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Church leaders asked to ensure the 'Sinicisation of religion'The Chinese Communist Party’s top leader in charge of religion has made it clear that Beijing intends to retain a tight grip on the Catholic Church. Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee and chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, told members of the open church community “to ensure that the leadership of the Chinese Catholic Church is held firmly in the hands of those who love the nation and the religion”, reported ucanews.com. Yu spoke to about 100 bishops, priests, nuns and lay leaders at...

China told Japan on Friday to "get used to it" after it flew six warplanes over the Miyako Strait between two southern Japanese islands in a military exercise. ... The Chinese defense ministry said it was "legal and proper" for its military aircraft to operate in the airspace and that it would continue to organize regular training exercises according to "mission requirements". "The relevant side should not make a fuss about nothing or over-interpret, it will be fine once they get used to it," the ministry said in a statement. The Miyako Strait is between Japan's islands of Miyako and...

Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed on Wednesday to tighten scrutiny on takeovers of companies in strategic industries by buyers outside the EU, the Economy Ministry said, reacting to Europe-wide disquiet over Chinese takeovers. New regulations will allow Berlin more time to probe takeover bids, especially in sectors affecting critical infrastructure, and extend the range of deals eligible for examination by the authorities. “We remain one of the most open economies in the world, but we also have an eye on fair competition. We owe that to our companies,” Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said in a statement. “In the future, reporting requirements...

Scientists have completed the first teleportation of an object from Earth to a satellite orbiting more than 300 miles away. Alas, those of you expecting Scotty to beam them up soon will be sorely disappointed - the object teleported was merely a single photon. While the experiment doesn't bring us any closer to teleporting matter, it is a huge leap forward for quantum physics. The team of Chinese researchers behind the successful teleportation came together from a number of disciplines and included quantum physicists as well as rocket scientists. In 2016, they launched a satellite called Micius, named after Chinese...

China on Wednesday insisted India withdraw its troops from a disputed plateau in the Himalayan mountains before talks can take place to settle the most protracted standoff in recent years between the nuclear-armed neighbors who fought a brief but bloody frontier war in the area 55 years ago. India must pull back its troops "as soon as possible" as a precondition to demonstrate "sincerity," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily news briefing. His comments came after weeks of saber-rattling in New Delhi and Beijing, as officials from both sides talk up a potential clash even bloodier...

China. Why the Agreement With Rome Is Slow In Coming > Italiano > English> Español> Français> All the articles of Settimo Cielo in English*Last summer, an agreement between the Vatican and China had been given as imminent. But not any more. Instead of the two sides issuing shared rules on the appointment of new bishops, news is coming from Beijing news of bishops who have been incarcerated and disappeared.Halfway through Lent, Mindong bishop Vincent Guo Xijin, recognized by Rome but not by the Chinese authorities, was arrested and taken to a secret location for the crime of not wanting to...

Exit President Trump, offending almost everyone. Enter China, eager to talk. […] “Trump’s turn away from America’s classic leading role is having a destabilizing effect,” wrote Henrik Müller, a professor at Technical University of Dortmund, in his weekly column on the global economy for Der Spiegel. “One consequence: Global economic policy is sorting out in a new way. The other two big economies — the E.U. and China — are seeking new partners to work on the international problems.” […] … [T]he Chinese view Mr. Trump’s harsh behavior in Europe as a gift to be capitalized on. It helps Beijing...

An influential state-run newspaper applauded China’s anti-espionage efforts on Monday after the New York Times reported Beijing had killed or imprisoned up to 20 CIA sources, hobbling U.S. spying operations. The Chinese killed at least a dozen people providing information to the Central Intelligence Agency between 2010 and 2012, dismantling a network that was years in the making, the New York Times reported. The paper cited two senior former U.S. officials. NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the report. China’s Global Times, which is published by the official People’s Daily, said in an editorial in its Chinese...

The Chinese government systematically dismantled C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward. Current and former American officials described the intelligence breach as one of the worst in decades. It set off a scramble in Washington’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies to contain the fallout, but investigators were bitterly divided over the cause. Some were convinced that a mole within the C.I.A. had betrayed the United States. Others believed that the Chinese had hacked the covert system the C.I.A. used...

H.E. Ambassador Yang Yanyi is head of the Chinese Mission to the EU.(The Belt and Road Forum) has attracted broad participation of some 1,500 officials, scholars, entrepreneurs and people from financial institutions and media from more than 130 countries, principals and representatives from over 70 international organizations. […] At a time when the foundation for global economic recovery is not solid, trade investment remains weak, and growth impetus unstable, this Forum, with “Strengthening International Cooperation and Co-building the ‘Belt and Road’ for Win-win Development” as its central theme, will offer an excellent opportunity to take stock of what has been...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (News release)- Chairman Yafu Qiu (pronounced “Chew”) and leaders of Shandong Ruyi Technology Group (Ruyi) today joined Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and local officials at the State Capitol to announce that the company will invest $410 million in the former Sanyo manufacturing facility in Forrest City, Arkansas. Ruyi, headquartered in Shandong Province, China, will create up to 800 new jobs at the facility, where Arkansas cotton will be spun into yarn for textile use. This is Ruyi’s first facility to locate in North America. “Ruyi Group, as the largest textile manufacturer in China, has been expanding globally,”...

A woman in Arizona said she made a stunning discovery inside a new purse she bought at a Walmart: A note apparently written by a desperate prisoner in China. Laura Wallace found the message, written in Chinese, tucked inside the zipper compartment of the purse she purchased at a Sierra Vista Walmart, KVOA reported.

TUCSON, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - A Sierra Vista woman says she believes she found a note from a Chinese "prisoner" pleading for help, claiming he or she was being forced to work under abusive conditions.

Muslims in Xinjiang region can no longer use names such as Mecca, Imam and Saddam. Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have banned dozens of baby names with religious meanings that are widely used by Muslims elsewhere in the world. Sources in Hotan, in the southern part of the region, had previously detailed a list of banned names in 2015, but the ban now appears to have been rolled out region-wide, Radio Free Asia reported. Islam, Quran, Mecca, Jihad, Imam, Saddam, Hajj, and Medina are among dozens of baby names banned under ruling Chinese Communist Party's "Naming Rules...

General Motors Co. says it plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020 amid government pressure on the industry to promote alternatives to gasoline. The president of GM’s China unit, Matt Tsien, said Friday during the Shanghai auto show that the company will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years. …

For months on end we have heard rumors of a “breakthrough” in the endless diplomatic negotiations between the Vatican and the Communist government of China respecting the status of the Catholic Church in that country. Since the 1950s, however, the regime in Beijing has persecuted the true Catholic Church, driving it underground, while purporting to operate an “official” church called the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), which has illicitly consecrated scores of bishops who are essentially puppets of the regime. Although the CPA is the very definition of a schism, the Vatican continues to pretend it can somehow regularize this pseudo-church...

The European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on steel products from China to stop them flooding Europe’s struggling steel market. […] The Chinese exports will now be taxed with duties ranging from 18.1 percent to 35.9 percent. …

The Trump administration said Monday it was ending funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), long a target of conservatives over concerns that its work in China abets the communist authorities’ controversial population limitation programs. The administration’s first confirmed cut to a U.N. agency will cost the UNFPA $32.5 million. Its budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 calls for unspecified reductions to contributions to the U.N. budget, and further “seeks to reduce or end direct funding for international organizations whose missions do not substantially advance U.S. foreign policy interests, are duplicative, or are not well-managed.” The move comes as...

China has started building a new generation of large amphibious assault vessels that will strengthen the navy as it plays a more dominant role in projecting the nation’s power overseas, military sources said. The 075 Landing Helicopter Dock is now under construction by a Shanghai-based shipbuilding company, the sources said. The amphibious vessel is far larger than similar ships previously constructed for the PLA Navy. The 075 can serve as a form of aircraft carrier and military experts said it would give China’s navy the ability to launch various types of helicopters to attack naval vessels, enemy ground forces or...

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday stressed their commitment to free trade ahead of a G20 finance ministers’ meeting set to be dominated by debate on protectionism. The two leaders spoke by telephone and said in a statement issued in Berlin that they would “together fight for free trade and open markets”. Finance ministers from the world’s top economies are gathering in Germany from Friday as fears grow that US President Donald Trump could upend the global economic order with his “America First” policy challenging open markets. Meanwhile, Merkel is set to hold her first meeting with...