Senior officials from the United States and China met in Beijing on Friday for what the State Department described as “substantive” and “candid” talks on maritime issues, including on the contested South China Sea. The talks were held in Beijing between Mark Lambert, the department’s China Coordinator and deputy assistant secretary for China and Taiwan, and China’s director-general for boundary and ocean affairs, Hong Liang. The department said the meeting was part of the Biden administration’s “ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication” with Beijing and “responsibly manage the U.S.-China relationship.” “The United States reiterated the need to resume military-military channels, including between operators, to avoid miscommunication and miscalculation,” it said in a statement on Friday....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/us-chinese-diplomats-hold-candid-discussion-on-maritime-issues-in-beijing-5522934
A top CCP military official threatened to take Taiwan by military force at a recent forum in Beijing. The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responded to the threat by stating that Taiwan is not intimidated and prepared. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the CCP as a troublemaker that undermines peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region. Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, said at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Oct. 30 that Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests” and “the ‘one-China principle’ is the general consensus of the international community. No matter who wants to separate Taiwan from China in any form, The CCP military will never agree or show any mercy.”... 
China’s most high-ranking officials paid their last respects to former Premier Li Keqiang amid swirling rumors of turmoil within the upper echelons of the leadership. Mr. Li died of a sudden heart attack on Oct. 26, after all rescue measures failed, according to an obituary published by the official news agency Xinhua. The sudden passing of Mr. Li came just seven months after he retired from the premier’s post, the country’s No. 2 position, triggering an outpouring of grief as well as skepticism of the official account of his death. Mr. Li’s funeral was attended by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, Xinhua reported. Other powerful members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top decision-making body, also paid tributes at the funeral on Nov. 2....
Hundreds of U.S. schools are now under the control of one Chinese company. Its chairman is allegedly a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Rounds of new action are making their way through Congress. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing through one legislation after another with a goal in mind: countering the CCP’s influence. An alleged million-dollar bribe to China was revealed in testimony for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial. An ex-executive said the sum sought to help recover a billion dollars in frozen company capital. And an expert weighs on the UK’s decision to invite China to an AI summit....