Reuters reports: "China aims to launch a series of offshore nuclear power platforms to promote development in the South China Sea, state media said again on Friday, days after an international court ruled Beijing had no historic claims to most of the waters....The China Securities Journal said 20 offshore nuclear platforms could eventually be built in the region as the country seeks to "speed up the commercial development" of the South China Sea....'The news is old,' an expert with the China Nuclear Energy Association said. 'It is repeated in reaction to the latest South China Sea disputes,' the expert, who declined to be identified, told Reuters....Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked at a daily news briefing, said he did not know anything about the plans."
The Wall Street Journal reports: "China's economic roller coaster is taking a bite out of American exporters, hurting U.S. industries ranging from mining equipment to cotton producers and adding to criticism that China is getting more than it gives in trade with the U.S....The export drop comes as China's economy, while slowing, is still officially expanding at more than 6% a year. That growth is driven in part by the mountain of goods—worth $174 billion so far this year—the U.S. imports from China....The slowdown in U.S. exports could exacerbate accusations in the 2016 presidential campaign that China is engaged in unfair trade practices."
The New York Times reports: "The Hong Kong government said on Thursday that candidates for the legislature must acknowledge the semiautonomous city as an 'inalienable part' of China and faced possible criminal penalties if they did not uphold the pledge....'We take the view that advocating and promoting 'independence of Hong Kong' is contrary to the content of the declaration that the law requires a candidate to make,' the government said in a written statement. Requiring the declaration before the vote was driven by 'uncertainties to the solemn Legislative Council election and confusion to electors,' it said. The Election Affairs Commission said in a separate statement that anyone 'making a false declaration in the nomination form is liable to criminal sanction.'"