China warns of emerging terrorism risks, urges elimination of breeding grounds

A Chinese envoy on Friday warned of emerging terrorism risks driven by the misuse of new technologies, urging the international community to enhance cooperation and eradicate the breeding grounds of terrorist activities.

Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to United Nations, made the remarks at a UN Security Council open briefing marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Prior to the meeting, attendees observed a moment of silence to mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks.

During the session, the Security Council issued a presidential statement reaffirming that terrorism remains one of the most severe threats to international peace and security. The statement also expressed deep concern over the exploitation of emerging technologies, including the internet, satellite communications, virtual assets, and drones, for terrorist purposes.

"Over the past 25 years, international counterterrorism cooperation has continued to deepen, and a global counterterrorism architecture with the United Nations at its core has gradually taken shape. Meanwhile, the threat of international terrorism persists, terrorist activities have become decentralized and fragmented, and emerging technologies are being misused for terrorist purposes," said Sun.

To address these technological risks, Sun called for refining global governance rules and regulatory frameworks, while enhancing capacity building for developing countries in utilizing new technologies to combat terrorism.

The Chinese envoy stressed that the international community must strengthen solidarity, uphold the UN's central coordinating role, and intensify crackdown on terrorist activities while eliminating their root causes.

"The Security Council should work to promote the political settlement of hotspot issues, resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation, and eliminate the breeding grounds for terrorism. At the same time, it should oppose the politicization and instrumentalization of counter-terrorism and avoid linking terrorism to any particular country, ethnicity or religion," said Sun.

He also called for strengthening border control, intelligence sharing, and joint counter-terrorism operations, and bolstering law enforcement and independent response capabilities of developing countries.

Sun said China will continue to actively participate in global counter-terrorism cooperation under frameworks such as the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS.

China will share its counter-terrorism experience and assist other countries in capacity-building, thereby playing a constructive role in advancing global counter-terrorism cooperation, said the Chinese envoy.

China warns of emerging terrorism risks, urges elimination of breeding grounds

The U.S. federal government's budget deficit reached 1.97 trillion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of fiscal 2026 through the end of August, one of the highest levels on record for the period, according to data released by the Department of the Treasury of the United States on Friday.

The figure has already exceeded the full-year deficit of 1.775 trillion dollars in the previous fiscal year. The deficit for August alone was 166.8 billion dollars, down 52 percent year on year, but the decline does not signal an improving fiscal picture.

As August 1 fell on a Saturday this year, payments such as Social Security that are normally made on the first of the month were moved into July, artificially reducing August outlays. Adjusted for those calendar shifts, the August deficit was 248 billion dollars, up 7 billion dollars from a year earlier, the Treasury said, indicating that underlying fiscal pressure persists.

September, the final month of the fiscal year, typically records a surplus as corporate income tax payments come due, but it is unlikely to change the full-year trajectory.

Meanwhile, rising interest rates have pushed net interest payments on government debt above 1 trillion dollars, now exceeding national defense and most other major federal spending categories.

Only Social Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare and other programs, rank higher.

With large volumes of low-interest Treasury debt maturing and being refinanced at higher costs, that figure is expected to keep climbing, putting the U.S. debt burden on a path that could set historic records in the coming years.

US federal deficit hits 1.97 trln USD in fiscal 2026