Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: Deadly floods on the Nepal-Tibet border exacerbate China-India tensions, the United States and China prepare for their upcoming summit on AI security, and a Chinese-born crypto billionaire’s personal essay sparks backlash.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: Deadly floods on the Nepal-Tibet border exacerbate China-India tensions, the United States and China prepare for their upcoming summit on AI security, and a Chinese-born crypto billionaire’s personal essay sparks backlash.

Deadly Floods on Nepal-Tibet Border

The catastrophic floods on the Nepal-Tibet border have become the latest flash point in China and India’s Himalayan dispute. In the wake of the disaster, Indian commentators initially blamed China and its mega-dam project in Tibet, prompting an angry response from Beijing.

The actual cause was a glacial collapse and landslide on the Nepali side of the border, which unleashed a tremendous surge of water that devastated villages and pilgrimage routes to Mount Kailash, a sacred site in Tibet. More than 1,000 people are dead, and thousands more are still missing.

It is unclear how badly the floods hit Tibet, in part because China has censored coverage and independent media has almost no access to the region. But this should not be mistaken for a cover-up. Chinese authorities automatically resort to censorship, especially on the issue of Tibet or after major disasters, which can derail the careers of local officials.

China and India have long-standing territorial disputes in the Himalayas, where China claims the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and India claims the Chinese-controlled territory of Aksai Chin. The countries fought a brief war over the territories in 1962, and today, the two sides are separated by the Line of Actual Control, where Indian and Chinese forces engage........

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