Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: March 27, 2016 Edition

China has placed indigenously developed advanced anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) on Woody Island in the South China Sea. Based on images shared on Chinese social media websites, IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly reported earlier this week that YJ-62 ASCMs are now on Woody Island. The YJ-62 ASCM would allow China to potentially target any surface vessel within 400 kilometers of Woody Island, providing a powerful power projection capability. Jane‘s notes that the ASCM was deployed on Woody Island around the same time as China’s deployment of HQ-9 surface-to-air missile systems there.

Around 100 Chinese boats and ships were discovered trespassing Malaysian waters in the South China Sea, a minister said Thursday.

According to Malaysia’s national news agencyBernama, Shahidan Kassim, minister in the prime minister’s department, said that around 100 China-registered boats and vessels had been detected in the Luconia Shoals – which Malaysia calls Beting Patinggi Ali. He did not offer further specifics on the nature of these vessels and their specific locations.

While the report did not offer an estimate of the exact number of vessels, The Diplomat understands from an informed, anonymous source that the number is close to 140.

On Tuesday, Nepal joined Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka as one of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) so-called “Dialogue Partners.” Nepali Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing dialogue partner status for Kathmandu with the SCO’s secretary-general, Rashid Olimov, in Beijing. Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who is currently one a week-long state visit to China, attended the signing ceremony.

In a release announcing the agreement, Nepal’s foreign ministry notes that the signing ceremony was held at the SCO’s Secretariat in Beijing. Nepal had first sought dialogue partner status with the SCO back in 2007 and again in 2015, at the 15th SCO Summit, which was held in Ufa, Russia. The SCO contains several categories of membership, including full member states, acceding states, observer states, dialogue partners, and guest attendees. China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are current members. India and Pakistan are slated to become members later this year, pending the successful conclusion of accession talks. Afghanistan, Mongolia, Belarus, and Iran are current observers.

With China said to be on track to overtake the United States as the world’s largest movie market by 2017, it’s particularly significant that Beijing’s film bureau has punished the Chinese distributor of a major film–Ip Man 3–over box-office fraud. The movie, the third installment in a martial arts biopic about the life of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, was released in its home market of Hong Kong and a handful of other Asian markets in December and the U.S. in January). But its March release in China has been flubbed by fraud.

Ip Man 3 stars Donnie Yen in the title role and Mike Tyson (because why not). The previous two films–Ip Man(2008) and Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (2010)–were well received and all three have ratings onRotten Tomatoes above 80 percent. There have been a handful of biopics about Ip Man, who died in 1972 and counted Bruce Lee among his pupils, in recent years; those starring Yen have been the most prominent and popular.

Chinese regulators were tipped off that something might be amiss due to the film’s larger-than-expected box office numbers: in three days it apparently raked in $72.3 million. Additional clues came from industry observers who, the Hollywood Reporter says, noted suspicious patterns in the film’s screening schedule:

Several of China’s top mobile ticketing apps — which is how over 70 percent of Chinese movie tickets are now bought — showed sold-out Ip Man 3 screenings running every 10 minutes until 3 a.m. at some cinemas, an impossibly frequent schedule.

The Chinese distributor, Beijing Max Screen, was ordered to suspend distribution for a month by the film bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Three online ticket sellers and 73 theaters were also given formal warnings for their part in the fraud.

Indonesia’s Worrying Shift on LGBT Rights:

The censorship of LGBT voices is a serious concern in any community; however, even more worrying is the rise in hate speech and calls that incite violence that has been a feature of the year so far. In February, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu described LGBT groups as attempting to “brainwash” through a type of “proxy war.” He even went so far as to say LGBT people are more dangerous than a nuclear war, which is not only offensive, but indicates an alarming set of priorities for a defense minister.

The United States and the Philippines have finally agreed on the first locations where U.S. forces will have access under a new defense pact signed back almost two years ago, officials confirmed to reporters Friday after a bilateral strategic talks.

While Washington and Manila had inked the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) – a pact that would, among other things, give U.S. troops and equipment wide access to Philippine military bases on a rotational basis – back in April 2014, it had been languishing until the Philippine Supreme Court finally upheld its constitutionality in January this year (See: “Philippine Court Upholds New US Defense Pact”).

With the constitutionality question now behind them, the two sides announced on Friday at their sixth annual Bilateral Security Dialogue (BSD) that they had agreed on the first five locations to begin implementing EDCA. The locations are: Antonio Bautista Air Base; Basa Air Base, Fort Magsaysay; Lumbia Air Base; and Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base.

Nepal’s prime minister, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, is on a week-long visit to China this week. Oli, who became Nepal’s first elected prime minister under the newly promulgated constitution last October, is on his first trip to China and his second trip abroad overall after a visit to India last month.

Oli’s trip comes at a time of unease in the historically close bilateral relationship between India and Nepal. Oli’s time in China has made it clear that Nepal, which relies economically on its giant neighbor to the south, is increasingly looking toward Beijing for an alternate source of economic ballast and opportunity.

Tensions spiked in the South China Sea on Sunday due to an incident involving a Chinese fishing boat in the Natuna Sea, near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands.According to the Jakarta Post, Chinese coast guard vessels “forcibly rescued” a Chinese fishing boat, the Kway Fey 10078, after it had been interdicted and captured by Indonesia’s Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Task Force. The vessel was pursued by Indonesian authorities because it was fishing illegally near the Natuna Islands. According to Indonesia’s Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Susi Pudjiastuti, Kway Fey 10078 was within 4.34 kilometers off one of the Natuna Islands, but it remains ambiguous if this is where the vessel was initially spotted fishing by Indonesia authorities or if this was the location of the Chinese coast guard’s so-called forcible rescue.

“We will summon the Chinese ambassador to discuss the issue. Because in the process of capturing the ship, a standoff occurred,” Susitold the press on Sunday. “We respect China, but we must also maintain our sovereignty,” she added. “We want to avoid a much more serious incident, so we settled on just arresting the eight crew members. The ship got away but we have the eight men in custody to help us investigate this incident,” Susi clarified.

Earlier this month, Laos became the latest country to report a local transmission of the Zika virus, joining neighbors Cambodia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia that have each reported at least one Zika-related case since 2010. Thailand has been the worst-hit amongst the lot so far, with nine cases reported since 2012.

See: How Obama Views Asia-Pacific Leaders