China on Japan travel alert, Samoa, Belarus and Iran

China on Tuesday called on its people to "avoid unnecessary cross-border travels" after the US warned Americans against travel to Japan citing a surge in coronavirus cases in the country.

The US warnings could affect insurance rates and whether Olympic athletes and other participants decide to join the games that begin July 23.

At a daily news briefing Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian did not confirm whether China considers rolling out a similar travel alert for Japan but pointed out the pandemic situation remains "grave" across the world.

Commenting on the constitutional crisis facing Samoa, Zhao said he believed the island nation "has ability and wisdom to properly handle its internal matters."

Following recent elections, Prime Minister-elect Fiame Naomi Mata'afa was locked out of Parliament on Monday as the previous leader claimed he remained in charge.

Fiame has pledged to stop a $100 million port development backed by Beijing, calling the project excessive for a nation that's already heavily in debt to China, according to news broadcaster RNZ.

Fiame said she intends to maintain good relations with China but has more pressing needs to address, RNZ reported.

Zhao also commented on new sanctions being imposed by the European Union on Belarus, after the forced diversion of a passenger jet followed by the arrest of an opposition journalist in Minsk.

"The fact of the incident is yet clear.  All parties should exercise restraint and avoid escalation of the situation before getting to know the fact and truth," Zhao said.

On Sunday, Belarusian flight controllers told the crew of a Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Lithuania that there was a bomb threat against the plane as it was crossing through Belarus airspace and ordered it to land.

A Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet was scrambled to escort the plane in a brazen show of force by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist for over a quarter-century.

Belarus authorities then arrested 26-year-old journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich and his Russian girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

Separately, Zhao said China welcomes the extension of a deal between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency on surveillance cameras at Tehran's atomic sites.

Zhao said Iran's move "buys valuable time for the negotiations" and hoped other parties will step up the "sense of urgency" to push forward with the negotiation.

Under a confidential agreement called an "Additional Protocol" with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites.

Those cameras helped it monitor Tehran's program to see if it is complying with the nuclear deal.

The last-minute discussions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency pushing back a statement planned for Sunday, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran as it presses a tough stance with the international community over its atomic program.

The Islamic Republic is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran’s hard-line parliament in December approved a bill that would suspend part of U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities if European signatories did not provide relief from oil and banking sanctions by February.

The IAEA then struck a three-month deal with Iran in February to have it hold the surveillance images, with Tehran threatening to delete them afterward if no deal had been reached.