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John Ruwitch News

13 Jan 2018

Salvagers Recover Two Bodies from Burning Tanker Sanchi

(Photo: China's Transport Ministry)

A Chinese salvage team recovered two bodies on Saturday from a stricken Iranian oil tanker, that was still blazing a week after it caught fire and was left adrift following a collision in the East China Sea, state news agency Xinhua reported. The four members of the salvage team wore respirators to board the “Sanchi”, where they found the two bodies on the deck. They tried to get to the living quarters but were driven back by temperatures on the burning ship of around 89 Celsius (192 Fahrenheit), Xinhua said.

11 Apr 2017

North Korean Coal Ships Sail Home after China Denies Cargo

A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows. Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country's most important export product. To curb coal traffic between the two countries, China's customs department issued an official order on April 7 telling trading companies to return their North Korean coal cargoes, said three trading sources with direct knowledge of the order. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were discussing North Korea at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on April 7.

03 Jan 2017

China Confirms Carrier Conducted South China Sea Drills

China's sole aircraft carrier conducted drills in the South China Sea, the navy said, days after neighbouring Taiwan said the carrier and accompanying ships had passed 90 nautical miles south of the island amid renewed tension between the two sides. The Soviet-built Liaoning aircraft carrier and accompanying warships sailed round the east coast of Taiwan in what China called a routine exercise complying with international law. The carrier's J-15 fighters conducted flight exercises in "complex sea conditions" on Monday, the People's Liberation Army Navy said on its official microblog late the same day. The carrier group also ran helicopter exercises, it said, but did not give details on the exact location.

13 May 2016

China: Stakeholders Should Manage S.China Sea Differences Constructively

China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said. Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. Fang and Dunford discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said. The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States…

06 May 2016

China: S.China Sea Criticism Could Have Ramifications

International criticism of China over the disputed South China Sea will rebound like a coiled spring, a Chinese diplomat said on Friday, as a U.S. warship visited Shanghai against a backdrop of rising tension in the region. China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims. China's increasingly assertive moves in the waters, including building artificial islands and air strips, have rattled nerves, with the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies warning last month they opposed provocation there. Ouyang Yujing, director-general of Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, said China took note of the criticism.

04 Jan 2016

COSCO, China Shipping Merger Will Creat New Firm

China Ocean Shipping Group Co (COSCO) and China Shipping Group Co will become a new entity after merging, led by the latter's current chairman, China's state-owned assets regulator said on Monday. The former rivals said in December they would merge through a series of asset swaps, creating units focused on distinct business areas such as container shipping and vessel leasing. Together, COSCO and China Shipping control 488 billion yuan ($74.7 billion) worth of assets, Barclays analysts estimated. After the merger, the resulting, newly established company will be chaired by Xu Lirong, the State-Owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission said on its official microblog. The merger comes as the government moves to consolidate state-owned industries.

20 Nov 2015

China: Navy 'restrained' Facing US Provocations

China's top admiral said his forces have shown "enormous restraint" in the face of U.S. provocations in the South China Sea, while warning they stand ready to respond to repeated breaches of Chinese sovereignty. Beijing, which claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes yearly, has stepped up a programme of land reclamation and construction in disputed islands and reefs there that has sparked concern in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States has called for a halt to China's artificial island building, and in recent weeks has tried to signal its determination to challenge Beijing over the disputed sea by sending military ships and planes near the islands.

07 Jun 2015

Obscure Chinese Town Rallies After Ship Disaster

Since being thrust onto the world stage, residents of a once obscure part of China have rallied round to help those affected by the sinking of a cruise ship, an outpouring of kindness in a country more used to worrying about a decline in public morals. The 1.5 million people of Jianli, which sits on a bend of the mighty Yangtze River in the central province of Hubei, have offered free food, car rides and even hair-dressing services to the relatives, rescuers, officials and reporters who have rushed there after the ship carrying more than 450 people sank in a storm on Monday. Residents have tied bright yellow scarves to their arms, car mirrors, buildings and gates to show solidarity with those impacted by the disaster.

04 Jun 2015

No Signs of Life as China Starts Righting Capsized Ship

Chinese authorities began late on Thursday to right a cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River, after divers sent to search for survivors found no signs of life inside. With only 14 survivors found, including the captain and chief engineer, since the ship carrying 456 people overturned during a freak tornado on Monday night, the rescue mission has now become an operation to recover hundreds of bodies. "In a situation in which the overall judgment is that there is no chance of people being alive, we could start the work of righting the boat," transport ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang told a news conference. State television confirmed that the righting operation had begun.

04 Jun 2015

China: No Cover-Up in Ship Sinking Probe

President calls meeting of top body to discuss disaster; rescue operation to start righting ship. China has pledged that there would be "no cover-up" of an investigation into the sinking of a cruise ship on the Yangtze River, which has left 75 people dead and over 370 missing, as angry families  gathered near the rescue site to demand answers. Chinese authorities will start righting the ship at 8 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Thursday so rescuers could "search for the missing persons in the shortest possible time and give maximum protection to the dignity of the deceased", state news agency Xinhua said, citing the transport ministry. Earlier on Thursday…

03 Jun 2015

Families March to China Shipwreck Site as Survivor Hopes Fade

Dozens of people broke through a police cordon on Wednesday as they marched towards the site of a sunken cruise ship in the Yangtze River to demand news of missing relatives. Rescuers searched for more than 400 missing people, many of them elderly, but hopes were fading of finding more survivors from the worst shipping disaster in modern Chinese history. Only 14 people, including the ship's captain, have been found alive since the ship capsized in a tornado on Monday night with 456 people on board. Just 29 bodies have been recovered. Frustrated by the scarcity of information coming from local authorities, about 80 family members hired a bus to take them from Nanjing to Jianli county in Hubei, an eight-hour journey. They started walking towards the rescue site late on Wednesday night.

03 Jun 2015

Divers Comb Capsized China Ship, Hopes Fade

Death toll more than doubles to 19, more than 400 missing. Rescuers searched a sunken cruise ship in the Yangtze River on Wednesday for more than 400 missing people, many of them elderly, but hopes of finding more survivors were fading in what could be China's worst shipping disaster in almost 70 years. State television showed rescuers, some standing gingerly on the upturned hull of the Eastern Star, and scores of divers working through the night. Only 14 people, including the ship's captain, have been found alive since the ship capsized in a freak tornado on Monday night with 456 people on board. Just 19 bodies have been recovered. Rescuers have not slackened off, even though about 200 divers face difficulties such as cabin doors blocked by tables and beds.

02 Jun 2015

Hundreds Missing After Ship Capsizes on Yangtze

Ship capsizes in "tornado" on southern stretch of Yangtze. Rescuers fought bad weather on Tuesday as they searched for more than 400 people, many of them elderly Chinese tourists, missing after a cruise boat was buffeted by a freak tornado and capsized on the Yangtze River. The accident on Monday night is likely to end up as China's worst shipping disaster in almost 70 years. Divers and other rescue workers pulled five people they found trapped in the upturned hull of the four-deck Eastern Star, a fraction of the 458 people state media reported were on board when the ship capsized. Distraught relatives of some of the passengers scuffled with officials in the city of Shanghai, where many of those on board booked their trips, angry about what they said was a lack of information.

18 Jan 2015

21 dead, 1 missing after tug sinks in Yangtze

Chinese authorities have confirmed that 21 people were killed and one is still missing after a tug boat undergoing sea trials sank in the Yangtze River, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. The boat had 25 people on board when it sank on Thursday and three were rescued. Xinhua reported on Friday that seven or eight foreigners were on the boat, including citizens of Singapore and Japan. A French citizen may also have been among the missing. Sembcorp Marine Ltd, a Singapore-based shipbuilder, said on Friday the tug boat that its subsidiary, Jurong Marine Services Pte Ltd, had planned to charter sank during a sea trial. Three of the company's employees were on board.

22 Aug 2014

Ningpo Port Truckers Strike, Disrupt Freight

Thousands of truck drivers went on strike over salary and haulage rates in the eastern Chinese port of Ningbo this week, and a logistics firm said on Friday the industrial action was disrupting operations at the world's sixth busiest port. In a statement on its official microblog account, Ningbo Port Co Ltd said the strike had started over trucking rates but declined to give further details. The company said it was taking measures to ensure that operations at the port, China's third busiest, were not disrupted and to ensure losses were kept to a minimum. Local media reported the strike began at the Beilun area of the port and that it started with a few hundred drivers and escalated on Thursday to a few thousand, who clashed with police.

31 May 2014

Xi Says China Won't Stir Trouble In South China Sea

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed not to stir up trouble in the South China Sea but said China would react "in the necessary way" to provocations by other countries, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The comments come at a time of deep tension between China and Vietnam over Beijing's decision in early May to move an oil rig into disputed waters between the Paracel islands and the Vietnamese coast. Days after China deployed the rig, the Philippines accused Beijing of reclaiming land on a disputed reef in the Spratlys to build what would be its first airstrip in the South China Sea. "We will never stir up trouble, but will react in the necessary way to the provocations of countries involved…

16 May 2014

Analysis: South China Sea Stand-off Led to Mob Violence

As a thousand Vietnamese rioters stormed his factory on Tuesday night, smashing windows and ripping down Chinese-language signs, Taiwanese executive Henry Yeh hid with a colleague in the back of a fire truck, clutching the only weapon he could find: a golf club. "With that many people surrounding us, it was useless. I was afraid they would kill us," said Yeh, 27, who works for a Taiwan textile company at an industrial park in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City. Yeh and his colleague eventually escaped unscathed. Others were not so fortunate. What started as heated but peaceful nationwide protests against Chinese oil-drilling in a patch of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam exploded into two days of rioting that left hundreds of Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean factories damaged or destroyed.

26 Feb 2014

China's Assertiveness Hardens Malaysian Stance in Sea Dispute

The submerged reef would be easy to miss, under turquoise seas about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak. But two Chinese naval exercises in less than a year around the James Shoal have shocked Malaysia and led to a significant shift in its approach to China's claims to the disputed South China Sea, senior diplomats told Reuters. The reef lies outside Malaysia's territorial waters but inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. The latest incident in January, in particular, prompted Malaysia to quietly step up cooperation with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two Southeast Asian nations most outspoken over China's moves in the region, in trying to tie Beijing to binding rules of conduct in the South China Sea, the diplomats said.