China

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese government spokesperson on Wednesday called on NASA to respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and urged the United States to uphold the one-China principle and abide by the three China-U.S. joint communiques.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at a press conference in response to NASA listing Taiwan as a separate country on its official website.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei said Wednesday it eked out higher sales and profit last year but growth plunged after its smartphone unit was hammered by U.S. sanctions imposed in a fight with Beijing over technology and security.

China’s first global tech brand reported sales of phones, network gear and other technology rose 3.8% over 2019 to 891.4 billion yuan ($135.8 billion), a decline from the previous year’s 19.1% growth. That was propelled by a 15.4% gain in China, while sales in other markets shrank.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s factory activity rebounded in March from a three-month slowdown as export orders rose, a survey showed Wednesday.

A monthly index of manufacturing issued by the China’s statistics agency and an industry group rose to 51.9 from February’s 50.6 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity expanding.

Chinese manufacturing has rebounded to above pre-pandemic levels in most industries but consumer and export demand have been slower to recover.

BEIJING, Mar 30 (APP): Under the wise leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pakistani people’s war against the third wave of the pandemic is fully supported by China as at this difficult time, the Chinese people stand firmly together with them.

These views were expressed by Cheng Xizhong, Visiting Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law and former military diplomat in South Asian countries in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

HONG KONG (AP) — China has sharply reduced the number of directly elected seats in Hong Kong’s legislature in a setback for the territory’s already beleaguered democracy movement.

The changes were announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of China’s top legislature.

The legislature will be expanded to 90 seats, and only 20 will be elected by the public. Currently, half of the 70-seat legislature — 35 seats — is directly elected.

Beijing, Mar 30 (AP-PTI) China has sharply reduced the number of directly elected seats in Hong Kong's legislature in a setback for the democracy movement.

The changes were announced Tuesday after a two-day meeting of China's top legislature.

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- China urges the United States not to attempt to break China's bottom line and prudently handle issues involving the Taiwan question, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a query on U.S. ambassador to Palau joining the Palau president's delegation in its visit to Taiwan.

BEIJING (AP) — China stepped up pressure Monday on foreign shoe and clothing brands to reject reports of abuses in Xinjiang, telling companies that are targeted by Beijing for boycotts to look more closely and pointing to a statement by one that it found no forced labor.

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets were mixed Monday amid optimism about government stimulus and the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

London opened lower, while Shanghai and Tokyo advanced.

U.S. futures were lower following sales of large blocks of stock that news reports said were carried by Archegos Capital Management, run by financier Bill Hwang.

Wall Street’s advance Friday was led by stocks that would benefit if vaccinations and government spending boost the U.S. economy as much as expected.

BEIJING (AP) — A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered, but the report provided in-depth detail on the reasoning behind the team’s conclusions. The researchers proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.