Leung Chai-yan, the daughter of former Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive (CE) and current Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee Leung Chun-ying, was found unconscious on Tuesday evening in an apartment in Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong. She was 33 years old, according to local media reports in Hong Kong.

Leung Chai-yan was found unconscious in a serviced apartment and was confirmed dead at the scene by paramedics, local media Ming Pao said. 

According to police, at around 10:40 pm on Tuesday, staff at the location reported that a 33-year-old female resident surnamed Leung had collapsed inside the unit. Officers arrived to find her lying unresponsive on the bed, the media report said. 

She was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of death is pending autopsy results, Ming Pao said. 

In a post published on Facebook early Wednesday, Leung Chun-ying said "Chai-yan is gone. Her passing was sudden, without leaving behind a single word — she was simply lying peacefully on the bed. Just a few days ago, she had even taken the initiative to get a flu vaccination."

We are grateful to the police and the forensic team for their investigation, which has ruled out suicide and any suspicious circumstances, Leung Chun-ying said. 

"Thank you to all our friends for your care, understanding, and condolences during this most difficult time for our family," the former CE said. 

Leung Chai-yan was born on September 11, 1991, and she was the younger daughter of Leung Chun-ying, local media HK01 said. 

She studied law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, but took a leave of absence and returned to Hong Kong in June 2013, the media report said. 

On December 9, 2016, Leung Chun-ying announced that he would not seek re-election, citing family reasons. At the time, he revealed that Leung Chai-yan had been hospitalized for more than two months, and he had been visiting and accompanying her for over an hour every night. Finding it physically and emotionally exhausting, he decided to withdraw from the race for a second term, according to HK01.

The Chinese government's position on opposing US abuse of tariffs was released on Saturday. Followed is the full text of the statement.

Recently, under various pretexts, the United States has imposed tariffs on all trading partners, including China, which severely infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of nations, severely violates World Trade Organization rules, severely harms the rules-based multilateral trading system, and severely disrupts the stability of the global economic order. The Chinese government strongly condemns and firmly opposes this.

These actions violate basic economic laws and market principles, disregard the balance of interests reached through multilateral trade negotiations, and ignore the fact that the US has long reaped substantial benefits from international trade. Using tariffs as a tool of extreme pressure for selfish gain is a textbook example of unilateralism, protectionism, and economic coercion.

Under the guise of pursuing "equality" and "fairness," the US is essentially seeking "America First" and "American Exceptionalism," aiming to overturn the current international economic and trade order with tariff measures, placing American interests above the common good of the international community, and sacrificing the legitimate interests of all countries in service of America's hegemonic ambitions. Such actions will inevitably face broad opposition from the international community.

China is an ancient civilization and a country of etiquette. The Chinese people value sincerity and trust as their core principles. We will not provoke troubles, but we never flinch when trouble comes our way. Pressuring and threatening are not the correct way to engage with China. We have taken, and will continue to take, firm measures to defend our sovereignty, security, and development interests.

China-US economic and trade relations should be based on mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. The US should align with the shared expectations of people from both nations and the people of the world, and, in light of the fundamental interests of both countries, stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China’s economy and trade, and stop harming the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people.

As the world's second-largest economy and the second-largest consumer market, no matter how international circumstances change, we will pursue high-level opening-up, expand institutional openness in areas such as rules, regulations, management, and standards, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, foster a world-class, market-oriented, law-based business environment, and share development opportunities to achieve mutual benefit.

Economic globalization is an inevitable path for the development of human society. The multilateral trade system, with the WTO at its core and based on rules, has made important contributions to the development of global trade, economic growth, and sustainable development. 

Open cooperation is the trend of history, and the world will not, nor should it, return to a state of mutual closure and division. Mutual benefit and win-win outcomes are the aspirations of all people, while economic coercion that pits nations against each other is bound to backfire. The global community shares the responsibility of guiding globalization toward greater openness, inclusivity, equity, and balance.

Development is a universal right of all nations, not the privilege of a few. There are no winners in trade wars or tariff wars, and protectionism offers no way out. All countries must uphold genuine multilateralism, jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism, safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core, and protect the multilateral trade framework centered on the WTO.

We believe that the vast majority of countries in the world, which value fairness and justice, will stand on the right side of history and make choices that serve their own interests. The world needs justice, not hegemony!

In response to a media inquiry on remarks made by a Philippine military official that the Philippines would inevitably be drawn into any conflict near Taiwan island, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun urged certain individuals in the Philippines not to play with fire on the Taiwan question, stressing that how to resolve the Taiwan question is entirely a matter for the Chinese people.

Philippine Armed Forces chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. on Tuesday told troops at the Northern Luzon Command to "prepare for any eventuality" such as the "invasion" of Taiwan. He also claimed that "if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved," according to Philippine Daily Inquirer on Wednesday.

The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair and concerns China's core interests. How to resolve the Taiwan question is entirely a matter for the Chinese people. It allows no foreign interference, Guo said.

We urged certain Philippine individuals not to play with fire on the Taiwan question- those who play with fire will get burned. China also firmly opposes baseless, distorted, and inflammatory remarks aimed at smearing China, said Guo.

After police detained two individuals for urinating in a hotpot at a Haidilao restaurant in Shanghai, the top Chinese hotpot chain issued another statement on Wednesday, announcing that for all 4,109 customer orders placed during dine-in services at the affected store over the 13 days under investigation, they will fully refund the meal costs from that day and provide additional cash compensation equivalent to 10 times the order amount.

A recent viral video showing a man standing on a dining table at a restaurant and liquid was seen pouring into a boiling hotpot. Some netizens raised suspicions that the individual was urinating into the pot, according to chinanews.com.

Following the incident, the Huangpu Public Security Bureau in Shanghai issued a statement on Saturday regarding the viral video. Police investigations revealed that on February 24, two 17-year-old males, surnamed Tang and Wu, travelled to Shanghai from other provinces and dined in a private room at the restaurant with others. Both individuals were drunk and proceeded to urinate into the hotpot. Wu then posted a video of the act online.

Two individuals have been detained for urinating in the hotpot at a popular restaurant in Shanghai and posting the video online, said the Shanghai police on Saturday.

Three days later, Haidilao issued another statement via Weibo regarding the incident and announced compensation for customers who dined during the affected time, chinanews.com reported on Wednesday.

In the statement, Haidilao admitted that due to the absence of contingency plans and procedural training for such incidents within management, the restaurant's on-duty team failed to detect the act committed by the two men in a private dining room during their early morning meal on February 24. 

Haidilao apologized to consumers and noted that all 4,109 dine-in orders at the involved restaurant from 12 am February 24 to 12 am March 8 will receive full refunds plus 10 times the order amount in cash compensation, according to the statement.

In addition, regarding the two men involved who urinated in the hotpot, Haidilao has filed a civil lawsuit application with the Huangpu district court in Shanghai on Monday, firmly seeking to hold them accountable according to the law, the statement said.

The restaurant has also replaced all hotpot equipment and dining utensils, including chopsticks, and conducted a thorough cleaning and disinfection process to uphold hygiene standards, according to the company's statement. 

Four months have passed since the opening of the Chancay Port in Peru. Situated 80 kilometers north of the capital Lima, this megaport, invested by Chinese enterprises, has significantly reduced the transportation time of goods exported from South America to the Asian market from about 35 days to 25 days. The project benefits various industries and businesses in Peru and beyond, across Latin America, serving as a new example of cooperation between China and Latin America under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In Lima, many people know that the Chancay Port, which is the only smart, green, and deep port in South America, has a huge impact not only on Peru, but also on the neighbors and South America as a whole, Peru's Ambassador to China Marco Vinicio Balarezo Lizarzaburu told media during just concluded two sessions on March 9.

The benefits and development opportunities that the Chancay Port brings to South American countries including Peru are evident. However, this achievement seems to have displeased the US.

From an earlier proposal of a 60-percent tariff on goods entering the US through the Chancay Port, to Trump's inaugural speech claiming that China "controlled" the Panama Canal, the US has been meddling in issues related to the Chancay Port and the Panama Canal, causing unease among some South American countries.

Its narratives, including claims that the port has brought a "military threat" to Peru and that it was realized through "economic coercion," are actually clichéd rumors increasingly regurgitated by the US since construction of the project began in 2021.

Zhu Feng, director of School of International Studies at Nanjing University, told Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao in February that the Panama Canal issue reflects the US government's intention to compress China's BRI cooperation in Latin America, and "there will definitely be further actions [from the country]."

Zhu speculated that the Chancay Port may be the next target of US pressure on China.

However, the skepticism and smears surrounding the Chancay Port cannot overshadow the tangible benefits it has already brought to Peru and other related countries. Statistic data and voices from Peru have demonstrated that this Chinese-invested project has been, and will continue to be, beneficial for Latin America and its people.

Win-win cooperation

On an early spring day at a dock in the Waigaoqiao port area of Shanghai, 301 Chinese domestically produced cars were loaded onto the ship Yuheng Pioneer, awaiting export to the Chancay Port. The day before, the shipping vessel Prince Rupert of China COSCO Shipping Corp (COSCO), which had departed from Chancay, docked at a terminal in Shanghai's Yangshan Port, unloading 509 tons of imported goods including fish meal.

Such a busy and orderly scene is a common sight at Shanghai's ports. Currently, the "Chancay-Shanghai" shipping route operates two regular weekly services between Chancay and Shanghai, as reported by the People's Daily on March 4. Products from China and Peru are continuously and efficiently reaching each other's markets through this new route.

Since the launch of this new shipping route, Shanghai Customs has supervised the import and export of 22,000 tons of goods valued at 610 million yuan ($84.2). The Chancay Port has reduced logistics costs for shipping from Peru to China by over 20 percent, according to the People's Daily.

Data shows how trade between China and Peru has further flourished through the Chancay Port. According to statistics from Shanghai Customs, in December 2024, the first month following the launch of the direct shipping route from Chancay to Shanghai, the total import and export value at the Shanghai ports with Peru reached 4.68 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 46.1 percent. In the whole year of 2024, the total import and export value between the Shanghai ports and Peru amounted to 51.5 billion yuan, a 23-percent increase compared to the previous year.

Peru is one of the first Latin American countries to participate in the BRI. China is also Latin America's second-largest trading partner, with trade volume reaching $427.4 billion with this region in the first three quarters of 2024.

"The expectation we have regarding China is extremely high," Juan José Santiváñez, interior minister of Peru, told the Global Times in previous interview. He said that Chancay places Peru as one of the main players in Latin America, becoming the most important hub, and will definitely contribute greatly to the economy of Peru.
The win-win project of Chancay, however, has been described by some in the US as a "threat" to the US security and economic interests in Latin America.

The US has been hyping smears against the project since the construction of the Chancay Port began. And in recent months, it has intensified their efforts in continuously reviving false narratives such as "military use" and "economic coercion" of the port, maliciously portraying China's "expansion of influence" in Latin America.

"China is exercising our playbook" of being present economically and equipping the US' hemispheric neighbors militarily, the then US Southern Command's commander Laura Richardson told the US House Armed Services Committee in March, according to the US Naval Institute website. Richardson later hinted to the Financial Times (FT) that Chancay "could be used by Beijing's navy," FT reported on November 4, 2024.

Theoretically speaking, nowadays many large commercial ports around the world are capable of accommodating warships, and the claim that China helped build the Chancay Port for its military purposes is logically untenable, said Lü Xiang, an expert in US studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Aside from friendly exchanges, I see no reason for the Chinese Navy to deploy warships there."

The claim that China is using the Chancay Port to economically coerce Peru is yet another false assertion propagated by the US.

In October 2024, the Diálogo Americas website published two articles about Chancy replete with defamatory statements against the port and China. The first article published on October 18 extensively portrayed Chancay as China's economic pressure tool. "We are facing a clear example of China's economic coercion, which takes advantage of the economic dependence it has generated in countries like Peru to pressure and penalize if a country tries to change the rules of the game," the article cited an Argentine writer and journalist Agustín Barletti as saying.

The quadrilingual website that is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole, appears to be backed by local media or academic institutions in Latin America. However, it is actually a digital military magazine published by the US Southern Command, the Global Times found.

Economist and senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University, Yu Xiang, refuted this false claim. Yu explained that Chancay project follows the typical BOT (build-operate-transfer) model, a form of project delivery method common seen all over the world, particularly for large-scale infrastructure projects.

"The BOT mode model was not originally created by China; it is something that Chinese enterprises learned from the West," Yu told the Global Times.

Data shows that Chancay can bring significant benefits to Peru's economy. The port is expected to generate $4.5 billion in annual economic benefit for Peru, equivalent to 1.8 percent of the country's GDP. The construction of the port generated 1,300 direct jobs, and around 8,000 indirect jobs due to the economic dynamics already observed in the area, according to Lima-based magazine AméricaEconomía.

Including the Chancay project, the BRI cooperation "attracts and increases investment in key sectors, supporting economic development and job creation," Luis Cabello, commercial counsellor, and representative of Promperú (Promotion Agency of Peru for Exports and Tourism), in Beijing, told the Global Times in a previous interview.

More than 20 Latin American countries have signed cooperation agreements under the BRI.

"China welcomes increased investment and cooperation in Latin America from all countries, including the US, to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the region," said Lü. "The US should recognize that instead of futilely hyping up the supposed 'threats' posed by some Chinese projects there, it would be more productive to focusing on creating tangible benefits for the people of Latin America."

China Media Group's annual 3.15 Consumer Rights Gala, now in its 35th year, took center stage on Saturday, revealing a host of business misconduct, including substandard disposable products, food safety breaches, excessive repair fees, illegal high-interest online loans, personal data leaks, AI harassment calls, online lotteries, and the sale of wires and cables that fail to meet national standards.

The event, themed on promoting credibility to boost consumption, quickly trended on major Chinese social media platforms, prompting several named companies to issue rapid responses and local regulators to take swift actions to investigate and tackle the exposed issues.

Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday that the gala serves as a significant deterrent against illegal activities while also heightening public awareness of consumer rights. The immediate reactions from businesses and authorities underscore the high stakes involved in restoring market trust and protecting consumers.

Among the first revelations was a scandal in Jining, East China's Shandong Province, involving Liangshan Xixi Paper Products. The firm allegedly purchased scraps and defective sanitary napkins and baby diapers from recognized brands, then repackaged them for sale at prices soaring from as little as 260 yuan ($36) per ton to as much as 8,000 yuan per ton. According to the broadcast, leftover waste was ground up and separated into materials such as wood pulp and super-absorbent polymers, which were also resold.

Local regulators announced after the gala on Saturday night that they have joined forces with public security officials to investigate the issue, sealed off the involved company, and brought the person in charge under control. Further investigations into the situation are underway. A special team from Shandong Province also came to the scene.

The gala also uncovered questionable practices at several disposable underwear factories in Shangqiu, Central China's Henan Province, where producers reportedly used dubious raw materials and bypassed proper sterilization procedures, despite their product labels suggesting otherwise.
Brands such as Chuyisheng, Beiziyan, and Langsha saw related products removed from e-commerce platforms like Taobao immediately following the broadcast. Related livestreaming was also suspended, the Global Times found.

The market supervision and health authorities from Shangqiu responded that they had established a joint task force and confirmed sealing all finished, semi-finished products, and raw materials at the implicated sites for further investigation.

China's largest home appliance maintenance platform, Zhuomuniao, also came under spotlight. Over 6,000 complaints were filed against its repair technicians for allegedly imposing exorbitant service fees. Shortly after the revelations, the platform apologized on its official Sina Weibo account, stating that it had set up a special investigation team to address the accusations and protect customer interests.

Food safety was another key focus. In Yancheng, East China's Jiangsu Province, multiple seafood producers were accused of using excessive phosphate-based water-retention agents—a practice strictly regulated under Chinese law—in shrimp processing, inflating water content by up to 20 percent. Two food companies were named in the gala.

Market supervision authorities in Lianyungang said they had set up a joint team to investigate this matter, and relevant issues will be released specially in the future.

Meanwhile, China Media Group noted that the State Administration for Market Regulation will roll out a nationwide food safety whistle-blowing system in May. The initiative aims to encourage industry players and other stakeholders to report severe risks and illegal activities, bolstering consumer safety efforts.

The gala also exposed an e-signature service operated by Jiedaibao, an online lending platform, which was found to encourage illegal usury lenders to evade supervision, prompting concerns about the misuse of digital lending tools.

In response, Jiedaibao apologized and announced a rectification task force, pledging full cooperation with law enforcement.

Shanghai Zhiyouqing Network Technology was the subject of another major revelation, with its AI phone-call bots allegedly fueling a surge in spam calls.

Shanghai's Municipal Market Supervision Administration announced that it had launched an official investigation into the company following the gala's expose, according to Chinanews.com.

The 3.15 Consumer Rights Gala serves not just to expose violations, but also to push companies and local authorities to rectify abuses. By spotlighting malpractices and promoting swift accountability, the annual event reinforces a more transparent marketplace that ultimately benefits both consumers and trustworthy businesses alike, Wang said.

From a console in Shanghai, French surgeon Youness Ahallal guided robotic arms in Morocco with real-time precision, delicately removing a patient's tumor.

Despite the staggering 12,000-kilometer distance between them, China's domestically developed Toumai surgical robot bridged the geographical divide to make transcontinental surgery a reality.

"With telecommunication techniques, Toumai Robot allows real-time, high-definition imaging and precise control of the robotic arms from a long distance," said Liu Yu, executive vice president of Shanghai Microport Medbot (Group) Co., Ltd, developer of the robot.

This breakthrough enables patients in underserved regions to access world-class medical expertise without enduring exhausting cross-border journeys. "The system also revolutionizes surgical workflows for doctors," Liu emphasized. "Previously, conducting cross-regional operations required extensive travel and coordination. Now, specialists can operate remotely with high efficiency."

To date, the Toumai platform has completed around 300 remote operations, maintaining a flawless safety record.

The Toumai Robot exemplifies China's rapid ascent as a pioneer in intelligent medical innovation. At the 2025 China Medical Equipment Exhibition in Chongqing in southwest China, AI-powered surgical systems, deep learning-enhanced diagnostic platforms, and cloud-connected robotic devices dominated the showcase.

"Toumai Robot focuses on minimally-invasive surgeries. It breaks through the limits of the hands of surgeons by filtering their physiologic tremor, which makes surgeries easier, safer, and less invasive," said Liu to flows of visitors at the company's exhibition booth.

Some medical equipment can help doctors make decisions. Longwood Valley MedTech, headquartered in Beijing, brought its ROPA orthopedic smart surgical robot with deep learning capabilities to the exhibition.

"This robot can be used in joint replacement and spinal operations as it utilizes AI to reconstruct three-dimensional images of patients' joints with CT images, based on which doctors can simulate operations and make pre-operation plans," said Chen Peng, vice president of Longwood Valley MedTech.

It usually takes one day for an engineer to make a three-dimensional image, compared to only one to three minutes by AI, Chen added.

Chen said the robot reduces operating time by about 30 percent on average. Less operating time means less anesthesia duration, exposure and possible complications.

The robot not only serves as a powerful "brain" but also as clever "hands." During operations, sub-millimeter precision optical positioning ensures the precise execution of every critical step of the pre-operation plans. Stable robotic arms help doctors overcome traditional limitations such as hand tremors.

In 2024, China's medical equipment market size surpassed 1.35 trillion yuan (about 188.2 billion U.S. dollars), according to data released during the exhibition.

Medical equipment is at the forefront of technological innovation, so efforts should be given to drive the digital and intelligent transformation of the medical equipment industry, said Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, when addressing the event on Saturday.

"It is important to accelerate the deep integration of emerging technologies such as 5G and AI with medical equipment and develop innovative application scenarios, including intelligent diagnostic systems and remote medical consultation platforms," Xin said.

In response to the US Embassy in Mexico's social media post quoting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement that "We will counter China's influence by strengthening our alliances and diversifying supply chains," the Chinese Embassy in Mexico said on Friday that it firmly opposes such statement, noting that a lie, even if repeated a thousand times, will not become the truth.

Such remarks are filled with outdated Cold War mentality and zero-sum game thinking. The US never stops touting "strengthening alliances" and "diversifying supply chains," yet in reality, driven solely by self-interest, according to the official website of Chinese Embassy in Mexico on Friday.

The US flagrantly interferes in the internal affairs of Latin American countries, arbitrarily imposes unilateral and illegal sanctions, habitually shifts its own problems - such as drug trafficking and immigration - onto other nations, and routinely threatens to impose additional tariffs at every turn, according to the embassy. 

The US also deliberately jeopardizes the friendship between China and Latin America by sowing discord with the so-called "countering China's influence."

China-Latin America relationship stands upright with honor. Pragmatic cooperation between the two sides is not subject to any political conditions or third parties, meets the fundamental interests of the Chinese and Latin American people, and stands the test of history, said the embassy.

The Chinese Embassy solemnly urges the US side to restrain its arrogance and prejudice, respect the sovereignty and dignity of Latin American countries, and stop smearing and blackening China and China-Latin America relations. The embassy advises the US to carefully examine itself in the mirror, focus on self-improvement to address its domestic problems instead of shifting the blame onto others.

An outpouring of grief has followed news of the death of Bailong, a white horse that played a crucial role in the rescue of a drowning man in central China's Hubei Province earlier this month, with locals and people across the country mourning online and offline.

Despite medical efforts, Bailong, meaning "white dragon," died on Tuesday due to a sudden severe intestinal obstruction, seven days after the heroic rescue, according to Yelibay Dosunbek, Bailong's owner.

On Feb. 4, Yelibay Dosunbek, a 39-year-old Uygur from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, sprang into action on horseback to help a man who was drowning in the frigid Hanjiang River in the city of Xiantao.

Bailong, a 7-year-old mixed breed from Xinjiang, swam nearly 40 meters as Yelibay Dosunbek clung to its back, ultimately dragging the man to shore with the help of local winter swimming enthusiast Liu Hangzhou.

"Bailong carried me to the center of the river. Without him, I couldn't have made it," said Yelibay Dosunbek, who co-owns a local equestrian club in Xiantao.

Following the rescue, the horse showed symptoms like loss of appetite and diarrhea the next day, prompting immediate vet treatment.

On Feb. 6, local authorities granted the title of "righteous and courageous role model group" to Yelibay Dosunbek, Liu, and Su Shaogao -- Yelibay Dosunbek's friend who noticed the emergency and shouted for help. Bailong, whose conditions improved following treatment, was in attendance at the ceremony, donning a red sash.

Later on Feb. 6, the horse was found to be in deteriorating health, experiencing high fever and obstipation. Bailong died on Feb. 11 despite medical treatment.

"Sudden strangulated intestinal obstruction is not a rare emergency in equine animals. Once the disease occurs, the intestines are twisted together, and the mortality rate is very high," said Xiao Siyu, an associate professor at Huazhong Agricultural University who was part of a treatment team organized by the city's bureau of agriculture and rural affairs.

News of Bailong's death has sparked a flood of grief and admiration from locals and netizens nationwide.

Xiantao residents have been seen laying flowers by the Hanjiang River in tribute to the heroic animal. City authorities have also announced plans to erect a statue of the horse by the river, and said that the name of an upcoming local river-crossing event would be changed to the "Bailongma Cup," with Bailongma meaning "white-dragon horse."

"Thank you, brave Bailong, for fearlessly jumping into the water to save a life. May you rest in peace," a netizen posted on the Weibo social media platform under the username "Iron Mirror Princess_79891."

In recognition of Yelibay Dosunbek's heroic rescue, the Xinjiang chamber of commerce in Xiantao has announced that it will donate another white horse to the Uygur man.

"When the weather gets warmer in Xinjiang in late March or early April, a white horse from Yelibay Dosunbek's home of Xinjiang will be delivered to him," said Chen Huibing, president of the chamber, adding that the new horse will be a continuation of Bailong's legacy and a testament to ethnic unity.

Yelibay Dosunbek said that he does not regret rushing into the river. "Had I got another chance, I'd make the same choice to save a life again."

Zou Jiahua, a former vice premier of China's State Council, died of illness at the age of 99 in Beijing at 11:42 p.m. Sunday, an official statement said.

Zou had also once served as a member of the Political Bureau of the 14th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress.

In the statement, Zou was extolled as an excellent CPC member, a time-tested and loyal communist soldier, proletarian revolutionist, and an outstanding leader in boosting China's economic development and national defense industry, and advancing the socialist legal system.