China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have held their largest-ever joint maritime rescue exercise, signalling a lull in South China Sea tensions. The drill on Tuesday simulated a collision between a Chinese passenger ship and a Cambodian cargo vessel off south China’s Guangdong province. It involved about 1,000 rescuers aboard 20…

On Tuesday, an anti-aircraft defense battalion set off for the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea that separates China from the peninsula. There, it tested unidentified weapons to shoot down low-altitude targets. The website also noted that “The troops rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested.”

The drills come days following North Korea’s testing of an advanced hydrogen bomb, the sixth and largest nuclear weapons test to date. The move comes amid rising international concern that the often volatile leaders of the country are close to mounting a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

In the meantime, the United States has discussed deployment of anti-aircraft carriers and strategic bombers with its ally South Korea. However, North Korean ally China has expressed concern about U.S.-South Korean drills and contempt toward Washington’s deployment of an anti-missile defense system in the South.

However, China’s relations with the North have been also been tested in recent months following North Korea’s missile launches and the United States’ calls for mounting pressure on the nuclear armed state.

The popular microblogging site Sina WeiBo recently censored searchers for the term “Hydrogen Bomb.” According to censorship-monitoring website FreeWeibo, the top 3 terms banned by Weibo in the last 24 hours are “North Korea,” “Hydrogen Bomb” and “Brics.” The watchdog site also reports that posts from independent news sites that could be deemed alarming have been removed.

After users look up these banned terms, they are presented with the following message: “According to the relevant laws, regulations and policies, the results cannot be displayed.”

The Communist nation isn’t even allowing humor. Several jokes regarding Brics and the North Korean test have been censored or removed.  

One user by the handle Zhang Hongjie sarcastically posted  “North Korea set off a 6.3 scale firecracker to applaud the start of Brics”, before it was removed. Another known online as  IAmDaGang had his comment removed for posting  “Kim the Fat had set off a blast to celebrate.”

But for some users, the situation is no laughing matter. Many citizens are speculating that tense relations between North Korea and its biggest trading and military partner China could lead to a nuclear disaster.

User Wang Zhanyang noted that tremors were felt in Changchun, which is located 269 miles from the North Korean border. “There were people running out of their houses; in such a hazardous nuclear environment, how can we feel secure about the development of the economy?” he asked.

His post was also removed.

Washington’s base will actually be a neighbor of sorts to its Chinese counterpart occupying the same port city. The Xinhua news agency reports Beijing’s base will “assist China’s contribution to peace and stability both in Africa and worldwide.”

In fact, the People’s Liberation Army will have a lot of work to do. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the base will be supporting anti-piracy efforts in the region, engaging in “humanitarian rescue” missions and contributing to “Djibouti’s economic and social development.”

The addition of the base follows a series of economic and social relations between China and parts of Africa.

NPR’s Gregory Warner notes that “Africa, as a whole, I think has been demanding that China become more of a long-term partner. And China’s been responding to that, showing that it’s not just here to build roads and airports, but it’s building jobs, building security.

“So we see a number of uncharacteristic moves by China in the last few years — first, dispatching a battalion of peacekeepers to a conflict in South Sudan. We see a tremendous investment in media on continent to tell that China story to Africans and more exchange programs for African students and engineers to go to China, something that the West used to offer but has decreased since Sept. 11.”

In addition, China is moving forward with other foreign investments, not the least of which is its proposed modern-day Silk Road or the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. The first link to that belt came in the form of a transcontinental railroad linking China with Europe.

Although the previous Administration often sent warships into the South China Sea to uphold freedom of navigation and challenge China’s claim to virtually the entire region, some analysts say this move went a step further.

Beforehand, these exercises involved a warship undergoing “innocent passage” and passing the sea without stopping – effectively recognizing territorial waters, much to the disappointment of regional allies that also lay claims to parts of the South China Sea.

In particular, the USS Dewy conducted a “man overboard” exercise, specifically to show that its passage within 12 nautical miles was not innocent passage, U.S. officials said. China says that in response, it sent two guided-missile warships warning the U.S. ship to leave the area.

Greg Poling of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank told Reuters: “The previous two freedom-of-navigation operations only challenged China’s demand for prior notification for innocent passage through the territorial sea; this one asserted that there is no territorial sea at all.”

However, U.S. Commander Gary Ross maintained the drill was not specific to one country.

The South China Sea is a strategic waterway by which $5 trillion in ship-borne goods pass through each year. It is contested by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines — the latter of which took the case to an international court and won. China refused to recognize the ruling. Beijing continues to build and militarize artificial islands in the region claiming it’s only building defenses legally in its own territory.

The United States’ latest drill comes ahead of a visit between U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and regional counterparts in Singapore. At the same time, the U.S. is urging — and to some degree succeeding — in pushing China to take a stronger stance against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The latest incursion, of course, may further complicate the matter.

The publication reports China installed Norinco CS/AR-1 55mm anti-frogman rocket launcher defense systems to protect itself against military combat divers from Vietnam, a neighbor that also lays claims to the South China Sea. The reported military buildup would add to China’s militarization of the disputed waters. However, Beijing maintains it is merely building up defenses in its own territory – something the United States disagrees with. In the past, former President Barack Obama often sent Naval ships into the territory to uphold what it says is freedom of navigation.

Fiery Cross Reef is administered by China but also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China claims virtually all the South China Sea, a lucrative waterway that seed more than $5 trillion worth of trade pass through it each year.

He says Manila is also working on completing a framework for a code of conduct to minimize maritime issues.

“We will try stressing the importance of promoting or at least managing tensions and disputes peacefully and through diplomatic means,” Manalo told reporters. “We acknowledge that differences exist, but that does not mean the whole relationship should be affected by that, because we also have good economic relationships and people to people exchanges.”

In May, the Philippines plans to initiate a bilateral consultation mechanism between the two countries.

“They will be dealing with technical issues, but on a political high-level, a meeting between national leaders,” he said. “It’s a very good opportunity for us and China to raise issues. We can now talk face to face in an atmosphere that we can solve differences peacefully. The mechanism is partly one attempt to see how we can now talk about this difference [on the South China Sea].”

Beijing claims virtually all the South China Sea in conflict with several of its neighbors. Tensions between China and The Philippines have soured especially after Manila took the issue to an international court, where it was ruled that China’s claims were illegitimate. Beijing chose to ignore the ruling and has raised tensions by establishing artificial islands capable of housing military personnel and weaponry.

A CB Insights blog post reported that China pumped $9.9 billion into Silicon Valley firms in 2015 and an additional $3.5 billion in such firms during the first nine months of last year.

The Times article referenced a Defense Department white paper stating, “Beijing is encouraging Chinese companies with close government ties to invest in American start-ups specializing in critical technologies like artificial intelligence and robots to advance China’s military capacity as well as its economy.” That publication is making its way around the hands of top Trump Administration officials.

Moreover, a report published last October by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Committee, which analyzes national security implications of trade with China, read that “Chinese military leaders and strategists believe that the nature of warfare is fundamentally changing due to unmanned platforms” It notes China is housing a burgeoning military drone industry as well efforts to obtain artificial intelligence technology either by investment or possibly “cyber espionage.”

Research firm DSI, which gathered the Intel for the report, says that “state-owned conglomerates, companies, and venture capital firms are actively acquiring and investing in AI and foreign robotics technologies companies, particularly in Europe.”

It seems China may also be turning to arterial intelligence to rival the tech-heavy approach of America’s defense apparatus, which Beijing would be expected to establish defenses against.

However, many of the tech startups that have been doing business with China say they turned to the Communist regime because American firms are reluctant to depend on unproven technology even when the capital investment would be minimal.

But U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson believes that “It is clear a different approach is required.” While he is absolutely right, some analysts believe it’s not the one his inner circle is proposing. Tom Holland, who has written on Chinese affairs for 20 years, argued in a recent editorial that President Donald Trump is not totally right when he alleges North Korea is an “obedient client state of China,” and Tillerson may need to look elsewhere than hope China will take a stance to support tough economic sanctions on North Korea.

As Holland notes, North Korea doesn’t stand much to gain in that department. Today, China is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner accounting for 90% of its foreign trade. Many believe China has been one of the only life lines keeping North Korea afloat economically. And severing those ties will cause it to sink underneath international pressure. But, China has been quite satisfied just doing business as usual. In fact, even after supporting U.N. sanctions to ban coal exports from North Korea, the country’s coal keeps getting past Chinese ports uninterrupted, according to South Korean reports.

Holland writes, “If Beijing were to rigorously sever these ties, it would very likely bring the North Korean economy – and Kim’s regime – to its knees. But China’s leaders have no appetite for such a drastic course of action.”

And at least based on what the South Korean government has on paper, China in 2015 alone bought $2.5 billion worth of North Korean exports, mostly coal and iron ore. Holland also points to these figures which show North Korea is running a trade deficit of anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion a year, suggesting it must have black market sources of trade since it can’t legally borrow international currency from most of the world.

The U.S. and her allies may need to search for other ways to cripple North Korea. But how long before this unstable government develops the ability and audacity to launch a nuclear armed missile into the continental United States or regional neighbors. If the past two decades have taught us anything, the timeline seems grim.

Washington maintained it would continue its operations in the region. China claimed that area in 2013, a statement the U.S. and Japan has rejected since. On Thursday, Chinese government officials called on the U.S. to respect its self-proclaimed ADIZ.

U.S. Pacific Air Forces told CNN a B-1 bomber was flying near South Korea on Sunday before its pilots reported to Chinese air traffic controllers that they were undergoing routine operations in international airspace. The aircraft never deviated from its flight path.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had no knowledge of the matter and referred questions to the Defense Ministry.

“But, generally speaking, I hope that in this region all countries’ actions consider the security concerns of relevant countries and be beneficial for mutual trust, peace and stability between countries,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

Commander Gary Ross, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department, said the U.S viewed China’s ADIZ over the East China Sea “a unilateral change to the status quo … that raises regional tensions and increases the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents.”

He added, “The United States will not acquiesce to unilateral acts of other States designed to restrict the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace, as reflected in international law. We do not accept, nor do we recognize, the East China Sea ADIZ declared by China.”

This is the latest in a series of war-game-like scenarios between China and the U.S., which in recent years has sent warships to defend freedom of navigation in waters claimed by China. The South China sea is virtually entirely claimed by Beijing. Her neighbors including Vietnam and the Philippines also claim parts. Several countries have shown signs of strengthening ties with the U.S. in what it perceives as Chinese militarization of territorial waters.