China

President Xi Jinping will host a two-day summit with the leaders of five Central Asian nations next week, Beijing said on Monday, as China moves to increase its influence in the region.

Leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the China-Central Asia Summit from May 18 to 19, said China's foreign ministry.

China's manufacturing activity contracted in April, official figures showed yesterday, due to slack global demand and a slow domestic recovery after lifting COVID-related curbs.    

China's cooperation with Europe and other countries is as "unlimited" as its ties with Russia, the Chinese ambassador to the EU said, expressing confidence in China's neutrality with regard to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

China's foreign minister stepped up threats Friday against the self-governing island of Taiwan, saying any who go against Beijing's demand to exert control over the island are "playing with fire."

Despite the cancellation years ago of China's harsh, Mao-era restriction on families to a single child, and even after more recent incentives urging families to have more children, China's population is steadily shrinking - a momentous shift that will soon leave India as the world's most populous nation and have broad rippling effects both domestically and globally.

In the middle of this year, India is expected to become the most populous country in the world and overtake China in terms of population by almost 3 million people, Reuters and BTA reported, referring to a UN report published today.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is visiting China, called for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue, Reuters reported.

"Conflicts must be resolved peacefully," Baerbock said at a news conference in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Qing Gan.

She called on China to exert its influence on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Apple enjoys a "symbiotic" relationship with China, CEO Tim Cook said on March 25, as the iPhone giant looks to move production out of the country.

Cook, who is in China to attend the high-profile China Development Forum, said "Apple and China grew together," during an interview on the role of technology in education.

Investors and stock markets have become very excited with China's "reopening" after its abandonment of the zero-Covid policy at the end of 2022. Nobody knows how many people died after more than 80% of the population was declared to have caught the coronavirus, but there have been clear signs of economic revival after three years of drastic lockdowns.

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Ana Brnabic met with Chinese Ambassador to Belgrade Chen Bo on Monday to discuss bilateral relations and the work on joint projects.