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BEIJING, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – China on Wednesday announced “routine” military patrols in the South China Sea, following recent clashes between countries in the disputed waterway. The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said it had “organised naval and air forces to conduct routine patrols” in the sea from January 3 to 4. The statement did not mention where exactly the patrols would take place or give specific details of their aims. Beijing claims […]
TAIPEI, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – The Taiwanese people “will resist” China’s attempts to influence the island’s January 13 election, frontrunner presidential candidate Lai Ching-te told AFP on Wednesday as he hit the campaign trial 10 days before the pivotal poll. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, and rejects the stance of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party which maintains that Taiwan is “already independent”. Dubbed a “troublemaker” and a “separatist” by Beijing, […]
SHANGHAI, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – China’s average temperature in 2023 was its hottest since records began, state media said citing officials Tuesday, capping a year of extreme weather events for the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The record-setting temperatures were part of an unprecedented series of extreme events last year around the world — including heatwaves, droughts and wildfires that scientists say are being exacerbated by climate change. China’s national average temperature last […]
BEIJING, Jan 1, 2024 (AFP) – China’s President Xi Jinping said Monday he was willing to work with the United States to promote stable bilateral ties, exchanging congratulations with his US counterpart on the anniversary of diplomatic relations, state media said. Xi and US President Joe Biden met in San Francisco in November, vowing to improve communication in an effort to stop competition from spilling over into conflict. And in an exchange of messages to […]
By Matthew WALSH, Oliver HOTHAM BEIJING, Dec 31, 2023 (AFP)– President Xi Jinping said Sunday the Chinese economy had grown “more resilient and dynamic” in 2023, despite financial figures continuing to disappoint as the post-Covid recovery stalls. He also promised in a bullish New Year’s address to the nation that China would “surely be reunified” — a reference to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own and has pledged to seize. […]
By Grégory PLESSE SYDNEY, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – Three years after steep Chinese tariffs halted imports of Australian barley as tensions between the two countries ratcheted higher, the grain is once again flowing freely. Barley is not only used to brew beer but to feed pigs, and China was Australia’s leading market, taking 50 percent of its barley exports. China has imported 314,000 tonnes of Australian barley worth 139 million Australian dollars (around $94 […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s presidential candidates clashed on Saturday over their positions on the self-ruled island’s relations with China, in a debate before an upcoming vote closely watched from Beijing to Washington. Democratic Taiwan is two weeks from the pivotal election, the results of which could determine Taipei’s future ties with an increasingly bellicose China. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has vowed to take it by force if […]
WASHINGTON, Dec 30, 2023 (AFP) – In the middle of the Pacific ocean, an abandoned US airfield once key to dropping the nuclear bomb on Japan — and nearly lost to history amid encroaching forest — is being revived. But as the Americans hack away at the jungle overgrowth at Tinian island airfield and other old, World War II-era bases across the region, it won’t be with Japan on their mind. Rather, it’s Beijing’s growing […]
YANGON, Myanmar, Dec 28, 2023 (AFP) – China’s embassy in Myanmar on Thursday asked its citizens to leave a northern district along the countries’ shared border, citing heightened security risks as ethnic minority armed groups battle the junta. Fighting has raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan state since October, when the so-called “Three Brotherhood Alliance” of ethnic minority groups launched an offensive against the military. The alliance has seized several towns and border hubs vital for […]
JAKARTA, Dec 26, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll after an explosion at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant in eastern Indonesia over the weekend has risen to 18 with dozens still being treated in hospital, a police official said Tuesday. The island of Sulawesi is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Beijing’s growing investment has stoked unrest over working conditions at […]
JAKARTA, Dec 24, 2023 (AFP) – At least 13 people were killed and 46 injured in eastern Indonesia on Sunday in an explosion at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant, the owner of the industrial park that hosts the facility said. The island of Sulawesi is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Beijing’s growing investment has stoked unrest over working conditions at […]
BEIJING, Dec 21, 2023 (AFP) – China on Thursday warned the Philippines to “make the rational choice” following Manila’s recent efforts to challenge Beijing’s South China Sea claims. Videos released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed Chinese ships blasting water cannon at Philippine boats this month and there was also a collision between vessels from the two countries during tense clashes at flashpoint reefs. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Thursday said: “We hope that […]
