New satellites to extend China's military reach

(Reuters) - China this week reached a milestone in its drive to master the military use of space with the launch of trials for its Beidou satellite global positioning network, a move that will bring it one step closer to matching U.S. space capabilities.

If Beijing can successfully deploy the full 35 satellites planned for the Beidou network on schedule by 2020, its military will be free of its current dependence for navigation on the U.S. global positioning network (GPS) signals and Russia's similar GLONASS system.

And, unlike the less accurate civilian versions of GPS and GLONASS available to the People's Liberation Army (PLA), this network will give China the accuracy to guide missiles, smart munitions and other weapons.

"This will allow a big jump in the precision attack capability of the PLA," said Andrei Chang, a Hong Kong-based analyst of the Chinese military and editor of Kanwa Asian Defense magazine.

China has launched 10 Beidou satellites and plans to launch six more by the end of next year, according to the China Satellite Navigation Management Office.

Chinese and foreign military experts say the PLA's General Staff Department and General Armaments Department closely coordinate and support all of China's space programs within the sprawling science and aerospace bureaucracy.

As part of this system, the Beidou, or "Big Dipper," network will have an important military role alongside the country's rapidly expanding network of surveillance, imaging and remote sensing satellites.

China routinely denies having military ambitions in space.

Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun on Wednesday dismissed fears the Beidou network would pose a military threat, noting that all international satellite navigation systems are designed for dual civilian and military use.

CATCHING UP WITH THE U.S.

China accelerated its military satellite research and development after PLA commanders found they were unable to track two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups deployed in 1996 to the Taiwan Strait at a time of high tension between the island and the mainland, analysts say.

The effort received a further boost when it was shown how crucial satellite networks were in the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

While China still lags the United States and Russia in overall space technology, over the last decade it has rapidly become a state-of-the-art competitor in space-based surveillance after deploying a range of advanced satellite constellations that serve military and civilian agencies.

With the launch of more than 30 surveillance satellites over the last decade, according to space technology experts, the PLA can monitor an expanding area of the earth's surface with increased frequency, an important element of reliable military reconnaissance.

That coverage gives PLA commanders vastly improved capability to detect and track potential military targets.

Real-time satellite images and data can also be used to coordinate the operations of China's naval, missile and strike aircraft forces in operations far from the mainland.

"What we are seeing is China broadly acquiring the same capabilities in this area as those held by the U.S.," said Ross Babbage, a Defense analyst and founder of the Canberra-based Kokoda Foundation, an independent security policy unit.

"Essentially, they are making most of the Western Pacific far more transparent to their military."

In a recent article for the Journal of Strategic Studies, researchers Eric Hagt and Matthew Durnin attempted to estimate the capability of China's space network using orbital modeling software and available data on satellite performance.

China's most basic satellites carried electro-optical sensors capable of taking high resolution digital images in the visible and non-visible wavelengths, wrote the authors.

More advanced satellites launched in recent years carried powerful synthetic aperture radars that could penetrate cloud and cover much bigger areas in high detail.

Added to that, China was now deploying satellites that could monitor electronic signals and emissions, so-called electronic intelligence or ELINT platforms, the authors said.

"Next to China, only the United States possesses more capable tactical support systems in space for tactical operations," they wrote.

The Donald says China is being allowed to commit 'economic terrorism' against the U.S.

Real estate mogul and ever-present TV personality Donald Trump has penned an open letter to President Barack Obama.


The letter was reportedly sent Thursday, and chided the president for “how little respect the Chinese government has for” him.


The missive came after Trump read an article in The New York Times entitled “China Imposes New Tariffs on U.S. Vehicles.”


Trump’s continued railing against the current state of Sino-American relations has been a staple of his political aspirations and a key talking point against President Obama.


Read the contents of that letter below:


Dear President Obama,


In reading today’s New York Times Business section, I came across an article written by Keith Bradsher entitled “China Imposes New Tariffs on U.S. Vehicles.” In fact, I had to take a second look to ensure that I was reading the article headline correctly. I did not need to read past the first sentence of the article before realizing how little respect the Chinese government has for you and your administration. In case you did not come across the article, the opening sentence reads, “The Chinese government increased trade tensions with the Obama administration Wednesday evening by unexpectedly imposing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on imports of support utility vehicles and midsize and large cars from the United States.”


This new and unfair tariff, which amounts to a 22 percent increase in the import price, evoked the weakest response imaginable from Carol Guthrie, a spokesperson for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Her response was, “We are very disappointed in this action by China…. and will be discussing this latest action with both our stakeholders and Congress to determine the best course going forward.” For the past year, I have been clamoring to do exactly to China what they are now doing to us. When are you going to take a stand and stop permitting China to destroy our great nation? You should immediately issue a response to the President of China declaring that a 25 percent tax on every product China produces and imports into the United States will be immediately imposed.


How much more money are you willing to permit China to take from our economy? Isn’t 370 billion dollars a year enough? It’s time to wake up and realize that China is committing economic terrorism against the United States. You are single handedly allowing numerous countries to destroy our great nation and everything that we stand for.


Yours,


Donald J. Trump






Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/17/trumps-letter-to-obama-china-thinks-youre-weak/#ixzz1h1XgjSZc

Christian Bale 'Batman' star roughed up in China.

DONGSHIGU VILLAGE, China (CNN) -- As Christian Bale approached an impromptu checkpoint leading to this tiny village in eastern China, four men blocking the narrow path started marching toward him in menacing unison.

"I am here to see Chen Guangcheng," the Dark Knight" actor said and I translated, with correspondent Stan Grant and cameraman Brad Olson next to us.

"Go away!" the plainclothes guards barked, pushing us back.

Amid the scuffling and yelling, dozens more guards in olive-green, military-style overcoats -- and two gray minivans -- emerged from the other side of the checkpoint, all coming toward us.

"Why can I not visit this free man?" Bale asked repeatedly, only to receive punches from guards aiming for his small camera as they tried to drag him away from the rest of us.

As we retreated, I recognized the ringleader -- the same burly man who had hurled rocks at the CNN team 10 months earlier to force us out of the same location.

A precarious scene ensued Thursday as one of the gray minivans chased our car at high speed on bumpy country roads for some 40 minutes.

When the dust settled, we counted a broken car, a damaged camera -- and a Hollywood star disappointed at -- but not shocked by -- his failure to see a personal hero.

"What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is," Bale said.

The man, 40-year-old Chen Guangcheng, has been confined to his home along with his wife, mother and daughter, and watched around the clock by dozens of guards since he was released from prison in September 2010. A local court had sentenced him to more than four years in prison for damaging property and disrupting traffic in a protest.

Blind China activist recovers amid call for his release

His supporters maintain authorities used trumped-up charges to silence Chen, a blind, self-taught lawyer who rose to fame in the late 1990s thanks to his legal advocacy for what he called victims of abusive practices by China's family-planning officials.

Bale first learned about Chen through news reports, including our coverage in February, when he was in China filming "The Flowers of War," a wartime drama set in 1930s Nanjing in which he plays a mortician trying to save a group of schoolgirls from the clutches invading Japanese soldiers.

Blind lawyer makes Chinese officials jittery

The injustice faced by the activist and his family stirred such strong emotions in Bale that, upon hearing his impending return to China to promote the movie, he decided to do something unusual to raise the international awareness of Chen and thereby to turn up the heat on the Chinese government.

"This doesn't come naturally to me, this is not what I actually enjoy -- it isn't about me," he explained during our eight-hour drive from Beijing to the eastern city of Linyi, where Chen's village is located. "But this was just a situation that said I can't look the other way."

Known to be a media-shy celebrity, Bale reached out to CNN and invited us to join him on his journey to visit Chen. Read More

Report: Iran to display Israeli, US drones

Iranian newspaper claims Tehran intercepted no less than four Israeli drones which will be showcased in upcoming exhibition

Dudi Cohen

Published:  12.15.11, 00:28 / Israel News

An Iranian exhibition will showcase four Israeli drones, the Tehran Times reported on Wednesday. According to the report, The exhibition will also display three American drones and will be open to local press and foreign ambassadors. 

The newspaper quoted a source saying that Iran seized the Israeli jets after they invaded Iran's aerial space on its eastern border. The US drones were apparently caught when flying over eastern and southern Iran.

Related stories:

• Panetta: Drone campaign to continue
• Iran scoffs at US request for drone’s return
• Iran presents 'US spy drone'
  

Last January, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander announced that his forces intercepted two spy planes in the Persian Gulf. He did not mention where the jets came from or where they were intercepted but also addressed Israel in the same statement.



Obama as petulant child in Iran cartoon

The exhibition is part of Tehran's psychological warfare campaign following the interception of a US drone last week. The Islamic Republic wants to prove it can thwart any aerial infiltration attempt and prevent spying missions targeting its nuclear facilities.



Drone exhibition

Last week, Iran showcased the RQ-170 US spy drone it brought down. The Iranians stressed they will study the aircraft and its radar systems.

Tehran stressed it will not return the drone despite President Barack Obama's demand.

The Fars news agency published a number of cartoons mocking Obama, portraying him as a petulant child.

It was also reported that Russia and China asked Iran to allow their experts to inspect the drone. An Iranian official traveled to Moscow to discuss the matter. 

IN THE KNOW: BIDEN SAYS IRAN IS ‘LESS FEARED’ TODAY

"But the biggest thing that`s happened is the president has been able to unite the world, including Russia and China, in continuing to ostracize and to isolate Iran. So, the truth is -- and I really mean this, Rachel -- the talk about the projection, the capacity of Iraq to project power in the Gulf is actually diminished. They are less feared. They are less -- they have less influence than they have had any time, I would argue, in the last 20 years."

Victory or Death, By Newt Gingrich.

Still Undecided About Which GOP Candidate to Support? Watch This Video, Then Think of Obama Asking Iran "To Give Back Our Drone." 

Is this China's Secret Weapon ???

Satellite Takes Picture of Chinese Carrier on the Move

DENVER – DigitalGlobe Inc., a commercial satellite company, said Wednesday that it took a photograph of China’s first aircraft carrier during a sea trial in the Yellow Sea, off the Chinese coast.

The Pentagon did not confirm the image, but Stephen Wood, the satellite company’s director, said he’s confident about the Dec. 8 photograph due to the carrier’s location.

Although China insists the carrier is intended for research and training, its use has raised concern about the country’s military strength and its increasingly assertive claims over disputed territory.

While the development of carriers is driven largely by bragging rights and national prestige, China's naval ambitions have been brought into focus with its claims to disputed territory surrounding Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy claimed by China as its own, has responded to the growing Chinese threat by developing missiles capable of striking carriers at sea. An illustration at a display Wednesday of military technology in the capital Taipei showed a Hsiung Feng III missile hitting a carrier that was a dead ringer for the former Varyag.

Over the past year, China has seen a flare-up in spats with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam and had its relations strained with South Korea -- all of which have sought support from Washington, long the pre-eminent naval power in Asia.

China defends its carrier program by saying it is the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council that has not developed such vessels and that it has a huge coastline and vast maritime assets to defend. Beijing has also said its carriers would be employed in international humanitarian efforts, although the ex-Varyag's ski jump-style flight deck severely limits the loads its planes can carry.

As the world's second-largest economy, China says it lags behind smaller nations such as Thailand and Brazil, as well as regional rival India, which have purchased carriers from abroad.

While Chinese carriers could challenge U.S. naval supremacy in Asia, China still has far to go in bringing such systems into play, experts said. The U.S. operates 11 aircraft carrier battle groups and its carriers are far bigger and more advanced.


China's Hu Reportedly Tells Navy to Get Ready for Military Combat


As tensions grow over local maritime disputes and U.S. influence in the South China Sea, China’s president said Tuesday that its navy should “make extended preparations for military combat,” the AFP reported.

President Hu Jintao told the Central Military Commission its navy should modernize in the interest of national security.

The Chinese navy has grown in recent years from a coastal protection force to one spanning the globe, sending ships as far as the Caribbean on goodwill missions and into the Mediterranean to escort vessels evacuating Chinese citizens from the fighting in Libya.

China said it is considering an offer from the Seychelles to host Chinese naval ships in the Indian Ocean island nation, highlighting the increasing global reach of a navy that recently launched its first aircraft carrier.

The navy also began sea trials in August for its first aircraft carrier, the former Soviet Varyag, towed from Ukraine in 1998 minus its engines, weaponry and navigation systems. China says the carrier is intended for research and training, leading to speculation that it plans to build future copies.

China's military expansion and strong assertions of claims to disputed territory have raised regional concerns, prompting many of China's neighbors to strengthen ties with the U.S. military that has traditionally predominated in the Asia Pacific.

While Beijing has tried to assuage those concerns, it has also asserted its claims with patrols and other physical displays, and on Tuesday dispatched its largest coast guard cutter to the East China Sea.

The 322-foot Haijian will visit Chinese rock outcroppings as well as a gas field claimed by China and Japan. There was no indication it planned to visit other islands that Japan controls but China claims.

George Little, a Pentagon spokesman, downplayed Hu’s comments, saying China has the right to develop its military, according to the report. But he went on to say China should be transparent in the process.

"We have repeatedly called for transparency from the Chinese and that's part of the relationship we're continuing to build with the Chinese military," Little said, according to the report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/13/chinas-hu-reportedly-tells-navy-to-get-ready-for-military-combat/#ixzz1gYTWt1jC

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/14/satellite-takes-picture-chinese-carrier-on-move/#ixzz1gY1hUpRM

Bystanders Lift SUV That Ran Over 5 Year Old Girl

December 9th 7:25am, at the corner of Lane 40 Hangbiao Road in the city of Wenzhou, a child was run over and trapped under a car. With the SUV caught in the dilemma of not being able to go forward or back, someone shouted “lift the car!” Immediately over 10 people who had gathered around “one, two, three” used their collective strength [and lifted up the car]. The frightened child was carried out and unhurt. These people who helped did not know each other but their action both moved and warmed those at the scene and this city. Wenzhou people used action to once again demonstrate the “place of warmth” is a title fully deserved.

Longer Video

Andy Stearns says that China is a "model" for good economics !!!

Andy Stern believes that the Chinese economic model is superior to what he calls the “conservative-preferred, free-market fundamentalist, shareholder-only model.” Having spent the day in Chongqing, Stern sees the sprawling city as indicative of China’s success. Those of you who are familiar with the political economy of Chongqing, and the devastation of its rural economy and its environment, might find this somewhat peculiar. The fact that China’s rural interior actually saw decreases in literacy levels and life expectancy for long stretches of the boom years might also be of interest. He points to rapid annual wage growth and the creation of specialized industrial zones as other promising signs, while others see rapid inflation as a consequence of its currency peg and a future source of economic vulnerability. He also seems to believe that China’s current growth rates are sustainable as the country transitions to a more service-oriented economy, which is an interesting view, and he seems to have missed the extensive evidence that growth slowdowns tend to occur sooner in countries with undervalued real exchange rates. Then, of course, there is the fact that China’s post-1979 catch-up growth followed several decades during which large numbers of Chinese died of starvation and the remnants of its pre-war industrial economy languished.

Stern writes:


America needs to embrace a plan for growth and innovation, with a streamlined government as a partner with the private sector. Economic revolutions require institutions to change and maybe make history, because if they stick to the status quo they soon become history. Our great country, which sparked and wants to lead this global revolution, needs a forward looking, long-term economic plan.

To be clear, Andy Stern believes that the United States needs a Chinese-style central plan to flourish, one that will be executed by a streamlined government.

To really learn from the Chinese, and to enjoy such staggering growth rates, we should go about things differently: let’s have a Maoist insurrection followed by a civil war that lasts for several years. Then let’s destroy most of the wealth in the country, and drive out millions of our most enterprising and educated citizens by launching systematic terror campaigns during which millions of others will die in violence or of starvation. Next, let’s have a modest economic opening in coastal regions: impoverished citizens will be allowed to launch small-scale township and village enterprises and components will be assembled in a handful of cities by our stunted descendants. Then let’s severely curb those township and village enterprises because they represent a potential political threat and invite large foreign multinationals and state-owned enterprises [let's not forget those!] to work our population to the bone at artificially suppressed wage rates, threatening those who complain with serious reprisals up to and including death. Let us also initiate a population control policy designed to improve our dependency ratio for a few decades. As large numbers of workers shift from low-value agricultural work to manufacturing, we will experience … rapid growth! Mind you, getting from here to there will involve destroying an enormous swathe of our present-day GDP. And that sectoral shift from rural to urban work will run out of gas pretty fast, as will the population control policy that will guarantee rapid aging.

Another way to grow the American economy is to embrace Brink Lindsey’s “Frontier Economics” approach. Recognizing that advanced economies are different from other economies — it is easy to replicate the institutions and practices pioneered in the leading economies; it is harder to create new practices and products that take off — we need to facilitate experimentation to achieve growth, and even then we won’t match growth that flows from conditional convergence. Via: http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/284634/andy-sterns-peculiar-idea-reihan-salam

What ??? Obama Seeks Help From Russia and China on Iran ???

• 
  AP
  November 12, 2011: President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev listen to translation during their meeting at the APEC Summit in Honolulu.

HONOLULU –  Searching for help, President Barack Obama lobbied the skeptical leaders of Russia and China on Saturday for support in keeping Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed menace to the world, hoping to yield a "common response" to a crisis that is testing international unity.

Yet Obama's talk of solidarity with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao was not publicly echoed by either man as Iran moved anew to the fore of the international stage -- and to the front of the fierce U.S. presidential race.

Obama, at home in Hawaii and holding forth on a world stage, also sought to show aggressiveness in fixing an economy that has weakened his standing with voters. He pushed Hu about American impatience with China's economic policy, touted the makings of a new pacific trade zone and showered attention on the lucrative Asia-Pacific export market.

The United States' vast worries about Iran grew starker with a report this week by the U.N. atomic agency that asserted in the strongest terms yet Iran is conducting secret work with the sole intent of developing nuclear arms. The U.S. claims a nuclear-armed Iran could set off an arms race among rival states and directly threaten Israel.

Russia and China remain a roadblock to the United States in its push to tighten international sanctions on Iran. Both are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council and have shown no sign the new report will change their stand.

With Medvedev on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit here, Obama said the two "reaffirmed our intention to work to shape a common response" on Iran.

Shortly after, Obama joined Hu, in a run of back-to-back diplomacy with the heads of two allies that hold complicated and at times divisive relations with the United States. Obama said that he and the Chinese leader want to ensure that Iran abides by "international rules and norms."

Obama's comments were broad enough to portray a united front without yielding any clear indication of progress. Medvedev, for his part, was largely silent on Iran during his remarks, merely acknowledging that the subject was discussed. Hu did not mention Iran at all.

White House aides insisted later that Russia and China remain unified with the United States and other allies in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and that Obama, Hu and Medvedev had agreed to work on the next steps. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the new allegations about Iran's programs demand an international response, and "I think the Russians and the Chinese understand that. We're going to be working with them to formulate that response."

As the president held forth on the world stage in his home state, Republicans vying to compete against Obama for the presidency unleashed withering criticism in a debate in South Carolina. It was a rare moment in which foreign policy garnered attention in a campaign dominated by the flagging U.S. economy.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/12/obama-seeks-joint-approach-with-russia-on-iran/#ixzz1dauhmKsT

China: Iran's New Best Friend !!!

Following this week's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report concluding that Tehran appears to be well on its way to developing the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear weapon, the next step for world powers is to seek tougher sanctions in the United Nations Security Council.

But meaningful restrictive measures are not likely to happen, say many analysts, considering China's close relationship with Iran, in part to satisfy China's great thirst for oil. Today, Chinese and Russian diplomats announced that they believe no new sanctions on Iran are necessary.

“The Chinese-Iranian relationship has, in fact, been deepening over the last few years,” notes Michael Singh, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council during the Bush administration. The Chinese government not only dilutes the sanctions in the United Nations Security Council by sort of providing Iran with diplomatic cover, but it doesn't enforce the sanctions it even does agree to in the Security Council."

China is Iran's largest trading partner, and this year alone business between the two is estimated at $40 billion, enough of an incentive, say analysts, to block any meaningful Security Council action. Some in Congress are calling on the Obama administration to try and do more.

"What China's doing, as I understand, it is avoiding the kind of economic squeeze we want to put on Iran that could force it not to go forward on nuclear weapons and that's a disgrace and we ought to be much tougher with China than we've been," New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer told Fox News.

The influential and powerful senior senator blasted the Chinese, saying they "keep putting themselves first, they keep ignoring the danger to the world of their actions. They even ignore the danger to themselves in the long run, as long as they get a quick benefit in the short run. I think we need to be much tougher with China up and down the line. They are not a positive force in the world scene, whether it comes to Iran, trade, intellectual property or human rights.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/11/10/china-irans-new-best-friend/#ixzz1dOlxaka1

A toddler in China is struck by a van twice in China as more than a dozen people ignore her !!!

A video showing a toddler being struck twice by vans and then ignored by passers-by is sparking outrage in China and prompting soul-searching over why people didn't help the child. 

Video: Chinese Fighter Jet Crashes Nose Down

A fighter jet has crashed during an exhibition at an air show in central China. There are no reports of casualties.

Obama Fried Chicken ??? In China, it's on the menu !!!

Obama supermarkets, Obama sex dolls, Buddhobama, and now this.

The sign on the shop fittingly reads 吹牛逼呢吧, or "We're so niubi, aren't we?"

See more Chinglish on Shanghaiist here.

BEIJING – For all the grief the Obama administration is getting from China for filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization about Chinese tariffs on American chicken exports, perhaps the president should be suing China for royalties instead.

We’ve seen Obama peddle chicken for Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hong Kong, so it was just a matter of time before he broke loose and got his own franchise here in the mainland.

Obama Fried Chicken, or at least what we assume OFC stands for, was found earlier this week in Beijing and comes with the slogan written underneath in Chinese: “We’re so cool, aren’t we?”

Indeed...

Thanks to the team at Shanghaiist for the photo.

Much needed U.S. jobs outsourced !!! California Bridge Manufactured in China !!!

SHANGHAI — Talk about outsourcing.

At a sprawling manufacturing complex here, hundreds of Chinese laborers are now completing work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Next month, the last four of more than two dozen giant steel modules — each with a roadbed segment about 50 yards long — will be loaded onto a huge ship and transported 6,500 miles to Oakland. There, they will be assembled to fit into the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge.

The assembly work in California, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But construction of the bridge decks and the materials that went into them are a Made in China affair. California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by turning to China.

The new structure, expected to open to traffic in 2013, will replace a bridge that has never been quite the same since the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

“They’ve produced a pretty impressive bridge for us,’’ Tony Anziano, a program manager at the California Department of Transportation, said a few weeks ago. He was touring the 1.2-square-mile manufacturing site that the Chinese company created to do the bridge work. Read More: http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2011/06/26/california_getting_impressive_bridge_made_in_china/