Any military exercise should not target or harm the interests of a third party, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
The spokesman made the remarks when asked to comment on the ongoing joint military drills between the United States and the Philippines.
"With regard to the U.S.-Philippine military cooperation, China has repeatedly stated its solemn position. I would like to reiterate that any military exercise should not target a third party or harm the interests of a third party, undermine the mutual trust among countries in the region, or jeopardize regional peace and stability. I believe that the countries in the region are fully aware of who is provoking military confrontation and raising tensions in the region. We want to remind the countries concerned that, in order to safeguard their own security and development and to maintain peace and stability in the region, the only correct choice is to adhere to good-neighborly friendship, return to dialog and consultation, and insist on strategic independence," said Lin.
According to the Philippine military, the exercise, dubbed "Balikatan 2024," runs from April 22 to May 10, involving around 5,000 Philippine and 11,000 U.S. troops, making it the largest iteration of the Philippines-U.S. joint drills conducted in decades.
Any military exercise should not target third party: Chinese spokesman
Any military exercise should not target third party: Chinese spokesman
Over 70 percent of the projects funded by China's additional one-trillion-yuan treasury bonds issued late last year have started construction, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Saturday.
So far, 15,000 projects funded by the issued treasury bonds have been implemented, with 11,000, or 72 percent of them having started construction, said Hu He, chief of the General Office of NDRC's Investment Division, adding that efforts will be made to ensure that all the remaining projects will be in construction before late June.
"Among them (the funded projects), those for post-disaster reconstruction have seen rapid progress. Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have activated 95 percent of these projects, and a batch of post-disaster reconstruction projects for improving the people's wellbeing such as schools, hospitals, water supply facilities and roads, have basically been completed, and are ready for timely use," said Hu.
Late last year, China issued an additional one-trillion-yuan treasury bonds, mainly covering projects of eight key areas including those for post-disaster construction, enhancing north China and other regions' capacity for post-disaster reconstruction, disaster prevention and mitigation, and helping the affected regions restore their basic production and living conditions and economic development to the pre-disaster level.
"The additional treasury bonds issued in 2023 strengthened support for enhancing the capacity for post-disaster reconstruction, disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, raising the support standards for the projects all at once, thus greatly easing the local government's financial pressure. The measure is both aimed at helping the affected population to restore as fast as possible the normal working and living conditions and enhancing the capacity for disaster prevention and relief in the long run, so as to better protect people's lives and property in the future," said Hu.
China's treasury bonds-assisted civil projects well progressing: official
