taiwan sent coastguard vessels to a disputed area of the east china sea in response to the japanese arrest of a taiwanese skipper for allegedly illegal fishing in japan's eez. later, taiwan protested to japan for the way it handled the taiwanese boat.。。。

china requested formal consultations at wto over the us tariffs on tire imports from china. whether the case will work out in favour of china is unclear, as the special safeguards measure was included as part of the price for china joining the wto in 2001.。。。

citing a special safeguard provision and reversing previous policies, us president obama announced that the us would impose a 35 percent tariff on automobile and light-truck tires imported from china, because chinese imports were "disrupting" the tire market. the chinese ministry of commerce denounced the decision, calling it violation of the wto rule and america's "relevant commitments made on the g-20 financial summit". us officials said they were merely invoking tools that the us explicitly negotiated with china as part of her acceptance into the 。。。

the government-run "technical internship" programme in japan is supposed to provide educational opportunities to people from developing countries and involves about 200,000 foreign trainees, 70% of whom come from china. a lawyers' group said the programme is corrupted into a form of slave labour,。。。

for the first time in 17 years, taiwan will not make a bid to join the united nations. taiwan is recognised by only 23 states and failed in the previous 16 attempts due to china's opposition.。。。

two american journalists detained by dprk for over four months said they crossed into north korea but were “firmly back inside china" when north korean border guards chased and apprehended them, then “violently dragged” them back into north korea. a chinese fm spokeswoman denied the veracity of the reporters' account, however.。。。

complying for the first time with a wto decision against china, the chinese government announced that it would reduce tax on imported auto parts. along the four-year process of negotiations leading up to the decision of compliance, china may have lost the battle but won the war, as foreign automakers have been moving auto production to china on a large scale, and the chinese announcement would have "virtually no impact" on them.。。。

as fighting broke out between the myanmar central government and the kokang and other minority groups near the border with china, tens of thousands of refugees (including some kokang soldiers) fled into china, prompting china's fm spokeswoman to call on myanmar to "properly solve its domestic issue to safeguard the regional stability of its bordering area with china". yunnan province provided emergency shelter, food and medical care to the refugees, while myanmar apologized for chinese casualties 。。。

in the wake of of naval clashes early this year, china called on the us to reduce and gradually put an end to air and sea military surveillance operations to avoid naval confrontations. "china believes the constant us military air and sea surveillance and survey operations in china's exclusive economic zone had led to military confrontations between the two sides,"the chinese defence ministry said.。。。

china lodged opposition with the un commission on the limits of the continental shelf to japan's claim to continental shelf in the western pacific based on what japan calls okinotori island. china argued that, under the unclos, the ''rock of okinotori, which obviously can not sustain human habitation or economic life of its own, shall have no continental shelf.'' japan's okinotori-based claim, if success。。。