Category: China

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Myanmar May Have Just Bombed Chinese Territory — Now What? http://t.co/wdhl5gAWuT

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) March 11, 2015

For the people of South Korea who have to live with the yellow dust storms and the pollutants from China that it brings with it; anything that can lessen the pollution from China is a good thing:

China has rejected imports of some North Korean anthracite coal because the coal failed to meet domestic standards for mercury emissions, a local newspaper reported Wednesday, in what appeared to be China’s first rejection of North Korean minerals over environmental concerns.

The shipment was returned to North Korea on Feb. 27 from the Rizhao port of China’s northern coastal province of Shandong, the National Business Daily newspaper reported, citing an unnamed port official.

The report did not elaborate further, or include the volume of the rejected North Korean coal.

After three decades of rapid industrialization, China regularly sees hazardous air pollution with levels of particulate matter rising to nearly 40 times the limits set by the World Health Organization during the winter months.

In September, China announced strict regulations against the sale and import of coal with high toxic pollutants, including mercury and sulfur, to improve the country’s air and water quality.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Despite all the talk about the non-militarization of space over the years the facts are that space is becoming increasingly militarized:

China is developing space technologies aimed at blocking U.S. military communications and destroying its ability to win conflicts, according to a report commissioned by a congressional committee.

“China’s improving space capabilities have negative-sum consequences for U.S. military security,” the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation said in the report. Its progress requires “the U.S. to prepare to confront an adversary possessing space and counter-space technologies.”

The report, released Monday in Washington, comes as Congress debates President Barack Obama’s request for a Defense Department budget increase of 7.7 percent to $534.3 billion and ways to align defense strategy and spending. The top U.S. intelligence official and the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command both warned last week that China’s space program threatens U.S. military communications.

The program is part of President Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” strategy of strengthening national power and reshaping the Asia-Pacific political environment into one in which its interests are given greater attention.

“China’s goal is to become a space power on par with the United States and to foster a space industry that is the equal of those in the United States, Europe, and Russia,” according to the report, which was prepared for the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Chinese military analysts consider that space-based information will become a deciding factor in future wars, that space will be a dominant battlefield, and that in order to achieve victory on Earth, one must first seize the initiative in space, the institute said.

“This will require China to achieve space supremacy, defined as the ability to freely use space and to deny the use of space to adversaries,” according to the report, titled “China Dream, Space Dream: China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States.”

The assessment that space is the dominant battlefield has led the People’s Liberation Army to conclude that war in space is inevitable, the institute said in the report led by Kevin Pollpeter, deputy director of the Study of Innovation and Technology in China at the IGCC.  [Bloomberg]

So how will China take out US space-based communications?  Well the 2007 Chinese satellite shoot down is an indication of what they can do.  The debris left in orbit after such a conflict would have the potential of making low Earth orbit likely unusable for quite some time.

This just makes you wonder what else is filled with contaminants from China?

.@AndersonCooper reports that Chinese-made laminate flooring sold in Lumber Liquidator outlets across country contains toxic formaldehyde

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 1, 2015

People across a wide swath of the West, from Arizona to Canada, looked up at the sky late Monday to see a cluster of weird lights followed by an orange tail streaking across the night.

The lights were not a meteor, but a Chinese rocket booster that broke apart, said Maj. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command.

There were no reports of damage or injuries, O’Donnell said, pointing to statistics showing there is a 1 in a trillion chance of being hit by space debris.

Canadian photographer Neil Zeller was on his way home from shooting the Northern Lights when he saw the cluster of fireballs in a rural area outside of Calgary about 11 p.m. local time.

“I’d never seen anything like it,” he said. He captured several shots of an orange streak slashed above dark trees. (AP)

Does China Really Know How to Wage Cyber War? http://t.co/hUQ5Wipvjt

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) February 21, 2015

I rode a 39 hour hard seat train from Beijing to Urumqi. Strangest train ride I've been on. http://t.co/OzbPWLDVfA pic.twitter.com/pFbaNQPpQ6

— Matthew Sheehan (@mattsheehan88) February 19, 2015

If it seems like that there is many more Chinese visiting South Korea it is because there are:

South Korea was ranked the most popular overseas destination for Chinese people during their weeklong national holiday that started this week, a Chinese government survey showed Wednesday.

About 5.19 million Chinese are expected to travel abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday season, up 10 percent from the same period last year, and 15.6 percent of them are predicted to visit South Korea, according to the survey by China’s National Tourism Administration.

Also in the top five were Thailand (13.9 percent), Japan (8.7 percent), Australia (4.4 percent) and Singapore (3.6 percent).

“This year, the number of tourists continues to grow, due to an easier visa application process for Chinese passport holders, and the depreciation of foreign currency against the yuan,” it said.

Fueled by a growing popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas and a gradual appreciation of the Chinese currency, the number of Chinese visitors to South Korea soared 46 percent from a year ago to 6.33 million people in 2014, according to South Korean government data.  [Yonhap]

Mike Green (@JapanChair) #CSISLive:US should work on getting China to stand together on issue on refoulement of NK refugees @CSISKoreaChair

— Darcie Draudt (@darciedraudt) February 17, 2015

Instead of complaining to the ROKs maybe the Chinese should get their own house in order by getting the North Koreans to quit making threats against South Korea which is why THAAD is reportedly being considered for deployment to South Korea in the first place:

China’s defense minister expressed concern Wednesday over a possible deployment of the United States’ advanced missile-defense (MD) system in South Korea, Seoul’s defense ministry said.

The U.S. has said it is considering deploying a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, an integral part of its MD system, to South Korea, citing evolving threats from North Korea. It is designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at a higher altitude in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill method.

“Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan expressed concern over the possible THAAD deployment on the Korean Peninsula,” defense ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters, without further elaboration.

Chang made the remark to his South Korean counterpart Han Min-koo during a two-hour defense ministers’ meeting in Seoul.

“In response, Minister Han reaffirmed Seoul’s stance that Washington has not made any decision on the matter and has not asked South Korea (for any consultation). No agreement between Seoul and Washington exists on the issue,” Kim noted, adding that the missile-defense system “aims to solely deter and counter missiles from North Korea.”

It is the first time that a ranking Chinese official has raised the THAAD issue to South Korea publicly. China and Russia view it as a threat to their security, and critics also say it is part of a broader U.S. attempt to get the Asian ally to join its missile-defense system and could spark tensions with the neighbors.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.