China is planning changes in its organ donation rules to tackle a shortage of donors and curb illicit harvesting after it stopped taking tissue from executed prisoners five years ago.The draft rules published Wednesday by the National Health Commission allow people to donate the organs of relatives who have died.They also make it illegal to take organs from living minors as China tries to stamp out child trafficking for harvesting.China has been grappling with a massive dearth of donors after

From remote Himalayan valleys to small tropical islands and tense Western capitals, an increasingly assertive China is taking on conflicts around the world like never before as the United States (US) retreats.China's imposition this week of a controversial security law in Hong Kong, defying a barrage of criticism from the West, offered another example of its rising confidence as a global superpower.The confrontations are seen as part of President Xi Jinping's nationalist drive to re

Researchers in China have discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the US science journal PNAS.Named G4, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.It possesses "all the essential hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans," say the authors, scientists at Chinese universities and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.From 2011 to 2018, researcher

The battered bodies of more than 160 jade miners were pulled from a sea of mud after a landslide in northern Myanmar on Thursday, after one of the worst-ever accidents to hit the treacherous industry.Scores die each year while working in the country's lucrative but poorly regulated jade trade, which uses low-paid migrant workers to scrape out a gem highly coveted in China.The disaster struck after heavy rainfall pounded the open-cast mines, close to the Chinese border in Kachin state, wh

Hong Kong police arrested about 370 people Wednesday - including 10 under China's new national security law - as thousands defied a ban on protests on the anniversary of the city's handover to China.Police used water cannon, pepper spray and tear gas in a series of confrontations with protesters, one day after China drew global criticism for imposing the controversial legislation on the financial hub. Beijing said the law would restore stability after nearly a year of unres

China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong Tuesday, dramatically tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city in a historic move decried by Western nations as a threat to the financial hub's freedoms.Described by Beijing as a "sword" hanging over the heads of those endangering national security, the law took effect hours after it was signed by President Xi Jinping and just six weeks since it was first unveiled.Fed up with pro-democracy protests that rocked t

Widespread lockdowns and border closures aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic have interrupted global supply chains and largely paralysed the global economy.

At the 36th ASEAN Summit via teleconferencing on Friday (26 June), some Southeast Asian leaders boldly raised the issue of the South China Sea (SCS) and China’s bullying behaviour while ASEAN chair Vietnam called for a rules-based order in the SCS.“While the entire world is stretched thin in the fight against the pandemic, irresponsible acts and acts in violation of international law are still taking place, affecting the environment of security and stability in certain regions, including our

Southeast Asian leaders warned Friday the virus pandemic had swept away years of economic gains and was hindering negotiations over the flashpoint South China Sea as they met online for a delayed summit.Vietnam, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had wanted to use the summit to inject momentum into talks on a sprawling China-backed trade pact.But the immediate focus for the 10-member bloc was the crippling cost of the coronavirus, which has ravaged the ec

Like the leading character in a long-running television series, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has kicked off the latest crisis on the Korean Peninsula with familiar theatrics. After cutting off all communications with South Korea earlier this month, the Kim regime bombed the building in which it had previously hosted South Korean diplomats. It has redeployed troops into demilitarised border areas and issued renewed threats of violence against the South.