Opinion | First thing China, August 22

Foxconn announces plan to build world's largest manufacturing base
Terry Gou, CEO of electronics manufacturer Foxcoon, told reporters Monday that the company has committed 100 million yuan (US$ 15.73 billion) for investment in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing base in Shanxi province over the coming five years. The new plant will specialise in production of precision parts and fixtures, lens modules, optical communication components, structural ceramic parts, precision cutters, aluminum alloy parts, and robots.

Professor with the People Liberation Army's National Defense University and air force Colonel Dai Xu, speaking to the nationalist Global Times tabloid published by party mouthpiece People's Daily, has dismissed recent grassroots efforts to defend China's claim to the Diaoyu Islands, and threatened that any forthcoming move by Japan to claim the island group will be met with a response from the Communist Party's navy and that Japanese ships will be seized. In the same article, PLA Major General Luo Yuan describes the dispute as a "people's war" at sea.