Coal miners in the sleepy Chinese county of Qinyuan sometimes dine at Zhang’s skewer eatery, especially on payday, so a gas explosion that killed at least 82 of these workers left her feeling sorrow for their bereaved families.

The tragedy unfolded in northern Shanxi province, with preliminary findings showing the company operating the mine had committed “serious” violations, state media reported Saturday.

The blast caused China’s worst mining disaster in 17 years, with search efforts ongoing to find two people still missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

A total of 247 workers were underground at the time of the blast, which occurred at 7:29 pm (1129 GMT) on Friday at the Liushenyu coal mine, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“This is the first time such a big accident has happened here,” Zhang, who only wanted to be known by her surname, told AFP.

Many of these men were their families’ main source of income, she said.

“Think about it. He’s at that age where he has both elderly parents and young children to support. Then he works in the coal mine, goes down the shaft and never comes back up,” Zhang added.

“How are they supposed to go on living?”

‘Someone’s father’

Police blocked AFP reporters from entering a road leading to the mine but a building bearing its name with the Chinese characters lit up by orange lights was visible in the distance.

Security officers sat by the curb, strictly guarding the gantry of the roads, only allowing authorised vehicles in. Ambulances and police cars entered.

A security guard at the entrance brushed off AFP’s questions as to whether any progress in rescue efforts had been made, saying he didn’t know anything.

But the guard said he hadn’t slept at all Friday night because work was too busy with people coming in and out.

At a gas station near the mine, workers shooed AFP journalists away when they were asked about the mining disaster.

“We can’t just casually comment on these things,” one man told AFP, without giving his name.

“We’re not aware of the details — we don’t know the exact cause or the specific situation.”

He said he hoped the number of deaths “isn’t that high”, before he hurried back inside the station.

At another restaurant selling Sichuan cuisine, a worker with the surname Li told AFP he had noticed ambulances whizzing by his place, frequently patronised by coal mine workers.

But he said he hadn’t been too emotionally affected, despite initially being surprised by the death toll.

“Working in a coal mine, this kind of accident is inevitable,” he said, adding that he hoped the missing people would be found soon.

A total of 128 people were sent to hospital for treatment, CCTV said.

One of the hospitals that took in people injured in the mine tragedy was cordoned off with tape. AFP spotted multiple police cars surrounding its perimeter.

Qinyuan county is peppered with coal mines, and outside one an electronic sign reads: “Go to work happy, go home safely”.

Zhang, grilling meat skewers on a stove, said she had that same wish: for the missing miners to be found safe and sound.

Even if the pay was good, coal miners were “basically earning money with their lives at risk”, she lamented.

She expressed hope that authorities would do all they could to prevent accidents like this and increase mine safety.

Zhang said she feels for families who lost loved ones in the mine explosion.

“He is also someone’s son, someone’s father, someone’s husband,” she said.

Kim Jong-un welcomes Chinese leader on visit to renew relations strained amid Pyongyang’s closeness with Russia

Xi Jinping has arrived in North Korea for a two-day trip, his first in nearly seven years, as China’s leader looks to revitalise ties with his junior ally.

Footage published by China’s Xinhua state news agency showed an Air China plane carrying Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, touching down at Pyongyang’s Sunan international airport.

Taiwanese politician Cheng Li-wun, who is notably tall, can be heard approaching with the click of her heels and long strides down the corridor of the headquarters of the Kuomintang (KMT), the main opposition party in Taiwan. In April, during a visit to Beijing, she looked the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in the eye. In the photograph that captured their meeting in the Great Hall of the People they are not smiling; neither do they appear distant. Their expressions are neutral, perhaps waiting to see how the coming years unfold.

Seguir leyendo

US President Donald Trump on Friday warned Taiwan against declaring formal independence after concluding his visit to China, whose leader Xi Jinping had pressed him not to support the self-ruling island.

Trump ended the state visit claiming to have made “fantastic” trade deals, although the details were vague, and he did not appear to secure any breakthrough with China over his stalemated war on Iran.

Trump invited Xi for a reciprocal visit to Washington in September, signalling both sides will likely seek stability in the often turbulent relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

On a key issue for Xi, Trump made clear he opposed a declaration of independence by Taiwan and appeared to question why the United States would defend the island in case of attack.

“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that,” he told Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

“I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down,” Trump said.

“We’re not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China’s going to be OK with that.”

The United States recognizes only Beijing and does not support formal independence by Taiwan, but historically has stopped short of explicitly saying it opposes independence.

Under US law, the United States is required to provide weapons to Taiwan for its defence, but it has been ambiguous on whether US forces would come to the island’s aid.

Xi had begun the summit with a warning on Taiwan, whose President Lai Ching-te considers the island already independent, making a declaration unnecessary.

Xi told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue could cause “conflict”.

Referring to comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said US policy toward Taipei was unchanged, Taiwan’s foreign ministry thanked the United States for showing “it supports and values Taiwan Strait peace and stability”.

No details on ‘fantastic’ deals

On Friday, Boeing confirmed that China had made an “initial commitment” to buy 200 aircraft, a deal previously announced by Trump. The company said more orders could follow.

Trump also said Beijing would buy American oil and soybeans.

“We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” he said after a walk with Xi in the gardens of Zhongnanhai, a central leadership compound next to Beijing’s Forbidden City.

“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump added, without providing specifics.

Xi promised to send Trump rose seeds for the White House Rose Garden and said it was a “milestone visit”.

But beyond Boeing, there were no other formal announcements from companies or from China on trade deals.

The reserve on the Chinese side echoes the tone of the summit as a whole, where Trump’s overtures to Xi — whom he described as a “great leader” and “friend” — were met with a more muted response.

“Trump got the optics he was looking for and the Chinese were happy to give them to him,” said Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security.

Little on Iran

Trump had delayed the trip once due to the war in Iran, which has rebuffed his appeals for a peace agreement and retaliated by exerting control over the key Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.

Trump said Xi had assured him that China was not preparing military aid to Iran. Israel has alleged that Beijing has provided key missile technology to Tehran.

The Chinese foreign ministry on Friday released a statement on Iran saying “shipping lanes should be reopened as soon as possible”.

Trump also acknowledged that he could not persuade Xi to free Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon whose cause is broadly backed in Washington.

“He told me, Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do,” Trump told reporters.

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, noted that Trump had already sounded half-hearted in his public comments on Lai.

“My sense is that the Chinese see that this is not a top priority for the United States,” she said.

“What Trump seems to want most is purchases of American products — that appears to be his highest priority.”

The two leaders had been expected to discuss extending the one-year tariff truce that paused their frenetic 2025 trade war, struck during their last meeting in October.

But Trump told reporters on the way home that it “wasn’t brought up”.

By AFP teams in Tehran, Dubai, Beijing and Mecca

US forces launched overnight strikes on missile sites in southern Iran and boats they said were trying to lay mines in Gulf waters, sending oil prices higher Tuesday and fuelling tension as diplomats sought a deal to end the war.

The international benchmark Brent crude jumped up by almost three percent after the US Central Command announced the new wave of bombings, and China urged both sides to respect their truce and resolve their dispute peacefully.

Iran did not immediately confirm the reported strikes, but state media reported blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps said its forces had downed a US drone entering its airspace and fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

In a statement marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared that Washington was losing its influence in the Middle East and warned Middle East countries to ensure that they no longer host bases from which the US could launch attacks.

The United States, he said in a written statement, “in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day”.

Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said: “US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

‘We’ll see’

He gave few details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines.”

Despite the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that a deal remained within reach.

But he remained firm on the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil and gas shipping route out of the Gulf, which Iran is seeking to control by charging fees to approve the passage of vessels.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to India.

He said the strait was “going to be open one way or the other,” adding: “What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”

The strikes threatened a ceasefire that began on April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach an accord to end a war that has rattled the global economy with a severe disruption of energy flows.

China, Washington’s great power rival and a major energy importer, expressed concern after the US strikes.

“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.

Hopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday evening. Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as well.

On Tuesday, Israel warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate the southern city of Nabatieh ahead of more planned strikes.

Nuclear fuel disposal

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed, or have it destroyed in Iran with an international witness.

The nuclear fuel “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location”.

Thai police are investigating a vast arsenal of military-grade weapons — including assault rifles, explosives, grenades and anti-personnel mines — found at the home of a Chinese man, authorities said Saturday.

Two M16 assault rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, Russian landmines, projectiles, gasoline and nearly five kilos (11 pounds) of explosives were found at the home of Sun Mingchen, 31, near the beach resort of Pattaya.

There were no clear links to a planned attack, Chonburi province’s public relations department said in a statement, but local police chief Pongphan Wongmanithet told reporters at the scene they were “investigating security implications”.

Sun was charged with illegal possession of unauthorised weapons and could face up to 10 years in prison.

Thai media reported that the suspect’s phone contained AI chatbot searches on military plastic explosive properties and videos of him handling the weapons, fuelling concerns of possible “terrorist” intent.

Police are looking into the motive of the suspect, who will be taken for psychological evaluation, Pongphan said.

The raid on Sun’s home was prompted after police found a pistol in a car with two Chinese nationals on board during a traffic stop on Friday.

According to authorities, he held a long-term visa in Thailand and had lived in the property for about two years.

US President Donald Trump heads for a superpower summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week hoping the Iran war will not spoil the mood in Beijing.

Trump will be expecting a lavish welcome at the high-stakes meeting, which he delayed in March because of the Middle East conflict.

But the war will still loom large over his first visit to China since 2017, which is supposed to focus on easing tensions over trade and Taiwan between the world’s largest economies.

Trump said the two leaders would discuss the issue and that Xi had been “very respectful” over Iran.

Yet with Trump desperately seeking a deal to end the war before he lands in Beijing, China may seek to use his weakened position to extract concessions on key issues.

“The reality is that right now, Iran is critical for the US and the Chinese know that,” said Edgard Kagan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

‘Big, fat hug’

The world will be closely watching the Trump-Xi summit, but uncertainty over the timing and a lack of preparation mean deliverables are likely to be limited.

For a US president obsessed with the idea of Great Power diplomacy, the main priority during the May 14-15 visit will be visuals of him being feted by a strongman fellow leader.

Trump, 79, has repeatedly talked up his “very good relationship” with Xi, 72, whom he met in South Korea last October, even saying the Chinese leader will give him a “big, fat hug” over Iran.

He will also hope to come away from the summit with big business deals as he looks to midterm elections in which Republicans face a hammering over high oil prices from the Iran war.

While some industry leaders say invitations have still not formally gone out, Trump’s administration plans to invite CEOs from companies including Apple, Exxon, Nvidia and Boeing, Semafor reported, with talk of a big Boeing deal in the offing.

Trump will also be hoping to bring back deals on AI, critical minerals and fentanyl.

One solid result that China in particular hopes for could be an extension of the fragile year-long trade truce that Trump and Xi agreed on in South Korea in October.

China has however shown that it is still ready to respond to Washington, saying on May 2 that it would not comply with US sanctions against firms targeted over Iranian oil transactions.

“It appears that the truce is not as strong as we were hoping,” Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, told AFP.

‘A lot of leverage’

Communist-run China will meanwhile be looking for stability in a Trump-roiled world, and to play for time in the knowledge that the volatile US leader is on his second and final term in office.

Beijing is also likely to use Trump’s weakened position to its advantage where it can.

“There’s actually a lot of leverage there that Beijing could use,” said Patricia Kim, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“Trump is looking for a win, right? I mean, he hasn’t had much wins in recent weeks with the war in Iran going on.”

Taiwan could be one area in particular where Xi may try to extract concessions, analysts say — for example on arms sales to the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

Trump has been known to go off-script on the thorny topic before and allies in the region who fear an assertive China will be closely watching for signs of US wavering.

At the same time Beijing is likely to play up to Trump’s love of pomp and flattery, knowing that a slighted and angry Trump would cause trouble.

But the Chinese will try to wash their hands of any involvement in the war on its ally Iran and deflect pressure from Trump during the meeting with Xi.

Beijing’s hosting of Iran’s foreign minister this week was “a sign that they realize this is coming down the pike,” said Kagan from CSIS.

China’s consumer prices ticked up in April as the cost of crude oil rose globally due to the Iran war, official data showed on Monday.

Helped by the surging oil costs, factory gate prices also continued to show signs of recovery, rising for a second straight month after being stuck in negative territory since October 2022.

However, analysts warn deflation is still a threat for the world’s second-largest economy as prices in other sectors continue to fall and overcapacity remains a headache.

China’s consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, last month rose 1.2 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The jump was due to “changes in international crude oil prices and increased demand for holiday travel”, according to Dong Lijuan, chief NBS statistician.

Domestic gas prices rose 19.3 percent on-year, Dong said, impacted by international commodity price fluctuations.

A five-day holiday at the beginning of May also typically sees more travel and spending in the weeks preceding it.

However, last month’s CPI was still well below the government’s two percent target for the year.

The April producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, increased by 2.8 percent on-year — up from 0.5 percent in March.

It beat a Bloomberg forecast of 1.8 percent and marked the quickest pace since July 2022, when the PPI rose by 4.2 percent on-year.

The gauge slipped into negative territory that October and did not reverse until March.

“The rise in international crude oil prices drove up prices in domestic petroleum-related sectors,” the NBS’ Dong said in a statement, listing fuel processing and manufacturing of raw materials.

But analysts warn shocks caused by oil blockages in the Middle East are temporary.

“The fallout from the Iran War pushed up inflation again in April but price pressures remain narrow in scope and aren’t likely to build into a wider reflationary impulse”, Capital Economics said in a note.

“(With) overcapacity in most sectors unresolved and domestic demand growth still sluggish, the ingredients for a sustained reflationary impulse still appear to be missing.”