Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[Edward Campbell]

According to this report reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail web site, China is stepping up, big time:

http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081109.wchinastimulus1109/BNStory/Business/home

China announces $586-billion stimulus plan

SCOTT MCDONALD
Associated Press

November 9, 2008 at 9:11 AM EST

BEIJING — China announced a $586-billion stimulus package Sunday in its biggest move to stop the global financial crisis from hitting the world's fourth-largest economy.

A statement on the government's Web site said China's Cabinet had approved a plan to invest the amount in infrastructure and social welfare by the end of 2010.

Some of the money will come from the private sector. The statement did not say how much of the spending is on new projects and how much is for ventures already in the pipeline that will be speeded up.

China's export-driven economy is starting to feel the impact of the economic slowdown in the United States and Europe, and the government has already cut key interest rates three times in less than two months in a bid to spur economic expansion.

Economic growth slowed to 9 per cent in the third quarter, the lowest level in five years and a sharp decline from last year's 11.9 per cent. That is considered dangerously slow for a government that needs to create jobs for millions of new workers who enter the economy every year and to satisfy a public that has come to expect steadily rising incomes.

Exports have been growing at an annual rate of more than 20 per cent but analysts expect that may fall as low as zero in coming months as global demand weakens.

The statement said the Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, had “decided to adopt active fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policies.” It did not give details.

The statement said the spending would focus on 10 areas. They included picking up the pace of spending on low-cost housing — an urgent need in many parts of the country — as well as increased spending on rural infrastructure.

Money will also be poured into new railways, roads and airports. Spending on health and education will be increased, as well as on environmental protection and high technology.

Spending on rebuilding disaster areas, such as Sichuan province where 70,000 people were killed and millions left homeless by a massive earthquake in May, will also be sped up. That includes $2.93-billion planned for next year that will be moved up to the fourth quarter of this year.

The statement, without giving details, said rural and urban incomes would be increased.

Credit limits for commercial banks will also be removed to channel more lending to priority projects and rural development, it said.

As well, reform of the value-added tax system will cut taxes by $17.5-billion for enterprises, the statement said.

The plan was announced before President Hu Jintao goes to Washington to push Western leaders to give poorer countries a bigger role in global financial institutions at a Nov. 15 summit of the Group of 20 major economies on the financial crisis.

Proportionately (to the size of the economy), I think that makes China the biggest provider of stimulus and it constitutes a major break with previously very secretive Chinese economic measures.

I also means that China wants, likely will demand a leadership role when the G8/G20 meets in Washington next weekend.

Watch for a new G10 – the current G8 plus China and India – starting almost immediately.

 

[GAP]

Watch for a new G10 – the current G8 plus China and India – starting almost immediately

What better time for them to get in.....but with the status, also comes the responsibility and limelight....

 

[a_majoor]

Look more closly at the plan:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081109/as_china_stimulus_package.html

China announces $586 billion stimulus plan
Sunday November 9, 2:15 pm ET
By Scott Mcdonald, Associated Press Writer 
China unveils $586 billion stimulus plan to fight effects of global meltdown


BEIJING (AP) -- China unveiled a $586 billion stimulus package Sunday in its biggest move to inoculate the world's fourth-largest economy against the global financial crisis.
The Cabinet approved a plan to invest the money in infrastructure and social welfare by the end of 2010, a statement on the government's Web site said.

Some of the money will come from the private sector. The statement did not say how much of the spending is on new projects and how much is for ventures already in the pipeline that will be speeded up.

China's export-driven economy is starting to feel the pinch of weakening U.S. and European economies, and the government has already cut key interest rates three times in less than two months in a bid to spur economic expansion.

Economic growth slowed to 9 percent in the third quarter, the lowest level in five years and a sharp decline from last year's 11.9 percent.

That is considered dangerously slow for a government that needs to create jobs for millions of new workers who enter the economy every year and to satisfy a public that has come to expect steadily rising incomes.

Exports have been growing at an annual rate of more than 20 percent but analysts expect that may fall as low as zero in coming months as global demand weakens.

The International Monetary Fund has urged governments to adopt economic stimulus packages and, in some cases, to cut interest rates further, to counteract the slowdown.

China joins other major economies such as the U.S., Japan and Germany which have already introduced their own stimulus plans.

The U.S. allocated $168 billion earlier this year for tax rebates to individuals and tax breaks for businesses. Germany set aside $29 billion for tax breaks on new cars and credit assistance for companies. Japan allotted $275 billion for loans to small- and mid-sized businesses and discounts on highway tolls among other measures.

On Wednesday, finance officials from the G-20 group of major wealthy and developing nations convene in Washington to discuss a strategy for strengthening the global economy. Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to attend.

China's statement said the Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, had "decided to adopt active fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policies."

The statement said the spending would focus on 10 areas. They included picking up the pace of spending on low-cost housing -- an urgent need in many parts of the country -- as well as increased spending on rural infrastructure.

Money will also be poured into new railways, roads and airports. Spending on health and education will be increased, as well as on environmental protection and technology.

Spending on rebuilding disaster areas, such as Sichuan province where 70,000 people were killed and millions left homeless by a massive earthquake in May, will also be accelerated. That includes $2.93 billion planned for next year that will be moved up to the fourth quarter of this year.

The statement said rural and urban incomes would be increased.

Credit limits for commercial banks will also be removed to channel more lending to priority projects and rural development, it said.

Reform of the value-added tax system will cut taxes by $17.5 billion for enterprises, the statement said.

That sounds familier........(*cough* subprime crisis *cough*)

 

[Drag]

Look more closly at the plan:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081109/as_china_stimulus_package.html

That sounds familier........(*cough* subprime crisis *cough*)

Good!! If you give them enough rope....  China needs to be forced to spend some of that surplus money they keep accumulating.  Better to spend it on bailing out their failing economy than military modernization

 

[CougarKing]

Good!! If you give them enough rope....  China needs to be forced to spend some of that surplus money they keep accumulating.  Better to spend it on bailing out their failing economy than military modernization

Not to mention to help improve the lives of those millions of people living a hand to mouth existence in the countryside/nong cun (ts'un)(though in certain areas of the countryside of some provinces it has improved somewhat).The PRC central government must deal with the increasing problem of urban migration by all these unskilled farmers heading to the city only to be unable to find work since they don't have the coveted urban residency card.

http://www.unesco.org/most/apmrnw10.htm

 

[a_majoor]

Alas, everyone seems to have missed the point: the Subprime crisis was caused by the removal of credit controls on US banks to "channel money" to a political constituency. China can easily consume their accumulated surplus and crash their economy by following that one simple step.

The Clinton Administration started enforcing the Community Reinvestment Act in the mid to late 1990's, and the Democratic Congress refused to impose control or regulation on "Freddie and Fannie" despite repeated warnings starting in 1999 and attempts by the Bush administration to impose controls in 2003 and Senator McCain in 2006. (A certain junior US Senator from Chicago is one of the ones who voted against the imposition of regulations in 2006 BTW....), so from experience it can take a decade or less. China's economy is much smaller than the US economy and run by a more brittle authoritarian regime, so I would say maybe 3- 5 years before the implosion.

 

[CougarKing]

Not that surprising .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27637812/

updated 3:29 a.m. PT, Mon., Nov. 10, 2008
BEIJING - China said Monday that no progress was made at recent talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, slamming the Tibetan leader's demands for greater autonomy as a mask covering a campaign for the Himalayan region's independence.

"The sovereignty is the most fundamental issue. The Dalai has — by denying Chinese sovereignty over Tibet — been trying to seek a legal basis for his claims of independence or semi-independence for Tibet," said Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister of the United Front, the government department in charge of the talks.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, says he does not seek Tibetan independence from China but wants meaningful autonomy that would ensure the survival of the region's unique Buddhist culture.

However, in a string of recent comments, the Tibetan spiritual leader has sounded increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for such a deal and called a special meeting of Tibetan exile communities and political organizations to discuss the future of their struggle.

Envoys of the Dalai Lama have said they would not comment on last week's talks until after the meeting of Tibetan groups, to be held Nov. 17-22 in Dharmsala, India.

Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before Communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.

Both sides have accused the other of being not serious about resolving the Tibetan issue.

Zhu said that talks would be successful only if the Dalai Lama gives up what Zhu said was his bid to split the country.

"However, the door for Tibet independence, half independence and disguised independence have never been open and never will be open in the future," Zhu told a news conference.

Olympic protest accusations
Zhu also accused the Dalai Lama of ignoring an appeal from Beijing in July to stop efforts by some overseas Tibetan groups to disrupt the Beijing Olympics in August.

"Not only did the activities to damage Beijing Olympics not stop, but they escalated. The responsibility is on the Dalai's side that the talks failed to make progress," he said.

Last week's meeting was the third round of talks since anti-government riots rocked Tibet's capital, Lhasa, in March.

Beijing says the protests were part of a violent campaign by the Dalai Lama and his supporters to overthrow Chinese rule in Tibet and sabotage the Olympics. The Dalai Lama has denied involvement in the violence.

China responded with a massive crackdown in Tibet and the surrounding region in which exile groups say at least 140 people were killed and more than 1,000 were detained.

But activists — many of them foreigners — continued to stage small protests in Beijing during the Olympics.

 

[CougarKing]

Corrupt or not, I believe his pro-independence initiatives when he was in power were genuine and not just for show.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27662352/

Taiwan's Chen ordered detained
Chen Shui-bian, an independence supporter, faces corruption case
The Associated Press
updated 8:58 a.m. PT, Tues., Nov. 11, 2008
TAIPEI, Taiwan - A court ordered the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges Wednesday, marking an ignominious fall for the man who incensed China and roiled the United States with his contentious pro-independence policies.

Chen was expected to be sent to Tucheng Jail, the suburban Taipei facility where as a dissident leader 21 years ago he served eight months for defaming an official of the ruling Nationalist Party during the waning days of Taiwan's infamous martial law regime.

Under Taiwanese law, Chen can be detained for up to four months. His detention does not constitute a formal indictment.

Legal proceedings against Chen — including a prosecutorial interrogation — extended for nearly 21 hours from start to finish.

Interrupted by injury complaint
They were interrupted for several hours after the former leader complained that he had been injured while being transported from a prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei to the nearby court building.

He was returned to the court after doctors found he had sustained only a minor muscle tear that required no special treatment, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.

Wednesday's court order against Chen has implications far beyond Taiwan, where he is reviled by millions for his apparent toleration for corruption, but lionized by millions of others for his willingness to stand up to both Chinese threats and American opposition to his anti-China line.

Chen, who has denied any wrongdoing in the corruption case against him, is an ardent supporter of Taiwanese independence, a cause decried by Beijing, which insists that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. China has threatened war if the island moves to make its 59-year break with the mainland permanent.

Chen has also earned repeated condemnation from the United States, Taiwan's most important foreign partner. Despite shifting its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, Washington remains committed to helping the island defend itself against a Chinese attack. During Chen's just concluded presidency, it saw him as a loose cannon who could well provoke a Chinese invasion across the 100-mile-(160-kilometer)wide Taiwan Strait.

Denies policies are provocative
Chen himself denies any insinuation that his pro-independence policies are provocative.

He defiantly predicted his arrest late Monday, and then early Tuesday, attempted to link it to alleged attempts by newly installed Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou to placate China in the wake of violent protests last week against a visiting Chinese envoy.

"Long live Taiwanese democracy," Chen declared to his supporters outside the prosecutors' office in downtown Taipei. "Long live Taiwanese independence."

Not related to China
Li Yihu, a Taiwan expert at Peking University in Beijing said Chen's prosecution is not related to China in any way.

"It is a case involving a great amount of money and has had a negative influence, so it must be dealt with," he said. "It is nothing to do with placating the mainland."

Led from the prosecutors' office in handcuffs Tuesday afternoon en route to a waiting vehicle and the drive to Taipei District Court, Chen blamed the Ma administration for his troubles.

"This is a political persecution," he declared. "Cheers for Taiwan."

In sharp contrast to Chen, Ma has made reconciliation with China the centerpiece of his six-month-old administration.

Detention is latest chapter
Chen's detention is the latest chapter in a continuing corruption saga that badly undermined his authority during his last two years in office, and provoked mass demonstrations demanding his resignation.

Family and close advisers were imprisoned on a variety of graft charges, his wife went on trial for allegedly looting a special presidential fund, and Chen himself became the subject of a complex series of judicial probes.

His questioning Tuesday by a special team of prosecutors focused on allegations he laundered money and made illegal use of the special presidential fund during his eight years in office that ended in May.


In a dramatic television appearance in August Chen admitted that he broke the law by not fully disclosing campaign donations he had received, after a lawmaker from Ma's Nationalist Party alleged that Chen's son and daughter-in-law moved millions of dollars to Switzerland in 2007, and then forwarded the funds to the Cayman Islands.

Leftover donations or bribery?
At the time prosecutors said they wanted to determine whether the funds were indeed donations left over from political campaigns — as Chen insisted — or whether bribery might have been involved.

Under Taiwanese law, false declaration of donations is subject to a fine of $9,670, but money laundering carries a seven-year prison sentence.

Several Nationalist lawmakers have also alleged that the ex-president took large bribes in connection with a spate of mergers initiated by the government in 2005, when several small banks took over a number of well-established financial institutions.

Taiwanese newspapers have reported that Chen received millions of dollars in bribes from Taiwan's Far Eastern Group. Both the company and Chen have denied those reports.


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

And good God- he has gained weight; look at those cheeks!

Compared to before:

 

[a_majoor]

I suspect part of the article is an attempt to point fingers away from the Democratic Congress' role in all this, but there is probably a kernel of truth buried within as well:

http://mesopotamiawest.blogspot.com/2008/11/dragon-in-room.html

The Dragon in the Room

Recently I castigated Allan Greenspan for lowering interest rates to one percent because this caused investors to rush into phony-baloney mortgages and related bonds and Credit Default Swaps. It seems Greenspan wasn't at the wheel when the Good Ship U.S. Economy was heading for the rocks. It was China.

This intriguing concept is part of the lead story in the Financial Post this morning, entitled The Dragon at World Summit by Jacqueline Thorpe. Her thesis is that China is behind the world liquidity crisis because of its policy of keeping its currency weak.

    One of the reasons yields were so low was simple: China and other emerging markets were voraciously buying up U.S. treasuries and mortgage-backed securities and selling yuan, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars in order to keep their own currencies weak and exports humming -- the time-honoured mercantilist approach to economic development.

    Although the U.S. Federal Reserve tried to drive up interest rates as the economy recovered from the tech wreck through 2004, it found it had lost "all control" over its ability to influence longer-term U.S. treasury rates, explained Alan Greenspan during an appearance in Toronto last week.

So, according to Greenspan, he did try to increase interest rates--and thus the desirability of government securities--but failed because of China's currency manipulations. So here's the sequence:

  1. China buys U.S. treasuries to keep the yuan low, trillions of dollars worth.
  2. Federal interest rates fall, causing investors looking for secure investments to look elsewhere
  3. Merchant banks find a way to convert sub-prime mortgages into AAA rated securities.
  4. Investors switch massively to mortgages, mortgage bonds and Credit Default Swaps.
  5. Mortgages become so cheap, some people purchase two, three or four homes all on credit.
  6. When 'teaser pricing' expires, they find they can't pay any of the mortgage payments and can't get new mortgages.
  7. These speculators default on their mortgages and walk away from them.
  8. The mortgages turn overnight from assets into liabilities.
  9. Non-banks, banks and merchant banks have to find the liquidity to make up the difference in their books as all their wine turns to vinegar.
  10. Short sellers make wonderful profits.
  11. The Merchant banks start to fail.

Well, there are lots of people to blame, but really, Wall Street was just acting to meet the demand. Where was the demand coming from that ruined the value of U.S. Treasury notes; from China.

So the question is this, was China aware that it would create a bubble of credit in the United States and that this bubble would eventually burst, or was this a surprise? If it was a deliberate policy, it was more than a "time-honoured mercantilist approach" to economic development, it was a trade war.

In effect, China was stoking the credit market in the United States so Americans could buy flat-screen TV sets, Japanese cars and 3,500 square foot McMansions. When the bubble really got going, both Wall Street and main street began speculating on housing like gamblers in a casino.

What does China get out of this: rapid development of its own economy, a huge war chest of currency and a demonstration for all the world that the United States economy is not the one to follow. In effect, the Communists have tried to demonstrate that Capitalism is a fraud. We didn't notice this because we were too busy thronging the malls to buy more Chinese-made goods.

What a pleasant war this is. I can watch it unfold on my Chinese made TV set just as soon as I stop typing this very worrying post.

Update
So how does the Federal Reserve Board set interest rates? Here's the somewhat opaque explanation by Governor Ben Bernanke. If you plough through this you'll find this nugget:

    The funds rate is a market rate, not an administered rate set by fiat--that is, the funds rate is the rate needed to achieve equality between the demand for and the supply of reserves held at the Fed.

Or to put that another way, outside forces can change the rate the U.S. government pays for U.S. securities. What a concept!

Being banker to the world is one thing, but letting the world set the rates you charge has got to be like riding a tiger. Or rather, a dragon.

Since my thesis is political malinvestments and regulatory failure created the mess in the first place, I would say the Chinese are at best a second order enabler of the problem, in that they sussed out the game and played it within the rules ultimately created by the US Congress. They were better and smarter players than (for example) we were; we played a good zone trap and kept our financial markets functioning, but they played a strong offensive game, and have a big pile of currency to ride out the liquidity crisis (unless they consume it in some boneheaded "stimulus package" nonsense instead).

If tarriffs or non tarriff regulatory barriers are erected, I suspect the US Congress and Administration will be the first the set them up, in an attempt to appease their union sector constituencies. At that point, the trade wars are well and truly on.

 

[CougarKing]

Here's a funny comment by a PLA General about carriers described in the article link below:

He suggested that the United States had nothing to fear should China acquire one for strictly defensive purposes.

An aircraft carrier for 'defensive purposes'? HAH. A carrier's very 'raison d'etre' is force projection right?  ;D

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/asia/18china.html?hp

General Hints China’s Navy May Add Carrier

By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: November 17, 2008
BEIJING — A high-ranking Chinese military official has hinted that China’s fast-growing navy is seeking to acquire an aircraft carrier, a move that would surely stoke tensions with the United States military and its allies in Asia.

In an interview published in The Financial Times of London on Monday, the official, Maj. Gen. Quan Lihua, did not say whether China was building a carrier. But the general, a senior official of the Ministry of National Defense, said having one was the dream of any great military power. He suggested that the United States had nothing to fear should China acquire one for strictly defensive purposes.

“The question is not whether you have an aircraft carrier, but what you do with your aircraft carrier,” he said in the interview. “Even if one day we have an aircraft carrier, unlike another country we will not use it to pursue global deployment or global reach.”

In recent years, Pentagon officials have been following Beijing’s naval buildup. Since 2000, China has constructed at least 60 warships. Its fleet of 860 vessels includes about 60 submarines.

Tensions between China and the United States were heightened last month after the Pentagon announced the sale of $6 billion in advanced weapons to Taiwan. China warned that the move could worsen relations between the countries. The deal includes Apache attack helicopters and an array of missiles, radars and antiaircraft defense systems.

In the interview, the general insisted that China would not deploy a carrier with aggressive intent. “Navies of great powers with more than 10 aircraft carrier battle groups with strategic military objectives have a different purpose from countries with only one or two carriers used for offshore defense,” he said.

Although he did not mention any country by name, his comments were clearly aimed at the United States, which has 11 aircraft carriers, including the George Washington, which was recently deployed to Japan. Of the handful of other nations that have aircraft carriers, including Britain, France, Italy and Russia, none have more than two.

 

[CougarKing]

More on America's response to the growing Chinese cyber threat.

US Congress warned of Chinese cyber, space threats
China has developed a sophisticated cyber warfare program and stepped up its capacity to penetrate US computer networks to extract sensitive information, a US congressional panel warned.

"China has an active cyber espionage program," the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its annual report to the US Congress. "China is targeting US government and commercial computers."

In its 393-page report, the panel also criticized Beijing for exercising "heavy-handed government control" over its economy and "continuing arms sales and military support to rogue regimes" such as Sudan, Myanmar and Iran.

The commission also issued a warning about China's space program. "China continues to make significant progress in developing space capabilities, many of which easily translate to enhanced military capacity," it said.

"Although some Chinese space programs have no explicit military intent, many space systems -- such as communications, navigation, meteorological, and imagery systems -- are dual use in nature," the commission said.

The commission, which was established by Congress in 2000 to analyze the economic and national security relationship between the two nations, said China was investing heavily in cyber warfare.

"Since China's current cyber operations capability is so advanced, it can engage in forms of cyber warfare so sophisticated that the United States may be unable to counteract or even detect the efforts," the commission said.

It said Chinese hacker groups may be operating with government support.

"By some estimates, there are 250 hacker groups in China that are tolerated and may even be encouraged by the government to enter and disrupt computer networks," the commission said.

It quoted Colonel Gary McAlum, chief of staff for the US Strategic Command's Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations, as saying China has recognized the importance of cyber operations as a tool of warfare and "has the intent and capability to conduct cyber operations anywhere in the world at any time."

"China is aggressively pursuing cyber warfare capabilities that may provide it with an asymmetric advantage against the United States," the commission said. "In a conflict situation, this advantage would reduce current US conventional military dominance."

The commission recalled that unclassified US military, government and government contractor websites and computer systems were the victims of cyber intrusions in 2002 codenamed "Titan Rain" and attributed to China.

And earlier this month The Financial Times, citing an unnamed senior US official, reported that Chinese hackers -- possibly with backing by the Beijing government -- had penetrated the White House computer network and obtained emails between government officials.

The commission made 45 recommendations to Congress including possible "additional funding for military, intelligence and homeland security programs that monitor and protect critical American computer networks."

On the economic front, the commission said "China relies on heavy-handed government control over its economy to maintain an export advantage over other countries."

"The result: China has amassed nearly two trillion dollars in foreign exchange and has increasingly used its hoard to manipulate currency trading and diplomatic relations with other nations," it said.

"Rather than use this money for the benefit of its citizens -- by funding pensions and erecting hospitals and schools, for example -- China has been using the funds to seek political and economic influence over other nations," said Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission.

Beijing's "continuing arms sales and military support to rogue regimes, namely Sudan, Burma, and Iran, threaten the stability of fragile regions and hinder US and international efforts to address international crises, such as the genocide in Darfur," the commission added.

The commission acknowledged some progress by China, specifically its adherence to non-proliferation agreements and involvement in the six-party talks to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons production capacity.

But it criticized China's use of prison labor to produce goods for export and an "information control regime" that it said regulates the print and broadcast media, Internet, entertainment and education.

The report is available on the commission's website at www.uscc.gov.

 

[tomahawk6]

The Pentagon has experienced an extremely serious cyber attack that has DoD sytems on lockdown.Now I dont blame the PRC for this attack but it is well within their capability.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_thumbdrives_computerworm_112108w/
DoD confirms computer virus in networks

By William H. McMichael and Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writers
Posted : Friday Nov 21, 2008 21:24:08 EST
   
The Defense Department confirmed Friday that a virus has infected some of its computer networks but declined to identify the infection, say whether it was a direct attack on the networks or confirm published directives that ban the use of portable storage media such as thumb drives.

“We are aware of a global virus for which there are some public alerts,” said Bryan Whitman, Pentagon spokesman. “And we’ve seen some of this on our networks. We’re taking steps to identify and mitigate the virus.”

Whitman wouldn’t characterize the infection further except to call it a “global issue” that also is affecting worldwide networks outside the Defense Department.

He also declined to confirm a ban on the use of thumb drives, although the ban was spelled out in at least two recent Air Force directives, one of which says the order comes from the Defense Department command that oversees the military computer domains shared by all the services.

Whitman also would not comment on whether officials think the infection may have been transmitted to the military’s networks by way of a thumb drive or other flash media.

“We don’t discuss specific defensive measures that we’re taking or may be taking to protect and defend our networks,” Whitman said.

He called cyberspace a “warfighting domain that’s critical to our operations. And we have to protect it.”

He said military computer network intruders range from recreational hackers to “cyber vigilantes,” ideologically motivated attackers and “transnational actors and national states” that probe the department’s networks “millions” of times daily.

Neither Air Force directive details why the ban on portable digital media was imposed throughout the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid, which includes more than 17,000 local- and regional-area networks and approximately 7 million individual computers.

But the thumb drive ban outlined in the directives was clearly in reaction to a network intrusion, one computer security expert said.

“If it’s preventive, why wasn’t it preventive last week?” said Bruce Schneier, renowned security expert and chief security technology officer for BT, a British-based global communications firm. “Something happened, and they’re worried about it propagating.”

“They’ve got something they need to deal with,” Schneier said. “And they can deal with it better if things don’t move in and out of network. The problem with things like USB sticks is that they’re off-line storage.”

The Internet security firm Symantec reported Nov. 19 that it has noticed an increase in malicious applications that use USB flash drives to spread. The malicious code most commonly being spread in this manner, the firm says, is the SillyFDC worm.

Worms are similar to viruses. According to the Web site 2Spyware.com, the SillyFDC worm is relatively harmless, “designed only to spread and … does not contain any destructive payload.”

Neither of the Air Force directives stated explicitly that a department-wide ban is in place. But one noted that the order to stop using flash media was issued by U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for operating and defending the .mil and .smil domains.

That memo, directed at Washington, D.C., Air Force offices and dated Nov. 17, ordered “immediate suspension” of the use of such devices on all NIPR and SIPR networks.

A similar message, which did not mention StratCom, was posted online by Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

“The Chief of Staff of the Air Force recently implemented a policy prohibiting the use of memory sticks, thumb drives, flash memory cards such as XD, SD, Micro, Mini, CF, MS, cards etc., cameras, portable music players and [Personal Digital Assistants],” the message states. “Excluded are Blackberry devices that do not have the flash memory such as a Micro SD card installed.

“All remaining removable media such as external hard drives, CDs or DVDs, and other various items can be used if the following policies are met: All removable media must be labeled with the appropriate security classification. All other removable media such as external hard drives, CD/DVD reader/writer items must be scanned with a virus scanner prior to use.”

StratCom, and its Joint Task Force-Global Network Operations, which manages the Global Information Grid, would not comment.

 

[CougarKing]

And the talks continue. Remember that this is not the first time that Lien Chan and Hu Jintao have met. It further demonstrates that the Guo Min Dang are aiming for a more reconciling approach with their Cold War nemesis- the CCP.

Agence France-Presse - 11/22/2008 2:56 AM GMT
China, Taiwan hold historic meeting
Chinese President Hu Jintao met here with a senior Taiwan envoy in the highest-level meeting to take place overseas between the rivals since their split in 1949.

Taiwan's former premier Lien Chan, who is honorary chairman of the island's ruling Kuomintang party, met with Hu for about 40 minutes at a hotel in Lima, Peru, where leaders are meeting for an Asia-Pacific summit.

Officials in Taiwan's summit delegation called it the highest-level meeting in an international setting since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after losing China's civil war to the communists.

"It is very significant for old friends to meet far away from Asia," Lien, who has met Hu twice in China this year, told reporters after the meeting.

China has historically opposed any hint of international recognition of democratic Taiwan, which Beijing considers a part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Friday's chat at the mainland Chinese delegation's hotel was the latest step forward for the two Cold War rivals, whose relations have improved dramatically this year.

Taiwan in March elected Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, ending two decades of rule in Taipei by leaders who rattled China with their support for a separate identity for the democratic island.

Ma earlier this month became Taiwan's first president to meet with a senior Chinese official, who signed four deals that will see the two sides cooperating in air travel, post and cargo shipping.

But the official's visit to Taipei also triggered mass demonstrations by tens of thousands of anti-Beijing protesters.

Lien said that in the near future, the two sides would try to build on this year's agreements by taking up more complicated issues, including financial and legal concerns.

"These sort of issues take a longer time to deal with," he said.

Lien, a strong supporter of reconciliation with Beijing, is representing Taiwan at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a 21-member group representing half of global trade.

Taiwan has traditionally sent business leaders or prominent citizens as representatives to international fora to avoid rankling China. A former premier in the 1990s, Lien is easily the most prominent sent so far.

Lien said his closed-door talk with Hu touched on regional issues facing the APEC meeting opening on Saturday, offering few details when asked.

Officials in Beijing's delegation made no immediate comment.

However, Lien stressed the historic significance of this year's rapprochement between the sides, saying its benefits would extend beyond the borders of either side.

"This will be beneficial to the peoples of both sides, the Asia-Pacific region and the entire world," Lien said.

Following Ma's election, top officials from both sides met in Beijing in June for the first direct dialogue between the two parties in 10 years.

Those talks led to the launch of regular direct flights between China and the island, and measures to boost tourism.

The two sides split in 1949 after a civil war that saw Mao Zedong's Communists seize power, banishing the Chinese Nationalists to Taiwan.

A survey of Asian opinion leaders conducted for the APEC summit showed the region's fears of a conflict between China and Taiwan have ebbed dramatically since Ma's election.

 

[tomahawk6]

Each side is trying to buy time,but talk is better than war anyday.

 

[Kirkhill]

CougarDaddy - here's an admittedly provocative question for you.  And it is intended to provoke discussion and nothing else.

Given your interests on this site I think it safe to say thay you have a concern for Taiwanese independence and are also an Obama supporter.

Now that Obama is in within arms reach of the levers of power do you think Taiwan is more or less secure?

If Obama is perceived to be weak/conciliatory might that provoke rasher elements of the PLA/CPC to consider launching against Taiwan?

Do you perceive Obama as being likely to move the Carriers into the Formosa Straits region to "Face Down" the Chinese government?

Would you want him to?

 

[CougarKing]

CougarDaddy - here's an admittedly provocative question for you.  And it is intended to provoke discussion and nothing else.

Given your interests on this site I think it safe to say thay you have a concern for Taiwanese independence and are also an Obama supporter.

Now that Obama is in within arms reach of the levers of power do you think Taiwan is more or less secure?

If Obama is perceived to be weak/conciliatory might that provoke rasher elements of the PLA/CPC to consider launching against Taiwan?

Do you perceive Obama as being likely to move the Carriers into the Formosa Straits region to "Face Down" the Chinese government?

Would you want him to?

I only supported Obama because he is a Democrat and the Democrats from what I have observed have never forsaken their WW2 allies- the Guomindang/the ROC government.

- you have FDR continuing to send lend-lease/military aid to Generalissimo Chiang-Kai Shek during WW2.
-this policy continued with Truman and even beyond 1949 even when the Chinese Civil War seemed lost
-even when that GOPer Nixon started making these initiatives to recognize the PRC with his historic visit there in the early 70s, it was a later a democratic president named Carter that same decade who made sure to not abandon the ROC since the critical Taiwan Relations Act became law during his presidency.
- when China started making all those war games and missile firings just off Taiwan during the 1995-96 Missile Crisis in order to influence the 1996 Taiwan Presidential Elections, Clinton established a precedent by sending two carrier groups to the Taiwan Strait to warn the PRC from escalating this any further.

Granted, the Republicans also did their share of helping Taiwan as well,

- such as the covert help to develop the IDF Chiang Ching Kuo fighter in Taiwan during the 1980s
-the first batch of the ROCAF's F16s were actually ordered during the 1st Bush administration but actually delivered during Clinton's terms
-the current Bush also sent two carrier groups to watch the Taiwan Strait during the last ROC presidential election
- the KIDD class DDGs now in ROCN service were delivered during the current Bush's term- when Taiwan could have used diesel submarines
as a better defense, but as pointed out in an earlier article, most of those US yards were busy building for USN orders

But still gave the PRC more attention prior to 1989

- allowing the PRC purchase of those Blackhawks for use by the PLAAF during Reagan's years
- the PRC allowing US intelligence officers from the US military to occupy listening posts on the-then China-USSR border during th 1970s/80s to gather intelligence on Soviet movements-which was also one of the agreements hammered out during Nixon's overtures, IIRC.
- the US continuing to support the PRC's motions to block the ROC's attempts to get UN membership- which continues to this day-every year since the ROC was kicked out of its UN Security Council seat, those 30 or so nations, such as Panama or Nicaragua which still recognize the ROC as the "one China" attempt to bring a vote in the UN General Assembly to introduce the motion to recognize Taiwan as a member- and it is blocked each year by an overwhelming vote which includes the US and the PRC.

Perhaps T6 might be right in saying that President Obama might be a socialist trade protectionist or an isolationist luddite as Mr. Campbell says and thus apathetic about what might happen if the PRC invades Taiwan. Or he might disappoint those expectations altogether. It remains to be seen.

 

[Kirkhill]

Thanks CougarDaddy.

The most interesting aspect of your reply, for me, is your apparent belief that the party will trump the man.  I wouldn't necessarily have believed that prior to the election, and the jury IS still out on that,  but I have to say that given Obama's choices for cabinet you seem to be right on that.

I was confused as to what an Obama was.  In my mind he could have been one of many things:

Muslim,
Christian,
Immigrant,
American,
White with Black blood
Black with White blood
Establishment Scholar
Student Radical
PLO supporter
IZL supporter
Marxist
(Can't find any Capitalist indications but perhaps that is yet to come)

In the end I simply find him to be vacuous (or in his own words a blank slate): a pretty boy willing to be a mouthpiece for whoever will get him the threads, the house and the limo.  And he doesn't car if it is ACORN, Daley, Soros or the Democrats that he is fronting.  He also doesn't seem to care if he upsets the people he leaves behind.

For that I suppose we should be truly grateful  because that means that the "adults" (and I am not including Reid, Pelosi or Franks) in the Democrats will be driving.  Just consider Hillary as Secretary of State and her positions on Iraq.

She politiced one way but voted the other.

I truly do hope this is true because the prospect of Obama acting on principles in keeping with his various speeches and writings I find to be truly frightening. (Depending on which speeches and writings you are talking about).

 

[tomahawk6]

The Chinese leadership has to create 25m jobs a year and they have to keep rural dwellers out of its cities to avoid an internal breakdown in central government control.There have been reports of attacks on government offices and battles with police. Right now these instances are sporadic but if China feels the effects of the global recession the government will have no choice but to call out the tanks to retain control.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7747333.stm

The World Bank says China's economy will grow by less than expected next year, adding to the country's, and Asia's economic gloom.

China's economy is expected to grow by 7.5% in 2009, according to the Bank.

A few months ago, before the global financial crisis, it predicted the Chinese economy would grow by about 9%.

But the Bank says China will still do well enough to avoid the worst effects of the global recession, and could still help other developing countries.

The World Bank has revealed it is in talks with Beijing about providing additional money to help developing countries through the current crisis.

Speaking at a press conference, David Dollar, head of the World Bank's China office, said economic recession in the United States, Europe and Japan would affect China.

No immunity

Until recently, China had largely avoided the effects of the global crisis because its financial system is insulated from the rest of the world.

But that crisis is now leading to a worldwide economic recession - and that will affect China.

If people across the world have less money to spend, they will buy fewer Chinese imports; that will lead to factory closures and job loses in China.

"So far [the crisis] hasn't impacted all that much [in China], but we will see that impact intensifying," said World Bank economist Louis Kuijs.

But it is not all bad news - the Bank says the Chinese economy will still grow at a reasonable rate.

That is partly thanks to a $586bn (£387bn) economic stimulus package recently announced by the government in Beijing.

As part of the package, China will be spending more on infrastructure projects over the next few years, including railway lines, urban subway systems, and water and sanitation projects.

Chinese leaders have appeared increasingly gloomy about the prospects for the country's economic outlook.

Last week, one senior official warned that unemployment would rise next year.

But World Bank officials believe China will be able to weather the coming global economic downturn.

 

[CougarKing]

Right now these instances are sporadic but if China feels the effects of the global recession the government will have no choice but to call out the tanks to retain control.

Doubt they'll need to. The People's Armed Police (PAP) have their own APCs.

The PAP was specifically created to help quash internal dissent and to find something to do with all those demobilized troops as the PLA was being scaled back, IIRC.

 

[tomahawk6]

If rioting is widespread it will require backup by the military.