"In his State of the Union address on Wednesday, President Obama mentioned China a total of three times. One was to praise China's commitment to cut carbon emissions. The second was to encourage American manufacturing executives to bring back jobs from China. The third was a call-to-arms to prevent China from writing the trade rules in the Asia Pacific... However, the media coverage in China of Obama's remarks has been surprisingly restrained, suggesting that the leadership does not want to encourage anti-American nationalist fervour at the moment. The language and tone also reiterates China's view of the US role in the world, its own place in the world order, and how both might change in the future," writes an opinion article from The National Interest. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Warming ties between China and Russia are giving a big boost to Chinese imports of Russian oil, to the chagrin of OPEC nations jockeying for a slice of China's market. Faced with falling prices and lower demand from the U.S., oil-exporting nations are increasingly putting their hopes in China's still-robust demand for crude...The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah adds a measure of uncertainty to OPEC's oil policies, which boosted prices in global oil markets after the news early Friday, though analysts say the kingdom is unlikely to change its strategy and reduce production. That is despite a global glut of crude that is fueling new rivalry between OPEC and Russia for China's market-as well as among OPEC nations themselves."

The New York Times writes, "China's Communist Party leadership approved a blueprint on Friday setting out national security priorities and warning that the country faced daunting domestic and external dangers. It was ratified by the Politburo, a council of 25 senior officials, and signaled President Xi Jinping's latest step to put security at the heart of his agenda...Warnings of looming danger have long been part of Chinese leaders' political language. But more than his predecessors, Mr. Xi has cast himself as an ardently patriotic defender of unitary national interests, taking a tough stance against neighbors in border disputes and against ethnic discontent in the Xinjiang region and Tibet. Mr. Xi's catchphrase is 'the China Dream,' and the strategy outline expands on his previous efforts to build up a national security apparatus."