The president has spoken with the leaders of both countries as they spar over remarks the Japanese prime minister made about the Beijing-claimed island democracy.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn is the first Thai monarch to visit China since the two countries established diplomatic relations half a century ago. His trip was the most high-profile signal yet that Thailand, which has long struck a careful balance between China and America, is leaning ever closer towards its northern neighbour.

China is rapidly replacing its aging diesel trucks with electric models, signaling a major shift in the world’s largest vehicle market

Japan, a U.S. ally that had angered China on Taiwan, found the message worrying.

Once the world’s factory, Beijing’s relentless focus on R&D means the country has become the world’s laboratory

Brighton apologise for "any offence caused in China" caused by a post on social media that featured an image of a Japanese World War Two soldier.

China's factory activity shrank for an eighth month in November while services cooled, highlighting the dilemma facing policymakers over whether to press ahead with tough structural reforms or roll out more stimulus to lift domestic demand.

Chow Tai Fook, China’s biggest jewellery retailer by sales, has closed about 1,000 mainland stores this year, a reduction of 15 per cent. The company on Tuesday reported net profit of HK$2.5bn (US$320mn) in the half-year to the end of September, unchanged from a year earlier, on HK$39bn of revenue, its lowest in five years.

In medicine, meanwhile, China has turned itself from a copycat maker of generics into the world’s second-largest developer of new drugs, including those tackling cancer. Western rivals are licensing its firms’ wares.