China’s exports of rare-earth magnets rose to the second-highest level on record in November, the first full month after the US and China agreed to streamline exports of the elements.

Beijing’s actions are “not conducive to regional peace”, Japan’s defence minister and US counterpart Pete Hegseth agreed during a call after Chinese aircraft locked radar on Japanese jets near Taiwan, Tokyo said yesterday.

Changing tariffs will also affect South Korea, India, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan and Brazil

It comes after a huge blaze last month engulfed several high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong

Exports climbed 5.9 percent year-on-year in November, reversing the slight decline recorded in October

Chinese leader Xi Jinping accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron to Chengdu yesterday, a rare gesture seemingly reserved for the head of Europe’s second-largest economy that highlights Beijing’s focus on Paris in its ties with the European Union.

The death toll from a fire that tore through a Hong Kong apartment complex has risen to 75, the city's government said late on Thursday

The cause of the crash was under investigation

China conducted an urgent unmanned spacecraft launch yesterday, after damage to a previous mission’s return capsule left the crew on its space station without a means of getting back to Earth.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump discussed bilateral cooperation and the issue of Taiwan in a phone call yesterday, Beijing’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

China yesterday slammed Japan’s decision to push ahead with a planned deployment of missiles on an island near Taiwan, escalating a weeks-long diplomatic spat.

China and Japan's long-testy ties have spiralled further this month

Air China, China Southern and China Eastern all published separate statements

China has advised its citizens to refrain from travelling to Japan

The two leaders held talks in South Korea at the end of October

China’s factory activity shrank for a seventh straight month in October, official data showed Friday, as trade uncertainty ahead of talks between President Xi Jinping and US leader Donald Trump weighed on the economic powerhouse.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping was expected to meet Canada and Japan's new prime ministers for the first time on Friday, a day after agreeing to a trade war ceasefire with US President Donald Trump..The meeting in Busan, South Korea saw Trump announce a cut in US tariffs and Xi agree to maintai

China exercises a virtual monopoly on so-called "rare earth" metals, essential for everything from household appliances to cars, energy and weapons

Investors cautiously optimistic of trade truce extension

Beijing’s top diplomat yesterday told his Japanese counterpart he sees “positive signals” from Tokyo’s new leadership, after the country swore in a prime minister long viewed as a China hawk.