Free Republic

South Korea recently uncovered a North Korean plot to obtain South Korean electronic warfare equipment. North Korean agents, operating in China, sought to connect with South Korean business and government officials travelling in China, in order to see who could be bribed to help obtain the desired equipment. As a result of this, South Korea again warned their citizens, especially those working for the government or defense firms, to be careful who they deal with in China. To emphasize the danger, the government also announced the arrest of a former army officer, only identified as Mr. Lee, who had been...

China air force much improved though still lagging Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 5, 12:21 pm ET BEIJING – China's rapidly modernizing air force is planning a display of its new military might for its 60th anniversary, showcasing a wide-ranging technical upgrade that has boosted its capabilities, though it still lags far behind its main rival, the United States. The People's Liberation Army Air Force is marking the occasion this Sunday with an aerial show and skydiving exhibition, using some of the state-of-the-art combat aircraft that have replaced hundreds of antiquated MIG fighters. While only about 20...

Comparing the relative strengths of India and China is a time-honoured parlour game. Which nation can grow faster? Which will be the more important power in the 21st century? Which one has a better model for growth? After China’s dramatic Olympic showcase and its ability to get its economy growing quickly after the global financial downturn, many have wondered if China has the jump on India today. But courtesy of an innovative London-based think tank, we have a comprehensive way of comparing India and China—one that is far more useful and comprehensive than anything that has come before it—and the...

China denounced as protectionist new U.S. anti-dumping duties on steel pipes on Friday and called for Washington's swift recognition that it is a market economy, a week before a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. The United States on Thursday slapped preliminary anti-dumping duties ranging up to 99 percent on $2.63 billion in Chinese-made pipes used in the oil and gas industry, in the biggest U.S. trade action against China to date. The Commerce Department issued its preliminary decision a week before Obama heads to Asia on a trip that includes stops in Shanghai and Beijing. It follows counter-vailing duties...

The Obama adminstration must react responsibly to China’s declaration that military operations in space are inevitable, a top China expert says. “How will the US react to Chinese diplomatic efforts in light of the PLA’s blunt statements on space warfare? This is something the Obama administration has to take into account,” said Dean Cheng, China specialist at Washington’s Heritage Foundation. “Are we going to see outrage, any meaningful reactions to the Chinese statements or again that it was someone speaking out of school and we just aren’t sure.” Cheng was referring to what appears to mark a major shift...

President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress are spending billions of tax dollars to subsidize development of "green jobs" - positions for people and companies designing and manufacturing alternative energy sources such as biomass, wind and solar. One of Obama's buddies, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, is also a vocal advocate of such subsidies. Last year, Patrick put Massachusetts taxpayers' money where is mouth is by backing a $58 million package of incentives and subsidies to Evergreen Solar, which manufacturers collector panels used in solar energy units. Now barely a year later, Evergreen has announced that it is moving...

Future-oriented industries, such as those manufacturing solar panels, are being held back by shortages because of China's control of essential metals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military needs to deepen dialogue with China to better understand the intent of its space programs, a U.S. general said on Tuesday, after a Chinese commander announced plans to develop offensive military capabilities in space. General Kevin Chilton, head of the Pentagon's Strategic Command which coordinates U.S. military operations in space, said China-watchers had been "absolutely amazed" by the country's advances in its space programs over the past decade.

The Obama adminstration must react responsibly to China’s declaration that military operations in space are inevitable, a top China expert says. “How will the US react to Chinese diplomatic efforts in light of the PLA’s blunt statements on space warfare? This is something the Obama administration has to take into account,” said Dean Cheng, China specialist at Washington’s Heritage Foundation. “Are we going to see outrage, any meaningful reactions to the Chinese statements or again that it was someone speaking out of school and we just aren’t sure.”

AN official Taliban publication warns Australia that it will have to assimilate into a dominant Asia or face the prospect of being overpowered and forced to take population overspill from Asia. The choice is spelled out in the latest issue of the online Taliban monthly magazine, Al Sumud (Steadfastness), whose lead article offers a sweeping view of a post-war order in which a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan becomes a moral pivot for a pan-Asian renaissance that will coincide with the decline of Western power. "The end of European leadership in the world will place the white settler diaspora in Australia before two...

Nien Cheng, 94, whose memoir "Life and Death in Shanghai" was widely praised as one of the most riveting accounts of the Cultural Revolution, died Nov. 2 of cardiovascular and renal disease at her home in Washington. At a time when China's Communist leader Mao Zedong was trying to purge political rivals and reassert his authority, Mrs. Cheng, the wealthy widow of an oil company executive, was one of untold numbers of professionals who were evicted from their homes by the Red Guard. She was arrested in August 1966 and falsely accused of being a spy. Mrs. Cheng endured 6...

<p>Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbour China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP.</p>

Reporting Lou Young NEW YORK (CBS) -- Democrat John Liu has won a decisive victory in the race for New York City Comptroller. The Queens Councilman has made history, becoming the first Asian-American elected to citywide office. They pretty much knew they were having a victory party at John Liu's headquarters in Midtown. In fact, you could see the optimism on the candidate's face when we caught up with him earlier tonight in Harlem. Liu was wrapping up his successful campaign for Controller at the side of the man who currently holds the office. And his is a big deal...

The ongoing campaign against triads, or Chinese-style mafias, in the west-China metropolis of Chongqing is the largest such operation since 1949. Yet what renders this so-called “anti-triad tornado” (fanhei fengbao) so disturbing is not simply that close to 3,000 big-time criminals have been nabbed by authorities, the Chongqing disaster has laid bare the full extent of the collusion between organized crime on the one hand, and senior officers in the police and judiciary on the other. Even more shocking is the fact that what the local media calls “dark and evil forces” have become so entrenched and prevalent in this...

"He was a conjurer. He was a magician."

In a wide-ranging interview in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily, air force commander Xu Qiliang said it was imperative for the PLA air force to develop offensive and defensive operations in outer space. "We must build an outer space force that conforms with the needs of our nation's development (and) the demands of the development of the space age." "Only power can protect peace," the 59-year-old commander said in the interview given to coincide with this month's 60th anniversary of the founding of the PLA air force.

Beijing gives frosty reception to man-made snowstorm Wed Nov 4, 1:26 AM BEIJING (AFP) - Government scientists in Beijing have been pilloried for inducing a recent heavy snow fall that jammed traffic, delayed air travel and left city residents shivering, state media said Wednesday. Sunday's snowfall dropped more than 16 million tonnes of snow on the Chinese capital, blanketing a city where winter heating services have yet to be switched on and leading to howls of public protest, the China Daily reported. The Weather Modification Office shot massive amounts of chemicals into clouds over the city the night before to...

Taiwan says China starts building first aircraft carrier Agence France-Presse First Posted 19:44:00 11/04/2009 Filed Under: Military, Foreign affairs & international relations TAIPEI – Taiwan said Wednesday that its giant neighbor China has started building its first aircraft carrier, a move analysts have said could raise military tensions in the region. The head of Taiwan's National Security Bureau told parliament construction of the carrier had begun, Lin Yu-fang, a legislator of the ruling Kuomintang party, told AFP. However, the security chief, Tsai Teh-sheng said the carrier's construction "has not been smooth" and that the Chinese navy may struggle to put...

China interested in Russian hydrocarbons; Russia aims to reduce its dependence on European energy markets. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing earlier this month yielded commercial deals worth $3.5 billion and a sweeping framework for bilateral energy cooperation. China's interest in Russian hydrocarbons is motivated by a desire to meet growing demand and diversify import sources. Russia stands to gain from reducing its dependence on European energy markets and using exports to China to develop Russia's Far East. Oil integration. Earlier this year, the China Development Bank (CDB) provided Russian energy companies Rosneft and Transneft with a $25...

China, finally, is ready to build a house for Mickey Mouse. Beijing has approved plans to build a Disney theme park in Shanghai, a major milestone in the more than decade-long effort by Walt Disney Co. to dramatically expand its reach into China. Disney and the Shanghai municipal government jointly submitted plans in January to build a $3.59-billion park to open as early as 2014. It would be the entertainment giant's fourth theme park outside the U.S., after Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong -- and the first in mainland China, the fastest-growing mass market in the world. The Chinese central...

A well-regarded website devoted to “open source military analysis” believes that the picture [below] is of a Chinese anti-satellite laser weapon...In 2006, China fired lasers at U.S. satellites, possibly blinding the spacecraft...and just this week, the head of China’s air force pledged to militarize space “in order to protect peace"...In a post today, IMINT & Analysis stated that these rectangular buildings in the Tian Shan mountain range of Xinjiang province could be hiding the next phase of the Chinese arsenal.

DOUGLAS — Federal authorities say they have seized nearly 700 pounds of marijuana at the Douglas Port of Entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were screening travelers and vehicles Sunday night when they came in contact with a 20-year-old Douglas man driving a truck. The vehicle was inspected and authorities discovered that the bed of the F-150 had been completely altered to accommodate the concealment of nearly 700 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.1 million, authorities said. Officers seized the vehicle and marijuana and the man was turned over to the custody of Immigration and...

10 Ways A China Blow-Up Will Slam America Vincent FernandoNov. 3, 2009, 8:50 AM Beware a surprise economic crash in China. The country is expanding like crazy, and while this may look great in the short term, there are many signs that the country's economic path is unsustainable. The government itself realizes the problem, but must balance the country's bubble concerns with the zealous economic expectations of its population, and most importantly, the massive need for job creation. It's also a huge country and the government has far less control over the economy than it would like to admit. Should...

Budapest, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Investor and philanthropist George Soros forecast in Budapest on Friday that China would emerge as the big winner of the global financial crisis. Soros called on Chinese leaders to "rise to the occasion" and take an active role in the creation of a new multilateral financial order urgently required to reinvent the "broken international financial system." Soros also warned that "the worst financial crisis since WWII" may not be over. The Hungarian-born billionaire sounded a pessimistic note throughout the week and said that those who believe the global economy is stabilizing are wrong. In the...

ChiNext, China’s long-awaited Nasdaq-style stock exchange, opened on Friday with frenzied trading that more than doubled the prices of all 28 newly listed companies. Investors piled into the fledging market in the hope that its technology and innovation-driven start-ups would become future heavyweights. But some experts were sceptical. “There’s a lot of belief that somehow the next Microsoft is lurking in there, which you’d be a fool to believe,” said Fraser Howie, author of Privatizing China: Inside China’s Stock Markets. One of the most popular stocks was Huayi Brothers Media, the movie maker famed for putting kung fu stars Jet...

SNIPPET: "Lula and Chavez have established a "strategic relationship," and recently agreed upon a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan oil venture worth billions of dollars. Lula and Chavez have joined with Daniel Ortega, the returned Nicaraguan Marxist dictator, to form an anti-U.S. Latin American military alliance - all with Russian assistance - funded by the region's abundant oil reserves. Brazil is engaged in its own arms build-up and Lula is determined that Brazil will become at least a first-rate regional power. Unfortunately, Lula is establishing Brazil as an anti-American military power by aligning with nations hostile or potentially hostile to the U.S. Lula...

And now some welcome news for a change: In a little-noticed move, the U.S. Congress tore down a barrier to imports of chicken from China last week. It's a victory for free trade and for a more rational approach to safety standards. President Obama signed an appropriations bill Wednesday that clears the way for the imports by allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct in China the safety inspections U.S. law requires for any country exporting food to America. The congressional move in 2007 to block funding for those regulatory steps amounted to an import ban. Now USDA will...

WASHINGTON, Nov 02, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- BKIAF | Quote | | News | PowerRating -- The International Monetary Fund announced on Monday the sale of 200 tons of gold to India's central bank, almost half the total sales volume of 403.3 tons that was approved by the Executive Board in September. "I strongly welcome this transaction with the Reserve Bank of India," Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a statement. "This transaction is an important step toward achieving the objectives of the IMF's limited gold sales program, which are to help put the Fund's finances on a sound...

Christians gathering in snow after forced out On Sunday, Novermber 1, Beijing Christians gathered in heavy snow after they were banned from an indoor place.

Japan denies friction with US by Kyoko Hasegawa Mon Nov 2, 1:57 am ET TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's centre-left government on Monday denied US ties were being strained by a row over an American airbase, amid confusion over whether its foreign minister will travel to Washington this week. The US State Department on Saturday said Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada would meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday, but within hours dropped mention of the meeting from Clinton's schedule. In Japan, media reports suggested Okada was still seeking a meeting late this week, ahead of a Tokyo visit...

China's "father of space program" mourned across country (Source: Xinhua) 2009-11-02 　 People in deep sorrow come to express condolences in a small mourning hall that was set up at Qian Xuesen's home, Beijing, Nov. 1, 2009. Qian, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, died of illness in Beijing Saturday morning at the age of 98. He led the country's missile and aviation programs and played a significant role in developing China's first man-made earth satellite. (Xinhua/Gao Xueyu) 　 　　BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The death of China's legendary scientist Qian Xuesen has plunged many Chinese into deep sorrow and people...

As I have repeatedly noted, China has been blowing a bubble with easy credit. MarketWatch's Craig Stephen warns investors to be wary of a potential correction, at least in some sectors: Policy tightening could soon become the dominant market theme, meaning it's time for a rethink. After recent rate hikes in Australia and Norway, tightening is back on the agenda in many countries, including China. And with the U.S. just clocking up 3.5% annualized GDP growth for the third quarter, dollar bears will have something to think about. Nomura says its time to get a little more defensive in the...

The Chinese conundrum This is the proper space for continuing with a chapter named Exodus, but we will defer that subject. The holiday of Christian redemption approaching, the day the German-Jewish philosopher-theologian Franz Rosenzweig called “a day of entry into eternity,” it behooves us to take notice. Rosenzweig (1886 -1929) owes his own redemption from history’s benign neglect to the erudite Asia Times columnist Spengler, who has been championing this, in Spengler’s words, “sublime master of German letters,” for a long time. But for Christmas, one would do well to take exception to both Spengler’s and his prototype Oswald Spengler’s...

How And Why China Will Flood The Gold Market Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009 Oct 31, 2009 - 09:07 AM By: DailyWealth Jeff Clark of Casey Research writes: As you read this, the Chinese government is doing an extraordinary thing... something nearly unheard of in the modern world. It is encouraging citizens to put at least 5% of their savings into precious metals. The Chinese government is telling people gold and silver are good investments that will safeguard their wealth. After last year's meltdown in the stock market, people believe it. After all, Chinese citizens don't receive government retirement...

A LOVE cheat balances naked and shivering on an air conditioning vent after being caught romping with another man's wife. Sun Meng, 25, fled outside with the husband yelling abuse from his apartment window. This photo was taken by a neighbour - then posted on a local community website. Sun said in Chengdu, central China: "People are even laughing at how I look naked. But I must point out it was a very cold day."

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China's manufacturing expanded for the eighth straight month in October and forward-looking indicators pointed to a further pick-up underway, according to a government index released Sunday.The data adds up to a picture of an economy that's on track for acceleration in the October-to-December period, marking the third-straight quarterly pick up. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 55.2 in October from 54.3 in September, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a release. A gauge of export orders rose to 54.5 from 53.3, the sixth straight month of gains. General orders notched a similar...

BEIJING (AFP) - – Chinese meteorologists covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds to bring winter weather to the capital in an effort to combat a lingering drought, state media reported. The unusually early snow blanketed the capital from Sunday morning and kept falling for half the day, helped by temperatures as low as minus 2 Celsius (29 Fahrenheit) and strong winds from the north, Xinhua news agency reported. Besides falling in the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin and the northern province of Hebei, the eastern port city of Tianjin also got its first snow of the autumn,...

Kabul government’s decision to reject bids from competitors in the U.S., Canada and other countries

Clean tech has seen a boost as the U.S. pours government funding into renewable energy, and China looks set to reap much of the benefits. Latest example: a Chinese wind-turbine company has just become the exclusive supplier for one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S. The Shenyang Power Group has signed on to supply 240 of its massive 2.5-megawatt wind turbines to a 36,000-acre development in West Texas. The Wall Street Journal reports that the wind farm is also slated to receive $1.5 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank of China.

(T)he Chinese are concerned about the viability of the American economic system and about the long-term value of their more than $1 trillion of investments in American bonds. They are also dependent on the market even a recession-mired America offers, with exports to the United States still near $300 billion a year. Americans are worried about the effect of lower-cost Chinese labor on U.S. jobs, even though most of the lost jobs were lost long ago and have as much to do with the corrosive effects of technology on labor as they do with cheap production in China. Meanwhile, China...

I have challenged my kids to watch this in it's entirety. The movie can be viewed part 1 through 11 on you tube. When I hear Moa Te Tsung's name as someone to be admired by people in this administration, I realize that it can happen here. Their are too many signs that this administrations ideal of "change" could mean a future for our children and grandchildren just like the movie "China Cry".

The Obama administration's un-American attempt to vilify Fox News only increased the network's popularity. But this White House debacle can't be judged in isolation: There's a global leftwing assault on the freedom of information. Intense leftist sentiment in most of the international media isn't enough. Extremists seek total control. The one thing leftists just can't bear is criticism. (Mass murder's fine, but don't stray from the party line.) As early as the French Revolution, the left grasped that a free press is inherently subversive to its doctrines. The Obama administration's aborted Fox hunt simply aligned our government with the hounds...

(See all these news nuggets and more by clicking the excerpt link below): 1. BBC News: “Darwin Teaching ‘Divides Opinion’” Darwinism is a controversial topic, and many believe creation should be taught in the classroom. But why is that news? 2. ScienceDaily: “Junk DNA Mechanism that Prevents Two Species from Reproducing Discovered” Has the U.S. government finally supported creationist research? Alas, no, but the results of a National Institutes of Health study fit squarely within the young-earth creation framework. 3. PhysOrg: “Charles Darwin Really Did Have Advanced Ideas about the Origin of Life” Charles Darwin was convinced that life’s origin...

China sees rocky export rebound, shrinking surplus October 31, 2009 1:17 AM ET All Thomson Reuters news BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's exports face a "hard and tortuous" path to recovery as uncertainties dog the global economy's gradual return to health, with this year's trade surplus set to shrink from last year's record, the Commerce Ministry said. Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a conference on Saturday that China's trade surplus was expected to fall to $180 billion to $190 billion this year from last year's record $295.5 billion. The surplus was $136.4 billion in the first nine months of the year....

Dayton is being considered as a potential retail and residential development site by Hong Kong business mogul Zengbin Song, of Tian An China Investments Company. Working with local business owner Jack Gong, the Dayton Economic Development Corporation has now established a relationship with the Chinese investment community. Mr. Gong is the President of Overseas Operations for the Dayton office of Lucky Toys, a Six Flags distributor. Most recently, Gong developed, and leased, a shopping center in Willis, Texas. As part of a 60-member Chinese delegation to the Houston market, Song was attracted to Dayton as a high-growth submarket in the...

India shows the world how to stand firm with China. As President Obama prepares for his trip to Beijing next month, he'd be wise to cast an eye toward New Delhi, where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is showing the rest of the world how to deal with Beijing when it gets into a bullying mood. At issue is the Dalai Lama's proposed trip next month to visit Tibetan Buddhist believers in Arunachal Pradesh, a province governed by India but claimed by China since the 1962 border war. Chinese spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu said last week the trip "further exposed the anti-China...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Deposed President Manuel Zelaya and his opponents have agreed to a U.S.-brokered deal that he said will return him to power four months after a coup shook faith in Latin America's young democracies. The power-sharing agreement reached late Thursday calls for Congress to decide whether to reinstate the leftist Zelaya. While the legislature backed his June 28 ouster, congressional leaders have since said they won't stand in the way of an agreement that ends Honduras' diplomatic isolation and legitimizes presidential elections planned for Nov. 29. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said Friday that the two...

A Chinese company has succeeded in the biggest-yet takeover bid of an Australian firm in a move seen as an exploit amid bitter investment relations. The Australian authorities on Friday approved the 3.5-billion-dollar bid by China's Yanzhou Coal for mining giant Felix, AFP reported. Felix produces about 4.8 million metric tons of coal a year. The Chinese enterprise would be running its Australia-based mines through an Australian company. "The Australian Securities Exchange listing of all of Yanzhou's Australian assets ... is a significant development," Australia's Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry said in a statement. "It represents the first time a Chinese...

China Wind Power U.S. Commerce Sec. Says China to Lift Local Mfg. Rule By Sam Hopkins Friday, October 30th, 2009 United States Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday that China is moving to allow more parts from foreign manufacturers to be included in the Middle Kingdom's domestic wind power projects. As it stands, Beijing requires that 70% of the components in wind energy turbines erected around China be produced by factories within the country. Locke couldn't say exactly when the rule would change, but after the 20th U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, America's top industrial diplomat did...

A U.S. Navy admiral expressed new concern Friday over China's military buildup and urged Beijing to be clearer about its intentions. With China's military growing at an "unprecedented rate," the U.S. wants to ensure that expansion doesn't destabilize the region, Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan told reporters on a visit to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong. Donegan referred to China's expanded weaponry. His remarks echoed the concerns of other U.S. military leaders who have said the growth in China's military spending — up almost 15 percent in the 2009 budget — raises questions about how Beijing plans on deploying its...