Senior U.S. State Department official visits China amid tense ties

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) -A senior U.S. State Department official arrived in Beijing on Sunday with meetings planned for the coming week as Washington seeks to boost communication with China at a time of tense relations between the two countries. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will discuss “key issues in…

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Timeline: China’s Tiananmen Square demonstrations and crackdown

(Reuters) – Sunday is the 34th anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in and around central Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, when Chinese troops opened fire on their own people. The event remains a taboo topic of discussion in mainland China and will not be officially commemorated by the ruling Communist Party or government. Here…

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China rebukes US, Canadian navies for Taiwan Strait transit

TAIPEI (Reuters) – China’s military rebuked the United States and Canada for “deliberately provoking risk” after the countries’ navies staged a rare joint sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canada’s HMCS Montreal conducted a “routine” transit of the strait on Saturday “through waters…

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Turkey’s Erdogan signals economic U-turn in picking orthodox Simsek

By Huseyin Hayatsever and Ezgi Erkoyun ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan signalled on Saturday his newly-elected government would return to more orthodox economic policies when he named Mehmet Simsek to his cabinet to tackle Turkey’s cost-of-living crisis and other strains. Simsek’s appointment as treasury and finance minister could set the stage for interest rate hikes…

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Horse racing-Protester runs onto track as 31 arrested over Epsom Derby disruption

(Reuters) – Police arrested 31 people in connection with plans to disrupt Saturday’s Epsom Derby, including a man who was detained after running onto the track, as major sporting events in Britain continue to be affected by protests. Last month, protest group Animal Rising issued a call for volunteers to help disrupt the event by…

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