China has deployed its navy to rescue citizens from conflict-hit Sudan, Beijing said yesterday.
“Recently, the security situation in Sudan has continued to deteriorate,” Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Tan Kefei (譚克非) said.
The navy was deployed on Wednesday “to protect the lives and property of Chinese people in Sudan,” he added.
He did not specify the number of vessels involved.
China on Monday said it had safely evacuated an initial group of citizens, estimating about 1,500 of its nationals were in Sudan.
More than 1,100 Chinese nationals — including Hong Kong residents — have been evacuated, Chinese Department of Consular Affairs Director-General Wu Xi (吳璽) told state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday.
China said it is Sudan’s largest trading partner, with more than 130 companies investing there as of last year.
As of yesterday, about 800 Chinese citizens were expected to have been evacuated from Sudan by sea, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said on Wednesday.
More than 300 other people have crossed over to countries bordering Sudan by land, she added.
The fighting has killed at least 512 people and wounded more than 4,000, the Sudanese government said.
Some districts of Khartoum have been reduced to ruins.
Other evacuations were taking place from Port Sudan, an 850km drive from Khartoum.
An Indonesian military plane flew 110 Indonesian nationals from Port Sudan to the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on Twitter yesterday.
That flight brought the total number of Indonesians evacuated from Sudan to 667 since the outbreak of conflict.
UN agencies reported Sudanese civilians “fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.”
With Khartoum’s international airport disabled from battle, groups of foreigners have been airlifted out from smaller airstrips.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS