May 27:
As part of expanded efforts to boost sluggish economic growth, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved two massive transportation projects worth combined 54.69 billion yuan ($8.35 billion). Construction will begin on a 362 km, rail line from Taiyuan, Shanxi to Jiaozuo, Henan, which is expected to cost 43.13 billion yuan and take four and a half years to complete. NDRC also approved a 11.56 billion investment for new highways in northeast Jilin province "to bolster the region's flagging economy," the official Xinhua news agency reports.
May 28:
Between May 23 and 28, China and Russia held their first joint exercises to defend against accidental ballistic and cruise missiles strikes codenamed "Aerospace Security-2016." "North Korea is actively expanding its missile capabilities while relying on obsolete technologies, and its missiles do not always fly along the intended trajectories. It is also impossible to exclude the possibility that an unauthorized launch of an operational tactical missile belonging to the armed forces of Russia or China could occur during joint exercises," Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports. The Chinese delegation was led by PLA Air Force chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Ma Zhenjun. The exercise took place in Moscow at the headquarters of Central Scientific Research Institute of Aerospace Defense.
June 1:
"Russia's 'pivot to China' was all talk," Vasily Kashin of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences has written in the Moscow Times. "Hopes that Russian-Chinese relations would gain new momentum have not panned out. Russia's negotiations with China on major economic projects continue just as slowly and with just as much exhausting and nerve-racking maneuvering as ever." One reason is that "both the Russian and Chinese ruling elite are split over fundamental issues." Major state-owned Chinese companies are an extension of the Chinese state bureaucracy meaning that any future disagreements become political. "In other words, any purely economic dispute over, say, the terms in a contract can become extremely serious and have an impact on national security." Kashin predicted that Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to China will result in agreements on wide-body aircraft, construction of a high-speed railway between Moscow and Kazan and further cooperation on oil and gas, but the "no serious changes in Russian-Chinese relations are likely."
June 2:
For the first time in nearly three years, China's President Xi Jinping has met a high ranking North Korean official. During talks, Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee, told Xi that the DPRK will continue to develop its nuclear capabilities, the official Korean Central News Agency said. China has implemented tougher international sanctions aimed at punishing the North for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range missile tests the following month. Xi said Beijing is willing to work with Pyongyang to "reinforce and develop" relations, Yonhap reports.
June 4:
On the 27th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators on June 4, 1989, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and former president Ma Ying-jeou both called on Beijing to move toward democracy, reports Focus Taiwan. In a post on her Facebook page, Tsai wrote that China is facing pressure to reform and she was "willing, with heartfelt sincerity, to share Taiwan's experience in democratization." Democracy will not fall from the sky, she said. "The universal values of democracy and human rights are something that is fought for and won by the people. If the other side of the strait can give more rights to the people on the Chinese mainland, it will earn more respect from around the world."
She also urged Beijing to treasure people who seek democracy, saying that they will move China forward. "My responsibility is to protect the democracy and freedom enjoyed by the people of Taiwan and create peaceful, stable, consistent and predictable cross-strait relations. Hopefully one day, the views of both sides on democracy and human rights will converge," Tsai said. Ma, who stepped down two weeks ago, said if China allowed for greater freedom of speech and "redressed the June 4th incident" it would win respect in Taiwan and around the world abroad. "The most effective way to shorten the distance between the people on the two sides of the strait is to hear the diverse voices of the people and treat dissidents well to establish the mutual core value of the two sides," Ma said.