Tag: China News

China, Iran, Russia hold joint naval drills in Middle East

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TEHRAN, IRAN —  China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran’s rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen’s Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships. The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes. The area around the strait has in the past…

India, Mauritius upgrade strategic ties with eye on China

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NEW DELHI —  India and Mauritius have upgraded their ties, say leaders of both countries — a move analysts say is aimed at increasing New Delhi’s influence in the Indian Ocean as it seeks to counter China’s expanding footprint in the region. The announcement of upgraded ties came during a two-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mauritius, an island nation that sits along vital seaways in the western Indian Ocean. Modi, who was chief guest at Mauritius’s National Day celebrations on Wednesday, said that the countries had…

China boosting development of AI for use in trade war with US

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NEW DELHI —  Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception to its DeepSeek artificial intelligence platform in January, China’s leaders are going all out to encourage AI companies to harness the power of this technology to compete with the United States and other countries in business and military spheres. China considers AI an important tool to handle U.S. restrictions on Chinese business, particularly after DeepSeek shook up Wall Street, resulting in a loss of $589 billion for Nvidia stockholders in late January. “The government in China works directly with the private sector…

VOA Mandarin: US House passes bill to restrict use of Chinese-made batteries

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The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills involving China. One will restrict the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries made by Chinese companies. The other will set up a working group in the Department of Homeland Security to monitor and respond to threats from China. The bills will now await consideration by the Senate. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. Voice of America

VOA Mandarin: As China NPC closes, dissidents on ‘forced holidays’ to be sent home

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China wrapped up its week-long National Party Congress meetings on Tuesday, where its nearly 3,000 representatives cast votes to pass a total of seven bills in half an hour. Analysts called China’s two sessions a rubber-stamp political gathering, where many dissidents have been placed on “forced holidays” outside of Beijing so that their voice would not be heard. One dissident told VOA he will be sent home one day after the NPC’s closure on Tuesday. Click here for the full story in Mandarin. Voice of America

Fate of 8 Uyghurs in Thailand in limbo after 40 deported to China

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BANGKOK —  Human rights advocates say at least some of the eight ethnic minority Uyghurs who remain in Thailand’s custody since authorities deported 40 others to China last month are at risk of the same fate. After weeks of denying it was planning to repatriate any of the 48 Chinese Uyghurs it had held since arresting them for illegal entry in 2014, Thailand abruptly turned 40 of them over to China on Feb. 27. The United States, United Nations and international rights groups strongly condemned Thailand for sending Uyghurs back…

Dalai Lama says his successor to be born outside China

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NEW DELHI —  The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago. Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old’s death, he writes in “Voice for the Voiceless,” which was reviewed by Reuters and is being released on Tuesday. He had previously said the line of spiritual leaders might end with him.…

China’s President Xi begins state visit to France

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China’s President Xi Jinping is on a rare state visit to France, which started with trilateral talks with French President Emanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Ahead of Xi’s visit, both von der Leyen and Macron indicated the meetings would focus on establishing fair trade between the European Union and China. Both leaders have complained of overproduction by China’s subsidized industries, allowing them to flood European markets with cheap goods. France currently holds the revolving presidency of the European Council, defined as the EU institution that…

Nothing off the table in US response to China overcapacity, Yellen says

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washington —  The Biden administration is not taking any options off the table to respond to China’s excess industrial capacity, which is a top concern for the U.S. and its allies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters on Thursday. China exporting its way to full employment is not acceptable to the rest of the world, Yellen said in a Reuters Next interview in Washington. Yellen said that during her trip to China earlier this month, she was “successful” in raising U.S. concerns with Chinese officials about Beijing flooding global…

China launches 3-member crew to its space station

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JIUQUAN SATELLITE LAUNCH CENTER, China —  China launched a three-member crew to its orbiting space station on Thursday as part of its ambitious program that aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030. The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China atop a Long March 2-F rocket at 8:59 p.m. (1259 GMT). The spacecraft’s three-member crew will relieve the Shenzhou-17 team, which has been staffing China’s Tiangong space station since last October. The China Manned Space…