Bloomberg News reports: "President Xi Jinping will wade into the feud between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as he begins a Middle East tour that shows a new willingness by China to flex its diplomatic clout in one of the world's most volatile regions. Xi's five-day swing through Riyadh, Cairo and Tehran represents the president's first foray into the Middle East since taking power three years ago and marks 60 years of relations between Beijing and the Arab League. He's also seeking to protect Chinese influence that accumulated in Iran during the country's long isolation, with Xi becoming the first major world leader to visit since the U.S. and European Union lifted sanctions Saturday and cleared the way for its reemergence in the global economy."
The New York Times reports: "China's growth slowed further last year, adding to the troubling economic picture that is unsettling investors around the world. The Chinese economy grew at a 6.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter, according to data released on Tuesday. It was the lowest quarterly expansion since the global financial crisis in 2009...China's export base in lower-end manufacturing, once a powerhouse that drove growth and created jobs, has been hollowed out. Factories churning out goods like garments and furniture are losing competitiveness because of lower wages in Southeast Asia and South Asia...In a news release on Tuesday, China's state statistics agency said the growth rate last year was challenged by a 'complicated international environment and increasing downward pressure on the economy.' However, it added that the economy 'achieved moderate but stable and sound development.'"
The New York Times discusses: "The election of Tsai Ing-wen as president of Taiwan was met inChina on Monday with sparse and largely critical comment, suggesting both a lack of interest toward a candidate whose party's nativist leanings many ordinary Chinese do not understand and censorship in the news media and online forums about an outcome that the Communist Party had not wished to see. Many commenters lashed out at the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, for losing the election. China's ruling party prefers the Kuomintang to Ms. Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party because the latter is supported by many Taiwanese who favor independence. China has said it might retake Taiwan by force if the island embarks on formal steps toward independence."