GENEVA: Some 677,000 refugees have fled the conflict in Ukraine for safety in neighbouring countries, while around a million people are estimated to be internally displaced, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said the numbers of people on the move was "extremely worrying", as Russian troops pound cities in eastern Ukraine, on day six of Moscow's invasion.
Grandi told a press conference in Geneva that the latest figure he had was 677,000 people who had fled from Ukraine to neighbouring countries.
"We are looking at what could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century," he said.
Grandi said that around half had fled to Poland, whilst roughly 90,000 had reached Hungary, 60,000 Moldova, 50,000 Slovakia and 40,000 Romania.
At an earlier press conference, Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said the numbers were "exponentially increasing".
She said that all neighbouring countries had so far kept their borders open for refugees fleeing Ukraine -- including a "sizeable number" who have crossed into Russia.
"UNHCR urges governments to continue to maintain access to territory for all those fleeing: Ukrainians, and third-country nationals living in Ukraine, who are now forced to escape the violence," she said.
Meanwhile in Stockholm, Karolina Lindholm Billing, the UNHCR representative to Ukraine, estimated that a million people had been internally displaced by the Russian invasion.
"We estimate that it has to be about one million people who have fled internally or who are currently on a train, a bus or in a car trying to get to a safety," she told a press conference in Stockholm.
She cautioned that the agency still did not have reliable figures.
Mantoo said that at the Polish border, UNCHR staff reported that people who managed to cross the frontier had been waiting up to 60 hours in freezing temperatures.
"Refugees who have the means are finding their own accommodation, whereas others are being hosted with local communities who have opened their homes, or sheltered in reception centres," she said.
There are queues of up to 20 hours to enter Romania, said Mantoo, with volunteers providing interpretation services, while it is taking 24 hours to cover the 60 kilometres (37 miles) between the Ukrainian port city of Odessa and the border with Moldova.
New arrivals in Moldova are being accommodated in temporary reception centres, while the UNHCR is distributing relief items, including blankets and sleeping bags, with an airlift from Dubai of more supplies due to arrive on Wednesday.
The UN's International Organization for Migration said an estimated 470,000 third-country nationals were living in Ukraine, including a large number of overseas students and labour migrants.
"While 6,000 of those have been confirmed to have arrived in Moldova and Slovakia alone, many remain stranded amidst the worsening security situation," spokeswoman Safa Msehli told journalists in Geneva.
"We appeal to states to protect people forced from their homes due to the fighting and to allow them to cross Ukraine's borders to safety -- without discrimination."
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677,000 refugees have fled Ukraine: UN
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677,000 refugees have fled Ukraine: UN
- The UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi said the numbers of people on the move was "extremely worrying"
- "We are looking at what could become Europe's largest refugee crisis this century," he said
China positions itself as force for global stability at its annual Congress
BEIJING: While much of the world’s attention is on the Iran war, that hasn’t stopped China from moving ahead with national priorities with global repercussions.
Not that China doesn’t care about the war and its impact on energy supplies and geopolitics. But for the world’s second largest economy, its growing rivalry with the United States revolves around a different battle: the development of the cutting-edge technologies shaping the 21st century.
That message came through in a five-year plan formally endorsed Thursday by the National People’s Congress at the end of its annual meeting, the nation’s biggest political event of the year. If anything, China is doubling down on a push to transform its economy and be at the forefront of technology. State media described China’s determination to stay the course on economic development as a force for stability in an uncertain world.
“A stable and developing China injects more stability and certainty into a world fraught with change and turbulence,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page column on Wednesday. Other state-media echoed that view.
The commentaries and official statements didn’t mention US President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and use of military force from Venezuela to Iran are shaking up the global order that has governed international relations in the post-World War II era. China publicly defends that system, while calling for making it more equitable to reflect the interests of developing countries as well as rich ones.
Trump is due to visit Beijing in three weeks to hold talks with his counterpart, Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The National People’s Congress also rubber-stamped three laws, including one governing ethnic minorities, at its closing session. The votes are ceremonial and nearly unanimous, designed to show unity behind the ruling Communist Party’s vision for the nation. The five-year plan was approved with 2,758 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions.
“We are forging ahead at full speed in building a great country,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at an annual news conference during the Congress.
Banking on tech for growth
Many economists believe that China needs to do more to put more money into the hands of consumers to boost domestic spending and reduce its dependence on export-led growth.
China’s leaders agree in concept, but the five-year plan puts technology front and center, confirming it remains the top priority. Analysts expect any steps to boost consumption to happen only gradually, such as expanding social security and health care benefits, while government funds are poured into artificial intelligence, robotics and other areas.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced an economic growth target of 4.5 percent to 5 percent for 2026 at the start of the Congress, a level that gives the government more leeway to focus on the longer-term goals of the five-year plan rather than meeting a higher target this year.
Staying conservative on climate
The five-year plan doesn’t pledge to reduce carbon emissions overall, but only to reduce “emissions intensity” — how much pollutants are emitted relative to the size of the economy. That means emissions could still grow as the economy does.
The target for a reduction in intensity was set at 17 percent, a level that could allow emissions to rise 3 percent or more, analysts said. “International good practice is to move away from intensity targets toward absolute emission reduction targets,” said Niklas Hohne of the NewClimate Institute in Germany.
China has a history of setting conservative targets and its rapid expansion in solar and other clean energies may drive emissions down anyway. The country is the world’s No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, but leaders have long argued that the size of its population and economy must be considered when evaluating its pollution levels.
Regulating ethnic groups
A sweeping ethnic minorities law endorsed by the Congress solidifies what critics say is a government policy of assimilation, emphasizing the creation of “a common consciousness of the Chinese nation.”
The government said it is meant to foster a stronger sense of community and shared economic development among its ethnic groups. The law encapsulates an approach under Xi that has promoted unity over ethnic cultures and their languages.
“It puts a death nail in the party’s original promise of meaningful autonomy,” said James Leibold, a professor at Australia’s LaTrobe University who has studied China’s changing policies toward its ethnic minorities.
Seeking a “right to rest” for workers
Formal proposals and other suggestions to reduce work hours in a variety of ways were among those that got the most attention on social media during this year’s Congress.
Many focused on a “right to rest,” including calls to give employees the right not to respond to work messages after hours. Many Chinese workers get only five days of paid vacation a year. Yu Miaojie, an economist and deputy to the Congress, proposed raising the minimum statutory annual leave from five to 10 days.
The popularity of the proposals reflects concern about the intense workplace competition in China. Giving workers more leisure time is also seen as a way to boost consumption by giving them more free time to spend.
Not that China doesn’t care about the war and its impact on energy supplies and geopolitics. But for the world’s second largest economy, its growing rivalry with the United States revolves around a different battle: the development of the cutting-edge technologies shaping the 21st century.
That message came through in a five-year plan formally endorsed Thursday by the National People’s Congress at the end of its annual meeting, the nation’s biggest political event of the year. If anything, China is doubling down on a push to transform its economy and be at the forefront of technology. State media described China’s determination to stay the course on economic development as a force for stability in an uncertain world.
“A stable and developing China injects more stability and certainty into a world fraught with change and turbulence,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said in a front-page column on Wednesday. Other state-media echoed that view.
The commentaries and official statements didn’t mention US President Donald Trump, whose tariffs and use of military force from Venezuela to Iran are shaking up the global order that has governed international relations in the post-World War II era. China publicly defends that system, while calling for making it more equitable to reflect the interests of developing countries as well as rich ones.
Trump is due to visit Beijing in three weeks to hold talks with his counterpart, Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The National People’s Congress also rubber-stamped three laws, including one governing ethnic minorities, at its closing session. The votes are ceremonial and nearly unanimous, designed to show unity behind the ruling Communist Party’s vision for the nation. The five-year plan was approved with 2,758 votes in favor, one against, and two abstentions.
“We are forging ahead at full speed in building a great country,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at an annual news conference during the Congress.
Banking on tech for growth
Many economists believe that China needs to do more to put more money into the hands of consumers to boost domestic spending and reduce its dependence on export-led growth.
China’s leaders agree in concept, but the five-year plan puts technology front and center, confirming it remains the top priority. Analysts expect any steps to boost consumption to happen only gradually, such as expanding social security and health care benefits, while government funds are poured into artificial intelligence, robotics and other areas.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced an economic growth target of 4.5 percent to 5 percent for 2026 at the start of the Congress, a level that gives the government more leeway to focus on the longer-term goals of the five-year plan rather than meeting a higher target this year.
Staying conservative on climate
The five-year plan doesn’t pledge to reduce carbon emissions overall, but only to reduce “emissions intensity” — how much pollutants are emitted relative to the size of the economy. That means emissions could still grow as the economy does.
The target for a reduction in intensity was set at 17 percent, a level that could allow emissions to rise 3 percent or more, analysts said. “International good practice is to move away from intensity targets toward absolute emission reduction targets,” said Niklas Hohne of the NewClimate Institute in Germany.
China has a history of setting conservative targets and its rapid expansion in solar and other clean energies may drive emissions down anyway. The country is the world’s No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases, but leaders have long argued that the size of its population and economy must be considered when evaluating its pollution levels.
Regulating ethnic groups
A sweeping ethnic minorities law endorsed by the Congress solidifies what critics say is a government policy of assimilation, emphasizing the creation of “a common consciousness of the Chinese nation.”
The government said it is meant to foster a stronger sense of community and shared economic development among its ethnic groups. The law encapsulates an approach under Xi that has promoted unity over ethnic cultures and their languages.
“It puts a death nail in the party’s original promise of meaningful autonomy,” said James Leibold, a professor at Australia’s LaTrobe University who has studied China’s changing policies toward its ethnic minorities.
Seeking a “right to rest” for workers
Formal proposals and other suggestions to reduce work hours in a variety of ways were among those that got the most attention on social media during this year’s Congress.
Many focused on a “right to rest,” including calls to give employees the right not to respond to work messages after hours. Many Chinese workers get only five days of paid vacation a year. Yu Miaojie, an economist and deputy to the Congress, proposed raising the minimum statutory annual leave from five to 10 days.
The popularity of the proposals reflects concern about the intense workplace competition in China. Giving workers more leisure time is also seen as a way to boost consumption by giving them more free time to spend.
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