China's naval power has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. In the latest sign, the country has conducted live-fire naval exercises off the coasts of Australia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

What did the commentators say?
China's maneuvers signal a "new era of sea power in the Southwest Pacific," said Anne-Marie Brady at The Diplomat. They show that the People's Liberation Army "could cut off the air and sea links between Australia and New Zealand at any time, with no warning." China is creating a permanent military presence in the region and wants other powers, including the U.S., to "know there's nothing they can do about it." 

Beijing's aggressiveness highlights Australia's "vulnerability at the exact moment that the U.S. is demonstrating American unreliability," Peter Hartcher said at The Sydney Morning Herald. Trump is treating allies harshly and making territorial claims on NATO allies like Canada. That's the "ally upon which Australia has built its security." That puts Australia in an uncomfortable position, suddenly knowing "how it feels to have a rival navy operating off your coastline."

What next?
China believes there was no reason to apologize to Australia for the drills, said The Guardian. The two countries are "friends, not foes or rivals," said Xiao Qian, Beijing's ambassador to Canberra. "There's no need for Australia to feel concerned about the actions of the Chinese fleet." But Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made clear there was plenty of concern. "We have protested," he said.

In the meantime, China's naval power continues to grow. Beijing is developing a "huge nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that would rival the biggest vessel in the American fleet," said NBC News. Such developments do have America's attention. The U.S. sees China as a "peer competitor," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. And the Defense Department is "prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific."

When beloved writer Joan Didion (pictured above) died in December 2021, she left a literary legacy of novels, essays and screenplays including the original "A Star Is Born." And next month, her diaries will join the list. "Notes to John," written after Didion's sessions with her psychiatrist, offer an "astonishingly intimate" insight into Didion, said publisher 4th Estate. But the announcement has caused some unease, said Alexandra Alter at The New York Times, given that Didion never indicated any intention of publishing the journals.

From Austen to Winehouse 
Didion "occasionally expressed disapproval" of publishing houses releasing "every last scrap of a famous author's work," calling the posthumous release of an Ernest Hemingway novel a "betrayal." But posthumous publication is nothing new. 

Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion," F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon" and Samuel Pepys' diaries were released after the authors' deaths. More recently, Gabriel García Márquez's sons last year defended their decision to publish his novel "Until August" against his dying wishes, on the grounds that it would allow them to protect its copyright. 

Musicians are no less immune, said Helen Coffey at The Independent. Previously unreleased recordings of Amy Winehouse hit the market six months after her death in July 2011, while 1978's "An American Prayer," the "woefully misguided Doors album," was "cobbled together" seven years after singer Jim Morrison died. 

Keeping art alive 
Without posthumous publishing, we would not have Franz Kafka's "The Trial," the poems of Emily Dickinson or "The Diary of Anne Frank," said fashion and arts magazine Russh. To block such publication would be to silence voices that "still might have something to say." 

That said, the landscape today has become "distinctly dystopic," said Russh. Just look at the AI-generated song "by" The Beatles and the CGI Carrie Fisher featured in two recent "Star Wars" films. 

With writers "always" stealing from life and from "everyone around them" for artistic inspiration, perhaps it's "only fair that life sometimes steals" from them, too, said Alex Belth at Esquire. "Especially when they are no longer around to complain."