HK media club out of order in its pursuit of headlines

The frenzy in the Western media over the official stance of the Chinese government regarding the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong inviting a known separatist as guest speaker at a luncheon is contrived and ideologically motivated.

Tsai can only blame herself for Taiwan's troubles

Taiwan has reportedly upgraded its indigenous defense with a newly developed cruise missile tailor-made for strikes on coastal targets on the mainland. It is also reportedly anxious to develop its own attack submarines.

Degradation of environmental departments betrays promises

THE MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT has found the environmental protection bureau of Linfen, a city in North China's Shanxi province, plugged or sprayed water on the sampling heads of the air quality monitoring equipment in the city nearly 100 times from April last year to March this year so as to sweeten the air monitoring results. Beijing News comments:

Drownings put spotlight on children's safety

THE BODIES OF TWO 8-YEAR-OLD TWINS were found one after the other in the sea in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, on Monday, 24 hours after their mother reported their loss when they were playing on a beach, where swimming is forbidden. ThePaper.cn comments:

City's points system for dog owners worth emulating by others

SINCE LAST YEAR, Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, has introduced a system that gives every dog owner 12 points and authorizes the police to deduct them when the dog owner breaks related regulations. Legal Daily comments:

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Trump strategy heightens tensions

Editor's note: After his announcement on July 30 that $113 million would be invested in the "Indo-Pacific" region to develop technology and infrastructure, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday pledged to provide nearly $300 million in new security funding for Southeast Asia. Are these moves concrete steps to implement US President Donald Trump's "Indo-Pacific" strategy, and what will be their impact on the regional order? Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Liu Jianna. Excerpts follow:

Deepening reform to counter trade threat

The United States continues to ratchet up its trade threats against China, the latest being the threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese exports, up from the 10 percent mooted previously.

US agriculture says we just can't take any more

In a rally speech in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, US President Donald Trump defended his trade policies, saying, "China and others have targeted our farmers.... And you know what our farmers are saying? 'It's OK. We can take it.'"

Deficits show trade 'win' simply wishful thinking

In yet another display of his ability to elasticize the truth, US President Donald Trump claimed in a tweet on Saturday: "Tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated. China market has dropped 27 percent in last four months."

Washington's approach to agreements abnormal

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said over the weekend that the United States is set to revive sanctions on Iran that were previously lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal reached between the Middle East country and the so-called P5+1 group of powers.

Cleanup of lending platforms to better serve small enterprises

THE STATE COUNCIL, China's Cabinet, began asking for online lending platforms to rectify their behaviour two years ago, aiming to limit the growing risks. But both the investors and platform owners, blinded by the potentially exorbitant returns from what is a de facto usury business model, have simply ignored the authorities' warnings and continued to expand their funding and lending scale. People's Daily comments: