BEIJING/SHANGHAI, August 13 (Reuters): Two cities in China have found traces of the new coronavirus in imported frozen food and on food packaging, local authorities said on Thursday, raising fears that contaminated food shipments might cause new outbreaks. A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern Xi'An city, have teste

SHANGHAI, August 13 (Reuters): China's biggest short-video platforms said on Thursday they will punish users seen to be wasting food in their broadcasts, cracking down on so-called "big stomach kings" as the government urges against food wastage in the middle of a pandemic. President Xi Jinping called food wastage "shameful" this week as China also seeks to curb a growing trend among internet celebrities who have gained hordes of fans in recent years by

BEIJING, August 12 (Reuters): China said on Wednesday that U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar has performed the "worst in the world" in controlling the novel coronavirus, rejecting criticism of China made by Azar during a three-day trip to Taiwan this week. Azar attacked China's response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday saying that if such an outbreak had emerged in Taiwan or the United States it could have been "snuffed out easily". Chinese foreig

WASHINGTON, August 11 (Reuters): U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping has frayed in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic and that he has not spoken to his Chinese counterpart in a long time. "I used to have a very good relationship with him," Trump told Fox Sports Radio in an interview, citing their Phase One trade deal last year. "I had a great relationship with President Xi. I like him, but I don&#

BEIJING, August 11 (Reuters): Authorities in China have found the novel coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen seafood that arrived from the port city of Dalian, which recently battled a surge of cases, a local government said on Tuesday. The virus was found on the outer packaging of frozen seafood bought by three companies in Yantai, a port city in eastern Shandong province. The Yantai city government said in a statement the seafood was from an imported shipment that la

HONG KONG, August 10 (Reuters): Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile person arrested under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as around 200 police searched the offices of his Apple Daily newspaper. Mainland-born Lai, who was smuggled into Hong Kong on a fishing boat when he was a penniless 12-year-old, has been one of the most prominent democracy activists in the Chinese-ruled city and an ardent cr

TAIPEI, August 10 (Reuters): Chinese air force jets briefly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday and were tracked by Taiwanese missiles, Taiwan's government said, as U.S. health chief Alex Azar visited the island to offer President Donald Trump's support. Azar arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, the highest-level U.S. official to visit in four decades. China, which claims the island as its own, condemned the visit which comes after a period of sharply deterioratin

WASHINGTON/BEDMINSTER, N.J., August 9 (Reuters): The top U.S. counterintelligence official on Friday warned that Russia, China and Iran will all try to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, with Russia already trying to undercut Democratic candidate Joe Biden. In an unusual public statement, William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said the three countries were using online disinformation and other means to try to influence voters, st

New Delhi, August 8 (IANS): The talks between military representatives of India and China to discuss disengagement in the Depsang plains north of Galwan area started on Saturday morning near the Line of Actual Control, sources said. The sources said that the Major General-level talks between Indian and Chinese armies is taking place at Daulat Beg Oldie for the de-escalation of troops and material in the Depsang plains. General Officer Commanding of 3 Mountain Division, Major Gene

HONG KONG, AUGUST 7 (IANS): Twenty-four people in Hong Kong, including pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, have been charged for participating in a banned vigil marking the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in China, it was reported. In a statement on Thursday, the city police said that 19 men and five women between the ages of 23-69 - had been charged with holding and knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly, the BBC reported. This charg

BEIJING/TAIPEI, August 6 (Reuters): China on Thursday threatened to take countermeasures over a trip to Taiwan by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, as the Chinese-claimed island geared up for its highest-level U.S. official visit in four decades. The visit, which begins on Sunday, adds to tensions between Beijing and Washington over everything from trade and human rights to the novel coronavirus pandemic. China calls Taiwan the most sensitive and important

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, August 4 (Reuters): China vowed on Tuesday to retaliate if the United States persisted with "hostile action" against Chinese journalists who may be forced to leave in coming days if their U.S. visas are not extended. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing that no Chinese journalist in the United States had been granted a visa extension since the United States, on May 11, limited their stay to 90 days, w

HONG KONG, July 31 (Reuters): Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Friday postponed a Sept. 6 election to the Chinese-ruled city's legislature by a year because of a rise in coronavirus cases, dealing a blow to the pro-democracy opposition which had hoped to make huge gains. The decision came after 12 pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from running for perceived subversive intentions and opposition to a sweeping new security law imposed by Beijing, prompting questions amo

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters): The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a Chinese company and two officials related to the company for what it said were human rights abuses against Uighurs and other ethnic minority people in China's Xinjiang province, the Treasury Department said. The move was yet another step in the deteriorating relations between the United States and China and came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump closed the Chinese consulate in Houston,

HONG KONG, July 31 (Reuters): For 23 years Hong Kong was an anomaly. A free and partially democratic city under Chinese rule, protected by a tradition of firm rule of law from the British colonial era, and a promise from Beijing of freedoms for its 7.5 million people that were unthinkable on the mainland. On June 30, however, China imposed a harsh new paradigm on Hong Kong, marking an end to the liberal pledge, say government, political and diplomatic sources. The nationa

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters): China on Thursday accused the United States of stoking a new Cold War because certain politicians were searching for a scapegoat to bolster support ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. U.S. President Donald Trump identifies China as the West's main rival, and has accused President Xi Jinping of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which Trump calls the "China plague".

BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters): China asked local authorities to carry out regular coronavirus tests at wholesale markets, the country's health authority said on Thursday, part of an all-out effort to control the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. China's National Health Commission (NHC) has urged local authorities to strengthen monitoring for the coronavirus at major wholesale markets that can cover extensive neighbouring areas, especially those with stands selling frozen an

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters): U.S. lawmakers expect to question Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on dealings with China and Russia, the decision to move troops out of Germany and weapons exports when the country's top diplomat offers rare public testimony in the Senate on Thursday. Pompeo will testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing for the first time in 15 months, discussing the State Department's annual budget request. Foreign Relations Committee Dem

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters): The United States and close ally Australia held high-level talks on China and agreed on the need to uphold a rules-based global order, but the Australian foreign minister stressed Canberra's relationship with Beijing was important and it had no intention of hurting it. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper held two days of talks in Washington with their Australian counterparts, who had flown around the world for

CHENGDU, China, Jly 27 (Reuters): China took over the premises of the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday, after ordering the facility to be vacated in retaliation for China's ouster last week from its consulate in Houston, Texas. The seizure capped a dramatic escalation in tensions between the world's two biggest economies that began when employees at China's Houston consulate were seen burning documents in a courtyard last Tuesday, hours b