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BEIJING - China told the United States on Tuesday (April 13) to stop playing with fire over Taiwan and lodged a complaint after Washington issued guidelines that will enable US officials to meet more freely with officials from the island that China claims as its own. The US State Department’s Friday (April 9) decision to deepen relations with self-ruled Taiwan came amid stepped-up Chinese military activity around the island, including almost daily air force incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters they had lodged “stern representations” with the United States. China urges the United States “not to play with fire on the Taiwan issue, immediately stop any form of US-Taiwan official contacts, cautiously and appropriately handle the matter, and not send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces so as not to subversively influence and damage Sino-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, he said. ... » Learn More about Don’t play with fire on Taiwan, China warns US

A Chinese city on the border with North Korea is looking to upgrade its cross-border trade facilities amid speculation that the two countries are moving to strengthen their relationship in the face of increased pressure from the United States. Government documents show the local authorities in Dandong in Liaoning province recently started soliciting bids for a series of projects that suggest the long-delayed New Yalu River Bridge may soon be open for use. The eight-lane road bridge was designed to replace the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge built by the Japanese occupiers in 1943, which is only wide enough for a single rail track and a one-way road. The bridge could help bring investment to an economic zone planned in Dandong, a city of 2.5 million people that stands opposite the North Korean city of Sinujiu, and boost trade with its impoverished and isolated neighbour. Work on the project started 10 years ago and it was originally due to open in 2014. Neither side has explained ... » Learn More about China looks set to reopen border with North Korea

The EU on Monday slapped tariffs on certain aluminum imports from China that Brussels said were sold at artificially low prices in Europe. The provisional tariffs came after complaints by European aluminum producers that said cheap Chinese imports were putting them out of business. The tariffs were decided after an investigation by the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the bloc's 27 member states and were announced in the EU's official journal. China is widely accused of maintaining overcapacity in the state-backed steel and aluminum sector, which has provoked a wave of tit-for-tat tariff decisions over the past decade. Read also: China, Indonesia sign $695m deal for West Kalimantan alumina smelter In the meantime, efforts to negotiate a global solution to stop Chinese overproduction in metals have failed and the US Trump administration sparked a trade war with China in 2018 over the issue. The new tariffs will range between 19.3 percent and 46.7 ... » Learn More about EU slaps tariffs on China aluminum products

China's imports and exports boomed again in March, data showed Tuesday, reaffirming the recovery in the world's number-two economy continues apace and demand picks up in key overseas markets as they emerge from last year's crisis. The readings highlight the impact of vaccines and the easing of containment measures are having, with expectations for further improvement over the next few months. Imports soared a forecast-busting 38.1 percent on-year as the country's army of consumers increasingly return to some form of normality after last year's virus crisis forced businesses to shut and people to stay at home. The figure was a huge increase from the 22.2 percent rise seen in January and February and is the biggest hike since February 2017. Exports rose 30.6 percent, well off the 38 percent increase tipped in a Bloomberg forecast but still among the highest readings since early 2018. Overseas shipments jumped more than 60 percent in January-February. The outsized increases are ... » Learn More about China’s imports pick up further, exports strong in March

Four Philippine Navy ships have been sent to back up Coast Guard and fishing vessels at Whitsun Reef, Reed Bank and the Spratly Islands, the South China Sea task force said in a statement Monday. "Sea assets are and shall be continuously deployed to different areas” for patrol, the statement added. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs summoned China’s Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday to express "displeasure over the illegal lingering presence” of Chinese vessels in Whitsun Reef, the agency said in a statement Tuesday. Tensions between the Philippines and China have been rising since more than 200 Chinese vessels were seen moored at Whitsun Reef -- within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, -- on March 7, with the Southeast Asian nation later warning of a barrage of diplomatic protests if Beijing did not remove its ships. The US also earlier aired concerns over China’s "maritime militia” in the area. Beijing had said the boats were sheltering ... » Learn More about Philippines boosts patrols to counter China in contested South China Sea

BEIJING (Global Times): There is a high likelihood that China and the US will post a bilateral trade record this year, experts said, as their industries and economies are closely intertwined and cannot be decoupled, despite ongoing geopolitical spats and some US politicians' hue and cry intended to stem China's rise. The inseparable China-US economic relations are reflected in the two countries' trade data. Although no moves have been taken yet to remove the trade-war tariffs, China-US bilateral trade started to take off around mid-2020 in the depths of the pandemic and has showed no signs of abating into 2021. According to Chinese customs data released on Tuesday (April 13), China-US trade spiraled up by a striking 61.3 per cent in yuan terms in the first quarter of this year to reach 1.08 trillion yuan ($165 billion). This growth outpaced all of China's other major trading partners including Japan, the EU, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) economies. Although ... » Learn More about Soaring China-US trade points to ‘political chill, economic heat’

TOKYO: Japan’s government on Tuesday approved a plan to release more than one million tons of treated water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific ocean, in a controversial decision that follows years of debate. The release, which is not likely to begin for several years and could take decades to complete, has sparked concern in neighboring countries and faces fierce opposition from local fishing communities and anti-nuclear activists. Japan’s government argues that the release will be safe because the water is processed to remove almost all radioactive elements and will be diluted. It has support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which says the release is similar to processes for disposing of waste water from nuclear plants elsewhere in the world. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a ministerial meeting that disposing of the water was an “inevitable task” in the decades-long process of decommissioning the nuclear plant. He said ... » Learn More about Japan to dump toxic water to ocean; China unhappy

Around 220 Chinese militia vessels were spotted moored at Julian Felipe Reef (Whitsun) in the West Philippine Sea last March 7, 2021. (NTF WPS) MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has summoned China’s ambassador the Philippines to express “utmost displeasure” over the illegal, lingering presence of Chinese vessels in Julian Felipe Reef in the West Philippine Sea. The DFA, in a statement Tuesday, said Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian was summoned on Monday, April 12, and was informed that the reef lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, contrary to the repeated claims of Beijing. China has repeatedly claimed the reef as part of Nansha Qundao, one of two political districts in the South China Sea established by the Chinese government in 2020, which the Philippines also previously protested. “The continuing presence of Chinese vessels around the reef is a source of regional tension,” the DFA said. JUST IN: The ... » Learn More about PH summons China’s envoy over ‘illegal presence’ of Chinese ships in WPS reef

Chinese vessels are seen anchored at Whitsun Reef, some 320 kilometres (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan Island in the South China Sea, on March 31, 2021. (AFP PHOTO / National Task Force-West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) via Philippine Communications Operations Office (PCOO)) The Philippines has deployed extra vessels to patrol the South China Sea where Chinese ships had been spotted at a disputed reef as tensions deepen between the two nations. Four Philippine Navy ships have been sent to back up Coast Guard and fishing vessels at Whitsun Reef, Reed Bank and the Spratly Islands, the South China Sea task force said in a statement Monday. “Sea assets are and shall be continuously deployed to different areas” for patrol, the statement added. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs summoned China’s Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian on Monday to express “displeasure over the illegal lingering presence” of Chinese vessels in Whitsun Reef, the agency said in a statement ... » Learn More about Philippines boosts patrols to counter China in contested sea

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines would have to add bite to its bark in defending its sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea against China’s continued aggression and expansion through the gray zone strategy. The lingering presence of Chinese maritime militia vessels at Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef, which is inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), has pushed the Philippine government to file diplomatic protests and send more patrols to the area. It also led to a verbal tussle between Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and the Chinese Embassy in Manila, which had given insulting replies to the Philippine defense chief. The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday (April 12) summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to express “utmost displeasure” over the continued presence of Chinese vessels inside the Philippines’ EEZ. Collin Koh, a Singapore-based maritime security expert, said it was important for the Philippines “to signal more resolutely to China that there ... » Learn More about PH told to add bite to bark in dealing with China aggression