Editor’s note: Every Wednesday, WPR’s newsletter and engagement editor, Benjamin Wilhelm, curates the top news and analysis from China written by the experts who follow it.
Much of China is on a weeklong holiday to mark the 69th anniversary of the country’s founding. But while the so-called Golden Week, which kicked off with China’s National Day on Monday, could offer a welcome respite from an especially tumultuous period for U.S.-China relations, there were few signs that tensions might ease in sensitive areas like security and trade.
Last Wednesday, U.S. B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea in what Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn described as part of “regularly scheduled operations designed to enhance our interoperability with our partners and allies in the region.” China didn’t see it that way, however, blasting the move as “provocative.”