Tag: china

Shanghai expands public smoking ban

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai widened its ban on public smoking Wednesday as China’s biggest city steps up efforts to stub out the massive health threat despite conflicts of interest with the state-owned tobacco industry. Nearly a quarter of adults in the commercial hub of 24 million people are smokers, according to the state-run People’s Daily newspaper, citing data from the Chinese Association of Tobacco Control. Shanghai has had a limited ban on public smoking since […]

Shanghai expands public smoking ban

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai widened its ban on public smoking Wednesday as China’s biggest city steps up efforts to stub out the massive health threat despite conflicts of interest with the state-owned tobacco industry. Nearly a quarter of adults in the commercial hub of 24 million people are smokers, according to the state-run People’s Daily newspaper, citing data from the Chinese Association of Tobacco Control. Shanghai has had a limited ban on public smoking […]

Russia, China veto UN resolution on Syria sanctions

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a United Nations resolution backed by Western powers that would have imposed sanctions on Syria over chemical weapons use. The measure drafted by Britain, France and the United States won nine votes in favor at the Security Council, while three countries opposed it — China, Russia and Bolivia. Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Egypt abstained. UN resolutions require that there be nine positive votes and […]

White House: Trump briefly met with China’s top diplomat

WASHINGTON, United States (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump, who has attacked China on issues from trade to the South China Sea, held his first face-to-face talks with a member of the Chinese leadership on Monday (February 27), and the White House said it was a chance to discuss shared security interests and a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping. State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, met Trump briefly after talks with the new […]

S. Korean retail giant signs deal to host controversial US missile defense system

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean retail giant Lotte on Tuesday signed a deal to provide a golf course that will host a controversial United States missile defense system loathed by Beijing, Seoul’s defense ministry said. Food- and retail-focused Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-biggest company, has come under growing pressure from China, a crucial market, over the proposal. The plan by Washington and Seoul to install the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in […]

Huawei takes aim at ailing Samsung with new smartphone

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — China’s Huawei unveiled a new smartphone with a better camera on Sunday as it tries to fill the void left by Samsung’s withdrawal of its flagship device due to problems with the battery. Huawei’s P10 and the larger P10 Plus, launched on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world’s biggest annual phone expo, feature dual Leica rear camera lenses, a longer-lasting battery and fingerprint sensor system. “The […]

N. Korea lashes out at ally China for coal import ban

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea denounced its chief ally and diplomatic protector China for “dancing to the tune of the (United States)” after it banned coal imports in apparent punishment for a missile launch. Beijing and Pyongyang have a relationship forged in the blood of the Korean War, but ties have begun to fray in recent years, with China increasingly exasperated by its wayward neighbor’s nuclear antics. Last week it announced the suspension […]

U.S.-born panda Bao Bao arrives at her new home in China

CHENGDU CITY, SICHUAN PROVINCE, China (Reuters) — Female Giant Panda Bao Bao arrived at her new home in southwestern China’s Sichuan province late on Wednesday (February 22), after leaving the National Zoo in Washington D.C., United States. The panda experienced a 16-hour flight in the crate and was then carried into a van directly from Chengdu’s Shuangliu airport to the Dujiangyan Base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP), where she […]

China continues ‘steady pattern’ of S.China Sea militarization: experts

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Recent satellite imagery appears to show China is completing structures intended to house surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) on a series of artificial islands in the South China Sea, a Washington think-tank said Thursday. According to images published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, the structures are being installed on Fiery Cross Reef, Mischief Reef and Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands. The AMTI, which is part of the Center for […]

NBA legend Yao Ming named Chinese basketball chief

BEJING, China (AFP) –NBA Hall of Famer Yao Ming called for “urgent” reform and said he was facing a multitude of problems as he was elected president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) on Thursday. The giant former Houston Rockets centre, 36, arrives at the post as China searches for new superstars and more glory days for its national team, which has largely stalled since his retirement in 2011. Yao, the first league head not […]

ASEAN wants demilitarization of S. China Sea, unsettled by China’s weapon systems in region

  (Reuters) — Southeast Asian countries see China’s installation of weapons systems in the South China Sea as very unsettling and want to prevent militarisation and urge dialogue to stop “recent developments” from escalating, the Philippines said on Tuesday (February 21). Foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) were unanimous in their concern about Beijing’s reclamation and militarisation of manmade islands, Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said. Yasay did not […]