Shenyang, China | AFP | China’s Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo died Thursday after a battle with cancer, remaining in custody until the end as officials ignored international pleas to let him spend his final days free and abroad. The prominent democracy advocate died aged 61, more than a month after …
Read More »Botswana risks China ties with visit from Dalai Lama
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | The Dalai Lama will visit Botswana next month and meet with President Ian Khama in a trip likely to anger China, a key investor across Africa and its largest trade partner. Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist campaigning for Tibetan independence and …
Read More »US warship near S. China Sea island ‘provocation’: China
Beijing, China | AFP | The passage of a US warship close to a disputed island in the South China Sea was a “serious political and military provocation”, Beijing said, one that could further strain relations between the superpowers The destroyer, the USS Stethem, sailed less than 12 nautical miles from …
Read More »ANALYSIS: ‘Schoolmaster’ Xi leaves Hong Kong smarting
Hong Kong, China | AFP | A landmark visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hong Kong left little doubt that Beijing views the city as a destabilising hotbed of unacceptable political dissent that must prove its loyalty, analysts said Sunday. His three-day trip to celebrate 20 years since Hong …
Read More »China’s Xi draws ‘red line’ in Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China | AFP | China’s President Xi Jinping said Saturday Hong Kong was freer than ever before but laid down an uncrossable “red line” for any challenge to Beijing’s authority as the city marked 20 years since it was handed back by Britain. Xi spoke in a televised …
Read More »Room service? Xi takes over Hong Kong luxury hotels
Hong Kong, China | AFP |China’s President Xi Jinping will want for nothing during his three-day visit to Hong Kong after taking over two entire luxury hotels with more than 1,300 rooms between them. The glitzy harbourfront Grand Hyatt and Renaissance, in the business and commercial district of Wan Chai, …
Read More »Botswana bans export of donkey products
Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | Botswana’s government has moved to crack down on the multi-billion dollar trade in donkey skins following a spate of killings of the animals across the country fuelled by soaring demand from China. Export licences for donkeys and their products have been suspended indefinitely, the Ministry …
Read More »China’s president Xi in landmark visit to Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China | AFP | President Xi Jinping arrives in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark 20 years since it was handed back to China by Britain, a trip that has already riled democracy activists in the politically divided city. The three-day visit is his first since becoming leader …
Read More »South Koreans march to protest US missile defence system
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Thousands of protesters marched near the US embassy in Seoul on Saturday, accusing President Donald Trump of “forcing” South Korea to deploy a controversial American missile defence system opposed by China. The protest came as South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-In heads to Washington …
Read More »Around 100 people feared buried in China landslide
Beijing, China | AFP | Chinese authorities launched a frantic search for around 100 people feared buried after a landslide smashed through a mountain village in southwest Sichuan province on Saturday, local authorities said. Some 40 homes in the village of Xinmo were swallowed by huge boulders after the side …
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