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The U.S. Treasury Department has incorrectly labeled China a manipulator of its currency. An important distinction exists between devaluing a currency and currency depreciation. Devaluing implies the People’s Bank of China actively manipulated the value of the Chinese renminbi to gain unfair advantage for its exports. Depreciation simply means the renminbi has lost purchasing power relative to the U.S. dollar, based on market forces. There’s no indication that China is actively devaluing its currency. However, according to the Treasury Department, China met a broad definition of manipulation laid out in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, which says...

BEIJING (AP) — China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was moved to a launch pad in China‘s desert northwest on Saturday for the mid-June flight, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an space program spokesman. The three-member crew will dock with and live in the Tiangong 1 orbital module launched last year, Xinhua said. The government has not said how long the mission will last.

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA - 2008 UPDATE By Jeff Head - Last Update: January 2, 2008 Throughout 2007 the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has concentrated on integrating its newest surface combatants into its various fleets, while introducing new combatants simultaneously. In particularly, the newer nuclear attack and ballistic missile submarines have been officially seen and photographed, punctuating the PLAN's continued advance and improvement of its nuclear submarine capability, while continuing to build and add new diesel electric submarines. It's new Landing Ship Dock and now new, associated LCAC craft are being integrated into the fleet. The...

After seven Democratic presidential candidates debated on Nov. 15, CNN treated us to a debate of eight Republican hopefuls on Nov. 28. The transcript of the debate numbers 25 pages. Its first major subject is “illegal immigration,” which runs to Page 10, or about a third of the debate. Illegal immigration? The word “state” in the political sense (as in “the United States of America”) implies that foreigners cannot come to and live in a “state” as they could on land owned by no one. Otherwise, the “USA” should have been called “NOLA,” “No One’s Lands of America.” Nineteen foreigners...

What could the USS Kitty Hawk and Citigroup possibly have in common? I'll start with the aircraft carrier because I'm still stewing over what happened when the People's Republic of China abruptly denied the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying ships and submarines their routine, scheduled Thanksgiving berth in Hong Kong, where hundreds of crew members' families had gathered (at considerable expense) to celebrate the holiday with their loved ones. First, there was the nasty act itself. News accounts speculated about the "reason" -- was it President Bush's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama? Our latest arms agreement with Taiwan?...

What the Chinese are buying with American trade dollars"I'm Congressman Duncan Hunter. A few weeks ago when this Song Class Chinese submarine emerged next to one of our aircraft carriers about 80 miles off Okinawa, it shows the American people what the Chinese are buying with American trade dollars. They're cheating on trade and they're buying ships and planes and missles with our money as well as taking millions of jobs. Join me at Peace Through Strength for fair trade."

Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, is the author of seven books on international affairs, including America's Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan (2006). The People's Republic of China continues to send worrisome signals about its security strategy. As the tone of cross-straits relations grows increasingly strident, China's latest military reshuffle and ongoing lack of transparency about its military budget are creating new tensions with both the United States and its neighbors in East Asia. In the lead-up to the opening of the Communists' 17th National Party Congress...

Several months ago, the Pentagon's network and e-mail system fell victim to computer hacking. After an internal investigation, Pentagon officials declared that the hack was perpetrated by the Chinese military. In particular, officials said the attack "was by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) and that it led to the shutdown of a computer system serving the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates." Now, a Chinese company with ties to the country's military, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and the Taliban will gain access to U.S. defense-network technology under a proposed merger.According to a story in the Washington Times, Huawei Technologies...

‘Those dirty communist bastards’. This phrase and similarly worded curses are being uttered by more Americans each day as the headlines in normally apologist media outlets are documenting case after case of Chinese malfeasance this summer of 2007. Headlines such as “More Tainted Chinese Toothpaste found”, “Mattel: 9M More Chinese-made Toys Recalled”, “Melamine in Pet Food may not be Accidental”, and more ominously “China Warns America It May Sell US Treasury Bonds” are perking up American ears. Nothing rattles the average American consumer like stories of beloved family pets dropping like flies, or Polly Pockets and Little People posing a...

At 5:28 PM EST on Jan. 11, 2007, a satellite arced over southern China. It was small — just 6 ft. long — a tiny object in the heavens, steadily bleeping its location to ground stations below, just as it had every day for the past seven years. And then it was gone, transformed into a cloud of debris hurtling at nearly 16,000 mph along the main thoroughfare used by orbiting spacecraft. It was not the start of the world's first war in space, but it could have been. It was just a test: The satellite was a defunct Chinese...

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...

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA - 2007 UPDATE By Jeff Head - Last Update: February 24, 2007 Throughout 2006 and into 2007 the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has continued its unprecedented modernization and buildup, adding two entirely new classes of major combatant warships to its inventory, along with the other twelve new classes they have been working on. Large numbers of new guided missile destroyers, guided missile frigates, fast attack craft, very modern and quiet diesel/electric attack submarines, nuclear attack submarines, nuclear ballistic missile submarines, logisitic support craft, amphibious assault craft, and the infrastructure and aircraft to...

To show continued gratitude to all Freepers who value the constitution and who are actively engaged in preserving it...either through service to their country, dialog with their friends, relatives and neighbors, online activism, protesting against foerign and domestic enemies of our constitution and way of life, corresponding with legislators and other elected or appointed officials, and just to say thanks to all of those on FreeRepublic who have encouraged and helped me in my own activities...I am extending my free ebook download offer at: JEFF HEAD FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD for my following two published books: THE STAND AT KLAMATH FALLS...

BEIJING -- The U.S. will soon propose changes to its security controls on the export of high-technology products to China as the administration rethinks its approach to the system, according to a top U.S. trade official. The export controls are designed to monitor trade in "dual-use" goods, or products that can have civilian and military uses. The designation covers a widening range of technology products as a result of the growing role of information and communication systems in modern warfare. Balancing security and business concerns is difficult for U.S. policy makers. The widening trade deficit with China has increased the...

Symposium: China: Time Bomb WalkingAs President Bush met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House this week, the issue of China’s rise as a global superpower took center stage. Serious concerns are mounting in Washington in regards to China’s increasingly aggressive global posturing. Indeed, Beijing continues to militarily threaten Taiwan, to support a nuclear North Korea, and to forge alliances with anti-American regimes everywhere, including with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran’s nuclear-aspiring Mullahs. As the military and economic threat of Beijing becomes increasingly apparent, the question arises: were we complicit in creating this communist monster? If we were,...

Hong Kong : On his current tour of duty to China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavroy noted on Tuesday that his country’s relationship with China had “reached an unprecedented level.” He made his comments as the two giants, both of whom share an anxiety over US militarist policies and both of whom have veto power in the UN Security Council, reiterated their calibrated stand on the Iran nuclear standoff: China and Russia, he said, would not vote for the use of force in resolving the issue, and would instead favour dialogue and diplomacy. This unambiguous articulation of policy places...

BEIJING – The stunning revelation of fraud and fakery in the heart of China's R&D industry has vindicated a feisty set of scholars who are gaining traction in exposing a culture of fraud and corruption in China's colleges. Just days ago authorities revealed that the Hanxin digital signal chip, a so-called "Chinese chip" designed to enhance home-grown computer technology, is not an original. Chen Jin, "father of the Chinese chip," evidently used a product from a foreign firm to win a lucrative bid in 2003 - ironically, to spearhead a much publicized patriotic national drive to create a Chinese For...

Americans were rightly outraged over the possibility of an Arab nation with ties to terrorists taking control of six major American ports. Protests from across the nation helped to squelch the deal. However, the job’s not finished. The Communist Chinese still control ports at Long Beach. Congressman Charlie Norwood, (R-GA) made a strong case for getting the Chinese out of the port of Long Beach when he noted that while Dubai has been a reliable partner for America in the War on Terror, Red Chinese officials have threatened invasion of America’s ally on Taiwan and nuclear war against the United...

<p>Patriot's History of the United States and to those who have intended to buy Jeff Head's "Dragon's Fury" or "The Stand at Klamath Falls," with Jeff's permission I am offering the following: If you will purchase either Jeff's "Klamath Falls" or any of the five volumes of the "Dragon's Fury" series, I am going to offer a free Adobe eBook version of my new 9/11 thriller, September Day to any registered Free Republic member who would like it. Again, this is with Jeff's full permission, and we are going to take you at your word that you have ordered the book, and not require any proof of purchase. I'm not General Foods or DirectTV.</p>

China has been selling its relatively cheap but lower quality products with ease both to US and EU. With US, China is running a trade deficit of about $100 billion a year. A similar trade deficit exists with the EU. The Chinese do not feel obliged to balance the trade. They use FDI and dollar reserves in US and elsewhere as a tool to enhance their trade position. Though the US does not like it, only recently it has started to flex its muscles. Trade imbalance discussions have been going on for the last five years but the US took...