Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 27, 2020

The PLA launched a version of the DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile into the South China Sea on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

Liu Zhen, SCMP: Why China brought out the ‘aircraft-carrier killer’ to flex its military muscle

* PLA test-fired four medium-range ballistic missiles in the South China Sea on Wednesday, according to US defence official
* They included the DF-26B and DF-21D – types of weapons banned under the INF treaty, which Beijing wasn’t part of

When China flexed its military muscle in the South China Sea on Wednesday, it put the PLA’s most advanced land-based anti-ship ballistic missile to the test: the “aircraft-carrier killer”.

The DF-26B was fired into the northern area of the disputed waterway from Qinghai province in China’s northwest, a source close to the military said, in a move seen as a warning to the United States.

They said a DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile was also launched from Zhejiang province in the east.

However, a US defence official said the Chinese military had launched four medium-range ballistic missiles in the region on Wednesday, though they had yet to identify them, according to Reuters.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- August 27, 2020

China's 'Carrier-Killer' Missiles: Time to Separate Hype from Reality -- Kris Osborn, National Interest

China's Three Gorges Dam is one of the largest ever created. Was it worth it? -- Nectar Gan, CNN

How European views on China are hardening in the wake of Covid-19 -- Ido Vock, New Statesman

Taiwan and the United States — much thunder, little rain -- Douglas Paal, EastAsiaForum/Carnegie Endowment

Why instability in Belarus, Khabarovsk and Lebanon are problems Putin doesn't want -- Anna Borshchevskaya, The Hill

“The US Is Nowhere”: As The Political Crisis In Belarus Deepens, America Is Conspicuously Absent -- Christopher Miller, BuzzFeed News

Who else but Navalny? Kremlin critic's illness a blow for campaign to break Putin's grip -- Tom Balmforth and Anton Zverev, Reuters

The Navalny Case Won’t Change Russia’s Relations With the West -- Nikolas K. Gvosdev, National Interest

American Spy Planes Are Playing a Dangerous Game With Russia -- Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest

Power crisis threatens already fragile situation in Gaza -- Rasha Abou Jalal, Al-Monitor

US pressure keeps elite infighting in Iran in check -- Sina Toossi, Al Jazeera

How Qatar uses soft power to conquer the world -- Lewis Sanders IV, DW

The Greater Middle East: From the “Arab Spring” to the “Axis of Failed States” -- Anthony H. Cordesman, CSIS

Pulling Back the Curtain on Turkey’s Natural Gas Strategy -- John V. Bowlus, War On The Rocks

A simmering crisis between 2 allies could create a new headache for the US in a volatile region -- Stavros Atlamazoglou, Business Insider

Chile’s Economy Has Survived COVID-19, but Discontent Is Still Simmering -- Nicolás Saldías, WPR

Trump pops to 52%: ‘Best job approval rating on record,’ up with blacks, even Democrats -- Paul Bedard, Washington Secrets