Editor's Notes: COP15 meeting on biodiversity kicks off in China’s Kunming. Let’s see how to conserve and restore biodiversity and ecosystems for the next 10 years. Facing the DPP authority in Taiwan for making remarks touting "Taiwan independence" and India of "unreasonable and unrealistic demands", what is China's attitude? After Merkel's last farewell travel to Israel as a chancellor before the end of her 16-year term, what's next for relations between Germany and Israel? Let's take a look at today's Global Focus.

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping to address COP15 leaders' summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech via video at the leaders' summit of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) on October 12, 2021, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. 

COP15 takes place this week in the southwestern Chinese city Kunming. It will be the largest global gathering on the topic in a decade and is expected to provide a global roadmap for conserving and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems for the next 10 years. 

2. Chinese mainland reports 25 confirmed COVID-19 cases

The Chinese mainland recorded 25 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Oct. 10, all from overseas, data from the National Health Commission showed on Monday.

In addition, eight new asymptomatic cases were recorded, while 361 asymptomatic patients remain under medical observation.

Confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland now total 96,423, with the death toll remaining unchanged at 4,636.

The latest tally of confirmed cases in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan region is as follows:

Hong Kong: 12,261 (11,947 recoveries, 213 deaths)

Macao: 77 (64 recoveries)

Taiwan: 16,294 (13,742 recoveries, 846 deaths)

3. Over 1.75m people were affected by floods in north China's Shanxi Province 

Over 1.75 million people have been affected by floods caused by continuous downpours in north China's Shanxi Province, according to the provincial department of emergency management on Oct. 10.

More than 120,000 people have been temporarily evacuated. Some 190,000 hectares of crops were damaged and more than 17,000 houses collapsed, the department said.

4. China issues outline to promote standardized national development

China has issued an outline to promote standardized development at the national level in its pursuit of high-quality development and modernization.

The document, jointly released by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, details measures to ensure the country realizes its long-term development goals through 2035.

With improvements to be made in the standardized management system with Chinese characteristics, a market-driven, government-guided, and enterprise-oriented standardized development pattern featuring mass participation and opening-up and integration will take shape in China by 2035.

Reforms will be made in standardization work by 2025, the document notes. Both government and the market will contribute to the standards-making process, all economic sectors will be covered by industry standards, and international cooperation on the standardization work will be deepened extensively, it says.

5. DPP authority slammed for remarks touting "Taiwan independence"

A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Oct. 10 slammed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan for making remarks touting "Taiwan independence" and instigating confrontation.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the comments in response to the remarks by the DPP's leader on Sunday concerning cross-Strait relations.

At present, the DPP authority's provocative acts of seeking "Taiwan independence" are the root cause of tensions across the Taiwan Strait and pose the biggest threat to peace and stability in the region, Ma said.

The fight against "Taiwan independence" is aimed at the regressive moves by the DPP authority and separatist elements advocating "Taiwan independence," but is by no means targeting the Taiwan compatriots in general, the spokesperson noted.

National reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the Chinese nation as a whole, including the compatriots in Taiwan, Ma said.

"The motherland must be and will be reunited," the spokesperson said. 

6. China's military slams India over 'unrealistic demands' at corps commander-level talks

China on Oct. 11 accused India of "unreasonable and unrealistic demands" and urged the country not to misjudge the situation, as the two sides held the 13th round of the corps commander-level talks on Oct. 10. 

In a statement after the talks were held, senior Colonel Long Shaohua, a spokesperson for China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command said China had made great efforts to promote the easing and cooling of the border situation and fully demonstrated its sincerity in order to maintain the overall situation of the relations between the two militaries. 

"However, India still insisted on the unreasonable and unrealistic demands, which made the negotiations more difficult," he added. 

China's resolve to safeguard national sovereignty is firm, Long said, and he called on India to cherish the hard-won situation in the China-India border areas and abide by relevant agreements and consensus between the two countries and the two militaries.  

7. M6.2 earthquake strikes Hawaii

A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck near Naalehu in the U.S. state of Hawaii at 11:48 a.m. local time on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake's epicenter was recorded at a depth of 35.1 kilometers, the USGS said. No tsunami warning was issued.

8. U.S. federal lawsuit filed in California oil spill

It’s been over a week since a ruptured underwater pipeline led to an oil spill across Southern California’s coastline, taking a big toll on the environment, wildlife, and local economy.

As the mitigation and recovery efforts continue, investigators are still grappling with questions around the cause of the incident and how it could have been prevented.

Residents and business owners have filed lawsuits against the pipeline operators, and in the meantime, safety regulations are being brought under the spotlight.

9. Merkel says Israel's security is central to "every German gov't"

Israel's security will be central to every German government, outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Oct. 10 during her farewell travel to Israel.

Merkel, in Israel on her last visit as a chancellor before the end of her 16-year term, met Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem.

"I want to use this opportunity to emphasize that the topic of Israel's security will always be of central importance and a central topic of every German government," she said in joint remarks.

Bennett, for his part, thanked Merkel for the warm relations with Israel that she has cultivated during her term, expressing his new government's wish to strengthen the ties "even more in business relations, science, education, health and of course, in security."

10. Protest in Belgium demands stronger climate action ahead of the summit

Thousands of people marched through Brussels, Belgium on Oct. 10 to push world leaders to take bolder action to fight climate change at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow starting this month. 

The summit aims to secure more ambitious climate action from world leaders to drastically cut the greenhouse gas emissions heating the planet.

A U.N. climate science report warns that human activity has ensured that there will be climate disruptions for decades, but that rapid, large-scale action to reduce emissions could still stave off some of the most destructive impacts.

Environmentalists worry the summit will produce policies that don’t do enough to cut carbon emissions and actions that aren't on the scale needed to avert disaster.

Editor: Jin Weiduo