PLA soldiers in Xizang provide relief, comfort for quake-affected residents

Soldiers from a border-guard battalion of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been working hard to bring relief to disaster-hit Dingri County in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, winning praise from local people for their care and support.

Soldiers from the battalion under the Xigaze Military Sub-command have been supplying hot food, building accommodation, and providing elderly care for over 1,300 affected residents in the villages of Chajiang, Tonglai, and Banjiu villages, trying hard to safeguard their properties and wellbeing.

The PLA soldiers even saved five-year-old boy Trinle's bicycle, a birthday present from his father, that was buried in debris during the earthquake.

"We were cleaning the debris in Tonglai Village at that time, and little Trinle ran to me, pulling my hand and clothes to run back to his home, yelling repeatedly 'bicycle.' After reaching the spot, we found out how precious the bicycle is for Trinle," said Li Geng, a soldier from the battalion.

Together with other soldiers, Li managed to dig out Trinle's bicycle, and brought smiles back to the child's face.

Li also recalled other similar stories, as well as the appreciation they had received from local people.

"We dug out many metal cases from a house, and after that a girl ran to us and thanked us many times. We asked around later and got to know that the cases were the girl's dowries. And there was another case. The temperature here is quite low, reaching around minus 20 degrees. Local people told us their concerns that their yaks might freeze to death. So we built an insulated shelter for them overnight. They were very excited, and thanked us a lot. These are some trivial efforts, but that means a lot to the people," said Li.

To show their appreciation to the soldiers, children in the village wrote down the Chinese characters spelling out the battalion's name on a blackboard.

"Our deepest reflection is that disaster relief is not only about providing material supports, but more about offering emotional comfort to the affected people. We hope that through our constant efforts, we can help local residents to get through the shadow of the earthquake, and pick up hope and enthusiasm for life, and confidence for a bright future," said Jiang Yong, another soldier from the battalion.

PLA soldiers in Xizang provide relief, comfort for quake-affected residents

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global economic growth forecasts for 2026 to 3.1 percent in the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report published on Tuesday, while keeping its projection for 2027 at 3.2 percent.

This marks a deceleration from the estimated 3.4 percent growth achieved in 2025. Before the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, the bottom-up forecasts for global growth would have been 3.4 percent in 2026 and 3.2 percent in 2027.

The forecast incorporates the impact of the war and assumes that it will be limited in duration, intensity and scope, with disruptions fading by mid-2026.

Under the reference forecast, global headline inflation is expected to increase to 4.4 percent in 2026 and decline to 3.7 percent in 2027.

If the conflict and the ensuing spike in oil prices last longer, global economic growth in 2026 will fall to 2.5 percent, while global inflation will climb to 5.4 percent, according to the report.

In extreme cases, global economic growth in 2026 could drop to two percent, the report warned.

To be specific, the U.S. economy is projected to grow by 2.3 percent in 2026 and 2.1 percent in 2027, although higher trade barriers introduced since April 2025 are expected to continue to weigh on activity.

In the euro area, growth is projected to decline from 1.4 percent in 2025 to 1.1 percent in 2026 before edging up to 1.2 percent in 2027. The forecasts for 2026 and 2027 are each 0.2 percentage point lower than those compared in the January 2026 WEO Update.

The 2026 growth forecast for emerging market and developing economies is revised down by 0.3 percentage point, to 3.9 percent, while the outlook for advanced economies remains broadly unchanged. With risks still tilted to the downside since the January 2026 WEO Update, the IMF suggested a comprehensive policy package combining domestic measures with coordinated international actions to strengthen resilience and foster adaptability.

It also stated in the report that "trade restrictions play a limited role in correcting imbalances but can worsen output," and urged countries to cooperate and take coordinated actions to restore stability to international economic relations.

IMF lowers global growth forecast for 2026 to 3.1 pct