Bloomberg reports, "The U.S. and China must manage disputes in a way that doesn't affect their relationship, President Xi Jinping told visiting Secretary of State John Kerry, as the U.S. urges China to curb its territorial expansion in the South China Sea. The U.S.-China relationship remains 'stable on the whole,' Xi said during Sunday's meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing...Still, Xi, who has spoken previously of a model of major power relations to accommodate a rising China, said the two countries 'should manage, control and handle disputes in an appropriate way so that the general direction of the bilateral relationship will not be affected."
"The United States and China are discussing imposing further sanctions on North Korea, which is 'not even close' to taking steps to rein in its nuclear weapons program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. Speaking in the South Korean capital, Kerry said Washington had offered the North the chance of an improved relationship in return for signs of genuine willingness to end its nuclear program...He said Russia, Japan and South Korea, which along with the United States and China are part of talks stalled since North Korea walked away in 2009, were also concerned about a renewed threat from the North," reports Reuters.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "An environmental dispute involving a stone quarry in southeastern China marks the first test of a new Beijing effort to use the courts to help clean up the country's massive pollution problems. In a lawsuit that began trial on Friday in a court in China's southeastern Fujian province, environmental groups accused four mine operators of stripping a mountainous area of trees and causing about two hectares' worth of damage. They are suing the defendants to either restore the area themselves or pay 1.1 million yuan ($177,000) for a third party to do so...Experts say the case, brought by environmental groups Friends of the Earth and Fujian Green Home, is the country's first public-interest suit lodged under its new environmental law."