US cannot stop China’s innovation advancements

It would appear that the US is seriously worried about China’s technological advancements. Fearing the loss of the last comparative advantage over the Asian superpower has caused a genuine concern over national defense and competitiveness among America’s ruling elite.

The US using every possible means to curb Asia’s technological rise, including the banning of sales of essential chips to ZTE for seven years, invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act to investigate China’s “unfair trade practices” and barring investment in the information-technology sector. The Donald Trump administration’s target might be the Asian power’s “Made in China 2025”, a strategy meant to make China self-sufficient in an array of technologies.

The 301 investigation was meant to slow down China’s technological advancements by imposing stiff tariffs on a host of Chinese imports and barring the sales of US technology to Chinese firms. In addition, the anti-China faction of the US Congress and the Trump administration have barred Chinese investment in technology sectors.

China Has Bought Brunei’s Silence in South China Sea Dispute

 

China’s takeover of the strategic South China Sea region is ‘steering the world toward war.’

In discussions about the South China Sea dispute, we often hear about China claiming nearly the entire resource-rich, strategic region. And we also often hear about rival claimants—nations such as Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines—who dispute China’s claims. International law says these smaller nations rightfully own the portions of the sea along their coasts, so they often cry foul of Beijing’s claims to their territory.

China has Militarized South China Sea

 

Countries Who Have Lost Islands To China Say There Needs To Be Checks Put In Place To Avoid An Unintended Regional War.

According to the South China Morning Post, the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are clamoring for a more formal “code of conduct” in the South China Sea following a spate of aerial “incidents” that had the potential of triggering an unintended regional war.

China’s Sudden Cooperation with the United States Is Only Temporary

 

There are two reasons for China‘s notably harsher stance against North Korea lately.

As soon as China gets what it wants, it’ll go back to its uncooperative ways.

Although Beijing did order all North Korean businesses in its country to shut down last Thursday (Sept. 28), experts say that the Asian nation didn’t do this in an effort to truly curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions or to help the United States.

Instead, China made these moves for its own near-term benefit. The Red Dragon’s stricter stance, these analysts explain, likely won’t last.

Here are China’s real motives – and when we can expect its cooperation to end…

Japan to grant patrol boats to Malaysia to counter China

VIENTIANE — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will promise to give Malaysia patrol boats during Wednesday’s leaders summit between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos.

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The Southeast Asian nation is locked in a territorial dispute with China over waters in the South China Sea. Tokyo and the Malaysian government are negotiating a pact in which Japan will transfer military hardware and provide technical support.

China blamed for ASEAN U-turn on South China Sea

China is getting stronger. America is getting weaker. China is therefore able to apply pressure while America loses its clout in Asia, therefore looking more and more unstable as a partner as each day passes. Having said that, it shouldn’t be shocking for the in-tune reader that China taking over Asia, and the Asia-Pacific, is happening right before our eyes in real time. America’s allies realize it’s better to capitulate and will continue dong so until they’re under the Chinese umbrella protectorate. This will leave America 100% pushed out of Asia within five to ten years.

 

Chinese pressure was blamed Thursday for a stunning diplomatic U-turn by Southeast Asian Nations that saw them retract a statement sounding alarm over Beijing’s island building in the South China Sea.

The chaotic events at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday have led to allegations of bullying by Beijing.

The document, released by ASEAN member Malaysia and described as a joint statement from the bloc, warned developments in the hotly contested South China Sea could “undermine peace, security and stability”.

Sochi ASEAN summit: Russia eyes economic expansion in SE Asia

MOSCOW–Russia moved to forge stronger ties with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last week, pledging to focus on economy rather than geopolitical alliances.

Local observers preferred to highlight geopolitical aspects of the rapprochement between Russia and Southeast Asia. Russian media outlets, including Sputnik International, noted that Russia looked to the East, seeking new allies among US partners in Asia.

The Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi hosted the Russia-ASEAN summit on May 19-20. The confab marked the 20th anniversary of the partnership. Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Southeast Asian leaders amid Moscow’s continued disagreements with the West.

PLA’s cyber attack unit linked to S. China Sea takeover campaign

The new cyber unit of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was identified as Unit 78020 and is based in Kunming, in Yunnan Province, according to a report by security correspondent Bill Gertz and ThreatConnect.com.

Using Double Talk (II)

BERLIN/BEIJING (Own report) – On the occasion of the German chancellor’s visit to China, Berlin’s China experts are predicting tangible “turbulences” in German-Chinese relations. Chancellor Merkel is, above all, using her visit to the People’s Republic to seek new business opportunities for German industry. However, growing tensions between the USA and China could soon be expected, according to a recent statement by the director of Berlin’s Mercator Institute for China Studies. Germany and the EU will have to more clearly choose sides than has previously been the case. Government advisors are also proposing that relationships in the field of security policy with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) be enhanced. This would strengthen the German-EU position in China’s direct vicinity and could possibly be combined with cautious naval expeditions. Comprehensive arms deliveries are flanking these plans for a closer military cooperation. Three East and Southeast Asian countries are among the top-ten customers of German military hardware. They are among those countries, Washington is seeking to pit against China.

Renminbi gets official notice as trade currency in China’s border nations

Thanks to intense promotional efforts by the Chinese government in recent years, the renminbi has become an increasingly common “hard currency” in the frontier cities of neighboring nations, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma). The trend has impacted local underground banking activities, reports our sister newspaper Want Daily.

In Mong Cai, Vietnam, a city thriving from cross-border trade with China, the renminbi is far more popular than the US dollar. As a result, the Vietnamese government has acknowledged the renminbi as a legitimate currency for circulation in the area and is developing the city into a special economic zone focusing on trade with China.

Japan’s Abe Seeks Friends in Asia—but Not China

Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is the first Japanese premier to visit all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In late November, Emperor Akihito will make the first visit by a Japanese monarch to India. Not on either dignitary’s itinerary—China. And that’s no accident.