Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

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.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan needs to have legal means to prevent China interfering in its politics, a government spokesman said on Thursday about a anti-infiltration law that is being drafted, as the main opposition said it feared being “painted red” by the law.

The legislation is part of a years-long effort to combat what many in Taiwan see as Chinese efforts to influence politics and the democratic process on the island. China claims Taiwan as its territory, to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if necessary.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday said that a missile launch by North Korea was a threat to Japan and the international community, and that Tokyo would be in close contact with its partners to monitor the situation.

“Multiple missile launches by North Korea are a serious challenge not only for Japan, but also international society,” Abe told reporters after the country’s defense ministry had confirmed that an object that appeared to be a missile was launched from North Korea earlier in the day.

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.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea, South Korea’s military said, three days after the North said its troops conducted artillery drills near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea.

The launches were an apparent attempt by North Korea to pressure the United States to make concessions in their stalemated nuclear diplomacy.

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.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump have signaled their affection for each other so regularly it might be easy to miss rising fears that the head-spinning diplomatic engagement of the past two years is falling apart.

Pyongyang has issued increasingly dire warnings to Washington to mind a year-end deadline to offer some new initiative to settle the nations’ decades-long nuclear standoff.

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.