China

BEIJING, July 17 (APP): In a milestone move, Chinese, Pakistani and Turkish researchers on Saturday published two English monographs on climate-smart agriculture as the world is struggling to maintain and increase agriculture production against the backdrop of growing climate change.

HONG KONG, July 17 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry branch in Hong Kong said new U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials and its updated business advisory on the city are "extremely rude" and "extremely unreasonable" bullying acts with "despicable intention".

The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on seven Chinese officials over Beijing's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, Washington's latest effort to hold China accountable for what it calls an erosion of rule of law in the former British colony. 

HONG KONG, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Saturday strongly condemned the U.S. government for smearing Hong Kong's business environment and imposing so-called sanctions on officials of the office.

The liaison office, in a statement, called the sanctions "a piece of waste paper" and a "boring political performance", saying "its hegemonic acts are doomed to fail."

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese power companies bid for credits to emit carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases as trading on the first national carbon exchange began Friday in a step meant to help curb worsening pollution.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the experimental first phase of carbon trading at the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange includes some 2,000 companies in the power industry that produce about 40% of China’s emissions.

Over time, other major emitters will be added, such as airlines, the building materials industry and iron and steel makers.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s cyber-watchdog on Friday announced an on-site cybersecurity investigation of ride-hailing service Didi, stepping up scrutiny after earlier criticism of its handling of customer information caused the company’s New York-traded shares to tumble.

The on-site inspection comes two weeks after the regulator said it would probe the ride-hailing company over concerns about national security and data security. That came days after Didi raised $4.4 billion and went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

BEIJING, July 15 (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it will send a team to Pakistan to help investigate a blast on a bus that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, after it backed away from an earlier assertion that the explosion was a bomb attack.

Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular briefing that China would cooperate closely with Pakistan in the investigation.

BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Thursday expressed strong opposition against military contacts of any form between Taiwan and the United States.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the statement when commenting on the media report of a U.S. military transport plane landing in Taiwan Thursday.

"We urged the United States to abide by the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques when handling issues related to Taiwan and stop provocation," she said.

BEIJING, July 14 (APP): The Pakistan-China friendship has grown even stronger under the present leaders of two countries. Prime Minister Imran Khan is keen to further develop that bond, Pakistan Ambassador to China Moin ul Haque said on Wednesday.

“It is encouraging to see that the friendship has grown even stronger under the present leadership of our two countries. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is keen to further develop that bond and has visited China thrice since assuming office in 2018,” he said in an article published by Beijing Review.

BEIJING, July 14 (APP): As officials from China, Pakistan and Afghanistan revealed an inclination to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project into Afghanistan, experts said that such projects could help boost Afghanistan’s exports, which is conducive to the country’s journey of peace, but the feasibility of the project depends on whether the Afghan government and Taliban forces can reach a consensus on protecting overseas investment.

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll in the collapse of a hotel in eastern China was raised to 17 Wednesday as authorities ended the search and rescue mission.

The city of Suzhou said on its social media feed that 23 people had been pulled from from the rubble of the Siji Kaiyuan Hotel, which collapsed on Monday afternoon. One of those freed was uninjured and five others were sent to a hospital for treatment.

Rescuers used cranes, ladders, metal cutters and search dogs to look for survivors. Most of those killed were hotel guests.