Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent condolences to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani respectively over the Ukrainian passenger plane crash in Tehran.
The president also expressed deep sympathies over the victims and offered sincere condolences to the bereaved families.
A Boeing 737 plane operated by Ukraine International Airlines crashed on Wednesday shortly after takeoff from Tehran's main airport, killing all 176 people on board.
Iran has released a preliminary report about the Boeing 737 passenger plane crash in the suburb of Tehran on Wednesday.
Ali Abedzadeh, the chief of Iran's aviation organization, says the black boxes of the plane have been damaged.
He says Iran has invited representatives of Ukraine and other countries for evaluations on the accident.
He says after the plane ascended to over 2400 meters, it disappeared from the radar and then crashed.
The Iranian official says no radio message of "unusual condition" has been received from the pilot.
Trade negotiators from China will visit Washington next week to sign the phase one economic and trade agreement with their US counterparts.
Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng says the delegation led by vice premier Liu He will be in Washington from Monday to Wednesday.
He says negotiating teams are in close contact on the specific arrangements for signing the agreement.
Liu He is also chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue.
China and the United States agreed on the text of a phase one economic and trade agreement based on the principle of equality and mutual respect last month.
Items in the text include intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agricultural products, financial services, and more.
China's top legislator, Li Zhanshu, met with a delegation from Japan's House of Representatives in Beijing on Thursday.
Li, who is the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said the development of healthy and stable relations between China and Japan serves the fundamental interests of both countries.
He said that China's national legislature is ready to work with Japan's parliament on facilitating cooperation and promoting exchanges.
Takagi Tsuyoshi, who is leading the Japanese delegation, expressed a willingness to promote mutual trust, enhance exchanges, deepen cooperation, and push forward bilateral relations.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote on a resolution intended to limit President Donald Trump's military actions regarding Iran.
Trump administration officials briefed Congress on Wednesday on the killing of an Iranian commander that has sparked a new Middle East crisis.
The briefing drew a mixed response from lawmakers with some characterizing the killing of Qassem Soleimani as integral to safeguarding U.S. security interests and others criticizing the Trump administration's actions.
Officials say the capacity of China's transportation services was expanded significantly in 2019, and is ready to handle the demand of the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.
The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, known as "chunyun" in China, begins on Friday.
Yan Hexiang, a spokesman for National Railway Administration, said the country's railways are ready for the rush.
"It is predicted that the railway departments can handle 440 million trips during the Spring Festival travel rush this year, up 8 percent year-on-year."
Meantime, China's airlines are expected to be handling 79 million trips during the holiday.
Preliminary lab results show a new-type coronavirus had caused the viral pneumonia in Wuhan.
Xu Jianguo with the Chinese Academy of Engineering says further research will be conducted to better understand the new coronavirus.
59 viral pneumonia cases, with causes unknown previously, were reported in Wuhan by late Sunday, with seven patients in serious condition.
Eight patients have been cured of the disease and were discharged from hospital Wednesday.