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Zheng Zhi became the first Chinese player to win this accolade since Fan Zhiyi claimed Asian football’s highest individual accolade in 2001. Guanzhou Evergrande’s Brazilian striker Muriqui (Luiz Guilherme Da Conceicao Silva) won the AFC Foreign Player of the Year while Inter Milan winger Yuto Nagatomo clinched the AFC Asian International Player of the Year. Asian football’s highest individual accolade – the Diamond of Asia – was presented to former Korea Football Association President and honorary FIFA Vice-President Dr....

Announcing the decision in Taipei, Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu called the agreement “very significant.” The Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania will be its first in Europe in nearly two decades—and the first to bear the language “Taiwan” instead of the diplomatically ambiguous “Taipei.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing opposes “official exchanges of any kind” between Taiwan and countries with formal diplomatic relations with China....

Corruption in international sport is in focus due to US and Swiss probes into soccer’s world governing body FIFA, as well as doping scandals that have rocked tennis and athletics. China, which is aggressively seeking to stamp out graft in Communist Party and government ranks, has also sought to eject corrupt elements from its sports establishment, particularly within soccer, which has been hit by match-fixing scandals. China was hit by two new sports graft scandals last year, with probes into deputy sports minister Xiao Tian, who sat on China’s Olympics committee, and another into the country’s then-volleyball chief....

The piece in The Global Times, which the Guardian reported is owned by the Communist party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, sharply criticized the unconfirmed reports that Pelosi plans to visit Taiwan in August and hinted that such a trip could lead to conflict. “If the news is true and the trip happens, it will be one of the most egregious provocations by the U.S. to China on the Taiwan question since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U....

And even though Kansas City had the NFL’s No. 1 rusher, rookie Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs were not able to produce enough offense Sunday, as the Cowboys pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 28-17 win. MORE: NFL scoreboard, Week 9 Check out all the stats and highlights from Sunday’s Chiefs-Cowboys game in Dallas. Chiefs vs. Cowboys: Score, results, highlights Chiefs: 17 Cowboys: 28 FINAL: Chiefs vs. Cowboys box score, stats...

The death of Anucha Tasako came after a Muay Thai — Thai boxing — match Saturday in the Bangkok suburb of Samut Prakarn. The Facebook page Muaythai Krobwongjorn, which covers the sport, said he died from a brain hemorrhage. Protective gear is normally not worn in the sport, and video circulated on social media said to be of the fight shows Anucha not wearing any. Child boxing is widespread in Thailand, especially in rural areas, where it offers a way for children to help provide for their families and a path to lift them out of poverty, according to its advocates....

Fernandez, like many others in the park, is wearing an anime T-shirt. Drawing inspiration from Japanese anime culture, the teens refer to themselves as “Pokemones.” Their behavior, though, doesn’t quite resemble that of the cartoon characters that once obsessed young TV watchers around the world. “It’s shameless,” says Gina Mazzini Aliste, a middle-aged woman in the park that day. “They act like ponceo is a competitive sport.” Not surprisingly, the Pokemones have become the subject of a national debate in the media, as the conservative Catholic society grapples with this new affront to its traditional values....

China secured a spot in the round of 16 with a comfortable 3-0 win over the Philippines in Group C, while South Korea advanced in the same group by defeating Kyrgyzstan 1-0. Australia put its 1-0 opening loss to Jordan in the past by routing Palestine 3-0 in Group B. China star forward Wu Lei scored two superb goals — a curling right-footed shot into the top corner in the first half and a volley in the second — against a Philippines squad making its Asian Cup debut....

China, Russia and South Africa announced last week their intention to hold 10-day trilateral naval exercises off the southern coast of Africa next month, a plan that has raised concerns among critics of Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Following talks with his South African counterpart in Pretoria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended the drills as a natural development in which “three sovereign countries, without violating any norms of international law, conduct exercises....

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reacted Friday to the Pentagon’s launch of “a prototype conventionally-configured ground-launched ballistic missile” that flew the day before more than 310 miles out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. She said that the test, the second since the Trump administration’s exit from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in August, belied Washington’s true reason for leaving the deal. “The real aim is to free itself to develop advanced missiles and seek unilateral military advantage,” Hua told reporters in Beijing....

Intelligence agencies have “coalesced around two likely scenarios” surrounding the emergence of the novel coronavirus, the president said in a White House statement on Wednesday. But a lack of data means experts have been unable to conclude whether the virus has natural or manmade origins. A statement on the Chinese Embassy’s website did not name Biden directly, but said there was “political hype” around renewed calls for origin tracing. The statement described the “lab leak” theory as a “smear campaign....

Spokesperson Hua Chunying was responding to comments by Attorney General Bill Barr, who said China posed a bigger threat than both Russia and Iran in the coming election. Hua told reporters Friday that Barr’s statement is an example of American “lying diplomacy.” Hua said the “fundamental difference” between China and the U.S. is that Beijing does not seek to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries, nor does it have any desire to....

Aircraft assigned to the South Sea Fleet, which is part of the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, released “thousands of munitions” during the drills, China’s state broadcaster said Monday. According to its report, pilots trained in “precision strike” and “saturation attack” as warplanes flew at low altitudes and unloaded bombs, anti-ship rockets and autocannon fire at floating targets in the sea. In a video published to its official Weibo page on the same day, the Southern Theater Command said the live-fire exercise took place on May 14 and 15....

It was the worst performance for the world’s second-largest economy since Deng Xiaoping’s market reforms in 1979, according to the Associated Press. Bloomberg reported it was the first contraction in China’s economy in 28 years. The Coronavirus outbreak first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has claimed over 145,000 lives around the world, forcing governments to follow Beijing’s lead and impose crippling economic restrictions to prevent waves of patients from overwhelming hospitals....

The park allowed no visitors in or out, as workers wore white protective suits instead of the beloved Disney character costumes and every visitor closed in the park was tested. Once results were confirmed negative, the visitors were allowed leave. According to local media, the case that might have caused the lockdown involved one person who had visited Disneyland on Saturday and was ill. The city announced Monday that all of the 33,863 people in Disneyland on Sunday had tested negative for COVID-19, although they are asked to receive more testing and their health will be further monitored....

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department added 28 Chinese companies, government offices and security bureaus to a list that restricts named entities from conducting business with American firms. The U.S. said that the groups, which include eight businesses specializing in surveillance, artificial intelligence and facial recognition, have been linked to abuses conducted against the ethnic Uighurs. The entities listed “have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance,” the government said....

At the heart of Beijing’s defense of the lab is a report from a WHO-China joint mission that found the most likely explanation for the COVID-19 pandemic is that the virus jumped from animals to humans. While it determined the lab to be an unlikely origin point, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declined to eliminate any option as a possibility and on Friday, called for China to allow investigators to audit labs and markets....

Biden has expressed his interest in returning to the landmark 2015 agreement, which was also signed by China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union. President Donald Trump was criticized by U.S. allies and foes alike for withdrawing from the deal in 2018. The international pact offered Iran sanctions relief and international investment in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. “China hopes the United States will return to the JCPOA unconditionally and as soon as possible, resume the honoring of its obligations and lift all relevant sanctions,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Wednesday, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported....

Bonucci almost quit after son’s illness The Serie A champions were beaten on penalties in Doha, but Massimiliano Allegri’s men sit top of Serie A and face Porto in the last 16 of the Champions League after winning their group. And defender Chiellini wants Juve to draw strength from the fact they suffered a Supercoppa defeat to Napoli in a shootout two years ago before going to the brink of European glory....

Chiellini, named Juve’s new captain following the departure of veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, has signed a two-year deal that runs until 2020. Defensive partner Barzagli, meanwhile, has signed on for another season that will take him past his 38th birthday next May. The duo have been core members of a Juve team that has dominated in Serie A, winning each of the past seven league titles. And coach Massimiliano Allegri, who was previously linked with Arsenal but appears set to stay in Turin, will be able to rely on the experienced pair again for the 2018-19 campaign....