Tag: Defense Department

China’s Military, ‘Chasing the Dream,’ Probes Taiwan’s Defenses

Media Library

China has been steadily intensifying military pressure on Taiwan over the past year, sending jets, drones, bombers and other planes farther and in greater numbers to extend an intimidating presence all around the island. Chinese naval ships and air force planes have been edging closer to Taiwan’s territorial seas and skies, probing the island’s vigilance and trying to wear down its military planes and ships. Chinese forces have also been operating more frequently in skies and waters off the island’s eastern coast, facing the West Pacific. China’s increasing presence there…

U.S. Defense Secretary Austin Vows to Keep Pressure on China

Media Library

The United States military will keep passing through Asian skies and seas where China has become increasingly pugnacious, the Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in Singapore, where the Chinese defense minister’s refusal to hold talks with him has highlighted the rifts between Beijing and Washington. The annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore has in its two decades of operation become a venue for military officials from Washington and Beijing to rhetorically spar, but also to hold bilateral discussions aimed at blunting tensions. This year, however, the Chinese defense minister, General…

China Wants to Set the Terms of Any ‘Thaw’ With the U.S.

Media Library

For a few weeks, a flurry of meetings between American and Chinese officials seemed to signal that the two countries were trying to reduce tensions, after months of rancor and frozen high-level contacts raised concerns about the risk of a conflict, accidental or otherwise. First the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna, in May. Then the two countries’ top commerce officials held talks, the first bilateral cabinet-level meeting in Washington in months. China’s ambassador also arrived in Washington last week, finally…

China Investing in Open-Source Intelligence Collection on the U.S.

Media Library

Why It Matters: Beijing’s open-source intelligence collection could give it an advantage. As the relationship between the United States and China has become more adversarial, both countries are investing more in their intelligence collection capabilities. With Beijing’s investments in big data management, mining publicly available sources of information could give China an advantage in collecting intelligence on the United States and its allies. While autocratic countries like China hide information about their military, the United States — as a democracy that tries to be responsive to its public — puts…

China Announces Plan to Land Astronauts on Moon by 2030

Media Library

China plans to complete a mission to land a person on the moon by 2030, a government official announced on Monday, in the highest-level confirmation of China’s ambitions for a crewed lunar landing. Chinese scientists have previously nodded at a 2030 goal in a less formal capacity; for example, the chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program said last month that a 2030 landing would be “no problem.” “We can clasp the moon in the ninth heaven,” Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of China’s Manned Space Agency, said at a…

U.S. Navy Steps Up Efforts to Curb Iran’s Ship Seizures in Strait of Hormuz

Media Library

U.S. Navy warships stationed in the Persian Gulf region have increased their patrols through the Strait of Hormuz, the busy merchant ship passageway, in response to recent moves by Iran to seize two oil tankers, the latest sign of rising tensions between Iran and the United States. “Iran’s actions are unacceptable,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region, said in an interview on Monday at the Navy base here in Bahrain. He was speaking several days after he rode a Navy guided-missile destroyer through…

What is in the CHIPS Act, Aimed at Childcare Expansion and National Security

Chin@Strategy

The Biden administration unveiled new rules Tuesday for its “Chips for America” program to build up semiconductor research and manufacturing in the United States, beginning a new rush toward federal funding in the sector. The Commerce Department has $50 billion to hand out in the form of direct funding, federal loans and loan guarantees. It represents one of the largest federal investments in a single industry in decades and highlights deepening concern in Washington about America’s dependence on foreign chips. Given the huge cost of building highly advanced semiconductor facilities,…

How Questions Over a Spy Balloon and U.F.O.s Fed a Crisis Between the U.S. and China

Chin@Strategy

Other murky actions have challenged U.S. analysts trying to read Chinese intentions. On Jan. 28, when the balloon approached the Aleutian Islands and American airspace over Alaska in its off-course trajectory, the balloon’s self-destruct function did not activate, U.S. officials said. Chinese operators may not have wanted to destroy the balloon; it is also possible that they attempted to trigger the self-destruct mechanism and it failed. The Chinese Spy Balloon Showdown The discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon floating over the United States has added to the rising tensions between…

U.S. Jet Shoots Down Another Unidentified Object Over Canada

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — An American fighter jet, acting on the orders of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shot down another unidentified flying object on Saturday, Canadian and American officials said, in the latest twist of the ongoing drama playing out over the skies of North America. “I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace,” Mr. Trudeau said in a statement he posted on Twitter. He said an American F-22 with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is operated jointly by the United States and Canada,…

China, Still Trying to Play Down Balloon, Finds It’s Getting Harder to Do

Chin@Strategy

BEIJING — Since the spy balloon saga started, China has tried to play down the incident and prevent it from further inflaming relations with the United States. But as American alarm and accusations have mounted, that strategy is increasingly coming under strain — forcing China into an awkward, at times self-contradictory position. Beijing has continued to maintain that the United States is overreacting to what China called a civilian vessel gathering mainly meteorological data, though the US says it has found evidence of surveillance equipment. But as Washington has begun…