A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson says China firmly opposes the United States' arms sales to Taiwan and urges the U.S. side to revoke its plan.
Wang Wenbin made the remarks when answering a question on the US' approval of a plan to sell Harpoon missile systems worth about 2.4 billion U.S. dollars to Taiwan.
He says the U.S. arms sales violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, and interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's sovereignty and security interests.
"China urges the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and provisions of the three China-U.S. Joint Communiqués, and cease arms sales to Taiwan and any military contact with the island. We urge the U.S. side to withdraw relevant arms sales plans to avoid further damage the China-U.S. ties and the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits."
The spokesperson says the move has sent a wrong signal to secessionist forces in the region.
The World Bank's country director for China says the country's strong economic growth has played the largest role in poverty alleviation since 1980s.
Martin Raiser says economic growth has been a major factor responsible for lifting people out of poverty until the early 2010s, when targeted social policies began to contribute more.
"In the first three decades, by far the largest contribution to poverty reduction came from economic growth, not from any particularly targeted social policies. It's only in the last decade and particularly after 2013 that we find that policy really tries to go to the last mile."
Raiser adds that the world can learn many lessons from China's poverty alleviation efforts.
He says one of them is the creation of a database of poverty-stricken villages, which he says helps create targeted relief policies directed to assist those particular places.
China aims to eliminate absolute poverty by the end of this year.
A vice agricultural minister says China has beefed up efforts in the past five years to ensure food security and meet the needs for safe and diversified supply.
Liu Huanxin says the supply of major agricultural products has been increasing thanks to the supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector.
"The grain production has taken a new step higher to stabilize at above 650 billion kilograms every year, with the per capita grain possession at more than 470 kg, far above the internationally recognized grain safety line of 400 kg."
He says that the government has also been adjusting and optimizing agricultural structure to better meet market demand, and that the supply of green and high-quality products has been increasing.
Xinjiang has completed COVID-19 testing for more than 4.7 million people in Kashgar prefecture following the recent new local cases in the region.
Kashgar has so far had five confirmed cases and over 170 asymptomatic ones.
Investigation shows that the new cases have no relation to the cluster in Urumqi in July, and source tracing the new ones is underway.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has tested positive for coronavirus.
The world football governing body says Infantino has mild symptoms and has placed himself in self-isolation and will remain in quarantine for at least 10 days.