Sankei reports China conducted its own "decapitation exercise" targeting KJU's vacation homes, key nuke facilities and NK command centers. The training was conducted in April near NK border, after the 1st KJU visit but before the inter-Korean summit (4.27) https://t.co/5qV419tYHF
Central Asian countries—tied to the umbilical cord of Chinese money—have to bite their tongue and not speak out in the face of human rights abuses China is committing in Xinjiang. https://t.co/cVECfvWVUO
After flying aircraft though the ROK ADIZ now the Chinese military is conducting naval drills off of the Korean peninsula. I think it is pretty clear that the Chinese government is sending a message to the ROK government to continue to play nice with North Korea and don’t give into demands from the Trump administration:
China’s People’s Liberation Army naval forces have conducted two drills and plan another this week near the Korean Peninsula in a possible show of force, ahead of a planned inter-Korea summit in Pyongyang in September.
According to China’s maritime authorities on Thursday, the Chinese navy is to again conduct drills in its northeastern waters from Friday to Sept. 7, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
The plan for the military exercises comes about a week after the navy conducted an eight-day drill in the Bohai Sea from Aug. 17 to 24, and another drill took place between Aug. 18 and 22, according to the report.
All training took place in waters between the Liaodong Peninsula in Liaoning Province, and the Shandong Peninsula of Shandong Province.
The area is not far from North Korea‘s Hwanghae Provinces.
China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the 001A, was tested for the second time on Sunday after being deployed from Dalian Shipyard in the Liaodong Peninsula. [UPI]
The Chinese continue to put military pressure on the ROK:
South Korea scrambled Air Force jets Wednesday to counter a Chinese military plane flying in the country’s air defense domain without notice, defense authorities in Seoul said.
It entered the Korea air defense identification zone (KADIZ) at around 7:37 a.m. and moved over southern and eastern waters for about four hours, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“(We) took normal tactical measures,” such as sending a warning message and dispatching Air Force jets to track and monitor it, the JCS added.
More than 10 aircraft, including F-15K fighter jets, were mobilized, a source said later.
It marked the second flight of a Chinese aircraft, believed to be for military reconnaissance, in the KADIZ in a month.
There were similar incidents in January, February and April as well.
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense summoned the defense attache at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to deliver a protest message.
Choi Hyong-chan, director general of the ministry’s international affairs, emphasized that the government takes the repeated entry of Chinese warplanes into the KADIZ “very seriously,” the ministry said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but if the ROK government took the KADIZ violations seriously why don’t they respond by flying through the Chinese ADIZ?
Trump's incompetence is just mind-blowing. Anyone could have told you that the Chinese would hit back across issue-linkages if we targeted its export trade. Presumably they'll be tougher on the South China Sea too. Was there any US counter-planning for this near-certainty on /1 https://t.co/YXZSYaF1pI
The US Treasury Department is continuing to go after companies that violate sanctions against North Korea:
The United States imposed sanctions on a Russian port service agency and Chinese firms for aiding North Korean ships and selling alcohol and tobacco to Pyongyang in breach of U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday that China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. Ltd and its Singapore-based affiliate SINSMS Pte. Ltd had netted more than $1 billion a year by exporting alcohol and cigarette products to North Korea.
The department also sanctioned Russian-based Profinet Pte Ltd and its director general, Vasili Aleksandrovich Kolchanov, for providing port services on at least six occasions to North Korean-flagged ships.
Kolchanov was personally involved in North Korea-related deals and interacted directly with North Korean representatives in Russia, the department said.
“The tactics that these entities based in China, Singapore, and Russia are using to attempt to evade sanctions are prohibited under U.S. law, and all facets of the shipping industry have a responsibility to abide by them or expose themselves to serious risks,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement. [Reuters]
It appears that China has a new weapon that instead of running people over with tanks, they can now suppress protests by covertly setting people on fire:
China has developed a new portable laser weapon that can zap a target from nearly a kilometre away, according to researchers involved in the project.
The ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle is classified as being “non-lethal” but produces an energy beam that cannot be seen by the naked eye but can pass through windows and cause the “instant carbonisation” of human skin and tissues.
Ten years ago its capabilities would have been the preserve of sci-fi films, but one laser weapons scientist said the new device is able to “burn through clothes in a split second … If the fabric is flammable, the whole person will be set on fire”.
“The pain will be beyond endurance,” according to the researcher who had took part in the development and field testing of a prototype at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shaanxi province.
The 15mm calibre weapon weighs three kilos (6.6lb), about the same as an AK-47, and has a range of 800 metres, or half a mile, and could be mounted on cars, boats and planes. [South China Morning Post]
You can read more at the link, but considering all the past failures with laser weapons I recommend patience before getting to worried about Chinese soldiers zapping US soldiers into ash.
I think it is pretty clear that the Chinese government is using the North Korea issue to put pressure on the ROK to remove the THAAD battery:
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (L) holds talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Singapore on Aug. 3, 2018. (Yonhap)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked South Korea on Friday to resolve the issue of an advanced U.S. missile defense system deployed on the peninsula.
Wang made the request in bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, in Singapore on the margins of annual ASEAN-hosted sessions, according to a South Korean government official.
He cited the need for a “compete resolution” to the matter, a repeat of Beijing’s demand, which comes amid a peace mood in Korea. [Yonhap]
I wonder if major corporations in the US even consider the espionage risk of hiring Chinese nationals for sensitive positions?:
The FBI said they arrested Xiaoqing Zheng, a General Electric engineer, and found a handbook explaining ‘resources’ China would people who provided it with technology (AFP Photo/VINCENT KESSLER)
A Chinese-American engineer faces charges of stealing valuable technology from General Electric, sneaking it out hidden in a picture of the sunset to take to China, the US Justice Department said.
Xiaoqing Zheng, 56, a US citizen also believed to have Chinese nationality, was due to appear before a judge in Albany, New York on Thursday, a day after his arrest, according to federal prosecutors.
Following a four-year investigation, the FBI arrested Xiaoqing Zheng after searching his home and finding, among other things, a handbook detailing “resources” Beijing would grant to individuals providing certain technologies.
Zheng’s arrest comes as President Donald Trump intensifies the trade war with Beijing, largely over complaints the country steals US technology or obliges American companies to share know-how in exchange for doing business in China. [AFP]
I wonder how long before the Chinese reverse engineer the S-400? Even more worrisome is if this system or a Chinese knockoff ends up in North Korea in the future:
Russia’s S-400
Russia’s TASS news agency and a Hong Kong daily report that China could test fire a new Russian missile defense system in the coming days.
The South China Morning Post said Saturday that China could put the defense system, which is capable of downing U.S. F-35 stealth fighters, through its paces within a few days.
The report says the Chinese army has already been trained in the use of the S-400 Triumph in Russia.
The S-400 Triumph, which was delivered just last week, is a surface-to-air missile system designed to complement China’s home-grown defense capabilities.
With a range of 24-hundred kilometers, the S-400 can engage up to 36 targets simultaneously with as many as 72 missiles at altitudes of between five meters and 30 kilometers.
The South China Morning Post said the U.S. has had F-35s at its own and allies’ military bases in the Asia-Pacific region since October and this deployment pushed China into bringing its first stealth fighter, the J-20, into service ahead of schedule in February.
Some pundits say the S-400 deployed on the Shandong Peninsula, which is near Korea, will pose a major threat to the combat power of South Korea and U.S. Forces Korea. [KBS World Radio]
