Chinese embassies, consulate general host 2026 Spring Festival receptions

Chinese embassies and a Chinese consulate general have hosted the 2026 Spring Festival receptions this week to welcome the Year of the Horse.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on Feb 17 this year.

The reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the United States on Feb 10 in Washington presented performances such as lion dance and displayed a promotional video of China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala.

Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said that the spirit of the Year of the Horse represents an auspicious wish that the U.S.-China relations will gallop forward in the new year.

"What I hope it means is that U.S. and China relations will rapidly gallop forward with strength and we will be in a much better place at the end of the Year of the Horse, because the relationship will progress very far than we were at the beginning," said Stein.

On Feb 9, the Chinese Embassy in Italy and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture jointly hosted a reception in Rome.

The event featured Chinese intangible cultural heritage, and the attendees had the opportunity to interact with robot dogs.

"China is not only achieving modernization but also leading the future. It keeps making progress in the fields of technology and economy," said former Italian Economy and Finance Minister Giovanni Tria.

The reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines on Feb 10 in the capital Manila gathered both Chinese and Philippine representatives, with the attendees hoping that the bilateral ties will achieve healthy and stable development in the new year.

The Chinese Embassy in Senegal hosted the Spring Festival reception on Feb 9 in Dakar, involving participants in cultural activities and offering them delicious Chinese food and spectacular martial arts performances.

The 2026 Spring Festival reception hosted by the Chinese Consulate General in New York on Feb 10 in New York City presented a concert and showcased Chinese intangible cultural heritage.

Videos promoting the CMG 2026 Spring Festival Gala and film-themed travels to China were also played at the reception, with attendees speaking highly of China's development model.

"Its economic policies are based on the general welfare of the population and the success is the success they are sharing, very importantly, with nations throughout Africa and Latin America," said Richard Black, a researcher at the Schiller Institute.

On the same day, the Chinese Consulate General in New York also held a Spring Festival celebration jointly with the Empire State Building, unveiling the Chinese New Year of Horse-themed window display.

Chinese embassies, consulate general host 2026 Spring Festival receptions

The Japanese government's move to lift the ban on lethal weapon exports has sparked strong opposition among citizens, who denounce it as a shameful attempt to make money at the cost of harming innocent people abroad.

On April 21, the government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi officially revised the "three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology" and their implementation guidelines, scrapping restrictions that had limited Japan's defense equipment exports to five noncombat categories. The revision allows, in principle, overseas sales of weapons, including those with lethal capabilities.

The change has drawn strong concern and protest in Japan.

A poll released by Kyodo News on Sunday showed that 57.2 percent of respondents rejected allowing exports of lethal weapons, while 37.1 percent were in favor.

Another poll conducted by public broadcaster NHK from May 8 to 10 found that 52 percent of respondents opposed the government's move to open the door to lethal arms exports, compared with 35 percent who expressed support.

Masayasu Kai, chair of the Citizens' Movement Committee at Japan's New Socialist Party, voiced his concern in an interview on Monday with CCTV.

"The Japanese government is trying to make money off weapons, and it's a truly disgraceful way to go about it. This so-called exporting of weapons and profiting from the arms industry clearly means that lives will inevitably be lost. This should never be tolerated," Kai said.

"Even if Japan is not directly involved in a war, these weapons could be sent overseas and used to harm people in other countries. Many people don't even fully realize what's happening. The current situation is far from normal," said one demonstrator.

The Takaichi administration has also been pushing for the first-ever change to the Constitution. The postwar supreme law, which took effect in 1947, is often referred to as the pacifist Constitution because its Article 9 renounces war as a sovereign right and prohibits Japan from possessing "war potential".

Japanese citizens have warned that altering the pacifist Constitution would lead the country down a dangerous path.

"Japan is clearly moving toward military expansion, and that in itself goes against the fundamental stance of the Constitution. Some people are even talking about 'revising the Constitution.' We are firmly against that. We demand that the Constitution be protected. It must not be broken for the sake of starting a war," said another resident in Tokyo.

Japanese residents voice opposition to lethal arms exports