The repercussions of the new RCEP free-trade agreement between China and 14 other countries are huge. It creates a massive trading bloc in Asia that America, though its insular policies, will play no part in. This weekend, 15 Asia-Pacific nations came together to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mammoth free-trade agreement that has been described as one of the  [...]

The US State Department has outlined a ‘Kennan-style’ China containment policy, which it hopes will help undercut its economic strength and maintain a Washington-led world order, a leaked paper has revealed. The 70-page document called “The Elements of the China Challenge” was prepared by the State Department's Office of Policy Planning and published by Axios on Tuesday. The plan goes [...]

Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations including China and Japan plan to sign the world’s biggest free trade deal this weekend. The FTA will cut tariffs, strengthen supply chains with common rules of origin, and codify new e-commerce rules. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be announced at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, which Vietnam is [...]

Israel occupied and annexed about 1,200 square km of Syria’s strategic Golan Heights in the aftermath of the Six Day War of June 1967. The United Nations condemned the move as “null and void and without international legal effect”. Damascus has vowed to get its territory back one day "by any means necessary". China and the Group of 77 bloc of developing nations has called on Israel [...]

This week, the top US diplomat announced fresh sanctions against four Chinese officials accused of “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy,” and said that the Trump administration was “not finished yet” in increasing pressure on the Chinese “Marxist-Leninist monster.” The Global Times, a newspaper which is an offshoot of the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated People’s Daily, has [...]

A draft of an economic and security deal between the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran previously leaked by The New York Times is continuing to reverberate in the international media. Iranian political analyst Mahan Abedin has explained the fuss over the accords and shed light on Iran's strategic shift towards the East. The 18-page Persian-language document envis [...]

The new report comes on the heels of predictions by market analysts and hedge funds that the US dollar could lose over a third of its value against the euro and slide against other currencies in the coming months owing to poor US economic performance and ballooning debt in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The world is “on the cusp” of a new era marked by instability, disorder and t [...]

Ultimatums are usually considered to be imperious and impolite. But in the case of China’s latest demand on the European Union, one can view Beijing’s approach as apt and just right. Foreign Minister Wang Yi left his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in no doubt in a phone call this week about the current international tensions and what needs to be done. [...]

While the world’s second-largest economy, China, has suffered its first contraction on record due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some experts argue the country has been preparing for a possible crisis for a long time. RT talked to economists to find out if Beijing may have foreseen the economic crash and about the Chinese government’s response to it. “Nobody, including Beijing, could have [...]

Beijing has cautioned against further US naval operations in the South China Sea, claiming that recent activities by the American side create conditions for an unintentional military confrontation. A spokesman for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said on Friday that a US warship entered Chinese territorial waters without permission. [...]

The new US policy of trying to force internal change in China and confronting Beijing with a US-backed alliance in Asia is generating distrust of Washington, former US Assistant Defense Secretary Chas Freeman, who accompanied President Richard Nixon to Beijing in 1972, said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spelled out the new policy in a speech at the Nixon Library in California on 23 July [...]

The editor-in-chief of a major Chinese tabloid slammed Mike Pompeo for comparing his country to Nazi Germany, likening his words to those of Hitler’s propaganda chief and reminding the secretary of state of America’s endless wars. Hu Xijin took to Twitter on Sunday venting his anger about Mike Pompeo’s remarks. “You are inciting radical hostility and ripping the world apart. You aren't [...]

Beijing has warned the US against deploying its ground-based missiles in the Asia Pacific region, promising to take "countermeasures" and threatening any states that host such weaponry with consequences. "The US attempt to deploy land-based, medium-range missiles is consistent with its increasing military presence in the Asia Pacific and so-called 'Indo-Pacific strategy' over the past years, a typ [...]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling for “an alliance of democracies” to confront China. It amounts to a new Cold War in which nations are being forced to side either with Washington or Beijing. It’s a classic tyrannical power-play by Washington, yet ironically it is the Americans who are accusing Beijing of being the “new tyranny” in the world. [...]

Huawei’s addition of the HERE WeGo map app to its app gallery shows that Donald Trump’s crackdown on the Chinese tech giant may be not that effective and could in fact inflict greater harm on American companies. When Donald Trump took aim at Huawei last year, his plan was to fire a ‘kill shot’ at the Chinese communications firm. [...]

A Florida Senator spectacularly claimed he’s got intelligence proving China is obstructing the West’s search for a Covid-19 cure – He shouldn’t be shy to let the world see the “evidence,” Beijing’s diplomats swiftly quipped. Rick Scott, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, pulled no punches when talking China on the BBC on Sunday. Apart from bei [...]

Facebook's decision to "warn" users about state-controlled media is an outdated propaganda trick, say international observers, asking whether US news outlets are independent and from whom. Facebook has announced that it will start labeling Russia Today, Sputnik, Iran's Press TV, China's Xinhua News and other government-funded news outlets as "state media" and will block any ads from them [...]

The world's fourth-largest processor company may potentially strike fresh deals with a leading Chinese smartphone company as a trusted supplier amid the ongoing US trade war on China, it was revealed in reports this week. Huawei subsidiary smartphone maker Honor confirmed it would seek to acquire MediaTek 5G processors for upcoming mobile product lines, reports revealed on Thursday. [...]

The US has repeatedly blamed China for failing to contain the spread of the virus from Wuhan and for reporting the disease to the World Health Organisation too late. US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to reiterate his position concerning China's role in the coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this week, Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said that the US should stop using scapegoa [...]

Earlier this week, the US Navy's Pacific Fleet announced that all of its submarines in the area were at sea to conduct operations in support of "a free and open" region "amidst the pandemic caused by the coronavirus". The Times has quoted unnamed US defence sources as saying that the Pentagon may lose a sea war with China if one breaks out in the Indo-Pacific region amid the increasing tensions be [...]

Bill Gates told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Sunday that China did a lot of things right at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and now is not time to discuss their mistakes. Gates called it a "distraction" to blame them and focus on the "incorrect and unfair things" said about them. ZAKARIA: You've been making this case for international cooperation very powerfully and in my mind persuasively [...]

Beijing has called on Washington to address the concerns of its own citizens about the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, while condemning American politicians for shifting blame for the crisis squarely onto China’s shoulders. Asked to comment on a series of American media reports on the US government’s slow and often inept response to the health crisis on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman [...]