Five Eyes

BERLIN/WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Own report) – In the dispute over boycotting the Chinese Huawei corporation, the German government is considering joining a campaign of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network, it was reported in Canada and Australia. According to the media, intelligence chiefs of the five English-speaking “Five Eyes” countries launched a boycott campaign last July under US leadership. The campaign seeks not only to put pressure on the governments of Five Eyes members Great Britain and Canada, which – for economic reasons – have initially been reluctant to boycott Huawei, but also to increase the pressure on the Germany and Japan. Experts in Australia speculate that, in return for its participation in the boycott, Berlin could become an accepted FIVE Eyes member, something Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has been striving to do for years. To “maintain their own technology competence,” EU companies should develop 5G, according to Berlin. German managers, however, are up in arms, fearing falling far behind and never catching up with China.

China unveils stealth combat drone under development

Visitors take pictures of a model of CH-7 HALE Stealth Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft at the Airshow China 2018 in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong province / Getty

 

ZHUHAI, China — A Chinese state-owned company says it is developing a stealth combat drone in the latest sign of the country’s growing aerospace prowess. The CH-7 unmanned aerial vehicle also underscores China’s growing competitiveness in the expanding global market for drones.

China has won sales in the Middle East and elsewhere by offering drones at lower prices and without the political conditions attached by the U.S.

The CH-7’s chief designer Shi Wen says the aircraft can “fly long hours, scout and strike the target when necessary.”

Beijing’s great game to win over Pacific’s small island states

Micronesia’s President Peter Christian, center, reviews an honor guard with Xi Jinping outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in March 2017. Photo: AFP/ Greg Baker

 

Deploying classic tactics – leverage via investment, tourism, diplomacy and political funding – Beijing is winning the strategic competition with Washington across the west and northern Pacific

While the South China Sea is East Asia’s strategic center stage as China expands its military presence and control over that critical seascape, Beijing is quietly and successfully upping its presence in Pacific territories that have traditionally fallen under US influence.

But unlike in the South China Sea, it is not capturing influence with hard power. Instead, it is deploying a range of big-picture, long-game asymmetric tactics that will be familiar to anyone who has studied Beijing’s Belt and Road initiatives in other regions.

While the US fought its now-legendary, trans-Pacific “island hopping” campaign against Japan in many of these territories in World War II, China is today winning a new, non-kinetic war by default – for, beyond East Asian shores, the Pacific suffers from benign neglect in Washington.

China Plans Network of Indian Ocean Bases: Security Analyst

 

The Maldives is moving closer to China and Beijing may be interested in taking over the old British air base on Gan in the south of that archipelago

China has plans to establish a network of naval and air bases in the Indian Ocean, according to an article by David Brewster posted on the website of the Lowy Institute, the Australian think-tank, on May 15.

Brewster, who is with the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra, argues that Beijing’s aim is to support China’s growing strategic imperatives in the region.

US admiral announces F-22 deployment to Australia and warns of South China Sea confrontation

The United States will begin operating Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor multirole fighters from northern Australia in 2017, Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, said in Sydney on 14 December.

Navy chief warns of Russian military expansion in Australia’s neighbourhood

Australia’s Navy chief has warned that Russia’s military will “significantly” increase its influence in this region over the next few years, as former Soviet figures in Moscow try to re-establish the nation’s once-powerful Cold War position.

In a wide-ranging address to the Lowy Institute, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett reflected on the Russian Navy’s deployment of four warships near Australia last year, ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane.

China, US military escalation imminent in S China Sea

Linda Jakobson, an independent researcher and fellow at the Lowy Institute, said China’s actions in the South China Sea have shifted from “restraint” to “resolve.” The country may send a large number of its maritime law enforcement boats to counter Vietnamese forces in the South China Sea.

US eyes Port Blair as new drone base

A US report suggests that the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be ideally suited as a base for American drones in the event of an offensive against China.

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In possibly the first reference to the use of Indian territory for the US military in recent times, the paper, put together by the RAND Corporation, suggests that the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be ideally suited as a base for American drones in the event of an offensive against China.

The paper, titled ‘Overseas Basing of US Military Forces’, was commissioned by the Pentagon on the instructions of the US Congress and looks into the presence of the American military at various bases and locations across the globe.