Clear mist of confusion over South China Sea

The report of China deploying a missile system on Yongxing Island, part of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea came as a "surprise", with the Western world citing it as further evidence of China's "direct military provocation" to other countries and a threat to regional peace and order. The United States expects to hold "very serious talks" with China, and its allies have expressed concern over the development.

Guard against real traps in virtual world

The huge price society has paid for a fabricated story that went viral during the just-concluded Spring Festival, which sparked heated debates online and offline, highlights the need to reflect on how we should use cyberspace.

Monetary magic is no substitute for policies to increase growth

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, to be held later this week in Shanghai, should try to drive home the message that cheap money has not been able to resolve the 2008 global financial and economic crisis.

Open residential roads by law

Whether walled residential areas should have their walls torn down has sparked debate, after the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a document on Sunday stating walled residential areas will not be constructed in the future and those that have walls will gradually have them removed so the roads are open to public traffic.

Beijing not being led astray by TPP intentions

From Washington to Beijing, signs of ambivalence abound in the discourse about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

No need to politicize HK students' ability to read in Simplified Chinese

THE DELIBERATIONS OF the Hong Kong education authorities on Chinese courses recently came to an end, and the document has aroused debates in Hong Kong because it mentioned students becoming able to recognize characters in Simplified Chinese after having mastered Traditional Chinese, as the former is mainly used in the Chinese mainland. Do not politicize the issue, says an article in the Global Times Chinese edition on Tuesday:

Poverty relief is not a stage for shows of power

THE ONGOING poverty-alleviation campaign in China has witnessed some local governments trying to fabricate the impression that they have significantly improved local residents' well-being, even though they have not. Officials in less developed areas have reportedly resorted to tricks to fool superiors. People's Daily condemns such actions and calls for genuine efforts to aid those struggling to escape poverty in its comments on Tuesday:

Grace period proves its worth to many couples

ABOUT 4,500 COUPLES in the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan province, Southwest China gave up the idea of divorce last year thanks to the introduction of a grace period for divorce proceedings promoted in 2015 by the local government, Guangming Online reported on Sunday. The website comments:

Hot words

Open communities

Cartoon

Who are the people rooting for China's 'collapse' and why?

The "China collapse" theory can be analyzed in three parts: What is the argument? Who are its advocates? Why does it resonate?

Tearing down the barriers of exclusivity

The central authorities have issued a guideline on urban development, which maps out the basic principles, key tasks and targets to ensure cities are "orderly constructed, properly developed and efficiently operated".