China has never provided lethal weapons to any party in Russia-Ukraine conflict, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
Mao made the remarks in response to a media query on a statement made by the head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. Oleh Ivashchenko told Ukrinform state news agency on Monday that there is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components to Russian military plants.
""China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear. And China has been committed to ceasing hostilities, promoting ceasefire, and facilitating peace talks. China has never provided lethal weapons to any party in the conflict, and strictly controls the dual-use articles. Ukraine is very clear about this. China firmly opposes groundless accusations and political manipulation," Mao said.
China never provides lethal weapons to any party in Russia-Ukraine conflict: FM spokeswoman
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
