China

29 Mar 2019; AFP: US and Chinese negotiators wrapped up "constructive" trade talks in Beijing on Friday ahead of another round next week, a top American official said as the economic superpowers aim to settle a bruising tariffs battle.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held negotiations with China's Vice Premier Liu He at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse after a working dinner Thursday.

CHANGSHA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have managed to replicate a 49-gram item of silk clothing dating back more than 2,000 years, according to the museum that has it in collection.

Unearthed in a tomb in Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C.- 8 A.D.) in central China's Hunan Province, two ancient garments weighing less than 50 grams each are considered the world's lightest silk clothing.

29 Mar 2019; AFP: Top negotiators from China and the United States began a fresh round of trade talks in Beijing on Friday to settle a bruising dispute that has threatened to blight the global economy.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were greeted by Vice Premier Liu He at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse as they seek to resolve the months-long trade war between the world's top two economies.

SHENZHEN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech firm Huawei reported robust revenue and profit growth in 2018 "despite a challenging environment," the company announced Friday.

The company raked in 721.2 billion yuan (about 105.2 billion U.S. dollars) in global sales revenue, up 19.5 percent year on year, while its net profit increased 25.1 percent to reach 59.3 billion yuan, according to Huawei's 2018 annual report.

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Kazakh Foreign Minister Beibut Atamkulov in Beijing Thursday, vowing to promote cooperation in various fields.

Calling Kazakhstan a good neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of China, Wang said that under the leadership of the first President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has made well-recognized achievements in national building and is playing an increasingly important role in international and regional affairs.

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. trade negotiators arrived in Beijing on Thursday to start a new round of talks aimed at ending a tariff war over China’s technology ambitions as officials hint they might be making progress.

The meetings are the latest in a rapid-fire series of exchanges seeking to end the conflict that is disrupting trade in goods from soybeans to medical equipment.

The talks will begin with a working dinner Thursday and last the entire day Friday, Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said during a regular briefing.

27 Mar 2019; AFP: Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific announced Wednesday that it will buy budget airline HK Express for US$628.15 million, as it moves to counter competition from the increasing number of low-cost carriers in the region.

The HK$4.93 billion acquisition leaves Cathay Pacific in control of three of the four airlines in Hong Kong, adding to its namesake carrier and regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon.

SHENZHEN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Shenzhen-based BGI, China's top gene-sequencing provider, said they had developed two screening technologies for early cancer detection at a press conference Wednesday.

One technology can detect the gene mutation and methylation level of circulating tumor DNA in blood plasma, thus evaluating the risk of various cancers including lung, liver, ovarian, pancreatic and colorectal cancers, according to Zhu Shida, BGI's oncology consultant.

BEIJING (AP) — China said Wednesday that it has expelled former Interpol President Meng Hongwei from public office and the ruling Communist Party as he awaits trial on corruption charges.

Meng was elected Interpol president in 2016, but his four-year mandate was cut short when he was detained without notice by Chinese authorities last October during a visit to China from Interpol headquarters in France.

At the time, Meng was also one of China’s vice ministers of public security.

Customs officials in China have destroyed 30,000 copies of world maps printed in the country for not showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory. The maps were meant for export to an unspecified country, state-run Global Times reported on Tuesday.

China claims the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, and objects Indian leaders visiting that area to highlight its stand.