KINMEN, Taiwan, August 23 (Reuters): Amid rising tensions with Beijing, the de facto U.S. ambassador in Chinese-claimed Taiwan took part on Sunday for the first time in commemorations of a key military clash and the last time Taiwanese forces joined battle with China on a large scale. China has stepped up military activity around the democratic island, moves denounced by Taiwan's government as an attempt at intimidation to force them to accept Chinese rule. Taiwan Presid

WASHINGTON, August 21 (Reuters): The United States is prepared to block Russia and China from any attempts to violate sanctions on Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, one day after Washington moved to restore sanctions imposed on Tehran by the United Nations. Pompeo, in an interview on Fox News, also said Washington was disappointed that its allies did not support the U.S. effort to push for a "snapback" of U.N. sanctions, including an arms embar

MANILA, August 21 (Reuters): The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest over what it said was China's illegal confiscation of fish aggregating devices from Filipino fisherman in a disputed lagoon held by Beijing in the South China Sea. The Philippine foreign ministry said the incident happened three months ago at the Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing site seized by Beijing in 2012 after a standoff that prompted an unprecedented international legal challenge by Manila.

WASHINGTON, August 20 (Reuters): The U.S. State Department said it notified Hong Kong on Wednesday that Washington has suspended or terminated three bilateral agreements with the semi-autonomous city following China's imposition of a sweeping national security law. The ending of the agreements follows U.S. President Donald Trump's order last month to end Hong Kong’s special status under U.S. law to punish China for what he called “oppressive actions” a

TAIPEI, August 19 (Reuters): Taiwan said on Wednesday hacking groups linked to the Chinese government had attacked at least 10 government agencies and some 6,000 email accounts of government officials in an "infiltration" to steal important data. Democratic Taiwan has been urging its people to be alert for what officials call "omnipresent infiltration" from China, involving from Beijing-backed media campaigns to cyberattacks, against the island that China co

SHANGHAI, August 19 (Reuters): Floods on the upper reaches of China's Yangtze river forced authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people on Tuesday and threatened a 1,200-year-old world heritage site. Staff, police and volunteers used sandbags to try to protect the 71-metre (233-foot) Leshan Giant Buddha, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southwestern Sichuan province, as muddy flood water rose over its toes for the first time since 1949, state broadcaster CCTV report

New Delhi, August 17 (IANS): China is helping Pakistan to boost its firepower by selling it state-of-the-art defence items, including armed drones, even as it is engaged with India at the borders in eastern Ladakh. Intelligence sources said Pakistan is procuring medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -- Cai Hong-4 (CH-4) -- from China in bulk. Sources said that a 10-member team of Pakistan Army led by Brigadier Mohammad Zafar Iqbal has visited China to review t

New Delhi, August 17 (IANS): China has deployed high altitude artillery guns in Tibet amid the ongoing border tension with India in eastern Ladakh. "The artillery guns, at an altitude of 4,600 meters, are deployed in Tibet general areas since last week of July," sources said. It was also revealed that China has deployed its '150 Light Combined Arms Brigade of 77 Combat Command' in Tibet Military District. The combined arms brigade is an adaptation of the America

SHANGHAI/BEIJING, August 14 (Reuters): China saw average concentrations of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5 fall by 10.8% from January to July as industry slowed because of the coronavirus, data showed on Friday, though levels were still well above WHO recommendations. Average PM2.5 stood at 33 micrograms per cubic metre over the seven months, according to data collected from monitoring stations in more than 300 cities, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment sai

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