"The U.S. determination to challenge China with patrols near Chinese-built islands in the South China Sea will test Xi Jinping's recent pledge that Beijing doesn't intend to "militarize" the islands, an announcement that took U.S. officials by surprise. The question now is whether China will respond to such operations by reining in its plans to develop the islands or backing away from the commitment not to militarize them, pointing to the U.S. patrols as a provocation," writes the Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times, reports that China's imports fell in September by an unexpectedly wide margin of 20.4 percent from a year ago in a new sign of weakness in the country's economy. Customs data showed Chinese purchases of foreign goods worsened from August's 5.5 percent decline. The drop indicates anemic demand despite repeated stimulus efforts aimed at reversing a decline in economic growth. Sales of Chinese goods to foreign markets fell 3.7 percent, an improvement from the previous month's 13.8 percent contraction."
The Washington Post, reports: "The U.S. and Russia must not allow the conflict in Syria to develop into a full-blown proxy war, China's ruling Communist Party said Tuesday, chiding both Moscow and Washington for having an outdated Cold War mindset. While the U.S. and the former Soviet Union frequently used diplomatic, economic and military means to extend their influence in other nations, that thinking belonged to the last century, the paper said. 'However, the world has entered the 21st century and people's thinking should enter the 21st century as well," it said. "People shouldn't allow the Syrian conflict to escalate into a full-scale proxy war, or lightly give up on efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis and cannot permit the Syrian humanitarian disaster to continue.'"