Category: BBC

Hong Kong has released four former opposition lawmakers who were among dozens of pro-democracy leaders jailed under the city’s controversial National Security Law (NSL). The four – Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan – had pleaded guilty and were each sentenced to four years and two months behind bars in November. They were released on Tuesday because the fact they they had been in prison since their arrests in 2021 was taken into account when calculating their sentence. The four lawmakers were part of a group known…

The Chinese coastguard has seized a tiny sandbank in the South China Sea, state media has reported, in an escalation of a regional dispute with the Philippines. State broadcaster CCTV released images of four officers, wearing all black and holding the Chinese flag, stood on the disputed reef of Sandy Cay in the Spratly Islands. CCTV said China had “implemented maritime control and exercised sovereign jurisdiction” on the reef earlier in April. Both China and the Philippines have staked claims on various islands. The Philippines said later on Sunday that…

China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC. Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack. “The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this…

China has warned countries against appeasing the US in trade talks over President Donald Trump’s tariffs. A Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson made the comments in response to reports that Washington plans to put pressure on governments to restrict trade with Beijing in exchange for exemptions to US import taxes. The Trump administration has started talks with trading partners over tariffs, with a Japanese delegation visiting Washington last week and South Korea is set to start negotiations this week. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed hefty…

Instead, she now spends more time reading and weaving. She has also started selling her handmade products at a local market, which brings in extra cash. More importantly, Ms Wen says, this has helped her shift towards a minimalist lifestyle, which she appreciates more. BBC

Just hours before Mr Blinken stepped on the tarmac in Shanghai, the US Senate passed a bill package giving a further $8bn of military aid to Taiwan, which President Biden has said the US would defend if attacked by China. The self-governed island, which counts the US as its biggest ally, is claimed by China. BBC

Sutcliffe felt that not all of those in attendance were football fans. “Undoubtedly, international matches provided a platform for Hong Kong residents to voice their frustrations,” says Sutcliffe. “The booing of the national anthem provided great publicity for them. Attendances went up and many people came to matches who under normal circumstances would never have gone to a football match.” Sutcliffe cannot recall any complaints from Beijing. “We were certainly put under pressure by the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] Government to do everything we could to stop it,”…

“The old rich guy in town, the US, is having problems with the new rich guy in town, China,” says Enrique Dussel of the Centre for China-Mexico Studies at the National Autonomous University in Mexico. “And Mexico – under previous administrations, and in this one – doesn’t have a strategy vis-à-vis this new triangular relationship.” BBC

The top three finishers of the Beijing half marathon have been stripped of their medals following an investigation into the controversial result. It was alleged that the three African athletes deliberately allowed China’s star runner He Jie to win Sunday’s race Footage appeared, external to show Kenya’s Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu pointing to the line and slowing down to wave He past. Mnangat told the BBC that the trio ran as pacemakers. But the race’s organising committee, who led the investigation, said that none of…

The US wouldn’t be the first to block TikTok – India banned the app in 2020, citing security concerns. But TikTok survived that ban because the Indian market, which was then about as big as the US market is now, wasn’t as profitable, said Jayanth N Kolla, founder of technology advisory firm Convergence Catalyst. BBC