Month: April 2026

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping appears to be taking a patient approach to reunification with Taiwan, according to the island’s opposition leader and a member of her delegation who attended a rare meeting with Xi in Beijing. Xi met Cheng Li-wun, who leads Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang, and her delegation at the Great Hall of the People on Friday – the first talks between sitting leaders of the two parties in nearly a decade. Discussing the cross-strait relationship, Xi said the issues had built up over a long period of…

Mainland China’s first-tier home prices edged up 0.2 per cent in March, rising after nine months of losses and no change in February, but it is too soon to declare the property market stable without sustained improvement in homebuying demand, according to analysts. Compared with a month earlier, March home prices were flat in Beijing, rose 0.3 per cent in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and gained 0.2 per cent in Shenzhen, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. Among the 70 large and medium-sized cities…

The call marked Beijing’s latest diplomacy effort on the Iran war as a US naval blockade of Iranian ports intensifies global energy disruptions and adds uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway off Iran’s coast that Tehran effectively closed in response to US-Israeli strikes. “The current situation has reached a critical stage of transition between conflict and peace, and a window for peace is opening,” Wang said, according to a statement by the Chinese foreign ministry. Iranians dismiss Trump threats to block Hormuz Strait Iranians dismiss Trump threats…

Mark Mobius, who was known as the father of emerging markets and was among the first fund managers to invest in Hong Kong and mainland China, died on Wednesday at the age of 89, according to a statement on his LinkedIn account. The statement did not give the cause. Mobius was based in Dubai in recent years and remained active in investment via his own firm. He was managing director of Mobius Emerging Opportunities Fund. Mobius remained bullish on China throughout his career. In his last interview with the South…

Beijing residents are once again bracing for a seasonal nuisance that has become something of a tradition: the city’s annual “snowstorm” of willow and poplar catkins. The catkins are essentially seeds from female willow and poplar trees, encased in downy fibres. After pollination in spring, the female trees produce seed pods that split open upon ripening, releasing the fluffy seeds to disperse in the wind. The wisps absorb bacteria, pollen and dust from the air, triggering respiratory and skin allergies in many people. Advertisement But municipal authorities have ruled out…