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

Chinese factory activity and retail sales picked up a notch in April, according to data released Monday, regaining some steam from weak showings the previous month. But expansion remained underwhelming, analysts said, and underlined the fact that the once red-hot Chinese economy is in the throes of a long-term transition toward slower growth. Industrial output, [...]

New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will visit India and Pakistan on his first foreign trip since assuming office, on a week-long overseas foray that will also take in Switzerland and Germany, the Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. Li, who became prime minister in March, will meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif [...]

China’s top anticorruption agency said Sunday that it was investigating Liu Tienan, a senior economic policy maker, in an abrupt turn in a case that openly pitted him against a campaigning investigative journalist. The agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party, which runs corruption inquiries involving senior officials, said Mr. Liu [...]

About 200 Taiwanese protested outside the Philippine representative office in Taipei on Monday against the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard in disputed waters. Burning Philippine flags and waving banners with messages such as “You can’t kill our people, you can’t insult our country,” the demonstrators demanded that Manila apologize for [...]

Two pipelines in the highlands of northeast Myanmar will soon begin pumping oil and gas into China, representing a major step in Beijing’s quest for energy security. At the end of a bumpy road here, a 45-minute ride from the nearest town, Cheng Chong Zhen, a 40-year-old Chinese electrician working for state-owned energy giant China [...]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to China this week seeking more trade with the world’s second-biggest economy. While his hosts welcomed the overture, they were focused on the Middle East peace process. A government spokeswoman said during Netanyahu’s visit that China was pushing for the resumption of talks to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President [...]