China urges global action to strengthen Biological Weapons Convention on 50th anniversary: spokesman

China has called on all states parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) to take concrete actions to jointly uphold the authority of the convention and strengthen the global biosafety and biosecurity governance system.

This announcement was made by Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun during a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the BWC's entry into force.

Guo highlighted the global significance of the BWC and China's commitment to enhancing global governance in biosafety and biosecurity.

"The Biological Weapons Convention establishes international legal obligations to eliminate the threat of biological weapons, reduce biosecurity risks, and promote the peaceful use of biotechnology. It plays an important role in maintaining peace and security for all humanity and in promoting development and prosperity," said Guo.

"President Xi Jinping has proposed a Global Security Initiative, advocating for countries to work together to address global issues such as biosecurity. In recent years, China has put forward a series of proposals to promote the establishment of a verification mechanism for the convention, prevent and eliminate violations, and actively promote responsible biological research. China also encourages multilateral and bilateral exchanges and cooperation, supporting developing countries to fully participate in global biosecurity governance and benefit from biotechnology development. China calls on all signatories to take practical actions, fulfill their obligations earnestly, uphold the authority of the Biological Weapons Convention, and continuously improve the biosafety and biosecurity governance system," said Guo.

"China calls on all contracting parties to take practical actions, fulfill their obligations earnestly, uphold the authority of the Biological Weapons Convention, and continuously improve the biosafety and biosecurity governance system," said the spokesman.

China urges global action to strengthen Biological Weapons Convention on 50th anniversary: spokesman

Tokyo stocks closed mixed on Friday as the earnings of major companies showed diverse results, with artificial intelligence and semi-conductor stocks slumping while video games firm Nintendo enjoyed a bump amid a recent sales boost.

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 76.55 points, or 0.12 percent, from Thursday at 65,606.71. The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 19.08 points, or 0.47 percent, higher at 4,074.93.

Timothy Pope, an analyst for the China Global Television Network (CGTN), gave his assessment of the day's trading in Tokyo.

"Over in Japan, the markets were mixed today. The Nikkei 225 dragged a bit lower by its AI and chip-related heavyweights. It finished the day down only about 0.1 percent, but it had been down more than 1.5 percent earlier on in the session," he said.

"Two of today's notable stocks, SoftBank and Nintendo, reported earnings yesterday. SoftBank was down 2.5 percent. Its earnings were predictably complicated: profits were better than expected, but still down 18 percent year on year. It reported 1.86 trillion yen in investment gains, but -- this is a crucial one -- no valuation gain from its massive investment in OpenAI. Nintendo shares, meanwhile, were up 5.3 percent after quarterly operating profit jumped by 150 percent. It says thanks there are due to strong demand for software for the Switch and Switch 2 (games consoles), and also a hefty refund from U.S. tariffs," said Pope.

Tokyo stocks end mixed as heavyweights diverge: analyst