The Chinese Foreign Ministry and relevant diplomatic missions are promptly organizing the evacuation of Chinese citizens in Israel and Iran, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
Noting that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the safety of its citizens overseas, Guo Jiakun, the spokesman, said that the Foreign Ministry has demanded that Iran and Israel protect Chinese nationals and institutions.
"Since the outbreak of the Iran-Israel conflict, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies and consulates in Iran and Israel have immediately activated the emergency consular protection mechanism, demanding that the two countries effectively ensure the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions, promptly issued relevant reminders and guidelines, maintained close contact with local Chinese citizens and institutions to guide them to take safety precautions and urgent measures to avoid danger, and actively provided assistance to Chinese citizens in evacuation," Guo told a press conference in Beijing.
"At present, some Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated to neighboring countries. The Foreign Ministry and relevant diplomatic missions are working with concerned departments to make every effort to protect Chinese citizens in Iran and Israel and to organize their swift evacuation," the spokesman continued.
Guo advised Chinese citizens in Iran and Israel to contact Chinese embassies and consulates or call the consular protection hotline 12308.
Evacuation of Chinese citizens from Israel, Iran underway: spokesman
Axis powers during World War II should offer sincere reflection and apology, a Greek mayor said after Greece successfully repatriated a rare collection of 262 World War II-era photographs.
Greek officials traveled to Belgium to negotiate with the seller and brought the photographs back to Greece, after they were put up for sale online by a Belgian collector, said the Greek Culture Ministry.
The images were taken by Wehrmacht lieutenant Hermann Heuer, who served in Greece from 1943 to 1944, during World War II, and part of the collection documents the mass execution of Greek communists by Nazi troops in Kaisariani, east of Athens.
During World War II, German occupation in Greece met with fierce resistance. On May 1, 1944, German forces executed 200 Greeks at the Kaisariani firing range in retaliation for the killing of a German general by resistance fighters.
A memorial and a museum were set up after the war in Kaisariani to commemorate those who died in the mass execution.
"The photos really shocked us all because they were real documents from the day of the execution. We are shocked for many reasons. An important reason is that the 200 communists were singing with their heads held high before the execution in the photos, and they were not mourning because they were fighters," said Ilias Stamelos, mayor of Kaisariani.
The newly recovered photographs have drawn renewed attention to the historical trauma still felt in the community, as the images provide a direct visual record of the final moments of those executed.
In 1987, then German President Richard von Weizsaecker visited Greece and made a special stop in Kaisariani, reflecting on the profound suffering inflicted on the Greek people by Germany during World War II.
Ilias said that, like Germany, Japan, another Axis power during the war, should also be held accountable for the massive harm it caused to multiple countries and should offer sincere reflection and apology for its wartime aggression.
"And I think it's a common demand, because those responsible for the deaths in the World War II need to pay for what happened. It's known to all that back then it was Germany, Japan and Italy, the allies in this war, that each played different roles in the war, yet they do have common responsibilities," said the mayor.
Historic photos of Nazi mass execution of Greeks returned to Greece, mayor calls for historical accountability
