Category: China

I guess we will see if China tries to conduct any provocations against Taiwan while its President is visiting Hawaii and Guam:

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te will stop over in Hawaii and Guam during his trip to the South Pacific, drawing criticism from China. Lai is to leave Taiwan on Saturday on a weeklong trip to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island. Asked by the AP, Lai’s office on Friday confirmed reports that he would make stopovers in the U.S. state of Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam. Under pressure from China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, the island has just 12 formal diplomatic allies.

However, it retains strong contacts with dozens of other nations, including the U.S., its main source of diplomatic and military support. Lai’s planned stopovers drew criticism from Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said if the U.S. wants to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, it is important for it to handle the Taiwan issue “with utmost caution, clearly opposing Taiwan independence and supporting China’s peaceful reunification.” Mao said China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the U.S. and Taiwan, and visits by Taiwan’s leaders to the U.S. for any reason.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I seriously doubt that the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia was not cordinated with China in the first place. This phone calls seems more about optics of appearing to do something instead of actually expecting something to be done:

U.S. President Joe Biden called Saturday for China to use its clout to prevent an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine through the dispatch of more North Korean troops, while raising concerns over the possibility of Pyongyang engaging in provocations, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan elaborated on the discussions that Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had during their talks on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, amid mounting concerns about broad security implications of a military alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang.

“(Biden) also pointed out (to Xi) that the PRC does have influence and capacity and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict through the introduction of even more DPRK forces,” Sullivan told reporters in a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is clearly a lie, did an alien spacecraft push them into Japanese airspace?:

China claims an “unexpected obstruction” forced one of its military aircraft into Japanese airspace this summer, according to diplomatic sources quoted by Japan’s Kyodo news agency. China admits no wrongdoing by the Y-9 surveillance plane on Aug. 26 and makes no promises to take steps to avoid a repeat of the incident, Kyodo reported Saturday. The “obstruction” may be a reference to Japanese forces that tracked the Chinese plane, according to the news agency. The Japanese government dismissed the Chinese claims as “nonsense,” Kyodo reported, citing the same unnamed sources. The incursion, just southeast of the Danjo Islands, about 100 miles southwest of Nagasaki, lasted two minutes and sparked an intercept by Mitsubishi F-2 and F-15 Eagle fighter jets, a spokesman for Japan’s Joint Staff said the following day. Japanese government officials asked their Chinese counterparts for a full explanation of the incident during a high-level meeting on Oct. 23, according to a news release posted by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that day. The flight was a “grave violation” of Japan’s sovereignty and a threat to its security, then-Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters Aug. 27.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is kind of ironic that the Chinese arrested this guy for industrial espionage when they are likely the world’s leaders in industrial espionage:

China confirmed Tuesday that it has detained a South Korean citizen on suspicion of violating the country’s anti-espionage law, marking the first case where a South Korean national has been arrested in China since the revised law took effect last year.

“A South Korean national was arrested by Chinese authorities on charges of espionage,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson at China’s foreign ministry, told a press briefing, without disclosing other details.

He said China has notified the South Korean Embassy in Beijing of the incident in a bid to help it provide necessary consular assistance.

“As a law-governing country, China has detected illegal activity in accordance with the law while guaranteeing the person’s legitimate rights,” he said.

The 50-something person, living in Hefei, in China’s eastern province of Anhui, was arrested late last year on charges of violating the anti-espionage law, according to diplomatic sources.

Chinese authorities are believed to have suspected the person of leaking semiconductor-related information to South Korea as the individual was working at a chipmaker in China.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This week China conducted an ICBM test for the first time in 40 years.

China says it carried out a rare test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into international waters, sparking protests from neighbouring countries.

The launch on Wednesday – its first in more than 40 years – was “routine” and not aimed at any country or target, according to Beijing. Chinese media reported the government also gave “relevant countries” notice.

But Japan said it had not received a warning and expressed concerns, along with Australia and New Zealand.

BBC

Here is what Australia and New Zealand had to say in response to the ICBM test:

Australia and New Zealand are seeking an explanation from China about its test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific on Wednesday.

Both countries said they were concerned by any action that was destabilizing and raised the risk of miscalculation in the Pacific. New Zealand said Australia would join it in discussing the launch and sharing views with Pacific Island Forum representatives at the United Nations General Assembly this week. 

The Chinese military successfully launched the intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, its first such test in more than 40 years.

Benar News

Here is the believed trajectory of the ICBM test:

Map via Janes.

China is claiming this ICBM test is part of a regular training exercise, but clearly firing an ICBM is intended to send a message. That message has to be towards the U.S. because notice the missile flight is roughly the same distance it would take to reach Hawaii and it overflew the vicinity of Guam. Any contingency with Taiwan would involve U.S. forces from Hawaii and Guam and the Chinese is probably reminding both Trump and Harris who are running for president that they can easily reach both U.S. locations with their current missile technology.

If you are going to try and have an affair with a military spouse just make sure not to do it in China, they actually have stringent laws against this:

All’s not fair in love and war. Sometimes, there is he who lies in wait, plotting to steal significant others when service members are off fighting. His name, of course, is Jody, and he exists everywhere.

In China, there are, in fact, consequences for such inhumanities. One Chinese man was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison for ruining the marriage of a People’s Liberation Army soldier after he dated — and moved in with — the soldier’s wife.

“China’s Criminal Law stipulates that anyone cohabiting or marrying another person knowing that he or she is the spouse of a PLA soldier will face imprisonment of up to three years,” according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

The man, identified as “Ma,” reportedly began an affair with a former coworker, named Yuan, who was also, unbeknownst to him, an Army wife. When Yuan told Ma of her marital status and the punishment associated with an extramarital affair, he broke it off.

But Ma just couldn’t stay away, and he and Yuan moved in together a month later. Yuan then filed for divorce from her husband, who was away serving with the PLA.

Yuan’s husband, however, became aware of the affair through home security footage and subsequently turned the pair in to the authorities.

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but does anyone think the U.S. military should have a similar law to prosecute civilians who knowingly have affairs with military spouses?

At this point you just have to assume that any Chinese made electronic device has the ability to spy on you and that includes the Chinese made smartphone in your pocket:

South Korea’s military has been forced to remove more than 1,300 surveillance cameras from its bases after learning that they could be used to transmit signals to China, Yonhap news agency reported.

The cameras, which were supplied by a South Korean company, “were found to be designed to be able to transmit recorded footage externally by connecting to a specific Chinese server”, the outlet reported an unnamed military official as saying.Korean intelligence agencies discovered the cameras’ Chinese origins in July during an examination of military equipment, Yonhap said.

While some of the cameras were near the border with North Korea, they weren’t monitoring it and were instead focused on training bases and fences, the official said.

South China Morning Post

You can read more at the link.

According to the article Red Sea shipping is down by over 50% due to the Houthi attacks. With the Houthis not attacking Chinese ships it is easy to see who else other than the Iranians are helping them:

One is the falling cost of power-projection. The Houthis aren’t a traditional military juggernaut; they don’t even fully control Yemen. Yet they have employed drones and missiles to control access to vital seas. The Houthis have had help in doing so: Iran has provided weapons and the know-how needed to manufacture them.

But the Red Sea crisis still shows how seemingly minor actors can use relatively cheap capabilities to extend their destructive reach. The second feature is strategic synergy among U.S. foes. The Houthis became more fearsome thanks to mentorship by Iran and Hezbollah. Since October 2023, they have allowed most of China’s shipping to pass without harm. The Houthis have also received encouragement — and, it seems, direct support — from a Russia that is eager to exact vengeance on Washington.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.