North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's three-day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week likely focused on a range of issues including economic ties, nuclear talks and the possibility of a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.

But there's one topic that likely wasn't officially discussed despite its importance to North Korea's future: The prospect of Pyongyang joining China's continent-spanning Belt and Road Initiative, a project aiming to link more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East through overland and maritime routes.

The isolated state is hungry for foreign investments, particularly in infrastructure, as U.N. sanctions take a toll on its economy. Many believe that's been a major reason underlining Kim's engagement with the international community over the past year or so.

The past year was full of events that inevitably split the global geopolitical space into two camps: those who still support using US currency as a universal financial tool, and those who are turning their back on the greenback.

China has activated its "ship killer" Dong Feng ballistic missiles after a US navy ship traveled within 12 nautical miles of the Parcel Islands "to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law," according to a US Pacific Fleet Spokesman.

In the 1990s, China laid claim to all of the Parcel Islands using a straight baseline around the entire archipelago, which it has labeled the Xisha Islands. The boundary is not recognized by international maritime law, while Vietnam and Taiwan have also laid claim to the islands.

Thanks to new policies from the Trump administration aimed at cracking down at Beijing's access to strategic US technologies, China has all but halted investments in US-based tech startups, according to Reuters.

Venture funding out of China peaked last year at a record $3 billion according to the Rhodium Group, a New York economic research firm. The spike in capital is thought to have been spurred by investors and tech companies rushing to complete deals before the new regulatory measures were approved in August.

Tensions are continuing to rise between world superpowers. China has ordered its military to “enhance combat readiness” following a test of a MOAB (mother of all bombs); Russia and Iran are planning drills in the Atlantic; and the U.S. just sailed a Navy destroyer through the contested South China waters.

Last week, China’s President Xi Jinping Friday ordered the Chinese armed forces People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to enhance their combat readiness to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests after the U.S. had issued a travel warning to China stating Americans were at risk to arbitrary and indefinite detention.

In news stories that were scarcely noted last year, Prof. Avi Shimhon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top economic advisor, and Meir Ben Shabbat, Israel’s National Security Advisor, were reportedly instructed to develop a mechanism to assess the threat of strategic investment by external actors in Israel’s critical infrastructure. Their task was described as a run-of-the-mill bureaucratic one. But it was clear that Israel’s leadership was reassessing foreign strategic investment in the state, including Chinese plans for the reconstruction and operation of the state’s largest seaport in Haifa.

This move was long overdue. The decision to work with China on the Haifa port has already rankled US decision makers and has reportedly alarmed the Pentagon. Indeed, there are rumors that the US Navy may no longer dock its vessels in Haifa if the China deal goes through.

America and its allies, under the guise of the War on Terror and humanitarian intervention, have droned, bombed and killed millions of Muslim children, women and civilians in a dozen of countries from Afghanistan to Yemen, and displaced millions more. In 2011 President Obama ordered the execution of Anwar al Awlaki, an American extremist preacher, for preaching the same kind of Wahabbist extremism, and separately executed al Awlaki, his sixteen-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter, without trial. This is why Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim mass organization, and the world’s Muslim governments have not condemned China’s actions: they know that the US stirs up trouble in every Muslim country. The West is engaged in full-scale irregular war to destabilize China. The US created the Uyghur problem in Xinjiang by sponsoring terrorists there–the same tactics it used in Cuba, Venezuela, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya.

As noted earlier, today's statement on the concluded 3 days of trade talks in Beijing confirmed that the event was a nothinburger, with the WSJ noting that the two sides made "progress toward an agreement but leaving the thorniest issues to be resolved in higher-level talks, according to people with knowledge of the discussions."

During three days of talks between midlevel trade officials from Washington and Beijing in the Chinese capital that ended Wednesday, the two sides made progress on issues such as additional Chinese purchases of U.S. goods and services, as well as opening China’s markets further to American capital, the people said. But they cautioned that the two teams hadn’t yet made a breakthrough and more discussions are needed to resolve a trade fight that has unnerved global markets.

Over the weekend, when commenting on the latest rather disappointing RRR cut out of China (which would release just enough liquidity to offset liquidity drains via the MLP and repo) we pointed out another, far more important event which took place in late December, when traders were generally away on vacation, and when the PBOC indicated a critical shift in the official monetary policy description at the December Central Economic Work Conference, from “prudent and neutral” to “prudent with appropriate looseness and tightness”.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is working with its traditional partners such as China, Russia and India to circumvent the US sanctions.

Zarif told reporters in New Delhi Tuesday that the European Union is moving more slowly than expected to facilitate non-dollar trade with Tehran through a mechanism called the special purpose vehicle (SPV).

"We continue to work with the Europeans for the special purpose vehicle but we will not wait for them [to act]," said Zarif who arrived in the Indian capital late Monday for a three-day visit.

"We are working with our traditional partners like India, China and Russia so that we continue to serve the interests of our people," he added.

The strategic American military system for moving troops, weapons, and supplies over long distances has decayed significantly and needs rapid upgrading to be ready for any future war with China or Russia, according to a report by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board.

A special task force on survivable logistics evaluated the military's current airlift, sealift, and prepositioned equipment and supplies and found major problems with supporting forces during a "high-end" conflict.

"Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has not fought an adversary capable of the catastrophic disruption of military supply chains and deployment of personnel and materiel," an unclassified summary of the report states.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued a veiled warning to President Trump with his surprise visit to China this week: He has other options for economic and diplomatic normalization if their rapprochement falters.

Kim and Trump are planning a follow-up meeting to their historic summit in Singapore in June. But there are misgivings on both sides about each other’s sincerity and commitment to improving their bilateral relations.

Against this backdrop, Kim, joined by his wife and an entourage of officials, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for his fourth summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in less than a year. He will remain here through Thursday, making this the longest of his trips.

Just as the second day of mid-level trade talks between US and Chinese delegations in Beijing was beginning, a surprising report crossed the wire: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had been invited to travel to China for the first time since June to meet with President Xi Jinping. News of the visit immediately provoked speculation that Beijing was trying to send a message: If the US wants peace on the Korean peninsula, China will need to be involved.

Underscoring that point, President Trump affirmed last week that Washington and Pyongyang are planning a second diplomatic summit (though Trump claimed that North Korea was showing some reluctance) to continue negotiations about denuclearizing the peninsula.

challenge excessive maritime claims”, a Navy officer said.

The USS McCampbell carried out a “freedom of navigation” operation, sailing within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Island chain, Pacific Fleet spokeswoman Rachel McMarr said.

The operation was not about any one country or to make a political statement, she added.

China lodged “stern representations” over the action, its foreign ministry said.

Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular briefing the US operation had violated China’s law and urged the US to stop such actions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in China on Monday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking his fourth summit with Xi. This visit is expected to last from January 7 to January 10, according to state media.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim was spotted travelling with his wife and various high-ranking officials including Kim Yong-chol, who is the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North Korean ruling Workers' Party.

Although it's presently unclear what talking points the meeting will include, this latest get together comes amid reports that a second summit is in the works between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is visiting China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

Kim's visit, his fourth summit with Xi, comes amid reports of advanced negotiations for a second summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump.

China has passed a new law that seeks to "Sinicize" Islam within the next five years, the latest move by Beijing to rewrite how the religion is practised.

China's main English newspaper, Global Times, reported on Saturday that after a meeting with representatives from eight Islamic associations, government officials "agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism and implement measures to Sinicize the religion."

The newspaper did not provide further details or the names of the associations that agreed to the decree.

Official talks between Taiwan and mainland China are unlikely to be held in the foreseeable future now that an understanding intended to allow the two sides to ditch their differences has been redefined, leaving the self-ruled island with no room to manoeuvre, observers said.

In a speech on Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of Beijing’s call to end military confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the two sides should begin talks on reunification to end the decades of animosity.

To quote Shakespeare's Henry V, "The courses of his youth promised it not." The then-deputy secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan gave a speech at an Air Force Association conference on September 19 last year that seemed overly deferential to the then-secretary of defense, the globalist known as General James Mattis. The speech was light on factual content, reflecting a speaker who was a political animal, a speech composed of platitudes and pleasantries that showed contempt for its audience because it deliberately conveyed nothing of substance.

The US Navy has confirmed the dock-landing vessel USS Fort McHenry has entered the Black Sea at moment tensions with Russia remain high following the Kremlin's seizure of three Ukrainian vessels in November in the Kerch Strait. This marks the first US vessel to enter the region since the Nov. 25th incident, which Russia said was an illegal and provocative violation of its territorial waters, and which as a result Ukraine has called on NATO powers, including the US and UK, to beef up its presence in the area to counter Russian aggression.

As a US delegation led by senior trade officials arrived in Beijing on Monday to begin the first round of in-person talks to resolve the burgeoning US-China trade war, the US has reportedly carried out its latest 'Freedom of Navigation' operation in the South China Sea - though at least this time there wasn't a near-collision with a Chinese ship.

Since President Trump's inauguration, the US has stepped up its 'Freeops' as the US Navy seeks to contain China's growing military ambitions in the Pacific. But since the trade war began, the US has demonstrated a keen sense of timing, contributing to China's decisions to cancel security conferences and reconsider coming to the table to talk on trade.

Contrary to claims made Monday by the pro-Communist Global Times, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday during an interview on CNBC that President Trump's trade war is hurting China more than it is hurting the US - implying that Beijing will relent and strike a trade deal with the US.

Ross claimed that US tariffs are impairing China's ability to "create jobs" and "stave off social unrest." Because China exports far more to the US than the US does to China, Beijing is facing a "binary decision", and it's finding out just how much it depends on the US.

The next step, of course, would be what every fan of author Robert Heinlein has been looking forward to since they were a kid; A moon base. The United States has been debating whether to send a mission back to the moon as soon as possible, or build a lunar base that would take quite a bit longer to orchestrate.

"The US thinks in presidential terms," said University of Notre Dame lunar expert Clive Neal. "China thinks in decades."

One Chinese company is going down a road of massive losses in a seemingly megalomaniac attempt to operate more stores in China than market top dog Starbucks by the end of 2019.

Beijing startup Luckin Coffee only officially launched in January of 2018 but, as Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, has already managed to open approximately 2,000 stores across the country. The Chinese growth objective of 600 new stores per year of their competitor seems tame in comparison – even though it entails opening a new location every 15 hours.

The attack on the Chinese market that is important to Starbuck's bottom-line is a calculated one. Luckin even threatened to sue Starbucks for monopolistic behavior as part of a PR stunt. China - traditionally a nation of tea drinkers - is currently the country with the most Starbucks stores in the world after the U.S.

China has embarked on an ambitious space program - surpassing the United States in orbital launches last year (primarily for satellites), and now landing their own lunar rover on the dark side of the moon, the Chang'e 4.

The stated purpose of Beijing's robotic lander is to collect samples and identify what minerals are there. And while the Chang'e 4 is unlikely to find precious metals such as gold, silver or platinum - there may be something up there that could serve as a "lunar fuel station to the stars," as the South China Morning Post puts it; Helium-3

The primary material on the moon is helium-3, which for now is too expensive to haul back to Earth. In theory, the non-radioactive isotope could be used as fuel for the next generations of spacecraft to explore deeper into space.

Gold bullion remains a tiny component of the People’s Bank of China massive foreign exchange (FX) reserves which rose to $3.073 trillion

Beijing has released a video showing its cutting-edge ‘Sky Hawk’ UAV in flight for the very first time. The experimental ‘invisible’ military drone is designed to up China’s game in combat and recon missions.
In a video released by the state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday, the drone can be seen lifting off from an airstrip and landing in an undisclosed location. The broadcast also contained animated footage of the aircraft maneuvering in the air and undergoing maintenance on the ground.

A video featuring China's flying saucer-like stealth drone the Sky Hawk was shown for the first time on CCTV on Sat, with experts saying the technologies mastered by Chinese developers will allow the drone fly faster, farther and escape detection. https://t.co/AeTSjn7vHA pic.twitter.com/KQoi9gDKWt

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 6, 2019

National Security Adviser John Bolton raised US concerns on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over China's creeping role in Israel's critical infrastructure, particularly its upcoming management of Haifa Port, a frequent dock for the US Sixth Fleet.

White House officials confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that Bolton raised the Haifa matter. The Post exclusively reported last month that the US Navy might change its longstanding operations there once the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) – a company in which the Chinese government has a majority stake – takes over the city's civilian port in 2021.

In the coming clash between President Trump’s $750 billion defense budget and House Democrats’ desire to cut Pentagon spending, especially on nuclear weapons, there will be tremendous fiscal pressure to shortchange the almost $30 billion annual cost to modernize America’s strategic deterrent. The ideological cover for such penny-wise, pound-foolish cuts is the so-called Global Zero movement to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

But in reality, the global-zero idealists practice a dangerous double standard: They push the US to unilaterally cut its nuclear arsenal even as they ignore or excuse nuclear buildups by Russia, China, North Korea, and (under the table) Iran. Even if they were consistent, their pursue of zero nuclear weapons would still make no sense when none of the nine existing nuclear powers has any interest in completely disarming.

Chinese state media announced Friday that Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has ordered the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “enhance their combat readiness,” without elaborating what threat has made preparation for combat so urgent.

The announcement followed threats from Xi himself that the Chinese state would not reject the use of force if necessary to invade and capture the nation of Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province. It also follows remarks from the Pentagon that its prime concern is China’s military activities and a warning for Americans from the State Department to avoid traveling to China if possible because police can arbitrarily detain them at any time.

Canada said on Thursday that 13 of its citizens have been detained in China since Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested last month in Vancouver at the request of the United States.

"At least" eight of those 13 have since been released, a Canadian government statement said, without disclosing what charges if any have been laid.

But in an well-timed reminder, the Financial Times has published a story citing a presentation by a controversial yet widely recognizable Chinese economist and others who argue that China's GDP growth could be much weaker than the official data - which showed the Chinese economy grew at an annualized rate of 6.7% through the third quarter - reflect.

To the consternation of Chinese censors, a presentation delivered by an economics professor at Renmin University in Beijing sparked a controversy last month when the professor claimed that a secret government research group had estimated China’s growth in gross domestic product could be as low as 1.67% in 2018, far below the official rate.

President Trump will likely hold talks with China's Vice President, Wang Qishan, at the World Economic Forum later this month, according to the China Morning Post, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Wang will likely lead China's team to the annual forum in Davos, Switzerland, while the talks with Trump would take place on the sidelines. It's also possible that one or more of Trump's top trade lieutenants will meet with the Chinese VP if the US president himself does not.

When a Chinese spacecraft successfully signalled from the ‘dark’ side of the moon this week, the country’s triumphalist state mediia was quick to describe the achievement as “a huge stride” for the Chinese nation.

The deliberate echo of Neil Armstrong - and the Cold War space race he won - also carried an implicit warning: China under its unabashedly nationalist president Xi Jinping is rapidly becoming a global space power and should be treated with more respect.

China has warned that it is not afraid to protect itself when necessary as tensions with the United States continue unabated.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing will prioritize developing cooperation between its armed forces and those of other countries.

“Also — looking at the bigger picture for our countries — if what we mutually seek is a partner, then we will likely get a partner. But if what we seek is an adversary, then we will certainly get an adversary,” Lu said on Thursday.

His remarks came after acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan said his top priority is to counter China.

On Friday China unveiled video from a successful test of its most powerful non-nuclear weapon, dubbed the "Mother of All Bombs" in reference to a weapon previously used by US forces in Afghanistan. The official Xinhua news agency published details of the weapon for the first time while calling it the "Chinese version of the 'Mother of all Bombs'".

It is reportedly 5-6 meters long and its massive weight means the delivery vehicle, in this case China's H-6K long range nuclear capable bomber, can only carry one at a time.

While China has denied that it is a thermobaric bomb — an explosive that uses oxygen in the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion — its incredible size mimics the 22,000-pound GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb that US forces dropped in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province targeting a jihadist hideout tunnel complex in April of 2017.

China undermines US monopoly, making cheaper goods and equipment America cannot spy on, veteran economist Michael Hudson told RT’s Max Keiser. He warns that the world is to split if the two powers fail to settle their row.
Washington cannot stand and feels insecure when it cannot totally control other countries, allowing it to make others do “whatever we want in foreign policy and treat you like we are treating Iran,” professor of economics at the University of Missouri and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute explained in a New Year’s special of Keiser Report.

The same applies if the US is unable to put spyware in different devices, the analyst added. But China manufactures its own chips among other high technology equipment thus making this mission impossible.

China is making telephones and computer equipment that we can’t spy on and that is a threat to our national security because they’re interfering with our ability to spy on you and on it,” Hudson said.

After top FBI officials testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that Chinese espionage poses the "most severe" threat currently facing American security, and after greater scrutiny of major Chinese telecommunications that had before operated with seeming impunity in the US like Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. — especially following the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou and others in Canada — senators are now proposing a bill to combat technology threats from China.

When previously last year the United Nations began scrutinizing claims that China has interned one million of its ethnic Uighur Muslim in "re-education" camps, Beijing stridently denied such charges, but now months after Western media and human rights groups have carefully documented a network of Uighur prisons, some by satellite photos, China is attempting to shift the narrative to one of a positive "de-radicalization" program. Beijing now not only fully owns up to its system of forced labor camps, but as a Times (UK) report finds, is even parading groups of Muslims on state TV to extol the virtues of the system.

When the US published its latest travel advisory warning its citizens about the "arbitrary law enforcement" risks they could face in China (and offering a list of recommended precautions for those obstinate enough to ignore the government's warnings), some wondered, why now? With trade negotiations set to begin in earnest next week, one would think that the US wouldn't want to kick the hornet's nest (though, in fairness, the DOJ's steady stream of indictments against Chinese government-sponsored hackers have continued, as has the prosecution of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou).

Well, Canada's Globe and Mail might have just answered that question by confirming that the Beijing's suspected retaliation against Ottawa over Meng's arrest has been even more severe than previously believed. According to the paper, 13 Canadians have been detained in China since Dec. 1 - the day Meng was arrested by Canadian authorities after landing in Vancouver.

The US has been stepping up its involvement in military exercises in Latin America in recent years, partly in response to growing regional influence by Russia and China. The US has long supported right-wing governments in the region to protect its interests and block Soviet influence; more recently, they’ve been a bulwark against the Pink Tide.

Almost since the country's inception, the United States has viewed Latin America as its own backyard, with US President James Monroe articulating that view in 1823 in a doctrine that came to be named after him. Ironically, that, too, was provoked by Russian expansion into the Americas, when it claimed land along North America's northwestern Pacific coast.

US President Donald Trump is looking at former Secretary of the Navy James Webb, a former Democratic senator, and advocate of confronting China, as his next secretary of defense to replace James Mattis, the US media said Thursday.

Webb, who served as secretary of the Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan was a critic of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and may be asked to implement US troop withdrawals from both Syria and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has officially filed as a lobbyist for Chinese telecom company ZTE, registration forms released Wednesday confirmed.

ZTE has long been under fire from U.S. officials and members of Congress who say the company could endanger national security by providing espionage opportunities for the Chinese government.

Though the well-connected Lieberman was thought to be hired to help take pressure off of the embattled ZTE, his firm Kasowitz Benson Torres (KBT) — the law firm of President Donald Trump’s longtime personal attorney Marc Kasowitz — tells a different story.

Clarine Nardi Riddle, chair of the firm’s Government Affairs and Strategic Counsel Practice Group and Lieberman’s former chief of staff in the Senate who also registered as a lobbyist for ZTE, said Lieberman is not actually “lobbying” for ZTE but rather is gathering concerns about the company from lawmakers and officials.

While Washington is locked in tough trade talks with Beijing, China is also on the mind of the acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan who reportedly told civilian leaders at the Pentagon to focus on the country .

Less than two days on the job, Shanahan – previously deputy defense secretary to James Mattis, who departed on Monday – told the leaders to remain “focused on ongoing operations” but “remember ‘China, China, China,’” an anonymous official told Reuters.

Confirming what until now was merely hearsay, when three weeks ago Reuters reported that the State Department was considering a travel advisory for China following the arrest of the Huawei CFO, moments ago the State Department officially issued a travel advisory to US citizens traveling to China, warning to "exercise increased caution in China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws as well as special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals."

According to the advisory, "Chinese authorities have asserted broad authority to prohibit U.S. citizens from leaving China by using ‘exit bans,’ sometimes keeping U.S. citizens in China for years." It also notes that "in most cases, U.S. citizens only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to depart China, and there is no method to find out how long the ban may continue. U.S. citizens under exit bans have been harassed and threatened."

Following a menacing speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping where he threatened violence against Taiwan should it pursue de jure independence from China and laid bare his intentions to push for a "one country, two systems" arrangement for what China considers to be a 'rogue province', pro-independence Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen clapped back at Xi in comments to the BBC on Wednesday, where she said the island would never accept reunification with China on Beijing's terms.

Beijing and Tokyo sealed a multi-billion dollar currency swap arrangement on Friday, aimed at enhancing financial stability and spurring business activity in both countries.

According to the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the arrangement which will last until October 25, 2021, will allow the exchange of local currencies between the two central banks for up to 200 billion yuan or 3.4 trillion yen ($30 billion).

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump have exchanged messages, vowing to enhance cooperation despite a months-long bruising trade war.

The two leaders on Tuesday exchanged congratulatory messages on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-US diplomatic relations, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

President Xi said he attached “great importance” to the development of bilateral ties, stressing that he was “willing” to work with Trump in improving the Beijing-Washington relations.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated in recent months amid a growing number of US Navy "freedom of navigation" missions in the South China Sea and Chinese efforts to beef up its military presence in territories over which several Asian powers have overlapping claims.

People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Science Deputy Director Rear Admiral Luo Yuan has suggested that sinking two US supercarriers would resolve the dispute surrounding the East and South China Seas, News Corp Australia Network has reported, citing Taiwanese media.

Speaking at a Chinese military industry summit on December 20, Luo took aim at the US military, which he described as one of "five cornerstones" of possible US weakness. According to the academic, "what the United States fears the most is taking casualties."

China recently started construction of an export version of one of its advanced warships and will deliver it to Pakistan as part of a major arms deal, according to China State Shipbuilding Corp, a large State-owned defense contractor.

It said the ship is a version of the Chinese Navy's most advanced guided missile frigate, without specifying its type.

In late December it said the ship is under construction at its Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, noting it will be equipped with modern detection and weapon systems and will be capable of anti-ship, anti-submarine and air-defense operations.

According to the Pakistani Navy, the ship's class is Type 054AP, which means it is based on the Type 054A of the People's Liberation Army Navy. It previously said four such ships had been ordered.

The world was shocked when pictures began circulating early last year of a strange, large gun seemingly bolted to the bows of a Chinese amphibious assault ship.

It turned out to be the world’s first naval rail gun. Now it’s been pictured in operation.

A hazy image of the oddly-shaped ship with its oversized gun sailing in the open ocean has been released on China’s tightly controlled social media networks.

2019 kicked off with anger in Hong Kong as thousands of demonstrators marched to demand full democracy, fundamental rights, and even independence from China in the face of what many see as a marked clampdown by the Communist Party on local freedoms.

China has constructed a massive radio antenna facility covering more than 1,000 square miles at a secret location inside the country’s borders, according to researchers linked to the project.

The radio antenna project has come under scrutiny because the wave types emitted by the Wireless Electromagnetic Method (WEM) project, namely extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves, are considered "possibly carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

US President Donald Trump is pulling out troops from Syria and ending war in Afghanistan in order to focus on economic negotiations with China, an American writer and academic says.

James Petras, a retired professor who has published on political issues with particular focus on Latin America, the Middle East and imperialism, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday.

The US has reportedly evacuated a military base in Syria, the first step towards delivering on Trump’s recent pledge to pull American forces out of the Arab country.

According to local residents of al-Malikiya, in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, some 50 American soldiers had already left the base and traveled to a base in Iraq, along with their armored vehicles and other equipment.

President Donald Trump signed legislation designed to establish a multi-pronged strategy for advancing US interests in the Info-Pacific region, the White House said in a press release.

"The President signed into law… the ‘Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018,’ which establishes a multifaceted US strategy to increase US security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region," the release said on Monday.

American and Chinese trade negotiators are working out details of a new agreement that could avert a wider trade war as the New Year approaches.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal could lead to a boost in U.S. exports to the Asian giant as well as a loosening of regulations that prevent or hamper U.S. firms from operating in China, people familiar with the negotiations said.

POTUS Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had made “great progress” in trade discussions, which are set to wrap up on March 1.

“Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas, and points of dispute,” he tweeted.

With roughly a week left before the first round of in-person trade-deal talks, the White House has leaked a rough outline of its expectations for a deal reportedly gleaned from preliminary conversations between President Trump and President Xi (Trump tweeted on Saturday that he and Xi had made "big progress" toward a deal during their early calls).

If nothing else, the report in the Wall Street Journal offers a benchmark against which the final deal can be judged. According to WSJ, the talks are focusing on boosting US exports and loosening regulations that discriminate against US firms operating in China (something the Chinese have been hinting at in recent policy decisions to lift import bans and remove retaliatory tariffs, while also reportedly weighing a decision to scrap their "Made in China 2025" policy).