Chinese FM to attend series of FM meetings in Malaysia: spokeswoman

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend a series of meetings of foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 10 to 11, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will attend the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the ASEAN Plus Three (China, Japan, the Republic of Korea) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting, said Mao.

"In recent years, East Asian cooperation has maintained a momentum of steady development. Countries in the region have supported their own development and promoted regional integration through cooperation based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, openness,inclusiveness and cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people in the region. At the same time, the international landscape is undergoing complex and profound changes, with unilateralism and protectionism on the rise, posing unprecedented challenges to East Asian cooperation. China looks forward to taking the series of meetings of foreign ministers as an opportunity to pool consensus on development and cooperation, and make sound preparations for the leaders' meetings on East Asia cooperation later this year," she said.

"China firmly supports ASEAN's centrality, and stands ready to steadily push forward the construction of the 3.0 Version of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, so as to forge a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. We look forward to working with countries in the region to uphold true multilateralism and open regionalism, safeguard free trade and the multilateral trading system, implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in a high-quality manner, expand cooperation in emerging industries, and carry forward the Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness. China is committed to building an Asian security architecture that features shared security, seeking common ground while shelving differences, and prioritizing dialogue and consultation. China will work with other countries in the region to build a Asian homeland of peace, tranquility, prosperity, beauty and friendly coexistence," the spokeswoman added.

Chinese FM to attend series of FM meetings in Malaysia: 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