China

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s commerce ministry on Thursday welcomed the removal of Xiaomi Corp. from a U.S. government blacklist, a day after the U.S. reversed a ban on U.S. investments in the smartphone maker that was imposed under former President Donald Trump.

“China has always believed that removing sanctions and restrictions and stopping suppression of Chinese companies will benefit China, the United States, and the world,” Gao Feng, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said at a news briefing Thursday.

(Reuters) --- A new law that tightens patriotic loyalty tests for Hong Kong politicians will take effect later this month after being passed by the city's legislature on Wednesday, local media reported.

The law is widely expected to further stifle democratic opposition in the global financial hub, extending oath-taking requirements to community level district councils that are dominated by pro-democracy politicians following a landslide win in November 2019. 

BEIJING (AP) — Two amateur computer coders pleaded guilty Tuesday to “stirring up trouble and picking quarrels” in a case that highlighted a growing Chinese government crackdown on online activity.

Chen Mei, 28, and Cai Wei, 27, created an online archive that stored articles that had been censored from the Chinese internet, and an accompanying forum that allowed people to discuss them anonymously.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong officials dropped a plan to mandate foreign domestic workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus, after hearing international criticism the move would be discriminatory.

Most of Hong Kong’s approximately 370,000 domestic workers come from Indonesia and the Philippines, both severely impacted by the pandemic.

BEIJING (AP) — The number of working-age people in China fell over the past decade as its aging population barely grew, a census showed Tuesday, adding to economic challenges for Chinese leaders who have ambitious strategic goals.

The total population rose to 1.411 billion people last year, up 72 million from 2010, according to the once-a-decade census. Weak growth fell closer to zero as fewer couples had children.

(Reuters) --- China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday that the use of the United Nations as a platform for a virtual event on the repression of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang was an insult to the institution.

China has urged U.N. member states not to attend the virtual event, planned by Germany, the United States and Britain.

BEIJING, May 9 (APP): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight No.6852 carrying a batch of one million doses of Sinovac vaccine left the Beijing Capital International Airport here on Sunday for Islamabad as the country is battling to control the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

“More flights of the national carrier are expected to airlift more consignments of Sinovac vaccines procured from China between May 13-15 and by the end of May”, Qadir Bux Sangi, PIA Country Manager for China told APP.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and most of it burned up early Sunday.

Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble… But it was still reckless.”

BEIJING, May 7 (APP): The second batch of COVID-19 vaccines assisted by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was delivered to the Pakistani military.

The vaccine was provided with the approval of the Central Military Commission and at the request of Pakistani military and for the implementation of President Xi Jinping’s important declaration on making China’s COVID-19 vaccine a global public good, China Military Online reported on Friday.

BEIJING, May 7. /TASS/: The Chinese government hopes that the UN Security Council’s members will confirm their commitment to multilateralism and an international law-based world order, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news briefing on Friday.