China on Tuesday said the US had “fabricated” allegations it carried out a massive Microsoft hack, countering that Washington was the “world champion” of cyber attacks while raging at American allies for signing up to a rare joint statement of condemnation. The United States on Monday accused Beijing of carrying out the March cyber attack […]
By Humeyra Pamuk and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is preparing to impose sanctions on Friday on a number of Chinese officials over Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, as well as a warning to international businesses operating there about deteriorating conditions, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters. The […]
Former US vice president Mike Pence warned Wednesday that China was on its way to becoming an “evil empire” posing a greater threat to America than the Cold War-era Soviet Union. Former president Donald Trump’s deputy, believed to be mulling his own 2024 White House bid, also urged current occupant Joe Biden to confront China […]
China’s ruling Communist Party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary Thursday, is characterised by secrecy in leading the world’s second-biggest economic power from the shadows. Founded as an illegal Marxist underground movement in Shanghai a century ago, it has subsequently been defined by the strict control of information, surveillance and purges of dissenters. Here are five […]
By James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) -China on Friday approved the promotion of Hong Kong’s security secretary John Lee to chief secretary, while police chief Chris Tang will take Lee’s position in what critics say will further tighten Beijing’s security squeeze on the global financial hub. The elevation of Lee, 63, a former police deputy […]
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper warned Monday it is unable to pay staff and is at imminent risk of closure after the government froze the company’s assets using a sweeping new national security law. Apple Daily has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side, with unapologetic support for the city’s pro-democracy movement and caustic […]
What a difference a year makes in international diplomacy. A year ago, then-US President Donald Trump was obliged to abandon his plans for a G7 summit at the presidential retreat of Camp David outside Washington. Various excuses were advanced by participants, including the inadvisability of travelling across the world in the midst of a pandemic. […]
US President Joe Biden said Monday he would lay down “red lines” to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at their upcoming meeting, after rallying NATO allies to face up to challenges from Moscow and Beijing. Speaking after his first NATO summit since being elected, Biden insisted: “I’m not looking for conflict with Russia, but that […]
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s mission to the European Union urged NATO on Tuesday to stop exaggerating the “China threat theory” after the group’s leaders warned that the country presented “systemic challenges”. NATO leaders on Monday had taken a forceful stance towards Beijing in a communique at United States President Joe Biden’s first summit with the alliance. […]
Beijing on Wednesday accused Washington of “paranoid delusion” after the US Senate passed a sweeping industrial policy bill aimed at countering the surging economic threat from China. America’s political parties overcame partisan divisions to support pumping more than $170 billion into research and development, one of the most significant achievements in Congress since Joe Biden’s […]
China expressed fury over US Senators visiting Taiwan to donate coronavirus vaccines, saying it could embolden “separatist forces” on the island. Beijing sees democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory which is to be seized one day, by force if necessary, and rages at any diplomatic attempts to recognize it as an independent nation. […]
Searches for the famous Tiananmen Square “Tank Man” protest photo came up empty on Microsoft search engine Bing on Friday, raising censorship concerns on the anniversary of the deadly crackdown. The award-winning photo from 1989 was not served up in image or video searches using Bing even outside China, a country known for strictly controlling […]
Top US scientist Anthony Fauci has urged China to release the medical records of nine people who fell sick with a coronavirus-like illness prior to the outbreak, saying they could provide insights into whether the pandemic came from a lab. The “lab leak” theory has gained increasing traction, fueled by reports that six miners fell […]
Dozens of leading Hong Kong democracy activists could face up to life in prison for organizing an unofficial primary election, prosecutors confirmed Monday, in the most sweeping use yet of Beijing’s strict new security law. Police charged the 47 activists with “subversion” after they organized a non-binding vote last year to choose candidates for an […]
‘Fast & Furious 9’ star John Cena has apologised for calling Taiwan a ‘country’ after his comments sparked outrage in mainland China Beijing (AFP) – “Fast & Furious 9” star John Cena made a U-turn Tuesday, apologising to Chinese fans after he called Taiwan a “country” and sparked outrage in the world’s largest movie market. […]
By Lusha Zhang and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) -Twenty-one people were killed when extremely cold weather struck during an ultramarathon in rugged Gansu province in northwestern China, sparking public outrage on Sunday over the lack of contingency planning. The 100-km (62-mile) race began on Saturday from a scenic area at a bend in the Yellow […]
A remote-controlled Chinese motorised rover drove down the ramp of a landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of the Red Planet, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to Mars. Zhurong, named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, drove down to the […]
China on Thursday branded the United States an “out-and-out security risk creator” in the South China Sea, after an American warship sailed through waters near the disputed Spratly Islands. Tensions in maritime waters claimed by both China and many of its neighbors have ratcheted up recently, with Beijing staging live-fire drills and sending hundreds of […]
BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) – China accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after a U.S. warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from its giant neighbour. The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a “routine […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s population growth in the decade to 2020 slumped to the least since a one-child policy was introduced in the late 1970s, adding pressure on Beijing to boost incentives to couples to have more children and avert an irreversible decline. The population of mainland China increased 5.38% to 1.41 billion, according to […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – Remnants of China’s biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with the bulk of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, according to Chinese state media. Parts of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – The remnants of China’s Long March 5B rocket are set to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere at 10:12 a.m. Beijing time (0212 GMT), plus or minus 15 minutes, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said on Sunday. The debris from the rocket will make its re-entry over a location at longitude 28.38 degrees […]
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the release Friday of four Hong Kong democracy activists who were jailed for taking part in a vigil for victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. “The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong and rejects the sentencing of activists for attending a Tiananmen commemoration,” […]
The US military has no plans to shoot down an out -of-control Chinese rocket now hurtling towards Earth, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday. “We have the capability to do a lot of things, but we don’t have a plan to shoot it down as we speak,” Austin told journalists. Pentagon experts expect the body […]
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce his strategy toward China soon, and calls are growing for him to make a clear public commitment to defend Taiwan militarily in the event of Chinese aggression. China considers Taiwan, which has a population of 23 million, to be a rebel province that will one day return […]
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired on Sunday that China had recently acted “more aggressively abroad” and was behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways.” Asked by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Blinken said: “It’s profoundly […]
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden took aim at China in his first speech to Congress on Wednesday, pledging to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and promising to boost technological development and trade. “China and other countries are closing in fast. We have to develop and dominate the […]
A towering wall of sand rushed over factories and apartment blocks in northwestern China’s Gansu province as seasonal sandstorms barrelled across the country, causing air pollution and traffic accidents. Aerial images as it struck showed an apocalyptic scene as a billowing cloud of yellow dust smothered Gansu’s Linze county on Sunday. State media CCTV reported […]
Chloe Zhao became the second woman ever to win the coveted best director Oscar Beijing (AFP) – Beijing-born Chloe Zhao was scrubbed from Chinese social media on Monday as a nationalist backlash airbrushed out her remarkable achievement of becoming the first woman of colour to win the best director Oscar. Zhao on Sunday night became […]
By Kevin Yao BOAO, China (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that the global governance system should be made more equitable and fair, and that rules set by one country or some nations cannot be imposed on others. Building barriers and pushing for decoupling will harm others and benefit no one, Xi said […]