China hopes that the new U.S. administration of Joe Biden will “learn a lesson’’ from the crisis that bilateral relations suffered while Donald Trump was in office, an official said.

China also urged the U.

S. to seek to improve ties with Beijing, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said on Tuesday.

“We hope that the new U.S. administration will try to learn a lesson from the drawbacks of the Trump administration’s policy; will consider China and the Sino-U.S. relations objectively and rationally as well as adhere to the policy of a positive and constructive dialogue.

“And will, together with China, promote the return of the Sino-U.S. relations to sustainable and healthy development,’’ Zhao said at a news briefing. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Zhao pointed out that, over the recent years, the Trump administration made numerous mistakes in relations with China, as it considered Beijing to be a rival and took steps that undermined China’s interests.

He added that the two countries should strengthen their cooperation since they shared common interests and carried the responsibility for the maintenance of international peace.

“We have repeatedly said that China and the U.S. … share common interests and bear responsibility for the protection of the international peace, stability and promotion of the global development.’’

In March 2018, Trump launched a major trade war with China and accused it of currency manipulation and theft of U.S. intellectual property.

In 2019, Trump ordered the U.S. Department of Commerce to ban U.S. companies from doing business with China’s tech giant, Huawei.

This step was followed by further sanctions put on other Chinese media companies.

The Trump administration also publicly questioned the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party and stepped up relations with Taiwan, violating the consensus reached by Washington and Beijing regarding the island. (Sputnik/NAN)

President Donald Trump has accused Twitter of interfering in the 2020 U.S. election scheduled for Nov. 3 after the microblogging service provider tagged his tweet as misleading.

Trump also lashed out at the company for “completely stifling free speech”, saying he would never let that happen as president.

“@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.

“They are saying my statement on Mail-In Ballots, which will lead to massive corruption and fraud, is incorrect, based on fact-checking by Fake News CNN and the Amazon Washington Post.

“Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!” he tweeted in response. push({});

Earlier on Tuesday, Twitter labelled a post by Trump as misleading, and directed the president’s followers to a fact-check page on the post.

In the tweet, Trump had claimed that voting by mail or mail-in ballots would lead to “substantial fraud”.

It read in part: “ There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.

“Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out and fraudulently signed.”

Under the tweet came a circled exclamation mark followed by the message: “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” in a hyperlink.

The link takes readers to a Twitter fact-check page that debunks the claim.

“Trump falsely claims that mail-in ballots would lead to ‘a Rigged Election’.

“However, fact-checkers say there is no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud,” the company said.

The move came after Twitter turned down a widower’s request to delete “horrifying lies” told by the president in a tweet about the death of his wife.

Rather, the social media giant, which had promised to warn its users about false or misleading messages posted on the platform, resorted to the use of the label on Trump.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Trump’s claim on the mail-in ballots followed his attacks, over the weekend, on the use of the voting method by several states, including California.

The states say they will use that option in November to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus disease that has taken a heavy toll on the country.

Credit: NAN/ARU/SH

Spain’s Transport Minister on Monday said the country will not re-open its borders to tourists for another five weeks.

“I hope that we can resume tourism activities at the end of June.

We cannot allow foreigners to enter while we are still preventing the Spanish population from leaving their homes,’’ Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Monday.

The minister’s comments came after Italy, alongside Spain, one of the European countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, announced it would open its borders to tourists from June 3.

Spain is gradually relaxing restrictions on public life as the country’s coronavirus outbreak ebbs.

However, Spaniards would only be allowed to leave their own provinces during the third phase of easing of restrictions at the end of June. adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Abalos said this meant the timing of re-opening the border was “a question of consistency.”

“We cannot tell a gentleman or a family in Madrid that they are not allowed to go to their holiday apartment in Valencia and that at the same time foreigners are allowed to come in,” he told Spanish television.

The government wants to extend the state of emergency which has been in place since mid-March by another month until the end of June.

Parliament will debate and vote on the proposed extension on Wednesday.

Spain’s caseload has been falling in recent weeks.

An additional 87 coronavirus cases were confirmed in the 24 hours to Sunday, marking the first time in two months the number of new daily cases fell below 100.

Credit: dpa/NAN)