BEIJING — Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi squared off in talks Saturday over China asserting sovereignty onman-made islands it is creating near heavily trafficked sea lanes in the South China Sea.

On the second day of his trip to China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral. Shortly after presiding over a stunning joint demonstration of yoga and Chinese Tai chi at the iconic Temple of Heaven, Modi snapped a selfie with his counterpart Li Keqiang.

India isn’t the only place where Narendra Modi is making front-page news. Two days into his tour of China, the country’s closely monitored media can’t seem to get enough of the Indian prime minister.

While dragons have been the symbol of imperial power for centuries in the Middle Kingdom, its government prefers to use the cuddly panda as a diplomatic gift to project its softer side. The dragon-to-panda transformation is a carefully thought-out image makeover by China’s top leadership: with their rising global power, they understand the need to reassure the world that they are a force for good, more like the panda than the dragon

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his ancestral home town at the start of a three-day visit to China on Thursday as the two Asian giants work to boost economic ties despite decades of mistrust.

Buddhism and yoga will form part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s soft power diplomacy as he visits China today and tries to increase his nation’s influence in the world’s second-largest economy. Modi, who heads a 50-strong delegation, arrived in the ancient city of Xian – the home town of President Xi Jinping – this morning at the start of a three-day trip.

On her China Law and Policy blog, Elizabeth Lynch has written a three-part analysis of the proposed Foreign NGO Law, the second draft of which has recently been read by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Under the revised draft, foreign NGOs will only be allowed to operate in China with explicit permission from a related government agency and the Public Security Bureau.