JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Economic cooperation and the disputed South China Sea will be on the agenda when Southeast Asian foreign ministers meet their Chinese, Japanese and South Korean counterparts for ASEAN-plus-three talks on Thursday. China will be represented at the talks by top diplomat Wang Yi instead of Foreign Minister Qin Gang after Qin pulled out for “health reasons”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his South Korean […]
Tag: china
Paraguay’s president-elect vows to be ‘on the side’ of Taiwan
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Paraguay’s incoming president Santiago Pena said Wednesday the country would stand by Taiwan’s side for the duration of his five-year term, reaffirming it as Taipei’s lone diplomatic ally in South America. Asuncion is one of the few remaining capitals in the wider Latin American region to still recognize Taiwan, after Beijing — which claims the island as its territory — spent decades convincing Taipei’s allies to switch sides. Pena’s trip to […]
Australia fears China’s latest Pacific deal could stoke tensions
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia has urged China to release the details of a new policing pact with Solomon Islands, saying Beijing’s latest push for influence threatens to inflame tensions in the South Pacific. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to Beijing this week, including an agreement allowing China to maintain a police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025. China has lavished attention on Solomon […]
Xi says Russia and China should ‘lead global governance reform’
BEIJING, July 10, 2023 (AFP) – China and Russia need to “lead the correct direction of global governance reform”, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hailed the two countries’ partnership at a meeting with a top Russian politician in Beijing on Monday, state media reported. Beijing and Moscow have ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts in recent years, with exchanges only growing closer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. On Monday, Xi […]
Six killed in China kindergarten attack
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Six people were killed and one wounded in an attack at a kindergarten in southern China’s Guangdong province on Monday, a spokeswoman for the city government said. “The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students,” she said. She did not offer details about the identities or ages of the victims, nor the weapon used in the attack, which took place in the city of Lianjiang. “One suspect has been […]
Yellen urges ‘direct’ talks, US-China climate collaboration
BEIJING, July 8, 2023 (AFP) – Washington and Beijing should communicate “directly” on concerns about specific economic practices, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday, urging greater cooperation between the world’s two biggest economies despite fraught ties. Yellen is on a four-day trip to Beijing, as the United States seeks to cool tensions and stress areas of collaboration between the two countries. In a meeting Saturday with Vice Premier He Lifeng, she pointed to record […]
China bans some Japanese food imports over Fukushima water release
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s customs authority on Friday said it would ban food imports from 10 Japanese prefectures over Tokyo’s plan to release treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean. Japan’s planned, decades-long discharge of accumulated water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear facility has been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as meeting global standards. The release is expected to begin this summer but is opposed by some regional neighbours, with Beijing vocally […]
Xi and Putin to address Shanghai alliance, with Iran to join
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are set to address the Shanghai Cooperation Organization alliance on Tuesday, with Iran expected to expand the Asian grouping. Putin will be addressing his first summit since a short-lived mutiny last month after the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a failed rebellion against the Kremlin. India is hosting the virtual summit of the eight-member SCO — headquartered in Beijing but […]
China says UK offering ‘protection to fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong activists
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after its foreign secretary slammed Hong Kong’s decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas. “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in London said in a statement late Monday. “This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs,” they continued. “China […]
Yellen to visit China, raising need to ‘responsibly manage’ ties
By Beiyi SEOW Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit Beijing this week, the United States said Sunday, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world’s top two economies deteriorated earlier this year. Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries “to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together […]
China’s top diplomat says new law to counter foreign ‘bullying’
BEIJING, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – China’s top diplomat said Thursday a new foreign relations law would help counter “bullying” from abroad after Beijing approved legislation it said would enhance its powers to counter sanctions. The United States has imposed sanctions on a lengthy list of Chinese companies and individuals, accusing them of complicity in human rights abuses that Beijing has strenuously denied. The sanctions — particularly those restricting access to critical technology needed for […]
China’s premier says West’s economic de-risking ‘false proposition’
TIANJIN, China, June 27, 2023 (AFP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang slammed efforts in the West to “de-risk” the global economy as a “false proposition” on Tuesday, as he opened a meeting known as the Summer Davos in northern China. “In the West, some people are hyping up what is called ‘cutting reliance and de-risking’,” Li told delegates in a wide-ranging speech calling for deepening economic globalization and cooperation. “These two concepts… are a false […]





