"President Xi Jinping will seek to advance his bid to revive an ancient trade route linking China to Europe during a three-country swing that takes in Kazakhstan and Russia, where he'll help Vladimir Putin mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Xi arrives Thursday in Kazakhstan, where less than two years ago he unveiled his Silk Road foreign policy initiative. He'll discuss more projects to line the envisaged trade route that includes a high-speed train line from China to Moscow... Xi's strategy of expanding Chinese interests through the former Soviet states of central Asia could potentially clash with President Putin's plans for a Eurasian Economic Union, and undermine a recent renaissance in Sino-Russian relations," writes Bloomberg.
According to The New York Times, "After criticism from the United States over the detention of a civil rights lawyer in China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Washington should address human rights problems at home and stop trying to be the 'world's policeman or judge.' The State Department called on China on Wednesday to release Pu Zhiqiang, a well-known rights lawyer who was detained a year ago and is being investigated for three speech-related crimes and a separate charge of illegally obtaining personal information. The State Department urged Beijing 'to release and remove all restrictions on Pu Zhiqiang, and to respect his rights in accordance with China's international human rights commitments.'"
"China has warned Philippine air force and navy planes at least six times to leave areas around the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine military commander responsible for the region told a Senate hearing on Thursday...China could be 'testing the waters' to see if it can enforce an air exclusion zone above the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, said the air force official, who declined to be identified. Recent satellite images show China has made rapid progress in reclaiming land around seven reefs it occupies in the Spratlys, including building what appears to be an airstrip on one of the artificial islands," reports Reuters.