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Sunday, March 15, 2026
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Eye On China

A secret nuclear test by China? It’s a Hollywood-style conspiracy, Chinese say

The core question, Chinese analysts argue, is not whether a test had occurred, but why the US is reviving a six-year-old allegation now.

China’s manufacturing isn’t declining, it is moving from scale to value creation

Within Chinese discourse, manufacturing is portrayed as facing real but manageable challenges.

Xi’s military purges are less about China’s strategic goals, more about party control

Xi Jinping appears to be executing a modern version of Mao Zedong’s dictum of “cleaning the house before inviting guests”.

China is using Op Sindoor as an advertisement for its fighter jets

A commentator attributed the supposed surge in demand for Chinese arms to three factors: Pakistan’s self-declared May 2025 victory, rising geopolitical uncertainty, and China’s price advantage.

Chinese commentary on Iran protests — serious but not regime-threatening

The views of analysts reflect a wider Chinese tendency to emphasise regime resilience and caution against overstating the impact of what they are calling as ‘street mobilisation’.

‘Curbing China and Russia’s influence’—how the Chinese view the US invasion of Venezuela

China’s long-standing loans and investments, usually repaid through oil exports and settled in RMB, are now at risk, while US control threatens Beijing’s influence in Latin America.

2025 was a year of many diplomatic gains for Beijing, say Chinese analysts

Looking ahead, Chinese analysts largely anticipate continuity rather than disruption, at least for China.

Why the Chinese are celebrating the conviction of media tycoon Jimmy Lai

Jimmy Lai’s democratic ideals are being dismantled in Chinese commentary. And his media empire is portrayed as a vehicle for political manipulation.

China isn’t impressed with Trump H200 chip offer. Commentators call it a ‘poison pill’

The Chinese view is that the US is willing to sell 'sub-par' products, while keeping next-generation technology firmly under American control.

How China reads US National Security Strategy—a return of America First in new language

Across the varied reading of the NSS in Chinese media, one thread recurs: The more Trump leans toward isolationism, the more volatile the global order is likely to become.

On Camera

Menstrual leave doesn’t work in ‘real world’. And that real world is designed by, for men

When a woman menstruates, when/if she decides to marry, when/if she decides to have kids, should not be factors when looking at a woman’s potential from a hiring standpoint.

US strike on Iran’s key oil export island Kharg raises fears of wider supply disruption

President Trump said the US had bombed military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, but spared oil infrastructure.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba, the man Iran must keep alive & the secret force ‘tasked with it’—all about NOPO

The Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, or NOPO, was the only force Ali Khamenei trusted.It was founded in 1991 and is more feared than the Revolutionary Guards.

Peaceful power transfers followed uprisings in India’s neighbourhood. It’s a sign of mature democracies

Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.