Improving North-South Korean Relations May Depend on China, US Says

South Korean President Park Geun-hye meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington next week for talks that are expected to focus on North Korea’s nuclear program. While the two leaders will discuss closer military cooperation, U.S. officials believe Chinese involvement is key to improving relations on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea’s military remains on alert for a missile strike from the North.

“As long as North Korea does not completely withdraw its missiles, our army will keep our security posture high and closely monitor the North’s movements,” Defense Ministry Spokesman Kim Min-Seok said.

Read Full Article HERE

Scott Stearns, Voice of America via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/dx-iSO6ihNc/

New database focuses on China’s secretive aid to Africa

Economic development researchers on Monday unveiled a database of China’s aid to Africa in an effort to work around Beijing’s secrecy about the numbers, as a debate rages over the intentions and impact of Chinese assistance.

The study and database by the Washington-based Center for Global Development and AidData, a research project, includes 1,673 Chinese development finance projects worth $75 billion in 50 African countries from the years 2000-2011.

Read Full Article HERE

Paul Eckert, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/eucf7cNnnsI/

China’s Red Cross Tries to Rebuild After Self-Inflicted Disaster

China’s Red Cross is scrambling to help rebuild after another disaster – only this time it’s their own reputation they need to reconstruct.

The Red Cross Society of China is vowing to restore its sagging image, which has buckled under the weight of allegations of corruption and poor management and an undeniable loss of public confidence. Evidence of how bad things have become: In the first day after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the county of Lushan in Sichuan, the Red Cross received roughly 140,000 yuan ($22,700) in donations, compared to 10 million taken in by martial arts star Jet Li’s One Foundation.

Read Full Article HERE

William Kazer, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/tiYj9Nb9fsA/

US loans from China at issue in debt-ceiling fight

Despite what you may have heard, China isn’t the country’s biggest creditor. America is.

The bulk of the national debt — soon to exceed a staggering $17 trillion — is held by the Federal Reserve, Social Security system, various pension plans for civil service workers and military personnel, U.S. banks, mutual funds, private pension plans, insurance companies and individual domestic investors.

China is responsible for just a shade over 7 percent of that total debt. And while it remains the single largest foreign lender (just ahead of Japan), China’s been slowly trimming its holdings, down from nearly 10 percent a few years ago. Overall, all foreign investors — including national central banks — account for roughly one third of the total outstanding federal government debt.

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/MWJ2kpRnMVU/

Gamblers not so anonymous: Beijing keeps closer eye on Macau

With little fanfare, China is sending an official with a ‘tough cop’ reputation to be its top man in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, as Beijing puts tackling corruption center stage.

Li Gang, a veteran of handling contentious issues in Hong Kong, is slated to this year take control of China’s liaison office in the former Portuguese colony – which like Hong Kong is a special administrative region under China’s ‘one country, two systems’ principle.

Read Full Article HERE

Farah Master, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/AOabU8fVfC8/

China’s Military Says No Plates for Porsches in Crackdown

China will ban the use of military number plates on luxury cars, including Porsche and Bentley, in a crackdown on abuse of vehicle management within the armed forces amid President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption.

The change was ordered by the Central Military Commission, headed by Xi, and is part of the military’s effort to reinforce discipline and protect its image, the PLA Daily, the armed forces’ official newspaper, said in a report yesterday.

Read Full Article HERE

Fan Wenxin, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Nh2LlemD_W0/

China reports new bird flu case in Hunan province

China on Saturday reported its first case of H7N9 bird flu in the southern province of Hunan, the latest sign the virus that has killed 23 people in the country is continuing to spread.

The official Xinhua news agency said the patient was a 64-year-old woman from Shaoyang city who developed a fever on April 14, four days after having contact with poultry. Her condition had improved with treatment, it added.

Read Full Article HERE

Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/y9SKKr0VkfE/

China Says More People Arrested After Deadly Clash

Police have arrested more suspects in connection with a clash between authorities and assailants that left 21 people dead in China’s western region of Xinjiang, state media reported Monday.

Eight suspects already were in custody following last Tuesday’s clash, which killed 15 police officers and local officials and six assailants. Authorities described the gang as terrorists.

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Qw_Vm1u_REM/

France Is Open to Selling Firms to China Buyers

France is open to China buying some of its companies as Europe’s second-largest economy tries to foster more balanced trade relations with the Asian country and repair its domestic economy, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said.

“Our first move will be to say welcome, and then we will have to consider” whether to oppose such deals, said Mr. Moscovici in an interview in Hong Kong, where he traveled after visiting Beijing with French President François Hollande.

Read Full Article HERE

Ken Brown, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/WGldmxgHMps/

China Industrial Profit Growth Slows as Economic Recovery Wanes

Growth in Chinese industrial companies’ profits slowed in March, adding to evidence the nation’s economic recovery is losing steam.

Net income increased 5.3 percent from a year earlier to 464.9 billion yuan ($75 billion), down from a 17.2 percent pace in the first two months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website on April 27. Profit in the first quarter rose 12.1 percent to 1.17 trillion yuan, it said.

China’s stocks fell for a third straight month in April amid investor concern that the recovery in the country’s economic expansion is losing momentum and will hurt corporate earnings. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) closed 1 percent lower on April 26, the last trading day before a three- day holiday ending May 1.

Read Full Article HERE

Nerys Avery and Helen Sun, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/CdvIXhx9mEw/

Hunan bird flu case, as 2 recover in city

CHINA reported its first case of H7N9 bird flu in the central province of Hunan, the latest sign the virus that has killed 23 people in the country is continuing to spread.

Meanwhile, Shanghai – which has been hardest-hit so far – is seeing more patients recovered. Two were released yesterday. One is an 81-year-old woman who was confirmed with H7N9 infection on April 9 and another a 47-year-old man confirmed on April 16, according to Shanghai health authorities.

By 5pm yesterday, Shanghai had reported 33 confirmed H7N9 cases. Of these, 10 are still under treatment, 11 have recovered and released from the hospital. The new strain of the virus has claimed 12 lives in the city.

Read Full Article H ERE

Shanghai Daily.com via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/kpyVyEi964A/

News Analysis: Time to widen yuan’s daily trading band?

A year after China widened the daily trading limit of its currency, the yuan, experts are arguing whether it is time to further enlarge the band to make the exchange rate more market oriented.

In mid April 2012, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, decided to widen the yuan’s daily trading limit against the U.S. dollar to 1 percent, up from the previous 0.5 percent.

The move, as announced by the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, has meant Chinese banks can exchange the yuan 1 percent above or below the central parity rate against the U.S. dollar on the spot market.

Read Full Article H ERE

admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/wC0jyOUQYPY/

China, EU ‘to renew ties’

China and the European Union on Saturday pledged to promote their mid- and long-term cooperation plan, address disputes and strengthen coordination over international affairs, as the first top-ranking EU official visited China under its new leadership.

China values relations with the EU, and will continue supporting the integration of the 27-member bloc, and deepen the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

“You are the very first head of an EU institution to visit China after the inauguration of the new government in China,” said Wang, adding the visit’s timing was symbolic of the importance “placed by both the EU and you yourself on the Chinese-EU relationship”.

Read Full Article H ERE

admin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/OVZAHhiu2ww/

Industrial companies post lower profit growth

The country’s industrial companies saw an easing of profit growth in the first quarter of this year, suggesting economic recovery in the world’s second largest economy has uneven momentum.

In the first quarter, the profit of industrial companies with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($3.24 million) or more grew 12.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.17 trillion yuan, in contrast to the 17.2 percent gain in the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics commented on its website on Saturday.

March saw registered profits of 464.9 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3 percent from a year earlier, significantly slower than the first two months, the bureau said.

Read Full Article H ERE

Li Jiabao via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/VDDPbRYca4o/

Private sorrows as China mourns earthquake dead

YESTERDAY morning, sirens sounded in Wuxing Village, in Sichuan Province’s Lushan County, their haunting wail mourning villager Zhou Yonghong, her baby son, and the other victims of last Saturday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

But Zhou’s grief-stricken family were preoccupied, searching for her possessions among the collapsed ruins where the body of the 22-year-old was found, clutching her lifeless five-month-old son, Liu Yuze.

Mother and son have been buried together on a mountain overlooking the village.

Read Full Article H ERE

Zha Minjie via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/4lDsYa0hPvk/

Shanghai economy gains 7.8% in Q1

SHANGHAI’S gross domestic product grew 7.8 percent from a year earlier to 493.7 billion yuan (US$78.9 billion) in the first quarter, the Shanghai Statistics Bureau said yesterday.

The rate picked up from last year’s 7.5 percent rise and was higher than the national average of 7.7 percent, although Shanghai was again China’s slowest-growing city among the 22 provinces and municipalities which have released figures for the first three months.

“The data indicate that Shanghai is steady on the path of economic recovery,” said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. “Despite the relatively slow pace, Shanghai is sticking to its own growth course toward a service-driven economy.”

Read Full Article H ERE

Wang Yanlin via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ZwZLmY0nY0I/

Innovation key for China and France, says Li

Premier Li Keqiang on Friday described China and France as two economies highly complementary to each other, in a meeting with visiting French President Francois Hollande in Beijing.

The two countries should seek innovative ways to boost their mutually beneficial cooperation, the premier said after the two governments signed 18 new agreements and business deals on Thursday.

Hollande said France is willing to deepen bilateral relations and explore new areas for economic cooperation with China, and oppose trade protectionism.

Read Full Article H ERE

DING QINGFEN , LI JIABAO via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/IelMVdygqt8/

China to be biggest market for Airbus A380

China will be the biggest single market for the A380 aircraft, Airbus SAS’ super jumbo, the European aircraft manufacturer’s chief said on Friday.

Airbus forecast that China will need more than 200 aircraft with 500 or more seats in the next 20 years, and the A380 is the main aircraft in this category, said Fabrice Bregier, president and CEO of Airbus.

“For A380 market growth, we are chasing 5 percent per year at the world level and 10 percent in China,” he added.

Read Full Article H ERE

Wang Wen via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/U9w-voqJZkA/

Partnership PE Funds Allowed to Invest in Insurance Firms

Partnership private equity funds have been allowed to invest in insurance companies, as the regulator seeks greater involvement of private capital in the industry.

A number of insurance companies already filed requests for bringing in PE investors, an official from China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said when announcing the policy on April 24.

This is the latest progress towards opening the insurance industry to private investors, since CIRC said last June that it would encourage private investments in insurance companies.

Read Full Article H ERE

Wang Shenlu via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/SVCnSmQp8fs/

China Top Leaders Warn on Financial Risks as Rebound Falters

China’s top leaders said the country must guard against financial risks and boost consumption amid signs that the recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy is faltering.

“China needs to cement its domestic economic growth momentum and guard against potential risks in financial sectors,” the Politburo Standing Committee said in a statement late yesterday published by the official Xinhua News Agency. Macro-economic policies should be stabilized and micro controls in some sectors should be loosened, it said after what Xinhua said was a “special session” on the economy.

Read Full Article HERE

Nerys Avery, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/3XspWTHpwSU/

China slams Philippine bid to “legalise” occupation of islands

China accused the Philippines on Friday of trying to legalise its occupation of islands in the disputed South China Sea, repeating that Beijing would never agree to international arbitration.

Frustrated with the slow pace of regional diplomacy, the Philippines in January angered China by asking a U.N. tribunal to order a halt to Beijing’s activities that it said violated Philippine sovereignty over the islands, surrounded by potentially energy-rich waters.

Read Full Article HERE

Ben Blanchard, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/AZBHJfPKrMI/

India Says Talks on to End Standoff With China

India is holding talks to end a standoff with China after Chinese soldiers infiltrated deep inside Indian-claimed territory, India’s defense minister A.K. Antony said Friday.

“Negotiations and consultations are going on at various levels to find out a peaceful solution to the Chinese incursion issue,” Antony told reporters.

India says Chinese troops crossed the de facto border between the countries and went 10 kilometers (six miles) into Indian territory on April 15. About 50 Chinese soldiers have pitched tents and are camping in Daulat Beg Oldi in the Ladakh region of eastern Kashmir.

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/q7SW27Fz978/

France’s Pinault family wins Beijing’s praise with offer to donate looted Qing dynasty bronzes

The family that runs French luxury-goods conglomerate Kering won plaudits from Beijing on Friday for offering to return a pair of looted Qing dynasty bronzes at the heart of a Chinese campaign to overcome the legacy of bullying by foreign powers.

The offer from company CEO Francois-Henri Pinault was “an expression of friendship toward the Chinese people,” the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said.

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/9F7jOrdH8EY/

China Telecom Earnings Rise

China Telecom Corp. said Friday its first-quarter unaudited net profit rose 10% despite rising costs, as it competes to attract high-value smartphone users.

China’s largest fixed-line operator by subscribers has been spending heavily on its mobile-services business, which it bought in 2008 from China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. as part of a government-mandated restructuring of the telecommunications sector.

Read Full Article HERE

Paul Mozur, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/BBH9_7_BfJs/

Chinese consumers push US exports higher

China remained the United States’ third-biggest export destination, behind Canada and Mexico, in 2012, having purchased nearly $109 billion worth of US goods, according to a report by the US-China Business Council.

Each of 30 US states exported more than $1 billion in goods to China while 10 others shipped more than $500 million. Leading industries were agriculture, transportation and electronics, the Washington-based organization said in an annual survey released on Thursday.

Although GDP growth in the world’s second-largest economy slowed last year, China still saw the value of imports from the US increase by 6.5 percent, or $6.6 billion, the council said.

Read Full Article H ERE

Zhang Yuwei via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Ak85PXrU6Eo/

Study confirms poultry links to flu

CHINESE researchers have confirmed poultry as a source of H7N9 flu among humans but said they have not found any evidence of person-to-person transmission.

A report in The Lancet, a medical journal, yesterday said a probe into four cases of human H7N9 influenza in China’s eastern Zhejiang Province showed that all the patients had been exposed to poultry, either through their occupation or by visiting wet poultry markets.

The World Health Organization had previously said poultry were the likely source of the virus, which has been linked to at least 22 deaths out of more than 100 identified cases since February.

Read Full Article H ERE

Shanghai Daily.com via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/FjIqN43x5Q8/

Onset of flood season adds to quake zone risks

Monitoring and prevention efforts will be stepped up as secondary geological events overlapping with the flood season present a tremendous challenge for disaster relief operations in Sichuan province’s quake-hit areas, said a senior official of the provincial government on Thursday.

Probe teams have discovered more than 1,900 high-risk spots in Lushan and Baoxing counties, Zhong Mian, executive deputy governor of Sichuan province, said at a news conference in Beijing.

The two counties in Ya’an were the areas most affected by the magnitude-7 earthquake on April 20.

Read Full Article H ERE

HE DAN, AN BAIJIE via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/tfFeSQiNTqs/

Southeast Asia to reach out to China on sea disputes

Southeast Asian nations stepped up efforts on Thursday to engage China in talks to resolve maritime tensions, agreeing to meet to try to reach common ground on disputed areas of the South China Sea ahead of planned discussions in Beijing later this year.

Efforts by ASEAN to craft a code of conduct to manage South China Sea tensions all but collapsed last year at a summit chaired by Cambodia, a close economic ally of China, when the group failed to issue a closing statement for the first time.

Read Full Article HERE

Manuel Mogato and Stuart Grudgings, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/TmhZYPZ6JJc/

U.S. General Sees Hope for Chinese Help on Korea

After three days of talks here, America’s top military officer said Wednesday that he believed China wanted to limit the nuclear ambitions of North Korea but that it remained unclear how China would work toward that goal.

Contrary to suggestions by some in the United States that China is not interested in solving the North Korean problem, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the “Chinese leadership is as concerned as we are with North Korea’s march toward nuclearization and ballistic missile technology.”

Read Full Article HERE

Jane Perlez, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/xTJ98eUIRHg/

Scientist Says Pollution From China Is Killing a Japanese Island’s Trees

A mysterious pestilence has befallen this island’s primeval forests, leaving behind the bleached, skeletal remains of dead trees that now dot the dark green mountainsides. Osamu Nagafuchi, an environmental engineer with a passion for the island and its rugged terrain, believes he knows the culprit: airborne pollutants from smog-belching China, hundreds of miles upwind.

For years, Mr. Nagafuchi’s theory was ignored by fellow scientists and even mocked by bureaucrats in the national government who administer the forests on this southwestern island. But Japan has begun taking his warnings more seriously, as the nation has been gripped by a national health scare over rising levels of potentially dangerous airborne particles that have swept into other parts of Japan and that many now believe were produced by China, its huge and rapidly industrializing neighbor.

Read Full Article HERE

Martin Fackler, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/BsoZey8jsDo/

China says no buildings constructed after massive earthquake in 2008 collapsed in recent quake

An official says that no buildings constructed after a powerful earthquake struck southwest China in 2008 collapsed during last week’s quake in the same province.

Poor designs and shoddy construction were blamed for the collapse of many schools during the Sichuan earthquake five years ago that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. To assuage public anger, central and local government officials promised to enforce tougher safety codes in the reconstruction.

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/d7BxXAinWT0/

Chinese, French leaders vow to seek ‘multipolar’ world as French president visits China

China’s President Xi Jinping and France’s President Francois Hollande pledged to push for a world free of domination by any superpower Thursday as the French leader visited the Chinese capital on a mission to boost trade amid his country’s worsening economic woes.

Both leaders stressed their desire for a “multipolar” world that would dilute Washington’s influence — though they did not mention the U.S. in their comments.

“China and France are both great countries with a strong sense of independence,” Xi said at a news conference, adding that the two countries would “actively promote a multipolar world and the democratization of international relations.”

Read Full Article HERE

Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/dmtmyw51zWU/

Property loans accelerate, industrial lending slows in China

China saw outstanding real estate loans accelerate as of the end of March from three months earlier while industrial lending slowed, official data showed Wednesday.

By the end of last month, financial institutions in China had lent 12.98 trillion yuan (2.08 trillion U.S. dollars) to the property sector, up 16.4 percent year on year, according to statistics from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank.

The growth was 3.6 percentage points faster than that recorded at the end of last year, the PBOC said.

Read Full Article H ERE

English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/m_wMk0xajl0/

State Asset Regulator Sets 10% Profit Target for SOEs

China’s state-owned asset regulator announced growth targets for centrally-administered state companies after a weaker-than-expected first quarter performance was reported.

Jiang Jiemin, the newly appointed chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said at a recent conference that securing stable growth is at the top of the central government’s agenda this year.

Jiang required central government-owned enterprises to achieve 8 percent value added growth this year, with a profit target of 10 percent.

Read Full Article H ERE

Cao Wenjiao via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/uFNdKDvgZp0/

China cuts fuel prices amid weaker demand

China’s top economic planner announced Wednesday it will lower fuel prices due to declines in global oil prices, a move that will help control inflation levels in the world’s second-largest economy.

Retail prices of gasoline will be cut by 395 yuan (63.32 U.S. dollars) per tonne and diesel by 400 yuan per tonne starting Thursday, according to a statement by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, on Wednesday.

The benchmark retail price of gasoline will be lowered by 0.29 yuan per liter and diesel by 0.34 yuan per liter.

Read Full Article H ERE

English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/jT-wW_wf3Mg/

China “working on” persuading North Korea: U.S. officer

The top U.S. military officer said on Wednesday Chinese leaders had assured him that they were working on persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

China is North Korea’s main diplomatic and financial backer and fought alongside the North in the 1950-53 Korean War. It has always been reluctant to apply pressure on the North, fearing a flood of refugees into China if North Korea were to collapse.

But in recent months, China has begun to express impatience with North Korea and its threats of nuclear war, and with its 30-year-old leader, Kim Jong-un, grandson of state founder Kim Il-Sung.

Read Full Article HERE

Terril Yue Jones, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/MD29YeBfD9c/

China calls Japan-U.S. island drill “provocative”

China said on Wednesday that “provocative actions” would not sway it from defending its territory, after Japan confirmed it would conduct military drills with the United States amid tension between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands.

Japan said on Tuesday that the joint drill, scheduled for June off California, involved the recapture of an isolated island but was not aimed at scenarios involving a specific country, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.

Read Full Article HERE

Michael Martina and Terril Yue Jones, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/PVapO2fEX0o/

US urges China collaboration on cyber intrusions

The top U.S. military officer said Wednesday that he has called on China to be more transparent about cyberattacks and boost collaboration with the U.S. to tackle a common threat to their economies.

Gen. Martin Dempsey said tackling cyber intrusions featured in his talks with his Chinese counterpart and other Chinese leaders during his three-day visit to China aimed at building mutual trust between the world’s most powerful military and China’s fast-growing and increasingly sophisticated force.

Read Full Article HERE

Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/SE_i_LZdvCI/

Apple Faces Quandary Over China Sales

Apple Inc.’s sales in greater China grew at a healthy clip in the second quarter, but the numbers belie growing concerns for the company in its second-largest market as the bonanza for high-end smartphone sales in the country comes to an end.

China’s rapidly expanding middle and upper classes have discarded old cellphones for new smartphones in surging numbers over the past two years, driving huge demand for the most expensive phones made by companies like Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. But with almost 300 million Chinese already subscribing to high-end mobile services, the next wave in sales in the industry is centering on less-expensive smartphones, leaving Apple in a quandary over whether to chase lower-end users or focus on the smaller high-end segment, where profits are bigger.

Read Full Article HERE

Paul Mozur, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/daXMa6HKqME/

China Plans New Generation of Carriers as Sea Disputes Grow

China unveiled plans to build more aircraft carriers after commissioning its first last year, as the country extends its influence amid territorial disputes with neighbors including Japan and Vietnam.

Future aircraft carriers will carry more fighter jets than the Liaoning, Rear Admiral Song Xue told foreign military attaches yesterday in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua New Agency. The carrier was built around a Soviet-era hull and began trials at sea last year.

Read Full Article HERE

Michael Forsythe, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/QVjjgYiAvUo/

21 dead in Xinjiang terrorist clash

A violent clash between suspected terrorists and authorities in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has left 21 people dead, including 15 community workers and police officers and six of the suspects, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The attacks happened around Tuesday noon in a town of Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, some 1,200 km southwest of Urumqi, regional capital of Xinjiang.

Three community workers discovered suspicious individuals and knives in the home of a local resident. They then reported the situation to their supervisors via phone, but were seized by the suspects who had been hiding in the house.

Read Full Article H ERE

Mandy Peng via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/40pQApzGaDE/

Quake hardly jolts China’s economy

A strong quake has again brought huge losses to southeast China’s Sichuan Province, but the disaster is unlikely to undermine the economy in any great deal due to its scale, analysts said.

The 7.0-magnitude quake that struck Sichuan’s Ya’an City on Saturday morning has so far killed at least 193 people and injured more than 12,200 others, latest data from the provincial government showed.

“From what we have learnt from the region’s 2008 quake, economic impacts will be limited. Losses in local areas should not be blown up to a disaster for the whole economy,” said Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Read Full Article H ERE

English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/jrPEXYaXVzA/

China’s manufacturing growth slows: HSBC

China’s manufacturing activity lost some of its dynamism in April, a new survey from HSBC has indicated, adding to concerns about the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy.

The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slowed to a two-month low of 50.5 in April, according to figures released by HSBC on Tuesday.

The bank’s preliminary reading for April faltered from March’s final index of 51.6.

Read Full Article H ERE

English.news.cn via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/qC7ebqE3amI/

Beijing protests Diaoyu incident

Tensions escalated once again between Japan and its neighbors on Tuesday as China strongly protested against “provocation” by Japanese ships in the waters off the Diaoyu Islands, calling the moves “illegal” and “troublemaking”.

A group of 168 Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the same day, despite repeated objections from Beijing and Seoul. The visit worsened Japan’s diplomatic deadlock in the region.

According to a statement issued by China’s State Oceanic Administration, a fleet of Chinese marine surveillance ships on regular patrol duty found several Japanese ships in waters around the Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday.

Read Full Article H ERE

Pu Zhendong and Zhang Yunbi via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/9SMAkSAwO-w/

Premier thanks nations for aid

China appreciates international support and help in earthquake relief and reconstruction, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

During his meeting with President of the Thai National Assembly Somsak Kiatsuranont, Li expressed gratitude to the Thai royal family and government for their condolences sent soon after the magnitude-7 earthquake hit Lushan county, Sichuan province, on Saturday.

The earthquake has caused heavy loss of life and property to the Chinese people, and the government is conducting relief work in an orderly way by trying its best to save lives and rescue the injured, relocate people affected by the earthquake and decrease losses to the greatest extent, Li said.

Read Full Article H ERE

Zhou Wa via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/OkwiNDly1LU/

U.S. and China Put Focus on Cybersecurity

The United States and China held their highest-level military talks in nearly two years on Monday, with a senior Chinese general pledging to work with the United States on cybersecurity because the consequences of a major cyberattack “may be as serious as a nuclear bomb.”

Cybersecurity has become a sudden source of tension between the two countries. China has bristled over the growing body of evidence that its military has been involved in cyberattacks on American corporations and some government agencies. Last month, the Obama administration demanded that the Chinese government stop the theft of data from American computer networks and help create global standards for cybersecurity.

Read Full Article HERE

Jane Perlez, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/ijce2Sld7u0/

China’s Recovery Falters as Manufacturing Growth Cools

China’s manufacturing is expanding at a slower pace this month on weakness in global and domestic demand, fueling concern that the world’s second-biggest economy is faltering.

The preliminary reading of 50.5 for a Purchasing Managers’ Index (EC11CHPM) released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics compared with a final 51.6 for March. The number was also below the median 51.5 estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 analysts. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Read Full Article HERE

Zheng Lifei and Kevin Hamlin, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/v4GpgQJl2V4/

China, Japan Island Spat Resurfaces

A day after top officials’ visits to a controversial Tokyo war shrine rankled Japan’s neighbors, Beijing and Tokyo faced off afresh over a group of disputed islands, raising concerns that tensions between the two East Asian powers may be returning after a period of relative calm.

The Japanese Coast Guard complained Tuesday that China had sent eight maritime-patrol ships to the waters surrounding small East China Sea islands controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. China, meanwhile, protested the presence in the same waters of a flotilla of boats piloted by Japanese activists.

The Chinese flotilla was the largest Beijing had sent to the area since September, when the current dispute flared up following Japan’s decision to nationalize the islands.

Read Full Article HERE

Yuka Hayashi, Wall Street Journal via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/Kfr7rHTTJys/

Indian, Chinese Armies Hold Meeting to Resolve Border Dispute

Indian and Chinese military commanders are holding a meeting to ease tension between the world’s two most populous countries after an alleged Chinese incursion along their disputed 3,550-kilometer (2,205-mile) Himalayan border.

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a briefing today denied India’s allegations, while Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai of the South Asian country summoned Wei Wei, the Chinese ambassador in New Delhi, for talks last week after the incident in Ladakh in northern India.

Read Full Article HERE

Andrew MacAskill, Bloomberg News via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/w05qadiWJJo/

China bird flu death toll rises to 22

An elderly man in eastern China died of bird flu on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from a strain that recently emerged in humans to 22, a provincial health agency reported.

The 86-year-old man died after having been diagnosed with the H7N9 virus on April 17, the Zhejiang Health Bureau said on its website.

Two others in Zhejiang have been diagnosed with the disease, including an 84-year-old man and a 62-year-old man, both of Hangzhou who fell ill on April 15, the health bureau said.

Read Full Article HERE

Terril Yue Jones, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/sX0usbe7rjg/