China, Asia | featured news

The man in line to oversee China's massive but rapidly slowing economy for the coming decade speaks English and comes from a generation of politicians schooled during a time of greater openness to liberal Western ideas than their predecessors....

China's trade surplus widened in October as export growth accelerated, the latest encouraging sign for the world's second-largest economy.

Li Keqiang, the man slated to become China’s next premier, is described by several former classmates and associates as a cautious political climber who moved up slowly through the Communist Party’s bureaucracy while quietly maintaining friendships with pro-democracy advocates.

The specter of corruption continued to hound China’s leaders Friday, the second day of a week-long Communist Party congress at which the country’s next generation of top leaders are expected to be unveiled.

China's communist elite are meeting to install a new generation of leaders in a process that is part public show and part backroom politicking. At the center of the spectacle is the Communist Party congress, a gathering held once every five years that is the 18th such event in the party's history. The congress is more interlude than climax. Important decisions are made by current and retired leaders, some of whom are not even on the congress delegates' roster, in bargaining that began years ago and has largely been already resolved.

The murder of the British businessman, Neil Heywood, is still seen as stemming from a financial dispute, but the intelligence links add an enticing subplot to his death.

China filed a complaint to the WTO charging the EU with violating rules governing subsidies to its solar components industry.

China is imposing a blizzard of restrictions to ensure stability during a major leadership change, and its crackdown extends even to toys and the back seats of cabs.

China is set to promote two rising stars and possible future national leaders at a Communist Party congress opening next week, one taking the old job of disgraced former high-flyer Bo Xilai in the country's biggest metropolis, sources said.

Hong Kong was named the world's top financial center for the second year running by the World Economic Forum (WEF), thanks to the strength of its business environment, infrastructure and a favorable tax regime.