Briefly

BEIJING

COP 15 meeting may be postponed

United Nations' negotiations on the world's new biodiversity conservation goals through 2030 may have to be postponed again because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. On Monday, ministry spokesman Liu Youbin said the second session of COP 15 may have to be postponed because a preparatory meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, has not been held as scheduled this month due to the pandemic. Citing information from the convention's secretariat, Liu said a new time will be chosen by the end of this month, adding that the schedule of the session is "very likely to be affected". The first session was held in Kunming, Yunnan province, in October, with overseas guests participating online.

Party expels former senior bank regulator

Cai Esheng, former vice-chairman of China's top banking regulator, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China for violations of Party discipline and national laws, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said on Monday. Cai served as deputy head of the former China banking regulatory commission, which was replaced by a banking and insurance regulatory commission following a Cabinet reshuffle in 2018. According to an investigation by the watchdogs, Cai abused his power as a financial regulation official and severely disrupted the financial market. He also accepted invitations to banquets, sightseeing tours and luxurious leisure activities, which may have compromised the fulfillment of his duties.

Ivory, foreign waste smuggling slump

China has seen a significant decline in the number of ivory smuggling cases, as authorities continue to stringently crack down on such crimes, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday. The total volume of seized ivory products across the country plunged to 68 kilograms last year from 9.2 metric tons in 2019, Ni Yuefeng, head of the administration, said at a work conference. China has also seen a sharp decline in the number of illegal waste import cases. Last year, Chinese customs seized 42,000 tons of smuggled foreign waste, down 97.4 percent year-on-year.

QINGHAI

5.8 magnitude quake jolts province

No casualties or property damage has been reported after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake jolted the city of Delingha in Qinghai province on Sunday, local authorities said on Monday. The earthquake took place at 10:21 am, with its epicenter in an extremely sparsely populated area to the northwest of Hala Lake, some 119 kilometers from downtown Delingha and 439 km from Xining, the provincial capital. No signs of casualties or damage caused by the earthquake have been found in emergency inspections, said Wang Shaochun, head of Delingha's emergency management bureau.

China Daily - Xinhua