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According to the AIVD, the Dutch secret service, the terrorist threat from radical Islamic quarters is increasing, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. In its annual report for 2007 the AIVD also confirms what other intelligence sources have said previously: al-Qaeda is gaining influence after being effectively out of action for years. Each year the secret service presents a central theme in its annual report. This year it's international cooperation and the exchange of information between intelligence services. The AIVD explains that such cooperation might be necessary but it isn't without its complications. The identities of intelligence...

One sobering aspect of the tragedy of Tibet is to consider a list of the places in the world where abuses of human rights are most common. Darfur in Sudan, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Myanmar (or Burma), Uzbekistan and Tibet would come high on most peoples' lists. And what they have in common is the crucial enabling role of China. Tibet, where the official Chinese figure of 10 dead in the disturbances of the last four days is dwarfed by the more reliable reports from inside the country of more than 100 dead, has been under direct Chinese rule since 1951....

Inside the Ring March 7, 2008 By Bill Gertz - China missiles One little-noticed intelligence disclosure contained in the Pentagon's annual report on Chinese military power says China now has ballistic missiles designed to hit U.S. aircraft carriers and ships at sea. The missiles are described in the report as part of China's "anti-access/area denial capabilities" that include "anti-ship ballistic missiles designed to strike ships at sea, including aircraft carriers." Using a ballistic missile to target ships requires a degree of sophistication not shown by Chinese missiles in the past, and indicates China's military has mastered precision missile targeting, no...

Congress has ordered the U.S. military to report annually "on the current and future military strategy of the People's Republic of China." So on Monday, the Pentagon turned out a 66-page report to help Congress foster its own fears. It's part of a symbiotic relationship: Congress orders the study, and then lawmakers get to cite it as justification for buying more weapons. Some in national-security circles refer to the phenomenon as a "self-licking ice cream cone."

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top official newspaper on Thursday accused the United States of exaggerating fears about Beijing's military to justify its weapons sales to Taiwan, continuing verbal push-and-shove between the two powers. The Pentagon's annual report on Chinese military power released this week said China was developing weapons to cripple its foes' space technology and also linked intrusions into computer networks worldwide to Beijing.

The Justice Department said Monday that it has arrested a former Boeing Co. engineer on charges that he stole Boeing trade secrets related to several aerospace programs -- including the Space Shuttle -- on behalf of the Peoples Republic of China. The department said the arrest of 72-year-old Dongfan "Greg" Chung, of Orange, Calif. follows his indictment on eight counts of economic espionage and acting as an unregistered foreign agent for China.

TAIPEI — A Chinese navy fleet led by guided-missile destroyers steamed through Taiwanese and Japanese waters on two occasions in April and May, Taiwan Defense Minister Lee Tien-yu was quoted as saying in a report in Wednesday's Liberty Times, Taiwan's biggest daily. Lee confirmed local media reports claiming a Chinese fleet of some five vessels, mostly Luhu-class missile destroyers and distilling ships, based in Qingdao, China, had passed between Okinawa and Miyakojima islands before turning south and traveling along Taiwan's east coast and passing its southern tip on two occasions in the periods between April 28 and May 11, and...

China's military buildup is moving beyond countering Taiwan to global operations from the Middle East through Southeast Asia, according to the Pentagon's annual assessment of Chinese military power. "China's military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also generating capabilities for other regional contingencies, such as conflict over resources or territory," the report to Congress said. The statement, released yesterday, contradicts assessments of some pro-China analysts and intelligence officials who have said the nation's military buildup is relatively benign and limited to resolving the sovereignty issue of Taiwan, which was separated from China in 1949 during a civil war. China...

Beijing upgrades nuclear arsenal By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: May 25 2007 20:21 | Last updated: May 25 2007 20:21 China is modernising and expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons giving it an enhanced nuclear strike capability, according to a new Pentagon report on the Chinese military. The Pentagon said China was developing mobile, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles in addition to long-range, submarine-launched ballistic missiles that would be deployed on a new fleet of nuclear submarines. ADVERTISEMENT A US defence official said the shift to mobile and sea-based missiles was an effort by the People’s Liberation Army to improve...

May 17, 2007 China's Quest for a Superpower Military by John J. Tkacik, Jr. Backgrounder #2036 The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) announced on March 4, 2007, that it would increase the country's military budget by 17.8 percent in 2007 to a total of $45 bil­lion—by far the largest acknowledged amount that China has ever spent on its military.1 The Chinese government went out of its way to reassure the world that this spending hike was normal and need not worry anyone. "China is committed to taking a path of peaceful development and it pursues...

..Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his remarks centered around trade. Hunter is a strong opponent of free trade deals like CAFTA and NAFTA and talked about the trade inequities that accompany these bills and how American companies and thereby workers are getting shafted...

Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, has expressed unease over China’s growing military might, warning that its recent testing of anti-satellite weapons clashed with the country’s professed peaceful intentions.Speaking in Sydney after a visit to Japan, Mr Cheney also questioned whether North Korea would follow through on its commitments made in a landmark deal to end its nuclear programme. In an address to prominent US and Australian figures, the Vice-President praised China for its crucial role in six-party talks that led to the North Korea pact, under which Pyongyang agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor in exchange for heavy fuel...

Before rejoicing over detente with Kim Jong Il, it might be useful to remember that although agreements were reached in the past, his countrymen later built a number of nuclear weapons and carried out a test. Also, North Korea, with a rich chemical and biological arsenal having long ago neutralized American tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, has embarked solely on a program of survival by extortion and will gladly forfeit a power it does not need in exchange for recognition and some essential commodities. The Asian nuclear power of which we must take account is not North Korea...

Breaking nearly two weeks of silence, Communist China has now confirmed that it did indeed successfully attack and destroy an aging weather satellite more than 500 miles above the earth. As U.S. intelligence revealed last week, the destructive intercept was performed by a kinetic-kill vehicle (KKV) launched onboard a medium-range ballistic missile.In making this acknowledgement, however, the Foreign Minister preposterously declared that “the test was not targeted against any country and does not pose a threat to any country.”  The mendacity of this statement is as transparent as Beijing’s military activities in the area of space control and power projection,...

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A U.S. defense chief called for closer military ties with China and for the two powers to shed "Cold War" thinking on Tuesday as he highlighted a recent naval encounter that could have gone wrong. The chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral William J. Fallon, was asked to confirm a U.S. newspaper report of an uncomfortably close encounter between U.S. warships and a Chinese submarine in the Pacific last month. Confirming the gist of the Washington Times report, Fallon said the submarine had been detected at close quarters by an aircraft carrier and its...

The US navy has confirmed reports of a close encounter between one of its battle groups and a Chinese submarine in the Pacific late last month. US Pacific Commander Admiral William Fallon said the incident had had the potential to escalate. He called for better communications between the two sides. He dismissed as rather sensational a report that a Chinese submarine had stalked the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships. But he did concede that the Chinese vessel had been close, which left both sides open to the potential for miscalculation. Admiral Fallon said that US forces...

President George W. Bush's nominee for U.S. defense secretary said the United States must prepare its military to resist if China attacks rival Taiwan. Robert Gates, a former CIA director chosen by Bush to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense chief, said that although China appears to want a peaceful merger with Taiwan, Beijing is boosting its military force in case of a war with the island. "We should maintain our capabilities to resist China's use of force or coercion against Taiwan and assist Taipei in maintaining its self-defense," Gates said in testimony submitted Tuesday to the Senate Armed Services...

While interacting with a select gathering of "Russia hands" from Western academia, media and think tanks recently, President Vladimir Putin ventured onto the topic of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in terms, as he put it, that would be a "revelation ... something probably I have never said to anyone before". Putin, known for his reticence and choice of words, revealed that the Kremlin did not "plan" for the SCO's present standing, but had only set its sights on the organization's potential to resolve the "utilitarian question of settling borders" between China and its post-Soviet neighbors. SCO includes China, Russia,...

China is acquiring advanced naval jet fighters from Russia. According to Russian sources, China has signed a deal with Moscow to purchase 50 Sukhoi SU-33 navy strike-fighter jets in a deal worth over $2 billion. The SU-33, NATO code-named "Flanker-D", is designed specifically for aircraft carrier operations. The Russian Navy currently operates SU-33 fighters from its single carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) plans to test the first two SU-33 fighters on land and then continue flight operations from an aircraft carrier. China's Dalian Shipyard is currently refitting the ex-Soviet Navy aircraft carrier Varyag that...

MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - The first joint military exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be held on Russian territory, the chief of Russia's General Staff said Friday. "The first ever joint exercise in the history of these two organizations will be held in the summer next year," Yury Baluyevsky said. The decision was supported by the majority of the CSTO and SCO chiefs of the General Staff during a meeting in Moscow on Thursday. The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a post-Soviet security grouping that comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan...