The view that the Chinese leadership was desperate to negotiate a trade deal, to avoid economic pain that could destabilize Chinese society and threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s monopoly on power, is common among China hawks in the United States. This analysis is partly accurate, but it has led many to draw false conclusions.

A top Chinese economic official on Monday said Beijing was on the "right side of history" in its gruelling trade war with the United States.

China has declared sovereignty over an uninhabited reef, known as Sandy Cay, in the South China Sea. The Philippines says the claim is fake news. Bloomberg's Cliff Venzon reports on the latest escalation of tensions between Manila and Beijing.

China says six Filipinos landed on a tiny outcropping that both countries claim in the South China Sea , days after photos emerged of Chinese coast guard officers displaying a Chinese flag on the same group of sandbars.