Bloomberg reports, "Competition between the U.S. and China for influence in Asia creates risks for smaller states, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, as Southeast Asian nations could find themselves caught between the world's two biggest economies. All Asian countries hope that U.S.-China relations will be positive, and none want to choose a side...Lee's speech comes as the U.S. expresses increased concern over China's reclamation work on reefs in the South China Sea that countries including the Philippines and Vietnam also claim. China this week set out its ambitions for a bigger naval presence far from its coasts, while Carter has asked his military to look at boosting freedom of navigation challenges in the South China Sea."
"The Chinese government crushed nearly 1,500 pounds of confiscated elephant tusks and ivory carvings Friday morning in Beijing... This was a third batch of contraband ivory destroyed in China over the past 18 months, part of an ongoing effort to curb illegal ivory trade. The move was praised by international conservation groups, as China is widely believed to be the world's largest consumer market for illegal ivory products, according to a report by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora," writes The New York Times.