A screen grab shows boys rescued from the Thai cave wearing mask and resting in a hospital in Chiang Rai, Thailand.
The head of a Thai navy SEAL diving team that helped lead 12 boys and their soccer coach through a flooded cave complex to safety urged the boys on Thursday to "make the most" of their lives and be a force for good.
The first footage of the boys, aged 11 to 16, convalescing in hospital in the northern city of Chiang Rai emerged on Wednesday, with some, wearing face masks and hospital gowns, giving peace signs to the camera.
The wife of a former Thai navy diver who died working to rescue a young soccer team trapped for days in a flooded cave said on Thursday she missed him dearly and urged the boys not to blame themselves for his death.The rescued boys smiled and waved from their hospital beds in the first video clip released on Wednesday after an ordeal that has gripped the world.Samarn Kunan, 38, a former member of the elite navy SEALs unit, was the only casualty in a multinational operation to save the boys and their coach after monsoon rains trapped them in the cave they were exploring in northern Thailand.China to increase influence in Middle East: Experts"I love you so much," his widow, Valeepoan Kunan, wrote in the caption to a black-and-white photograph of her husband she posted on her Instagram account."I miss you," she added. "I love you like you are my very heart...from now on when I wake up...who will I kiss?"The world should remember Samarn, the head of the rescue mission told a news conference at the end of the 17-day operation."Samarn Kunan is the real hero," Narongsak Osottanakorn said. "On the day that he passed, the entire team was sad, but we used this sorrow. We saw that he gave his life for this cause."Putin, Netanyahu meet in MoscowA day earlier Valeepoan posted a picture of her hand clasping that of her husband.People from around the world have offered condolences and commented on Valeepoan's social media accounts."Our hearts go out to you and your family at this difficult time," read one comment. "Your husband is so brave. The world will not forget his kindness and all he did to save those boys."A Thai artist has promised to create a statue of Samarn to be erected in Chiang Rai province, where the Tham Luang cave is situated.Samarn, an emergency rescue worker at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after he left the SEALs in 2006, joined the cave rescue operation on July 1.British divers found the 13 young men huddled on a muddy ledge in a partly flooded chamber inside the cave. Samarn died on July 6 after losing consciousness during a mission to place oxygen tanks deep inside the cave, just two days before the first group of four boys was brought out.During the rescue, some Thais said on social media that the soccer team had been reckless in entering the cave during the rainy season. But Valeepoan absolved them of responsibility."I want to tell the boys, please don't blame yourselves," Valeepoan told reporters.
'You are my very heart': Wife of diver who died in Thai cave mourns a hero
Health officials said the boys would spend at least a week in hospital and around 30 days recovering at home following more than two weeks trapped inside the flooded Tham Luang cave complex.
Thirteen foreign divers and five Thai Navy SEALs guided boys and their coach out in a complicated three-day operation that ended on Tuesday.
"Make the most of your lives. Be good people, be a force for good for your country," Rear Admiral Apakorn Yuukongkaew, commander of Thailand's navy SEALS unit, said in a message to the boys before boarding a flight from Chiang Rai.
"Hooyah!" Apakorn shouted before flying out, using a morale-building navy term.
Footage released by the SEALs showed parts of the rescue operation that captivated the world.
Long accused of protectionist tactics that make it a difficult place for foreign firms to operate, China is trying to reverse that narrative amid an escalating trade war with the United States, green-lighting huge investments and portraying itself as a champion of openness.But critics argue that despite its attempt to claim the moral high ground as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to apply more tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing's recent moves to make it easier for foreign businesses to set up operations also effectively acknowledges that it has had discriminatory market barriers.China says has not been in touch with US about restarting trade talksThis week, China agreed to a $10 billion petrochemicals project by Germany's BASF that will be the first such plant in China that is wholly foreign-owned, not a joint venture.It also approved a huge new wholly-owned Shanghai factory for U.S. electric car maker Tesla Inc, and a $2.3 billion joint venture organic light-emitting diode (OLED) plant to be built by South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd.Responding to the Trump administration's latest plan to slap 10 percent tariffs on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, Assistant Commerce Minister Li Chenggang said on Wednesday that China would not close itself to U.S. business.China to increase influence in Middle East: Experts"I want to stress that the Chinese government's attitude to support business cooperation between the two countries will not change, its determination to push forward reforms and improve the business environment will not change, and its stance of opposing unilateralism and supporting multilateralism will not change," Li said at a business forum in Beijing on Wednesday.“They go low, we go high," he said, in an apparent jab at Trump as he borrowed a phrase used by former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama in the 2016 U.S. election campaign.US firms doing business in China mostly oppose tariffs: surveyThe recent investment announcements came as Premier Li Keqiang this week visited Germany. The two countries signed commercial accords worth 20 billion euros ($23.5 billion), including the BASF agreement.Chinese state media framed such cooperation in the context of the increasingly bitter trade dispute with Washington."The trade war should push China and the EU to cherish mutual cooperation, because this increasingly scarce cooperation is becoming more valuable," China's nationalist tabloid, the Global Times, said in an editorial on Wednesday.'PROMISE FATIGUE'As the threats in the trade dispute have increased, so too have signals from Beijing that it means to follow through on reforms. Chinese officials insist there is no link, and that it will open up at its own pace. Rising costs are also frustrating to foreign manufacturers in China.Australia prepares to ban Huawei from 5G project over security fearsIn recent weeks, China has issued a shorter list of areas closed to foreign investment, and committed to easing or eliminating foreign equity caps in sectors that include banking, insurance, securities, the auto industry, as well as in shipbuilding and aerospace.But the string of announcements come at a time when there has been slowing foreign investment into China and more vociferous complaints about Beijing's market barriers and the difficulty of doing business in the world's second-largest economy.And Beijing is still holding up at least one major takeover involving foreign companies - U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc's deal to buy Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors NV . That has been waiting approval from China's antitrust regulator for months, leading to speculation among investors that the deal is being held hostage to the trade dispute with Washington.Years of lacklustre follow-through by China on its reform pledges has left what many in the foreign business community call "promise fatigue".Business leaders have been warning that if China didn't take real measures to address a lack of reciprocal market openness, it would sow retaliatory sentiment among its largest trading partners. And trade hardliners, particularly in the United States, had argued that Beijing would not make good on its pledges until other countries began imposing costs upon Beijing.European Union Chamber of Commerce in China President Mats Harborn on Tuesday called Trump's tariffs the "sledgehammer approach", but said the root cause of what China has termed the "largest-scale trade war" in economic history began in China."The reason we are where we are is because the Chinese leadership did not proceed as quickly as we wanted as a trade community," Harborn told a news briefing.Some in the U.S. business community, while rueing the damage caused by Trump's tariffs, privately say Beijing's recent emphasis on accelerating reforms may not be a coincidence."Tariffs are biting. The Chinese are less confident internally than externally. They have never been tested this way," a U.S. industry source told Reuters, asking to not be named given the sensitivity of the matter.Beijing has begun downplaying Made in China 2025, the state-backed industrial policy that has provoked alarm in the West and is core to Washington's complaints about the country's unfair trade practices.Propaganda authorities have also issued unusually strict rules limiting local media coverage of the trade war because of worries that unrestrained reporting could set off panic and roil its already jittery financial markets, sources within Chinese state media have said.Keep calm, don't inflame trade row with US: China to its state mediaAnd European officials have said Beijing is trying to woo the EU with market access in return for standing with China against Trump's trade measures, though the Europeans, who share U.S. criticism of China but disapprove of Trump's tariffs, have largely refrained from taking sides."By committing themselves to further openness. I think China hopes it can minimize the departure out of China of multinational firms," said Louis Kuijs, Hong Kong-based head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics.
As Trump amps up trade war, China plays nice with foreign investors
The boys were held close to the divers and remained motionless for parts of the journey where they had to dive. They were then carried on stretchers through dry parts to the cave's entrance.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Wednesday the operation was nothing short of a miracle.
Families of the 12 boys have been allowed to visit them.
A statement from Thailand's public health ministry on Thursday said two boys from the first group rescued on Sunday who were diagnosed with a lung infection were recovering well. Three boys from the last group saved have ear infections.
The boys' families can visit them wearing protective gowns and masks, it added.
At U-Tapao civil-military airport in Rayong province, near where the Royal Thai Navy operates out of Sattahip Naval Base, Thai navy SEALs and some foreign military personnel were given a hero's' welcome when they touched down on Thursday.
Those involved in the rescue were give large garlands made from marigolds as navy officers and proud civilians stood by. Some well-wishers at the air base prepared red roses.
"All Thais are proud of you ... You have made a name for the SEALs unit," a senior navy official told those gathered.
The Tham Luang cave complex will remain closed to the public for at least six months, said Chongklai Worapongsathorn, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.