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Caucus Brief: China's Increasingly Good Mock Air Battles Prep Pilots for Real War

Posted by The Congressional China Caucus | February 07, 2013

China’s Increasingly Good Mock Air Battles Prep Pilots for Real War. “For 11 days in November, the sky over the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu witnessed some of the most intensive dogfighting to ever take place in China. Jet fighters screamed overhead, twisting and turning in complex aerial maneuvers. Heavily laden bombers lumbered through the tangle of fighters, dodging enemy defenses as they lined up for bombing runs. The warplanes and their crews were the real deal. It featured the best of the best of the Chinese military, which with 2,700 aircraft possesses the world’s third largest aerial arsenal, after the U.S. and Russia. But the combat over the sprawling Dingxin Air Force Test and Training Base was simulated.” http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/china-mock-air-war/

Japan and China: Tensions Mounting. James R. Holmes of The Diplomat succinctly paints key differences between current Japan and China tensions, and those between the U.S. Navy and Soviet Navy in the 1970s and 1980s. http://thediplomat.com/the-naval-diplomat/2013/02/06/japan-and-china-tensions-mounting/

China Says Probing Japan Complaint About Radar Lock-on. “China's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday the government was investigating a complaint from Japan that a Chinese navy vessel aimed a type of radar normally used to aim weapons at a target at a Japanese navy ship in the East China Sea. "The relevant Chinese departments are currently conducting an earnest, solemn investigation into these reports to verify them," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing. The Chinese Defence Ministry has yet to comment on Japan's complaint.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-china-japan-idUSBRE91609520130207

China’s Hydro-Hegemony. A New York Times opinion piece by Brahma Chellaney, author of Water: Asia’s New Battleground. “Asia is the world’s most water-stressed continent, a situation compounded by China’s hydro-supremacy in the region. Beijing’s recent decision to build a slew of giant new dams on rivers flowing to other countries is thus set to roil riparian relations. China — which already boasts more large dams than the rest of the world put together and has unveiled a mammoth $635-billion fresh investment in water infrastructure over the next decade — has emerged as the key obstacle to building institutionalized collaboration on shared water resources in Asia. In contrast to the bilateral water treaties between many of its neighbors, China rejects the concept of a water-sharing arrangement or joint, rules-based management of common resources.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/opinion/global/chinas-hydro-hegemony.html?_r=0

Chinese Environmentalists Lose Fight to Stop Nu River Dams. “One of the sayings trotted out when people try to explain Chinese politics is, “The mountains are high, and the emperor is far away.” It is meant to describe the limits on the power of the central government and the ability of local authorities to do much as they wish. Like most such clichés it is only partly useful. If something is considered a threat to the rule of the Communist Party, for instance, the emperor, or his minions at least, are never far away. They are tapping phones, hacking computers and knocking on doors in even the most remote corners of the People’s Republic. But if the question is one further down the list of priorities — environmental protection, for instance — then the emperor can be indeed far away, and the directives of the central government can often be ignored. I was reminded of that by the news that after a decade of debate, plans are going ahead for the construction of a series of dams on the Nu River, also known as the Salween, one of the last free-flowing rivers in the China.” http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/chinese-environmentalists-lose-fight-to-stop-nu-river-dams/#ixzz2KDmOCooT

China Sentences 16 for Violent Protest against Pollution. “China has sentenced 16 people to up to a year-and-a-half in prison for involvement in an environmental protest last July when a crowd of thousands ransacked government offices, the official Xinhua news agency reported. A court in Qidong city, 65 km (40 miles) north of Shanghai, charged the group of demonstrators with "gathering to assault state organs, damaging property and theft" during the July 28 demonstration against a pipeline for waste from a paper factory. The protest exemplified a growing environmental awareness and willingness of urban people to voice concern about industrial pollution. At the same time, the ruling Communist Party worries that protests can undermine social order.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-china-protest-sentences-idUSBRE9160BM20130207

China Cracks Down on Tibetan Burnings, Detains 70. “Chinese authorities have detained 70 people in a crackdown on self-immolations in ethnic Tibetan regions, state media said on Thursday, the largest single reported sweep of suspects to date as the government tries to stop the unrest. Nearly 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule since 2009 across a large swathe of ethnically Tibetan regions, with most of them dying from their injuries.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-china-tibet-idUSBRE9160CT20130207

Wife of Jailed Chinese Lawyer Appeals to Obama Administration. “Geng He, wife of imprisoned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng called on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to raise their voices for her husband’s release, in an interview Jan 30 with the Sound of Hope Radio network (SOH). Geng fled China with the couple’s two children in 2009, and they are currently living in the United States. Gao Zhisheng has been in and out of prison and brutally tortured for his outspokenness about the lack of human rights in China and for defending members of blacklisted groups, including Falun Gong practitioners.” http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/wife-of-jailed-chinese-lawyer-appeals-to-obama-administration-344718.html

In Brennan's Private Sector Stint, a Chinese Connection. “John Brennan, President Obama's nominee to be director of the CIA, like many government employees took a three-year turn through the private sector before rejoining the administration – but it was nothing like the blandly profitable corporate stints of other federal bureaucrats. When Brennan went to work for a private intelligence contractor called The Analysis Corporation, he entered a murky milieu of transnational private spy firms with taxpayer-fueled profits. And he found himself working for a Ferrari-driving foreign boss who made much of his money on the dangerous streets of Iraq. In that world, Brennan was forced to deal with a situation he would never have faced in his earlier days at the CIA: Brennan's corporate parent was looking for lucrative contracts from Chinese state-owned companies at the same time Brennan's unit worked on sensitive US intelligence issues in Washington.” http://www.cnbc.com/id/100440555

The Caucus Brief is a daily publication for Members of Congress and Hill Staffers on China news and information compiled by the office of Congressman Randy Forbes, Founder of the Congressional China Caucus. Email David.Coles@mail.house.gov with tips, comments, or to subscribe/unsubscribe.

Comments

Users are solely responsible for the opinions they post here and their comments do not necessarily reflect the views of Congressman Forbes.

Gregg J commented on 2/7/2013

While China is an emerging threat, the threat here at home is more alarming. Our government fails to secure internet linked infrastructure while international hackers gain access to energy, water, waste and intellectual property. The number one goal of elected officials should be to secure the homeland. Once thats been accomplished then look to resolve emerging overseas threats.

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