The project has stoked concerns about displacement and environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh.

Beijing has approved plans to dam a gorge in the Himalayas that is three times as deep as the Grand Canyon, despite concerns about the impact on Tibetan and India.

China is pressing ahead with plans to construct a mega-dam near its contested border with India, a colossal undertaking that could generate three times as much power as the Three Gorges Dam.

China and Japan have agreed to set up talks on often contentious security issues. The two countries are seeking to improve a relationship riven in recent years by a range of issues, from territorial disputes to the discharge of water from Japan’s tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant.

Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi made his first trip to Beijing. He and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed to hold future talks on tense security issues after Chinese and Japanese leaders agreed to improve relations at their meeting in Peru for this year's APEC summit.

China's industrial profits fell at a slower clip in November, official data showed on Friday, offering some respite to an embattled sector even as persistently soft domestic demand delays a recovery.

China’s industrial firms saw their profits drop in November for a fourth straight month, on track for the sharpest annual decline since records began in 2000.

China's industrial profits extended their decline to a fourth straight month, dropping 7.3% in November from a year earlier.