China

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has rebuffed the latest offer of talks from Taiwan, saying the government was engaging in a “cheap trick” and provocation by seeking confrontation with China at every turn.

Taiwan is ready to have “meaningful” talks with China as equals as long as they are willing to put aside confrontation, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday, offering another olive branch to Beijing in her New Year’s speech.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China’s relationship with the United States has reached a “new crossroads” and could get back on the right track following a period of “unprecedented difficulty”, senior diplomat Wang Yi said in official comments published on Saturday.

Relations between the world’s two biggest economies have come under increasing strain amid a series of disputes over trade, human rights and the origins of COVID-19. In its latest move, the United States blacklisted dozens of Chinese companies it said had ties to the military.

HONG KONG, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 jolted 187 km SSE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea at 08:34:18 GMT on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 5.811 degrees south latitude and 153.1132 degrees east longitude. 

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tencent’s online game offerings have been removed from Huawei’s app store since the two companies failed to reach an agreement on revenue sharing, Tencent and a source said on Friday.

“Due to the failure of Huawei’s mobile game platform to renew its contract with our Mobile Game Promotion Project Agreement as scheduled, relevant products of Tencent Games were suddenly removed from the shelves early this morning,” Tencent said in a statement.

“At present, active communication is being made to try to resume as soon as possible,” it said.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s highest court on Thursday revoked media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s bail after prosecutors succeeded in asking the judges to send him back to detention.

Lai had been granted bail on Dec. 23 after three weeks in custody on charges of fraud and endangering national security. His appeal hearing is slated for Feb. 1.

The court said Thursday that it was “reasonably arguable” that the previous judge’s decision was erroneous and that the order of granting bail was invalid.

BEIJING, Dec 31 (APP): The Chinese and Indian sides are negotiating to hold the ninth round of military commander-level talks, Chinese Defense Ministry’s Spokesperson Colonel Tan Kefei said on Thursday.

“Since the eighth round of the commander-level talks between the Chinese and Indian armed forces, the two sides have focused on the disengagement of front-line troops to maintain consultations, strengthen the management and control of the troops, and the situation in the border areas is generally stable,” he said during his monthly briefing held here.

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday voiced resolute opposition to the sailing of two U.S. warships through the Taiwan Strait.

"The move by the U.S. warships has sent a wrong signal to separatist elements advocating 'Taiwan independence' and seriously endangered peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese health regulators said Thursday that they have given conditional approval to a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned Sinopharm.

The two-dose vaccine is the first approved for general use in China. The go-ahead comes as the country has begun to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, China's national legislature, on Wednesday strongly condemned and firmly opposed the U.S. signing into law a funding bill for fiscal year 2021 which contains China-related negative content.

The related negative content and clauses on Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang have seriously damaged China's national interests and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, the committee said in a statement.

HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced 10 pro-democracy activists and protesters who sought to flee Hong Kong by speedboat to between seven months and three years in prison, in a case with major political overtones for the territory.

The Yantian District Court in the southern city of Shenzhen gave the harshest sentences to the two accused organizers of the ill-fated Aug. 23 attempt to reach self-ruled Taiwan. Relatives said all defendants pleaded guilty, a move apparently aimed at receiving lighter sentences.