Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[Edward Campbell]

I'm not so sure it's really all that odd.

The top leadership is suspicious of the Taoists and Confucians, they, and the scholars who study and, too often, worship them are competing with the Party for the peoples' hearts and minds.

Jiang Zemin was the first of the "new style" leaders - Sun Yat-sen was both a traditional Chinese classical scholar and a trained medical doctor, Mao was, at best, a qualified elementary school teacher, Zhou Enlei, on the other hand, had a mix of a traditional gentleman's education and, after becoming a committed communist, hands on experience on the factory floor, but he was, at base, a classical Chinese intellectual. Deng Xiaoping was a true worker. (Henry Kissinger said of Mao and Zhou: "Mao dominated any gathering; Zhou suffused it. Mao's passion strove to overwhelm opposition; Zhou's intellect would seek to persuade or outmaneuver it. Mao was sardonic; Zhou penetrating. Mao thought of himself as a philosopher; Zhou saw his role as an administrator or a negotiator. Mao was eager to accelerate history; Zhou was content to exploit its currents.") But, after Deng, it has been all engineers, all the time.

Mao, although he fancied himself some sort of intellectual - real scholars scoffed at his pretensions, but only in private - disliked and distrusted Chinese philosophers, like Zhou, because he understood, viscerally, that the sort of communism he advocated could not withstand real intellectual scrutiny.

(I have always found it odd that Zhou, whose abilities are hard to overestimate, could be a convinced communist. The generally accepted explanation is that he saw communism as the best, or, at least quickest way to "reboot" China from the Manchu Qing backwardness into something resembling the modernity, and equality, he had seen in Japan and Europe.)

But Zhou appears to have seen no conflict between either Taoism or Confucian values, and nor, as far as I can tell, did Deng. Deng allowed, even encouraged, traditional thought and values to be taught again, formally, in both mainstream universities and in more traditional temple schools and monasteries. Jiang and Hu continued to allow it all, but, I think, with less enthusiasm than Deng. It's too soon to see what Xi thinks.

 

[CougarKing]

A picture of the J20's new mystery missile is at the link. Doesn't the fact that the missile is carried externally instead of internally like the F-35 mean that the J20's RCS is greater then, negating any stealth advantage?  ???

Defense News blog

China’s J-20 Spotted With New Missile
 
Sep 23, 2013

By Wendell Minnickin

Ok, who can tell me what this is? Any educated guess welcome. For me, it looks like the Russian R-77 (AA-12 Adder), but it could be a variant of the SD-10 (particularly the surface-to-air variant).

(...)


“A new mysterious type of missile has been spotted on the second prototype of the J-20 — China’s first stealth fighter — with a serial number of 2002, reports the state run People’s Daily, citing a video clip released on Chinese military websites.

According to video clip, the missile is white in color and unlike the F-22 Raptor fighter of the United States Air Force, which holds its missile racks inside the internal weapons bays, the J-20 carries this mysterious missile outside of its fuselage.

Experts claim that after the J-20 fighter takes off, the missile will remain outside the fuselage even after the missile bays are closed. Song Xinzhi, a Chinese military analyst, said that two missiles were seen outside the missile bays during the flight. One is a regular medium-range air-to-air missile with wings, the other is a new missile without any wings.
(...)

 

[CougarKing]

Seems not every developing nation in Africa is as quick to welcome Chinese investment:

China Finds Resistance to Oil Deals in Africa
By ADAM NOSSITER
September 17, 2013


NIAMEY, Niger - In Niger, government officials have fought a Chinese oil giant step by step, painfully undoing parts of a contract they call ruinous. In neighboring Chad, they have been even more forceful, shutting down the Chinese and accusing them of gross environmental negligence. In Gabon, they have seized major oil tracts from China, handing them over to the state company.

China wants Africa's oil as much as ever. But instead of accepting the old terms, which many African officials call unconditional surrender, some cash-starved African states are pushing back, showing an assertiveness unthinkable until recently and suggesting that the days of unbridled influence by the African continent's mega-investor may be waning.

For years, China has found eager partners across the continent, where governments of every ilk have welcomed the nation's deep pockets and hands-off approach to local politics as an alternative to the West.

Now China's major state oil companies are being challenged by African governments that have learned decades of hard lessons about heedless resource-grabs by outsiders and are looking anew at the deals they or their predecessors have signed. Where the Chinese companies are seen as gouging, polluting or hogging valuable tracts, African officials have started resisting, often at the risk of angering one of their most important trading partners.

"This is all we've got. If our natural resources are given away, we'll never get out of this. We've got to fight to get full value for these resources. If they are valued correctly, we can hope to bring something to our people. In the context of this fight, we are revisiting these contracts to correct them. In the future, we will pay closer attention, to not make the same mistakes." - Foumakoye Gado. Niger oil minister

A private auditor hired by Niger recently found bloated costs and unfair charges by the China National Petroleum Corporation, providing Niger with ammunition for its next round of tense negotiations in Beijing, Mr. Gado suggested. Tens of millions of dollars have already been scored off the Chinese through such painstaking revisions.

Across the border in Chad, officials have taken a harder line with China National Petroleum. The country's oil minister shut down the Chinese operations in mid-August after discovering that they were dumping excess crude oil in ditches south of the capital, N'Djamena, then making Chadian workers remove it with no protection.

"Just dumped in the open. This is a serious case, the first of its kind. You can't just shut your eyes in the face of it. It's a responsible reaction. Are we going to continue to ignore what the Chinese companies are doing? I think this is the beginning of a change between African states and the Chinese. It's a consciousness-raising, so they won't be guilty in the face of history." - Antoine Doudjidingao, economist

Last month Chad's oil minister refused to allow the Chinese to resume operations, even expelling the company's local director-general and his assistant. There would be no resumption, the government said, until the Chinese built remediation and treatment facilities.

In Gabon, the government has surprised the oil industry by withdrawing a permit for a significant oil field from a subsidiary of another Chinese state-owned company, Sinopec, turning it over to a newly created national oil company. Officials were quoted last month as threatening to cancel permits to other fields as well, accusing the Chinese of environmental missteps, as in Chad, and mismanagement.

For a time, oil at the refinery was piling up because the high price kept buyers away. The Chinese wanted to charge for piping the crude from the oil fields to the refinery; Niger is refusing. The Chinese wanted to charge export-level prices for the crude oil at the refinery; again, Niger is balking. The Chinese maintain a substantial benefits-freighted payroll at the refinery, another cost Niger is expected to carry; it is rejecting that, too.

"This is a lesson we are giving to the Chinese: we are keeping a close lookout on them."- Mahaman Gaya, Oil Ministry's secretary general

Niger's lesson is being applied elsewhere as well: African governments, grateful as they are for Chinese-built roads and ministry buildings, are no longer passive partners.


NY Times

 

[a_majoor]

Another interesting Chinese deal; leasing farmland in the Ukraine. How long this deal lasts could be interesting in light of how African nations are reacting to Chinese investment. What could happen if the Ukraine decides they did not get full andn fair value from the deal?

http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/09/china-leases-9-of-ukraines-arable.html

China leases 9% of Ukraine's arable farmland for 50 years

China is to lease 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of Ukrainian farmland. China’s official Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has signed an agreement with Ukrainian agricultural firm KSG Agro, which would see Ukraine provide 100,000 hectares to China. That would eventually rise to 3 million hectares.

This would be 11,583 square miles of Ukrainian land over the span of 50 years—which means the eastern European country will give up about 5% of its total land, or 9% of its arable farmland to feed China’s burgeoning population.

The 50-year plan was mainly aimed at growing crops and raising pigs.

In 2009, China had a total of just over 2 million hectares of farming land abroad.

The 3 million hectares is about equal the land area of Massachusetts. It is also about the size of Belgium.
As part of the deal, China’s Export-Import bank has given Ukraine a $3 billion loan for agricultural development. In exchange for its produce, Ukraine will receive seeds, equipment, a fertilizer plant (Ukraine imports about $1 billion worth of fertilizer every year), and a plant to produce a crop protection agent. XPCC also says it will help build a highway in Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea as well as bridge across the Strait of Kerch, a transport and industrial center for the country.

There have been smaller deals between Egypt and countries in Africa.

 

[CougarKing]

A major update: one can infer from this that the J31 will probably the more likely adversary that the F35 will face among China's two known stealth fighter prototypes.

Or this could be an attempt of deliberate misinformation to potential enemies by the admiral.

J-31 stealth fighter designed for export, says PLA admiral


The J-31, China's second prototype fifth-generation stealth fighter, designed by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, will be produced for the export market instead of for China's air force and navy, according to Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong of the PLA Navy in a People's Daily report.
<snipped>
Like the FC-1/JF-17 Xiaolong or Thunder multirole fighter designed jointly by China and Pakistan, the J-31 will be most likely be a model intended for export to China's allies and strategic partners, which may include countries like North Korea and Iran. Chinese fighters are a much cheaper alternative to US fighters for developing countries, even those which are able to buy military hardware from the United States.

source: wantchinatimes.com

J-31 /F-60 Shen Fei (Falcon eagle)

 

[CougarKing]

Defense News blog

Chinese UAV Contest Practices Simulated Carrier Landings
 
Sep 26, 2013
By Wendell Minnick
in Intercepts
   

Chinese media reports indicate that the winner of the 2nd AVIC-Cup International UAV Innovation Grand Prix (UAVGP) in the fixed-wing category this week was fielded by a group of students representing Shenyang Aerospace University in Liaoning Province. The AVIC-Cup competition was held at Miyun Airport in northeast Beijing. According to media reports, the fixed-wing UAV attempted to land on a mock aircraft carrier in the center of the airfield. It successfully snagged the second hook. It is unclear how well other competitors performed.

 

[Edward Campbell]

There is an interesting item in Defence News reporting that Chinese Firm Wins Big Turkish Air-Defense Deal.

The article says that, "In a multibillion-dollar deal, Turkey agreed Thursday to buy a Chinese-made long-range air- and missile-defense system — a move that could prevent the system from being integrated with Turkey’s existing NATO architecture. A contract valued at a reported $3 billion was awarded to the China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp. CPMEIC, maker of the HQ-9 long-range air-defense and anti-missile system ... [and] ... Other contenders for the contract were a US partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, offering the Patriot air defense system; Russia’s Rosoboronexport, marketing the S-300; and the Italian-French consortium Eurosam, maker of the SAMP/T Aster 30."

 

[Edward Campbell]

At first glance, this article, which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from Foreign Policy, belongs in the Grand Strategy for a Divided America thread but, really, it is a warning to the world that the era of a unipolar world, on in which America's hyperpuissance no longer guarantees peace and security for many. The article poses a challenge for the world, how to adapt to America's return to a Jeffersonian view of foreign policy (see Walter Russell Mead's Special Providence, American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World, 2001, for more on the four threads that run through American policy). This poses a special challenge for China because, as president Obama suggests, America is "creating a vacuum of leadership that no other nation is ready to fill."

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/24/obama_to_world_bad_news_the_american_empire_is_dead

Obama to World: Bad News. The American Empire Is Dead.

Posted By Colum Lynch, Ty McCormick

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

U.S. President Barack Obama presented world leaders at the United Nations with an image of America as a reluctant superpower, ready to confront Iran's nukes and kill its enemies with targeted drone strikes, but unprepared to embark on open-ended military missions in Syria and other troubled countries. That, he hinted, should give the world cause for anxiety.

"The United States has a hard-earned humility when it comes to our ability to determine events inside other countries," he said in his address before the 193-member General Assembly. "The notion of American empire may be useful propaganda, but it isn't borne out by America's current policy or public opinion."

Obama said that "the recent debate within the United States over Syria clearly showed the danger for the world is not an America that is eager to immerse itself in the affairs of other countries or take on every problem in the region as its own. The danger for the world is that the United States, after a decade of war -- rightly concerned about issues back home, aware of the hostility that our engagement in the region has engendered throughout the Muslim world -- may disengage, creating a vacuum of leadership that no other nation is ready to fill."

Obama said that for the time being, American foreign-policy priorities in the Middle East will focus primarily on two key priorities: "Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the Arab-Israeli conflict. While these issues are not the cause of all the region's problems, they have been a major source of instability for far too long, and resolving them can help serve as a foundation for a broader peace."

In addressing the conflict in Syria, Obama said U.S. aims were largely humanitarian.

"There's no 'great game' to be won, nor does America have any interest in Syria beyond the well-being of its people, the stability of its neighbors, the elimination of chemical weapons, and ensuring it does not become a safe haven for terrorists," he said.

Obama affirmed his commitment to the U.S.-Russian plan to place the Assad regime's chemical weapons under international control, acknowledging that the Syrian president had taken a positive initial step by declaring his stockpiles.

"My preference has always been a diplomatic resolution to this issue," he said, stressing the importance of a Security Council resolution that will hold Assad to his commitments. "There must be consequences if they fail to do so," he said. "If we cannot agree even on this, then it will show that the U.N. is incapable of enforcing the most basic of international laws."

The president presented the U.S.-Russian plan as a catalyst for a broader international effort to bring the conflict to an end, but emphasized that America should not determine who will eventually lead in Syria. In keeping with his characteristically small-bore approach, he announced an additional $340 million in U.S. humanitarian assistance but shied away from any mention of toppling Bashar al-Assad.

The United States and Russia remain sharply divided over how to implement their chemical weapons agreement; the U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing the pact has been delayed several times. The United States insists that Syria face the threat of unspecified "consequences" if it fails to comply with its obligation to disarm, while Russia prefers a more consensual approach that includes no explicit or implicit threat of force.

Speaking before Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.N. Security Council to hold the Syrian government to "fully and quickly honor[ing]" the obligations it has undertaken to destroy its chemical weapons, and he pleaded with the Security Council to move forward with an "enforceable" resolution ensuring that Syria complies.

But Ban added that removing unconventional arms can't be the international community's only goal in Syria. "We can hardly be satisfied with destroying chemical weapons while the wider war is still destroying Syria. The vast majority of the killing and atrocities have been carried out with conventional weapons," he said.

Ban urged Syria's combatants and their foreign backers to "stop fueling the bloodshed in Syria" and halt all arms shipments to the fighters. "Military victory is an illusion," he said. "The only answer is a political settlement." Ban also raised the possibility of sending U.N. human rights monitors to Syria, where they "could play a useful role in reporting and deterring further violations."

Obama, meanwhile, laid out a rather modest account of American "core interests" in the Middle East and North Africa: countering military aggression against U.S. partners in the region, protecting global energy reserves, and confronting the dual threats of terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

"The United States of America is prepared to use all elements of our power, including military force, to secure these core interests in the region," he said. "But I also believe that we can rarely achieve these objectives through unilateral American action -- particularly with military action. Iraq shows us that democracy cannot be imposed by force. Rather, these objectives are best achieved when we partner with the international community and with the countries and people of the region."

Accordingly, he defended the U.S. decision to work with Egypt's new military regime, which came to power through a July 3 military coup and launched a bloody crackdown on its political opposition. "Our approach to Egypt reflects a larger point: The United States will at times work with governments that do not meet the highest international expectations, but who work with us on our core interests," Obama said.

Obama added that he is willing to work even with America's traditional rivals, singling out Iran, to achieve his goals. Speaking several hours before Iranian President Hasan Rouhani was due to address the U.N. General Assembly, Obama offered assurances that "we are not seeking regime change, and we respect the right of the Iranian people to access peaceful nuclear energy. Instead, we insist that the Iranian government meet its responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and U.N. Security Council resolutions."

"We should be able to achieve a resolution that respects the rights of the Iranian people, while giving the world confidence that the Iranian program is peaceful. To succeed, conciliatory words will have to be matched by actions that are transparent and verifiable."

Earlier in the day, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff took to the U.N. podium to blast the massive electronic spying program that Obama has overseen in office. The surveillance, she claimed, constitutes a breach of international law and an affront to America's allies. Obama sought to assure leaders like her that he is listening. "We have begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so as to properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share," Obama said. But he went on to defend the controversial eavesdropping effort, saying it was a just approach to combating terrorism by a superpower that is "shifting away from a perpetual war-footing."

China has become quite comfortably reliant upon America's willingness and ability to e.g. maintain the freedom of the seas for all of us. China is also comfortable with American interventionism because, the Chinese believe, it actually strengthens the effects of China's ongoing soft power offensive.

It is, first, important to understand that China regards itself as a friend, indeed a good friend, to America. In 2008 there is little doubt that a) China could have brought the US economy to its knees (or even to ruin) by joining Russia in a big bond sell off,* and b)China has continued to underwrite the debt the US needs to do quantitative easing and it does so despite very serious reservation from within the senior levels of the Chinese bureaucracy.

Second, we must understand that while China has global power ambitions, some Chinese would say 'requirements,' it has, now, neither the will nor the ways to exercise such power ... not even within their own region.

A third and final point is that China sees the same "enemies" as do many Westerners: radical, militant Islam and disaffected people in the third world, especially in Africa and South West Asia.

China and America are reluctant allies ~ indeed many (senior but actually quite stupid) people want them to be enemies ~ but they are unable to work together at this time because, despite their common causes, there are some important divisions: especially China's desire to see America "off" the Asian mainland.

China may find itself pressed into service to take up some of the slack which will (not may) result from an American return to Jeffersonianism. This will be difficult for a country which is unprepared and it will be a test of the judgement of Chinese officials and military leaders. The Chinese will not do as well as we might hope - "new recruits" rarely do - but their inevitable failures must not become a cause to promote enmity between natural, albeit reluctant allies.

_____
*There are persistent, albeit unconfirmed reports, that, circa 2008/09, China rejected a Russian proposal to destroy the US economy by a coordinated bond sell off. There is some serious doubt about whether or not the US could have survived such an "attack."

 

[CougarKing]

[sarcasm]Now that's a first...the Chinese state media actually criticizing something acquired by the Chinese government. [/sarcasm]

Somehow I am a little skeptical that a network like the SMN would do this unless someone higher up wanted it to be known. Perhaps they want the West to continue to underestimate the fledgling PLANAF Fleet Air Arm?

Defense News

Chinese Media Takes Aim at J-15 Fighter
Sep. 28, 2013 - 01:49PM  | 
By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI — In an unusual departure for mainland Chinese-language media, the Beijing-based Sina Military Network (SMN) criticized the capabilities of the carrier-borne J-15 Flying Shark as nothing more than a “flopping fish.”

On Sept. 22, the state-controlled China Daily Times reported the new aircraft carrier Liaoning had just finished a three-month voyage and conducted over 100 sorties of “various aircraft,” of which the J-15 “took off and landed on the carrier with maximum load and various weapons.” This report was also carried on the official Liberation Army Daily.

Contradicting any report by official military or government media is unusual in China given state control of the media.

What sounded more like a rant than analysis, SMN, on Sept. 23, reported the new J-15 was incapable of flying from the Liaoning with heavy weapons, “effectively crippling its attack range and firepower.”

The fighter can take off and land on the carrier with two YJ-83K anti-ship missiles, two PL-8 air-to-air missiles, and four 500-kilogram bombs. But a weapons “load exceeding 12 tons will not get it off the carrier’s ski jump ramp.” This might prohibit it from carrying heavier munitions such as PL-12 medium-range air-to-air missiles.

(...)

 

[CougarKing]

The landmark FTZ opens in Shanghai, which could potentially herald a new era in economic and financial reforms. To think the article failed to mention how Hong Kong will stand to lose if the FTZ becomes successful, because the Shanghai will be a more effective conduit for foreign investment than Hong Kong or other city SEZs opened up during Deng Xiaoping's time.

This FTZ is the brainchild of Premier Li Keqiang, who majored in economics during his university years. He is trying to destroy the monopoly of state-owned enterprises. His hoped for results from the FTZ include a more liberalized economy, which would thus bring more innovations to a number of key industries such as energy.

link

China opens new trade zone in Shanghai, reform plans unveiled

Reuters

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China opened a new free trade zone in Shanghai on Sunday in what has been hailed as potentially the boldest reform move in decades, and gave fresh details on plans to liberalize regulations governing finance, investment and trade in the zone.

The Shanghai FTZ, which covers an area of nearly 29 sq km on the eastern outskirts of the commercial hub, was approved by China's State Council, or cabinet, in July.

State-run Xinhua news agency quoted Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng as saying that the creation of the FTZ was a crucial decision for China's next wave of reform and opening-up.

"It follows the tendency of global economic developments and reflects a more active strategy of opening-up," Gao said at the launch ceremony.

The State Council said on Friday it would open up its largely sheltered services sector to foreign competition in the zone and use it as a test bed for bold financial reforms, including a convertible yuan and liberalized interest rates.

Economists consider both areas key levers for restructuring the world's second-largest economy and putting it on a more sustainable growth path.

Some Chinese and foreign firms have already moved to set up subsidiaries in the zone. A total of 25 companies so far have been approved to set up operations in a variety of sectors, alongside 11 financial institutions, most of which are domestic banks but including the mainland subsidiaries of Citibank and DBS.

Ralph Haupter, corporate vice president of Microsoft Corp, speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony, said Microsoft was excited about the zone's potential.

"Details and sizes of business are hard to predict at this stage. But business is continuously growing and the entertainment business is very important for us at Microsoft."

HIGH HOPES, OR NOT?

Some have trumpeted the FTZ, which integrates three existing zones, as comparable to Deng Xiaoping's creation of a similar zone in Shenzhen in 1978. Many credited that move as being crucial to China's economy opening up to foreign trade and investment.

Optimism among mainland investors that the zone will at very least attract fresh investment and engender a wave of fresh infrastructure spending has sent property prices and FTZ-related stocks soaring in recent weeks.

Skeptics, however, point to a similar scheme launched near Shenzhen, in Qianhai, last year, but that has so far failed to live up to expectations. Qianhai was presented as place for radical experimentation with China's capital account.

Analysts and economists say that the plans for Shanghai, at least, are more specific and ambitious.

For example, one major planned change officials described on Sunday will be in the regulations governing how foreign and Chinese individuals can invest across borders.

Previously foreign and Chinese investors were only allowed to invest across the border by buying into funds regulated through either the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program or the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, both of which are restricted by quotas.

But Dai Haibo, deputy director of the zone administrative committee, said on Sunday that this requirement would be waived for foreign and Chinese individuals within the zone, who will be allowed to invest funds directly for the first time. He did not say whether they would also be subject to a quota
He also said that foreign banks in the zone would be allowed to issue bonds in the domestic market.

Officials also said that China would develop an international oil futures trading platform in the zone and encourage foreign participation, part of attempts to upgrade commodities markets and hedge risk in the world's largest energy consumer..


The insurance regulator added on Sunday that it would support allowing foreign health insurance providers to operate in the zone and would also back the development of yuan-denominated cross-border reinsurance, among other reforms.

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREIGN BANKS

Regulations of Chinese and foreign banks will also be eased, said Liao Min, head of the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), adding the CBRC will adjust loan-to-deposit ratios and other regulatory requirements for banks in the zone.

He said that the government would consider easing regulatory requirements for foreign banks when they apply to upgrade representative offices to full-fledged branches in the zone, and it would accelerate the application process for foreign banks applying for yuan settlement licenses.

Both functions are key for foreign banks seeking to do business in China, and the slow pace of approval has been a subject of frequent complaints from foreign bankers.

Given the mixed history of other capital account reform projects and the current speculative environment, regulators have been signaling caution in recent weeks.

For example, while the project is widely considered to be a pet program of Premier Li Keqiang, Li did not attend the opening ceremony, nor did the heads of the central bank or the foreign exchange regulator. The highest ranking official from the central government was Commerce Minister Gao.

State media have run commentaries warning against undue property speculation, and have said that the most dramatic reforms were unlikely to be enacted this year.

"All reforms to interest rate and exchange rate systems will be based on the premise of risk control," Zhang Xin, head of the Shanghai branch of the People's Bank of China, told a press conference on Sunday.

There is also significant skepticism that Beijing will be able to implement profound financial adjustments within the zone without letting them spill out into the rest of the country, and numerous high profile academics and officials have argued publicly against implementing them in this way.

In addition, there have been reports of bureaucratic turf wars over which agency will drive financial reform. The zone proposes to test new policy environments for 18 different industries, ordinarily regulated by different bureaucracies, some with overlapping mandates and conflicting agendas.

Liao Qun, China chief economist at Citic Bank International, said the tone of the master planning document remains cautious given the challenges.

"Liberalization may not be realized all at once."

 

[Edward Campbell]

The landmark FTZ opens in Shanghai, which could potentially herald a new era in economic and financial reforms. To think the article failed to mention how Hong Kong will stand to lose if the FTZ becomes successful, because the Shanghai will be a more effective conduit for foreign investment than Hong Kong or other city SEZs opened up during Deng Xiaoping's time.

This FTZ is the brainchild of Premier Li Keqiang, who majored in economics during his university years. He is trying to destroy the monopoly of state-owned enterprises. His hoped for results from the FTZ include a more liberalized economy, which would thus bring more innovations to a number of key industries such as energy.

link

In time, yes, but only after China gets a very severe grip on corruption. Shanghai will, almost immediately, compete with both Hong Kong and Singapre as South China's biggest entrepôt, but no one in their right mind wants to do their "big banking" in China when both Hong Kong and Singapore offer so much better services, real, strict adherence to the rule of law and highly sophisticated investment managers.

My guess is that China is a generation or two away from challenging either HK or Singapore on those advantages.

 

[CougarKing]

In time, yes, but only after China gets a very severe grip on corruption. Shanghai will, almost immediately, compete with both Hong Kong and Singapre as South China's biggest entrepôt, but no one in their right mind wants to do their "big banking" in China when both Hong Kong and Singapore offer so much better services, real, strict adherence to the rule of law and highly sophisticated investment managers.

My guess is that China is a generation or two away from challenging either HK or Singapore on those advantages.

PM inbound.

 

[Edward Campbell]

We have discussed Chinese maritime strategy in terms of the Kra Canala, the String of Paerls and the Nicaraguan Canal, but we have ignored China's interests in the far North, our (or Russia's) Arctic, but China hasn't, as this article, which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Financial Times, tells us:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/81d100de-73fb-11df-87f5-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2gMjhFwp8

Iceland secures China currency swap deal

By Andrew Ward in Stockholm

June 9, 2010

As an emerging superpower with 1.3bn people, it may not be immediately obvious why China would want closer relations with Iceland, a crisis-hit country of 320,000 people on the other side of the world.
Yet, Beijing on Wednesday signalled support for Iceland’s economic recovery with a currency swap deal, worth more than $500m (€415m, £343m), that will increase the country’s access to foreign currency and promote bilateral trade ties.

The agreement fitted a pattern of Chinese engagement with Iceland that has stoked speculation that Beijing has strategic interest in the north Atlantic island nation as the Arctic region becomes more important to global trade and energy.

Linda Jakobson, China specialist at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said Iceland could provide a valuable staging post for Chinese exports to the US and Europe if global warming opened the Arctic to shipping. “Iceland is looked upon in China as one of the few important countries that will have an important role to play once the ice in the Arctic melts.”

Mar Gudmundsson, governor of the Icelandic central bank, said the deal, which will allow Iceland to pay for Chinese imports in its own currency, the kronur, would promote economic ties. “It is another signal that the world is starting to look more favourably on us,” he told the Financial Times.

Mr Gudmundsson said China had been in talks with Iceland about ways it could assist recovery since the Icelandic banking sector collapsed in 2008 – a fact likely to be contrasted by Icelanders with the perceived bullying by the UK and other European countries over Icelandic debts.

Iceland, a Nato founding member, held talks with Russia over aid until its western allies stepped in with a multi-billion dollar bail-out through the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Gudmundsson said Iceland was keen to exploit the advantages of its location on the edge of the mineral-rich Arctic circle but said China’s more immediate interest was in Icelandic expertise in geothermal and hydro-electric energy.

The three-year currency swap, worth 3.5bn renminbi or 66bn Icelandic kronur, is the latest in a series of similar deals struck by Beijing as it seeks to increase international exposure to its currency and potentially move towards convertability.

Since 2008, China has agreed currency swaps totalling more than 650bn renminbi ($95bn, €79bn, £65.3bn) with South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Belarus and Argentina. These deals were seen as a way to promote trade. But with a tiny population and an economy mired in recession, Iceland is unlikely to provide much business for Chinese exporters.

Marc Chandler, currency analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman, said the deal was “symbolic” but added: “It’s easy to see how it could leveraged by China in future.”

This deal was brokered over three years ago; now Reuters reports that the deal has been renewed for a further three years.

 

[CougarKing]

Whether one believes in eventual reunification with the mainland on its terms or not, Taipei still wants US weapons for now.

Defense News

Taiwan Says It Wants US Weapons Despite Warmer China Ties

TAIPEI — A senior Taiwanese official has renewed a call for the United States to sell the island submarines and advanced fighters to bolster defenses against China, local media reported Tuesday.

The call came despite a marked improvement in relations since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang came to power in 2008. Ma was re-elected in January 2012.

Despite warming ties, Beijing still refuses to rule out the use of force to reunify with Taiwan and has been strengthening its own forces.

“The Chinese mainland’s military might keeps growing at a fast pace in the past few years, posing a grave threat to Taiwan,” deputy defense minister Yen Teh-fa told reporters on the sidelines of the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Annapolis, Md., from Sept. 29-Oct 1.


(...)

Germany and Spain have reportedly declined to offer their own designs for fear of offending China.

The Taiwanese navy currently operates a fleet of four submarines, but only two of them could be deployed in the event of war. The other two were built by the United States in the 1940s.

Taiwan is also looking for fighter aircraft more advanced than the current F-16s, Yen said.

 

[tomahawk6]

China's space warfare capability just got alot more interesting.They launched a satellite with a grabbing arm.

http://freebeacon.com/china-testing-new-space-weapons/

China last week conducted a test of a maneuvering satellite that captured another satellite in space during what Pentagon officials say was a significant step forward for Beijing’s space warfare program.

 

[CougarKing]

They launched a satellite with a grabbing arm.

Please tell me it doesn't look like the Canadarm...  :facepalm:

 

[cavalryman]

Please tell me it doesn't look like the Canadarm...  :facepalm:

You think they only bugged the former Nortel/future NDHQ Complex?  Why should the Canadian Space Agency be immune? ;D

 

[CougarKing]

Looks like the controversy over Turkey's acquisition of a Chinese air defence system won't die down soon:

Defense News

Controversy Deepens Over Chinese Air Defenses For Turkey
By BURAK EGE BEKDIL
Oct. 3, 2013 - 02:10PM

ANKARA — An international controversy over NATO member Turkey’s choice of a Chinese long-range air and anti-missile defense system is deepening, with puzzling remarks from the US, NATO and Turkish officials.

Turkey announced on Sept. 26 that it selected China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp. (CPMIEC) to build the country’s first long-range air defense architecture, sparking a major dispute over whether the Chinese-built system could be integrated with the NATO air defense assets stationed in Turkey.

Since the announcement, officials from the US, Turkey and NATO have given contradictory statements over whether — and to what extent — the system can be integrated with NATO.

The Chinese contender defeated a US partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, offering the Patriot air defense system; Russia’s Rosoboronexport, marketing the S-300; and the Italian-French consortium Eurosam, maker of the Aster 30.

Washington is also concerned about the involvement of the Chinese winner of a recent Turkish defense contract in nuclear technology, US Ambassador to Ankara Francis J. Ricciardone has said, noting that the United States was conducting talks with Ankara on the issue.

(...)

 

[CougarKing]

More on China's army of censors. In spite of facebook and google being banned in China, foreigners/expats in China are still able to access these sites via illegal VPNs and the practice has spread to the point that many locals are using it. If I can recall correctly, China has started to crack down on VPNs.

Diplomats are probably the only exceptions to the Chinese firewall; in the case of DFAIT, our diplomats can access these banned sites at work computers because all DFAIT network computers (part of its intranet system called SIGNET) across all its missions across the world are routed through a server in Ottawa.

A story went around DFAIT's China network that one Chinese local staff person downloaded so much porn over SIGNET that he was caught and was fired. No surprise there.  ;D

China employs TWO MILLION workers to keep an eye on internet use by its citizens

* Workers are hired as 'internet opinion analysts' by the Chinese government
* By performing simple keyword searches, they are able to monitor tens of millions of online posts every day
* Their main targets are social media and blogging sites, such as Weibo
* Supported by technology which can analyse millions of posts an hour<snipped>

Quote:
Many websites freely available in the west, such as Google Maps and Facebook, have been banned by the Chinese government, which insists on vetting any sites that wish to operate in the country.

Developers from all over the world have tried to liberate the country's online policy - known as 'the great firewall of China' - by creating tools which allow users inside the country to bypass 'the wall' and see content they would be able to in the outside world.


<snipped>source: dailymail.co.uk

 

[CougarKing]

The need to stabilize its Xinjiang province becomes more imperative with China's growing interests in its Central Asian neighbours and SCO partners:

The Diplomat


China Courts Central Asia

October 04, 2013

By Steve Finch

key excerpts:

A new deal signed on the same day will see Turkmenistan deliver 65 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the world’s longest pipeline by 2016, an increase of 25 billion cubic meters.

The Galkynysh field is “another fine example of bilateral energy cooperation for mutual benefits,” Xi was quoted as saying in the state-run China Daily.

In an unprecedented tour also locking in energy deals with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, Xi has consolidated Chinese power in Central Asia as Beijing looks to reconfigure its economy based on cleaner, more diversified energy sources amid rising overall demand for fuels. But the impacts are expected to reach much farther and wider than simple economics or within China’s borders.

(...)

China is starting to trump Russia when it comes to energy deals in Central Asia by offering better prices and related infrastructure paid for with low-interest loans. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the region is turning away from Moscow, or that the Kremlin and the Communist Party in Beijing don’t have mutual interests when it comes to these former Soviet states, says Idan of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.

“In terms of competition, this is really in the area of energy,” he says. “They share the same interests to see this region stable.”


In the past few weeks in Central Asian capitals and at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Bishkek ending Xi’s regional tour, the Chinese president has talked about security nearly as much as he has oil and gas.

On September 11, Kyrgyzstan became the last of the Central Asian states to upgrade its economic and security ties with China to the “strategic” level. But then Kyrgyzstan has been a unique case, a bastion of democracy among the authoritarian regimes entrenched elsewhere in the region.

(...)

Troubled Xinjiang

What this means for neighboring Xinjiang, China’s largest province and among its most socially unstable, are even less clear.

With governments more compliant towards Beijing, there is every reason to expect compliance in dealing with Xinjiang separatism and “transnational crime.”

In 2006, Uzbek police arrested and eventually extradited to China a man who reportedly goes by many names but most commonly Huseyincan Celil, a Uyghur imam accused of attacking Chinese officials from Xinjiang in 2002. A Canadian citizen, China declined to recognize his dual nationality and sentenced him to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges. Family members alleged the use of torture by Xinjiang police.

While China’s increasing friendliness with Central Asia is expected to tighten cooperation in such cases, NATO’s pullout from Afghanistan next year has less clear-cut security implications for its neighbors, including Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Xinjiang.

(...)