Beijing

July 19, 2024 3:57 PM

China reaffirms lofty policy goals, offers no implementation details

Chinese leaders reiterated their wide-ranging economic policy goals on Thursday, from modernizing industry to expanding domestic demand and curbing debt and property sector risks, without detailing implementation steps. The pledges were published in the official news agency Xinhua's account of a key meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee led by President Xi Jinping, known as a plenum, which takes place roughly every five years. The report said Beijing wanted to improve social secur...

July 11, 2024 6:03 PM

Torrential rain in China’s megacity Chongqing kills six

Torrential rain in the megacity of Chongqing in southwestern China triggered mudslides and flooding that killed at least six people and caused widespread disruption, Chinese state media reported. Extreme rainfall has hit southern, central and eastern parts of China in a flood season that started earlier than usual this year. Torrential rain since Wednesday has pelted Chongqing, which has a population of over 32 million, more than the capital Beijing, making it one of China's most densely-popul...

June 21, 2024 3:03 PM

China threatens death penalty for ‘diehard’ Taiwan separatists

China on Friday threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for "diehard" Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of President Lai Ching-te who took office last month, saying he is a "separatist", and staged war games shortly after his inauguration. Taiwan has complained of a pattern of ramped u...

June 19, 2024 8:32 PM

Why has a visit by U.S. lawmakers to India upset China?

A delegation of U.S. lawmakers met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday in India's northern town of Dharamsala. The meeting annoyed Beijing, which urged the United States on Tuesday to "fully recognise the anti-China and separatist nature of the Dalai clique" and refrain from "any form of contact with it". WHY IS THE DELEGATION IN INDIA? The bipartisan seven-member group of American lawmakers is visiting India to meet the Nobel peace laureate, the Dalai Lama. The U...

June 19, 2024 2:08 AM

Putin flies into North Korea with promise to back it against the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea on Wednesday for his first visit in 24 years, vowing to deepen trade and security ties with the reclusive nuclear-armed state and to support it against the United States. Russian state media showed Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shaking hands, embracing and talking beside Putin's plane. It touched down in Pyongyang around 2:45 a.m. following a stopover in Russia's far east. The leaders then rode in the same limousine and walked ...

June 18, 2024 6:04 PM

US lawmakers in India to meet Dalai Lama, discuss Tibet-China dispute bill

A group of U.S. lawmakers arrived in India on Tuesday to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, with the head of the delegation saying President Joe Biden would soon sign a bill that aims to press China to resolve the Tibet dispute. The bill seeks to push Beijing to hold talks with Tibetan leaders, stalled since 2010, to secure a negotiated agreement on Tibet and spur China to address Tibetan people's aspirations on their historical, cultural, religious and linguistic identity. The visi...

May 30, 2024 10:23 AM

Fourteen Hong Kong democrats found guilty in landmark subversion trial

Fourteen Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were found guilty and two were acquitted on Thursday in a landmark subversion trial that critics say could deal another blow to the city's rule of law and its reputation as a global financial hub. The verdicts in Hong Kong's biggest trial against the democratic opposition come more than three years after police arrested 47 democrats in dawn raids at homes across the city. They were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under a national security ...

May 16, 2024 11:17 PM

Putin and Xi wrap up talks with tea ceremony in a Beijing park

Russian president Vladimir Putin and president of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping ended negotiations with tea ceremony in Beijing's Zhongnanhai park on Thursday (May 16). Putin arrived early on Thursday for a two-day state visit that will include detailed talks on Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade with Xi, his most powerful political backer and fellow geopolitical rival of the United States. Xi said at a joint news conference that both countries agreed that a political settlement of th...

May 16, 2024 3:05 PM

Xi lauds China-Russia ties as Putin arrives in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to work with counterpart Vladimir Putin to "rejuvenate" their countries as the pair started a day of talks in Beijing, saying China would "always be a good partner" of Russia, according to Chinese state media. Putin arrived on Thursday for a two-day state visit that will include detailed talks on Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade with Xi, his most powerful political backer and fellow geopolitical rival of the United States. "The China-Russia relationship toda...

May 16, 2024 8:57 AM

Russian President Putin arrives in China for state visit as two nations seek deeper cooperation

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China for a two-day state on Thursday morning, in the latest sign of the deepening relations between Moscow and Beijing in the face of heavy friction with the West. The visit is Putin's symbolic first overseas foray since entering a new term as Russia's president last week. This is the also latest sign of the deepening relations between Beijing and Moscow in the face of heavy friction with the West. Putin landed in the Chinese capital hours after Ukr...