China values, welcomes ROK president's visit: FM

China attaches great importance to and welcomes President of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Lee Jae Myung's visit to China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks in a phone conversation with ROK Foreign Minister Cho Hyun at the latter's request.

Wang said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-ROK relations have emerged from a low point and returned to the right track, showing a steady and positive development trend. It is believed that with the joint efforts of both sides, Lee's upcoming visit will promote new progress in the China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership, he added.

Noting that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang said that facing attempts by certain political forces in Japan to reverse the course of history and whitewash the crimes of aggression and colonialism, it is believed that the ROK side will uphold a responsible attitude towards history and the people, adopt the correct stance, and safeguard international justice, including adhering to the one-China principle on the Taiwan question.

For his part, Cho said that Lee attaches great importance to cooperation with China, and is firmly committed to developing the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

The ROK is willing to work closely with China to ensure a smooth and successful visit of President Lee to China, he said, noting that the country's commitment to the one-China principle remains unchanged.

China values, welcomes ROK president's visit: FM

China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.

The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).

The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.

After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.

Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.

China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship