China, Syria pledge closer cooperation, mutual respect

China

China, Syria pledge closer cooperation, mutual respect

2025-11-17 20:26 Last Updated At：21:07

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with visiting Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani of the Syrian interim government in Beijing on Monday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, noted that China pursues a foreign policy of friendship towards all Syrian people, and respects the choices made by the Syrian people independently.

He said that the two sides should respect each other's core interests, uphold non-interference in each other's internal affairs, carry forward the traditional friendship, calibrate the course of China-Syria relations, and bring the bilateral relations back to the right track.

China stands ready to work with the international community to make contributions to Syria's security and stability, Wang said.

Al-Shibani noted that Syria is firmly committed to the one-China principle and stands ready to further strengthen multilateral communication and cooperation with China.

Following the talks, the two sides released a foreign ministers' joint statement.

Japan revises Q3 GDP contraction to 2.3 pct

Japan's economy shrank an annualized real 2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2025, revised government data showed on Monday, compared with an initially reported 1.8 percent drop.

The revised figure for gross domestic product (GDP) from the Cabinet Office marked the fastest contraction since the third quarter of 2023.

In the three months through September, real GDP, adjusted for inflation, contracted 0.6 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, compared with the preliminary reading of a 0.4 percent decline, data showed.

Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of the economy, inched up a revised 0.2 percent in July-September, compared with the initial estimate of 0.1 percent.

Among other key components, the capital expenditure, a barometer of private demand, fell 0.2 percent, lowered from the initial estimate of a 1.0 percent gain.

External demand, or exports minus imports, subtracted 0.2 percentage points from the GDP, unchanged from the preliminary reading.