The U.S. government should immediately stop its blockade, sanctions, and any form of coercion and pressure against Cuba, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in Beijing on Friday.
"We have noted that some U.S. congressmen recently visited Cuba and expressed opposition to the hostile policies of the United States towards the island nation. The U.S. government should heed the voice of justice and immediately cease its blockade, sanctions, and any form of coercion and pressure against Cuba. China is willing to work with the international community to firmly support Cuba in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security, and opposing external interference," Mao said at a regular news briefing.
China urges U.S. to end blockade, sanctions against Cuba immediately
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
