China deepens ties with Honduras and Saudi Arabia

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Top story: Soccer superstar Lional Messi was greeted with roaring adulation when he touched down in Beijing on Saturday. It’s the first time Chinese fans get to see him play in-person since Beijing’s now-axed COVID-zero restrictions kept them from the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Click through for the whole thing.

China and Saudi Arabia signed 30 investment agreements worth $10 billion across various sectors to kick off the first day of the 10th Arab-China Business Conference in Riyadh. China is the largest trading partner of Arab countries, with total trade reaching $430 billion in 2022, a 31% increase from the year before. Of that total, China-Saudi Arabia trade makes up about 25%, hitting $106.1 billion dollars in 2022, a 30% rise from 2021.

Honduras opened its embassy in Beijing on Sunday to cement official diplomatic ties, after switching recognition from Taipei in March. Honduras also put in a bid to join the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB), after Honduran President Xiomara Castro formally requested for the country’s admission in a meeting with NDB president, Dilma Rousseff, at the bank’s headquarters in Shanghai during Castro’s six-day visit to China.

The White House denied reports that China has been running a spy base in Cuba, after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) first reported on June 8 that China and Cuba reached an agreement, in principle, worth several billion dollars for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island. “I’ve seen that press report. It’s not accurate,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an interview on MSNBC also on June 8, without specifying further details. However, other reports citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials have continued to insist that a deal to enhance existing spy capabilities was indeed struck, amid a forceful response on Capitol Hill.

Severe storms are hitting large swaths of China, resulting in three deaths and millions of dollars worth of damage. Strong winds toppled a 450-ton shipyard crane into a security post in the city of Wuhu in the southeastern Anhui province on Saturday, killing three security staff. In Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, large trees toppled over, crushing vehicles and blocking roads, while hailstorms caused about 200 million yuan ($28 million) worth of damage in Wafangdian, a city in northeastern Liaoning province. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) issued more weather warnings today, after it activated level four emergency responses on June 9 following heavy rains that flooded roads and partially submerged buildings hit parts of southern China.

State media: Xinhua News Agency today leads with a report on Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 meeting Honduran President Xiomara Castro as she visits Beijing to celebrate switching her country’s diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. The big story on the front page of the print edition of Party paper the People’s Daily is about a new book of quotations from Xi’s speeches on “women, children and Women’s Federation work” (English version here).