In response to Taiwan authorities' smear on the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, driven by their inherent pursuit of "Taiwan independence" and political interests, are attempting to erase and distort Taiwan compatriots' identification with the Chinese nation. Their repeated baseless attacks and smears against the law are aimed at fabricating excuses for betraying the nation, splitting the country, undermining cross-Straits relations and restricting exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.
The Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress has taken effect. However, the Taiwan local authorities claimed the law is a "unification law" packaged under the guise of ethnic unity, linking "national reunification" with "ethnic unity," and reflects a new stage in the Party's "legal warfare" aimed at forcing unification with Taiwan, shifting from opposing "Taiwan independence" to promoting unification by coercive means.
In response, Chen said the Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress clearly stipulates the use of the rule of law to prevent and combat illegal activities related to ethnic affairs. It is based on China's national conditions, consistent with legal principles, and in line with international practices. It is a just and necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
No matter what tactics the DPP authorities use, they cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China, nor can they sever the blood ties and deep affection shared by Chinese people on both sides of the Straits, erase the Chinese cultural imprint among Taiwan society and its people, or stop the historical trend that China will ultimately achieve and must achieve reunification, said Chen.
He noted that if "Taiwan independence" forces dare to carry out acts that split the nation and undermine ethnic unity, we will resolutely punish them in accordance with the law.
Floods triggered by rounds of torrential rains have left 39 people dead and nine others missing in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Thursday.
The death toll includes the casualties resulting from a severe reservoir breach in the regional capital city of Nanning, according to a flood control and disaster relief press conference held at noon on Thursday.
China's Long March 10B carrier rocket lifted off from the Hainan commercial space launch site at 12:15 pm on Friday. Approximately six minutes after the separation of the rocket’s first and second stages, the first stage made a vertical return and was successfully recovered by an offshore recovery platform.
This marks China’s first successful implementation of controlled recovery of a launch vehicle’s first stage, as well as the world’s first net-based recovery of a launch vehicle.
Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, is expected to make landfall along the coast between Wenling and Rui'an in east China's Zhejiang Province from Saturday night to early Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Center.
The center said Bavi weakened from a strong typhoon to a typhoon at around noon on Saturday. It is forecast to continue moving northwest at a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour before making landfall.
The National Meteorological Center forecast widespread heavy rainfall across eastern China over the next three days. Zhejiang, Fujian, Shanghai, Jiangxi, Anhui, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and parts of northeast China are expected to experience heavy to torrential rain, raising the risk of secondary disasters such as mountain floods, landslides and urban waterlogging.
At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the National Meteorological Center continued to issue a red alert for rainstorms and a yellow alert for severe convective weather.
Chinese authorities on Saturday intensified emergency response measures with Typhoon Bavi set to slam into the country's eastern coast, resulting in meteorological, water resources, transport and emergency management authorities issuing alerts and reinforcing flood-control efforts ahead of the expected landfall.
The country's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters activated a Level-IV emergency response for flood and typhoon control in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, all in east China, as well as southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
At the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), two student guides from Shanghai share the story of the CPC's founding.
Over a century after its founding, the Party's spirit continues to inspire younger generations as they pass on China's revolutionary history.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command (STC) and the China Coast Guard (CCG) on Tuesday conducted separate patrol operations in the waters surrounding China's Huangyan Dao, resolutely safeguarding the country's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.
On Tuesday, naval and air units of the PLA STC conducted readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas, according to a release from the STC. Huangyan Dao is an inherent part of China's territory.
Since June, forces of the STC have enhanced readiness patrols in the territorial sea and airspace of Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas. Such patrols serve as an effective countermeasure to cope with all sorts of rights-violation and provocative acts. They are meant to resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, said STC.
Footage released by the STC captured a Chinese naval officer demanding a Philippine aircraft to adjust its course immediately and leave the area, telling it that Huangyan Dao is an inherent territory of China.
The video also featured a dialogue between two Chinese Air Force pilots. Pilot Chai Jin asked, "How does it feel to fly this far out for the first time?" Pilot Liao Xiaodong replied, "I'm a little excited, but also a bit nervous."
Chai Jin responded, "We're just patrolling our own backyard - what's there to be nervous about."
Also on Tuesday, the CCG conducted law-enforcement patrols in the territorial sea of China's Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas. Since June, the CCG has enhanced law-enforcement patrols in the territorial sea of Huangyan Dao and its surrounding areas, and regulated ships engaged in illegal rights-violation activities in accordance with laws and regulations.
Such patrols are meant to further strengthen orderly management of relevant waters and resolutely safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, according to CCG.
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) warned on Monday that a series of cases in recent years have highlighted the growing risks posed by the illegal collection and misuse of game data. While marketed as an augmented reality (AR) experience, certain games effectively induce players to perform highly precise 3D point-cloud scans, enabling the real-time collection of geospatial data.
Recently, some foreign media reports revealed that a leading AI company behind a leading AR mobile game had amassed nearly 30 billion environmental scans uploaded by players and reportedly used them to train AI models capable of recognizing and understanding physical spaces.
Given the company’s reported partnerships with defense contractors in another country, concerns have emerged that such models could ultimately be adapted for military applications. The reports have fueled global debate over the potential militarization of civilian data and served as a stark reminder of the growing data security challenges in the digital intelligence era, according to the MSS’s official WeChat account.
AR overlays virtual content onto the real world, creating an interactive experience that seamlessly blends digital and physical environments. However, the MSS said that AR captures far more data than ordinary photographs. Users often grant broad permissions by accepting lengthy terms of service, allowing apps to collect and upload data continuously with little awareness. Also, every AR frame is precisely geotagged with GPS coordinates, altitude, device orientation, and timestamps.
There, users often have little visibility into or control over how their data is used, and even anonymized datasets can be re-identified through cross-referencing exposing personal information or turning users into unwitting sources of data for foreign military projects.
Such practices also undermine public trust by violating basic business ethics, potentially damaging confidence in AR technologies and the wider digital ecosystem. More broadly, if sensitive geospatial data is acquired by foreign intelligence agencies, it can be aggregated into high-precision 3D models and transformed into actionable intelligence that could threaten national security, according to the MSS.
The MSS reminded the public to follow the principle of minimum necessary permissions when installing map and AR applications, avoiding granting continuous location and camera access unless essential. It also urged users not to photograph, scan, or check in at sensitive locations, and to exercise caution toward data collection tasks released by overseas organizations or unknown platforms under the guise of surveys or game testing.
Two adult kestrels, a national second-class protected species which are rarely seen in urban areas, have built a nest atop a roughly 30-meter-tall telecommunications tower outside a commercial building in Beijing and recently hatched a brood of chicks, attracting crowds of residents and prompting bird-watching enthusiasts to offer impromptu science lessons on the street, People's Daily reported.
The chicks are still unable to fly independently and can occasionally be seen flapping their wings inside the nest. On the sidewalk below, more than a dozen photography enthusiasts have set up cameras and binoculars, keeping their eyes fixed on the birds' every move. Passersby have also stopped to join the impromptu birdwatching gathering, many taking out their phones to capture the unusual scene.
"The kestrels have already been here for about half a month, and several chicks have hatched," one nearby resident said.
As interest grew, experienced birdwatchers began offering spontaneous explanations about the species' habits, conservation status and proper bird-watching etiquette.
"This is a kestrel, a national second-class protected wild animal and a type of raptor that many people would simply refer to as an eagle," Huang Cheng, a student at China University of Petroleum, told onlookers. "These birds are usually found in natural environments with abundant vegetation, and it is relatively rare for them to nest in urban areas, and this is a sign that our ecological environment is improving," he said, according to the report.
The informal street-side science sessions have been well received by local residents, with many parents bringing their children specifically to observe the birds and learn about nature.
"I used to think birds of prey only lived deep in forests and mountains. I never imagined we could see them right outside our neighborhood. My child is very excited," a parent who brought a sixth-grade student to watch the birds said.
Kestrels are a relatively common raptor species in Beijing and play an important role in urban ecosystems. With strong flying abilities, they mainly feed on large insects, small birds and rodents, serving as "natural cleaners" that help maintain ecological balance, according to the report.
"Kestrels used to be migratory birds, but in recent years some have started nesting in parks and gradually become resident birds. Even so, nesting in densely populated urban areas remains uncommon," a staff member said, noting that the phenomenon also reflects the continuous improvement of Beijing's ecological environment.
According to the staff member, Beijing is now home to 531 bird species, earning the city a reputation as a true "bird-friendly habitat."
As of April 2026, more than 300 species of wild birds had been recorded in Beijing's Changping district alone, including over 60 nationally protected species. Rare birds such as the relict gull, white-naped cranes, and yellow-breasted bunting have also been spotted frequently in recent years.
Officials said that expanding urban green spaces and growing public awareness of wildlife conservation have provided more habitats for wild animals to thrive.
They also noted that kestrels tend to adhere to the same nesting site. If an environment remains safe and relatively undisturbed, they often return to the same location to breed for several consecutive years.
Authorities have reminded residents to keep an appropriate distance if birds nest near their homes or workplaces, avoid disturbing them and refrain from feeding them. "Kestrels obtain sufficient moisture from the blood contained in the prey they catch themselves. Improper feeding may instead harm their health," the staff member said.
On Monday, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's Liaoning carrier group returned to its home port after completing far-sea combat-oriented training, the military channel of CCTV reported, noting that the group maintained high alert and responded professionally to repeated close-range Japanese harassment during the exercise. Regarding the first publicly reported joint drill between the carrier group and an amphibious assault ship group, a military affairs expert told the Global Times that the PLA Navy is boosting its multi-mission coordinated combat capabilities in far-sea operations.
On May 19, the PLA Navy sent a carrier task group led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning to relevant waters of the Western Pacific to conduct training, according to the PLA Navy official WeChat account.
During the more than 40-day exercise, the group conducted operations in the South China Sea, the Western Pacific, and other air and sea areas, deeply advancing practical combat validation and effectively enhancing the carrier group's capability to fulfill its missions, reported CCTV on Monday.
During this training, the Liaoning carrier group continuously maneuvered across multiple training areas, rigorously established a comprehensive early warning and reconnaissance system, and carefully planned and organized various exercises, including integrated shore-sea system-of-systems confrontations, carrier-based aircraft tactical flights, and group search and rescue operations – all aimed at honing command skills, exploring tactics, assessing combat readiness, and enhancing capabilities, while steadily improving the group's combat-oriented training standards, CCTV reported.
The CCTV report noted that during the PLA exercise, Japanese vessels and aircraft repeatedly conducted close-range tracking, surveillance, and provocative harassment.
The Liaoning carrier group maintained a high state of alert throughout, continuously launching carrier-based fighter aircraft for combat sorties, flexibly adjusting combat formations, and responding professionally to Japan's dangerous actions, CCTV emphasized.
During the exercise, the Armed Forces of the Philippines also claimed they would verify the exercises conducted by the Liaoning group in the Pacific Ocean, specifically east of Luzon Island, according to the Manila Bulletin on June 2.
Now that we have established a comprehensive aerial and maritime early warning system, foreign forces can no longer conduct close-in reconnaissance like before, nor do they have full or continuous situational awareness of our operations. Their forces can no longer keep up or sustain full-track surveillance of a large formation of this scale, Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Monday.
Meanwhile, the CCTV report noted that in a certain area of the Western Pacific, the Liaoning carrier group conducted a joint exercise with an amphibious assault ship group. Both sides carefully planned and organized integrated system-of-systems training, fully honing the effectiveness of coordinated far-sea combat operations between the carrier group and the amphibious assault ship group. Wang said that this marks the first time a PLA aircraft carrier group and an amphibious assault ship group have conducted joint training in the far seas in a publicly reported exercise. Previously, each had carried out respective subject training independently. However, joint training demands are exceptionally high, as these are not ordinary large surface combatants. The integration of command and communication, intelligence liaison, data connectivity, and tactical coordination represent unprecedented challenges.
The combined formation of these two vessels is primarily tasked with amphibious operations and long-range power projection. An amphibious assault ship operating alone lacks air cover, while a carrier group alone cannot independently execute amphibious projection. With this mixed formation completing its designated training objectives, it will contribute to China's comprehensive long-range projection capabilities, said Wang.
This is only the beginning, Wang said, adding that future exercises will likely be conducted multiple times to develop a full set of mature tactical combinations and training methodologies. This appears to indicate that China's systems for sea-air control, long-range projection, and combat support in far seas are taking shape, Wang said. Video released by CCTV also showed footage of the J-15T fighter jet conducting around-the-clock takeoffs and landings, as well as aerial refueling with the YY-20 tanker.
Wang said that this indicated that China's carrier group has achieved all-weather, full-domain combat-ready operational capability, along with an extended far-sea combat radius and sustained operational endurance.
Previously, Japan claimed it had detected the Type 054B frigate Luohe in the Liaoning carrier group. A Chinese military affairs expert said that if confirmed, the deployment marks the frigate's first far-sea mission since entering service and significantly boosts the group's combat capabilities. The latest CCTV News report indeed showed the presence of a Type 054B in the carrier group.
China and Russia should strengthen coordination to continuously develop and expand the BRICS mechanism, making it a true first-tier force within the Global South, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, according to a readout released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, is in New Delhi for the 16th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors and High Representatives on National Security, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Wang said that BRICS countries are an important platform for the international community to practice multilateralism, uphold fairness and justice, and promote peace and security. The BRICS Security Council mechanism should consolidate consensus among BRICS countries, jointly respond to security challenges, safeguard the security environment of China, Russia, and neighboring regions, inject greater certainty into a turbulent world, and make more "BRICS contributions," Wang noted.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin successfully paid a state visit to China, during which the two heads of state held in-depth strategic communication, Wang said. The two sides issued two joint statements. China is willing to work with Russia to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, continuously strengthen all-round strategic coordination, promote accelerated development and national rejuvenation for both countries, and make China-Russia contributions to world peace, Wang added.
The sustained close exchanges between the heads of state of Russia and China are a fundamental guarantee for the continuous development of bilateral relations, and demonstrate the uniqueness and high level of the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, Shoigu said, according to the readout.
Amid profound changes unseen in a century, Russia and China should deepen mutual trust, carry out close cooperation, jointly resist various forms of external interference and infiltration in the field of security, and oppose Japan's attempts at "re-militarization," Shoigu said, per the readout. The Russian side is willing to continuously enhance strategic coordination with the Chinese side within multilateral mechanisms such as BRICS, and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region and the world, he noted.
