Xi says China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity, social stability

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China and Venezuela are good partners of mutual trust seeking common development, and China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity and social stability.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Moscow on the sidelines of the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War.

During the meeting, Xi said China and Venezuela have forged an ironclad friendship amid the changing international situation.

Since the establishment of the all-weather strategic partnership between China and Venezuela in 2023, the two sides have been actively engaged in exchanges across all fields and at all levels, Xi said, noting that the bilateral trade volume is continuing to rise, new progress is being made in investment cooperation and in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and the bilateral friendship is taking deeper root in the hearts of the two peoples.

China has always viewed and developed relations with Venezuela from a strategic height and long-term perspective, and will, as always, firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding its sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability, said Xi.

He said China stands ready to strengthen experience sharing on national governance with Venezuela, continuously deepen practical cooperation across various fields, and push China-Venezuela relations to reach new heights so as to bring greater benefits to the people of both countries.

China is also ready to work with Venezuela and other Latin American countries to firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, and push for sustained progress in building a China-Latin America community with a shared future, Xi said.

Maduro, for his part, called China a great friend of Venezuela and expressed gratitude to the Chinese side for always supporting his country in safeguarding national sovereignty and achieving economic and social development.

He said Venezuela looks forward to enhancing the all-weather strategic partnership with China and strengthening cooperation in areas such as trade, energy, agriculture, science and technology, and education, so as to bring more tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Maduro hailed the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind put forward by President Xi as helping to open up bright prospects for world peace and development.

Venezuela is willing to step up coordination and cooperation with China, uphold multilateralism, safeguard international fairness and justice, and protect the common interests of the international community, Maduro said.

Xi says China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity, social stability

Xi says China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity, social stability

Xi says China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity, social stability

Xi says China will always firmly support Venezuela in safeguarding sovereignty, national dignity, social stability

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