Zhu Hengpeng allegedly criticised China’s president and his economic policies, and has now gone missing, the Wall Street Journal reported

Worsening geopolitical ties between Beijing and the West, along with the spiralling economic conditions in China have been the biggest drivers of the drop in business sentiment

The Southeast Asian nation’s president and Communist Party chief is set to meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang

Earlier this week a top US official called on European and NATO countries to send a collective message of concern to China

The superpower leaders last exchanged words at an historic summit in November with Beijing describing it as a “candid and in-depth exchange”

Sources say the meeting was deliberately scheduled separately from the China Development Forum held this week, where an event between Premier Li Qiang and visiting foreign CEOs was axed

Xi Jinping said Beijing was looking for even closer ties with Moscow while France's foreign ministry said the poll victory was tainted

The decision comes after a surprise move last week to scrap the premier's news conference at the end of the annual session of parliament

Observers say many more party chiefs are likely to fall this year with Xi Jinping showing no signs that he’s ready to roll back on his clean-up

The closed-door annual meeting is closely watched by investors looking to gauge China’s policy and reform agenda

China and the US have been competing for influence in Vietnam, which agreed a large-scale strategic partnership with Washington in September

US Commerce Secretary warns chip sector that Washington is set to “transform” its approach to export controls to stop firms like Nvidia from innovating specifically for the Chinese market