Tag: china

Yellen, upbeat China trade report buoy risk assets

(Reuters) – Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, as upbeat trade data from China and an optimistic economic outlook from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen whetted investors’ appetite for risk. Investors took heart from the strong performance on Wall Street and lifted MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan about 0.8 percent. Chinese exports handily beat expectations in January, rising 10.6 percent from a year earlier, while imports jumped 10 […]

China, Taiwan agree to open offices after historic talks

(Reuters) – China and Taiwan, at odds for more than six decades, agreed at historic talks on Tuesday to set up representative offices as early as possible, though sensitive political issues like a formal peace treaty were not up for discussion. The talks between Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun, who heads the Taiwan Affairs Office, were the first since the 1949 creation of the People’s Republic of […]

China decries U.S. comments on South China Sea as ‘not constructive’

BEIJING Sat Feb 8, 2014 10:05pm EST (Reuters) – China has accused the United States of undermining peace and development in the Asia-Pacific after a senior U.S. official said concern was mounting over China’s claims in the South China Sea. “These actions are not constructive”, Hong Lei, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a statement issued late on Saturday. “We urge the U.S. to hold a rational and fair attitude, so as to have […]

Growing concern with China’s behavior at sea: senior U.S. diplomat

(Reuters) – The United States has growing concerns that China’s maritime claims in the disputed South China Sea are an effort to gain creeping control of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. In congressional testimony, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel said China’s vague territorial claims in the South China Sea had “created uncertainty, insecurity and instability” among its neighbors. While the […]

China: Japan’s ‘hype’ on air defence zone spreads tension

(Reuters) – China does not feel threatened by countries in Southeast Asia and is optimistic about the situation in the disputed South China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said, warningJapan not to “spread rumors” it plans a new air defense identification zone. China alarmed Japan, South Korea and the United States last year when it announced an air defense identification zone for the East China Sea, covering a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter ownership spat between China and […]