China

China-U.S. cooperation 'no longer an option ... but an imperative' - Wang Yi

BEIJING, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday the most urgent task for Sino-U.S. relations is to establish a correct understanding and cooperation between the two sides, stressing it is "no longer an option ... but an imperative" for the world.

Cooperation is the "most correct choice for China and the United States to get along", Wang said in a keynote speech at an event to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S.

China conducts patrols in South China Sea amid ongoing run-ins

BEIJING, Jan 3 (Reuters) - China's military will conduct routine patrols with its naval and air forces in the South China Sea from Wednesday to Thursday, the military's Southern Theater Command said, as ongoing tensions simmer in the region over disputed territories.

China's military did not say where exactly the patrols would be held but they were announced as the Philippines and the United States were carrying out a two-day joint patrol in the highly strategic waterway, a move that likely irked Beijing.

China: Five countries formally join BRICS

BEIJING, Jan 1 (APP): The BRICS memberships of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia officially took effect on Monday.
The countries were invited to join the group in August 2023 after the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, CGTN reported.

Originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, BRICS, an important platform for cooperation among emerging markets and developing countries, has received numerous membership requests in recent years.

China's Xi, US President Biden exchange congratulations on 45 years of diplomatic ties

BEIJING, Jan 1 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulations with U.S. President Joe Biden on the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday.

Xi, in his message, said both countries have "weathered the storms and moved forward in general", which has enhanced the well-being of their peoples and contributed to world peace, stability and prosperity, according to the ministry statement.

China eases visa application for U.S. tourists

BEIJING, Dec 30 (Reuters) - China will simplify visa applications for tourists from the United States from Jan. 1, cutting the documents required, according to a notice on Friday on the website of the Chinese embassy in Washington.

The move is the latest by China to revive tourism and boost the world's second-largest economy following a slump during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourist visa applicants in the U.S. will no longer need to submit air ticket bookings, hotel reservations or an invitation letter, the embassy's notice said. 

Chinese military purge exposes weakness, could widen

BEIJING, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A sweeping purge of Chinese generals has weakened the People's Liberation Army, exposing deep-rooted corruption that could take more time to fix and slow Chinese leader Xi Jinping's military modernization drive amid geopolitical tensions, analysts say.

China's top lawmakers ousted nine senior military officers from the national legislative body on Friday, state media reported, a step that typically precedes further punishment for wayward cadres. Many of these were from the Rocket Force - a key arm of the PLA overseeing tactical and nuclear missiles.

U.S. foreign policy depletes wealth of its citizens: American scholar

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The foreign policy of the United States is not concerned with the well-being of its citizens and is an immense waste of wealth, an article of the Pearls and Irritations, a journal platform in Australia, has argued.

Noting that U.S. foreign policy has been "hacked by big money," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in the United States, wrote in the article titled "U.S. foreign policy is a scam built on corruption" that "the American people are losing big."

China, Arab countries hold special operations, counter-terrorism seminar: Chinese Defense Spokesperson

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (APP): ”The Chinese PLA Southern Theatre Command hosted the China-Arab states special operations and counter-terrorism seminar from December 26 to 30 in Guangzhou City of south China’s Guangdong Province.

China's military lashes out at US after breakthrough talks

BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters) - China's defence ministry lashed out at the United States on Thursday, a week after their top military officials resumed high-level talks, criticising its continued meddling in the Asia Pacific region and saying it maintained a "Cold War" mindset.

Both sides had pledged at the talks to work towards restoration of contacts to avert miscalculation and misunderstanding, with the U.S. calling for "more work" to ensure military communications stayed open and reliable.

China's fireworks ban sparks fiery debate ahead of Lunar New Year

BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Chinese lawmakers on Friday weighed in on a fiery online debate on whether fireworks should be used to ring in the Lunar New Year in February, saying a total ban on pyrotechnics in the country credited with inventing them would be hard to implement.

In an unusually frank response, lawmakers said air pollution prevention laws and fire safety regulations have led to "differences in understanding" of the ban on fireworks, which was never absolute.

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