Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[MarkOttawa]

Meanwhile China looks like establishing a fairly serious naval foothold in Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean--Indians will be quite unhappy (and US?):

First Djibouti ... now Pakistan port earmarked for a Chinese overseas naval base, sources say
The facility would be similar to one in operation in African nation, offering logistics and maintenance services to PLA Navy vessels

Beijing plans to build its second offshore naval base near a strategically important Pakistani port following the opening of its first facility in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa last year.

Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said the base near the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea would be used to dock and maintain naval vessels, as well as provide other logistical support services.

“China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port,” Zhou said.

“It’s a common practice to have separate facilities for warships and merchant vessels because of their different operations. Merchant ships need a bigger port with a lot of space for warehouses and containers, but warships need a full range of maintenance and logistical support services.”

Another source close to the People’s Liberation Army confirmed that the navy would set up a base near Gwadar similar to the one already up and running in Djibouti.

“Gwadar port can’t provide specific services for warships ... Public order there is in a mess. It is not a good place to carry out military logistical support,” the source said...

Gwadar port is a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s broader “Belt and Road Initiative” to link China through trade and infrastructure to Africa and Europe and beyond. The corridor is a multibillion-dollar set of infrastructure projects linking China and Pakistan, and includes a series of road and transport links...
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2127040/first-djibouti-now-pakistan-port-earmarked-chinese

Paks deny naval base plan, but with bad relations with US and Trump cutting security assistance...

Pakistan denies reports of Chinese military base near Gwadar
Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Mohammad Faisal dismissed the reports as “propaganda” against the development of CPEC and strengthening Pakistan and China relations...
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan-denies-reports-of-chinese-military-base-near-gwadar/story-5Qkpxhw62aF80Jpo35ux3J.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Edward Campbell]

And the Chinese are helping the Greeks expand that country's largest harbour at Piraeus.

 

[a_majoor]

The tricky part of the "Chain of Pearls" strategy is ensuring the people who you paid off to get those ports stay bought when you really need them. The Chinese might discover their choice of partnerships was not entirely well thought out.....

 

[MarkOttawa]

Whilst on the traditional spook front:

Alleged CIA China turncoat Lee may have compromised U.S. spies in Russia too

The arrest last week of a former CIA officer suspected of spying for China exposed one of the most significant intelligence breaches in American history. But the damage is even worse than first reported, sources familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

A secret FBI–CIA task force investigating the case concluded that the Chinese government penetrated the CIA's method of clandestine communication with its spies, using that knowledge to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants, according to multiple current and former government officials.

American officials suspect China then shared that information with Russia, which employed it to expose, arrest and possibly even kill American spies in that country, said the current and former officials, who declined to be named discussing a highly sensitive matter. The possible sharing with Russia has not previously been reported.

Those sobering findings, sometime after the inquiry began in 2012, led the CIA to temporarily shut down human spying in China, and to overhaul the way it communicates with its assets around the world, according to former government officials familiar with the case.

It was a shocking blow to an American spy agency that prides itself on its field operations. There was also a devastating human cost: Some 20 CIA sources were executed by the Chinese government, two former officials said — a higher number of dead than initially reported by NBC News and the New York Times. Then an unknown number of Russian assets also disappeared, sources say.

Eventually a top secret joint FBI-CIA task force investigation led authorities to suspect that former CIA case officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee had been spying for China. Lee, 53, was arrested this week and charged, not with espionage, but with a single count of possessing classified information.

U.S. officials told NBC News they don't believe Lee ever will be charged as a spy, in part because they don't have all the proof they might need, and in part because they would not want to air the evidence they do have in a public courtroom...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/cia-china-turncoat-lee-may-have-compromised-u-s-spies-n839316

Earlier:

Solving the CIA’s Mass Murder Mystery [by former NSA officer John Schindler]
http://observer.com/2018/01/fbi-arrests-ex-cia-officer-accused-of-compromising-chinese-informants/

Ex-C.I.A. Officer Suspected of Compromising Chinese Informants Is Arrested
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/us/politics/cia-china-mole-arrest-jerry-chun-shing-lee.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

But Justin Trudeau and our pseudo-capitalist Canadian compradors just don't care:

AFP and ASIO to co-operate on China investigations

Australia’s police and intelligence chiefs are ramping up efforts to charge spies and counter foreign interference as senior officials concede the previous "catch and deport" system needs overhauling.

Fairfax Media has confirmed ASIO chief Duncan Lewis and federal police commissioner Andrew Colvin met earlier this month to discuss a new law enforcement regime that could see federal police dedicated to investigating foreign interference and espionage.

Until now, police have not been directly involved, while intelligence agencies have tended to deport people suspected of spying or foreign influence, instead of prosecuting them under the espionage law.

The recent meeting between Mr Lewis and Mr Colvin comes amid efforts by officials in Canberra and Washington to place the countering of foreign interference, influence and intelligence operations on a similar footing to tackling terrorism [emphasis added].

...new submissions to the joint parliamentary committee on intelligence and security provide ballast for those arguing for more transparency of Australian organisations that are closely aligned to the Chinese government, and its main vehicle for foreign interference, the United Front Work Department. Increasing transparency is a key objective of the proposed laws.

A lengthy submission by prominent left-leaning academic Professor Clive Hamilton names dozens of United Front organisations in Australia, describing their cultivation of Labor and Liberal politicians. The submission is the most detailed expose´ of Chinese government influence operations in Australia to ever be published.
Mr Hamilton’s submission states that “the core of Beijing’s presence on university campuses” is represented by at least 37 Chinese Students and Scholars Associations “covering nearly all Australian universities, including all Group of Eight universities, as well as the CSIRO”.

“CSSAs play a central role in the Chinese government’s efforts to monitor, control and intervene in the lives of Chinese students in Australia and to limit academic freedom on universities,” the submission states...
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/afp-and-asio-to-co-operate-on-china-investigations-20180129-p4yz0n.html

See also:

China vs America: the espionage story of our time
...
Another factor to take into consideration is the successful Chinese propaganda campaign that has been playing out in the United States for years. One reason why America may not yet view China as the growing competitor that it is is because more than 100 Beijing-funded ‘Confucius Institutes’ have been established on US college campuses (and more than 500 worldwide), promoting a benign picture of China and often pressuring colleges to shy away from events that would criticise Beijing...
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/china-vs-america-the-espionage-story-of-our-time/

More on what Confucius Institutes say:
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/?s=confucius

Mark
Ottawa

 

[daftandbarmy]

A New Silk Road https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/08/a-new-silk-road

 

[MarkOttawa]

Now an RCMP/FBI angle that so far has got very little Canadian media coverage--story is Jan. 25 (!):

McGill professor denies involvement in alleged theft of U.S. military technology
Ishiang Shih says the allegations he may have been involved in theft of military technology are part of a misunderstanding.

An FBI investigation into a threat to U.S. national security — with military secrets apparently being given to the Chinese government — has landed at the door of a McGill professor.

Last week, RCMP officers raided the Brossard home of McGill associate professor Ishiang Shih, who teaches electrical and computer engineering.

According to an FBI affidavit, money was transferred by wire from the U.S. to a Brossard company registered in Shih’s name. The money was sent by Shih’s brother, Yi-Chi Shih — who is also an associate professor of engineering at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Yi-Chi Shih was arrested Friday, Jan. 19 in Pasadena along with Kiet Ahn Mai. Federal prosecutors say the men conspired to have a U.S. company make special high-speed computer chips that were illegally exported to a Chinese company connected to Shih, according to the affidavit. The affidavit alleged a scheme to defraud a U.S. company of its technology and divert it to China unlawfully.

Authorities say the chips have a number of commercial and military uses, including radar and electronic warfare applications, and that the chips that were exported to China were done in violation of national security laws.
Reached by La Presse this week, Ishiang Shih said the allegations that he may have been involved in theft of military technology are part of a misunderstanding. He added that he is in the process of looking for a lawyer.

A home registered to Shih and his wife was raided by the RCMP on Jan. 19 and documents were seized. La Presse reported the raid is part of the ongoing FBI probe into the theft of military technology involving the creation of chips used in radar systems, signal jamming and anti-signal jamming systems, and that some of the technology was turned over to China. However, Thom Mrozek, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney General, would not confirm to the Montreal Gazette Thursday that Ishiang Shih was part of the investigation.

Ishiang Shih was mentioned in the affidavit as having received a shipment from UPS in connection with the investigation. The package was shipped to McGill’s McConnell Engineering building.

The FBI investigation monitored communications between the two brothers both by text messages and email about the shipment. Yi-Chi Shih’s travel was also monitored, and his lengthy travel itinerary included several trips to China and Montreal during a 10-year period.

Ishiang Shih has a business registered in his name called JYS Technologies. The business’s address is a detached home on Auteuil Ave. in Brossard that was sitting empty on Thursday. There were notes posted on two of the windows, with the letterhead of the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, the public prosecutions department, stating that the house was being monitored. Anyone who noticed any vandalism, negligence or theft was urged to call a private security firm.

According to a neighbour, a Chinese family lived in the house for several years, but the house has sat empty for the last year.

The home registered to Ishiang Shih is located a few blocks farther west on Auteuil Ave...
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mcgill-professor-denies-fbi-claim-he-stole-military-technology-report

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Start of a nice piece by South China Morning Post's (leading English Hong Kong daily) man in "Hongcouver":

Does Canada really have more in common with China than with the US? Democracy, the NHL and an 8,891km border suggest not

Justin Trudeau’s man in Beijing, Ambassador John McCallum, has become possessed of a novel notion – that Canada now is more closely aligned in important ways with China than it is with the United States.

Yes, that United States, the one with which Canada shares its most important military alliance, the concepts of universal suffrage and representative elected government, more than US$600 billion in annual trade, the National Hockey League and an 8,891km border.

So, the ambassador’s observations last week raise a number of important questions, not least of which is whether McCallum has recently received a blow to the head or otherwise taken leave of his senses...
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2131471/does-canada-really-have-more-common-china-us

Read on.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Edward Campbell]

Also from the SCMP: "China’s military fires up world first in revolutionary rail gun technology."

    "Photographs of a rail gun mounted on a warship docked in Wuhan, Hubei province, have surfaced on Chinese military websites in the last week,
      indicating the People’s Liberation Army Navy is testing the electromagnetic weapon and has been able to make it more compact ... [but] ...
      sources close to Chinese military told the South China Morning Post that the destroyer’s propulsion system and internal design were not suited for the rail gun .. [and] ...
      The gun in the photographs was installed on a Type-072 landing ship refitted to house the bulky electrical equipment."

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Recent studies are showing that the Chinese are becoming the largest source of innovators on the globe, we used to be able to maintain a technology edge, but those days may be fading. The loss of industry appears to have a direct result on the innovation that a society has. Whether this was China's aim, or a useful byproduct for them, is unclear. 

 

[MarkOttawa]

Very interesting--and relevant to plans in US Nuclear Posture Review to have a few SLBMs, each with a single low-yield nuke:

China plans sea-based anti-missile shields ‘for Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean’
Beijing carried out successful test of mid-course defence system on Monday

The assessment came as Beijing announced it had carried out a successful test of its ground-based mid-course defence system on Monday.

Testing of the anti-ballistic missile system that could shield China from a ballistic missile attack is part of efforts to catch up with the top nuclear nations with anti-missile technology, the United States and Russia. China previously carried out tests of the system in 2010 and 2013.

Beijing is also working on a sea-based system for the Asia-Pacific region to breach the cold war era line of containment, according to observers. The “first island chain” is a series of archipelagos lying between China and the world’s largest ocean that Beijing says has been used by the United States as a natural barrier to contain it since the cold war.

“China’s sea-based anti-missile system aims to defend both its territory and overseas interests, because sea-based defence systems will be set up wherever its warships can go,” said Song Zhongping, a military commentator on Phoenix Television. “The first area it will target is the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean to protect its overseas interests.”

China has been trying to build up a blue-water navy that can operate globally and safeguard its maritime interests. Observers have said Beijing plans to have four aircraft carrier battle groups in service by 2030. And with three-quarters of its oil imports passing through the Indian Ocean or Strait of Malacca, Beijing is looking to boost maritime defence.

“With the US and other countries taking on the Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China, Beijing will definitely deploy anti-missile systems in these areas in response,” said Song, a former member of the People’s Liberation Army’s Second Artillery Corps.

Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Dong said China had developed a new generation sea-based HQ-26 anti-missile system with an ultra long-range 3,500km cruise missile [?]. The system is expected to be installed on the country’s biggest destroyer, the Type 055, which has a maximum displacement of 13,500 tonnes...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

PLAAF says J-20 operational but...

Why China’s first stealth fighter was rushed into service with inferior engines
Problems encountered in development of new WS-15 engine mean PLA Air Force’s first J-20s are not so stealthy at supersonic speeds

China rushed its first advanced stealth fighter jet into service ahead of schedule last year, using stopgap engines, in the face of rising security challenges in the region, the South China Morning Post has learned.

But that means its capabilities will be severely limited, affecting its manoeuvrability and fuel efficiency as well as its stealthiness at supersonic speeds.

Without saying how many were in operation, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force confirmed on Friday that the J-20, the country’s fifth-generation fighter, had entered combat service, meaning it was combat-ready.

However, the aircraft was equipped with inferior engines designed for earlier warplanes when it first joined the air force in March last year because “critical problems” with its tailor-made WS-15 engine, exposed by an accident in 2015, had not been fixed, two independent military sources told the Post.

“The WS-15 engine designed for the J-20 exploded during a ground running test in 2015,” one source said, adding that no one was injured in the accident.

“The explosion indicated the WS-15 is not reliable, and so far there is no fundamental solution to overcome such a problem … that’s why the J-20 is using WS-10B engines now.”

The WS-10B is a modified version of the WS-10 Taihang engine, which was designed for the country’s fourth-generation J-10 and J-11 fighters.

The explosion was confirmed by another source close to the military, who said the reasons it happened were complicated, with one being the quality control of its single-crystal turbine blades, the key component for such a powerful turbofan engine.

...the thrust-to-weight ratio of the original WS-10 engine was only 7.5, while that of the WS-10B tops out at about nine. The thrust-to-weight ratio of the all-direction, vector turbofan WS-15 Emei engine is more than 10 – one of the basic requirements for giving the J-20 “supercruise” ability.

Supercruise allows stealth fighters like the US’ F-22 Raptor to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners, making them harder to detect. The F-22 is powered by the world’s most advanced jet engine, the Pratt & Whitney F119.

But achieving supercruise would require the single-crystal turbine blades of the WS-15 engine to cope with temperatures even more extreme than those handled by the WS-10...

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2130718/why-chinas-first-stealth-fighter-was-rushed-service

Lots more.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Must-read from a Canadian who knows China very well (have heard Chinese is what he speaks at home):

Burton: Canada must smarten up on its China policy

If you believe the Chinese Xinhua News Agency, Canada is blithely considering a Chinese Communist proposal to sell out the liberal values that define global institutions such as the United Nations and World Trade Organization, in favour of a made-in-China model that will serve Beijing’s authoritarian nationalist aspirations.

China’s official state news agency said that Song Tao – who heads the Communist Party Central Committee’s International Liaison Department – briefed Canadian officials last month on Beijing’s plan to displace the United States as the world’s superpower by “building of a community with a shared future for mankind,” which Xinhua said is “not only important to China but bears profound interest for the rest of the world.”

The decisions being made now are going to radically change the values of global diplomacy and justice for the next century or more. What Canada needs to do is seriously rethink its approach to China, in order to meet the challenge of China’s rise.

A good start is to recognize the yawning need for regulations that monitor Western public servants and politicians who, after they retire from government, go into lucrative businesses and consultancies funded by China-related sources.

When former officials enrich themselves with Beijing’s money, once they’re no longer managing China-related policy, it raises huge questions about whether these people had been compromised in defending Canada’s national interests vis-à-vis China while in office. A post-retirement second career, trading on their China-related “friendships” cultivated in government service, is just not OK.

Multi-ethnic nations such as Canada should encourage citizens of Chinese origin to seek political office; we need legislatures that reflect our diversity. But the sole legitimate function of a politician is to serve the purposes of their nation of citizenship. Any politicians with divided loyalties who spend a lot of time in China for vaguely defined purposes should not have a voice in policymaking impinging on the interests of China in Canada.

And, obviously, Canadian political parties should not be accepting funding from foreign sources, indirectly or otherwise. Most Western nations’ think tanks that advise on China relations routinely accept funding from China-related sources. And our media often provide an influential platform to apologist pundits whose grants and China travel are on Beijing’s dime through “exchanges.”

Canada indeed urgently needs a lot more expertise on China so we can better realize our interests with that country, but we should pay for it ourselves.

We also need to get more resources to our police and security agencies to counter Chinese subversion. Any accredited diplomat who menaces or harasses people in Canada, including ethnic Chinese democracy activists or members of the Tibetan and Uyghur communities, in ways that are incompatible with their diplomatic status should be declared persona non grata and sent home.

Likewise, Chinese state security agents who enter Canada under false pretences for the same purposes should be tracked down and criminally charged.

Getting serious about defending against subversion is another important national security concern. Ottawa must expend more energy combating Chinese political, military and economic espionage, and put more resources into identifying people who transfer Canadian secrets and restricted technologies to agents of the Chinese state.

Beyond our own borders, democracy in Taiwan and Hong Kong should be celebrated, but we shun their progressive leaders who share our values because China tells us to – or else. Canadian leaders should continue to meet with the Dalai Lama periodically, as a legitimate expression of our concern over the situation of Tibetans in China. We must apply our human rights standards equally to all people.

Finally, it is shocking that there is even a debate over whether Beijing, through the China Communications Construction Company, should be allowed to purchase Canada’s largest publicly traded construction company, Aecon Group. This in itself reveals serious flaws in Canada’s China policy.

Aecon helped build the CN Tower, Vancouver’s Skytrain, the St. Lawrence Seaway and is about to work on the Darlington nuclear power plant. The growing public outcry against the sale led the government to announce this week that it will order a full national security review. But we will never know what the review indicates as cabinet will assess it in secret.

If Ottawa bows to Chinese pressure and allows this sale, expect the new version of Aecon to enter unrealistically competitive bids on critical Canadian infrastructure projects, and the Chinese military to have the blueprints of all past and future Aecon projects in perpetuity for their own use, or to share with North Korea should it work that way.

The Aecon purchase is just one small piece, but a large indicator, of a larger coordinated Chinese Communist plan. Let’s come to our senses and just say “no.”

Charles Burton is an associate professor of political science at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont. and is a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/burton-canada-must-smarten-up-on-its-china-policy

More on Prof. Burton:
http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~cburton/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Whilst really down under, in New Zealand--Justin Trudeau and LPC wake up and smell the Maotai:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern orders security agencies to look into case of burgled professor

The Prime Minister today weighed in on the mysterious case of the professor and the break-ins, instructing the nation's intelligence agencies to look into claims made by a Christchurch-based China expert.

Last week the Herald broke news University of Canterbury academic Anne-Marie Brady told an Australian parliamentary committee she linked her work to a spate of recent burglaries and her sources on the Chinese mainland had been interrogated by state security officials.

Brady gained international profile in September after publishing research detailing the extent of China's influence campaigns in New Zealand focusing on a nexus of political donations, appointment of directorships and information management.

Brady told the Australian parliament her office on campus was broken into in December, and last week her home was burgled - with computers, phones and USB storage devices stolen with other obvious valuables ignored by thieves.

The latter event was preceded by an anonymous letter detailing push-back against those not toeing the official line out of Beijing and warning: "You are next."

The matter is being investigated by the police.

At her post-Cabinet press conference today the Prime Minister said she first became aware of the affair through media reports  [emphasis added, curious] and expressed alarm over Brady's claims.

"I think anyone would be concerned [about] any criminal act if it were in response to the work she's doing," Ardern said.

She said as Minister responsible for national security and intelligence she was following up the matter and would "certainly be asking some questions"...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11997764

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

USAF secretary on China vs Russia as "pacing threat" (NORAD implications?):

How U.S. Air Force Is Preparing For War With China

The U.S. Air Force is reimagining the way it fights on the modern battlefield in preparation for any potential clash with China.

As the Pentagon looks to pivot from the counterterrorism fight in the Middle East to “great-power” conflict, the “pacing threat” for the Air Force is not Russia but China, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told Aviation Week Feb. 21 ahead of the Air Force Association’s (AFA) annual Air Warfare Symposium. While Russia also is a threat to its neighbors, it is not changing as quickly as China, she says.

“When we look at what the Air Force has to do, the Air Force has to be prepared for either of those threats, but because China is innovating faster, we consider that to be our pacing threat,” Wilson says.

Now, armed with the biggest infusion of cash for research and development the service has seen in years, Air Force military and civilian leaders are trying to find smarter ways to counter that threat. The fiscal 2019 budget request lays the groundwork for the Air Force to accelerate a next-generation fighter family of systems, with a renewed focus on electronic warfare, as well as to build a sophisticated battle management system to more effectively image the battlefield and improve the resilience and agility of critical space assets.

To ensure air superiority well into the century, the Air Force is developing a family of systems dubbed “Next-Generation Air Dominance” (NGAD). This year, the service added $2.7 billion over the next five years to accelerate NGAD, bringing total spending over that time period on the program to almost $10 billion.

The effort will include a “renewed emphasis” on electronic warfare, Wilson says, declining to elaborate.

It is unclear if NGAD will include a next-generation fighter to replace the Lockheed Martin F-22 or F-35 or both. Top service officials have previously disclosed details of a future platform called “Penetrating Counter Air” (PCA), a new air superiority fighter. The service is working on a more powerful, fuel-efficient engine to extend the range of the PCA, as well as advanced stealth technology to allow it to avoid enemy radars, Gen. Mike Holmes, head  of Air Combat Command, told Aviation Week in August (AW&ST Sept. 4-17, 2017, p. 29).

Such a capability will be critical as potential adversaries develop ever more lethal weapons, such as Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system and the Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fighter, Holmes said at the time...
http://aviationweek.com/defense/how-us-air-force-preparing-war-china

Mark
Ottawa

 

[dimsum]

NYT article about the lack of info about Xi Jinping, who now has no term limit.

Behind Public Persona, the Real Xi Jinping Is a Guarded Secret

BEIJING — One Sunday last month, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, traveled to a village in the mountains of Sichuan Province. He wore an olive overcoat with a fur collar, which he kept zipped up even when he entered an adobe house to meet with villagers. Around an indoor fire pit, he sat among a circle of people wearing traditional clothes of the Yi minority group.

“How did the Communist Party come into being?” he asked at one point as he extolled the virtues of socialism. Without hesitating, he answered. “It was established to lead people to a happy life,” he said, and then he added:

“That’s what we should do forever.”

Mr. Xi’s remark — specifically its open-ended pledge — suddenly resonates more deeply than before. Barring the unexpected, delegates gathering this week for the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing will rubber-stamp constitutional changes that will enable Mr. Xi to remain the country’s leader indefinitely by eliminating presidential term limits.

Mr. Xi, who will turn 65 in June, has done more than any of his predecessors to create a public persona as an avuncular man of the people, even as he has maneuvered behind the scenes with a ruthless ambition to dominate China’s enigmatic elite politics.

The government’s propaganda apparatus regularly depicts him as a firm yet adoring patriarch and leader who fights poverty and corruption at home while building China’s prestige abroad as an emerging superpower.

What is striking is how little is known about Mr. Xi’s biography as a leader, even though he has held the country’s highest posts since 2012 — president, general secretary and commander in chief, among others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/world/asia/xi-jinping-china-leader.html

 

[MarkOttawa]

When will Justin Trudeau, Liberals and our complicit compradors awake?

US Sounds Alarms Over Chinese Tech, IP Thefts & Espionage

The alarm bells are going off all over Washington and Silicon Valley that Chinese startup investors are coming — and are pumping their money into tech startups at a pace that is making Congress stand up and take notice.

Just this week, President Donald Trump cited national security concerns when he blocked Singapore-based Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm, a U.S.-based technology firm that has made huge investments in artificial intelligence and other dual-use technologies important to both the commercial sector and the Pentagon. While his decision is being framed as a telltale sign of his newly muscular nationalist “America First” policies, members of Congress, Pentagon brass and tech experts have been raising the flag all week over the precarious American advantages in artificial intelligence, and the massive strides China has made in closing the gap.

In particular, Beijing has set out on a path to diminish the Pentagon’s traditional technological advantages “by targeting and acquiring the very technologies that are critical to our military success,” the Pentagon’s head of manufacturing and industrial base policy Eric Chewning, told a House panel on Thursday. 

China has said it plans to be the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, a plan underlined by massive investments that cut across civilian and military applications. In 2017 alone, $12.5 billion in startup funding flowed into artificial intelligence companies, with Chinese startups receiving 48 percent of that money.

Adm Harry Harris, head of Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that China is “blurring lines” between military and civilian industry and efforts, warning that U.S. policymakers and businesses need to be be more sensitive the advantages that our open society provides competitors. In particular, when it comes to China, he’s worried about the “purchase of large tracts of land near our training and electronic ranges,” which are ripe for espionage.

A bill being currently being considered by Congress aims like an arrow straight at the heart of this issue, and if passed, would institute sweeping changes in the national security reviews performed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The White House, Pentagon, and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are all behind The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2017 (FIRRMA) that would grant the government more power to block technology transfers, the sharing of intellectual property with certain foreign individuals, and even scrutinize proposed land sales near sensitive military and intelligence installations in the United States...
https://breakingdefense.com/2018/03/us-sounds-alarms-over-chinese-tech-ip-thefts-espionage/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Will Justin Trudeau and all our Canadian compradors (of whom Jean Chrétien is a prime Liberal example) ever wake up, diversity and inclusiveness be damned?

Bigger overseas liaison agency fuels fears about Chinese influence
United Front Work Department will take over responsibility for ethnic and religious affairs, adding to concerns that Beijing is tightening its grip

The consolidation of the United Front Work Department is part of a restructure of party agencies announced on Wednesday. It will take over the duties of state agencies overseeing ethnic and religious affairs, as well as the overseas Chinese portfolio.

Observers said the move added to concerns about Beijing’s tight grip on religious and ethnic affairs, and worries about its political infiltration overseas...

Back in 2015, President Xi Jinping said a rapidly changing internal and external situation meant the department’s work had to be more coordinated.

The department has meanwhile extended its reach over the years, with its bureaus responsible for liaising with people in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and foreign nations, for example, coordinating with Chinese student associations in other countries...

It will also be responsible for studying the conditions faced by overseas Chinese, cultural exchanges and for uniting the Chinese diaspora.

Strengthening the power of the United Front Work Department is part of a sweeping restructure that will see more fusion of the party and the state.

But it comes as the department is under growing scrutiny from Western governments, such as Australia and the United States, that are suspicious of China’s tactics to spread its influence abroad and meddle in local politics [Canada?]...
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2138279/bigger-overseas-liaison-agency-fuels-fears-about

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

Under Xi CCP's United Front Work Department getting lots more powerful:

Chinese Communist Party takes firmer grip on propaganda levers

The Communist Party has taken direct control over the Chinese media, and the party's organisation, "United Front" will take over all dealings with overseas Chinese, as president Xi Jinping continues to weaken the institutions of the state.

China's state run television and radio broadcasters will be merged into a new body called Voice of China, which is designed to improve China's influence overseas.

Voice of China will allow "correct guidance of public opinion" and will "strengthen international dissemination capacity building, and tell China stories well", according to a document released by the party's Central Committee.

The changes constitute a major shake up.

Xi is streamlining the government of China, and placing it more clearly under party supervision, to make it clear the Communist Party is in control.

The United Front, a shadowy party body that has been accused in Australia recently of attempting to covertly interfere in overseas Chinese communities, will absorb three state agencies that had dealt with religious groups, overseas Chinese and ethnic minorities in China.

Chinese politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Willy Lam, said the restructure was "a new ball game" that gave United Front additional authority and power.

An official document said that United Front would "manage administrative affairs of overseas Chinese", make policy, "investigate and study" overseas Chinese affairs, coordinate social organisations, and contact relevant overseas societies and representatives [emphasis added].

United Front will guide and promote overseas Chinese propaganda, cultural exchange and Chinese language education.

This would "more extensively unite overseas compatriots and returned overseas Chinese and their relatives", according to Xinhua.

But Lam warned of a backlash.

Putting United Front in charge of overseas language education could add credence to the argument of US politicians who are pushing a draft bill for Confucius Institutes to be registered as agents of foreign influence, he said.

Confucius Institutes currently come under China's education department...
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/chinese-communist-party-takes-firmer-grip-on-propaganda-levers-20180322-p4z5p1.html

Then read this super-stinger from Terry Glavin:

China is a bigger threat than Russia—but you won’t hear Trudeau say it
Terry Glavin: Trudeau is quick with harsh words for Putin, but when it comes to clear cases of Chinese meddling in Canada why does he stay mum?
http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/china-is-a-bigger-threat-than-russia-but-you-wont-hear-trudeau-say-it/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[tomahawk6]

China lost a submarine in 2003 with its entire crew dead including a flag officer.Sounds like what happened with some other AIP equiped subs lately.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/2003-chinese-submarine-was-lost-sea-how-the-crew-died-25072


The Type 035 Ming-class submarine was an outdated second-generation design evolved from the lineage of the Soviet Romeo-class, in turn a Soviet development of the German Type XXI “Electric U-Boat” from World War II. The first two Type 035s were built in 1975 but remained easy to detect compared to contemporary American or Russian designs. Though China operated numerous diesel submarines, due to concerns over seaworthiness, they rarely ventured far beyond coastal waters in that era. Nonetheless, Chinese shipyards continued to build updated Ming-class boats well into the 1990s. Submarine 361 was one of the later Type 035G Ming III models, which introduced the capability to engage opposing submerged submarines with guided torpedoes. Entering service in 1995, she and three sister ships numbered 359 through 362 formed the North Sea Fleet’s 12th Submarine Brigade based in Liaoning province.

On April 25, 2003 the crew of a Chinese fishing boat noticed a strange sight—a periscope drifting listlessly above the surface of the water. The fishermen notified the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) which promptly dispatched two vessels to investigate.