Category: BBC

A Chinese national has been sentenced to three years in prison for damaging an undersea cable connecting Taiwan’s main island and the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait. The man, identified by his surname Wang, was the captain of the Togolese-registered vessel Hong Tai 58. The Tainan District Court’s verdict on Thursday marks the first sentencing after reports in recent years of undersea cables around Taiwan being severed. Taipei has accused Beijing of sabotaging its cables, describing it as a “grey zone” tactic to pressure the self-ruled island, which China…

A new round of talks aimed at resolving a trade war between the US and China is set take place in London on Monday. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a senior US delegation would meet Chinese representatives. Over weekend, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Vice Premier He Lifeng will attend the talks. The announcements came after Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping had a phone conversation last week, which the US president described as a “very good talk”. Last month, the world’s two biggest economies…

A Chinese Harvard graduate’s speech calling for unity in a divided world, delivered days after the US vowed to “aggressively” revoke Chinese students’ visas, has sparked mixed reactions in the US and her home country. “We don’t rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go,” Jiang Yurong said on Thursday, the same day a US federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s ban on foreign students at Harvard. Her speech went viral on the Chinese internet, with some saying it moved them to tears.…

China says the US has “severely violated” their trade truce and that it will take strong measures to defend its interests. China’s Ministry of Commerce said Washington has “seriously undermined” the agreement reached during talks in Geneva last month, when both countries lowered tariffs on goods imported from each other. The spokesperson added that US actions have also severely violated the consensus reached during a phone call in January between China’s leader Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump. The comments come after Trump said on Friday that China had “totally…

Brazilian prosecutors are suing Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD and two of its contractors, saying they were responsible for human trafficking and conditions “analogous to slavery” at a factory construction site in the country. The Public Labour Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) in the state of Bahia says 220 Chinese workers were rescued after it began an investigation in response to an anonymous complaint. The MPT is seeking 257 million Brazilian reais ($45.5m; £33.7m) in damages from the three companies. BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment from…

PDD Holdings, the Chinese owner of online shopping platform Temu, has reported a near 50% drop in profit as US President Donald Trump’s trade policies added to its struggles in its home country. US-listed shares of the e-commerce giant fell by more than 13% on Tuesday, after the firm said its profits for the first three months of the year fell to 14.74bn yuan ($2.05bn , £1.5bn). Earlier this month, the Trump administration ended the so-called “de minimis” exemption that allowed parcels worth less than $800 (£593) enter the US…

A college in Beijing has found itself at the centre of public fury after it allegedly asked a student to prove she was on her period to qualify for sick leave. A viral video, filmed inside what appears to be a clinic and posted to social media this month, shows a young woman asking an older woman: “Does every menstruating girl have to take off their trousers and show you before they can get a sick note?” “Basically yes,” the older woman replies. “This is a school rule.” Local media…

Car maker Nissan says it is open to sharing factories around the world with its Chinese state-owned partner Dongfeng as it shakes up its business. The Japanese firm, which employs thousands of people in the UK, told the BBC it could bring Dongfeng “into the Nissan production eco-system globally.” This week, the struggling company said it would lay off 11,000 workers and shut seven factories but did not say where the cuts would be made. Speaking about Nissan’s UK plant on Thursday at a conference organised by the Financial Times,…

Both China and the United States have said they have made progress at trade talks between the two countries in Switzerland. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the discussions as “productive and constructive,” while China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng said the talks were “in-depth” and “candid”. The White House called it a “trade deal” but gave no further details. A joint statement with full details is expected on Monday. The pair were engaged in secretive closed-door discussions all weekend, in the first meeting since US President Donald Trump levied…

US President Donald Trump has hinted that US tariffs on goods from China may come down as top trade officials from the world’s two biggest economies are set to hold talks. “You can’t get any higher. It’s at 145, so we know it’s coming down,” he said, referring to the new import taxes of up to 145% imposed on China since he returned to the White House. Trump made the comments during an event to unveil a tariffs deal with the UK – the first such agreement since he hit…