"The clusters of Chinese vessels busily dredge white sand and pump it onto partly submerged coral, aptly named Mischief Reef, transforming it into an island. Over a matter of weeks, satellite photographs show the island growing bigger, its few shacks on stilts replaced by buildings. What appears to be an amphibious warship, capable of holding 500 to 800 troops, patrols the reef's southern opening. China has long asserted ownership of the archipelago in the South China Sea known as the Spratly Islands, also claimed by at least three other countries, including the Philippines, an American ally. But the series of detailed photographs taken of Mischief Reef shows the remarkable speed, scale and ambition of China's effort to literally gain ground in the dispute," The New York Times writes.
The Wall Street Journal writes, "China will build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan to help address Pakistan's acute energy shortage, under a deal to be signed during the Chinese president's visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials said. The arrival of President Xi Jinping is expected to showcase China's commitment to infrastructure development in ally Pakistan, at a time when few other countries are willing to make major investments in the cash-strapped, terrorism-plagued country. The pipeline would amount to an early benefit for both Pakistan and Iran from the framework agreement reached earlier this month between Tehran and the U.S. and other world powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. had previously threatened Pakistan with sanctions if it went ahead with the project."
According to The Wall Street Journal, "Two of the U.S.'s main allies in the Asia-Pacific say they are confident a new Beijing-proposed infrastructure investment bank will be a multilateral institution rather than a geopolitical tool of China. In separate interviews Thursday, the top finance officials of Australia and New Zealand praised China for its openness in talks with prospective members to creating a bank that wouldn't be too tightly controlled by Beijing...Following months of hesitation, Australia applied last month to become a founding member of the AIIB. The allocation of shares and voting rights in the bank is still being discussed; China has said that with more countries participating, each country's share will decline."