US nominee for ambassador to Buenos Aires has sparked a storm of criticism Wednesday among Argentine lawmakers, media and trade unions with some Argentine politicians accusing him of violating diplomatic conventions, interfering in Argentine domestic affairs and meddling in judicial matters. The nominee claimed that Argentina's ex-president should face justice in cases in which she was never convicted and pledged to use his posting as a bulwark against China during a hearing at the US Senate, according to AP on Thursday.

AP reported Thursday that opposition politicians in Argentina accused Peter Lamelas, US' nominee for ambassador to the second-biggest South American country, of violating diplomatic conventions, interfering in Argentine domestic affairs and meddling in judicial matters.

The report said that Argentine media went into fifth gear with their coverage of Lamelas. Argentine lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress rejecting his remarks as "an unacceptable interference in matters of national sovereignty." Trade unions planned a mass protest for Thursday outside the US Embassy in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires Herald reported Wednesday that Lamelas attended a hearing about his diplomatic appointment to Argentina in the US Senate.

AP reported that Lamelas said he would support right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, in ensuring that the country's former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner - now serving a six-year sentence on corruption charges under house arrest - gets "the justice that she well deserves" in cases unrelated to her current sentence.

According to the report, Fernández is the most prominent figure in Argentina's Peronist opposition movement, which holds a majority in Congress.

At the hearing, Lamelas also made biased claims that Argentina's provincial governments "could negotiate with external forces, like the Chinese or others, to come in and do projects in that particular province, and that may also lend towards corruption on the part of the Chinese,"according to Buenos Aires Herald.

In response to Lamelas' claims, the Chinese Embassy in Argentina published a statement on Wednesday, saying that the remarks by the US politician are "rife with ideological bias and Cold War zero-sum mentality, evoking an unsettling sense of the 'Monroe Doctrine' making a comeback."

"Such rhetoric starkly contradicts and undermines the very 'democratic values' the US claims to champion," read the statement.

The Chinese Embassy emphasized that China's engagement and cooperation with Latin American countries, including Argentina, have always been guided by the principles of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit. We neither seek spheres of influence nor pursue geopolitical gains at others' expense, much less target any third party. Argentina should not be turned into an "arena" for great-power rivalry, but rather a "demonstration field" for international development cooperation to achieve reform, progress, and revitalization, according to the statement.

"We advise the relevant individual to refrain from projecting their hegemonic logic onto China," said the Chinese Embassy.

Lamelas' comments drew the ire of Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, Buenos Aires Herald reported.

"GO HOME LAMELAS," Axel Kicillof wrote on X. He said that a diplomatic envoy could not behave "as if they were the tutor of the sovereign policies of the country that receives them." Kicillof went on to say that the remarks "evoke the darkest eras of US interference in the democratic life of our region."

According to Buenos Aires Herald, on Wednesday afternoon, deputies from the main Peronist party, Unión por la Patria (UxP), filed a bill to declare Lamelas persona non grata. "His deplorable and unacceptable statements constitute a flagrant violation of Argentine sovereignty," the party wrote. 

While the US Senate hearing with Lamelas was held on Tuesday, senators will vote on his appointment at a later date, Buenos Aires Herald reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping received the credentials of 16 new ambassadors to China in Beijing on Friday.

The ambassadors are:

-- Pham Thanh Binh from Vietnam

-- Miguel Lecaro Barcenas from Panama

-- Jose Julio Gomez Beato from Dominica

-- Riza Poda from Albania

-- Jonathan Edward Austin from New Zealand

-- Thaddeus Kambanei from Papua New Guinea

-- Dalva M. C. R. Allen from Angola

-- Khaled Nazmy from Egypt

-- Ramiro Jose Cruz Flores from Nicaragua

-- Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli from Iran

-- Pablo Arriaran from Chile

-- Olexander Nechytaylo from Ukraine

-- Franck E. W. Adjagba from Benin

-- David Alfred Perdue Jr from the United States

-- Eliav Belotsercovsky from Israel

-- Morris Simon Batali from South Sudan

Xi also received Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Nurlan Yermekbayev.

Welcoming the envoys to their new posts, Xi asked them to convey his best wishes to the leaders and the people of their respective countries, expressing hope that envoys will gain a full and in-depth understanding of China.

China cherishes its friendship with people across the globe, and stands ready to strengthen all-around cooperation and exchanges with other countries on the basis of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, Xi said.

Xi pointed out that, at present, China is advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese modernization, while its economy maintains a steadily improving momentum.

Amid accelerating global changes and a turbulent international landscape, there is a pressing need more than ever for countries around the world to enhance solidarity and cooperation, embrace a broad vision to rise above estrangement and conflict, and bear in mind the future of all humanity, Xi noted.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, Xi noted.

Xi said China stands ready to work with all countries to firmly safeguard the international system with the UN at its core and the international order underpinned by international law.

At the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) launched a new early warning initiative, "MAZU," aimed at strengthening international cooperation on extreme weather and climate risks.

MAZU stands for Multi-hazard, Alert, Zero-gap, and Universal, and it's also the name of the revered maritime and weather guardian in Chinese coastal culture. The system aims to establish a global early warning service network covering multiple disaster types, offering scalable, customizable, and sustainable AI-powered solutions tailored to the needs of different countries.

Expert said the release of the "MAZU" plan marks another milestone in China's fast-evolving AI development, which is shifting from industrial use to broader public services.

To help narrow the early warning capability gap - particularly in developing countries - the CMA said it will provide technical support, co-develop forecasting tools such as the "City Toolbox" and "FY Earth Toolbox," and share China's practical experience, including tiered meteorological services and high-level alert-response mechanisms.

MAZU will also support capacity building through international training programs, scholarship schemes, and academic exchanges to cultivate early warning professionals around the world.

In recent years, China's AI industry has rapidly progressed from enabling technologies to transforming entire systems, penetrating traditional sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, and energy - driving automation and fostering human-machine collaboration, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Saturday. "Meanwhile, it is transforming public services such as education, healthcare, and transportation by improving resource allocation and enabling more personalized, equitable delivery."

China is actively building a global disaster response network in support of the UN's "Early Warnings for All" initiative, aiming to strengthen its technological support in global climate governance, Wang said.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, China has become the world's largest holder of AI-related patents, accounting for 60 percent of the global total, Xinhua News Agency reported. As of April, China had filed 1.576 million AI patent applications, accounting for 38.58 percent of global filings - the highest globally.

China's rapid AI breakthroughs are driven by the synergy of technology, policy, and market forces - a "triple-helix" model of innovation, state support, and demand, Wang added.

He added that with advancements in frontier technologies such as quantum computing and AI agents, China is poised to strengthen its technological sovereignty and play a more pivotal role in shaping an intelligent and inclusive global AI future.