Bloomberg News reports: "It doesn't rival Islamic State or abortion as an issue in the presidential race, but China might be the most complex challenge the winner will have to deal with. The country, which has the world's second-biggest economy and second-highest military spending, is a frenemy of the first order. It finances America's federal budget deficit by buying Treasury bonds, and it sends more students to the U.S. than any other nation. It's a natural ally on some issues (Islamic terrorism) but an implacable foe on others (freedom of navigation in the South China Sea)...The share of Americans who regard China unfavorably went down slightly in 2015, after ticking up for several years. But China is determined to assert itself—and challenge U.S. supremacy—on many fronts over the next four years and beyond. 'Any candidate has to treat them with nuance, or should,' says Ted Truman, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics."
CNN reports: "Rescuers have found the first survivors of a deadly landslide in Shenzhen after a mountain of construction waste engulfed part of the southern Chinese city, collapsing buildings and burying vehicles. Two people were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning after being buried for more than 60 hours, state-run news agency Xinhua reported. One survivor, a man from Chongqing in central China, has been identified as Tian Zeming...Rescue worker Wang Yahui told CCTV that Tian may have been able to survive thanks to a beam that held up some space -- a narrow 40 centimeter oxygen passage -- after the building collapsed...There are as many as 73 more people reported missing, according to CNN's calculations based on Chinese media reports."
The Guardian reports: "Photographs appearing to show one of China's most famous cities shrouded in a spectacular violet mist went viral on Wednesday, as millions of citizens choked on the country's latest bout of toxic smog. The fluorescent purple haze that engulfed Nanjing – reportedly the result of a pollution-tinged sunset – was at one point the second most talked-about topic on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter. 'Who can explain what has happened to the sky?' wrote one concerned Weibo user, as tens of thousands of people posted comments on the phenomenon...'The government has not taken effective action to control the smog, and we have to pay for it with our health,' one Weibo user fumed. 'You see hazardous pollution across the whole country,' the commenter added. 'I do not know what percentage of us will suffer respiratory disease, but why doesn't the media criticise [the government over this] … rather than using it as entertainment?' Nanjing's Modern Express newspaper tried to calm its alarmed readers. It said the lavender-coloured skies had been caused by the combination of a sunset's glow and a spike in pollution rather than a specific pollutant."