BEIJING, July 24 (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasised security cooperation in separate meetings with his Belarusian and Uzbek counterparts, his ministry said in two statements released on Friday. Wang met with Belarus’ Maxim Ryzhenkov and Uzbekistan’s Bakhtiyor Saidov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting in Bishkek on…
Rocket launches in Kazakhstan are being pitched to Hong Kong travellers, as some Central Asian travel operators make their debut at the city’s flagship travel expo ahead of new direct flights to the region. Six Kazakhstan-based operators set up booths under the theme “Visit Almaty” at the 40th International Travel Expo, the annual event running…
Direct flights between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan could save business travellers up to 10 hours and open the city’s shorelines to tourists from landlocked Central Asia, lawmakers have said after the flag carrier announced plans to launch an Almaty route next year. Lawmaker Jonathan Stuart Lamport, who represents the business sector, on Thursday said the…
Hong Kong and Uzbekistan have begun talks on a reciprocal agreement that would allow visitors from both sides visa-free access for up to 30 days. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu arrived in Tashkent from Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening and met Uzbekistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, with the two witnessing officials from both sides confirm…
BISHKEK, May 12 (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan authorities have charged eight people, including powerful ex-security chief Kamchybek Tashiev, with plotting to seize power from President Sadyr Japarov, who has consolidated power in the historically volatile central Asian country. Tashiev had ruled the former Soviet republic of 7 million in a de facto tandem with Japarov since…
DUBAI, April 28 (Reuters) – Iran is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with “independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)”, Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said on Tuesday, according to Iranian state media. Iran fought a war with the United States and Israel from late February to early April, during…
Editor’s note: Moses Becker is a special political commentator for News.Az. He holds a PhD in political science and specializes in interethnic and interreligious relations. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the position of News.Az. The principle of an empire is continuous expansion and the widening…
A Hong Kong businessman and his company have been charged with providing surrogacy services overseas and advertising them in the city, where such arrangements are illegal. Harcourt director Alfred Siu Wing-fung appeared in Eastern Court on Monday to face the summary offences charging him with taking part in, and receiving payment for, a surrogacy arrangement….
Politburo member Wang Yi has become the most senior Chinese official to wade into the war of words over the new Japanese prime minister’s comments on the Taiwan Strait, saying her remarks “crossed a red line”. Wang, who is China’s foreign minister, said China must “resolutely respond” to the comments to safeguard the country’s sovereignty…
China has discovered a rare gold deposit in the Kunlun Mountains near the western border of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to government geologists involved in the survey. Initial estimates suggest its total gold reserves could exceed 1,000 tonnes. “The outline of a thousand-tonne-scale gold belt in West Kunlun, Xinjiang, is now taking shape,” wrote…