Thứ Năm, 28 tháng 2, 2013

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Vietnam's submarine may be armed with the fastest torpedoes in the world

In 2013, Vietnam will receive two modern attack submarines, Kilo class Project 636 from Russia. According to Russian sources, Kilo submarines for Vietnam have improved its electronic system.


In particular, Vietnam Kilo 636 submarines equipped with combination supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles Klub, it has capable of destroying targets on the sea surface at a range of up to 300km. The Klub missile have known as "aircraft carrier killer".

In addition, Vietnam Kilo class subs carry the Russian-made fastest torpedoes in the world ​​called "VA-111 Shkval".

The world's fastest torpedo

With the design requirements of a high-speed torpedo, scientists have applied a completely new technology to create "super-bubble" covers optical pulse torpedoes. This design nearly eliminates all friction of water to help it get faster speed.



Torpedo VA-111 moves underwater in a bubble chamber should be called "super compartment torpedo" reaching speeds of more than 370km/ h, a speed which is not a torpedo in the world can compare.

VA-111 was fired from the standard torpedo launchers of 533mm with a speed of 93km/ h. Then the liquid fuel rocket engine will be activated push it reaches the speed of more than 370km/ h. Some sources said recently, the speed of the torpedo can be up to 560km / h thanks to the applications of new rocket motor.

Source: Tien Phong News Agency

China racism case: Restaurant owner removes 'racist' sign


This photo taken on February 26 shows a Chinese cook working in a restaurant behind a sign that says "This shop does not receive the Japanese, The Philippines, The Vietnamese and Dog" at the historic tourist district of Houhai in Beijing.

A defiant Beijing restaurant manager refused to apologize Thursday despite removing a "racist" sign barring citizens of states in maritime disputes with China, along with dogs, following an international outcry, AFP reported.

The notice in the window of the Beijing Snacks restaurant read: "This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s)" in both Chinese and English.

But despite taking down the sign after accusations of racism, the manager said he had no regrets and would not apologize for any offence caused, AFP said.

The manager, surnamed Wang, said it was taken down "because it was a lot of bother".

"I don't have any regrets," he told the newswire. "I was just getting too many phone calls about it."

He seemed surprised at the attention it had generated but said he would not apologize for any offence caused, suggesting it may have been misinterpreted.

"Maybe people misunderstood our meaning... it only said we would not serve customers from those countries," he said.

The restaurant sign provoked an outcry in Vietnam and the Philippines, generating thousands of posts on Vietnamese social networking sites and newspaper comment threads.

A Vietnamese diplomat in China has said the country will respond “appropriately” to the case, BBC Vietnamese reported Wednesday.

The unnamed diplomat did not say what the response would be, but stressed that Vietnam’s viewpoint is that mutual respect and friendship has to be maintained.

Filipinos greeted the photo with a mixture of fury and amusement, AFP said. "Blatant racism at Beijing Restaurant," journalist Veronica Pedrosa wrote in one widely-shared tweet.

Meanwhile, speaking to the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Zhai Lei Ming, Chinese consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, said the owner’s actions were wrong and did not represent a majority of the Chinese people or the Chinese government’s viewpoint.

When asked why the local government had not done anything despite the sign being posted for a long time, he said it had not been aware of it.

Responding to another question about the Chinese government’s future actions after the case was reported in the media, he said he was just a consul general, not the government or any agency that is supposed to handle it.

The photos were taken by Rose Tang, a former CNN journalist who was born in China but is now based in New York, on February 22 during her trip to Beijing, and posted on her Facebook, Tuoi Tre reported.

As of February 27, one photo which is the close-up of the shop named Beijing snacks in the capital city’s Houhai District had been shared by more than 3,700 people. The photos have drawn the attention of the international media, which has reported on the restaurant and its racist sign.

According to Tuoi Tre, it is not known when the shop’s owner, whose surname is Wang, put up the sign, but it was first mentioned on Chinese social sites like Sina and Weibo in September.

The owner was quoted as saying that he posted the notice to speak his mind, but also preferred that the Japanese, the Filipino and the Vietnamese did not read it.

However, in an interview with BBC Chinese, the shop owner said he is proud of what he has done and that he does not care what people say, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, speaking to Tuoi Tre, Tang said that she had posted the photos online because she felt obliged to expose what she called “racism with a twist of nationalism.” She hoped that pressure from the public and the media will teach Wang and people like him a lesson.

Many netizens have expressed their outrage on Tang’s personal page, calling the sign and the shop owner’s attitude “shocking” and “ugly.”

In one of the most liked comments, Paul Mooney, a freelance reporter in Beijing, said: “This is the [Chinese] government and Party's fault. They tell lies about other countries and distort history and so Chinese who don't know any better respond with ignorance. Very depressing.”

China is currently involved in sea territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam over large areas of the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea. China and Japan have a separate dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

Thanhniennews.com

Japan scrambles fighter jets to intercept China plane

Japan scrambles fighter jets to intercept China plane
Tokyo: Japan today scrambled fighter jets to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defence ministry said.

It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

The aircraft headed back towards China after Japan's military planes became airborne, defence officials said, declining to give further details.

The incident came as three Chinese government ships sailed into territorial waters around the islands, Japan's coastguard said.

The three marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off Uotsuri island shortly after 7:00 am local time, the coastguard said in a statement.

It said the trio left the zone after just over two hours. Today's moves were the latest in a series by Chinese government ships since Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain last September, reigniting the dispute.

They also came the day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking about the islands dispute, cited British former premier Margaret Thatcher and her thoughts on a 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

NDTV

China’s military build-up: not as scary as it looks


Over the last few months China has been launching aircraft carriers, satellites and – this week – stealth frigates in a concerted effort to raise their military profile. It’s an abrupt departure from a long-standing military policy of keeping their heads down, and SIMON ALLISON puzzles over what it might mean.

Deng Xiaoping, the man who more than any other laid the foundations for what modern China has become, was very clear about China’s military strategy. Tao Guang Yanghui, he said, which translates directly – and rather poetically, as Mandarin translations into English so often do – as “hide brightness, nourish obscurity.”

For three decades, this has been China’s policy. In practice, what it means is that the Chinese military has kept a low profile, focusing less on ostentatious displays of strength and more on discreetly building its capabilities.

It’s a strategy that’s served China well. Since the 1980s, the top brass have been gradually cutting down the number of extraneous troops and replacing old equipment with modern systems. At the same time, a new organisational structure and better training has been introduced, streamlining what was a ridiculously bloated and notoriously inefficient bureaucracy.

But the brighter the light gets, the harder it is to hide, and, increasingly, Chinese leaders don’t want to. In late 2011, a small story on page three of the official newspaper of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indicated a change of tack. Mentioned in the article was Deng’s famous aphorism, but with a twist: as well as keeping a low profile, China’s security forces were encouraged to “actively achieve something”, which implies a little more engagement. This may seem a minor, almost insignificant detail, but this is how policy is communicated in the obscure, arcane world of Chinese politics, and sure enough, 2012 and 2013 (so far) have seen China’s military adopt a much higher public profile.

The centerpiece of this was, of course, the launch of China’s first-ever aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a former Soviet vessel which China bought for US$20 million and refurbished. Much pomp and ceremony surrounded the launch, and local media were flooded with pictures of the first Chinese fighter taking off and landing from its 300-metre long deck. International media, meanwhile – especially American media – were flooded with scare stories about how the new, improved Chinese military was a threat to world order.

This is an exaggeration. China’s new aircraft carrier – along with its new stealth corvettes and new satellite GPS system and all the other shiny, dangerous new toys it has unveiled recently – is not about to challenge America’s military might anytime soon. The Liaoning has just half the displacement of an American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and even Chinese officials privately admit that it will take China 30 years to develop a single carrier group to match just one of America’s 11 carrier groups. And America, let’s not forget, spends five times more on its military every year than China.

So then, what’s the point of China’s military muscle-flexing? For clues, take a look at the reactions of China’s two most powerful neighbours. First up was Indian admiral DK Joshi, who told reporters in December that the Chinese naval upgrade was “truly impressive” and that “it is actually a major, major cause of concern for us, which we continuously evaluate and work out our options and our strategies for.”

Even more frank was new Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who said to the Washington Post in an interview this week that China suffered from a “deeply ingrained” need to spar with Japan and other regional neighbours. In Abe’s account, the point of the military build-up – and of the recent escalation in tensions over ownership of the Japan’s disputed Senkaku islands, which China claims as its own – is to stir up nationalist sentiment within China to bolster support for the government. This, he explains, is a direct result of China’s economic liberalisation, which has forced the Communist Party to abandon its goal of nationwide economic equality. Without this, the party has had to create “different pillars” on which to base its popular support.

There’s something to Abe’s theory, as he well knows; he’s used much the same principle to shore up his own domestic support. His campaign pledges to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution and be tougher on China, alongside his aggressive defence of the Sankaku Islands, account in large part for his current 71% percent approval rating.

But the domestic angle is not the whole story. With US naval bases forming a neat ring around the South China Sea – there are bases in Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan – it’s not hard to see why China’s leadership might feel threatened in its own backyard. A stronger navy, in this reading, is not really offensive in nature, but defensive; allowing China to make sure that its ports remain accessible and shipping lanes are kept open.

So, scare-mongering aside, there’s not too much cause for concern about China’s military build-up. With its undoubted propaganda value and obvious defensive benefits, it is clearly a development with regional rather than global implications, and even these are about maintaining the status quo rather than anything else. DM

Related: China Type 056 Stealth Frigate Declared Operational On 25 Feb 2013

Photo: New recruits for the People's Liberation Army, wearing red flowers symbolizing honour, wait to board a train at a train station in Mayang Miao autonomous county, Hunan province December 13, 2012. REUTERS/China Daily

China moves mobile missiles near coast amid tensions with Japan over islands

United States intelligence agencies recently detected China’s military shifting road-mobile ballistic missiles closer to its southern coast near the disputed Senkaku Islands amid growing tensions between Beijing and Japan over the islands dispute.

U.S. defense officials said the movements are being watched closely as China’s military is also holding large-scale military exercises that some fear could be a trigger for a conflict with Japan that could involve U.S. forces.

The officials did not provide details of the missile movements that were tracked by U.S. aircraft, ship-based, and satellite surveillance systems in the region.

Disclosure of the missile movements comes as White House national security adviser Tom Donilon on Monday met in Seoul with China’s state councilor Liu Yandong. The two were in South Korea to attend the inauguration of South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Tensions remain high between Japan and China over Tokyo’s nationalization last year of several uninhabited islands between Okinawa and Taiwan called the Senkakus. China claims the islands as its territory. At issue are large undersea oil and gas deposits sought by both energy-poor countries.

The officials confirmed the missile movements near the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian after Chinese press outlets first reported them.

The most recent report appeared in the Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily News, a non-Chinese owned outlet that quoted a military source as saying the missile deployments included new solid-fueled DF-16 road-mobile missiles.

The Feb. 21 report said the People’s Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps, which operates missile units, were preparing to target the disputed Senkaku Islands as well as U.S. military bases in Okinawa.

The Daily News stated that the missile movements were signs the PLA is “preparing for the worst regarding the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands.”

The report also stated that the DF-16 is capable of defeating U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries that are deployed at U.S. and Japanese military bases in the region. The DF-16 is said to be armed with multiple warheads.


DF-16 missile system

According to the report, the PLA navy near the Senkakus is part of China’s “trump card” weaponry—niche military capabilities that could allow a weaker force to defeat a stronger one.

The U.S. newsletter East-Asia-Intel.com reported Feb. 13 that China’s military appeared to be making war preparations by holding large-scale exercises around the Lunar New Year, including live fire artillery and air force bombing runs.

The newsletter said state media also reported large-scale troop movements and maneuvers near the coastal Fujian and Zheijiang provinces, the areas closest to the Senkakus.

John Tkacik, a former State Department specialist on China, said Chinese television recently reported that PLA missile forces practiced saturation bombing exercises that used for the first time an automatic launch system that could fire 10 warheads accurately on one target.

“The Pentagon and the Japanese defense ministry already take the PRC ballistic missile threat to U.S. forces in the Taiwan Strait and Ryukyus seas very, very seriously,” Tkacik said. “If U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance assets show significant redeployments of road-mobile missiles, including DF-16s on China’s east coast, U.S. and Japanese forces have to respond with far higher levels of threat readiness, and that sort of thing can put the gathering crisis in the Senkakus area on a hair-trigger.”

Regarding China-Japan tensions, a Chinese warship aimed weapon-targeting radar at a Japanese warship, drawing protests from Tokyo. Such radar illumination at sea is often regarded as a hostile act in military parlance.

U.S. officials fear the dispute could lead to a small-scale military confrontation that might spiral into a major conflict.

The U.S. military is committed to defending Japan in any conflict despite Obama administration assertions that it takes no sides in territorial disputes.

China has been building up its short- and medium-range missile forces in the region for at least a decade. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate the total number of missiles in the region is between 1,200 and 1,500 missiles.

They include mainly DF-15 and DF-11 short-range missiles. Taiwan government sources have reported that China also has deployed longer-range DF-21s in the region.

A variant of the DF-21 is a special anti-ship ballistic missile designed by Beijing to sink U.S. aircraft carriers and it is one of the main reasons for the Pentagon’s buildup in Asia to counter what it calls anti-access and area-denial weapons.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the recent missile movements.

Richard Fisher, a Chinese military affairs specialist, said the deployment of DF-16s is in its third year and indicates the PLA “has deployed up to three brigades of this reported 800-kilometer to 1,000 kilometer-range missile.”

“The DF-16 is a development of the DF-11 short range ballistic missile; it simply places the modular warhead section of the DF-11 on a much larger booster stage,” said Fisher, who is with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.

“This means it could be armed with many types of warheads, including nuclear, electromagnetic pulse, fuel-air explosive, and anti-airfield submunitions. It should be expected that it eventually will have a maneuverable anti-ship warhead as well.”

Fisher said China is also moving toward deployment of a new, nuclear or conventional-tipped 3,000-kilometer range missile dubbed the DF-25.

“China’s goal is to overwhelm the United States and its democratic allies with new missiles, much as it has overwhelmed Taiwan with shorter range missiles,” Fisher said.

The growing Chinese missile threat comes as the Obama administration unilaterally retired its theater-range nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles even as China is moving ahead with new missiles of that range.

“It is now imperative that the United States get back into the medium- and intermediate-range missile business and to help some of our allies to do the same, in order to deter China,” Fisher said.

“Only when the U.S., Japanese, and South Korean navies have enough long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles to take out China’s shiny new navy will Beijing wake up and reconsider its course of increasing aggression,” he said.

Meanwhile, China’s state-controlled media has been ramping up rhetoric indicating China is preparing for a conflict over the Senkakus. Large-scale military exercises have been held in recent weeks and Chinese leaders have been reported as telling troops to prepare for combat.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said during a visit earlier this month to a military command that Chinese forces should be “expanding and deepening” combat readiness. Xi in December also called for intensifying “real combat” skills.

The United States and Japan held combined military exercises that ended Feb. 15 called “Exercise Iron First.” Chinese state media reported the war games were practice for “island seizure” operations and preparations for a conflict with China over the Senkakus.

More than 1,000 Marines and 280 Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops took part in the maneuvers at Camp Pendelton, Calif.

China on Monday announced that its navy has deployed the first of a new generation of radar-evading stealth warships, called a Type 056 frigate.

The official Chinese military newspaper PLA Daily stated that the new frigate will be deployed in large numbers and features low radar observability and electromagnetic signatures.

The new warship will be used for escort and anti-submarine missions.

The PLA navy also announced that it would conduct military exercises in the northern Yellow Sea near the major military port of Dalian beginning Wednesday.

Chinese state television CCTV reported Feb. 13 that PLA air force units in northeastern China carried out an “emergency war preparedness exercise.”

Three PLA warships completed a major open-ocean exercise Feb. 15 after 18 days at sea. The ships, a missile destroyer and two frigates, sailed in the East China Sea, where the Senkakus are located, as well as the Yellow Sea.

http://freebeacon.com

Vietnam's S-300 Air Defense System loading warheads for combat readiness


This air defense missile system has been to put on the regular staff of 361 Air Division, Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force.

Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) has equiped 2 systems of S-300PMU1 with 12 launchers including 72 missiles and VPAF had intended to buy two more system from Russia.

The South China Sea: Claims and Implications

Written by Khanh Vu Duc, a Vietnamese-Canadian lawyer

If this century should be an "Asian Century," it risks being unraveled by the ongoing South China Sea disputes

Disputes on hegemony over the South China Sea, developing as a result of China's claims to almost the entire body of water, may well prove to be a key defining issue in the future of Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

With talks of this being an "Asian Century," attention has undoubtedly been focused on the region. Should the maritime and territorial disputes spiral into conflict and threaten the region's peace and security, this Asian Century could end just as quickly as it began.

The disputes, as the wording suggests, are a whole series of disagreements and not just one issue. From two parties to multiple ones, they are a series of long-running maritime and territorial disputes between nations. Given the scope of the issue, only two will be examined: the Spratly Islands dispute between several countries, and China's "nine-dash map" of the South China Sea.

The Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoal quarrels are also part of the greater South China Sea conflict. However, as they are bilateral issues between Vietnam and China, and the Philippines and China, respectively, the situation of each is unique to those parties involved.

Spratly Islands and the Nine-Dash Map

The Spratly Islands comprise an archipelago off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia. The islands themselves are of little value. However, a recent US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimate suggests that there could be anywhere between 800 million and 5.4 billion barrels of oil, and between 7.6 and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas yet undiscovered. As such, it is not difficult to understand why there is such great interest among claimant states.

The claimant states involved include Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. With the exception of Brunei, each has occupied one or more of the islets. With so many states involved, and with overlapping claims, resolving the Spratly Islands dispute will prove more than challenging.

China's map seeks to establish Chinese hegemony over the entirety of the South China Sea and, if taken as is, would infringe upon the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of nearly all of the littoral nations. The nine-dash map, perhaps better than anything else, best describes China's ambitions. In proved and probable reserves within China's map, the same EIA estimate suggests that there could be approximately 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Another conducted by the state-owned Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) puts these reserves at 125 billion barrels of oil and 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, although these figures have not been confirmed by independent sources. Thus the sea and its promise of natural resources are particularly alluring for any and all nations in the region.

By extending its exclusive economic zone, China would then not only be able to project its power throughout the sea and the wider Asia-Pacific, but also satisfy its energy demands for the near future. If Beijing were to succeed in having its monopoly, it would also control commercial maritime activities throughout the Asia-Pacific, never mind exploitation of natural resources.

Claiming Territory

To be determined is each nation's legal standing. Given that portions of the Spratlys fall within the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, it would be easy to simply divide those islands within each country's respective EEZ as its own. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Each state involved in the dispute has claimed history and international law to be on its side. In addition, the 200-mile EEZ is not set in stone. The area can be extended to 350 nautical miles provided that certain geological conditions are satisfied. However, as stated by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, under section 3 of Article 121, "Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf."

The Spratlys are comprised of atolls, reefs, and small islands. While some of these islets have contained human life, predominantly military installations, it remains to be seen whether the islands are themselves capable of sustaining human habitation on their own.

China's claims (including Taiwan) are largely based in ancient naval expeditions dating back to the 15th century, never mind that indigenous peoples from all of the countries involved were already there, and are supposedly supported by archaeological evidence. Vietnam has also claimed to provide similar support of its position regarding the Spratlys, considering them a part of Khanh Hoa Province. China's position (and undoubtedly Taiwan and perhaps Vietnam's, as well) is not a question of international law of the sea but sovereignty, and that the latter should take precedence over the former.

The Philippines claim to the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoal are founded on the islands as terra nullius -- that is, the islands belonged to no one during Manila's exploration of the South China Sea in 1956. As such, if the islands had never been a part of a foreign state, or if they had been a part of a foreign state but relinquished, the Philippines claimed the Spratlys by occupation. In concert with China and Vietnam's claims, it must be determined if the islands were subject to the sovereignty of either state.

In Search of a Resolution

Unfortunately, the Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China and Vietnam, as well as the other claimant states (except Taiwan), have signed and ratified, is merely a legal framework. It cannot resolve this conflict. Moreover, it has been shown that China is unwilling to submit the disputes to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or the International Court of Justice. The Philippines recently submitted its case against China to the International Tribunal for arbitration - which China rejected outright. It remains to be seen whether the tribunal would proceed without China. Yet, should the tribunal continue and even if they rule in favor of the Philippines, the tribunal lacks the necessary provisions to enforce its ruling.

Efforts at resolution have so far achieved little. While gestures such as the Declaration of Conduct, as put forth by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, might hint at a resolution around the corner; they are just that: gestures. Bilateral and multilateral negotiations have largely gone nowhere. Although China has invited the claimant states to bilateral talks, they have been hesitant to accept, knowing full well that under such conditions, Beijing would be able to leverage its size and position. Conversely, China has no desire to invite international opinion on the disputes.

None of this bodes well to find common ground. Despite China's position against international arbitration, it appears, at present, that an international ruling on the disputes can offer sufficient resolution by providing a just, impartial view of the matter. If China's or any other claimant states' claims are legally grounded, then they should welcome a legal opinion so as to strengthen their position.

The safety and security of the South China Sea and Asia-Pacific will depend on the cooperation of those nations involved. As long as there is an overwhelming desire to save face as opposed to finding peace, it appears more than likely that these disputes will ultimately be resolved through force instead of diplomacy.

(Khanh Vu Duc is a Vietnamese-Canadian lawyer who researches on Vietnamese politics, international relations and international law. He is a frequent contributor to Asia Sentinel and BBC Vietnamese Service.)

Asia Sentinel

Thứ Tư, 27 tháng 2, 2013

A Vietnamese successfully made submarine

The descendants of a Vietnamese famous patriot Phan Boi Chau, by blazing fabricate, successfully made a mini submarine with 90% domestic components.



Phan Boi An is a nephew generations of Phan Boi Chau. Mr. An was studying abroad in France, here he studied in depth in composite materials. Especially the type of composite applications for the devices of submarines, helicopters. After graduating, he works for a submarine manufacturing company and has the opportunity to build submarines.


In the clip, he says the ship engine was completely made with domestic components (100%).

In 1996, he returned to Vietnam and opened a research workshop on composite materials. By experience gained during work abroad, he researches to built submarine with 90% domestic components.

The ship was launched with a length of 3.2 m, a height of 1 meter, 1 meter wide and weighing more than 1 ton. The hull of ship is made of composite materials that has high strength more than steel casing. The ship equipped with electric motors allows reaching a maximum speed of 15 knots/ h.

After the completion, the ship has been successfully tested at the pool in Naval Technical School of Ho Chi Minh City.

China conducts 40 military exercises in 2013

China (Chinese People's Liberation Army) military exercises
(TNO) Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will conduct 40 drills in 2013 to strengthen the fight capability , according to the Military Training Department of the PLA General Staff.

Report is given on February 26th, 2013 said the PLA will put its interests related to core security in a more prominent position and will enhance the live firing exercises and confrontation, according to Xinhua.

The exercises will be conducted with more intense and harder to improve the fighting capacity of the army as well as fully prepare troops for war, according to the report.

According to the Department of Military Training, the drills will include coordination of aerial and ground combat, confront firing at sea and air defense coordination.

Thanhnien.com.vn

China petition urges rights reforms

Scholars, lawyers and journalists have signed a petition urging the National People’s Congress to ratify the ICCPR. Photo: Reuters
Scholars, lawyers and journalists have signed a petition urging the National People’s Congress to ratify the ICCPR. Photo: Reuters

More than 120 influential scholars, lawyers and journalists have signed a petition urging the National People’s Congress to ratify an international human rights treaty as part of the leadership’s pledge to promote constitutional rights and the rule of law.

The petition, addressed to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress ahead of its annual session next week, calls for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to be ratified “as soon as possible” to promote and implement the principles of human rights and constitutionalism in the country.

“No doubt, there is still a substantial gap between the situation in China with respect to human rights and rule of law and the requirements of international human rights treaties... but now is the best time for our country to ratify the treaty,” the open letter said.

The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Although China signed the ICESCR in 1997 and ratified it in 2001, it has not similarly ratified the ICCPR, which was signed in 1998.

There have been repeated calls from intellectuals over the past 15 years urging the government to ratify the human rights treaty – the last petition was in early 2008, just months ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, with over 10,000 signatories.

The covenant commits its parties to respect the civil and political rights of individuals, including the right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights and the right to due process and a fair trial. As of March 2012, the Covenant had 74 signatories and 167 parties.

SCMP

Boeing Phantom Eye Completes 2nd Flight+ Video

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 26, 2013 -- Boeing's [NYSE: BA] liquid hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system completed its second flight Feb. 25, demonstrating capabilities that will allow it to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions for up to four days without refueling.



During the flight, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Phantom Eye climbed above an altitude of 8,000 feet and remained aloft for 66 minutes at a cruising speed of 62 knots before landing. The aircraft exceeded what it achieved last year during its first flight when it flew at an altitude of 4,080 feet and remained aloft for 28 minutes.

"Today’s combination of geopolitical and economic issues makes Phantom Eye's capabilities, affordability and flexibility very attractive to our global customers," said Darryl Davis, Boeing Phantom Works president. "No other system holds the promise of offering on-demand, persistent ISR and communications to any region in the world, rapidly responding to natural disasters and national security issues."

Boeing is self-funding development of the environmentally responsible Phantom Eye, which generates only water as a byproduct of its propulsion system.

"This flight, in a more demanding high-altitude flight envelope, successfully demonstrated Phantom Eye's maneuverability, endurance and landing capabilities," said Drew Mallow, Phantom Eye program manager.

Following the first flight, Boeing upgraded the aircraft's software and hardware, including the landing gear. The upgrades paid off in the form of a picture-perfect landing.

The Phantom Eye demonstrator is capable of carrying a 450-pound payload while operating for up to four days at altitudes of up to 65,000 feet.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $33 billion business with 59,433 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.

Budget 2013: Priorities of the Indian armed forces

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will present the Union Budget on Thursday. Given the likelihood of no major increase in defence spending, here is a look at what the priorities of the armed forces are.

After the Rs 14,000 crore cut in defence spending in the last financial year, the buzz is that no major increase is likely in the defence budget for the coming year given that the armed forces have pruned their procurement lists focusing on priority equipment to be acquired.

The Army's priority list includes:


- Replacement of the Bofors artillery with the OFB upgraded 155 mm gun of longer range

- Modern artillery ammunition (bi-modular charges, fuzes etc)

- Assault rifles for Infantry (trials underway)

- Also bullet proof jackets/helmets for CI operations

- Tank ammunition (INVARS missile for T-90 tanks)

The Army also wants to replace its 1960s vintage Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, 60 per cent of which are nearly at the end of their service life.

The Air Force is going the whole hog putting its weight behind every procurement, big or small, insisting that everything is driven by operational necessity. Fighter, transport and helicopter procurement appears to be on track, the gap in air defence and the Avro replacement is probably the focus could be.

For the Navy, the priority list includes acquiring 16 multi-role maritime helicopters and 56 utility helicopters. It also includes minesweepers from South Korea and crucially the new line of conventional submarines under Project 75I.

Defence cuts if any are not expected to hit equipment already contracted for as payment for these will have to be made. In that sense the Air Force and Navy have done well in terms of speeding up procurement of big ticket items. The Army is the laggard here and is paying the price in terms of operational deficiencies.

IBN Live

Reports: China carrier permanent base is Qingdao

China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning has docked at its new permanent base in the northern port of Qingdao
BEIJING — China's first aircraft carrier has docked at its new permanent base in the northern port of Qingdao, where it will be responsible for operations in waters surrounding Japan and the Korean Peninsula, media reports said Wednesday.

Speculation has swirled over where the ship, christened the Liaoning, would call home. It officially entered service on Sept. 25 amid a series of maritime disputes between China and its neighbors, particularly Japan, with which it is engaged in a tense standoff over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Qingdao is home to China's Northern Fleet, which is responsible for operations in the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, parts of the East China Sea and the Bohai Gulf, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) from Beijing. Qingdao offers the country's longest breakwater to guard against catastrophic storms, and remains ice-free year-round.

The official Xinhua News Agency and Global Times newspaper reported that the carrier left its temporary base in the northeastern port of Dalian on Tuesday for the first sea trials of the year following a three-month refitting. Xinhua said weapons systems were tested during the voyage to Qingdao, but gave no details.

The Liaoning is a refurbished Soviet-era carrier purchased from Ukraine that China has described as an experimental model. China is believed to have plans to use its experience with the Liaoning to build four or more carriers of its own, one or more of which will be based at the southern island province of Sanya, which faces the South China Sea. China's claim to ownership of the entire South China Sea and its island groups is contested by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.

While the Liaoning doesn't yet have an aircraft complement or battle group, the carrier program has been the most eye-catching element of China's comprehensive naval buildup, which also includes ballistic missile submarines, modern destroyers and a new generation of stealth missile frigates, the first of which was launched Monday at Shanghai's naval shipyard.

The navy conducted landings on the Liaoning in November using J-15 carrier fighters based on Russia's Su-33.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

India ready to induct BrahMos cruise missile into Air Force by 2014

NEW DELHI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- India will be ready to induct BrahMos supersonic cruise missile into its Air Force by the end of next year, a top official has said.

"The program for induction of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with a speed of Mach 3 into the Indian Air Force will be ready by the end of 2014. BrahMos will be upgraded to a hypersonic cruise missile with a speed of Mach 7 by 2017," Sivathanu Pillai, the chief executive of BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, was quoted by the local media as saying in the southern state of Tamil Nadu Monday.

He added, "While Europe, the U.S. and China are in the process of developing such missiles, efforts are under way in India to make Mach 8 possible."

The land-launched and ship-launched versions of BrahMos, the world's fastest cruise missile in operation, are already in service. BrahMos is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra in India and the Moskva in Russia.

The BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited is a joint venture between the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia.

Thứ Ba, 26 tháng 2, 2013

Video: Power of The Vietnam People's Air Force

China Type 056 Stealth Frigate Declared Operational On 25 Feb 2013

The Type 056 Stealth Frigates are mainly used for patrol/escort missions and anti-submarine operations.

The Type 056 Stealth Frigates have good stealth performance with good electromagnetic compatibility and needed just 1/3 the number of crew members of the Type 053 Frigates.

Chinese transport "workhorses" extending military's reach


The Qiandaohu, one of the type-903 replenishment ships now in service with the Chinese navy, sails into Sydney harbour in this December 17, 2012 file handout photo provided by the Royal Australian Navy.

(Reuters) - China is expanding its long-neglected fleet of supply ships and heavy-lift aircraft, bolstering its military prowess in support of missions to enforce claims over disputed territory and to defend Chinese interests abroad.

These transport workhorses are unlikely to arouse the same regional unease as the steady rollout of high performance fighters, long-range missiles or potent warships, but they are a crucial element of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) three-decade military build-up, defense analysts say.

Over time, the air and sea support will give the world's second-largest navy greater geographical reach and will enhance the PLA's capacity to assist troops on distant battlefields, potentially including Taiwan if Beijing were to launch a military assault to take control of the self-governing island.

China's state-owned shipyards last year launched two 23,000-tonne type 903 replenishment ships, according to reports and photographs published on Chinese military affairs websites and blogs, with further orders in the pipeline.

Defense analysts say the state-of-the-art ships are undergoing sea trials and should be commissioned into the Chinese navy later this year.

China also confirmed last month that the PLA had conducted the first test flight of its Y-20 heavy lift aircraft from the Yanliang airbase near Xi'an in Shaanxi Province.

State-run television showed footage of the four-engine Y-20, the biggest aircraft built in China, taking off and landing. The Y-20, built by AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co Ltd, would have a 66-tonne payload, according to official media reports.

AMBITIOUS GLOBAL POWER

The impending delivery of these support ships and aircraft is further evidence China intends to become a more ambitious global military power in a decisive break with its traditional security priorities of expanding or defending its extensive land borders.

"They are beginning to develop their capacity for power projection, there is no question about that," says Li Nan, an expert on the Chinese military and a professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Steep increases in military outlays over three decades have allowed China to build an advanced navy that now ranks second to the United States fleet in terms of raw numbers.

The Chinese navy now has about 80 major surface warships including its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. It also deploys more than 50 submarines, about 50 landing ships and more than 80 missile attack boats, according to Pentagon estimates of PLA military strength.

However, construction of support and replenishment vessels in Chinese shipyards has lagged far behind the output of combatants.

China has only five major supply ships to support a fleet that is conducting increasingly intense patrolling and exercises around disputed territory in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

These vessels are also called upon to support the Chinese navy on a growing number of deployments far into the Indian and Pacific oceans.

By comparison, the U.S. navy has 34 big replenishment ships to support about 140 major surface warships, according to Pentagon figures.

The Chinese navy's extended missions include regular deployments of naval task forces to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the horn of Africa as part of United Nations authorized anti-piracy operations.

LOGISTICS CAPACITY STRETCHED

These operations have stretched the logistics capacity of the China's navy with its three most capable supply ships on almost permanent duty, according to details of the deployments announced by the Chinese military.

However, these deployments have provided an opportunity for the ships and crews to practice and refine the ongoing resupply of warships, highly skilled maneuvers that are essential to keeping warships at sea for long periods, naval experts say.

China's defense ministry said that the frigate Mianyang, destroyer Harbin and the supply ship Weishanhu sailed on February 16 from Qingdao on the 14th of these anti-piracy deployments.

While extra supply ships will extend the range and endurance of Chinese fleets, Beijing's strategic objectives still remain relatively limited outside the nearby seas where it is locked in territorial disputes with some of its neighbors.

"They are focusing on securing sea lanes, counter piracy and evacuating Chinese nationals in times of crisis," says Li.

China's expanding military transport capability is unlikely to have an immediate impact on its tense standoff with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea that are close to logistics bases on the Chinese mainland, naval analysts say.

"Support ships will not change the nature of operations in the East China Sea but will have an impact on the ability of the Chinese navy to conduct operations at sea, if the support ships are used to grow its professionalism and seamanship," says Alessio Patalano, a Japanese military expert at King's College in London.

LEANER, MOBILE FORCE

For China's top brass, the first test flight of the Y-20 was an important milestone as the PLA continues its transformation from a predominantly mass, ground army to a leaner, more mobile force.

"These aircraft are vital if you need to move a lot of people and a lot of equipment some place very, very fast," says Reuben Johnson, a Kiev-based military analyst and correspondent for Jane's Information Group, who has studied the Y-20 program.

Reports in the official Chinese media said the Y-20 could land and take off from restricted airstrips and had the capacity to carry most PLA combat and support vehicles.

Chinese military planners have drawn lessons from the importance of heavy-lift aircraft in recent U.S. and other Western military operations where the capacity to shift troops and supplies to distant battlefields or trouble spots has delivered an overwhelming advantage, military analysts say.

The U.S. military has a fleet of more than 300 heavy lift Galaxy and Globemaster aircraft in service along with more than 400 smaller-capacity transport aircraft.

Many of these aircraft can operate from short, uneven landing strips in remote and rugged terrain.

The PLA's air-lift capacity is much smaller. It currently operates about 20 Russian-built Il-76 transport aircraft. The Il-76 has a 50-tonne payload compared with the Globemaster's 77 tonnes and 118 tonnes for the Galaxy.

Additional Il-76 aircraft are reportedly on order from Russia but production bottlenecks are holding up deliveries, according to Russian military experts.

If China can introduce a sizeable fleet of Y-20 aircraft over the next decade, it will sharply enhance the PLA's capacity to land troops and equipment on distant battlefields.

Military experts say this capability would be particularly important in an invasion of Taiwan should Beijing decide to use force to establish control there.

Some analysts predict the Chinese military will order hundreds of Y-20s benefiting the group's listed unit, AVIC Aircraft Co Ltd, in coming decades if the aircraft can deliver acceptable performance.

They expect the PLA will also use the Y-20 as the basic airframe for its proposed fleet of in-flight refueling tankers and airborne early warning aircraft.

(Editing by Ken Wills)

Vietnamese Angry Over Beijing Restaurant Racism

A Beijing restaurant’s refusal to serve customers from countries locked in maritime territorial disputes with China has drawn the ire of netizens from at least one of the nations—Vietnam.


A sign at a restaurant in Beijing refusing service to Japanese, Vietnamese, and Filipinos shown in a photo taken by Facebook user Rose Tang on Feb. 22, 2013.

The restaurant has put up on its window racially charged signs in Chinese and English that said, “This shop does not welcome Japanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese, and dogs,” according to photo posted on the Facebook social networking site last week.

The owner of the restaurant in Beijing’s Houhai neighborhood, surnamed Wang, told BBC News this week he didn’t care what others felt about the sign and that he had put it up out of “patriotism.”

“Chinese customers support me,” he said.

China is currently embroiled in territorial disputes with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, and with the Philippines and Vietnam over islands in the South China Sea. Tensions with Japan over the disputes boiled over into a wave of anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities last fall.

But the restaurant’s action has drawn strong criticism in Vietnam, where tensions over the Spratly and Paracel islands have sparked a series of anti-China protests over the past two years.

Activists have also criticized the Vietnamese government for not standing up enough to what they see as China’s “aggressive” foreign policy in the region.

Dissident lawyer Le Hieu Dang said he thought Chinese authorities’ should have taken action against the restaurant owner.

“They should have told the restaurant to take that note off and disciplined them because that insults other people in the world. It is racism. The Beijing government should have strong measures against that,” he told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The government of Vietnam should see their true colors through this fact that they let their own people do such things.”

'Bullying' neighbor

He said the racism evident in the sign was similar to China’s “bullying” of its smaller neighbors in its foreign policy.

“I think people around the world will have strong reactions against this extreme nationalism, which shows the hatred between nations and how big country bullies small countries,” he said.

The photo, posted last week by a Chinese-American user from New York, drew a mixed response from netizens in China.

Some blasted the restaurant’s sign as nationalist racism, and others supported the restaurant owner’s action.

Dissident academic Tran Khue said he thought he felt the Beijing restaurant owner’s actions reflected a Sinocentric attitude that he thought was common in China.

“This mentality dates back so many years,” he said.

He said the sign was reminiscent of China’s colonial era, when British-owned establishments barred Chinese from entering.

“I think they are following what the English did before. The English said, ‘No Chinese and no dogs,’” he said.

'Not representative'

George P. Jan, a U.S.-based former professor of Chinese politics, said that the views of one restaurant owner should not be taken to represent all of China.

“This sign does not represent the attitude of most Chinese people. I think it is unwise and emotional. Chinese people are not opposed to all Japanese, Filipinos, or Vietnamese indiscriminately,” he said.

He said nationalism could cause people to get carried away with their views.

“Patriotism is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can unite people. But on the other, it will bring disasters to a country,” he added.

Xie Xuanjun, another U.S.-based scholar, said he thought the restaurant owner had succeeded more in embarrassing Chinese people than in denigrating those of other races.

“The sign itself is a symbol of racism, and ironically the restaurant owner has drawn ridicule on the Chinese ourselves,” he said.

He asked why the restaurant owner had not refused to serve patrons from Russia, which was embroiled in a long-running dispute over islands near China’s northeast until 2008.

“If he refuses to serve people from Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam because of their territorial disputes with China, why doesn’t he refuse to serve Russians? Russia has grabbed more lands from China than the other three countries.”

“Is it because Russians are Caucasians?” he said.

Rose Tang, the original poster of the photo, has asked netizens to share the photo widely in the hopes it will spark more discussion about racism.

“Please share it with as many people as possible. I'm hoping pressure from the public and media will teach these guys a lesson,” she said in a comment on Facebook.

Reported by Thanh Quang for RFA’s Vietnamese Service and by Xi Wang for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Ping Chen. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

RFA Vietnamese

Free-phone service LINE ties up with Nokia

A Japan-based free phone and messaging service called LINE is teaming up with Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia in an attempt to expand into emerging markets.

NHN Japan, which operates LINE, says Nokia's new low-end smartphones will come pre-installed with the LINE application. The app allows users to make free calls on data communication lines.

NHN officials say they hope the tie-up will help boost the number of LINE users in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The service reached a milestone of 100 million users worldwide in January. But more than 40 percent of these are in Japan.

The use of smartphones is expected to spread rapidly in emerging markets as inexpensive models become available.

The LINE-Nokia tie-up will provide clues as to how free communication services will do in these countries.

Vietnam to Participate in UN Peacekeeping Missions

Vietnam says it will begin participating in United Nation's peacekeeping operations from early next year, a further sign that the Southeast Asian nation wants to assume a bigger role in international affairs.

Facing a rising demand, the U.N. has publicly appealed for countries to send more troops and police officers to help carry out its peacekeeping missions around the world. Vietnam didn't say how large a contribution it was prepared to make. Most of the 115 participating countries currently make only token contributions of less than 40 people.

State-controlled Tien Phong newspaper on Tuesday quoted Vice Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh as telling visiting assistant General Secretary Edmond Mulet that Vietnamese troops would be available from early next year. The report gave few other details.

Vietnam opened its economy to foreign investment in the 1990s and has followed a steady policy of embracing regional and international institutions. But the communist rulers of the country's 87 million people have shown no sign of relaxing bans on freedom of speech and political activism even as they seek greater global clout.

Countries contribute troops to the U.N. for a variety of reasons, including national prestige, the ability to influence individual missions and a perception that doing so may help in bids for elected seats at the world body. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged in 2011 that sourcing peacekeepers was a major problem, saying he had been "begging leaders to make resources available to us."

There are currently 15 U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world. Bangladesh is currently the biggest contributor, with more than 8,000 personnel, closely followed by Pakistan and India. The United States and most European countries, while being the major bankrollers behind the peacekeeping program, mostly prefer to deploy their troops with NATO and EU or other Western-led missions.

A study last year by International Peace Institute placed Vietnam among 33 countries that had potential to either begin contributing troops or significantly strengthen their commitment. Vietnam's neighbor, and fellow communist state, China, is a moderate contributor that the study said could become a larger player.

TTXVN/ AP

Thứ Hai, 25 tháng 2, 2013

Huawei reveals 'fastest smartphone in the world'

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Huawei, a Chinese company that recently became the world's third-largest maker of smartphones, calls its new flagship product "the fastest smartphone in the world" and wants to use it to expand global awareness of its brand.

Huawei's new flagship model, which it calls
Huawei's new flagship model, which it calls "the fastest smartphone in the world.
(Photo: Huawei/AP)

Parts of the presentation of the phone at a press conference Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, suggest that the company has some way to go in polishing its pitch for a global audience.

Richard Yu, head of Huawei's consumer business group said the new phone can be programmed to display more than 100 different "themes," or looks. This is important because "ladies like flowers, colorful things," Yu said.

Yu also said Huawei is learning from Apple how to make Google's Android software easier to use, a lawsuit-friendly utterance considering that Apple is on a global campaign to sue makers of Android phones for copying from the iPhone.

The new phone, the Ascend P2, will have a 4.7 inch screen. Yu said it will be available in the April to June time frame for about $525 without a contract. It's the "fastest" because it supports faster download speeds than other phones. However, today's wireless networks aren't equipped to supply those speeds.

Huawei Technologies Ltd. was the world's third largest seller of smartphones, after Samsung and Apple, in the fourth quarter of last year, according to research firm IDC. That's despite selling very few phones in the U.S., where the big phone companies mostly ignore it. It has a much better position in Europe, where cellphone companies have embraced its network equipment, and France's Orange is committed to selling the phone.

In the U.S., a congressional panel recommended in October that phone carriers avoid doing business with Huawei or its smaller Chinese rival, ZTE Corp., for fear that its network equipment could contain "back doors" that enable access to communications from outside. The Chinese government rejected the report as false and an effort to block Chinese companies from the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, a report by a private U.S. cybersecurity firm concluded recently that a special unit of China's military is responsible for sustained cyberespionage against U.S. companies and government agencies. China has denied involvement in the attacks in which massive amounts of data and corporate trade secrets, likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were stolen.

"It has not been an easy journey for us," Huawei's global brand director, Amy Lou, said Sunday of the company's quest to become globally recognized and trusted. She called the company "a great consumer brand in the making."

The world's largest cellphone trade show, Mobile World Congress, opens Monday in Barcelona.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Investigation Proves China’s Army Is Hacking the U.S.

In light of this staggering evidence, will the United States finally take action against these acts of war?

BY JEREMIAH JACQUES


A shadowy branch of the Chinese military is one of the world’s “most prolific cyberespionage groups,” according to a report released Tuesday by a leading computer security company.

The report by Virginia-based Mandiant is significant because, before its publication, public evidence proving that the Chinese government sponsors the torrent of cyberattacks originating in China was in short supply. The document’s 60 pages are mostly about investigations Mandiant has conducted on a group of hackers it calls Advanced Persistent Threat 1 (APT1).

Evidence conclusively ties APT1 to attacks on 141 different organizations—mostly entities in America’s military, defense industry, energy infrastructure sectors, telecommunications industry and hi-tech research groups.

Despite Beijing’s persistent claims to the contrary, APT1 is not a group of rogue Chinese hackers.

PLA Unit 61398

“Our analysis has led us to conclude that APT1 is likely government-sponsored,” the report says. It goes on to pinpoint the Chinese military as the branch of the government sponsoring the espionage.

“[O]ur research found that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Unit 61398 is similar to APT1 in its mission, capabilities, and resources. PLA Unit 61398 is also located in precisely the same area from which APT1 activity appears to originate. … [T]he totality of evidence” reveals that “APT1 is Unit 61398,” the report summarized.

(Unit 61398 is located inside a building on the outskirts of Shanghai that the Trumpet was able to locate on Google maps.)

With a degree of sarcasm, the authors explain the only other possible explanation for their findings:

A secret, resourced organization full of mainland Chinese speakers with direct access to Shanghai-based telecommunications infrastructure is engaged in a multi-year, enterprise-scale computer espionage campaign right outside of Unit 61398’s gates, performing tasks similar to Unit 61398’s known mission.

Unit 61398 is very seldom mentioned in China’s official descriptions of its military, but Mandiant’s findings reveal that it is perhaps the PLA’s most effective and destructive unit.

Washington’s Response

The day after the report was released, the Obama administration announced a new effort to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets. Yet, the statement made no mention of China, the Chinese military or the threat posed to U.S. military and infrastructure.

Washington’s refusal to confront China’s assault in any meaningful way has worried some American leaders. “If the Chinese government flew planes into our airspace, our planes would escort them away. If it happened two, three or four times, the president would be on the phone and there would be threats of retaliation,” said Shawn Henry, former FBI executive assistant director. “This is happening thousands of times a day.”

Cyberattacks—which the U.S. officially labels “acts of war”—are happening thousands of times a day, and mountains of evidence shows that China’s military is behind many of the most destructive and persistent ones. The U.S. is bleeding military secrets, technological information, corporate strategies and billions of dollars. Evidence suggests that America has already suffered trial attacks on its vital infrastructure. Yet, U.S. leaders address Beijing’s brazen ongoing assaults only in the most indirect and toothless terms. They do absolutely nothing to retaliate against the attacks.

One unnamed intelligence official said “huge diplomatic sensitivities” were the cause of Washington’s reluctance to take any action against China.

Many of these “sensitivities” link to the fact that China is the U.S.’s biggest creditor. A staggering number of American politicians and entrepreneurs prioritize profit over patriotism. Chinese policymakers recognize that, under President Obama, the U.S. does not have any stomach for confrontation. So they continue these “acts of war” against America without fear of retaliation.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has warned of the U.S.’s cyber vulnerability for many years. In May 2006, he wrote:

I believe one key end-time Bible prophecy could well be fulfilled through … cyberterrorism … ‘they have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof’ (Ezekiel 7:14). The trumpet of war is to be blown in Israel—mainly America and Britain. It seems everybody is expecting our people to go into battle, but the greatest tragedy imaginable occurs! Nobody goes to battle—even though the trumpet is blown! Will it be because of computer terrorism?

The Chinese government’s relentless cyber assaults against the U.S. are now public knowledge. The whole world can hear the shrill blasts of the trumpet of war. By refusing to take action to stop the attacks, America is showing the world that its will to use its power is broken.

To understand more, read “U.S. Vulnerable to Cyber Pearl Harbor.”

The Trum Pet

Indonesian Air Force gets two Sukhoi jet fighters, waits for four more

Two out of the six Sukhoi Su-30 MK2 jet fighters ordered by the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) arrived at Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force Base in Makassar late on Friday evening.

A spokesman from the base, Maj. Muliadi, said on Saturday the two jet fighters were part of an order of six Su-30 MK2s arriving in batches.

“The remaining four jet fighters will arrive in June and July,” he said.

The Russian-made jet fighters arrived onboard An-12-100 Ruslan strategic transport aircraft in disassembled condition and without engines. The engines are scheduled to arrive on Feb. 27 for the entire six jet fighters, totaling 12 engines.

In addition to the two jet fighters made by Komsomolsk-na Amure Aircraft Production Association (KNAPO), 17 technicians from the aircraft manufacturers will assemble the jet fighters.

Muliadi said the assembly process would take two weeks to complete, including test flights.

The Su-30 MK2 is a twin-engine, dual-seater jet fighter with a range of some 3,000 kilometers and is able to carry a payload of some eight tons.

As with previous shipments, the jet fighters do not come with weapons, other than internal cannons.

“The weapons will be purchased separately after the jet fighters are assembled, just like other batches,” Muliadi said.

Defense analysts have criticized the separate acquisition of the jet fighters, which do not include weapons such as bombs and missiles.

The government, however, said budget constraints had limited its ability to buy a complete package.

With the two jet fighters, now Indonesia has six single-seater Su-27 SKMs and six Su-30 MK2s.

The Su-27/30 jet fighters are known as “Flankers”.

By the end of this year, there will be 16 jet fighters of this type under the command of the 11th Squadron.

The fighters have been arriving in batches since 2003, starting with Su-27 SKM, which arrived at Iswahjudi Air Force Base in Madiun, East Java.

The home base of the fighters was then moved to Makassar in 2005, making the deliveries of the heavyweight jet fighters direct to Makassar since 2009, 2010 and 2013.

The government is currently improving its air force assets both in jet fighter and transport roles to augment and replace ageing aircraft.

Other than increasing the number of Flankers, the TNI AU is also expecting the delivery of 24 F-16 C/D Block 25, granted by the US. Indonesia will be responsible for bearing the cost of modernizing the lightweight, multi-role aircraft.

Indonesia currently has 10 F-16 A/B Block 15 OCUs, in the Third Squadron, which were acquired in 1989. These jet fighters will also undergo modernization.

In September, the TNI AU received four EMB-324 Super Tucano ground attack aircraft out of 16 ordered from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer. Joining the 21st Squadron, the aircraft are a replacement for the legendary American-made Rockwell OV-10 Bronco.

Another new acquisition is the T-50 Golden Eagle lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) aircraft from the Korean Aerospace Industry, to replace the British-made BAE Hawk Mk 53 in the 15th Squadron.

Indonesia will receive four C-130H Hercules heavy lift transport aircraft granted by Australia and will buy another six. Indonesia currently has two squadrons of Hercules, the 31st and 32nd.

Indonesia has also received two C-295 medium lift transport aircraft out of nine aircraft ordered from Spain-based Airbus Military in cooperation with state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia, which will make the aircraft in Bandung. The C-295 will join the CN-235 and Fokker F-27 in the second squadron.

The Jakarta Post

BrahMos Aerospace to develop tech for hypersonic missiles

BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture, has initiated efforts to develop technology for hypersonic version of the BrahMos missile which can travel at five to seven times the speed of sound, a top company official has said.

"The company is roping in academics to develop the requisite technology before going in for designing and developing missiles which can travel at Mach 5 to 7 (five to seven times the speed of sound). It will be BrahMos II version next to the present variants of Mach 2.8 to 3.5," A Sivathanu Pillai MD & CEO of the company told PTI.

He said the IISc, Bangalore, would collaborate with the company with a 20 member scientists' team developing technologies for high temperature material required to build the missile, cram-jet propulsions and energy modules and the requisite algorithms.

A separate centre has been created for this purpose in Indian Institute of Science while its Russian counterpart, the Moscow Institute of Aviation, would produce technologies for propulsion, kinetic energy modules for the hypersonic version.

In all probability, it would take a minimum of five years for these initiatives to crystallise. In the meantime, BrahMos would work out blueprints for setting up a production centre, choice of vendors for supply of necessary components and investment structure, he said.

After these operations, BrahMos Aerospace would take up development of missiles that can come back to the originating mode after destroying the designated target, he said.

Pillai said modernisation and expansion of manufacturing facilities at Hyderabad and Thriuvananthapuram are also on the cards since the domestic market demand is on the increase.

He said the Indian Air Force had also started placing orders for BrahMos and added that the Army and the Navy are regular customers.

Pillai was here to participate in a felicitation function held in his honour on being conferred the Padma Bhushan Award.

The Economic Times

Tensions rapidly escalating around South China Sea


China’s territorial assertions have alienated almost everyone in its neighborhood. | Reuters.

China’s assertion that almost all of the South China Sea and adjacent waters are part of its territory seems to be growing more dangerous with each passing week.

China and Japan are scrambling fighter jets in their faceoff over disputed islands. Last month, China “painted” a Japanese military helicopter and destroyer with weapons-lock radar — bringing harsh criticism from Japanese and American military officials.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and several other states are responding angrily to their own territorial disputes with China, so that a common refrain among analysts and observers has become “one stupid mistake could start a war.” Already, Xi Jinping, China’s new leader, has told the state’s military to “prepare for war.”

But as this crisis continues and worsens month after month, the one player seldom heard from is the United States. And China is making it plain that Beijing is little worried about America.

“From a Chinese perspective, 2013 appears to bear similarities to 1913,” Ruan Zongze, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, the Foreign Ministry’s official think tank, said last month at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong.
One century ago “marked the rise of the West,” he intoned. But today, “the opposite is happening with money, power and influence flowing away from America and the West into Asia.

“It’s déjà vu all over again” — except in reverse, he said.

Ruan, like many other Chinese, also blames the United States military’s “pivot” to Asia for stirring trouble in the region. But in fact, China’s aggressive expansionism began even before that — born of two domestic political needs.

Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at Peking University, noted in an interview that a few years ago some in the military were growing restless and wanted to start some kind of military conflict with Japan, China’s longtime adversary, to regain their relevance. President Hu Jintao was unwilling to go along with that.

But as China’s social and economic situation continued to deteriorate, Xia and others said, in the spring of 2009 another opportunity arose for re-establishing military relevance — while also distracting disgruntled Chinese with a new foreign conflict. That’s when most nations had to file papers with the United Nations stating their offshore jurisdictions as part of the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Much earlier, in 1946, pushed by the West to clarify its maritime position, the Republic of China had issued an official map showing its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea. Few paid attention then because a few years later the Chinese Communist Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang and seized control of the country.

But in 2009, when it came time for each nation to give the United Nations documentation of its claim to maritime territory, the Chinese government officially submitted that 1946 map. Since then, it has repeatedly asserted that nearly the entire sea and adjacent waters are “an inherent part of Chinese territory.”

“This was the first time China had brought this up since 1946,” Yann-huei Song, a research fellow at the Institute of European and American studies in Taipei, Taiwan, said in an interview.

So China’s claim that U.S. provocation is responsible for the South China Sea dispute is wrong. President Barack Obama didn’t first raise his notion of the pivot from the Middle East to Asia until late in 2011. And since then, the State Department has repeatedly said it would not take sides in the debate — even after China changed the map of its territory printed in Chinese passports to include 80 percent of the South China Sea. (Vietnam refuses to stamp those new passports. Instead, it stamps a piece of paper and inserts that into the passport.)

Visiting the region last fall, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Asian states to draw up a code of conduct for the nations bordering the South China Sea but added: “The United States does not take a position on competing territorial claims or land features” — even though the farthest point China now claims is more than 1,200 miles away from the Chinese mainland. (One reason the U.S. may be deferring is that Congress never ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty. Republicans blocked ratification once again last year. )

That’s just fine with Beijing. “China doesn’t want the U.S. involved in any way,” said Jose Cuisia Jr., the Philippines’ ambassador to the United States, at a Stanford University conference.

China’s territorial assertions have alienated almost everyone in the neighborhood — perhaps finally giving the Chinese military what it wanted: new relevance.

“Yes, China doesn’t have any partners in the region anymore,” Song said. Except one — Cambodia.

China is pouring more money into Cambodia than all the other donor nations combined — $8 billion in the past few years. After meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen won a commitment for an additional $5 billion over the next several years. Most important, that money comes with no strings attached — no demands to end corruption, home seizures, dissident repression or any of Cambodia’s many other social ills — problems also endemic to China. China has essentially purchased Cambodia’s loyalty, which has proved to be quite useful for Beijing.

At the same time, landlocked Laos is an ambivalent ally. The two nations have a fraught history. North Korea is a resentful, dependent state. Everyone else in the region is angry over China’s expansionist maritime claims.

Last year, Cambodia held the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN’s two meetings last year were held in Phnom Penh with Hun Sen as conference chairman. The first was in July, and when ASEAN delegates traveled to Phnom Penh from the airport, they saw billboards along the highway honoring Chinese President Hu, as well as hundreds of tiny Chinese flags hanging everywhere.

Hu had visited Hun Sen a short time earlier, but neither country said anything meaningful about their discussion. In the region, however, all the speculation centered on China’s concern that the ASEAN states would try to put out a joint code of conduct for the ongoing South China Sea dispute.

Hu, it was said, wanted Hun Sen to be sure that did not happen, and the Cambodian leader manage to keep that subject off the agenda. When the conference ended, ASEAN issued no final statement for the first time in its 45-year history.

Then, in November, Obama attended the second and final ASEAN conference in Cambodia. He was the first American president to visit the country, and as he was driven from the airport into town the streets were virtually deserted. All he could see from his vehicle window were Chinese flags and billboard portraits, this time of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who was also attending the meeting. A few days earlier, thousands of Cambodians had gathered along the streets to wave and cheer as Wen drove into town, regional papers reported.

At the end of the meeting, Hun Sen read a statement asserting that ASEAN had reached consensus: The South China Sea controversy would not be “internationalized” — meaning that each ASEAN nation would have to negotiate with China on its own.

That’s exactly what China wanted.

“China wants bilateral talks with each of the nations,” said I-Hsin Chen, vice president of the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies in Taiwan. “But the U.S. and Asian states want multilateral talks.”

As the conference closed, nearly all of the other ASEAN members angrily complained that they’d never agreed to any such thing. But it was too late.

Still, as that conference closed, Cambodia’s chairmanship ended, and Hun Sen passed the gavel to Brunei — a small, wealthy state that will serve as chairman through 2013. It takes no money from China; Brunei doesn’t need it. Brunei also is involved in a barely significant territorial dispute with China — a submerged reef that both nations claim.
But even with a more neutral ASEAN chairman, Cuisia, the Philippines’ ambassador, warned: “Territorial disputes between states are always difficult to resolve.”

Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former foreign correspondent for The New York Times.

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