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[ad_1] US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) walks with China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang (R) ahead of a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on June 18, 2023. Leah Millis | Afp | Getty Images U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to cool U.S.-China tensions that have overshadowed geopolitics in recent months. The trip by Blinken makes him the highest-level American official to visit China since Joe Biden became U.S. president and the first U.S. secretary of state to make the trip in nearly five years. Blinken had "candid, substantive, and constructive talks" with Qin, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Sunday . He raised concerns as well as "opportunities to explore cooperation," and he emphasized the importance of open communication, according to the statement. "The Secretary made clear that the United States w...

[ad_1] A currency dealer monitors exchange rates in a trading room at KEB Hana Bank in Seoul on June 21, 2021. JUNG YEON-JE | AFP via Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday, with stocks in South Korea and Taiwan leading declines as major tech firms including chipmakers came under pressure after Barclays downgraded Apple . Apple shares  dropped  4% on Tuesday, after  Barclays cut the iPhone maker's rating to underweight and trimmed its price target to $160 from $161. Apple suppliers in major Asia markets fell, weighing down indexes in Taiwan and South Korea. South Korea's Kospi closed 2.34% lower at 2,607.31, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.84% to end at 871.57. Most technology and chip stocks including Samsung Electronics, LG Corporation and SK Hynix fell about 3% each. The Taiwan Weighted Index shed 1.65%, with shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company down 2.53% and Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn, falling 0.48%. India's factory a...

[ad_1] An undated editorial photo of Chinese yuan cash bills and the flag of the People's Republic of China. Javier Ghersi | Moment | Getty Images China's consumer prices were flat in September, while factory gate prices saw annual declines slow for a third month — pointing to the uneven post-Covid recovery in the world's second-largest economy that may require further policy support. Consumer price index for September was flat on an annual basis, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday , below than the median estimate for a 0.2% increase in a Reuters poll. CPI inched up 0.1% in August for the first year-on-year increase in three months. Core inflation — excluding energy and food prices — however, climbed 0.8% in September from a year earlier, the bureau said in a separate statement . This rate of increase was similar to the one recorded in August. China's producer price index fell 2.5% from a year earlier , weaker than expectations for a 2.4% decline, af...

[ad_1] People gather outside the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on January 17, 2023. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images) Roslan Rahman | Afp | Getty Images SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to allow non-fully vaccinated travelers to enter the country without a negative pre-departure test from next week, health authorities announced Thursday. The country is set to remove mask-wearing on public transport from Monday, as it seeks to exit the "acute phase" of the pandemic, said the Ministry of Health. The country's Covid task force, created in January 2020, will be deactivated. "Our Covid situation has remained stable over the recent months, despite increased travel over the year and holidays and China's shift from zero Covid," said Singapore's deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong, who is also co-chair of the Covid task force. "Our population has developed a high level of hybrid immunity. The r...

[ad_1] China saw weaker imports despite rapid reopening: UBS China's economy saw weaker imports despite its rapid reopening, UBS' head of China economic research Wang Tao said in a note. "Despite a rapid reopening (sequentially) in the past 2 months, domestic demand growth on y/y basis may have been still relatively soft," she said in a note. She added the import volume of copper ore and iron ore both improved from December likely due to a pick up in construction activities. "Our channel checks suggest that work resumption of construction sector was slow in the first two weeks post CNY holiday, but accelerated in the 3rd and 4th weeks," she said, noting that crude oil import growth also fell alongside imports of IT components and auto products. China on Tuesday saw exports fall by 6.8% in February in U.S. dollar terms and imports also declined 10.2%. — Jihye Lee U.S. plans to lift Covid testing requirement for travelers from China: NBC The U.S. plans to...

[ad_1] Official data showed Inflation in China lingered at weak levels in June 2023, underscoring the challenges that beset the world's second-largest economy in revitalizing growth momentum. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images China's annual producer prices sank for a ninth-straight month in June, while consumer prices remain unchanged, official data showed Monday, underscoring the depth of the challenges that beset the world's second-largest economy in reviving demand and revitalizing growth. Monday's inflation data underwhelmed market expectations, offering fresh evidence that China's economy may require more muscular policy support to sustain the country's recovery from its strict "zero-Covid" curbs late last year. Producer prices sank 5.4% in June from a year earlier and slipped 0.8% from a month ago, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. This was weaker than a Reuters poll that had expected a 5.0% annual decline, compar...