On Saturday afternoon, a powerful tornado struck a district in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, resulting in five deaths and 33 injuries. The local meteorological bureau announced on Saturday night that strong convective weather is expected to continue occurring frequently in the city in the coming days.

Around 3 pm on Saturday, the tornado hit Zhongluotan town in Guangzhou's Baiyun district, impacting an area approximately one kilometer wide and affecting four villages.

By 10 pm on Saturday, on-site search and rescue operations had been largely completed. The disaster resulted in 5 deaths and 33 injuries, with the injured promptly transported to hospitals for treatment. 141 factories sustained damage, but there were no reports of collapsed residential buildings.

Following the disaster, the city swiftly organized six working groups, including those for rescue, repair, post-disaster support, and order maintenance, and initiated emergency response procedures. Medical, public security, traffic police, fire, and housing construction departments, along with personnel from the town and villages, were mobilized to conduct comprehensive search and rescue efforts.

The local meteorological bureau reported that since noon on Saturday, hail and tornadoes occurred in Guangzhou, accompanied by widespread moderate to severe thunderstorms and heavy rain, along with short-lived strong winds and intense lightning.

In the Saturday afternoon, a strong convective cloud system entered Guangzhou, later moving into Renhe town and Zhongluotan town in Baiyun District, lasting approximately 40 minutes.

During this time, a tornado occurred near Liangtian village in Zhongluotan town of Baiyun District. The local meteorological station recorded a maximum gust of 20.6 meters per second (Beaufort scale force 8) approximately 2.8 kilometers from the tornado's point of occurrence.

A preliminary survey has been conducted on the tornado's impact path, covering approximately 1.7 kilometers. The maximum width of the impact is about 280 meters. Based on preliminary assessment, the tornado is judged to be of strong intensity, equivalent to an EF2 tornado on the Fujita scale.

The local authority explained the reason for the occurrence of the tornado in Guangzhou.

Over a period of time, warm and humid air currents from the southwest of the South China Sea continuously strengthened, delivering a large amount of moisture and energy to Guangzhou. This led to a prolonged period of high temperature and humidity, resulting in atmospheric instability near the surface with the accumulation of significant unstable energy.

Furthermore, on Saturday morning, warm and humid air currents near the surface continued to intensify, with several observation stations recording unusually high absolute humidity levels.

Additionally, during the daytime on Saturday, the low-level jet stream intensified, exacerbating the unstable layering of "warm below, cold above," thereby creating favorable conditions for the formation of tornadoes and hail as the 0-6km wind shear, conducive to create tornadoes and hail, exceeded 25m/s.

Lastly, the convergence of mesoscale convergence lines on the ground and the passage of high-altitude fluctuations acted as triggering conditions, initiating strong updrafts, which led to the intense development of the parent storm for the tornado.

Implanted in the brain is a small, soft film connected by delicate threads. Through this, a monkey with its hands tied up can control a robotic arm with "just its thoughts" and grasp a strawberry.

This high performance of the brain-computer interfaces (BCI) technology revealed at the Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum on Thursday is backed by a core brain chip, called "Neucyber," independently developed by Chinese scientists. Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that his brain-chip startup Neuralink implanted a brain chip in a sick man.

The high performance is attributed to the three core components in Neucyber independently developed in China — high-throughput flexible microelectrodes, two high-speed neural signal acquisition devices and a generative neural decoding algorithm.

"The BCI involves capturing subtle changes in brain electrical signals, decoding brain intentions, and achieving 'thought' control of 'actions,' allowing the control of machines without physical contact," said Luo Minmin from the Chinese Institute for Brain Research.

The performance of BCI lies in the clarity of capturing brain electrical signals and the precision of their conversion, which rely on electrodes and algorithms, respectively.

The electrode acts as a "sensor," implanted in the brain to "read" brain electrical signals, with its performance determining the quantity and quality of captured brain signals.

Brain tissue is very soft and moves rhythmically with a person's heartbeat and breathing. In the past, the implantation of electrodes made of hard materials such as steel needles caused damage to brain tissue, triggering inflammatory reactions and leading to the encapsulation of the electrodes, which over time weakened the signals, says Li Yuan, Business Development Director of Beijing Xinzhida Neurotechnology, the company that developed this BCI brain chip system.

Implantable electrodes use flexible materials, greatly reducing damage to the brain and ensuring long-term stable signal acquisition. The flexible electrode has been stably implanted in the monkey's skull for nearly a year, and is still able to collect high-quality signals, according to Li.

The Neucyber is the first system in the world to realize the brain control interception of two-dimensional moving objects by rhesus monkeys through mind control. In the future, this could offer new hope for paralyzed people to be able to touch and grasp things in the physical world, Li noted.

Industry observers said the BCI technology is a systematic project that has higher requirement for stability and involving electrodes, chips, algorithms, software and materials. Key technologies are still needed to be further broken through.

Previously, China's prestigious Tsinghua University announced that Chinese scientists had made a breakthrough in the world's first patient BCI rehabilitation trial.

A team, led by principal Biomedical Engineering researcher Hong Bo from the School of Medicine with Tsinghua University, designed and developed the wireless minimally invasive implanted BCI technology device NEO (Neural Electronic Opportunity). The NEO was successfully implanted into a patient's brain for the BCI-assisted treatment trial at the Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing, on October 24, 2023.

Ahead of the 24th World Intellectual Property Day that is set for April 26, China's cultural enforcement departments jointly signed the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Regional Copyright Enforcement Cooperation Agreement in Beijing on Friday. Officials and experts highlighted that the move will further deepen regional cooperation in copyright enforcement and promotion, social services, as well as talent cultivation.

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. World Intellectual Property Day 2024 and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Copyright cooperation forum, themed "Promoting Cultural Inheritance and Development, Stimulating Innovation and Creativity," focused on promoting the inheritance and development of excellent Chinese traditional culture under new technological trends, emphasizing the role of copyrighting in empowering the creative transformation and innovative development of culture.

Liu Jinquan, head of the Tianjin Copyright Association, told the Global Times that future cooperation among Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei in copyright matters will become more frequent and convenient, enhancing copyright recognition and strengthening exchanges and cooperation to make the region a model area for the innovative development of the copyright business in China.

At the event, the China Copyright Association released 10 major copyright events in China in 2024, including the 50th anniversary of China's cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization, a significant increase in national copyright registrations, and discussions on whether AI-generated works constitute infringement.

On Saturday, as part of the series of activities, a forum on copyright governance and artistic development in the AI era was held at the Communication University of China. Discussions focused on new challenges in copyright governance and artistic development in AI scenarios, including AI technology development and application, AI and copyright management, the impact of AI on artistic development, and more were held.  

Feng Hua, Secretary-General of the Capital Copyright Association, stated at the event, "This year, we will focus on the field of artificial intelligence, including discussions on copyright protection for AI-generated products, such as copyright and ownership after the generation of works."

Feng told the Global Times that China is at the forefront of AI-generated copyrights globally, and while various countries are continuously optimizing their approaches, suggestions and guidance on the use of AI should be provided, encouraging the development of the AI industry.

She emphasized that the greatest copyright infringement risks in the training database's input and output stages involve the infringement of reproduction rights and adaptation rights. 

"Solving intellectual property challenges associated with generative artificial intelligence requires the use of multiple institutional tools, the establishment of diversified solutions, and the creation of a comprehensive solution," she said.

The event also launched many other activities, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei copyright campus tour, focused on exhibiting intangible cultural heritage crafts and their innovative achievements, such as the Beijing Jingtailan cloisonne, the traditional Beijing mascot Lord Rabbit, known as Tu'er Ye in Chinese, Tianjin folk art Clay Figure Zhang, and more.

Editor's Note:

The youth are the vanguards of our time, showcasing boundless energy and vibrant personalities.

Gen-Zers not only represent the makers of the future but also serve as agents of change in the present. With an open mindset and an international outlook, they actively integrate into the currents of globalization, engaging in deep exchanges, and collaborating with youth from around the world to explore pathways and strategies to address global challenges.

The Global Times has launched the "Voice from Gen Z" series, which focuses on the proactive actions and innovative achievements of young people in areas such as global governance, cultural exchange, environmental protection, and technological innovation. Through this column, we aim to showcase the unique charm and future leadership of global Gen-Zers.
At the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Museum and China Table Tennis Museum in Shanghai, Wu Yiman held Abigail Barr's hands, and taught her how to catch the ping-pong balls served by a training robot in front of her step by step.

The two offered a contrasting image of the sport. While Wu has played ping-pong for 16 years and is a postgraduate student at the China Table Tennis College, Shanghai University of Sport, Barr, a sophomore at the University of Virginia (UVA), barely has experience in the sport. Minutes later, at the museum, the two participated in a friendly table tennis match between Chinese and US youth as partners.

With the match set to start, Barr continually expressed her apprehension to Wu, and each time Wu reassured the rookie.

"It's just a game," Wu said to Barr in English. "Have more fun."

Wu's words were magical. Of the two matches they had that day, Wu and Barr won the first, better than they had expected.

Moreover, the Chinese and US youth formed a valuable bond of friendship in just two short days of being together. "This was a far more precious present for me compared to the match result," Wu told the Global Times.

A surprising victory

Wu first met Barr the night before the friendly match, at a welcome dinner at a hotel in downtown Shanghai. "She was so beautiful and graceful," said the 23-year-old, recalling her first impression of Barr. "My eyes were involuntarily drawn to her."

Barr was among a US student delegation that came to China in early January for a China-US youth ping-pong exchange.

As the first batch of US youth visiting China under the program meant to "invite 50,000 US students to China over the next five years," the inaugural delegation hoped to promote better understanding between the two countries' younger generations, similar to "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" 53 years ago, a milestone in the history of China-US relations.

The delegation consisted of 12 UVA students, and a few teaching and administrative staffers from the university. They visited Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai during their trip to China.

The friendly ping-pong doubles match was held in Shanghai on January 9, 2024. The young delegation members partnered with experienced local student players. They learned ping-pong skills from each other, and enhanced mutual understanding in cooperation.

Some of the US students have been playing table tennis for many years, while others, including the 20-year-old Barr, are newbies with little experience with the sport. In Wu's eyes, Barr was curious about table tennis, although she was reluctant to try at the beginning. "Barr told me that she was afraid she wouldn't play well and could 'drag me down' as a partner," Wu recalled.

That night after the welcome dinner, Wu wrote a letter to Barr to encourage her. "Don't be anxious about winning or losing the game," she wrote. "All I hope is that you can feel the friendship and the joy of sports."

The next day, before the friendly match, Wu took Barr to practice ping-pong in anticipation of their impending friendly match. The practice included trying the fancy training robot at the museum. Wu said she could feel that Barr was becoming increasingly positive about the match. "When she gradually discovered that she could intercept the ball by herself, she gained a sense of accomplishment, and her interest grew."

That day, when Wu and Barr won their first match, the two embraced joyfully and cheered, as though they had been partners for years. "We were very satisfied with this result," Wu told the Global Times. "It was a surprising victory."
Precious friendship

For Wu, the highlight of the friendly match was not their victory, but an impressive and friendship-filled moment at the end of the match.

That day, a few renowned former ping-pong champions, including Wang Liqin and Zhang Yining, were also present. Before the friendly match ended, when most members of the US delegation gathered around the champions for signatures, Barr came to Wu, inviting her to sign her new commemorative medal from the friendly match.

"I was almost moved to tears," said Wu. "I mean more to her than world champions."

Wu and Barr became good friends in less than two days of spending time together. They, as Wu said, are both extroverted and have a lot to talk about. Apart from table tennis, their topics ranged from family and growing up, to their respective universities and majors.

Barr told Wu that she once dreamed of being a top ballet dancer, and had spent much time on working toward this dream. "But unfortunately, she didn't realize this dream because of her injured knee(s)," Wu sighed.

Through these conversations, Wu was also delighted to find that Barr had much more interest in and knowledge of China than she had initially thought. Barr showed great command of intermediate Chinese and even had a Chinese tutor.

"Before meeting her, I spent a night cramming some professional English ping-pong terms, but later I only used a few of them," smiled Wu. "It's nice that we have no language barrier."

With family members living in China, Barr said she has been to China several times. On the day of the friendly match, Barr wore a mahjong-shaped earring, a Christmas present from her younger sister.

The UVA delegation left China in mid-January. Wu and Barr still keep in touch via WeChat and Instagram, sharing memes and fun details about their lives, and even sent each other best wishes over Chinese New Year.

Barr told Wu that she would come to China again. "I look forward to meeting her again in China soon," Wu said.

Vigorous envoys

In April 1971, the US ping-pong delegation conducted an ice-breaking visit to China at China's invitation. Prior to that, the two countries had had no official contact for more than two decades.

This was the start of the well-known "Ping-Pong Diplomacy," which paved the way for the normalization of China-US relations in those hard years filled with ideological confrontations.

Fifty-three years ago, young ping-pong players from China and the US jumpstarted the process of normalizing China-US relations in Beijing, hence the much-told stories of "the little ball being able to move the big ball" were shared by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning at a press conference on January 9, the day when the friendly ping-pong match was held in Shanghai.

Mao mentioned the UVA delegation's visit, praising it as "adding new chapter to the stories of China-US friendship that began with Ping-Pong Diplomacy and new impetus for people-to-people exchanges."

Echoing Mao, Wu thinks that Chinese and the US Gen-Zers are vigorous envoys of the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Compared to older generations, younger generations are more open and inclusive, have more innate goodwill, and are curious about each other, she said.

Wu recalled that one of the UVA delegation members received a small gift with Chinese elements from his Chinese ping-pong partner - a Spring Festival couplet. "He was so excited and intrigued, that he kept asking us the meaning of the Chinese characters on the couplet."

Wu had met many young people from the US previously. At the international summer camps annually hosted by the China Table Tennis Collage, Wu guides young ping-pong players and enthusiasts from all over the world, including those from the US. She described the overall impressions that US students gave her: "Confident, humorous, and it's relaxing to be with them."

"They are similar to our Chinese youth," Wu concluded. "We are not so different. We are equally confident, friendly, and conversable."

Having played a receptionist role during the UVA delegation's visit to China, Wu is pleased to serve as a window for the US youth to know more about Shanghai and China. "I believe that the future belongs to the youth," she told the Global Times. "I hope that we Gen-Zers can lay a good foundation for the promising future of China-US relations."

A fan of the US musical Hamilton herself, Wu said she is very interested in the history, culture, and people in the US. She also looks forward to visiting the US in the near future, and taking a closer look at the country and making local friends.

"It would be even better to meet Barr again there," she smiled.

In its latest foreign policy report, Japan is following the cliché of smears against China by playing up the so-called China threat and interfering in China's internal affairs, yet at the same time, it restored language that states it needs "strategic and mutually beneficial relations with China." Analysts said this exposes the country's opportunistic and double-dealing motives in its China policy.

In a joint statement in 2008, China and Japan agreed to promote a strategic relationship of mutual benefit in an all-round way. In November 2023, two heads of state reaffirmed the positioning of comprehensively advancing the strategic and mutually beneficial relations at their meeting in San Francisco. 

However, in recent years, Japan appears to have abandoned the consensus reached with China and intensified China-bashing language in its defense, diplomacy and other official documents.

According to Kyodo News on Tuesday, the 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook said Japan will promote a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests" with China, using wording last seen in the 2019 report, although still claimed its neighboring country poses "an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge."

The report mentions "serious concerns" over China's "attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo" and "a series of dangerous acts" in the South China Sea as well as the importance of accelerating trilateral collaboration among the US, Japan, and the Philippines to deal with them, Kyodo News reported.

In response, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a Tuesday press briefing that China is firmly opposed to the Japanese document which has followed the cliché of smears and accusations against China, hyped the so-called China threat and interfered in China's internal affairs unreasonably.

We urge the Japanese side to correct its wrong actions, stop provoking and creating bloc confrontation, truly position the strategic and mutually beneficial relations with China as a guideline for the development of bilateral ties, and make unremitting efforts to build constructive and stable China-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era, Lin said.

The two Asian neighbors remain at odds over various issues with Japan intensifying its efforts in joining the US to contain China.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has just returned from a high-profile trip to the US, where he tried to show diplomatic results by emphasizing "strengthening the US-Japan alliance." 

"During his visit to the US, the prime minister's face was filled with a smile never seen in Japan," Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on Tuesday.

The report noted that it is undeniable that with the infinite deepening of the integration process between Japan and the US, Japan will undoubtedly be more firmly integrated into the strategy of the US to contain China. 

"Does Kishida's rarely seen smile in the US really herald a new level of cooperation between the US-Japan alliance?" questioned Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

The expert noted that even as China and the US are in competition in multiple aspects, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink have visited China in succession, therefore there has been significantly more high-level communication between China and the US than between China and Japan.

According to Da, the political elite and economic circles in Washington must have a consensus - the level of engagement of US-Japan relations cannot be compared with that of China-US relations. In this context, the first risk Japan faces is whether it can bear the consequences of blindly following the US' inducement to "de-risk" or "decouple" with China. The second risk is that Japan's participation in the US strategy to contain China will inevitably provoke geopolitical instability, which is not desirable for countries that desire peace. As an Asian country, it is uncertain whether Japan can cope with the tension with its neighbors. 

China calls on relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint to prevent further escalations as Iran launched military strike on Israeli territory: Chinese FM

Throughout the month of March 2024, the Chinese mainland reported that the new cases of COVID-19 were all caused by the Omicron variant, with the main prevalent strain becoming the JN.1 series variant. This variant encompasses 89 evolutionary branches, with the top three strains being JN.1, JN.1.4, and JN.1.1.

During the same period, 588 new severe cases and 26 deaths were reported across the mainland, with one death attributed to respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 infection and 25 deaths due to underlying health conditions combined with COVID-19 infection.

The daily number of patients seeking treatment at fever clinics fluctuated at around 160,000 throughout March, peaking at 188,000 on March 12 before gradually decreasing to a low of 134,000 on March 30.

From the 10th week (March 4-10) to the 13th week (March 25-31) in 2024, the proportion of flu-like cases among emergency room visits at sentinel hospitals nationwide slightly decreased, with flu-like cases accounting for 5.6 percent, 5.3 percent, 4.9 percent, and 4.9 percent of visits, respectively.

The positivity rate for flu-like cases testing positive for COVID-19 increased from 18.2 percent in the 10th week to 21.1 percent in the 11th week before declining to 15.9 percent in the 13th week.

The defense ministers of the US, UK and Australia will reportedly begin to talk about broadening the AUKUS military alliance, with Japan emerging as the leading candidate for inclusion. However, analysts warned that such an alarming move marks the pact further turning into an "Asian NATO," raising concerns over heightened militarism in Japan and potential destabilization in the region.  

The expansion of AUKUS would be on "pillar two," which commits the members to jointly developing quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. 

Japan is seen as the first candidate to join in the pact. According to a Reuters report on Sunday, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida "will likely" discuss expanding AUKUS to include Japan during their summit in Washington on Wednesday.

In disregard of the concerns of regional countries and the international community over the risk of nuclear proliferation, the US, the UK and Australia have kept sending signals of AUKUS expansion, co-opting some countries to come on broad, and escalating arms race in the Asia-Pacific to the detriment of peace and stability in the region. China is gravely concerned about it, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference on Monday.  

"We oppose relevant countries cobbling together exclusive groupings and stoking bloc confrontation," the spokesperson said, pointing out that Japan in particular needs to earnestly draw lessons from history and stay prudent on military and security issues. 

The US, UK and Australia have long been mulling expanding the AUKUS alliance to include more countries. While the "first pillar" of the pact, involving the provision of nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, has raised concerns over nuclear proliferation, the US has been pushing to invite more countries to join in "pillar two" with the purpose of enhancing AUKUS' influence, serving the goal of implementing its Indo-Pacific strategy and maintaining its hegemony, Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday.

Moreover, by encouraging more countries such as South Korea and the Philippines to join AUKUS and other US-led small cliques, the US aims to create various coalitions to besiege China. These efforts are made with a purpose of gaining an upper hand in the strategic competition with China, said Xiang. 

The expert noted that Japan has been the prime candidate for inclusion in AUKUS, given its longstanding alliance with the US, advanced technology and position in the global industrial chain. Additionally, it has played an active role in cooperating with the US on its Indo-Pacific strategy. 

Japan also has its own motivations for joining the pact, Xiang said, noting that Prime Minister Kishida's cabinet has been actively pursuing increased arms exports to spur domestic defense industry and enhance military capabilities.

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, said that in recent years, Japan has continuously attempted to breach the constraints of its pacifist constitution and views potential inclusion in AUKUS as an opportunity to further this agenda.

Facing a crisis of trust domestically, Kishida also expects to bolster public support by strengthening his defense and foreign policies, Chen told the Global Times, referring to Kishida's upcoming meetings with US President Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos in Washington as well as Japan's participation in joint military exercises with the US, Australia and the Philippines.

Chen warned that Japan's potential entry into AUKUS is concerning, as it could further foment militarism within Japan. Moreover, it could lay the groundwork for the expansion of the military alliance into an Asian equivalent of NATO, raising further alarm over regional security.

The establishment and subsequent expansion of AUKUS have raised significant concerns among regional countries, particularly regarding nuclear proliferation. Analysts said that despite attempts by member states to portray it in positive light, the military alliance is an exclusive clique rooted in Cold War mentality.

Together with other smaller coalitions led by the US, AUKUS could also exacerbate the risks of arms races and confrontations in the region, particularly when it interferes in heated issues such as those in the South China Sea or the Taiwan question, analysts warned.

Iran has blamed Israel for a deadly airstrike on Monday on its Damascus embassy compound in Syria, which killed 13 people including two Iranian generals, and vowed to retaliate. Monday's attack has been condemned for violating international law and sovereignty as it risked escalating regional tensions amid devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Monday's attack marks the first Israeli strike targeted at an Iranian embassy compound, according to media reports. Analysts have said the incident is a significant escalation of tensions in the Middle East since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict renewed fighting in October 2023. They also warned of the increasing risk of more military conflicts in the Middle East and spillovers from the Gaza crisis.  

According to Iran's Foreign Ministry, airstrike has destroyed the Iranian consulate building in Damascus. The consulate building, which is located next to the Iranian Embassy, is always regarded as sovereign Iranian territory, the CNN reported.

Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi were killed in Monday's attack. Zahedi is the most high-ranking Iranian target killed since then-US president Donald Trump ordered the assassination of IRGC Gen Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020, according to media reports. 

Iran and Syria accused Israel of authoring the attack. According to the New York Times, four Israeli officials acknowledged that Israel carried out the strike. 

Iran's Ambassador to Syria Hossein Akbari, who survived the attack, said Tehran's response would be "decisive." Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani said that Iran "reserves the right to carry out a reaction and will decide on the type of response and punishment of the aggressor." He called the strike a "gross violation of international regulations, especially the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," media reported.  

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad denounced the attack, calling it a "heinous terrorist attack ... Killing a number of innocent people," according to media reports. 

Significant escalation

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday said China condemns the attack on the Iranian Embassy in Syria and opposes any act that would escalate the tensions. 

The security of diplomatic institutions should not be violated and Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity must be respected, the Chinese spokesperson said.

Russian Foreign Ministry "strongly condemned" the Israel's attack targeting Iranian consulate building in a statement made public on Monday, terming the airstrike as "unacceptable."  

In addition, Jordan and Iraq, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been quick to slam Israel's airstrike which they regard as a grave violation of both international law and Syrian sovereignty, according to media reports. 

Experts said the attack, a significant escalation of tensions, was both a spillover of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a product of the longstanding structural tensions between Israel and Iran.

According to Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, as UN Security Council recently adopted a resolution urging for a ceasefire in Gaza for the month of Ramadan, Israel is facing increased pressure at home and abroad. And that would make Israel slow its operations in Gaza and ramp up operations in the spillover regions.

Israel sees Iran as the main backer of several forces fighting Israel in the spillover of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as Shiite forces in Syria and Iraq, said Liu. 

When Israel strikes Iran, its target is Hezbollah in Lebanon, Niu Xinchun, executive director of the China-Arab Research Institute of Ningxia University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.  

In the last two weeks, Israel has frequently targeted Hezbollah commanders and stroked Hezbollah weapons depots in Syria. Israel views Iran as Hezbollah's biggest backer, and believes their attacks on Iran will weaken Hezbollah, said Niu. 

According to Liu, Israel is trying to gain leverage from the aggravation of regional conflicts to bind America even more tightly to itself and force Washington to continue wielding influence in the Middle East, especially considering that the US recently abstained from voting on a UNSC resolution, a sign of waning support to Israel. 

A more complicated future

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday that the US did not "have confirmation either of the target or the responsible party," noting "we're always concerned about anything that would be escalatory or cause an increase in conflict in the region."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also accused the US as Israel's supporter and said it "must be held accountable."

According to US and Israeli officials, Israel notified the US "a few minutes" before the airstrike but didn't ask for a US green light. And a US official said the Israelis didn't tell the US that they were planning to bomb a building in the Iranian embassy compound, according to Axios. 

If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spills over further and the tension in the whole region expands, it does not serve the interests of the US in the Middle East, when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself has already disrupted US' strategic contraction in the Middle East, Liu said. 

But Israeli's airstrike is undoubtedly related to the long-term strategy of the US over the years to shape the "Iranian threats" and motivate Israel and even Arab countries to confront Iran, Liu said. 

At a rally on Monday night, hundreds of people in Tehran gathered to condemn the Israeli attack, they waved flags of Iran and Palestine. They also burned Israeli and US flags, according to the AFP. However, it remains unknown how Iran will retaliate. 

According to Niu, there are three options for Iran's counterattack. 

"One is to support Hezbollah in Lebanon, militias in Iraq, and Houthi forces in Yemen to attack Israel. The other is to strike directly at Israeli targets outside its territory," said Niu, "Although Iran has the missile capability to strike directly at the Israeli mainland, this is not a highly probable scenario." 

Echoing Niu, Liu believes that counterattacks conducted by Iran's proxies would increase. However, direct military conflict between Iran and Israel is unlikely, Liu added.

Compared with the past, the conflict between Israel and Iran has increasingly become a combination of "spillover of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict" and "geopolitical contradiction," and has become more explicit and direct, Liu said. 

The conflict between Israel and Iran is likely to develop in parallel with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, further complicating the regional situation, Liu said. 

There has been no new agreement and deal regarding whether the only pair of panda in Australia can extend their stay, although high-level talks between China and Australia bear good news, the director of the Adelaide zoo, which is the pandas’ current home, told the Global Times, adding that the conversations with China are “going really well.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in late March that it was likely the two pandas on loan from China since 2009, and due to return in November this year, would have their stay in her home city of Adelaide extended. "We are on a good path to continued panda presence," she told reporters after the meeting with visiting top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.

Speaking with Global Times on Tuesday, Dr Phil Ainsley, director of the zoo, said that they were not aware whether any conversations would occur about the giant pandas at the time when the top diplomats of the two countries met, and Wong’s message was very encouraging. The Adelaide zoo is now having conversations with the China Wildlife Conservation Association and other authorities, said Dr Ainsley, noting that currently exchanges are going really well.

“What I can say and I can be very clear about, is that the Adelaide zoo would absolutely love to see giant pandas remain in Australia and remain here at the Adelaide zoo. We would very much like to be able to continue having Fu Ni and Wang Wang here or new giant pandas,” said Dr Ainsley.

Fu Ni – who has won a silver medal for the most popular panda outside China – was named “lucky girl” in the hopes she would “fall in the net of love and have a baby.”But after nine attempts at breeding, including four attempts at artificial insemination, Fu Ni has not become pregnant and instead experienced multiple false pregnancies, which are virtually indistinguishable from normal pregnancies.

Dr Ainsley signaled that the Adelaide zoo has stopped their panda breeding program. “In part, the reason for that was for the welfare of Fu Ni, because we're very mindful of Fu Ni and Wang Wang having to return to China. If Fu Ni gets pregnant that would present some welfare challenges on her.”

Since Wang Wang and Fu Ni's arrival, the number of annual visitors to the zoo has increased from roughly half a million to over four and a half million. Many visitors flock to the zoo to see the giant pandas, media reported.

“We appreciate the fact that these national treasures of China say a lot about the friendship and relationships that exist between Australia and China, which are incredibly important,” Dr Ainsley noted.