China's peacekeeping force to Lebanon sets new mine-sweeping record

15:06, August 13, 2020

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  Chinese peacekeepers to provide medical aid to Beirut after deadly explosions

  BEIRUT, Aug. 5 -- The medical unit of the Chinese peacekeeping forces to Lebanon said it will provide medical aid to Beirut following the deadly explosions at the port of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday.Upon the request of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the 18th batch of Chinese peaceke

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  Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali returned home

  On the morning of August 14, after completing the peacekeeping mission entrusted by the United Nations, the 2nd echelon of 230 peacekeeping officers and soldiers of the 7th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali returned home. The 1st echelon had returned home in late July. So far, all the 7th Chinese peacekeeping forces to Mali have returned to their troops in China. (Compiled by Sun Shangyi)The 7th Chinese peacekeeping force to Mali is composed of 412 personnel, including an engineer contingent and a guard contingent with personnel drawn from the PLA 78th Group Army, and a medical contingent with members mainly from the 962th Hospital of Shenyang Joint Logistic Support Center. They flew to Mali last May for a one-year peacekeeping mission, which was later extended by three months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.Having successfully completed all of their missions, all 412 personnel were awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honor.

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  Forced sale of TikTok could set a dangerous precedent

  China and US flags are seen near a TikTok logo in this illustration picture taken July 16, 2020. (Photo: Agencies)The forced sale of the US arm of video app TikTok could have negative implications on foreign investment in the United States, and President Donald Trumps demand for a government cut of a potential deal could set a dangerous precedent, experts have said.After threatening on Friday to ban the short-form video platform from the US, citing national security concerns over user data－which TikToks Chinese parent ByteDance has denied－Trump warned on Monday that TikTok would be shut down on Sept 15 unless Microsoft or another "very American" company purchased it.He also said that any sale of TikToks American operations would have to include a "substantial portion" of the proceeds going to the US Treasury.Hal Singer, an antitrust expert and managing director at consulting firm Econ One, cautioned that the transaction could be problematic."The bigger problem is that, going forward, foreign investors might be reluctant to invest in the US if a president, on a whim, can zap the value of their investments by forcing a fire sale to US incumbents," Singer said on Twitter on Tuesday. "We need guardrails here."Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said the whole saga is "ridiculous"."There is no reason to deny TikTok access to US consumers," Hufbauer said of the popular app, which has 100 million users in the US."Trumps demand that TikTok or Microsoft should pay the US Treasury ransom for the forced transaction has no justification," Hufbauer told China Daily.TikTok was under scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States－an interagency panel chaired by the Treasury secretary that studies mergers for national security reasons－for its acquisition of another video app, Musical.ly, in 2...