China's sole aircraft carrier conducted drills in the South China Sea, the navy said, days after neighboring Taiwan said the carrier and accompanying ships had passed 90 nautical miles south of the island amid renewed tension between the two sides.

The Chinese government plans to expand the country's high-speed rail network to 30,000 kilometers (18,600 miles) by 2020, part of public infrastructure spending aimed at shoring up economic growth.

The United States says China has the right to sail in international waters after a Chinese aircraft carrier cruised past Taiwan and into the contested South China Sea.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will pass through the United States when she visits Latin America next month, the foreign ministry said Thursday, a move bound to infuriate China which had urged the United States to block a transit stopover.

China's central bank on Wednesday rejected a media report that the yuan had weakened beyond the 7.0000 per dollar level in the onshore market on Dec. 28, calling the report "irresponsible".

Visits to the shrine by prominent Japanese officials anger neighbours China and South Korea, which consider Yasukuni a symbol of Japan's militarism and a reminder of its wartime atrocities.

China's fight against corruption has gained "crushing momentum" and huge progress has been achieved, with no let up expected next year, the ruling Communist Party said.

Chinese state media on Friday expressed alarm and warned of a "showdown with the U.S." after President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line against China, to head a new White House National Trade Council.

China-U.S. relations face new uncertainties but with mutual respect for core interests they will remain stable, China's foreign minister said, adding one individual will not impede ties, a likely reference to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on trade with China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said on Wednesday.