The Chinese robotic probe Chang'e 4 has landed on the dark side of the moon, becoming the first manmade craft to alight on the unexplored surface, according to reports from Chinese state media. [...]

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. [...]

BEIJING (Sputnik) – Liberalization of the Chinese banking legislation provides Russian banks with an opportunity to receive full-fledged licenses for their work in China, Russia's Trade Representative in the Asian country, Sergey Iniushin, told Sputnik. [...]

The wars of words between Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau may have grabbed headlines, but Canada has always remained a faithful US ally, apparently believing it's a safe bet. The strategy, however, has backfired. [...]

China is stepping up its involvement in Syria, not with its military, but with cash. For Beijing, war-torn Syria is an opportunity for reconstruction business. For Damascus, prosperity means peace.China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem have shown through their cordial  discussions that Beijing and Damascus are on the same page when it comes to envisaging the [...]

China’s state-owned energy major CNPC has replaced France’s Total in Iran’s South Pars gas project, according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh. The French company withdrew from Iran under pressure of US sanctions. [...]

The current trade row between Washington and Beijing escalated in July, when the US announced 25 percent duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, to which Beijing responded by imposing restrictions on the same amount of US imports. [...]

Beijing-Washington trade war could motivate Chinese investors to take a different look at the Russian market and prompt them to bring their capital to Russia in the near future, Managing Director of the Money and Derivatives Markets at Moscow Exchange Igor Marich said. [...]

The US Air Force Chief of Staff has said that both China and Russia are ready to step in to fill a power vacuum in Latin America left by Washington. The United States should pay more attention to Latin America, lest China and Russia take root in the region, US Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein said in the wake of a trip to Colombia. [...]

In September, China’s share of US Treasuries holdings had the highest decline since January as ongoing trade tensions with Washington forced the world’s biggest economy to take measures to stabilize its national currency. Still the biggest foreign holder of the US foreign debt, China slashed it’s share by nearly $14 billion, with the country's holdings falling to $1.15 trillion from nearly $ [...]

The US has said it will join Australia in the development of a naval base on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island to “protect the freedom of the seas,” in a move apparently aimed at curbing China’s presence in the Pacific. Australia, a staunch US ally in the Pacific, had already set its sights on Papua New Guinea’s Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island earlier in November, seeking to build a de [...]

For the first time, leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific economies have failed to issue a joint communique, as tensions between the US and China over trade and investment poisoned their annual summit. Pointing to the “two big giants in the room,” the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation’s (APEC) chair, Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, informed Sunday’s closing news conference [...]

The 33rd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore concluded on Thursday, focusing on the increasingly unstable South China Sea and on free trade across the region. US leaders used the event to try and draw countries away from China. [...]

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said Beijing is ready to further develop economic ties with Russia, increasing bilateral trade and facilitating mutual access to each other’s markets. “China is ready to boost energy, innovation, finance and trade cooperation with Russia,” Li Keqiang said during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the ASEAN Summit in Singapore. [...]

Much has been made of the possible geopolitical motivations behind the decision to price the $5 billion Russian-Indian S-400 deal in roubles, and Moscow and Beijing are eyeing another rouble/yuan-based trade compact. However, Sputnik has discovered that there's also a purely economic reason for the three countries to move away from the dollar. [...]

Russia has been implementing a comprehensive plan to diminish the country's reliance on the dollar as a proactive measure amid the Trump administration's sanctions spree. Moscow is not alone in seeking to de-dollarize its economy. Market players from Europe to Asia are increasingly switching to national currencies. [...]

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has smashed records for its Singles Day, the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event, despite an ongoing trade war with the US and waning domestic interest in the event. [...]

The US pressed China to halt militarization of the South China Sea during a joint news conference on talks aimed at smoothing already tense relations ahead of this month's G20 summit in Argentina. “We have continued concerns about China's activities and militarization in the South China Sea,” US Secretary for State Mike Pompeo told media following talks on Friday with US Defence Secretary Jame [...]

Much has been made of the possible geopolitical motivations behind the decision to price the $5 billion Russian-Indian S-400 deal in roubles, and Moscow and Beijing are eyeing another rouble/yuan-based trade compact. However, Sputnik has discovered that there's also a purely economic reason for the three countries to move away from the dollar. [...]

Europe should reach out to Russia and abandon “counterproductive” economic sanctions – or risk seeing it drifting further towards China, former president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has warned, in a candid interview. [...]

Several top officials have issued thinly veiled – and outright blunt – ‘warnings’ about war over the past week. While the beating of war drums worldwide remains just hot air for now, many messengers seem a bit too eager about it. War between US and China just 10-15 years away [...]

Kristian Rouz – China and Japan have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening bilateral economic and financial ties at an economic forum in Beijing, reaching several potentially far-reaching deals and trade and investment. Economists say the results of this forum could produce longer-term positive consequences for the entire region. [...]