CHINA

The Maldives has signed a "military assistance" deal with China after ordering Indian troops deployed in the small but strategically-placed archipelago to leave, officials said Tuesday.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the gathered CCP cadres, including President Xi Jinping, that the country would seek "steady growth" in consumer spending and "defuse risks in real estate (and) local government debt."

China's annual political conclave kicks off in Beijing on Monday, with officials saying the flagging economy and youth unemployment are of "great concern" as they lay out plans for the coming year.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos told Australia's parliament his country was on the "frontline" of a battle for regional peace Thursday, pledging resolve as he sought support in maritime disputes with China.

The decision, outlined in a new Army document, aligns with the Pentagon's refocus on countering Chinese and Russian military capabilities after decades of concentrating on the fight against terrorism.

Reports say Chinese police officers are actively engaged in community policing and the development of a crime database program in Kiribati.

The development comes slightly more than a year after a Chinese spy balloon was tracked across the United States before being shot down by U.S. fighters.

The United States needs allies like Japan to help manufacture steel. If Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel can join forces to become more productive in their collective operations and scale a competitive steel industry, it will benefit the national security of both nations.

China said Thursday it had signed agreements to send pandas to a zoo in San Diego, after nearly all the beloved black-and-white animals on loan in the United States were returned during years of diplomatic tensions.

HSBC's quarterly profit took a significant hit due to impairment charges on its investments in China's Bank of Communications.

China's central bank rate-cut on Tuesday is among measures intended to rally dwindling growth as the world's second-largest economy battles a prolonged property-sector crisis and a global slowdown.

The annual security gathering in Munich brings together military elite from around the world and is seen as a barometer of transatlantic relations. It starts on Friday.

US Treasury Department suggests that while dollar alternatives are emerging, they do not currently pose a major threat in illicit finance activities.

Twenty-five-year-old Chinese office worker Tufei says her boyfriend has everything she could ask for in a romantic partner: he's kind, empathetic, and sometimes they talk for hours.

The strategically-placed Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, which has borrowed heavily from China and shifted allegiance from India, is at high risk of "debt distress," the IMF warned Wednesday.

China's slide into deflation came when Japan was snapping out of it. In the third quarter of 2023, Japan's residential property price index rose at an annual rate of 2.4%, following an even more significant rise in the previous two quarters.

Waving glow sticks, and wearing sequin dresses and friendship bracelets, Chinese fans of American pop sensation Taylor Swift turn a normally-quiet Beijing cinema into a raucous celebration of their favourite singer.

Australia's government said Tuesday it had expressed "outrage" to China over a suspended death sentence handed to Chinese-Australian dissident writer Yang Jun.

33 onshore exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track foreign benchmarks excluding Hong Kong saw an inflow of $2 billion in the month of January, Bloomberg reported.

China's economic slowdown is likely to persist in the coming years as the Asian giant struggles with sagging productivity and a rapidly aging population, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday.

The U.S. Department of Defense's expanded list, while not imposing immediate bans, carries reputational risks for listed Chinese companies, aligning with the strategy to limit American tech contributions to China's military and cautioning U.S. entities about associated risks.