China

Qian Lang and Lucie Lo for RFA Mandarin2024.11.08 Read this story in Chinese. When Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Donald Trump on his election victory this week, he warned that both countries stand to “lose from confrontation,” amid growing concerns that a Trump administration could be further bad news for China’s flagging economy. “Xi Jinping noted that history tells us that both countries stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website, citing Xi. “A China-U.S. relationship with stable, healthy and sustainable development serves the common interests of the two countries and meets the expectations of the international community,” it paraphrased Xi as saying. “It is hoped that the t...

Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin2024.11.10 China’s state broadcaster has launched a historical TV show with an all-star cast dramatizing the role of President Xi Jinping’s father Xi Zhongxun in the communist revolution, although social media reaction and commentators suggest that young people in China would rather watch “Stranger Things.” “When the wind blew from the northwest, the revolutionaries ... watered their faith with their own blood and lived their lives in hope,” state broadcaster CCTV said in a Weibo post announcing the launch of the 39-episode TV series with a short trailer on Nov. 5. “I’m Xi Zhongxun,” whispers a youthful version of the revolutionary veteran over footage of idealistic young men saluting the communist flag and charging into battle. “I will forever fight for the s...

  FILE - Pistachios are hand-sorted at the Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds processing plant in Lost Hills, California, Oct. 25, 2024. Lost Hills, California — In a sprawling plant in the heart of California\'s farmland, millions of shells rush down a metallic chute and onto a conveyor belt where they are inspected, roasted, packaged and shipped off to groceries around the world. Pistachios are growing fast in California, where farmers have been devoting more land to a crop seen as hardier and more drought-tolerant in a state prone to dramatic swings in precipitation. The crop generated nearly $3 billion last year in California and in the past decade the United States has surpassed Iran to become the world\'s top exporter of the nut. &...

  FILE - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto salutes during the swearing-in ceremony of new cabinet ministers at the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Oct. 21, 2024. Subianto left for China on Friday for his first international trip as president. Washington — Indonesia\'s newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto set off for China on Friday for his first international trip as president. "From Beijing I will fly directly to Washington, D.C., on the invitation of the U.S. president," said Prabowo upon departing Jakarta. Indonesians often refer to public figures by their first names. His tour aims to "cultivate good relations with all parties," Prabowo said. He has stated his ambition to raise Indonesia\'s international profile and made early foreign policy moves...

  FILE - Police walk past Chinese and Hong Kong flags in Hong Kong, July 1, 2024. As economic pressures constrain budgets, Chinese police have been using flexible legal codes and financial punishments to fill government coffers, analysts say. washington — Zhang Ke, not his real name, has been hiding from police in the southern megalopolis of Guangzhou since September. He said he had not committed a crime but was dodging authorities to avoid extortion by police from another city more than 1,400 kilometers away in northern China. In July, Zhang said his life was turned upside down when all of his bank accounts were frozen by the Nanle County Public Security Bureau in Henan province. Zhang told VOA Mandarin that police demanded $55,000 — nea...

  FILE - Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2023. China reaffirmed support for the junta leader at a meeting in Kunming, China, on Nov. 6, 2024. WASHINGTON — As clashes escalate along Myanmar’s northern border, Chinese Premier Li Qiang this week reaffirmed Beijing\'s support for Myanmar’s military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The comment came Wednesday following a sideline meeting with the embattled junta leader at the November 6-7 Greater Mekong Subregion Summit in Kunming, in China’s southern Yunan province, according to a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry statement issued the same day. During the meeting, Li p...

  FILE - In this undated photo released by the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency, an agent uses binoculars to monitor the movement of a Chinese coast guard vessel in the waters of North Natuna Sea in the disputed area of the South China Sea, Indonesia, on Oct. 24, 2024. JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is in Beijing Friday for his first official visit to China, where he is expected to meet with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Experts say he hopes to maintain the personal rapport with the Chinese leaders established by his predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. “Presumably, he will be leaning more toward Beijing for economic purposes since Prabowo has ambitious plans for achieving 8% economic growth,” Aristyo Darmawan, a lecturer in internati...

  China's Finance Minister Lan Fo'an speaks at a press conference on a plan to boost the economy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 8, 2024. BEIJING — China on Friday approved a 6 trillion yuan ($839 billion) plan to help local governments refinance their mountains of debt, in the latest push to rev up growth in the world\'s second largest economy. The plan will be implemented over the next three years, Xu Hongcai, vice-chairman of the National People\'s Congress\'s financial and economic committee, said at a news conference Friday. Finance minister Lan Fo\'an estimated that the hidden debt of local governments was 14.3 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) at the end of 2023. Hidden debt refers to debt that has not been disclosed publicly. Lan said 2 trillion yuan ...

  FILE - An American flag is flown next to the Chinese national emblem during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 9, 2017. BEIJING/HONG KONG — After Donald Trump first stormed the White House eight years ago, rattled Chinese leaders responded to his tariffs and fiery rhetoric with force, resulting in a trade war that plunged ties between the globe\'s largest economies to multiyear lows. This time around, Beijing has been preparing for Trump\'s return by deepening ties with allies, boosting self-reliance in tech, and setting aside money to prop up the economy that is now more vulnerable to fresh tariffs already threatened by Trump. Reuters Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by t...

  Philippines BEIJING/MANILA, Philippines — China summoned the Philippines' ambassador on Friday to express its objection to two new laws in the Southeast Asian nation asserting maritime rights and sovereignty over disputed areas of the South China Sea, its foreign ministry said. China made "solemn representations" to the ambassador shortly after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed the Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act into law to strengthen his country's maritime claims and bolster its territorial integrity. The Maritime Zones law "illegally includes most of China's Huangyan Island and Nansha Islands and related maritime areas in the Philippines' maritime zones," Beijing's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, using the Chinese names ...