China firmly supports Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts while condemning the attack inside a residential compound of police last Friday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The terrorist attack took place in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, where one of the bombers rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a mosque adjacent to the gate of the police residential compound before detonating it. Another bomber blew up near a building housing offices of the special branch of police.
As many as 31 people, including 16 police officers, were killed and over 100 others were injured in the twin suicide attack, police said on Saturday.
"China strongly condemns the attack. We extend our deep condolences for the victims and sympathies to their families and those who have been injured in the attack. Terrorism is a common enemy of humanity. Combating terrorism serves the common interests of all countries. China will, as always, firmly support Pakistan in its fight against terrorism. China calls on all countries to work together to address the threat of terrorism and jointly maintain global security and stability," Guo Jiakun, the spokesman said at a press conference in Beijing.
China firmly supports Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism: spokesman
The 12th China Acrobatics Golden Chrysanthemum Award National Acrobatics Competition and the 6th China Acrobatics Art Festival concluded on Saturday in Puyang, central China's Henan Province, pairing the country's top acrobatics prize with its first world circus dialogue and new international partnerships.
The Golden Chrysanthemum Award is China's highest professional acrobatics honor, and ten of the 26 acts that reached the final took prizes. At Saturday's awards ceremony, winning performances such as "Chronicles of Mountains and Rivers: Wave Bridge" and "Realm of Dimension: Group Tightrope" were staged alongside classic magic and comedy acts from previous editions.
Song Guanlin, a Golden Chrysanthemum Award judge and board member of the National Arts Fund said the artistic quality of acrobatics depends on more than technical skill.
"When you infuse technique with emotion, that's the very lifeblood of acrobatic art," he said.
Chinese acrobatics enjoys a long-standing international reputation. The dialogue brought representatives of international circus organizations together with Chinese acrobatics professionals to discuss cooperation.
"China is a big player in acrobatics, and there has always been deep exchange between Chinese acrobatics and the international acrobatics and circus community," said Yu Yigang, president of the China Acrobats Association.
For Helmut Grosscurth, managing director of the European Circus Association, the most striking performances were those blending acrobatics with new technology.
"And that combination with new technologies like the human pyramids on these electric motorbikes and the handstand guy on a robot and all these ideas. They're moving platforms everywhere. And so that was really impressive for me because we don't have that in Europe and we'd like to bring that to Europe," he said.
During the festival, the China Acrobats Association also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Cirque du Soleil, one of the world's largest contemporary circus producers, with the two sides set to cooperate on talent cultivation, co-creating shows and expanding into overseas markets.
Andre Lachance, senior director of casting, coaching and performance medicine at Cirque du Soleil, said the partnership is valuable precisely because it runs in both directions.
"That collaboration is important because not only [do] I believe we can provide some knowledge, but I think we can learn from you guys also. So it's not about one direction, but it's about how we can collaborate and get better all together. And I believe that the signature was only the starting point into future collaboration and obviously like the long-term relationship that we're trying to build," he said.
China acrobatics festival concludes with first global circus dialogue
