China willing to deepen all-round cooperation with Germany: FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, stated during the meeting that China and Germany have maintained frequent high-level interactions while their pragmatic cooperation continues to show strong momentum and deliver positive results. Wang noted that although unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the global shift toward multipolarity is unstoppable.

As strategic partners, China and Germany, as well as China and the European Union, should strengthen solidarity, coordination, and cooperation, uphold free trade, practice multilateralism, and safeguard the authority of the United Nations, said Wang, noting China is willing to deepen all-round cooperation with Germany, promote the positive development of bilateral relations, and safeguard global peace and stability.

For his part, Scholz stated that Germany highly values its relationship with China and is willing to strengthen exchanges and dialogue at all levels. He emphasized Germany's opposition to protectionism and disagreement with a tariff war. Scholz expressed hope that the EU and China will adopt a constructive approach to properly resolve trade frictions including that on electric vehicles as soon as possible, and work together to uphold the free trade system.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis.

China willing to deepen all-round cooperation with Germany: FM

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight