Korea heats up: Amid news of yet another North Korean missile test, the US is sending a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Western Pacific. Asia Times reports that the deployment comes as China tightens border controls with North Korea, in an apparent attempt to show the US they are getting tough on Pyongyang.
China’s slowdown pain: Moody’s downgrading of China’s sovereign debt rating last week triggered waves of reaction in both financial markets and policy circles. Economist Yiping Huang writes that while China’s debt problem should actually ease, slowing growth means Beijing has other challenges ahead.
Kashmir, tensions again: In the latest iteration of this long-running border conflict, India and Pakistan are now engaged in a media war with each claiming to “expose” the other’s “lies”. E Jaya Kumar reports that they have been releasing tit-for-tat military videos purportedly showing military action in the disputed Kashmir region, with both Islamabad and New Delhi looking to boost domestic support.
Chinese migration story: The stage play From Shore to Shore, an ambitious yet successful drama, charts the lives of three interconnected Chinese families over 70-years as they move between Mainland China, Hong Kong and the English city of Leeds. Richard Cook writes that the play is also tragically sad, in that it tells the migration story of 20th Century China from a family point of view.