When Chinese President Xi Jinping beamed into the White House on Monday evening for a virtual summit with President Joe Biden, the two men needed no introduction.

"We've spent an awful lot of time talking to one another, and I hope we can have a candid conversation tonight as well," Biden said as the talks got underway around 8 p.m. ET, sitting at the head of the Roosevelt Room table as Xi's visage was broadcast on a pair of television screens.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to sell billions of dollars of bonds, in what will be a test of investor appetite after the e-commerce giant’s recent run-ins with Chinese authorities.

In a brief statement late Tuesday, Alibaba said it planned to issue dollar debt, including some bonds to fund sustainability-related projects, subject to market conditions. It said the deal’s total size hadn’t been fixed, nor had the bonds’ maturities, interest rates or other terms.

APRNEWS - Chinese President Xi Jinping declared Wednesday there was “no clash” of civilisations and denounced racial supremacy as “stupid” amid tensions with the United States and concerns over Beijing’s rising global power.

APRNEWS -- Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continued his engagements in China where he is attending the Belt and Road Forum that started on Thursday.

A major highlight of Abiy’s second day was his visit to the headquarters of global e-commerce group, Alibaba, in Hangzhou.

REUTERS - North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization and safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula are unchanged, its foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, said on Friday, at a meeting in Beijing with the Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi.

REUTERS - A top executive of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd who is under arrest in Canada is set to appear in a Vancouver court on Friday for a bail hearing as she awaits possible extradition to the United States.

APRNEWS - The United States has accused China of failing to change its "unfair" trade practices, highlighting persistent tensions between the economic giants ahead of a planned meeting between their presidents.

APRNEWS - US President Donald Trump said Thursday he had “very good” talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the trade conflict between the two economic giants, and meetings were being planned at the G20 summit at the end of this month.

The phone call comes as tensions between the world’s two biggest economies are rising on several fronts, including commerce and security.

APRNEWS - Chinese president Xi Jinping is on a four nation trip to Africa. This is Xi’s first trip abroad since he was appointed a second term in office. The Chinese leader started his trip with the west african nation Senegal on saturday, meeting with President Macky Sall in Dakar.

APRNEWS - China’s President Xi Jinping held talks Friday with top UAE leaders on ways of bolstering bilateral relations on the second day of a visit ahead of a three-nation Africa tour.

Xi met UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who is also ruler of Dubai, and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, the crown price said.