Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Led by CRRC Tangshan, and co-developed by several domestic companies, China's first high-speed bullet cargo train was finally completed at Tangshan, in North China's Hebei Province.

The People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, announced on Wednesday that it has successfully issued 10 billion offshore bills in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), with global investors oversubscribing for the bill by three times in a vote of confidence in the Chinese economy.

Economic growth in China is expected to slow to 2 percent this year, before rebounding to 7.9 percent growth in 2021, as private investment and consumption heats up next year, a World Bank report released on Wednesday projected.

China's natural gas production has increased by more than 10 billion cubic meters for four consecutive years, Zhang Jianhua, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA), said at China's annual energy work conference on Tuesday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has welcomed the Congressional passage of the COVID-19 relief package, noting that more robust stimulus is needed to shore up the economy.

World Bank: China's GDP to rise to 7.9% in 2021

The smooth handover of Sukkur-Multan Motorway, the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – epitomizes progress in building the CPEC by overcoming negative impacts of the global pandemic, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

Almost a year ago when COVID-19 cases emerged in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, Western media were fixated on criticizing and slandering China's unprecedented response to the epidemic, as one of the most important holiday season in the country - the Chinese New Year - was disrupted. Some even linked the epidemic to China's system and culture, sparking at times a racist attitude toward not just Chinese but Asian people.

China vows 'necessary measures' in response to US' release of its 'military end user' list

China and Germany should pivot toward manufacturing and create new types of international organizations and industrial partnership platforms in the spheres of intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet, said a report on Tuesday that envisions closer ties between the two global manufacturing powers.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday refuted Western media reports claiming that China is in a rush to reach EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) by the end of 2020 in a bid to strengthen China-EU relations ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration, stressing that China's stance towards China-EU relations has been clear and constant.

As the fifth largest dairy producer in Europe, Poland's dairy products are popular among Chinese consumers. According to statistics provided by the Polish Ministry of Finance, Polish dairy products exported to China in 2020 rose 70 percent year-on-year.

“These car models will be exported to the US, and products on that production line is exporting to Europe,” John Ng, a factory manager of Maisto, a car model manufacture in Dongguan, South China's Guangdong Province, told the Global Times from the company's factory.

The Dalian Commodity Exchange introduced overseas traders on palm oil futures trading on Tuesday, marking a major step in enhancing the exchange's status and helping strengthen risk management.

China has run into a regional power shortage with multiple localities having curbed electricity use and imposed rationing in recent days, drawing a wide array of discussions on Chinese social media platforms, as the country scales up its green energy ladder to expand the share of renewables in its energy mix to meet its ambitious climate goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.

Chinese regulator's move to halt deposit products on major fintech platforms will weigh heavily on small banks, especially private ones, which rely on the third-party platforms to attract deposits.

Huawei launched a new variety of S-series Smart Screen, and a vehicle-mounted smart screen carrying the updated Harmony operating system (OS) on Monday, representing another major step towards building a complete ecosystem based on its own operating system.

China firmly opposes US' intention to sign the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act into law, which will contain clauses that clearly work against Chinese companies, in spite of the active efforts of the Chinese regulatory authorities and the US to carry out auditing and supervision cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

China opposes politicizing and stigmatizing cyber-security issues, and the country has resolutely cracked down on any activities of cyber hacking and cyber-related crimes, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday, a response after US President Donald Trump claimed on his Twitter account that China “may be” responsible for the large-scale cyber attacks on the US government.

China's first mRNA COVID-19 vaccine production plant will be built in Yuxi, southwestern China's Yunnan province, which is expected to produce 120 million doses of the vaccine per year when the plant is completed.

Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, reported a brief black-out Monday morning, gaining broad online attention against the backdrop of a few southern provinces cutting their power supply to save energy. But the Guangzhou outrage was caused by an electricity wire fault and electricity supply was restored quickly.

The Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) attributed the recent sharp fluctuations in iron ore prices to fundamentals of supply and demand, noting that diffuse group of buyers with weak bargaining power haven't formed a joint force, according to a release on Sunday night.

Lusail Stadium, the main stadium for the 2022 World Cup, is featured on the new 10-riyal banknote of Qatar, which was released on Friday. This is the first time that a China-built infrastructure project is chosen to appear as a main symbol on the official currency of Qatar.

While traffic and logistics hurdles have weakened international trade and tourism, people in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) may feel the opposite when it comes to greater connections with the Chinese mainland, even in hard times. Experts suggested the Macao SAR can take advantage of the mainland's booming market and consumption capacity to achieve sustainable growth.

A 94-year-old lady lives a diligent, simple and independent life, with two-thirds of her small yard used to grow tender vegetables. She has been drinking tea for about 80 years, seeing it as a factor in her longevity.

Fighting back against the coronavirus pandemic that severely disrupted businesses activities, Chinese products are rocking the world. Both the wholesalers at the world's "supermarket" Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province, and the producers of South China's Guangdong Province, where many manufacturing factories are located, have been busy responding to an unprecedented boom in international orders which came at a magnitude that many of them have never seen before.

Former finance minister Lou Jiwei said on Sunday that if a single digital financial platform takes up too big of a market share, it may eventually lead to a large number of bad loans.

China's Central Economic Work Conference held from Wednesday to Friday has set the course for China's economic development in 2021, heralding a continuous growth which will help the recovery of the pandemic-laden world economy, overseas experts have said.

China's middle-income population will rise steadily and may reach 800 million in the next 15 years, said Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce of China, over the weekend, adding the country's 1.4 billion population, buoyed by a booming economy, will make them a significant consumption force in the world.

Luo Tiejun, vice president of China Iron and Steel Association, called for a new pricing mechanism for iron ore, as the S&P Global Platts iron ore index increased significantly: $45.1 per ton compared with one month ago, accounting for a 63.6 percent increase.

Beijing has set the task of enhancing independence and autonomy of the industrial and supply chain and deal with the key areas and "stranglehold" problems in 2021, according to a key central government meeting that ended on Friday.

China vows to solve seeds and arable land issues, and has put ensuring grain safety as one of the priorities in the Central Economic Work Conference which ended on Friday in Beijing.

Top Chinese policymakers on Friday put heavy emphasis on addressing various internal challenges ranging from consumption, technology and financial security at a key meeting that outlines top policy priorities for 2021, signaling the world's second-largest economy is shifting reliance on the domestic economy as external risks continue to mount marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and trade tensions.

Chinese financial technology (fintech) firms are scrambling to shut down certain online banking services that could potentially be targeted by tighter regulations as part of Chinese regulators' recent campaign to crack down on illegal activities in the online financial sector and address potential risks.

As more inspiring clinical trial results of COVID-19 vaccines have been released recently, the world has high hopes for the advent of the key product, and achieving fair access to vaccines on a global scale is also imminent.

Chinese top officials on Friday closed a tone-setting meeting for economic work for the coming year, where they commended historic achievements in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and set tackling lingering risks as a top priority for 2021, as the domestic economy recovery continues to face complex and severe challenges.

China's Foreign Ministry on Friday criticized a reported move by the US government to add dozens of Chinese companies to a trade blacklist, calling the move, if true, yet another example of the US using its state power to crack down on Chinese firms; vowing to take "necessary measures" to protect Chinese businesses.

Chinese top policymakers are expected to outline economic policy priorities and targets for 2021 at a highly-anticipated tone-setting meeting, which could pave the way for the most significant shift in China's economic development model in decades that puts more focus on boosting the domestic market and indigenous innovation to drive long-term growth, as external uncertainties and risks remain abundant.

China plans to use more scrap steel as a raw material in its steel plants, a move that analysts said will reduce reliance on iron ore imports from Australia, amid fraught bilateral ties, soaring ore prices, and in align with China's pursuit for carbon neutrality by 2060.

US food corporation Cargill's major clients in China, including fast-food chain McDonald's, said that their supplies have not been affected by a positive coronavirus case involving chicken, adding that they did not source products from batches where the locally produced chicken drumsticks tested positive for COVID-19.

Hong Kong-based companies are increasingly looking at the Chinese mainland market amid global trade headwinds in the post-virus world, as China's policy to make the domestic market a mainstay in the coming years.

Economists laughed at Australia's attempts to crack down on China by taking legal action against the country under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), saying that it is Australia instead of China that is violating the terms of the agreement, and that China should resort to international courts more often to safeguard its interests.

Several provinces in China announced that electricity loads have increased rapidly and issued proposals to save electricity and start its orderly use.

Luckin Coffee, a potential rival to Starbucks, stated on Thursday that it has reached a settlement with US securities regulators on alleged financial fraud by some of its former employees.

Blatantly misleading overseas media reports about Australia's iron ore trade with China have destabilized the market and possibly contributed to soaring prices, said industry insiders, who spoke of the need to avoid market panic that will cause disruption for the supply chains on both sides.

Huawei on Wednesday gained conditional approval in Germany to participate in the country's 5G construction, the move, though still needs parliamentary review, is considered by many as a phased victory for the Chinese tech giant in Europe amid US crackdown, and also offered hopes that more countries in the continent may loose restriction on it in the future.

The EU's antitrust regulators will open a full-scale investigation into Aon's $30 billion bid for Willis Towers Watson to create the world's largest insurance broker, two people familiar with the matter said.

5G technology has been integrated into the petrochemical industry in South China's Hainan Province. 22 5G base stations are expected to be complete in 2021, according to Chinanews.

All staff members at Anhui provincial branch of agribusiness company Cargill and the collected environment samples there, were tested negative after one of the company's locally-produced chicken legs tested positive on Tuesday, the company told the Global Times on Thursday.

China's Ministry of Commerce suggested the Netherlands to take a fair, transparent and open stance towards Huawei's 5G and supply of its EUV lithography machines, and try to promote liberalization of global trade and investment.

As Australian exports to China fall amid fraught bilateral ties, Australian agribusinesses have a growing fear of job losses and the wine sector, being hit hardest, is the most concerned about anti-dumping investigations, an industry survey finds.

Statistics showed that Australian barley exported to China has shown obvious dumping signs in recent years, which will lead to Canberra's loss in its appeal against Beijing at the World Trade Organization, experts said, after Australia announced plans to challenge China over tariffs on its barley.

Shares in Chinese mainland-based chipmaking giant Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) went through a turbulent day, first halting trading and then sinking on Wednesday, after what is seen as an abrupt senior management change.

MSCI, a US-based compiler of investment indices, said in a statement on Tuesday that it would delete 10 securities of Chinese companies blacklisted by the US from its Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI), after similar recent moves by London-based FTSE Russell, S&P Dow Jones indices and NASDAQ.

China is expected to open up new sectors and industries, including forestry resource, mining rights and carbon emissions trading, to both domestic and foreign businesses, as it started to remove restrictions and approval requirements in what's known as a negative list of areas off-limit for companies.

A new fund program that allows foreign investors to subscribe for wholly foreign owned enterprise private fund manager (WFOE PFM) through QFII/RQFII has been launched in Shanghai on Tuesday, as China further opens up its financial sector.

Chinese Foreign Ministry consented with Pakistani President Arif Alvi who affirmed that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) cooperation has advanced well despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Responding to surging coal prices, China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the current coal supply and demand is balanced, and the department will boost coal supplies to meet market demand.

China-Europe freight trains have collectively run 11,270 cargo trips from between January to November 2020, an increase of 51 percent year on year. The rate of return journeys reached 76 percent with a 98 percent heavy container rate, according to the data of China Railway Container Transport CO. on Wednesday.

China cut its US government debt holdings in October, continuing a downward trend over five consecutive months amid deteriorating relations between the world's top two economies.

The Chinese internet sector, following a decade of boom times in a relaxed environment for regulatory scrutiny, is facing a new task: how to guarantee growth based on innovation amid heightened regulation, which has become increasingly necessary to avert systemic risks.

China will maintain its prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy in 2021 as uncertainties over pandemic fallout persist, but the overall tone will return to neutral with a gradual exit from a targeted easing policy, economists said, after the country's central bank made its biggest-ever injection of medium-term funds on Tuesday to boost liquidity.

China's measures on some Australian products conform to Chinese law and international practices and the moves are taken to protect Chinese industry and consumers, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

China's actual use of foreign capital hit 98.7 billion yuan ($14.38 billion) in November, up 5.5 percent year-on-year, maintaining steady growth for an eighth consecutive month, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Tuesday.

China is on track to eradicate extreme poverty as planned by the end of this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic providing mounting challenges to the agenda, and China's fights against poverty will also empower other developing nations on their way toward sustainable development, said a report by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) released in Beijing on Tuesday.

China has rolled out 718,000 5G base stations throughout the country, mostly scattered in the large and medium-size cities, including 330,000 shared among the country's four major telecom operators, said Liu Liehong, the vice director of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ( MIIT) on Tuesday.

China's retail sales continue to recover, climbing by 5 percent in November; industrial output also continues to grow, both in line with expectations, showing strong growth momentum as the world's second-largest economy emerges from the impact of COVID-19.

Social retail sales climbed 5% in November y-o-y, in line with expectations and up from 4.3% last year as domestic consumption continues to pick up in China.

China's industrial added value surged 7% in November, in line with market expectations, and faster than 6.9% growth in October: official data.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area rebounded by 8.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020 but remained 2.4 percent below its pre-crisis high of the final quarter of 2019, said the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Monday.

China released a blue paper on economic outlook for 2021 on Monday, saying the total retail sales of consumer goods are expected to grow 4 to 5 percent in 2021 on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimates that China's economic growth will be about 7.8 percent next year.

China and the EU made positive progress in the latest round of negotiations for reaching a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) last week, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Monday.

Driven by booming demand for Chinese goods abroad that has squeezed the capacity of sea transport and pushed up air cargo rates due to the pandemic, China-Europe long distance freight trains are running at full capacity so some goods have to wait until February for shipment.

Australia's mutton export to China has edged down amid the global pandemic and a worsening bilateral relationship with China, with industry observers urging Canberra to take concrete actions to shore up the relationship as Australian brands are being abandoned by Chinese consumers.

The Chinese film market has become the world's biggest after smashing global box office record within four months of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, as other major markets in North America and elsewhere continue to grapple with the pandemic.

Chinese enterprises have been shouldering corporate social responsibilities in their host countries, progressing China's Belt and Road agenda. Meanwhile, with the international communities reaching a consensus toward achieving sustainable development goals, experts believe that now is the optimal time to foster green development linked to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China welcomes "constructive suggestions" from countries outside the Lancang-Mekong River valleys on the development and utilization of the river's water resources, but firmly opposes intentional provocation, said the country's Foreign Ministry on Monday, responding to a question on a US-funded program that will use satellites to monitor river dams on the upstream of the Lancang River.

Chinese netizens have called for Apple to move manufacturing back to China after an Indian iPhone factory was attacked by riots on Saturday for wages issues, based on videos posted online and local news reports.

China and EU have made "positive progress" in the latest round of negotiations for a bilateral investment treay (BIT) last week, where talks were focused on remaining issues such as text and a list, China's Commerce Ministry said Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry criticized Monday a US government move to order the NASDAQ to remove Chinese companies' stocks from its indexes, calling the Trump administration's move an abuse of "state power" by cracking down on Chinese companies and directing global investors to invest in Chinese companies through other channels.

Charles Li Xiaojia, head of Hong Kong's stock exchange operator, said on Monday that he has full confidence in Hong Kong's future, adding that Hong Kong has a big role to play in integrating a rapidly developing China with the world.

As the sequel to the Double 11 online shopping carnival, sales volume during the Double 12 shopping festival, which wrapped up Saturday, appears to have again placed a distant second, perhaps even third as it came and went without much hype.

After a tough 2020, when growth is expected fall to its lowest in decades despite taking the lead globally in steadily recovering from a historical COVID-19-induced plunge, the Chinese economy is forecast to grow at its fastest rate in nine years in 2021, remaining a ray of sunshine as other major economies will likely continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic, according to a Global Times poll.

Removing Chinese firms from global indices due to the Trump administration's blacklisting may lead to a short-term trend of anti-Chinese company moves in the financial sector, but China's economy, military and technology development will not be impeded by Trump's executive order at all, a Chinese expert said.

As global firms are coping with their supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China remains the most attractive outside their main country of location, according to the latest survey by credit insurer Euler Hermes.

Nearly 20,000 transactions were paid for with digital yuan within 24 hours after 8 pm Beijing time on Friday on JD.com, as Chinese residents actively participated in a major real-world trial of the digital yuan in Suzhou, a city in East China's Jiangsu Province, which has been at the forefront of China's push for a digital currency.

Group purchases of cold-chain food in Manzhouli, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, must be reported for further investigation, and local citizens are advised to avoid purchasing cold-chain food online, according to a post from the official WeChat account of the Manzhouli government on Sunday.

China has stressed the strengthening of its anti-monopoly stance and prevention of the disorderly expansion of capital during a key meeting held recently.

Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR Cheung Kin-chung said in an official government blog on Sunday that the first batch of vaccines for COVID-19 will arrive in Hong Kong next month.

A viral list of dozens of Chinese-owned Australian companies sparks a new boycott wave over Chinese goods in Australia after far-right politician Pauline Hanson's boycott call. As a wider range of sectors in the country start feeling the pain of escalating trade tensions, continuous reckless moves could bring a double-digit fall for the Australian economy next year, said Chinese experts.

China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and the Ministry of Transport of Argentina on Friday signed a contract worth $2.6 billion to improve General San Martin Cargo Railway, the largest railway project signed by a Chinese company in Latin America. The project is expected to provide impetus for economic recovery for Argentina in the post-pandemic era.

At a meeting on Friday, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau called for overall reform and opening-up, enhancement of national strategic technologies, an increase in the self-reliance capability of industrial chains and the formation of a powerful domestic market.

Germany, one of the biggest pork suppliers in Europe, is reportedly continuing talks with China in hopes to resume pork trade between the two countries, after its products were banned from entry to the Chinese market after the discovery of African swine fever (ASF), according to a report by Reuters.

China's CPC Central Committee Political Bureau met on Fri, asking to promote overall reform and opening-up, enhance the strength of nationally strategic technologies, increase the self-reliance capability of industrial chains, and form a powerful domestic market in 2021.

The shadow of Chinese technology companies is looming in the imported cold chain checking procedures, as a tech arm of Alibaba said they are working with local governments to help with tracking of the imported cold chain, ensuring the safety of cold chain food.

Deputy Director of China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) Wei Jianguo on Friday refuted Bloomberg's report saying that scrapped talks between the think tank and European business association BusinessEurope "cast shadow" over planned China-EU investment deal.

China, Afghanistan and five Central Asian countries have agreed to continue to deepen cooperation in the fight against the pandemic and strengthen economic and trade ties during a multilateral a video link held on Wednesday.

The development of the Chinese-Russian wide-body CR929 passenger aircraft is going well, and the plane could spawn several variants for special missions in the future, media reports said on Wednesday.