China morning round-up: US and Iran in the spotlight
Friday's national Chinese newspapers examine the US defence review and its focus on China, as well as possible talk on Iran sanctions.
The Global Times runs multiple reports on the announcement made by US President Barack Obama which puts priority on countering attempts by China and Iran to block US power projection capabilities in the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
An academic quoted by the paper says such strategy is "very unfavourable to China", but the country should "stay calm and keep developing itself in the next decade".
At the same time, China Daily and Shanghai Morning Post report that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may discuss sanctions on Iran with Chinese leaders when he visit Beijing next week.
The Global Times warns in its editorial that future friendship demonstrated by Washington to Beijing "could only be obtained 'by force', but not 'coaxing' and 'begging'".
It further says the latest strategic adjustment by the US is a reminder of the importance of Iran to China "whether we like it or not", and China's society should not decide on how it should treat Iran based on US thinking.
In other diplomatic news, the People's Daily reports meetings between parliament speaker Wu Bangguo with the deputy speaker from the Vietnamese parliament, between Premier Wen Jiabao and Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and between Politburo member Zhou Yongkang and Vietnamese Public Security Minister Tran Dai Quang.
And as the country is still in the throes of a hectic period of railway ticket booking for the Chinese New Year, Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News picks up a open letter by a migrant worker named Huang Qinghong.
Mr Huang criticised the Railway Ministry for treating them unfairly by launching the online ticketing system, with the fact that most migrant workers do not know how to work computers being ignored.
People's Daily also publishes a commentary which suggests that the ministry should be more considerate, so as to encourage integration between migrant workers and the general urban population.
On the environment, various papers reports that the city of Beijing will finally release monitoring data on the PM2.5 particulates in the air - something that many netizens have been campaigning for.
China Daily says the local government in Tibet spent 3.2bn yuan ($507m; £327m) last year to turn the area into an "ecological security barrier". Measures include conservation of pastureland and wetland in the territory.
Beijing News also publishes a picture which shows a stretch of Xiangjiang River in the central city of Changsha completely dried up, and residents starting to grow vegetables on the riverbed.