China ordered miners in Inner Mongolia to ramp up coal production and oil prices jumped on Friday as a record surge in the cost of gas revived demand for the most polluting fossil fuels to keep factories open and homes heated.

China said on Saturday it pressed the United States to eliminate tariffs in talks between the countries’ top trade officials that Washington saw as a test of bilateral engagement between the world’s biggest economies.

China will make the protection of nature a priority and crack down on damage to habitats, the government said in a policy paper days before it hosts talks aimed at drawing up a new global biodiversity treaty.

“Realising national reunification by peaceful means best serves

Taiwan yesterday accused Beijing of bullying and damaging regional peace after Chinese fighter jets and bombers made their largest ever incursion into the island’s air defence zone. 

China's vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in danger of losing momentum as opposition in targeted countries rises and debts mount, paving the way for rival schemes to squeeze Beijing out, a new study showed on Wednesday.

An American brother and sister barred from exiting China since 2018 in an apparent bid to pressure their father to return and face criminal allegations have finally left the country, Beijing and Washington confirmed yesterday.

The situation in the Taiwan Strait is “complex and grim”, Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday wrote in a congratulatory letter to the newly elected leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party, who has pledged to renew talks with Beijing.

Tesla Inc’s Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, two sources said.

Several local governments in China have set up special custodian accounts for property projects of its most indebted developer, Evergrande, to protect funds earmarked for housing projects from being diverted, media outlet Caixin said. 

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou arrived in China on Saturday, ending her near three-year U.S. extradition fight, the same day two Canadians detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days returned home, potentially paving the way for improved ties between China and the two western allies.

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was headed home from Vancouver yesterday as two Canadians were released from prison in China, ending a bitter diplomatic row that has poisoned ties for three years.

China’s central bank on Friday said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade in China after a crackdown on the volatile currencies.

The Shanghai government will support companies applying for approval to sell duty-free goods, and encourage duty-free shops to be set up at airports, hotels, malls and other commercial venues, municipal authorities said.

Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth yesterday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power.

China yesterday denounced a new Indo-Pacific security alliance between the United States, Britain and Australia, saying such partnerships should not target third countries and warning of an intensified arms race in the region.

A Chinese court on Tuesday threw out a landmark sexual harassment case on the basis of insufficient evidence, in a blow to the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement.

China on Wednesday banned private tutors from giving classes online or in unregistered venues such as residential buildings, hotels and coffee shops, ramping up its effort to stamp out all for-profit tutoring.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged major powers to “show responsibility” and play a leading role in improving global environmental governance and addressing such challenges as climate change.

Activity in China’s services sector slumped into sharp contraction in August, a private survey showed on Friday, as restrictions to curb the Covid-19 Delta variant threatened to derail the recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy.