Chinese President Xi Jinping has held a 4-hour meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Beijing.

The two leaders have pledged to keep up a dialogue on bilateral ties and international issues.

The Chinese president has called trade cooperation the 'propeller' for China-U.S. relations.

For his part, Biden says the relationship between China and the US has to be based on trust and a positive notion of each other's motives.

Biden arrived in Beijing for a two-day official visit on Wednesday.

This is his second visit to China as the US' vice president.

His week long Asian tour will wrap up in South Korea.

 

Ukrainian President in Beijing for talks

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is now in Beijing for a state visit.

Chinese foreign ministry has issued a statement ahead of his meetings with Chinese leaders, saying the cooperation between the two sides has "important significance to China."

Yanukovich is scheduled to stay until Friday and sign economic and trade agreements.

 

China willing to cooperate with other countries on ADIZ: FM spokesman

The Chinese government has issued its response to comments made about its new Air Defense Identification Zone from US and Japanese leaders.

The Chinese side says it would like to cooperate with other countries on issues connected to the new zone. 

The Chinese comments follow a meeting between US Vice President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, where Biden suggested the US and Japanese sides reach out to China to try to ease concerns about the zone.

 

Japan launches National Security Council

Japan has launched a National Security Council, giving the prime minister's office greater authority over security matters.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and some senior officials have attended the first meeting on Wednesday, exchanging views on China's air defense identification zone.

The ministers confirm Japan's council will step up cooperation with its counterparts in the United States and Britain.

The council, similar to the US National Security Council, is designed to strengthen the leadership of the prime minister's office in steering foreign and defense polices. 

The NSC will hold twice-monthly meetings between the prime minister, the chief cabinet secretary and the ministers.

 

Israel denies involvement in Hezbollah commander death

Israel has denied the country is behind the killing of a Hezbollah commander. 

Earlier, Hassan Lakkis, who fought in Syria's civil war, was shot dead outside his home in Lebanon.

Hezbollah blamed Israel for his death.

 

UNESCO lists China's Zhusan as Intangible Cultural Heritage

UNESCO has added China's Zhusuan or Chinese traditional abacus to the World Intangible Cultural Heritage list. 

The decision comes as UNESCO held its committee meeting in Azerbaijan.

As an ancient calculating device, zhusuan was listed as a part of China's national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

It is also China's 30th cultural tradition that UNESCO has recognized.

Intangible cultural heritage includes living expressions and traditions communities have inherited from ancestors and transmit to descendants.

 

HK government starts public consultation for electoral reform

Public consultations have officially opened in Hong Kong in connection with potential new election laws.

Under a proposal being put forward, all eligible voters in Hong Kong will be able to elect the Chief Executive and Legislative Council by 2017.

The SAR government says the public consultation process will be open for 5-months.

Under Hong Kong's Basic Law, universal suffrage is applicable as of 2017.

This provision dates back to the original signing of the hand over agreement in 1997, which was signed under the principle of "one country, two systems."

 

Two Chinese cities suspend classes due to lingering smog

Two cities in eastern China are set to suspend school classes and remove government vehicles from roads due to lingering smog.

The coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong Province and Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province issued the notice as pollution levels soared after smog continued to choke the cities for three days.

Meanwhile, the National Meteorological Center has renewed a yellow alert for fog and smog in eastern and northern cities including Shanghai and Tianjin.

The yellow alert is the third highest in a four-level alert system.

The government in Qingdao has also issued a statement, banning open-air barbecues.

China's central and eastern regions have been hit by a new round of smoggy weather since the start of this month.

The meteorological center predicts the weather will continue until this Sunday.

 

China issues 4G licenses to telecom giants

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued 4G licenses to three Chinese telecom operators.

China's three major carriers, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have been granted the licenses.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's approval allows for the launch of faster mobile technology.

The licenses are specifically for the domestically developed TD-LTE standard rather than the more international FD-LTE.

This will mostly benefit China Mobile, whose 4G network is heavily based on TD-LTE.

China Mobile has already gone on-record saying it will officially launch its 4G services on December 18th.