for cooperation with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, the Nikkei newspaper said on Tuesday (Jun 13), a plan China has described as unwelcome. In May, Japan’s ambassador to the UnitedContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has taken diplomatic steps that have slowed down a Chinese effort to project military power around the world, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday (Jun 12) ahead of a visit to Beijing later this week. Washington’s top diplomat was asked at a press conferenceContinue Reading