CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

China has been quietly and gently pressuring North Korea to scrap plans for a third nuclear test, said two sources with knowledge of closed-door discussions between the countries, but there is no indication how the North will react.   If North Korea goes ahead with the test, China would consider taking some retaliatory steps, but [...]

The Philippines may buy two squadrons of military jets for as much as $1.6 billion, President Benigno Aquino said, as the country pushes to modernize its defenses amid a territorial dispute with China.   The government could buy new training jets for between $400 and $800 million per squadron and upgrade the planes to fighters, [...]

China Mobile Ltd. (941), the world’s largest phone company by users, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) are in talks to offer the iPhone, the carrier’s new chairman said.   China Mobile can’t predict if the two sides will come to an agreement this year, Chairman Xi Guohua said at a shareholder meeting in Hong Kong today. [...]

Foreign demand for U.S. Treasury securities rose to a record high in March. China, the largest buyer of Treasury debt, increased its holdings for a third straight month.   Total foreign holdings rose 0.3 percent to a $5.12 trillion, marking the eighth consecutive monthly increase, the Treasury Department reported Tuesday.   U.S. government debt is [...]

Mainland Chinese investors accounted for a smaller percentage of Hong Kong’s new home sales for a second quarter as the nation’s banks tightened lending while local buyers returned to the market, Midland Holdings Ltd. (1200) said.   Mainland purchasers made up 36.8 percent of all new home sales by value in the first quarter, from [...]