Konflikti Kiinan merellä

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Solomon Islands has said it won’t allow China to build a military base as it seeks to counter international fears over its new security alliance with China.

But that insistence will do little to ease concerns about the pact from the nation’s traditional partners that include New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

The leader of Micronesia added his voice to those expressing trepidation by invoking the bloody battles of the second world war and warning that the pact could again see the South Pacific region become a battleground for much larger powers.

The Solomon Islands government said on Thursday that a draft agreement of the new security pact had been initialled by representatives from Solomon Islands and China and would be “cleaned up” and signed.

Solomon Islands says security pact will not allow China to build military base

Micronesia joins Australia, New Zealand and US in expressing concerns over alliance as the two nations move toward signing agreement

www.theguardian.com

 

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Beijing has expelled its high-profile former justice minister and deputy police chief from the ruling Communist party, denouncing him as being “extremely despicable” and accusing him of befriending “political frauds”.

Fu Zhenghua – who had reportedly helped bring down China’s former security chief Zhou Yongkang a few years ago – has been removed from public office over serious violations of party discipline and laws, said the state news agency Xinhua in a brief announcement that attributed the decisions to Beijing’s top anti-graft body.

The Chinese version of Thursday’s announcement – which has since been widely publicised across China’s tightly controlled media – hinted Fu’s case was related to that of Sun Lijun, who was last year accused of extreme “political ambition” and leading a corrupt and extravagant life.

Chinese Communist party expels former justice minister in latest purge

Fu Zhenghua, who had brought down ex security chief for corruption, denounced as ‘extremely despicable’

www.theguardian.com

 

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A consortium led by Chinese government-backed Beijing Jianguang Asset Management Co. Ltd (JAC Capital) has injected $9.4 billion into ailing Chinese chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup, in a deal that will be appreciated by many big tech industry players.


Tsinghua Unigroup is a vast conglomerate that was spun out of Tsinghua University in Beijing and in 2015 had sufficient muscle to make a $23 billion bid for Micron Technology (which failed).

Beijing bails out bankrupt Tsinghua Unigroup

This matters for China – and for HPE, Intel … and possibly Apple

www.theregister.com

All the activity described above turned Tsinghua Unigroup into a global memory player, but also saw it accumulate over $30 billion of debt that in July 2021 it struggled to service. It quickly became apparent that the company needed a significant injection of capital.

China's desire to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors meant Beijing was not likely to let Tsinghua Unigroup fail, and a re-org was soon under way, with bids invited from interests willing to reinflate the company.

Interestingly, Alibaba's bid to save the group was knocked back on grounds that it lacked semiconductor and manufacturing expertise – and perhaps also because Beijing has already signaled clearly that it wants Alibaba to stay in the ecommerce and cloud lanes it already dominates.

Aiheeseen liittyvä

Mercedes-Benz Group (MBGn.DE) will put more than five thousand workers on collective vacation in two plants in Brazil due to the shortage of semiconductor chips, the company said on Monday.

The production stoppage will happen from April 18 to May 3 and includes 5,000 employees in the Sao Bernardo do Campo plant and 600 in the Juiz de Fora factory, located in the Brazilian states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, respectively.

Mercedes said it is adjusting its production of trucks, truck cabins, bus chassis and other auto parts due to the global semiconductor supply crisis.

The company had already put about 1,200 workers on collective vacation with pay in March because of supply chain shortages, according to the metalworkers union from the Sao Bernardo do Campo region.

Mercedes-Benz puts 5,600 workers on vacation in Brazil due to chips shortage

Mercedes-Benz Group will put more than five thousand workers on collective vacation in two plants in Brazil due to the shortage of semiconductor chips, the company said on Monday.

www.reuters.com

 

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Russia’s poorly executed invasion of Ukraine and the international community’s economic and diplomatic response are cautionary lessons for China and others who may want to attempt aggressive actions in the Pacific, the Pentagon’s policy chief for the region said Monday.

“When we look at the types of acts of aggression that we worry about in the Indo-Pacific—and the Taiwan Strait being the top of that list—it's going to be very difficult, and I think that there are broad lessons there to be drawn from Ukraine,” Ely Ratner, assistant defense secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said at the Sea-Air-Space conference outside Washington, D.C.

“Number one, military operations are probably going to be more difficult than you think for a whole bunch of reasons: because you're not tested in the way you think you are, because your adversary’s probably stronger than you think it is. And because the terrain might be more difficult than you’ve anticipated, et cetera.”

The economic sanctions imposed against Russia after the invasion in February went much further than expected by Russian and Chinese leaders, Ratner said.

“I think that's a very important lesson, particularly for an economy in China that's in very bad shape,” he said. “But to be facing, potentially, that kind of economic penalty and costs for acts of aggression is something one would not take wisely when your own economy is facing such incredible headwinds.”

China Should Heed Lessons from Russia’s Ukraine Invasion, US Official Says

“Your adversary’s probably stronger than you think it is,” warned the assistant defense secretary for Indo-Pacific security affairs.

www.defenseone.com

 

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The architecture will not be a fixed missile defense site like Aegis Ashore in Romania and Poland, Hill said. “Think of it as a distributed system.” He added that the agency is interested in using mobile launchers.

The architecture will include Navy SM-3 and SM-6 missiles, the Patriot air-and-missile defense system and the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD). A THAAD battery has been operating on Guam since 2013.

Those elements will be connected through the Army’s Integrated Battle Command System, a command-and control-system that connects sensors and shooters on the battlefield. The agency will also use the Aegis weapon system’s fire control capability, Hill said.

“Patriot [has] a fabulous capability for cruise missile defense, and that’s our first focus area,” Hill said. “And we have the ability within Aegis to enable that, but, right now, we are doing ballistic missiles, hypersonic, on the Aegis part of that overall integrated architecture and then the cruise missile piece will be with the Army systems.”

MDA’s plan to protect Guam relies on field-proven systems

The Missile Defense Agency details its architecture for the defense of Guam against possible ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missile attacks as part of its fiscal 2023 budget request.

www.defensenews.com

 

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China finished 2021 holding just four per cent of global semiconductor market, research firm IC Insights stated on Tuesday.

That figure puts China at the bottom of the firm's lists, behind Japan's six per cent share - down from 49 per cent in the early 1990s.

The US tops IC Insights' charts with over half of the global market, followed by South Korea with 22 per cent, Taiwan with nine percent and Europe with six percent. The research firm calculates those figures by considering market share across fabless IC companies and integrated design and manufacturing (IDM) concerns that both create and make silicon. The USA’s result reflects is strength in both categories, while South Korea, Europe and Japan rely mostly on manufacturers .

“Overall, US-headquartered companies show the most balance with regard to IDM, fabless, and total IC industry market share,” said IC Insights in a summary of its research. US companies may well continue to dominate, given massive subsidies offered to the industry to reflect its strategic importance.

China finished 2021 with 4% semiconductor market sharw

US has over half the market, Japan is a tale of woe

www.theregister.com

 

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As images of destruction and death emerge from Ukraine, and refugees flee the country in their millions, the world’s attention is rightly focused on the horror of what many once thought an impossibility in the 21st century: a large-scale modern war in Europe. In this grim moment, however, it is all the more important to think through and coldly reassess the dangers presented by other potential conflicts that could be sparked by growing geopolitical tensions. The most significant among these is the risk of a war between the United States and China. The salutary lesson of our time is that this scenario is no longer unthinkable.

The 2020s now loom as a decisive decade, as the balance of power between the US and China shifts. Strategists of both countries know this. For policymakers in Beijing and Washington, as well as in other capitals, the 2020s will be the decade of living dangerously. Should these two giants find a way to coexist without betraying their core interests, the world will be better for it. Should they fail, down the other path lies the possibility of a war many times more destructive than what we are seeing in Ukraine today – and, as in 1914, one that will rewrite the future in ways we can barely imagine.

Armed conflict between China and the US in the next decade, while not yet probable, has become a real possibility. In part, this is because the balance of power between the two countries is changing rapidly. In part it is because, back in 2014, Xi Jinping changed China’s grand strategy from an essentially defensive posture to a more activist policy that seeks to advance Chinese interests across the world. It is also because the US has, in response, embraced an entirely new China strategy since 2017, in what the Trump and Biden administrations have called a new age of strategic competition. These factors combined have put China and the US on a collision course in the decade ahead.

How to stop China and the US going to war | Kevin Rudd

The long read: Armed conflict between the world’s two superpowers, while not yet inevitable, has become a real possibility. The 2020s will be the decade of living dangerously

www.theguardian.com

Pitkä artikkeli

 

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Over the past two decades, Russia has played a quiet yet consequential role in the South China Sea. Despite its intimate ties with Beijing, the Eurasian power has steadily armed rival claimant states such as Vietnam and, to a lesser degree, Malaysia, while actively courting robust defense ties with the Philippines and Indonesia.

Aside from being Southeast Asia’s top defense supplier, Russia has also been a major player in the development of offshore energy resources in the South China Sea as well as in the so-called “North Natuna Sea” off the coast of Indonesia. While Western energy companies have tried to avoid confrontation with China, often rolling back investments in contested areas, Russian counterparts opportunistically sought to fill in any major investment gaps.

Cognizant of Southeast Asian nations’ instinctive penchant for strategic diversification, an enterprising Russia has presented itself as a reliable “third force” to both the West and China. Eager to keep Moscow on its side, especially amid a raging New Cold War with the West, Beijing has largely tolerated its supposed ally’s strategic buccaneering in its own maritime backyard. But President Vladimir Putin’s brazen decision to invade Ukraine, which has turned Russia into the world’s most heavily sanctioned nation, could dramatically alter this tenuous state of affairs.

Not only will Moscow struggle to seal major defense and energy deals, thanks to a barrage of new Western sanctions, but its growing dependence on China may also precipitate a strategic retrenchment from the South China Sea. Echoing Moscow’s imperial policy, Beijing will be in a strong position to assert its own “sphere of influence” in Southeast Asia in general and the South China Sea in particular, at the expense of Russia.

Fallout: Ukraine Crisis Upends Russia’s Role in the South China Sea | Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

Over the past two decades, Russia has played a quiet yet consequential role in the South China Sea. Despite its intimate ties with Beijing, the Eurasian power has steadily armed rival claimant states such as Vietnam and, to a lesser degree, Malaysia, while actively courting robust defense ties...

amti.csis.org

 

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During the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration released an unprecedented amount of classified intelligence regarding Russian plans, even revealing insider knowledge of Vladimir Putin’s intentions. This attempt at deterrence by detection failed; Putin invaded anyway. But the quality of allied intelligence-gathering and the new National Defense Strategy point toward a potentially better way to dissuade adversaries, through what the Pentagon calls “campaigning.”

Most discussion of the new NDS centers on its approach of Integrated Deterrence, in which all instruments of national power are orchestrated to prevent aggression. But the mixed results, at best, from the West’s combination of sanctions, intelligence revelations, and diplomacy suggests that capable, nuclear-armed adversaries like Russia and, more importantly, China may not be stopped by Integrated Deterrence’s threats of last-minute denial or punishment.

The new defense strategy’s inclusion of campaigning as one of its three main lines of effort provides a way for the Pentagon to break from simply trying to deny or punish aggression. Drawn from Marine Corps doctrine, campaigning refers to the orchestration of military activities alongside economic, diplomatic, and information actions to achieve specific goals. Through campaigning, U.S. forces would attempt to undermine adversary attempts at coercion, complicate enemy planning, and develop U.S. warfighting capabilities.

The Pentagon Must ‘Campaign’ Against China, Not Hope for a Goal-Line Stand

To dissuade aggression, the U.S. military must continuously persuade its adversaries to doubt their chances of success.

www.defenseone.com

 

[Tyrsky]

väärä ketju

 

[KymJP2K]

Ilmeisesti Shanghaissa alkaa paineet nousta covid lockdownissa.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1512898373703155721

edit: Soittelin vähän kiinalaisille kavereille tästä. Shanghaissa lockdown talo perusteisesti, kestää niin kauan kuin kellään ei ole koronaa plus 7pv. Testi 2pv välein kaikille. Ruokaa riittää mutta toimitus vain tukkupakkauksissa, eli nuudeleita vain 100kpl laatikoissa ja kaikki samaa makua.

 

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Taiwan's military published a handbook on Tuesday advising civilians on how to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to stockpile emergency supplies.

China's Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it nonetheless views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Those threats have turned more bellicose under Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in a generation.

Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine has also heightened fears that China might one day follow through on threats to annex its smaller neighbour.

The 28-page guide contains information which "the general public can use as an emergency response guideline in a military crisis or natural disaster," defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said during an introduction at an online press conference.

It is the first time Taiwan's military has published such a handbook.

Drawn from similar guides by Sweden and Japan, it tells residents where to find bomb shelters via mobile phone apps and what to do in an emergency including how to distinguish air raid sirens.

"The guide is for the public to better prepare themselves before a war or disaster happens," Liu Tai-yi, an official of the ministry's All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency, said.

It includes information on basic survival skills for the public during air raids, massive fires, building collapses, power outages and natural disasters.

"We hope the public can familiarise themselves where the safety shelters are beforehand," he added.

Taiwan issues wartime survival handbook

METATEXT

www.spacewar.com

 

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Ovalbek Turdakun still doesn’t know what was in the shot the doctors in the Xinjiang detention centre gave him in 2018. He and his 23 cell mates were told it was a vaccine to prevent colds but Turdakun said that after the injection he and his cellmates felt pain in their ears, hands and feet; yellow fluid came out of their ears; some had trouble walking. When he was released after 10 months’ detention, Turdakun still struggled to walk.

Turdakun is among the nearly 2 million people who are estimated to have been imprisoned in China’s mass detention camps in the Xinjiang region. On Tuesday, Turdakun, his wife, Zhyldyz Uraalieva, and son Daniyel Ovalbek arrived in the US on a special immigration authorization called significant public benefit parole which grants entry to people who would provide “significant public benefit” such as testifying in a criminal or legal proceeding.

In an interview with the Guardian, Turdakun expressed relief at arriving in the US after months of holding out for approval of their applications. “We were waiting over a hundred days,” Turdakun said through a translator. “So it’s a great feeling to be in America.”

Like many other survivors who have spoken publicly about their experience, Turdakun alleges he was detained without a fair trial and tortured repeatedly in “tiger chairs” – steel chairs with restraints to keep people in uncomfortable positions.

Unlike many of those who’ve been detained – the majority of whom are Uyghur and Muslim – Turdakun is ethnically Kyrgyz and Christian, and his case has prompted further concern that China is targeting anyone who is of a different ethnicity and religion.

Former Xinjiang detainee arrives in US to testify over repeated torture he says he was subjected to

Ovalbek Turdakun was given special authorization to enter the US after he had been imprisoned in detention camp in China

www.theguardian.com

 

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Trouble is brewing over moves by Taiwan to prevent China from gaining access to its chip technology, as the island nation proposes tougher laws to deter the leaking of trade secrets outside the country.

China has reportedly hit back after Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang called this week for a speedier introduction of legislation designed to protect the local semiconductor industry from what it sees as Chinese industrial espionage.

These efforts by Taiwan to prevent Chinese companies from acquiring chip secrets and poaching key talent were denounced as a "provocative smear".

Changes to Taiwanese law were proposed in February when its Parliament, the Executive Yuan, approved draft amendments to Taiwan's National Security Act.

As The Register reported at the time, these would introduce two new crimes, one of "economic espionage" and another of "extraterritorial use of national core technology trade secrets", which would carry jail sentences of 12 years and 10 years respectively.

The laws would also require workers or organizations involved with things deemed critical national technologies to seek Taiwanese government approval before travelling to mainland China, or face steep fines.

Premier Su this called for the swift approval of those laws, claiming that China was stepping up its efforts to infiltrate Taiwan and gain access to its chip technology. He reportedly told a Cabinet meeting that the "red supply chain" was using various methods to get hold of vital chip secrets and tempt away Taiwanese chip design talent.

Last month, the Taiwanese Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau rounded up 60 Chinese nationals suspected of acquiring trade secrets or poaching talent for China-owned firms.

China's not happy about Taiwan's chip IP espionage laws

Tightening of IP laws to prevent poaching seen by Beijing as 'provocative smear'

www.theregister.com

 

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Video has emerged of clashes between police and people being forced out of their homes in Shanghai, as the city enters a third week of Covid lockdown.

Some residential compounds are being turned into quarantine centres.

Millions are confined to their homes as Shanghai battles a fresh outbreak of the virus. Anyone who tests positive is placed in quarantine.

But with more than 20,000 new cases a day, authorities are struggling to find enough space.

The city in recent weeks has converted exhibition halls and schools into quarantine centres, and set up makeshift hospitals.

But the low numbers of serious cases in Shanghai have led some to ask whether a lockdown is necessary, correspondents say.

In recent weeks many residents have taken to social media to complain about the restrictions and the lack of food supplies.

People have to order in food and water and wait for government drop-offs of vegetables, meat and eggs, and analysts say many are running low on supplies.

The lockdown extension has overwhelmed delivery services, grocery shop websites and even the distribution of government supplies.

China Covid: Clashes in Shanghai over lockdown evictions

Residents have been forced from their homes as apartments are turned into quarantine centres.

www.bbc.co.uk

bbcn video linkin alla. Tappelu on kansalaisten välillä, viranomaisten seistessä vieressä, mutta samalla koko tarina kertoo sitä samaa mitä todisteltiin kuukausi sitten. Eli Kiinan sisäisessä netissä kansa juttelee ja sensuurikoneisto ei voi sille mitään. Kuvittele sitä ruutitynnyriksi, joten vain kunnon kipinä puuttuu.

 

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As at least some parts of Shanghai enter their fourth week of lockdown, Chinese tech executives have highlighted how measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will affect supply chains and industry.

In a Weibo post late last week (which The Register has machine-translated), He Xiaopeng, CEO of electric car company Xpeng, wrote: "All OEMs in China may have to suspend production in May if Shanghai and surrounding supply chain companies cannot find a way to dynamically resume work and production."

Huawei executive Yu Chengdong reportedly stepped up that message the next day in his WeChat Moments – a feature of the app that is used to share captioned photos, statuses, and websites among a closed group of people. Yu worried all tech and industrial players who rely on Shanghai factories for supplies will come to a complete halt, especially those in automotive, creating "severe consequences and losses for the whole industry."

Yu, who serves as chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group and smart car solution unit, added that businesses were already on hold since mid-April because of lockdown-induced supply chain disruptions.

The 25-million-plus residents of Shanghai have been under lockdown starting March 28. Around 372,000 infections were reported in the city since March 1, of which 16 were considered "severe," and among those were three deaths, apparently. Over the weekend, new cases reportedly declined ten per cent.

With residents – including those who work in logistics, such as delivery drivers – confined to their homes under strict lockdown, many have reported difficulty getting food, medicine, and other essentials. The government has delivered vegetable boxes to registered residents, though many have said the supplies are not enough and they are still hungry. Those who are tech-savvy battle to secure food with e-commerce apps, and those who are not must manage the best they can.

Individuals are not allowed to leave their homes, not even to take supplies to less savvy elderly parents.

Neighbor interactions are mainly through social apps like WeChat – especially as they embark on community buying schemes to increase their odds of securing food and supplies – or at regular community COVID testing. Or also as they scream out their windows in frustration, as sometimes seen and heard on social media.

On April 11, people living in the city's zones without a positive case for two weeks were allowed to step outside, resulting in videos of socially-distanced dazed individuals bumbling about in roped off areas gleefully absorbing vitamin D.

And it's not just residents isolated: trucks from other cities have difficulty entering Shanghai, and reports have emerged of truckers stuck on highways. That is, if a trucker is willing to drive to Shanghai and risk being stuck there quarantining.

It goes without saying that workers in manufacturing are also unable to travel to their jobs.

With the population more and more frustrated, authorities have taken measures to warn residents not to complain – including blocking hunger-associated hashtags from social media, and posting signs warning of the perils of the internet.

The lockdown is not only tough, it also shows no signs of ending. While Shanghai city officials have said they would allow some activity by residents, Chinese President Xi Jinping made it clear on Wednesday everyone should lower their expectations.

According to state-sponsored Xinhua News, the president said: "Prevention and control work cannot be relaxed," adding "persistence is victory."

Shanghai lockdown: China tech execs warn of supply-chain woe

'Severe consequences' for industry ... and anyone setting foot outside

www.theregister.com

 

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Pentagon Posts Rare Photo Of Navy SEAL-Laden Special Ops Sea Base

Just days after The War Zone published a deep dive into the fascinating ship and its murky future, it has appeared executing its mission in official images.

www.thedrive.com

 

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A Hong Kong court has sentenced a former radio DJ and political party official charged with “seditious” verbal crimes to 40 months in jail.

Tam Tak-chi, also known by his radio name Fast Beat, was also fined $5,000 after he was found guilty on 11 of 14 charges against him last month, including seven counts of “uttering seditious words”. He was acquitted of two counts of “disorderly conduct in a public place,” and one of “conspiracy to utter seditious words.”

Hong Kong jails pro-democracy activist and former DJ for ‘uttering seditious words’

Tam Tak-chi was the first person charged with sedition since 1997 under colonial-era law amid a wider crackdown by authorities

www.theguardian.com

 

[ctg]

The rumours started in August.

Chatter surfaced among the political class in Honiara that China and Solomon Islands were negotiating a security agreement which could allow Beijing to send military and police personnel to its new Pacific ally, and base naval vessels on the islands.

If the rumours proved to be true, it would be the first known bilateral security agreement between China and a country in the Pacific, a region that has become the centre of a geopolitical and strategic tug of war between China and the US and Australia in recent years. And if Australia’s gravest fears were realised, such an agreement could also allow China to establish a military base less than 2,000km from its eastern border.

Matthew Wale, the leader of the Solomon Islands opposition, says he first learned of the proposed deal in mid-2021 from a source. He claims the deal was being negotiated by a very small team of elected representatives trusted by the prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, but was being kept secret from everyone outside this tight circle including the rest of Sogavare’s cabinet.

The deal that shocked the world: inside the China-Solomons security pact

A secret agreement that expands Chinese influence over Solomon Islands has now been signed. How did it come about, and what does it mean for the region?

www.theguardian.com

Australia, New Zealand and the US are particularly concerned that the deal could allow China to establish a military base just 2,000km from Australia’s east coast, with the draft text permitting China to “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands”.

“It’s the biggest concern of this deal for Australia,” said Batley. “This expression ‘naval base’, it stands for a broader set of strategic anxieties. For Australia, it’s potentially a strategic nightmare, but it’s equally … of concern to other Pacific Islands as well for the same reason.”

Since the draft deal leaked, Sogavare has sought to allay concerns by saying his country has no intention of allowing a Chinese naval base and has fiercely defended his country’s right to make its own foreign policy decisions, adding it was “very insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs”.

A senior Chinese official told the Guardian: “We are not interested in building a naval base here in Solomon Islands.”

Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, appeared convinced on Wednesday, saying Sogavare had “made it very clear that they are not accepting of any [military] base in the Solomon Islands. They are not.”

However, his own deputy broke ranks to contradict him and warn that the deal could mean that the Solomons could turn into “our own little Cuba”. Barnaby Joyce said: “China is able, if they follow through, to set up a military base there.”