Day: February 2, 2023

Don’t Underestimate Xi’s Ambitions Toward Taiwan, CIA Says

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON —  CIA Director William Burns said Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitions toward Taiwan should not be underestimated, despite him likely being sobered by the performance of Russia’s military in Ukraine. Burns said that the United States knew “as a matter of intelligence” that Xi had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of self-governed Taiwan by 2027. “Now, that does not mean that he’s decided to conduct an invasion in 2027, or any other year, but it’s a reminder of the seriousness of his…

Military Deal With Philippines Signals U.S. Aim to Defend Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — President Biden and his aides have tried to reassure Chinese leaders that they do not seek to contain China in the same way the Americans did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. But the announcement on Thursday that the U.S. military is expanding its presence in the Philippines leaves little doubt that the United States is positioning itself to constrain China’s armed forces and bolstering its ability to defend Taiwan. The announcement, made in Manila by Lloyd J. Austin III, the U.S. defense secretary, was only…

North Korean young people ordered to serve 3 years in military’s manual service corps

Chin@Strategy

North Korea is ordering young men and women not presently in the military, including those granted exemptions or deferrals from mandatory service, to serve for three years as stormtroopers – a glorified name for military manual laborers, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia. After completing high school, every able-bodied man must serve seven years in the 1.3-million-strong military, and every woman five. College-bound men and women can get deferrals until after they graduate, and people deemed unfit for service due to disease or disability are given exemptions. But…

US Analysts: Beijing Mixing Military, Commercial Interests Abroad

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washington —  Chinese investments in commercial ports and other infrastructure around the world could pave the way for the expansion of its military footprint, U.S. analysts warned at a recent event in Washington. Chinese firms own or operate nearly 100 ocean ports in foreign jurisdictions, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted in a written statement provided to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Chinese navy warships have docked at more than one-third of these facilities, Isaac B. Kardon told the bipartisan commission tasked with providing…

Chinese Lending at 13-Year Low; US Pledges Africa Investment

Chin@Strategy

Johannesburg —  Recent visits to Africa by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came as a new study found China’s overseas investments in the COVID-19 era are at a 13-year low. China has invested heavily in Africa through its Belt and Road Initiative and the U.S. has also recently pledged investments, with analysts saying Washington is trying to compete with China for influence on the continent. The report by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center found loan commitments from China’s two policy banks…

Bloody toll: At least 363 women killed in Myanmar by junta troops since coup

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By the time they heard the soldiers enter their village, it was too late to flee.  The three women – Nyo Kyin, 50, Aye Aye Win, 40, and her 13-year-old daughter Moe Yi – hid in the outhouse behind their home, hoping they wouldn’t be found, a resident of the village in Myanmar’s northern Sagaing region said about the July 22 attack. “But a junta soldier found them and shot them in the head,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “Their bodies were…

China’s Xi Jinping a little sobered by Ukraine war, CIA chief William Burns says

Chin@Strategy

CIA Director William Burns said on Thursday the intelligence agency assesses that China’s President Xi Jinping has been a little sobered by the war in Ukraine, but that it would be a mistake to underestimate Beijing and Moscow’s commitment to partnership. Burns, speaking at a foreign policy event at Georgetown University in Washington, also said Xi maintains serious ambitions over Taiwan and warned that conflict over the island nation would be “deeply unfortunate” for all involved. China, which signed a “no limits” partnership with Russia last year, has refrained from…

Hong Kong activists including Cardinal Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by US lawmakers

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“The nominees are representative of millions of Hongkongers who peacefully opposed the steady erosion of the city’s democratic freedoms by the Hong Kong government and the government of the People’s Republic of China,” said the announcement. “Through the nomination, the members of Congress seek to honour all those in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination in the face of repression has inspired the world,” it said. Advertisement All of the nominees have been charged, or are being investigated, under Hong Kong’s national security law, which Beijing imposed on the semi-autonomous…

Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted Over Western US, Pentagon Says

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WASHINGTON —  The U.S. is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted over U.S. airspace for a couple days, but the Pentagon decided not to shoot it down because of the risk it could harm people on the ground, officials said Thursday. A senior defense official told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. has “very high confidence” it is a Chinese high-altitude balloon flying over sensitive sites to collect information. One of the places the balloon was spotted was Montana, which is home to one of the nation’s…