Day: April 18, 2023

Leaked US Assessment Says China Readying Supersonic Spy Drone Unit – Washington Post

Chin@Strategy

Washington —  A leaked U.S. military assessment says the Chinese military may soon deploy a high-altitude spy drone that travels at least three times the speed of sound, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday. The newspaper cited a secret document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The document, which Reuters could not confirm or verify independently, features satellite imagery dated August 9 that shows two WZ-8 rocket-propelled reconnaissance drones at an air base in eastern China, about 350 miles (560km) inland from Shanghai, according to the newspaper. The U.S. assessment…

Unsafe at the top: China’s anti-graft drive targets billionaires and bankers

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A moment of pity for the uber-wealthy. According to the Hurun Global Rich List, China has more billionaires than any other country. But it is also the place in which the monied must watch their back. On Friday, Fu Xiaodong, a former senior official at China Development Bank, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting 4.3m yuan (£503,466) in bribes during his tenure between 2007 and 2020. Days earlier, the former director of the supreme people’s court enforcement bureau was sentenced to 12 years in prison for accepting…

China aims to build ‘supercomputer internet’ to solve industry challenges

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The benefits of better computing would extend to many fields, from aerospace and medicine to weather research and finance. Drug discovery, for instance, requires the ability to quickly test thousands of possible molecules for use against a specific disease or condition. By linking supercomputers, researchers can simulate the interactions of each drug candidate more efficiently and accurately. Advertisement And with the rapid growth of data analysis and artificial intelligence, there is a need for even greater computing power. 01:05 World’s fastest supercomputer in Japan researches spread and treatment of Covid-19…

Kim Says North Korea Finishes Development of First Spy Satellite

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Seoul, South Korea —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has completed the development of its first military spy satellite and ordered officials to go ahead with its launch as planned, state media reported Wednesday. During his visit to the North’s aerospace agency Tuesday, Kim stressed it’s crucial to acquire a space-based surveillance system in the face of what he called U.S.-led security threats, the Korean Central News Agency said. North Korea says its spate of weapons tests, including its first test-launch of a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic…

South Korea’s Yoon Opens Door for Possible Military Aid to Ukraine

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Seoul, South Korea —  South Korea might extend its support for Ukraine beyond humanitarian and economic aid if it comes under a large-scale civilian attack, President Yoon Suk Yeol said, signalling a shift in his stance against arming Ukraine for the first time. In an interview with Reuters ahead of his state visit to the U.S. next week, Yoon said his government has been exploring how to help defend and rebuild Ukraine, just as South Korea received international assistance during the 1950-53 Korean War. “If there is a situation the…

Blinken and Top G7 Diplomats Stress Unity on Russia and China

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Top diplomats from the United States and the rest of the Group of 7 nations closed a three-day meeting in Japan on Tuesday with a forceful statement of unity against new assertiveness by both Russia and China, drawing a firm line on tight cooperation on security as well as economic issues. The show of unity came after a monthslong diplomatic charm offensive by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in which he made a point of courting European officials in Beijing and trying to peel them away from the United States. The…

US-South Korea State Visit Talks to Include Deterrence Against N. Korea

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Washington —  South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will be in Washington later this month to discuss Seoul’s efforts to upgrade extended deterrence against North Korea and Washington’s goal of diversifying supply chain networks away from China, according to experts. President Joe Biden is scheduled to host Yoon on April 26 for a state visit that will include a dinner and celebration marking the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. The state visit is the second to be hosted by the Biden administration and the first for a South…

Chinese Companies Reportedly Halt Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar After Protests

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Yangon, Myanmar —  Chinese companies mining rare earth minerals in Myanmar’s Kachin State have promised to halt activities after more than 1,000 local residents protested, acknowledging the environmental damage caused by extracting the elements key to the production of many everyday tech-heavy devices such as smartphones. The protesters came from more than 10 villages in the area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic groups, and its armed group, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The protests began in December after the KIO granted Chinese…

Indonesia Dismisses Rebel Claim of Army Deaths in Papua

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Indonesia’s military chief on Tuesday dismissed a separatist group claim that they had killed more than a dozen government soldiers who were searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in the restive Papua region. Admiral Yudo Margono and the military’s top brass flew to the region on Monday after initial information said attackers from the West Papua National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, ambushed 36 government soldiers in the hilly district of Nduga in mountainous Papua Highlands province. Rebel spokesperson Sebby…

Covid, surveillance, naval forces: US Congress holds multiple hearings about perceived Chinese threats

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The FBI has backed the lab-leak hypothesis with what the agency described as “moderate confidence”. Four other agencies, including the National Intelligence Council, have concluded with “low confidence” that the virus was transmitted naturally to humans through an animal host. “Over time some of the explanations for natural origins became less and less likely,” Ratcliffe said. “I was told that some of this would appear over a course of months. Advertisement “We’ve now been 3½ years, and we haven’t identified an intermediate host, a reservoir source or species, any of…