China
China releases Swedish rights activist Peter Dahlin
A Swedish activist who was detained in China on charges of damaging national security has been released and deported. Peter Dahlin, 35, has been held since early January amid a crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists. Last week he appeared on state media apparently confessing to breaking the law through his...
Iran’s leader says never trusted the West, seeks closer ties with China
DUBAI (Reuters) — Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday called for closer economic and security ties with China, saying Iran had never trusted the West, as the two countries agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10-fold to $600 billion in the next decade. Iran's most powerful figure told...
China and Iran relations enter ‘new chapter,’ strategic ties to be expanded
President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran – the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years – has resulted in 17 agreements being signed between the two countries, with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani saying this opens a new chapter in their relations. The negotiations between Rouhani and his Chinese counterpart...
Trust but verify: China puts ‘authentic living buddhas’ on online list to curb fraud
China has published its first-ever online list of “authentic living buddhas,” explaining that the move is part of an effort to prevent fake living buddhas from swindling money from believers. The list bearing the names of 870 “verified living buddhas” was published on Monday and provides people with...
China ties on the line as Taiwan votes for new president
Taiwan looks set on Saturday to elect an independence-leaning opposition leader as its first woman president who could usher in a new round of uncertainty with China, the massive neighbor that claims the self-ruled island as its sacred territory. Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is expected to be...
Elsa’s dream: Frozen waterfall the width of football pitch captured in China
Whether it was Elsa, Bobby “Iceman” Drake, or just good ole Mother Nature, an amazing sight was created in northern China when a waterfall the width of a football pitch and the height of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue froze into a vertical super-highway of ice. Temperatures dipped below -15...
China overhauls top military command amid sweeping reforms
China has replaced four departments of the Central Military Commission (CMC) with 15 new agencies, in a move intended to make the top command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) more flexible and efficient. The CMC is a dual organ of military control in China and is comprised of top party and military officials. It...
China’s ex-national deputy police chief jailed for 15 yrs in bribery scandal
Former Chinese deputy national police chief Li Dongcheng was sentenced to 15 years in jail on corruption charges, after the court found him guilty of taking millions of dollars in bribes, China Central Television reported. CCTV had a brief announcement about the sentencing Tuesday morning. Li, 61, was accused of taking nearly...
Chairman Mao gets 36 meter gilded make-over in China
A new ‒ and rather giant ‒ statue of China’s former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong has people talking after images emerged of the piece. Located in the fields of Tongxu county, near the city of Kaifeng in Henan province, the towering statue reportedly cost three million yuan ($460,000) to build, which was funded...
China and cigarettes: The country that won’t quit
"Don't smoke! It's killing me!" was a warning my father repeatedly told me as I grew up. I listened, yet my father only quit a few years ago, at the age of 70, after a lifetime of smoking. He says it is a miracle. It is almost standard for a man of my father's generation to smoke. A common greeting among...
3 prosecuted in China over killing of giant panda and sale of its meat
The pelt of a panda killed by poachers in China. Authorities are prosecuting three people over the poaching of a female giant panda in Yunnan province. Three people are being prosecuted in China over the killing of a giant panda in the wild and the sale of its meat, state media reported. Giant pandas are an endangered...