Ever since the Quad started taking shape in 2007, China has been saying that the four-member grouping will be bound to fail. But much to the chagrin of Beijing, it picked up pace in the recent years emerging as a premier strategic group especially challenging China's assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
The delegations from the US and Iran head to Islamabad on Friday, carrying a ceasefire that is already fraying, a Strait that is technically open and practically closed, and a negotiating agenda that would challenge even parties actually negotiating in good faith, which these groups are not. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
China has delivered a second advanced submarine to Pakistan, part of a larger deal to bolster the South Asian nation's naval capabilities in the Indian Ocean. The move underscores China's growing influence in the region and its strategic partnership with Pakistan.
China on Friday said it is assessing whether to start trade talks with the US on tariff reductions following recent approaches by Washington, a move that would possibly ease the tit-for-tit tariff war between the world's two largest economies. "China is making assessments as the United States has recently reached out to convey messages to China through relevant parties many times, expressing hope to engage in talks with Beijing over tariff issues," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement in Beijing.
Instead, Chinese Premier and Xi's confidant Li Qiang will take part in the summit to be held on July 6-7 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to take part.
This is the first time in decades that China has made its flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile public in an apparent show of strategic deterrence, State-run China Daily reported.
In 2023, the number of kindergartens fell by 14,808 to 274,400, the annual report by the Chinese education ministry stated. It is the second consecutive annual decline in the latest indicator of China's falling birth rates.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a deal to China that would see the sale of TikTok's US operations to an American buyer in exchange for a reduction in tariffs on Chinese exports to the US. The proposal comes amid a trade war between the two countries and follows China's retaliation of Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump has also said that tariffs are a powerful economic tool and that he is determined to ensure fair trade between the US and China.
United States President-elect Joe Biden administration is likely to be as tough as President Donald Trump's on the several contentious issues between Washington and Beijing such as the South China Sea, South China Morning Post reported citing experts.
China has defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, assuring that the project will not affect riparian states and safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies. The dam, estimated to cost USD 137 billion, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, but Chinese authorities maintain that the project has been thoroughly studied and safeguards are in place. The dam is part of China's efforts to develop clean energy and respond to climate change.
A Chinese rocket start-up has suffered yet another launch failure, resulting in the loss of three satellites as part of a commercial constellation being assembled for global weather forecasting and earthquake prediction.
If Xi Jinping can establish control over the PLA Ground Force, relations between India and China will settle down to an even keel. The next few weeks will show whether Xi has finally succeeded in gaining control over the PLA Ground Force. That could bring about the substantive shift in India-China relations that both our leaders have been working for, observes Ambassador Prabhat Shukla.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
'Was the five-day pause ever meant to hold, or was it simply another instrument of signaling, of positioning, of buying time in a war where even the pauses are tactical?' asks Prem Panicker in his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
China, which is building numerous villages in Tibet close to its borders with India and Bhutan, has held several celebratory events to mark its takeover of Tibet in the new border villages with a mix of border troops and the local population, the official media in Beijing reported.
China on Wednesday responded to reports claiming that Al Qaeda would target Chinese interests overseas to avenge the killings of Muslims in the Urumqi riots recently.
China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border. The USD 137 billion project, which is expected to dwarf even China's own Three Gorges Dam, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, the downstream riparian states. Concerns in India are centered around China's potential to control water flow, potentially enabling the release of large amounts of water to flood border areas in times of hostilities. The dam is part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, and the Chinese government claims that the project is safe and prioritizes ecological protection.
Shenzhen which has been battling an Omicron surge since late February, will carry out three rounds of citywide COVID-19 tests next week.
Unidentified miscreants smashed a window and threw "petrol or similar substance" inside before igniting the blaze
The former British colony also reported COVID-related 87 deaths taking the overall toll to 3,729, the report said.
The heightened state of alert was only relaxed after Wang met his Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a second source said.
'I suspect that Bangladesh being given permission stuck in India's official craw, and this story was an attempt to balance the scales by giving the impression that a similar waiver had been given to India as well.'
In China, the toll stood at around 3,250 and in Italy it was 3,405.
'The culture of mankind has been spread by the travel gene which pushes one in five people to have the curiosity to move to unknown destinations.'
Pakistan plans to procure 40 jets of advanced Chinese stealth fighter J-35, which, if materialised, will mark the first export of China's latest jet. The sale would mark Beijing's first export of fifth-generation jets to a foreign ally and is expected to recalibrate regional dynamics, particularly in relation to Pakistan's rival India. The acquisition of new aircraft was pursued despite the serious economic crisis faced by Pakistan. China has helped Pakistan to jointly develop and operate the J-17 Thunder fighter jet, the mainstay of the PAF. China has delivered four advanced naval frigates to the Pakistan Navy in the last few years to enable it to play a bigger role along with its navy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea.
China and the United States are said to be on the verge of signing a landmark agreement to allow Chinese lenders to buy stakes into small and medium-sized American banks. The deal, said a South China Morning Post report quoting major Chinese bankers, is likely to be completed during US President Barack Obama's current visit to China.
This may be in line with Russia's private military company, Wagner Group, which was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The group used the infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.
Chinese authorities foiled at least eight terror attacks before the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, according to a new book.The paper says that the book carries little information about which terrorist or terror outfit was responsible for the threats. But the terror attempts included an unidentified white powder sent to foreign embassies, a subway blast, dynamite at Beijing's international airport and a biochemical terror attack at the Games venues.
Trump also praised Chinese President as "a great leader of a great country" and said the two sides had "already agreed to a lot of things."
In the first military stand-off between the two Asian giants since 1986, an Indian submarine and two Chinese warships came close to a confrontation in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, but the situation was resolved when the submarine left the site, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.Though both the Indian and the Chinese government refused to comment on the matter, the report claimed that on January 15, the two warships were followed by the submarine.
The epicentre is 39 km away from the county seat of Luding and there are several villages within the 5-km range around the epicentre.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarising its man-made islands in the past few years, which it says it has the right to defend.
Confronting a slowdown in growth, China says it will only increase its defence budget by 7.6% this year, against the anticipated rise of between 20% and 30%. 'It is difficult to explain the reduction in the Chinese defence budget,' says Claude Arpi. 'Is there a hidden budget? Possibly!'
China on Monday termed as "disgraceful" the British government's permission for a Taiwan representative in the UK to sign the condolence book of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8.
The earthquake damaged houses, roads, as well as other infrastructures, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted eyewitnesses from the area as saying.
China's population growth has been slowing since 2016 as the high cost of raising children, a greater pursuit of individualism and a diversified lifestyle dampen enthusiasm to start a family.
"We have made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic," WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. "WHO's mandate is public health. But we are working with many partners across all sectors to mitigate the social and economic consequences of this COVID-19 pandemic," he added.
The police in northwestern Gansu province said in a statement on Sunday that a suspect surnamed Hong had been detained for "using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information".
Over a million officials are said to have been punished in Xi's anti-corruption campaign according to the official media accounts. The intensity of the campaign also attracted criticism that Xi made effective use of it to silence his critics and rivals within the party.
