Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States have started normal communications in the fields of economy and trade, agreeing on joint efforts to solve some specific problems in a practical way, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

Commenting on the recent video talks between Chinese and U.S. officials, MOC spokesperson Gao Feng said communications between the two sides had a "smooth start."

BANGKOK (AP) — European shares are lower after a mixed session in Asia, with benchmarks falling in Paris, London and Hong Kong while Tokyo and Seoul advanced.

In a quiet news week, investors are watching for a U.S. Labor Department report on Friday that economists forecast will show employers added more than 650,000 jobs last month. It is expected to yield fresh clues about the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate policy moves later this month, when the central bank holds its next meeting of policymakers.

BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday its relationship with Cambodia has made positive contributions to regional peace and stability, after the U.S. expressed concerns about the presence of the Chinese military in the Southeast Asian nation.

In a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman focused on China’s construction of new facilities at Ream Naval Base.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s foreign minister on Thursday said China is seeking political gains abroad in return for providing vaccines and other pandemic assistance, partly to increase pressure on Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory.

Beijing’s Communist Party leaders “further exploited the pandemic to impose their political agenda on many others,” Joseph Wu said in a video conference with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A large cargo ship hit a tall overhead crane in a Taiwanese port on Thursday, sending it smashing into another crane and then into a pile of shipping containers.

One worker at the port was sent to a hospital for a cut on his arm.

The 86,000-ton vessel, which belongs to Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., a Hong Kong shipping company, was preparing to dock at a port in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan when it hit the crane, the port management company said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — In the span of just five days last month, China gave out 100 million shots of its COVID-19 vaccines.

After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace. The rollout is far from perfect, including uneven distribution, but Chinese public health leaders now say they’re hoping to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year.

Kuala Lumpur, Jun 2 (AP-PTI) Malaysia's government will issue a diplomatic protest against an intrusion" by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace, the foreign minister said.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said late Tuesday that he will summon the Chinese ambassador to explain this breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty."

BEIJING, June 2 (APP): China will host fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers Meeting on Thursday focusing on peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan besides cooperation in security and counter terrorism, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday.

China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair while the meeting while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar will attend the meeting via video link, he said during his regular briefing held here.

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) is a party linked to the people, said leaders of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA).

"It has shown a very good example of how you integrate scientific socialism with the needs of the people," said Andrew Irving, general secretary of the CPA.

"Obviously, it is a party linked to the people ... and it has been able to apply the scientific theory to the conditions of China," said Vinnie Molina, national president of the CPA.

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, held a video conversation with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday morning.

The two sides believed that the China-U.S. economic relations are very important.