An explosion destroyed a small restaurant in a busy section of Beijing early yesterday in an incident that could to further raise tensions in the capital ahead of National Day celebrations on Thursday.
Police said the blast was caused by a gas explosion and Xinhua news agency said it injured three employees of the restaurant and an unknown number of passers-by.
Residents said the restaurant featured specialties from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region — the scene of deadly July riots by members of the Muslim Uighur minority that left nearly 200 people dead, according to the government.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The blast came amid a massive security clampdown in the Chinese capital to prevent disruptions to sensitive Oct. 1 celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China.
The incident sent police swarming over the Xinjiekou area of central Beijing northwest of Tiananmen Square, sealing off nearby roads and pushing away onlookers.
Local resident Sun Jia, 43, said she was awakened by the explosion shortly before 9am and rushed from her home to see what had happened.
“I looked and I saw that the building was all crumbled and there was some smoke. And I saw a young man with blood all over the side of his head and one side of his body. It looked like his ear had been badly injured,” she said.
Sun said she did not see anyone else who had been hurt. The management of her residential building told her it was a gas explosion.
Those hurt in the blast were taken to hospital but their injuries were not life-threatening, Xinhua said, citing unnamed sources.
The report said the number of passers-by who were injured was not immediately known.
“According to the initial investigation, the explosion was an accident,” a policewoman said.
The building housing the restaurant had partially collapsed, a reporter at the scene said.
“It was a Xinjiang restaurant. All I heard was one loud boom,” said a man who runs a nearby convenience store.
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS