SEOUL—Senior diplomats from South Korea, China, and Japan agreed on Tuesday that their countries’ leaders would meet at the “earliest convenient time”, Seoul’s foreign ministry said after a rare meeting aimed at kickstarting trilateral exchanges. The three countries had agreed to hold a summit every year starting in 2008 to foster regional cooperation, but that initiative has been frayed by bilateral feuds and the COVID-19 pandemic. The last summit was in 2019. Seoul’s foreign ministry said in a statement that specific dates remained under discussion and that the countries’ foreign ministers would meet “in a couple of months.” South Korea is this year’s host for three-way meetings and has proposed a summit in late December, Japanese broadcaster TBS reported....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/south-korea-japan-china-agree-to-hold-summit-at-earliest-convenient-time-5498545
Liu Zhenli, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top military body, the Central Military Commission (CMC), was not seen at a recent political meeting, fueling speculations over his whereabouts amid reports on top military leaders being purged by Party leadership. The CMC comprises seven members, with CCP leader Xi Jinping as chairman, Generals He Weidong and Zhang Youxia as two vice-chairmen, and Gen. Liu, Li Shangfu, Zhang Shengming, and Miao Hua as the other four members. As of Sept. 25, half of the members of CMC were out of the public eye or missing. Gen. Liu, a CMC member and chief of the Joint Staff Department, is the most recent general who has gone missing from the public eye and was absent from a Sept. 15 political study on comprehending “Xi’s Thought.”... 
After Ford Motor Co. paused its controversial $3.5 billion project with a Chinese electric vehicle battery maker, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wants the Biden administration to take a step further in expelling Chinese communist influence operations, which, in his view, use Chinese companies as tools. On Monday, Ford announced the halting of the EV battery plant involving China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL). “We’re pausing work, and we’re going to limit spending on construction at Marshall until we’re confident about our ability to competitively run the plant,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told The Epoch Times via email....
The Philippines said Monday that it had carried out a “special operation” to remove a floating barrier installed by the China Coast Guard at Scarborough Shoal—also known as Bajo de Masinloca—in the South China Sea. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it took a “decisive action” to remove the 300-meter-long floating barrier upon the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Philippine Coast Guard first discovered the barrier on Sept. 22. PCG spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said the barrier posed a hazard to navigation, which is a clear violation of international law, and deprived Filipino fishermen of their livelihood activities at the shoal....