Beijing has overtaken New York as the city with the highest number of billionaires for the first time, a new report by China-based firm Hurun says.

China's foreign exchange reserves are shrinking steadily as money flows out of the country, and Beijing moves to shore up its currency.

In her victory speech, she vowed to preserve the status quo in relations with China, adding Beijing must respect Taiwan's democracy and both sides must ensure there are no provocations.

"In the next five years, there will be more innovation, more invention, more entrepreneurship happening in China, happening in Beijing than in Silicon Valley," said Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber Technologies.

In Beijing, Microsoft and the Chinese government sign a deal that could bring Windows 10 to government-owned computers.

Chinese interest in Synaptics and Western Digital shows Beijing is accelerating efforts to buy the building blocks for a domestic technology industry.

The US has charged six Chinese nationals over the alleged theft of technology used in mobile phones. The six, including three university professors, are accused of using the technology to benefit universities and companies controlled by Beijing.

The leaders of China and South Korea have reached broad agreement on a bilateral free-trade deal, allowing Korean firms enhanced access to China's huge market and marking a diplomatic victory of sorts for Beijing.

Taiwan signed its biggest trade deal yet with a country that has diplomatic ties with Beijing, as the island tries to integrate its economy with the rest of Asia's and to diversify economic allies beyond China.

Dozens of Japanese businesses shut operations in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors, fearing an escalation of protests triggered by Tokyo's decision to nationalise a group of islands claimed by Beijing.

The Hong Kong government calls it national education. But parents, teachers and pupils in the former British colony call it "brainwashing" and fear it's a ploy by Beijing authorities to indoctrinate the city's young into unquestioning support of China's Communist Party.

Beijing's attempt to make the renminbi a global currency took a step forward on Friday with an agreement that will let banks in Taiwan clear transactions in the Chinese currency.

Japan and China said Tuesday they will start direct currency trading this week, marking the first time Beijing has let a major unit other than the dollar swap with the yuan.

Apple has indicated it will consider higher investments in China, as chief executive Tim Cook visited Beijing to meet Chinese officials.

But it is also clear that a large number of Taiwanese remain sceptical about the downside of President Ma's policy towards China.

It is not that Apple's iPhones and iPads are losing favour among Chinese consumers. The iconic products are flying off the shelves at Apple's five flagship stores in Shanghai and Beijing, unauthorized sellers, and even from fake shops dressed up to look eerily like the real thing.

With volume production of the eighth-and-half-generation line by BOE in Beijing in June, China FPD industry entered the new phase of advanced generation. It is estimated that the annual output of LCD panel will reach 150 million pieces in 2014.

Taiwan and Japan are close to signing a historic pact that would see the island open up to Japanese firms. The pact will also pave the way for Taiwan and Japan to sign a broader free trade agreement in the future, the paper said.

Italy's centre-right government is turning to cash-rich China in the hope that Beijing will help rescue it from financial crisis by making "significant" purchases of Italian bonds and investments in strategic companies.

Taiwan has lifted a decades-old ban on travel to the island by individual Chinese tourists, saying visitors would act as "peace ambassadors" for the former arch foe. The first batch of independent mainland tourists, from Beijing, Shanghai and the city of Xiamen on the southeast coast, will arrive next Tuesday (June 28).

The reserves increase as Beijing buys dollars and other foreign currency to restrain the rise of its yuan as export revenues and investment pour into its economy. In freer trading, that flood of cash would push up the yuan's value against the dollar, making Chinese exports more expensive abroad.

China has offered to send earthquake rescuers and extended its "deep sympathy and solicitudes to the Japanese government and people" on Friday, marking some of the first sober words exchanged between the two nations in months. Last fall relations between Beijing and Tokyo reached their worst point in years.

Foreign direct investment in China hit a record US$105.7 billion last year, highlighting growing confidence in the economy even as Beijing seeks to rein in growth. China attracted US$14.03 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in December alone, up 15.6% from a year earlier.

Bank of China has opened trading in the Chinese currency to customers in the US, representing a symbolic endorsement by Beijing of foreign trading in the yuan. The move is the first by a state-owned bank into yuan trading in the U.S.

The Beijing municipal government will raise the city's minimum monthly salary to 1,160 yuan (US$175) from 960 yuan, officials say.

China is awarding a peace prize to counter the Nobel recognizing imprisoned democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo. Organizers of the Confucius Peace Prize will honor former Taiwanese vice president Lien Chan in Beijing for his efforts at building peace between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

Another source familiar with the situation said the money would likely be used to expand capacity at the company's Beijing plant, specifically to quickly ramp-up production of chips using 65nm technology.

China's central bank said Tuesday it will raise its benchmark deposit and lending rates by 0.25 percentage point for the first time since an increase in December 2007. The latest move represents the strongest effort yet by Beijing to withdraw its monetary policy stimulus introduced during the global financial crisis and comes amid rising inflationary pressures. Some emerging-market currencies fell immediately after the move.

China's deputy trade envoy, Chong Quan, rejected complaints that Beijing intentionally boosts its trade surplus by promoting exports while holding down imports. Speaking at a trade forum, Chong repeated promises to boost imports of resources and high-tech equipment and to ease costs for importers but announced no new initiatives.

Korea-China free trade talks will start next year, according to a senior Chinese government official.

Until recently, Google automatically redirected Chinese users to its unfiltered search site in Hong Kong to get round censorship issues. The firm has said it will now stop this after Beijing warned it could lose its licence to operate in the country.

China has started a massive open tender of utility-scale solar power projects after a smaller tender last year, in an effort, analysts said, to help Beijing set on-grid power prices for such projects.

Beijing residents and developers will be able to apply for government subsidies totaling 200 million yuan to install solar water-heating systems in residential and public buildings.

China says its dispute with US search giant Google should not be linked to Beijing's relations with Washington.

Taiwan Vice Premier Eric Chu has said a breakthrough in the negotiations with Beijing on cross-strait financial regulation was expected in a matter of days.

Beijing's four-trillion-yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus package, unveiled in November 2008, "has played a very good role in the recovery of the Chinese economy," said Xiong Bilin, a vice director general of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Freescale Semiconductor plans to transfer its 3G cellular IP to Beijing Capital Semiconductor in a deal valued at US$30-40 million, according to a market analyst.

Beijing now expects China to achieve 8% growth for 2009 as a whole, which compares with a predicted contraction of between 1% and 1.5% in the US. However, the Chinese government warned that some economic challenges remain.