China, ASEAN ties

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have established a comprehensive strategic partnership, President Xi Jinping said on Monday while chairing the ASEAN-China Special Summit to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations via video link.

“This is a new milestone in the history of our relations and will inject new impetus into peace, stability, prosperity and development of our region and the world,” Xi said. In addition, Xi announced that China is ready to work with ASEAN countries to jointly build a “health shield” for the region. China is ready to donate an additional 150 million doses of COVID vaccines to ASEAN countries to support higher vaccination rates in countries in the region, he said.

Anti-COVID drug

A Chinese antiviral medicine for COVID-19, called JS016, has commenced phase III clinical trials overseas, its developer said on Monday.

The patented anti-COVID-19 drug candidate was jointly developed by the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. In June 2020, China’s drug regulator granted permission to the developers to carry out human tests. According to the institute, JS016 has become the first COVID-19 monoclonal antibody in the world to carry out clinical trials in healthy people.

CPC resolution

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has called for adopting a rational outlook about the Party’s history and drawing on the experience and lessons of the past century to blaze a path toward new victories.

Xi made the remarks when explaining the draft of the resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the CPC’s 100 years of endeavors, which was passed by the sixth plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee held on November 8 to 11. Xi’s speech about the explanation of the draft document at the meeting and the full text of the adopted resolution were released on November 16. Explaining the draft of the resolution to the meeting’s participants, Xi called for resolutely opposing “historical nihilism,” which refers to some political thoughts that seek to distort the history of the Chinese revolution, the CPC and the armed forces.

Diplomatic relations

China has decided to downgrade the diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of charge d’affaires, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday.

According to a statement released on the Foreign Ministry’s website, on November 18, Lithuania, in disregard of China’s strong protest and repeated representations, allowed the Taiwan authorities to set up a “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.”

(SD-Agencies)