China demands the United States to effectively constrain its frontline forces and stop making provocations, said Defense Ministry spokesman Jiang Bin at a press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Jiang made the remarks in response to the expelling of the U.S. destroyer Higgins by the Chinese military after it illegally intruded into China's territorial waters near Huangyan Dao on Wednesday.
"Huangyan Dao has always been China's territory. The U.S. destroyer Higgins intruded into the territorial waters off Huangyan Dao without the approval of the Chinese government, which gravely violates China's sovereignty and national security, seriously undermines peace and stability in the South China Sea, and brazenly tramples on international law and the basic norms of international relations," said Jiang.
"China deplores and firmly opposes the U.S. action and has lodged serious protests to the U.S. side. We demand that the U.S. side effectively restrain its frontline forces and immediately cease all infringement activities and provocations against China. The Chinese military will stay on high alert all the time to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security and steadfastly maintain regional peace and stability," he said.
China demands US to constrain its front-line forces: spokesman
China demands US to constrain its front-line forces: spokesman
China has remained the world's largest online retail market for a 13th consecutive year, with its digital consumption exceeding 23.8 trillion yuan (about 3.39 trillion U.S. dollars), official data shows.
The figure was released at a national e-commerce work conference held from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The conference said that China's e-commerce sector has achieved solid gains in high-quality development over the past five years, emerging as a new source of momentum to foster new quality productive forces and playing an important role in advancing the country's new development paradigm.
Despite rising external uncertainties, China has continued to expand its win-win cooperation, increasing the number of Silk Road e-commerce cooperation partner countries to 36.
E-commerce has become a major engine for job creation and industrial upgrading. Employment in the sector has surpassed 78 million, and express delivery volumes have seen an average annual growth of nearly 20 percent over the past five years.
Software and information services linked to cloud computing and big data have also expanded rapidly.
The conference outlined the Ministry of Commerce's e-commerce policy priorities for 2026, including strengthening innovation-driven growth, improving the country's development environment, and expanding international cooperation.
China remains world's largest online retail market for 13th straight year
