The Wall Street Journal writes, "Beijing's warning last week that professors needed to stop 'Western ideas' from subverting China's universities might look like just another step in a strategy by President Xi Jinping to tighten controls over Chinese society...It suggests Xi's broader - and laudable - move to refocus politics and policy to better serve the Chinese people is also creating an opportunity for hardliners to push their own agenda...That same strong-arm approach to reform was on display on Monday, when four party secretaries at major universities in Beijing argued that universities must 'resist unhealthy trends [and] build a strong firewall to resist foreign-funded schemes from penetrating classrooms, lectures, forums, salons, and book clubs.'...China has seen these sorts of campaigns against intellectuals before, including the Anti-Rightist movement on the 1950s and during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976." 

According to The New York Times, "China's top official in Hong Kong has warned democracy campaigners in the former British colony against pushing for independence and confronting Beijing, the official news agency, Xinhua, reported. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong shut down major business districts for 2-1/2 months last year, demanding open nominations in the next election of the city's chief executive in 2017. Beijing has said it will allow a vote, but only between pre-screened candidates...There is no mainstream independence movement in Hong Kong, although some activists want a continued campaign of civil disobedience this year to force Beijing to accept fully democratic elections."

"United States trade groups gave the Chinese government an earful last week about new policies that could hamper the ability of major technology multinationals to do business in China... In a letter addressed to key United States officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, 17 trade groups headlined by the United States Chamber of Commerce urged the government to push back against the Chinese policies...[calling] for the United States government to take 'immediate action to work with Chinese officials to reverse an alarming number of troubling, new Chinese government policies impacting the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.' The frustration felt by American companies shows how they find themselves in the middle of a deepening conflict between China and the United States over online security and technology policy," reports The New York Times.