Views on tensions with North Korea and between India and China – China’s latest political and current affairs news

North Korea

Brookings Institute fellow Jonathan Pollack was interviewed on C-Span about American tensions with North Korea. He answers a question about China’s role in dealing with the DPRK by urging a commitment to working it out, even though “everyone is stymied on the Korean peninsular, including China.” He says that currently China tends to blame the United States, while the U.S. blames China: “If you’re both blaming one another, the one who wins in that is North Korea.”

The video is here; the topic turns to China at the 12:21 timestamp.

China, India, Bhutan border dispute

China-US Focus has published two opinion pieces that reveal alternate realities on each side of the Himalayas when it comes to the ongoing border dispute:

• Indian scholar Brahma Chellaney says the crisis “has highlighted how China blends psychological warfare (‘psywar’), media warfare, and the manipulation of legal arguments (‘lawfare’) to undermine the opponent’s information-control capabilities and to buttress its strategic game plan.” He lists several examples and warns that “the reliance on propaganda blurs the line between fact and fiction to such an extent that, gradually, the Chinese state begins to believe its own propaganda and act upon it.”
• Retired PLA major general Yao Yunzhu 姚云竹 lays out the Chinese case:

Now we have the basic facts: China and India has no disputes over the Sikkim section of their border. India’s border transgression cannot be justified with legal or moral reasons, either for claiming its own territorial rights, or for supporting a third party’s disputed territory claim with China. China has been exercising actual control and administration over the aforementioned territory and building facilities for living and economic activities for years.

• Censorship
  China is perfecting a new method for suppressing dissent on the internet / Vox
  An interview with a member of a renowned team of researchers on China’s censorship apparatus.
  China chatbot: ‘Do you love the Communist party?’ ‘No’ / Financial Times (paywall)
• China-Africa relations
  China promises support to new African ally Gambia / Reuters
• Corruption
  China expels anti-graft inspector from party for corruption / Reuters
• East China Sea
  Beijing defends East China Sea activities after Japan protests / SCMP
• Southeast Asia
  ASEAN wants talks on nonaggression pact with China soon / News Observer
• South Asia
  Opinion: China’s Hambantota deal is bad news for both Pakistan and India / Forbes
  China says restrained in face of India ‘concocting’ excuses over border / Reuters
  It’s between us and Bhutan: China tells India to back off on Doklam / Economic Times