China

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose 15% in June from a year ago, as refiners ordered record volumes of the fuel in March and April when oil prices tumbled, cementing the kingdom’s position as the top oil supplier to China.

Imports from Saudi Arabia rose to 8.88 million tonnes in June, or 2.16 million bpd, in June, according to data from the General Administration of Customs on Sunday.

That was in line with May’s volumes, but well above 1.89 million bpd during the same period last year.

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Staff of the U.S. consulate in Chengdu made final efforts to clear the premises on Sunday as security remained tight outside, ahead of a Monday closure ordered by Beijing as China-U.S. relations continue to worsen.

A mini tourist atmosphere prevailed outside the facility on a tree-lined street on a hot Sunday, as onlookers shared sidewalk space with dozens of uniformed and plainclothes police opposite the entrance.

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's highly provocative China-smearing speech at the Presidential Library of Richard Nixon was "primitive and ineffective," a former U.S. diplomat has said.

Pompeo's "angry lament" and "extended ideological rant" will achieve an opposite effect, Daniel Russel, former U.S. assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told CNBC on Friday.

The speech will only deepen anger at the United States, Russel said.

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China's Mars spacecraft has embarked on a long journey with great risks and challenges to the Earth's neighbor.

China's first Mars exploration mission, Tianwen-1 (meaning Questions to Heaven) aims to orbit, land on and rove Mars in one mission, an unprecedented achievement.

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - Security was tight outside the U.S. consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday as staff inside prepared to leave, a day after China ordered it to close in response to a U.S. order for China to shut its consulate in Houston.

The tit-for-tat consulate closures have brought a sharp deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies.

A consulate emblem inside the compound was taken down and staff could be seen moving about. Three removal vans later entered the compound.

BEIJING (AP) — South Korea on Saturday reported more than 100 new coronavirus cases for the first time in four months while South Africa announced a surge in infections and some U.S. states tightened anti-disease controls.

South Korea’s 113 new cases included 36 workers returning from Iraq and 32 crew members of a Russian freighter, the government said. Authorities had warned to expect a spike in cases from abroad and appealed to the public not to be alarmed.

BEIJING (AP) — Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two may have reached a turning point.

Tensions have reached new heights on what has always been a rocky road, as the ambitions of a rising superpower increasingly clash with those of the established one. China ordered the closing of the U.S. Consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Friday, in rapid retaliation for the closing of its consulate in Houston.

Beijing, Jul 24 (PTI) China on Friday asked the US to close down its Consulate in Chengdu in retaliation to Washington's decision to shut the Chinese Consulate in Houston.

A statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said China has informed the US Embassy here of its decision to withdraw its consent for the establishment and operation of the US Consulate General in Chengdu.

HONG KONG, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Thursday that it deplores and opposes the announcement by the British government on providing a pathway for Chinese nationals in Hong Kong who are holders of the British National Overseas (BNO) passport or eligible for it to reside and obtain citizenship in Britain.

BEIJING (AP) — The former chairman of a state-owned real estate company who publicly criticized President Xi Jinping’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and will be prosecuted on corruption charges, the party announced Friday.

Ren Zhiqiang, who had become known for speaking up about censorship and other sensitive topics, disappeared from public view in March after publishing an essay online that accused Xi of mishandling the outbreak that began in December in the central city of Wuhan.