Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan urged his Japanese counterpart not to take any actions that might complicate the situation in the South China Sea, saying the waters were not an issue between the two countries.

China's vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission Fan Changlong told visiting Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the United States Pacific Command, to "stop wrongdoings and dangerous moves" in the South China Sea and to avoid "misunderstanding, misjudgment and unpredictable incidents".

President Xi Jinping of China, and the leader of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, will meet on Saturday in Singapore, the first such meeting since the Chinese Communist revolution of 1949 and the retreat of the Chinese nationalists across the Taiwan Strait.

The head of U.S. Pacific Command defended Washington’s position on the South China Sea on Tuesday even as he called for stronger military-to-military exchanges with Beijing, amid signs that both sides are trying to tamp down tensions over Beijing’s territorial claims.

China's naval commander told his U.S. counterpart that a minor incident could spark war in the South China Sea if the United States did not stop its "provocative acts" in the disputed waterway, the Chinese navy said on Friday.

China abandoned the one-child policy that has shaped society since the late-1970s as the ruling Communist Party tries to boost a shrinking workforce and manage the country’s transition to an era of slower economic growth.

The U.S. chief of naval operations and his Chinese counterpart will hold an hour long video teleconference Thursday, days after Beijing was angered by a U.S. warship's patrol within a 12-mile limit around a man-made Chinese island in the South China Sea, a U.S. official said.

The U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer close to China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said it warned and followed the American vessel.

The U.S. Navy's top commander in the Pacific says it's up to policymakers in Washington whether his sailors patrol within 12 nautical miles of newly constructed islands claimed by China in the South China Sea. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Scott Swift spoke during an interview Thursday amid tensions over Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea and reports the U.S. will sail near the disputed islands to challenge those claims.

China's central bank cut interest rates on Friday for the sixth time in less than a year, and it again lowered the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves in a bid to jump start growth in its stuttering economy.