Reuters reports: "Vietnam has discreetly fortified several of its islands in the disputed South China Sea with new mobile rocket launchers capable of striking China's runways and military installations across the vital trade route, according to Western officials....The launchers have been hidden from aerial surveillance and they have yet to be armed, but could be made operational with rocket artillery rounds within two or three days, according to the three sources. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said the information was 'inaccurate', without elaborating. Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, told Reuters in Singapore in June that Hanoi had no such launchers or weapons ready in the Spratlys but reserved the right to take any such measures. 'It is within our legitimate right to self-defense to move any of our weapons to any area at any time within our sovereign territory,' he said....Military analysts say it is the most significant defensive move Vietnam has made on its holdings in the South China Sea in decades."
The Wall Street Journal: China Real Time comments, "For two days in row, Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui clambered out of the Olympic pool in Rio clueless about her breakthrough performances: breaking personal records and clinching a bronze medal. Each time a poolside reporter had to break the news to the bubbly 20-year-old, whose vivacious epiphanies on live television have broken the Chinese internet. 'I was so fast! I'm really pleased!' Ms. Fu exclaimed Monday after learning that she swam the 100-meter backstroke semifinal in 58.95 seconds, a new personal best. 'I've already… expended my primordial powers!'...Her gleeful candor made her an overnight online sensation. Fans feted her as "Primordial Girl" in online memes and viral videos spoofing her exuberant expressions. Her Weibo microblog following swelled more than sixfold to 3.8 million users....''Primordial Girl' and the netizens who appreciate her have taught all of us a lesson: sport is about the struggle and, especially, enjoyment, but most definitely not about spinning gold,' the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, People's Daily, said in a Tuesday commentary."
The Los Angeles Times reports: "China is in the midst of what many overseas scholars say is its harshest crackdown on human rights and civil society in decades....Even as China has been touting its efforts to boost the 'rule of law,' some critics of the government have vanished under mysterious circumstances in places like Thailand and Hong Kong, only to surface months later in Chinese custody, claiming rather unbelievably they had turned themselves in voluntarily....The verdicts, if not justice, came swiftly — all four men were found guilty within hours, with two receiving terms of at least seven years. Officials said the woman, Wang Yu, was released, though family and friends say they have not seen or heard from her. Relatives and colleagues of all five said their statements appeared to have been coerced....For much of the outside world, grasping the extent of the campaign has not been easy, given a constant flood of headlines that seem to showcase ever-deeper diplomatic and commercial connections between China and the West."