China's UN envoy on Thursday urged all parties to resolve the Kosovo issue through sincere dialogue, stressing that Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.
Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, made the remarks at a United Nations Security Council meeting, where Peter Due, Special Representative and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), briefed the council on the situation in Kosovo.
The Kosovo issue remains deeply rooted in the legacy of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign, which lasted 78 days and left thousands of civilians dead or injured. Twenty‑seven years on, residents still grapple with economic instability and health problems. Meanwhile, Serbs and Albanians remain estranged, leaving deep divisions in daily life.
Sun stressed that the Kosovo issue bears on the peace and stability of the Balkans and the entire Europe, and the harmonious coexistence of the various ethnic groups in Kosovo and an early political solution to the Kosovo issue are in the common interest of all parties.
"China's position on the Kosovo issue is consistent and clear. We support the parties concerned in finding a mutually acceptable political solution through sincere dialogue within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 1244. In this process, Serbia's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be fully respected," Sun said.
Sun pointed out that dialogue and consultation is the right way to resolve the Kosovo issue, the harmonious coexistence of various ethnic groups is the basic prerequisite for stability in Kosovo, and the presence of the UN is a strong guarantee for resolving the issue.
Noting the UN and the Security Council should keep following the situation in Kosovo, Sun urged the Kosovo authorities to ensure the safety of the UNMIK personnel and premises and provide facilitation for their operations.
In 2008, Kosovo declared independence, recognized by several Western countries including the United States, but Serbia still considers it part of its territory. Tensions have escalated since, with NATO troops clashing with Serb demonstrators in Zvecan in May 2023, injuring dozens, and a September 2023 incident leaving one Kosovo police officer and four Serbs dead.
China’s UN envoy calls for sincere dialogue on Kosovo settlement
China’s UN envoy calls for sincere dialogue on Kosovo settlement
Seven of the eight major categories of commodities and services that make up China's consumer price index (CPI) have risen in March, said an analyst after the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the latest data on Friday.
The latest data showed China's CPI, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1 percent year on year in March, and the core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 1.1 percent year on year.
Among them, prices of industrial consumer goods grew by 2.2 percent, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from the previous month, contributing about 0.67 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase.
Specifically, the prices of gold jewelry, household appliances and clothing all went up, while gasoline prices turned from a decline to a rise.
"Of the eight major categories of commodities and services that make up the CPI, seven recorded price increases and one saw a decline, namely the residential category. Specifically, driven by strong seasonal demand, a rise in clothing prices pushed up the overall price of the apparel category year on year. The price of the transportation and communication category shifted from a decline to a year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, boosted by growing resident travel demand, prices for travel agency services also rose year on year," said He Xiaoying, deputy director at the analysis and forecasting division of the price monitoring center under the National Development and Reform Commission.
Friday's data also showed that the producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, returned to year-on-year growth in March, ending a 41-month streak of decline.
The PPI rose 0.5 percent year on year in March, reversing a 0.9 percent drop in February, according to the NBS.
NBS statistician Dong Lijuan attributed the turnaround mainly to imported inflationary pressures and improved supply-demand dynamics in some domestic industries.
Peng Xiaozhen, an analyst at Sublime China Information Company Limited, an institute specializing in providing information on Chinese commodity market, said overall, China's PPI is set to recover.
"International energy markets experienced wide fluctuations, and rising costs pushed up prices across the entire petrochemical industrial chain. Boosted by higher energy and chemical product prices, the rebound trend of China's PPI was further consolidated and overall, its recovery is going to continue," said Peng.
Price hike of seven major categories drives China's CPI in March: analyst
