China

HONG KONG (AP) — China promised that for 50 years after Britain gave up control of its last colony, this shimmering financial enclave would get to keep freedoms absent in the communist-ruled mainland. Twenty-two years on, those are rights many here believe Hong Kong cannot live without.

The hundreds of thousands who marched in a June 16 protest over a now-shelved extradition bill, and those still demonstrating, are raising alarm that Hong Kong may become just another Chinese city as those protections unravel and Beijing’s influence in the territory expands.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong activists opposed to contentious extradition legislation on Wednesday called on leaders of the U.S., the European Union and others to raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s G-20 summit in Japan.

Beijing has strongly opposed such a development, saying Hong Kong matters are strictly an internal Chinese affair.

Groups of protesters gathered outside the U.S. and EU consulates Wednesday morning to deliver petitions stating their requests.

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China sent a new satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province at 2:09 a.m. Tuesday.

Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket, the satellite was sent to the inclined geosynchronous earth orbit. It is the 46th satellite of the BDS satellite family and the 21st satellite of the BDS-3 system.

BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to work with relevant sides to firmly uphold multilateralism, and oppose unilateralism and protectionism at the upcoming Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Osaka, Japan, said senior officials in Beijing Monday.

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a telephone conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday at the request of the U.S. side.

The two sides exchanged opinions on economic and trade issues in line with the instructions made by the two heads of state.

The two sides agreed to continue to maintain contact.

BEIJING (AP) — Major Asian stock markets declined Tuesday as traders looked ahead to a meeting between the American and Chinese presidents amid hopes for renewed trade talks.

Benchmarks in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Seoul and Sydney were little-changed.

Investors were encouraged by the announcement that top U.S. and Chinese negotiators, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Vice Premier Liu He, talked Monday by phone. No details were released.

24 June 2019; DW: China said on Monday that it would not allow the Group of 20 nations to discuss the situation in Hong Kong when the group of world economic powers meets in Japan later this week.

Hong Kong has been the site of massive protests this month as demonstrators demanded the withdrawal of a bill that would allow people to be extradited to mainland China to face trials in courts controlled by the Communist Party. Protesters have also called on the city's leader, Carrie Lam, to step down.

Beijing, Jun 24; GANASHAKTI: Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of the BRICS grouping during the G20 Summit in Japan this week where the talks would be focussed on opposing the "unilateralist" and "protectionist" trade policies of the US, a senior Chinese minister said on Monday.

BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's observatory issued a blue alert on Monday for high temperatures over the next two days.

The temperature could rise to over 35 degrees Celsius in most parts of Beijing from Monday to Tuesday and could top 38 degrees Celsius in parts of the city on Monday.

The observatory advised residents to guard against the heat wave and said workers exposed to high temperatures should take protective measures.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and U.S. trade negotiators are in contact on ways of resolving disputes ahead of an expected meeting between their heads of state at the G-20 summit in Japan later this week, a Chinese official said Monday.

The sides were seeking to “consolidate the important consensus reached between the two leaders” in a telephone call last week, Wang Shouwen, a Commerce Ministry vice minister, told reporters. Wang gave no details about specific issues under discussion.