China

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will further lower non-tariff trade barriers and widen market access for foreign capital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday citing a document from the State Council.

Beijing will also accelerate efforts to build an export control system to manage trade risks, Xinhua cited the State Council as saying, adding that the government also calls for relevant countries to relax export controls on China.

It will lower import tariffs and boost agricultural goods imports, Xinhua said.

TAIYUAN, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- China sent a new Earth observation satellite into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China's Shanxi Province at 7:52 a.m. Thursday (Beijing Time).

The satellite, Gaofen-12, was launched aboard a Long March-4C rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. It was the 320th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

As part of the country's high-definition earth observation project, the microwave remote sensing satellite is capable of providing photographs with a resolution of better than a meter.

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-led research team has discovered a surprisingly huge stellar black hole about 14,000 light-years from Earth -- our "backyard" of the universe -- forcing scientists to re-examine how such black holes form.

The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to contain 100 million stellar black holes -- cosmic bodies formed by the collapse of massive stars and so dense even light can't escape. Until now, scientists had estimated the mass of an individual stellar black hole in our galaxy at no more than 20 times that of the Sun.

BEIJING (AP) — China summoned the U.S. ambassador on Thursday to “strongly protest” President Donald Trump’s signing of bills on Hong Kong human rights.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told Ambassador Terry Branstad that the move constituted “serious interference in China’s internal affairs and a serious violation of international law.”

Le called it a “nakedly hegemonic act.” He urged the U.S. to not implement the bills in order to prevent greater damage to U.S.-China relations.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower on Thursday after President Donald Trump signed a bill expressing support for human rights in Hong Kong.

China reacted with indignation to the legislation, which Congress passed with overwhelming support. The government issued multiple statements threatening unspecified countermeasures.

In Hong Kong, where sometimes violent protest have dragged on for nearly six months, the Hang Seng index edged 0.1% lower to 26,937.64. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 2,894.33.

BEIJING (AP) — China reacted furiously to President Donald Trump’s signing of two bills on Hong Kong human rights and said the U.S. will bear the unspecified consequences.

A foreign ministry statement Thursday repeated heated condemnations of the laws and said China will counteract. It said all the people of Hong Kong and China oppose the move.

It’s still unclear, however, how China will respond exactly.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China likened claims by a Chinese asylum seeker in Australia who said he was a spy for Beijing to an absurd screenplay, accusing Taiwan’s ruling party of manipulating the”concocted” story to boost its chances in a looming election.

The allegations by the self-professed spy Wang Liqiang, reported by Australian media, have rocked Taiwan after he detailed Chinese efforts to meddle in Taiwan elections and promote Communist Party influence in Hong Kong.

Beijing, Nov 27, IRNA – Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said on Tuesday that honoring Iran nuclear deal -- the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the only viable way for deescalation between Iran and the western signatories.

"China maintains close communication with signatory parties to the JCPOA on the need to uphold and implement the deal," Shuang said speaking in his regular press conference.

"The Iranian nuclear stand-off has come to a critical stage," he said

BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) were down by about 4 percent in 2018, beating the annual target by 0.1 percentage points, an official said Wednesday.

By 2018, China had slashed carbon intensity, or the amount of carbon emissions per unit of GDP, by 45.8 percent from 2005 levels, meeting the target of a 40 to 45 percent decrease by 2020 ahead of schedule, Zhao Yingmin, vice-minister of ecology and environment, told a press conference.

HONG KONG (AP) — A major tunnel in Hong Kong reopened Wednesday as a weeklong police siege of a nearby university appeared to be winding down, closing one of the more violent chapters in the long-running anti-government protests in the Chinese territory.

The Cross-Harbour Tunnel, which links Hong Kong Island to the rest of the city, had been closed for two weeks after protesters blocked the approach with debris and set the toll booths on fire as they clashed with police.