I think this article just has its numbers wrong. 281mph is barely faster than what they're already running commercially.

This article says they've tested as fast as 621km/h.

"Democracies" have delivered a constant train of 'once in a lifetime' recessions that China's regulated capitalism has somehow managed to avoid.

Taiwan and the Donbass Republics are both breakaway states supported by foreign rival governments. The similarity in the situations is why China doesn't actually recognise them or the Crimean occupation; it'd weaken their position on Taiwan.