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

Baidu Inc, the largest Internet search engine in China, said on Tuesday it is buying PPStream Inc’s online video business for $370 million to challenge the nation’s top video services provider. PPS will merge with iQiyi.com, a popular online video website acquired by Baidu late last year, according to a company statement. PPS will continue [...]

Shanghai is trying to consolidate its status as a global hot spot by allowing visitors arriving by passenger liners to spend three days in the city without a visa. Pending approval from the central government, the city plans to extend the visa-free policy at its two airports to the cruise terminals, and set up duty-free [...]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Tuesday expressed “firm opposition” to a Pentagon report that misrepresents China’s military development. “We firmly oppose the report and have made representations to the United States,” Hua Chunying said at a daily press briefing. Her comments came after the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday released its annual report on [...]

BANK of China has closed the account of North Korea’s main foreign exchange bank, which was hit with US sanctions in March after Washington accused it of helping finance Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. The state-run Foreign Trade Bank had been told of the closure and that its transactions had been halted, Bank of China, the [...]

 China’s largest offshore oil producer announced on Monday that it has inked an agreement to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from BG Group and increased its stakes in an LNG project in Australia. Under the contract, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) will purchase five million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, starting in [...]

China’s cabinet announced detailed plans on Monday to deepen economic reform, cutting government interventions that hinder robust growth. It will cancel or delegate power to lower levels for 62 items previously subject to central government administrative approval, after similar approaches removed 71 items last month, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of [...]