The new group made up of state-owned automakers and other related manufacturers will promote common standards and accelerate research among related state-owned companies.

Now it's official. Taiwan's legislature on late Tuesday night approved the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the landmark trade deal between China and Taiwan.

After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures. The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China's ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.

Xinhua News Agency announced it has signed a framework agreement with China Mobile Communications to establish an Internet search engine company. It did not reveal when the company will be founded and how much capital will be invested in it.

The trade surplus for July 2010 grew to US$28.7 billion, well ahead of the US$20bn recorded in June and significantly more than analysts' forecasts. The data reflected a continued strong increase in exports, but the pace of growth in imports slowed sharply.

Rescuers in north-west China are continuing a frantic search for more than 1,100 people missing after a huge landslide. On Monday evening (August 9) the death toll jumped to 337 - and officials say that figure is expected to rise.

SMIC, China's largest foundry chipmaker, is close to receiving tens of millions of dollars from the China government in a move that could help its earnings this year.

The announcement comes weeks after Taiwan signed a major trade deal with China - the first since the two split at the end of the civil war in 1949.

China mapped out investment of 5 trillion yuan ($738 billion) into alternative energy over the next decade, an official with the National Energy Administration (NEA) said Tuesday.

China has passed the U.S. to become the world's biggest energy consumer, according to new data from the International Energy Agency, a milestone that reflects both China's decades-long burst of economic growth and its rapidly expanding clout as an industrial giant.

First-half gross domestic product rose 11.1%, implying that second-quarter growth slowed from the first quarter's 11.9% pace.

"...it is not China bailing out Spain but without doubt, the Chinese involvement was helpful," according to a banker.

There have been a number of positive developments regarding wage growth and government stimulus that will help move China forward towards a more consumption-oriented economy. But keep in mind that China is a save-first economy, so 20-25% wage inflation doesn't instantly equal 20-25% more consumer spending.

Several lawmakers were injured on July 7 as rival politicians clashed on the first day of a parliamentary debate on a controversial new trade pact with China.

Solar-power industry representatives said the bill passed by the lower house of parliament in Berlin today will increase pressure on companies such as Q-Cells SE and Solarworld AG as they face competition from producers in China.

Agricultural Bank of China, a lender which boasts more customers than the entire US population, has raised US$19.2 billion from investors, according to several news reports. Shares of the company are expected to begin trading July 15 in Shanghai.

China's central government has approved proposals to establish a national-level new-energy demonstration city in Turpan in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and the first low-carbon demonstration township in the Jujiapu Financial District of Tianjin.

Stepping up its rivalry with Apple and Nokia, Google outlines plans to court developers and put its operating system on lower-priced phones in China and India.

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 and Taiwan signed a tariff-slashing trade pact Tuesday that boosts economic ties and further eases political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war. Beijing hopes the deal, signed live on on state television, can lead to political accommodation. Taiwan is looking for the tighter economic links to keep the island from being marginalized as China's global clout grows.

China has come under increasing international pressure to allow the yuan to appreciate. The US in particular has argued that the weak yuan gives Chinese exporters an unfair competitive advantage.

But the opposition certainly has reason to be suspicious. While Taiwanese negotiators did not get everything they asked for - PVC and polyethylene, important Taiwanese exports, were left out after months of wrangling.

China Unicom and China Mobile both added around 1 million 3G subscribers in May, bringing the total number of 3G subscribers among the country's three largest telecom operators to more than 20 million.