-(Eurasia Review 20/12) China’s Rethink: One Step Backward? - The international community must also constantly review this Chinese position if this posture follows the old Chinese strategic adage of “two steps forward, one step backward”, a strategic wisdom Mao Zedong was so fond of.

-(People's Daily 20/12) China now building helicopter-equipped salvage ships

-(Asahi Shimbun 20/12) China to establish permanent Senkaku patrols - China will permanently deploy large fisheries patrol vessels in waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands, a senior Chinese official told The Asahi Shimbun.

-(Daily Yomiuri Online 20/12) New thinking welcome on defense strategies

-(The Jamestown Foundation 17/12) Ian Storey,  China's Missteps in Southeast Asia: Less Charm, More Offensive - After nearly a decade of adroit statecraft, China’s diplomatic posturing has substantially drained the reservoir of goodwill it had built up in Southeast Asia, forced ASEAN governments to question anew Beijing’s peaceful rise, and pushed regional governments closer to the US; PLA's Growing Force Projection Capabilities - China’s assertiveness along its littoral—underscored by recent diplomatic disputes in the East China Sea and the South China Sea—has raised international concerns about how Beijing intends to project its growing military power.