BEIJING, Dec 16 (Reuters) – The Beijing city
government said on Friday it would tighten control over popular
microblogs that have vexed authorities with their rapid
dissemination of news, giving users three months to register
with their real names or face legal consequences.

China has repeatedly criticised microblogs for irresponsibly
spreading what it calls unfounded rumours and vulgarity and has
issued a series of warnings in recent months that online content
must be acceptable to the ruling Communist Party.

YANGON/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ambassador to Myanmar held a rare meeting with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week, her aide said on Thursday, in the highest level contact in two decades between Beijing and Myanmar’s opposition.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin also said the two met, adding that China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, would travel to Myanmar for a summit next week of Mekong River countries, weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s landmark visit there.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Wednesday dangled the prospect of more trade and economic incentives for Taiwan ahead of elections there next month, but warned the pro-independence opposition closer ties would be at risk if it did not change its stance.

China has made little secret of its distaste for Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ahead of January presidential elections on the self-ruled island, even as its candidate Tsai Ing-wen tries to lay out a more moderate line.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States is not looking to undermine China’s stake in Myanmar now that Washington’s ties are improving with the once-reclusive southeast Asian nation, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi this month on a landmark visit which saw Myanmar’s new civilian government vow to forge ahead with political reforms and re-engage with the world.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Zhang Yimou, one of China’s best-known directors, is banking on heartthrob Christian Bale to help boost the country’s chances of winning an Oscar, with his latest film on a tragic chapter in the nation’s history.

“The Flowers of War,” China’s Academy Award entry for best foreign language film, centers around a mortician (Bale) who gets caught up in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre and has to save a group of school girls from the clutches of the Japanese.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Nov 19 (Reuters) – China pushed
back on Saturday against a week of U.S. pressure to resolve a
rancorous dispute over territorial claims in the South China
Sea, a crucial, mineral-rich commercial shipping lane at the
heart of growing tensions among Asian leaders.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao chastised President Barack Obama
for raising the issue during an Asia-Pacific leaders summit,
hours after Obama told Wen the United States wants the sea lanes
kept open and peaceful, capping two weeks of Sino-U.S. tensions.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – The United States and China are set to face off on Saturday at a regional summit over the thorny issue of how to resolve competing claims to sovereignty of the South China Sea, the latest point of friction between the two powerful nations.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao insisted on Friday that “outside forces” had no excuse to get involved in the complex maritime dispute, a veiled warning to the United States and other countries to keep out of the sensitive issue.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Tensions between the United States and China spilled over into meetings of Asia-Pacific leaders on Friday as the two countries jostled over how to handle competing claims to the South China Sea.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao demanded that “outside forces” had no excuse to get involved in the complex maritime dispute, a veiled warning to the United States and other countries to keep out of the sensitive issue.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Friday that “outside forces” had no excuse to get involved in a complex dispute over the South China Sea, offering a veiled warning to the United States and others not to stick their noses into the sensitive issue.

But Wen also struck a softer line during a summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, offering $10 billion in loans and saying China only wanted to be friends.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Southeast Asian nations endorsed Myanmar Thursday for the chairmanship of a key regional grouping, gambling that the isolated country can stick to reforms begun this year that could lead it out of half a century of isolation.

But U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned that Myanmar, also known as Burma, must still demonstrate improvements in human rights in his first remarks since the authoritarian regime freed hundreds of political prisoners in October and vowed more reforms in the weeks ahead.