According to The Wall Street Journal, "China outlined plans to shift its armed forces' focus toward maritime warfare and accused foreign countries of 'meddling' in the South China Sea, setting the stage for a tense confrontation between senior U.S. and Chinese defense officials at a security conference this weekend...The changes were designed to tackle new security challenges including the U.S. rebalance of military and other resources to Asia, Japan's efforts to overhaul its defense policy, and 'provocative actions' from neighboring countries in the South China Sea, the State Council said in a white paper on military strategy published Tuesday."
The New York Times reports, The International Monetary Fund no longer believes China's tightly controlled currency is undervalued, an IMF official said Tuesday, a stance that might help Beijing in its wrangling with Washington over exchange rate controls...The United States has long accused of China of suppressing the value of its yuan, giving its exporters an unfair price advantage and hurting foreign competitors. The IMF had considered the yuan undervalued - a source of tension between the fund and Beijing.
"A peace envoy from Afghanistan met in western China last week with former Taliban officials with close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, in an attempt to keep open the possibility of formal Afghan peace talks, officials said Monday. The meeting, hosted by China and, in part, organized by Pakistani officials, took place Wednesday and Thursday in Urumqi, capital of the western region of Xinjiang, which has mountainous borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan and is home to many Muslims," reports The New York Times.