Play The Diplomat’s Quiz: March 19, 2017 Edition

On Saturday, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tapped Yogi Adityanath to take over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with more than 200 million people. The party’s decision comes a week after the BJP and Modi saw their most significant electoral victory since 2014, with a dominant sweep of state assemblies in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and alliance government formation in Goa and Manipur.

Adityanath, who has consistently advocated the transformation of India into an overt Hindu nation and away from its post-colonial secularist roots, has a record of religiously charged controversial statements pitting Hindus against Muslims in India.

On Sunday, North Korean state media said that Kim Jong-un presided over a ground jet test of a new rocket engine — a development that came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson concluded his inaugural visit to China, where he discussed North Korea with his Chinese counterpart.

According to KCNA, Kim Jong-un declared that the “whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries.” Kim reportedly declared Saturday the day of the “March 18 revolution,” citing an advance of “historic significance” for North Korea’s indigenous rocket propulsion capabilities.

Sunday’s test took place at a static testing bed at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground (also known as Tongchang-ri) in the country’s northwest, near the Chinese border. Last year, in February, North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite launch vehicle from Sohae.

Near the picturesque city of Sanya, at the southernmost tip of Hainan Island, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is methodically preparing itself for the next phase of power projection in the South China Sea. The site in question is the Yulin Naval Base, and it is shaping up to be the most strategically important military base in the South China Sea. In fact, it may already hold the title, depending largely on the current nuclear submarine traffic flowing in and out of Yulin’s underground facility. Theater and point defense assets have been deployed, degaussing and weapons-loading facilities appear operationally ready — as do the administrative buildings, munitions transportation systems, and geological fortifications — and much of the South Sea Fleet’s submarine force has already nestled itself deep into the resident mountain. With a healthy mix of surface vessels, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile platforms, and both conventional attack and nuclear deterrent submarines, Yulin’s strategic value is steadily rising. And with it rises China’s coercive power in the South China Sea and its surrounding waterways.

France will send one its Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to the Western Pacific later this year for military drills with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, and the U.S. Navy.

According to a source who spoke to Reuters about the drills, the “amphibious exercise will send a clear message to China.”

Last year, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines reached agreement on limited, coordinated trilateral patrols in the Sulu Sea following a meeting in Bali.