Sterling slipped further and Irish shares fell sharply as fears of investors rose that the political turmoil in the UK will lead to Boris Johnson becoming leader, and Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal.

The president’s increasing authoritarianism is unwise and will only foster dissent and protest in the long-term, says John Lloyd.         

The incursions of the People’s Republic into neighbouring states has backfired in an embarrassing standoff with India in the Himalayas, says Brahma Chellaney.       

The Dalai Lama’s visit to an Indian state that China claims as its own has seen the countries’ relationship take a turn for the worse, writes Shashi Tharoor.

Ryle Dwyer reads a trilogy that traces the life and crimes of the tyrant responsible for the deaths of millions of his fellow countrymen. 

Authorities in China’s capital will extend leave from work for new mothers and fathers, state media reported yesterday, in what appeared to be the latest incentive to encourage families to have more children.

After a lavish display of Chinese military muscle in Beijing Rana Mitter assesses the future path of the Eastern colossus.

 A communist regime trying to create a casino-like capitalist market is just one of the contradictions accumulating in almost every corner of China’s economy and politics, writes Pranab Bardhan

Authorities in a Chinese village have launched a “thought education” campaign after more than 200 villagers signed a petition to banish an eight-year-old boy infected with the HIV virus, state media said.

Yellowbird’s legacy is a bright ray of light in the bleak Chinese political landscape, writes Melinda Liu.

As show trials go, the drama featuring Bo Xilai, the once-swaggering, media-savvy former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chief of Chongqing, veered anomalously into improvisation.

A trade mission to China was not a waste of time, Martin McGuinness insisted today.

When farmer James Lynch shared an Irish coffee earlier this year with China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, he thought that he was a “pure gentleman”.

The election that will take place in China tomorrow could have profound effects on Ireland’s prosperity, write Neil Collins and Yu-Wen Chen

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and will face corruption and other criminal charges.

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is set to take legal action after claims she worked as $1 million-a-night prostitute for ruling members of the Chinese Communist Party

As horse racing pundits in the UK give lip service to the horse killings at the Grand National we do not hear many racing supporters condemning the move by the Irish Government to supply China with Irish horses.

The visit to Ireland of China’s pro-business vice-president Xi Jinping could mark the start of a significant increase in trade between the countries, but we must be ready to grab this golden opportunity with two hands, writes Dan Buckley

CHINESE dissident artist Ai Weiwei has returned to Twitter following a long silence after his release from detention in June when he was barred from giving interviews as part of his bail conditions.

The elected prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, said a grand religious gathering starting in Washington today would allow expatriates a right denied their brethren inside China – to meet their spiritual leader.

European and Asian nations have agreed to work more closely together to deal with the global economic crisis, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today after the first day of talks at a summit in China.

China urged its citizens to be “calm” and “rational” as nationalistic protests against French supermarket Carrefour spread today to more cities across the country.

IN your report headlined ‘Ireland may boycott Olympic ceremony’ (March 29), Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern says Ireland is “one of the strong supporters of the one-China policy and we do so on the basis that China deals with situations in a democratic and fair way on their own territory”.

Two weeks ago China basketball star Yao Ming broke his left foot while playing for the Houston Rockets of the NBA, provoking hysteria among Chinese fans fearful the 7’ 6” centre will miss September’s World Championships. Michael Moynihan found out Yao was bred to carry the hopes of the nation from communism through to the free market.

TAIWAN opposition leader Lien Chan and Chinese President Hu Jintao closed the book on decades of hostility yesterday with a simple handshake in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

A top Chinese Communist Party official has flown to North Korea, where he was expected to urge the isolated government to resume stalled talks on its nuclear weapons programs.

A top Chinese Communist Party official will travel to North Korea this week, the foreign ministry said today, amid renewed efforts to get Pyongyang to resume stalled talks on its nuclear weapons programme.

ZHAO Ziyang, the Chinese Communist Party leader deposed after he sympathised with the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, is in a deep coma and may be near death, a human rights activist said.

THE subway system in Taiwan’s capital became a new front in the war against SARS yesterday as a top Chinese Communist Party official called for “total victory” against the disease.

The subway system in the capital of Taiwan became a new front in the war against SARS today as a top Chinese Communist Party official called for “total victory” against the disease.

They were never guerrillas, hiding in caves until they could make their move and build the China of their dreams.