French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a new chapter of diplomatic, economic, and military relations with Africa. On a visit to South Africa, Mr. Sarkozy said France will renegotiate all military accords with African countries. For VOA, Terry FitzPatrick reports from Cape Town.

Chinese President Hu Jintao called for cautious handling of Taiwan issue during a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beijing Tuesday.

New South Korean President Lee Myung-bak got straight to diplomacy on his first afternoon in office. As VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin reports, he promised the visiting U.S. Secretary of State he would improve on the outgoing administration's ties with the United States.

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra has arrived in North Korea on a historic trip as the most prominent American cultural institution to visit the isolated country.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met Chinese President Hu Jintao's special envoy Tang Jiaxuan in Seoul Monday to discuss relations between China and South Korea and major international issues of common concern.

Senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Wang Gang met in Beijing Sunday with a delegation from Cambodia's Funcinpec Party led by Chairman Keo Puth Rasmey.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met with visiting Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan on Thursday at his official residence.

A visiting senior Chinese diplomat said in London on Friday that the cooperation between China and African countries was not an exclusive relationship, but an "open and transparent" one.

The United States and Australia have reaffirmed their alliance in the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the installation of the new Kevin Rudd government in December. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met Saturday in Canberra with Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith and Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon. Barry Kalb has details from VOA's Asia news center in Hong Kong.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has criticized Taiwan's decision to hold a referendum on U.N. membership, calling it "completely inappropriate." Smith made the comments during a meeting in Canberra with his counterpart from China, which may soon overtake Japan as Australia's biggest trading partner. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith started their first round of bilateral strategic dialogue in Canberra on Tuesday and reached a broad consensus on various issues.

Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan visited former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk on Monday, before the upcoming Chinese lunar new year.