Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[tomahawk6]

This article is about China's growing naval power and its new cruiser which will include an array of SSM,Anti-ship and SAM missiles.The class will include an electric drive.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/can-chinas-dreadnought-tip-the-naval-balance-15539

China’s Type 055 cruiser, which is currently in development.

Some further hints about the mysterious behemoth, suggested as 11,500 tons fully loaded, were revealed in the Chinese magazine Shipborne Weaponry (舰载武器), published by a Zhengzhou institute of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC). According to this description, which includes several rather detailed line drawings, the ship is projected to be 175 meters in length and twenty-one meters wide, with a draft of 6.5 meters and a top speed of thirty-two knots. The ship will wield four types of “new-type” (新型) missiles (discussed below), but that arsenal does not even account for the “long-range land attack cruise missile” (远程对地巡航导弹) and “sea-based missile interceptor” (海基反导导弹). In addition to electric drive propulsion, this analysis boasts that the the all-important phased array radars have been upgraded to include both X-band and S-band arrays—and thus may be on part with America’s top air-defense ships. This analysis holds that 055’s larger displacement will enable “larger weapons magazines and enhanced combat potential, so that its distant seas comprehensive fighting power will be much stronger” than its predecessors.

 

[tomahawk6]

1974 Parcels Sea Battle between the RVN and China.Use by China of civilian vessels constrained RVN naval vessels.The professor outlined 5 tactics the Chinese are using today.Quite well done.

https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/7b5ec8a0-cc48-4d9b-b558-a4f1cf92e7b8/The1974ParacelsSeaBattle.aspx

 

[CougarKing]

I find it ironic that Zuckerberg would do this when Facebook is banned in China. And authorities are cracking down on the use of VPNs to access banned websites.

Canadian Press

Zuckerberg's run in Beijing's toxic air stirs Chinese public

Didi Tang, The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
March 18, 2016

BEIJING, China - A photo of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg jogging Friday morning in downtown Beijing's notorious smog has prompted a torrent of amusing comments and some mockery on Chinese social media.

Zuckerberg is a favourite personality among the Chinese public, despite Facebook being banned in the country alongside other overseas social media platforms. He's also become somewhat notorious for persistent yet so far futile efforts to woo leaders enforcing China's strict online censorship.

The young tech tycoon is in Beijing to attend an economic forum over the weekend, when some of the world's business and finances leaders will rub shoulders with senior Chinese politicians.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

A Canadian connection in this Chinese takeover:

Reuters

Canada's Bankers Petroleum agrees to takeover by Chinese firm
Reuters – 11 hours ago

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Bankers Petroleum Ltd , one of Albania's largest foreign investors, said on Sunday it has agreed to be acquired by affiliates of China's Geo-Jade Petroleum Corp <600759.SS> for C$575 million ($442.34 million).

Bankers Petroleum said it will be bought by firms owned by the Chinese oil and gas exploration and production company for C$2.20 ($1.69) per share.

Shares of Bankers Petroleum closed at C$1.11 in Toronto on Friday.

The Canadian company said its corporate and technical headquarters will remain in Calgary. The deal is subject to shareholder approval at a meeting before the end of May. Bankers Petroleum said the company will be delisted after the sale.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

The Chinese Coast Guard rammed Filipino fishermen in one area while pissing off the Indonesian Coast Guard in another area: by retrieving a Chinese fishing boat illegally fishing in Indonesian waters.

Philippine Star

China flexes muscle in disputed waters
By Pia Lee Brago, Cesar Ramirez (The Philippine Star) | Updated March 22, 2016 - 12:00am

Indonesia also mulling arbitration

MANILA, Philippines - Beijing is flexing its military muscle in the South China Sea, driving away Filipino fishermen from Panatag Shoal and preventing the Indonesian coast guard from detaining a Chinese vessel caught poaching in Indonesia’s waters.

The development prompted Jakarta to summon the Chinese ambassador and sparked new concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in staking its claims in disputed waters.

Indonesian fisheries minister Susi Pudjiastuti said his country has for years been pursuing and promoting peace in the South China Sea.

(...SNIPPED)

Jakarta Post

RI confronts China on fishing
Haeril Halim, Anggi M. Lubis and Stefani Ribka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Headlines | Mon, March 21 2016, 6:35 AM


The government will issue a protest against the actions of Chinese coast guard vessels that forcibly rescued a Chinese fishing boat that had been caught by the Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Task Force fishing illegally near Natuna Islands on Sunday.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said her office would summon Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng on Monday to demand an explanation about the violation adding that she had asked Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi to prepare a formal protest letter to be sent to Beijing.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CougarKing]

Not surprising:

Canadian Press

From Israel to Colombia, who's laundering money in China

Erika Kinetz, The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
March 28, 2016

SHANGHAI - China is emerging as a global hub for money laundering, not just for Chinese but for criminals around the world, The Associated Press has found. There are a number of options in China for cleaning dirty money, including through major state-run banks, import-export schemes, and informal money transfer systems that date back a millennium, according to recent police investigations and lawsuits in Europe and the United States.

Here's who law enforcement officials in the U.S. and Europe believe is laundering money in China:

—The FBI says sophisticated cyber-scammers tricked thousands of Western companies out of $1.8 billion in just over two years by impersonating top corporate executives in a scam known as the fake president, fake CEO or business email compromise scam. The bureau says it has received 13,500 complaints from victim companies so far, with the number rising dramatically in 2015. The known culprits are not Chinese, but the top destinations for the stolen funds are bank accounts in China and Hong Kong, according to the FBI.

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[a_majoor]

An interesting article, especially just after Easter:

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/03/28/christianity-with-chinese-characteristics/

Christianity With Chinese Characteristics

According to the new theology being promoted by the Chinese government, Jesus would have joined the Communist Party. The BBC:


If Jesus was alive today, would he be a member of the Chinese Communist Party? Well, perhaps he would, according to one Beijing based priest, who serves in an official, state-sanctioned church.

The Chinese Communist Party once tried to destroy religion. It failed. And today, according to some estimates, there are more Christians in China than Communist Party members. Up to 100 million will be celebrating across China this Easter weekend. But what it failed to destroy, the Party still wants to control. So, an officially atheist government effectively runs its own churches and controls the appointment of its own priests.

The big story here is that the spread of Christianity (the BBC estimates there could be up to 100 million Chinese Christians) continues to unnerve Chinese officials. The Chinese government may be fearful of the example of nearby South Korea, where Christians played a major role in the replacement of the dictatorship by democratic government—or they may be thinking about Poland, where John Paul II played a role in the overthrow of Communist rule. Christians in both countries point with pride to the peaceful nature of the change and say that’s a good sign that Christians could help with a similarly peaceful change in China. But Communist authorities, in the midst of the harshest crackdown on civil liberties in decades, aren’t interested in political change, however peaceful it may be.

The Party’s latest strategy is likely to backfire. Since 1949, the Communists have tried harsh, murderous persecutions; they have tried gentle pressure; they have tried repression and they have tried toleration. Nothing has worked; Christianity continues to spread in China, and younger generations and educated people continue to be drawn toward it. At the start of the Communist era, there were only about three million Christians in China. Today the number is twenty to thirty times that total, and it continues to grow.

At some point, one can only hope that Chinese authorities will realize that the modern, complex society that China wants to become will be more stable and more secure with a large Christian population free to live out and act on their beliefs. In a society that wants to fight corruption, close the gap between rich and poor, and show more compassion toward those in need, Christians can play a constructive role.

The era in which Chinese Christians were a tiny sect dependent on foreign missionaries and looking overseas for leadership is over. China needs the talents and the idealism of its growing Christian minority (which may soon be ten percent of the total population) if the Middle Kingdom is to flourish in the 21st century. The question may not be whether Jesus would join the Communist Party, but whether today at a time when the Communist Party is deeply corrupt, its Marxist ideals dead, Chinese society divided by materialism, and socialism a global failure, a young Mao Tse Tung would have joined the Christian Church.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Major piece at USNI News with lots on international law:
https://news.usni.org/2016/03/28/opinion-dont-miss-the-boat-on-australian-and-u-s-policy-in-the-south-china-sea

Opinion: Don’t Miss the Boat on Australian and U.S. Policy in the South China Sea
By: James Kraska and Pete Pedrozo
https://news.usni.org/author/jkraska
...

Prof. Kraska is good on international law and Canada's claim to the Northwest Passage--see p. 41 PDF here:

The Law of the Sea Convention and the Northwest Passage
http://www.cdainstitute.ca/images/vimy_paper2.pdf

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

While the Philippines converts ex-US Coast Guard Hamilton class cutters into frigates, China does the opposite with its older frigates. Both rival claimants to the Spratlys may see these older vessels brushing bows against each other soon enough.

Janes.com

China converting old frigates into coastguard cutters

Work appears to be underway to modify a number of Type 053H2G 'Jiangwei I'-class frigates for transfer from the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to the China Coast Guard.

Photographs show two 'Jiangwei I' frigates alongside at a naval shipyard in Pudong, Shanghai, one of which has had most of its armament removed and the hull painted white. Limited work has been undertaken on the second so far.

<<snipped>>

 

[CougarKing]

Reinforcing the HQ-9 SAM batteries and the J-11 fighters on the PLA's Woody Island outpost are SSMs as well:

US Naval Institute

China Defends Deployment of Anti-Ship Missiles to South China Sea Island
By: Sam LaGrone
March 30, 2016 6:37 PM • Updated: March 31, 2016 7:08 AM

Beijing is defending the deployment of anti-ship cruise missiles to Woody Island in the South China Sea, according to a Wednesday statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

“China’s deployment of national defense facilities on its own territory is reasonable and justified,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Wednesday.
“It has nothing to do with the so-called militarization.”

(...SNIPPED)

“While the HQ-9 deployment was a big deal because it was the first observation of a major weapon system on Woody Island, the YJ-62 is really the second act that provides an anti-surface capability to complement the HQ-9’s anti-air,” Chris Carlson, a retired U.S. Navy captain and naval analyst told USNI News on Thursday.
“In my view, China is making it clear that any attempted intrusion, be it by air or on the ocean surface, will be met by their defenses.”

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Image of the mock up of the 055 Cruiser,which is nearing completion.The CG itself will be able to kill satellites.This will be a major concern for the USN I suspect.

http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/eastern-arsenal/learning-more-about-china%E2%80%99s-new-massive-warship-plan-055-cruiser

 

[CougarKing]

The RAND think tank makes a radical recommendation on how Taiwan is to survive a future Chinese invasion preceded by massive air strikes and missile bombardments: : scrapping their fighter jet force in favor of a defense that relies heavily on SAMs/AD artillery.

Defense News

Analysis: Rand Report Spells Doom For Taiwan
Wendell Minnick, Defense News 10:31 a.m. EDT April 5, 2016

Liquidate Fighter Fleet, Procure SAMs, If Taiwan Wants To Survive

(...SNIPPED)

Rand recommends that Taiwan retain only a small number of F-16 MLUs and use the savings to create “Air Defense Platoons” patterned after the US Indirect Fire Protection Capability-2 (IFPC-2) platoon under development. It consists of a set of four multimissile launcher trucks, each with 15 launch tubes, command elements, improved Sentinel radar, and a command and control backbone called the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System that is shared with the Patriot systems. The configuration will use surface-to-air variants of the AIM-9X missiles and AIM-120 AMRAAM active radar-guided missiles.

The Rand report suggests an aggressive increase in the numbers of mobile Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Tien Kung (Sky Bow)-2/3 SAMs. Silo-based and immobile radar facilities, such as the TK-2 base in Tamshui and on Dongyin Island, would be destroyed within the first wave of Chinese missiles and attack aircraft during a war.

Rand postulated four alternative future force structure options that include a mix of current fighter aircraft and new aircraft, as well as different SAM mixes.

(...SNIPPED)
[/b]

 

[a_majoor]

A look at the consequences of China's "one child" policy:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/one-child-policy-china-s-grieving-parents-demand-compensation-n558116

One-Child Policy: China's Grieving Parents Demand Compensation
by JANIS MACKEY FRAYER

BEIJING — Bereaved parents are demanding more compensation from China's government, blaming the now-defunct one-child policy for robbing them of the chance to have more kids.

"I don't have any hope anymore," said Zhou Ru Xian, whose 24-year-old daughter died in 2013.

Zhou was among those at a Beijing protest highlighting the issue on Tuesday. Hundreds of police officers later herded many of the demonstrators onto buses.

The anger of such parents has intensified since the government last year announced it was reforming the one-child policy and giving couples the option of having a second baby. For decades, such an offense brought serious punishment including jail time, fines, or forced sterilization.

Critics claim changing family planning laws now may not be enough to stave off a demographic crisis in China. The population is expected to peak at 1.45 billion by 2050, when one-in-three Chinese will be over the age of 60 and a shrinking workforce may be unable to keep up.

Some parents say they receive up to 500 yuan ($77) per month from the government but insist that sum does not cover the cost of living or equal what a child could provide.

And for many, the relaxation of the one-child policy comes too late for them to get a second chance.

"To follow the law I made a decision to have only one child," said Zhou, who feared losing her job at a state-run company if she violated the controversial rule. The 53-year-old now dreads growing old alone with no one to support her.

Related: The Real Reasons Behind China's New Child Policy

Zhou and her husband put everything into raising their daughter, Yu Zhen, who excelled at school and went to study at a university in Japan.

However, Yu struggled to cope when a romantic relationship soured. Zhou's daughter leapt to her death from the 9th floor of a building three years ago.

"I have been dead since that day," said Zhou, wiping away tears. "The government made a promise to us, but now it doesn't keep its word."

 

[CougarKing]

Yet another Chinese spy case aside from USN LCDR Lin's case mentioned in another thread:

Defense News

Chinese National Arrested for Carbon Fiber Theft Attempt
Wendell Minnick, Defense News 11:40 a.m. EDT April 21, 2016

TAIPEI — The US government has arrested a Chinese national for allegedly attempting to export, without a license, high-grade carbon fiber used primarily in aerospace and military applications.

Sun allegedly instructed HSI undercover agents to use the term “banana” to refer to carbon fiber in their communications. On April 11, Sun traveled from China to New York to purchase the carbon fiber and told HSI agents that the fiber was for the Chinese military. Sun also told agents that he had worked in the Chinese missile program as an employee of the China National Space Administration in Shanghai and had a close relationship with the military, according to the charge sheet.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

A US citizen was caught trying to export under water drone tech to China.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-charges-woman-exporting-underwater-drone-technology-china-162915858.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Florida woman was charged with conspiring to illegally export U.S. technology used in underwater drones to a Chinese state-owned entity, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday.

Amin Yu, 53, of Orlando, Florida worked from 2002 until February 2014 to obtain systems and components used in marine submersible vehicles at the direction of her co-conspirators at Harbin Engineering University in China, according to the charges.

 

[CougarKing]

  : China warns its women against dating foreigners or "lao wai"...

Associated Press

China warns of foreign spies with 'Dangerous Love'
The Associated Press
April 19, 2016

BEIJING, China - China is marking National Security Education Day with a poster warning young female government workers about dating handsome foreigners, who could turn out to have secret agendas.

Titled "Dangerous Love," the 16-panel, comic book-like poster tells the story of an attractive young Chinese civil servant nicknamed Xiao Li, or Little Li, who meets a red-headed foreign man at a dinner party and starts a relationship.

The man, David, claims to be a visiting scholar, but he actually is a foreign spy who butters Xiao Li up with compliments on her beauty, bouquets of roses, fancy dinners and romantic walks in the park.

After Xiao Li provides David with secret internal documents from her job at a government propaganda office, the two are arrested. In one of the poster's final panels, Xiao Li is shown sitting handcuffed before two policemen, who tell her that she has a "shallow understanding of secrecy for a state employee."

(...SNIPPED)

 

[tomahawk6]

Good article about China's current leadership struggle.

http://www.forbes.com/sites#/sites/gordonchang/2016/04/24/chinas-political-turmoil-worsening-affecting-the-economy/#1231caad760f

On the 15th of this month, the premier of China made inspection visits of Tsinghua and Peking Universities in Beijing. Now the talk in the Chinese capital is the “rapid rise in the political status of Li Keqiang,” as one Chinese observer put it. Premier Li, says former official Liang Jing, “may become a strong challenger to Xi Jinping.”

That is a lot to infer from a couple of stopovers at institutions of higher education, but political watchers in Beijing these days scrutinize Li’s every move.

 

[Edward Campbell]

My guess remains that Xi Jinping sees himself as some sort of a transformative leader, à la Deng Xiaoping, and he will, therefore want to hold power for longer than the normal nine years. But Deng, it must be remembered, was in office as Paramount Leader for 12 years, but, in retirement, he held some fictitious title like the deputy assistant secretary of the senior citizens' chess club, but he was amazingly influential, even turning China away from democratic reform (Tiananmen Square and all that) and back to market economics, and he outshone Jiang Zemin and, eventually, forced Jiang to adopt his (Dengs) policy positions.

 

[dapaterson]

  : China warns its women against dating foreigners or "lao wai"...

Associated Press

I for one fully support teaching women to distrust flowers, gifts and compliments.

 

[Journeyman]

.... distrust flowers, gifts and compliments.

....an attractive young Chinese civil servant nicknamed Xiao Li, or Little Li, who meets a red-headed foreign man...

....and  red-heads; they're evil.  :nod:


Cue Vern in 3....2...     ;D