BEIJING, April 5 -- The following is a selection of recent quotes from across the globe that all those interested in world affairs need to know.

Li Keqiang, Chinese premier:

Chinese companies are encouraged to boost cooperation and form industrial alliances to help themselves explore the global market. They must be law-abiding and credit-worthy, and function as China's overseas "standard bearers."

Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea:

Various kinds of specialized training should be intensified among the seamen to prepare them as all-round seamen and death-defying corps on the sea.

Leung Chun-ying, Hong Kong chief executive:

Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy is an exceptional power granted by the central government, and it's the Basic Law that decides how big the power is.

Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of Pakistan's Senate Standing Committee on Defense:

China's timely rescue of stranded Pakistanis in war-torn Yemen proves the old adage that "a friend in need is a friend indeed."

Edward Snowden, former U.S. intelligence contractor:

Britain spied on Argentine military and political leaders for years till 2011 in "covert interception and intervention operations and other maneuvers" to ensure the security of the Malvinas Islands, which Britain calls the Falklands.