A more aggressive nuclear arms policy to come?
Politics & Current Affairs
Top politics and current affairs news for February 9, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project news roundup "Why did Trump send Xi Jinping a letter?"
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China’s nuclear missile policy put under strain by U.S. plan / CNBC
For years, China has been regarded as a relatively modest bystander in nuclear policy in comparison with the U.S. and Russia, which have spent hundreds of billions of dollars modernizing their thousands of nuclear weapons. Mainstream analyses to that effect, emphasizing China’s continuing “no-first-use” policy for its 200-300 warheads, have been published in recent years and even in recent weeks. But on the flip side, a number of opinions have been published recently that see a more aggressive nuclear policy in China’s future. These include one published on Tuesday, which pointed to China’s new missiles as evidence, and the one linked on the headline above, which points to America’s plans for new missiles as part of its evidence. -
Beijing to hold events marking Taiwan massacre, but some see ulterior motive / SCMP
The February 28 Incident of 1947, also known as “2.28,” was a massacre of thousands of Taiwanese during early authoritarian Kuomintang rule of the island, in response to a widespread uprising. The event, which was followed by nearly 40 years of martial law, is still a flashpoint between native Taiwanese and those who originally came to the island with the Kuomintang in the last years of the Chinese civil war. Many in Taiwan reference the event — and their government’s transition to democracy since that low point — to argue for the island’s independence, and see the mainland’s plans to commemorate the massacre as highly inappropriate. Beijing, nonetheless, is making these plans as part of an effort to mend ties with the island following the election last year of Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, an independence-leaning politician.
- China jails former chief of state-owned automaker FAW for graft / Reuters
- The domestic hazards in China’s diplomacy / The Diplomat
- Trickle-down censorship in China: An interview with JFK Miller / LARB Blog
- China to start fingerprinting foreign visitors / Washington Post
- Branstad looking for ‘win-win’ in China / The Gazette (Iowa)
