China

BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday released another list of U.S. products that will be exempted from the first round of additional tariffs on U.S. products.

This is the second set of U.S. goods to be excluded from China's first round of tariff countermeasures against the U.S. Section 301 measures, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said in a statement.

The exemption list will be valid from Dec. 26, 2019 to Dec. 25, 2020, said the statement.

Tariffs that have already been levied will not be refunded, it said.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets sank Thursday after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump and Japan’s central bank kept ultra-low interest rates unchanged.

Following a listless day on Wall Street, investors looked ahead to other interest rate decisions by central banks in Indonesia, Taiwan and Sweden.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Southeast Asia retreated.

The House vote sends Trump’s case to the Senate for trial. Republicans who control that house say they plan to acquit him.

BEIJNG, Dec.18 (APP): Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe met with the visiting Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Chief of the Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force, in Beijing.

Wei said that China and Pakistan are unique all-weather strategic cooperative partners. Military-to-military relations between China and Pakistan are an important pillar of bilateral relations, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.

Beijing, Dec 17 (AFP/PTI) China on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to unanimously back its joint proposal with Russia to ease sanctions on North Korea, warning that dialogue to resolve nuclear tensions must not regress.

The nuclear-armed North has issued increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, even promising an ominous "Christmas gift" if Washington does not come up with some concessions.

Beijing, Dec 16 (AFP/PTI) China on Monday called the expulsion of diplomats from the US a "mistake", following reports that Washington quietly expelled two embassy officials in September after they drove onto a sensitive military base in Virginia.

The incident is the latest spat between the world's two biggest economies and comes days after they announced a truce in the form of a mini-deal to reduce some tariffs in a bruising trade war which has weighed on both sides.

BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China and the United States have agreed terms of a “phase one” trade deal under which Washington reduced some tariffs and Beijing canceled retaliatory duties that were previously scheduled to take effect on Dec. 15.

Before Sunday’s deal, U.S. corn, sorghum, wheat, undenatured ethanol, and refined copper cathodes had faced an additional tariff of 10% an imports into China. Propane, cotton, aluminum scrap, copper scrap and rare earth magnets were all set for an additional 5% duty.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping met Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in Beijing on Monday, saying he recognized her courage to govern the Asian financial hub in these “most difficult” times.

“The situation in Hong Kong in 2019 was the most complex and difficult since its return to the motherland,” Xi told local media in brief comments before the closed door session.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Monday following a U.S.-Chinese trade deal that disappointed some investors.

Hong Kong fell, while Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul were little-changed.

The interim “Phase 1” agreement announced Friday was in line with expectations. The two sides agreed to reduce some punitive tariffs imposed in their fight over China’s technology ambitions and trade surplus. Beijing agreed to buy more American farm exports.

Market choppiness reflects concern “the details were disappointing,” said Mizuho Bank in a report.

BEIJING (AP) — Turmoil over amendments to extradition legislation has damaged Hong Kong society on all fronts, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Monday during a meeting with the territory’s leader, Carrie Lam.

Lam is in Beijing for talks with Li and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It’s her first visit to Beijing since pro-democracy candidates swept local Hong Kong elections last month in a rebuke of how Lam has handled months of fiery anti-government protests.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Small groups of anti-government protesters gathered in shopping malls across Hong Kong on Sunday amid sporadic scuffles with riot police, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam away on a visit to Beijing.

In the peak shopping season ahead of Christmas, groups of masked protesters, clad in black, marched through malls chanting slogans including “Fight for freedom” and “Return justice to us”.