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At the end of 2013, China reported over 3 mln hectares of land too polluted to farm. About 3.33 million hectares (8 million acres) of China's farmland is too polluted to grow crops, a government official said on Monday, highlighting the risk facing agriculture after three decades of rapid industrial growth. China has been under pressure to improve its urban environment following a spate of pollution scares. But cleaning up rural regions could be an even bigger challenge as the government tries to reverse damage done by years of urban and industrial encroachment and ensure food supplies for a growing...

Chinese branches of Wal-Mart have been forced to recall batches of donkey meat after it was found to contain fox. The US company has apologized and said it would reimburse shoppers in China who bought the “Five Spice” donkey product, which tests showed contained the DNA of other animals. […] Donkey meat is popular in China, though makes up a tiny proportion of all meat products consumed. Fox meat, on the other hand, is cheap because of its distinctive smell and the fact that eating it could pose serious health risks, a breeder told the Yangcheng Evening News. …

Imagine this: In the early morning, a barrage of more than 1,000 Chinese ballistic and cruise missiles bombard Taiwanese civilian and military targets. As the U.S. Air Force stationed in Okinawa prepares to rush to the aid of its sworn ally, Chinese cyber attacks wreak havoc on America's air defense and targeting systems. A second volley of ballistic missiles detonates in space, destroying critical military satellites, while a third rains down on the base, damaging jets and leaving runways unusable. Meanwhile, a U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington has launched from Japan and is steaming towards...

Chinese Navy (PLAN) exercises it's Carrier Strike Groupwith it's LPD and escorts, including two SSNs During the last week of December, the Chinese Navy, the PLAN, conducted exercises with a large group of vessels in what some are calling the Chinese combined fleet. It included their carrier, the Liaoning, CV-16, which is a modernized and refitted Russaain carrier and sister of the Russian, Kuznetsov. it included one of the Chinese large Landing Platform Docks (LPD) which is similar in size and function to the US Navy San Antonio Class LPDS. it included one of the Chinese Type 052C, Lanzhou...

The People's Liberation Army's H-6K strategic bomber can attack the Japanese mainland with CJ-10 cruise missiles without even leaving Chinese airspace, reports the Kanwa Defense Review run by Andrei Chang also known as Pinkov, a military analyst based in Canada. China had no real nuclear projection capability until H-6K entered service with the PLA Air Force, Kanwa's report said. H-6K bombers have already been deployed with the 8th and 10th air divisions of the PLA Air Force. However, strategic bombers alone can not help China penetrate enemy defenses using surface-to-air missiles. For this reason, the long-range cruise missile has become...

While under a secular Communist regime, the people of China are more socially conservative than Americans are on issues like abortion and homosexuality, a poll revealed. The survey was conducted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University on about 3,500 citizens of the People's Republic of China from 34 cities. Released on Christmas Day, the survey noted that 68.5 percent of respondents said they considered homosexuality unacceptable. Also, as reported by Zhao Wen the Shanghai Daily, nearly 60 percent of respondents held a negative opinion of abortion. "The survey concluded that while the personal values of Chinese people had changed a lot...

An elderly man deployed six homemade cannons around his home to prevent it from being demolished. Zhou Jianbang set the dummy weapons up after watching neighbors’ houses torn down allegedly without consent. Mr. Zhou insisted his cannons would not have caused any harm and civil police in Xingyang, Henan, central China, confirmed he had not broken any laws. …

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering...

China deserves all the congratulations in the world for landing its first spacecraft on the Moon. It’s a big deal – both for China and humanity at large. But can somebody please explain why the background image at this exhibit for China’s recently deployed Yutu Rover depicts a massive mushroom cloud over Europe? […] The most likely explanation—the one we’re hoping for, anyway—is that this was just an unfortunate diplomatic oversight. As a redditor by the name of wigg1es points out, the backdrop is actually a stock image […] Still, there are undoubtedly those who will interpret the choice of...

China’s first lunar rover has successfully separated from the probe that carried it into space has and made its first track upon the surface of the moon, Chinese state media reported Sunday. The so-called “Jade Rabbit” rover detached itself from the much larger landing vehicle early Sunday morning, approximately seven hours after the unmanned Chang’e 3 space probe touched down on a fairly flat, Earth-facing part of the moon. The soft landing—the term for a landing in which neither the spacecraft nor its equipment is damaged—was the first on the moon by any nation in 37 years. …

At a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on Global Human Rights on Thursday, five young women testified about their fathers, all of whom have been jailed in Communist China for their activism, religious beliefs or political activities. The women asked for the Obama administration and Congress to intervene on their behalf. … Peng Ming, who was living in the United States on transitional refugee status, traveled to Thailand in 2004 and was kidnapped by Chinese agents and taken to China where he was sentenced to life in prison for “organizing and leading a terrorist organization,” according to information provided by...

Chinese youths should challenge authority and reject conformity, US Vice President Joe Biden said today. Mr. Biden took a stand for the American mindset shortly after arriving in China for a two-day visit, as he addressed a group of visa applicants at the US Embassy in Beijing. The Vice President urged Chinese exchange students to challenge their government, teachers and religious leaders, and take inspiration from the attitude of young Americans. …

December 02, 2013, 06:58 pm Biden goes on mission to China By Julian Pecquet Vice President Biden has been thrust into the center of an escalating standoff with China that is testing him on the global stage ahead of a possible presidential run in 2016. President Obama dispatched Biden to Asia, where he will deliver a strong warning to China for declaring an air defense zone over islands that are also claimed by U.S. ally Japan. “This is an opportunity for Vice President Biden to raise our concerns directly with policymakers in Beijing and to seek clarity regarding the Chinese...

Li Zhongying was freed from a Chinese labor camp ahead of schedule in September because, guards told her, the government was scrapping “re-education through labor”, a heavily criticized penal system created in the 1950s. Several hundred other inmates were not so lucky, she said. Like Li, they were held without trial and forced to do factory work under what she called “cruel” conditions. They remained because they were drug offenders, she told Reuters. Many of China’s re-education through labor camps, instead of being abolished in line with a ruling Communist Party announcement this month, are being turned into compulsory drug...

<p>WASHINGTON—A pair of American B-52 bombers flew over a disputed island chain in the East China Sea without informing Beijing, U.S. officials said Tuesday, in a direct challenge to China and its establishment of an expanded air-defense zone.</p> <p>The planes flew out of Guam and entered the new Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone at about 7 p.m. Washington time Monday, according to a U.S. official.</p>

'After faulty stock made in China almost sank luxury goods firm Patrona, it decided to make its products in the UK and couldn't be happier'.

China is to relax its policy of restricting most couples to having only a single child, state media say. In future, families will be allowed two children if one parent is an only child, the Xinhua news agency said. The proposal follows this week's meeting of a key decision-making body of the governing Communist Party. Other reforms include the abolition of "re-education through labour" camps and moves to boost the role of the private sector in the economy. The BBC's Celia Hatton, in Beijing, says most of the changes have already been tested in parts of the country. Officials announce...

The West African nation of Gambia has cut off relations with Taiwan, the latest country to spurn the island for its mainland rival China. Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Chen confirmed the move but declined to give a reason behind the move by Banjul, which seems almost certain to lead to the establishment of formal ties between Gambia and China. … With the loss of Gambia, Taiwan is now recognized by 22 countries, mostly small and impoverished nations in Latin America, the Caribbean and the south Pacific. Swaziland, Sao Tome and Principe and Burkina Faso are its only remaining diplomatic allies...

A new audit-report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shows that the IRS sent at least 343 potentially fraudulent tax returns in 2011 to the same, single address in Shanghai, China, for a total of $156,533 in tax refunds. The same report also shows that 655 potentially fraudulent tax refunds totaling $220,489 were sent to the same address in Kaunas, Lithuania. Other potentially fraudulent refunds, 580 of them, were sent to the same address in Orlando, Fla.; 355 to the same address in Lakewood, Colo; and another 291 to another single address in Orlando, Fla. In total,...

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that he hoped Vietnam and China would resolve all existing issues via peaceful dialogues on the basis of agreements reached by both nations’ leaders, Vietnam News Agency reported. Li visited Vietnam from October 13 to 15 as part of a week-long Southeast Asian tour. He was in Hanoi meeting with Trong on Monday. The Vietnamese Party chief urged both nations to continue taking on the responsibility of further developing the countries' bilateral friendship. He called the relationship a "common treasure shared by the two peoples." Trong said the...