According to an article from Foreign Policy, "China's frantic construction activity on a series of disputed reefs in the South China Sea has set off alarm bells across the Pacific and in Washington, raising fears that Beijing is putting steel in the ground to back up its contentious claims to a big swath of one of the world's key waterways. Since last summer, China has been busy transforming underwater reefs hundreds of miles from its coastline into artificial islands...In recent months, Chinese work has accelerated on about half a dozen disputed bits of coral in the South China Sea, according to new surveillance photos...The construction activity is just the latest chapter in a long-running conflict over the South China Sea that has pitted China against most of its maritime neighbors and has brought it into conflict with the United States and Japan. China's push into the area seems designed to bolster Beijing's claim to the resource-rich waters - which teem with fish and may hold plentiful reserves of oil and natural gas - and to increase China's ability to project military force in an area traditionally dominated by the United States and its allies." 

"China said on Friday it had lodged an official protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to a border region claimed by both countries. China disputes the entire territory of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it south Tibet. Its historic town Tawang, a key site for Tibetan Buddhism, was briefly occupied by Chinese forces during a 1962 war. 'The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh',' a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website said on Friday. It said Modi's visit was 'not conducive to the overall development of bilateral relations'...A visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to India in January was widely seen as a sign Modi is moving closer to the United States, to offset rising Chinese influence in Asia and, in particular, intensifying activity by the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean," reports Reuters. 

Reuters writes, "Afghanistan arrested and handed over several Muslim Uighur militants from China's west in an effort to persuade China to use its influence with Pakistan to help start negotiations with the Taliban, Afghan security officials said on Friday. The deal sheds light on China's increasing importance in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with its involvement in efforts to end the war with Taliban, who have been fighting since 2001 to re-establish Islamist rule in Afghanistan. Hopes for a peace process were raised on Thursday when Pakistani and Afghan officials said members of the Taliban leadership had signaled they were willing to begin talks as soon as next month...Pakistan has been under pressure from China, which is concerned about Islamists among its Muslim minority, to step up pressure against militants."