The Latest Breaking News from Beijing

PLA says exercises launched in response to president’s inauguration will test capacity to ‘launch joint attacks and occupy key areas’

Beijing on Friday said ongoing drills encircling Taiwan were testing the military's ability to seize power over the self-ruled island, days after a new president was sworn in.

Comments come after Holy See’s top diplomat expresses desire for a ‘stable presence’ in China

China is providing a route for Russia to stock up on weapons for the Ukraine war, Grant Shapps has warned

Lai Ching-te’s inauguration speech has been panned by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which labelled the new president a “dangerous separatist”.

China on Tuesday slammed the inauguration speech of new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te as a "confession of Taiwan independence", and warned it would take "countermeasures".

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy said claims Beijing was behind the attack were ‘completely fabricated’

Lai has pledged to “neither yield nor provoke” Beijing

Beijing sanctions three American defence companies as Taiwan's new president takes office. China is also launching an anti-dumping investigation into imported EU, US, Japan and Taiwan chemicals amid a growing trade spat. The country's struggling property market gets a government lifeline, but investors remain unconvinced that it will be enough.