China, Japan and USZ Expanding Missile Interceptor Technology as Tensions Rise in Northeast Asia

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With North Korea declaring its intention to push ahead with a third nuclear test following the United Nations Security Council resolution on its launch of a long-range rocket, it seems hardly a coincidence that the US, China, and Japan have launched their own interceptor missiles and spy satellites. As the intensity of the North Korean nuclear crisis soars and the strategic competition between the US and China, and between China and Japan, heats up in the Asia-Pacific region, military tensions are on the rise in Northeast Asia.

On Jan. 26 (local time), the US Defense Department announced that it had succeeded in a test of a missile defense system that can intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that are aimed at the continental US while they are still outside the atmosphere. This test is part of a project that is being conducted to defend the continental US from the ICBM threat posed by North Korea and Iran.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), a section of the US Defense Department, said, “We were successful in our launch of a three-stage ground-based interceptor (GBI) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.”

The test was conducted as part of the development of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). A ballistic missile’s trajectory is divided into the launch phase, a middle phase when it is in outer space beyond the atmosphere, and a final phase where it enters the atmosphere once again. GMD refers to intercepting a ballistic missile in this middle phase.

“We didn’t launch a real missile to serve as a target for the interceptor,” the MDA said. “However, if such a target missile had existed, the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) that was attached to the interceptor rocket would have collided with the target and destroyed it.

During a test launch by the MDA in Dec. 2010, the EKV failed to intercept the target. This test involved actually launching a target object and attempting to destroy it. The most recent test took place after correcting the flaws in the guided missile technology that became apparent in the former test.

China also succeeded in a test launch of a ground-based mid-range interceptor missile conducted inside its own territory on Jan. 27, the country’s news agency Xinhua reported on Jan. 28, quoting a Defense Ministry official. “The test launch achieved the goals that we had set. The test was defensive in nature and was not targeted at any country,” the official emphasized.

This is the second time that China has officially announced that it has conducted an interceptor missile test. On Jan. 11, 2010, China said that it had successfully completed the test of a mid-range interceptor missile. At the time, the US press saw this as China’s response to the US Defense Department’s decision to permit sales of the MIM-104 Patriot interceptor missiles to Taiwan.

The interceptor test is a response to US moves to establish a missile defense perimeter in East Asia, suggested Song Zhongping, who served as an instructor with China’s Second Artillery Force, the strategic missile unit of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“If the US does not accelerate its movements to establish a strategic missile defense system in the East Asia and Pacific region, and if it doesn’t upset the strategic balance, China won’t need to conduct an interceptor missile test,” Song said in an interview with Fenghuang Satellite TV.

On Jan. 27, Japan launched the Radar-4 information-gathering satellite, which functions as a spy satellite, from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture. Now that the satellite, delivered on an H-2A rocket, has entered its planned orbit, Japan’s surveillance network has expanded to five information-gathering satellites three optical satellites and two radar satellites that are capable of monitoring every spot on earth once each day. Japan’s development of information-gathering satellites was triggered by the 1998 launch of the Taepodong missile in 1998.

Called information-gathering satellites, in reality they are spy satellites. “The satellites circle the globe about ten times a day. If there is only one optical and one radar satellite, a blind spot forms. There have to be two each in order to get rid of this blind spot,” the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported.

The day before North Korea’s long-range rocket launch took place on Dec. 12, 2012, Japanese satellites had detected the rocket being removed from the launcher. However, after that, the area moved into the blind spot, and Japan was not able to track any further movements, the newspaper reported.

With the satellite launch, which was the sixteenth consecutive successful launch of Japan’s H-2A rocket, the country proudly displayed its rocket technology, which uses liquid hydrogen fuel.

“It’s not yet clear whether the simultaneous launch of interceptor missiles and spy satellites by the US, China and Japan took into account North Korea’s recent statements about missile launches and nuclear tests,” said a diplomatic source in Beijing. “However, we will need to watch carefully to see whether the major powers neighboring the Korean peninsula will treat moves by the North as a pretext to take measures to strengthen their own military might.”

4th Media

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Pakistan-China Bilateral Trade Crosses $12 Billion Mark

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The overall bilateral trade between Pakistan and China in 2012 crossed the figure of $12 billion for the first time according to the latest data released by China Customs.

“This puts us firmly on track to achieve the target of $15 billion in the next two to three years, said Pakistan Ambassador to China Masood Khalid following the news.

 “The leadership of the two countries has paid special attention in augmenting and cementing trade relations between our two countries and bringing them at par with our strategic partnership and political relations,” the Ambassador added.

 The data shows that Pakistan-China trade increased by 17.6% to a total of $12.4 billion in 2012. In a welcome development, Pakistan’s exports to China increased by 48.2% to $3.14 billion while imports from China increased by 9.9% to $9.2 billion. The two way trade in 2011 was $10.6 billion.

 The biggest increase in Pakistan exports to China in 2012 has been in textiles and textile articles, vegetable products, ores and mineral products, leather goods and base metals. Similarly, major imports from China include machinery and mechanical appliances, textiles and textile products, metals, chemical products, mineral ores, plastic scrap and transport equipment.

 Ambassador Khalid praised the role played by the Ministry of Commerce, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and the Pakistan Federation of Chambers and Commerce in boosting the trade between the two countries.

 He said Pakistan also actively participated in a number of fairs last year such as the Eurasia Expo, Canton Fair and Kunming Fair which provided exhibitors from Pakistan to display their products and helped boost exports. Pakistan traders have been especially focusing on textiles, leather, sports goods, precious stones and handicrafts, he said.

 “We hope to build on this momentum and further increase our trade in future,” said Ambassador Khalid. More trade delegations from Pakistan would be encouraged to visit China and participate in the fairs, he said.

“We have an excellent and broad economic architecture in place between our two countries. In order to exploit it fully, it is vital to diversify our export basket, introduce value addition and provide better quality of goods and services,” he added.

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China “Sinks” USZ Aircraft Carrier During War Game

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China reportedly “sunk” a mock USZ aircraft carrier with a state of the art missile during a war game in the Gobi Desert recently, fueling concerns that the newly emerging superpower is increasingly eyeing the USZ as a military rival.

The People’s Liberation Army has successfully sunk a US aircraft carrier, according to a satellite photo provided by Google Earth,” reports the Want China Times,” adding that, “A satellite image reveals two large craters on a 200-meter-long white platform in the Gobi desert used to simulate the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The photo was first posted on SAORBATS, an internet forum based in Argentina. Military analysts believed the craters would have been created by China’s DF-21D anti-ship missile, dubbed the “carrier killer.”

The article cites a report which appeared in the state-run Global Times boasting of how the new missile has the capability to strike aircraft carriers 2,000 kilometers away. The report was careful to add that the missile, which is being stationed at strategic locations around China’s coastline, does not have the technical capability to reach America, a moot argument given that US aircraft carriers are located at numerous different points on the globe at any one time.

As Business Insider notes, the report’s legitimacy is bolstered by the fact that, “The China Times is a 63 year old Taiwanese paper slightly slanted toward unification, but with a solid reputation and accurate reporting.”

Although the test in the Gobi Desert was supposedly successful, defense expert Roger Cliff points out that targeting a real aircraft carrier at sea would be significantly more difficult.

“The thing to keep in mind is that, in order for China to successfully attack a U.S. navy ship with a ballistic missile,” Cliff told The Diplomat, “it must first detect the ship, identify it as a U.S. warship of a type that it wishes to attack … [then] over-the-horizon radars used to detect ships can be jammed, spoofed, or destroyed; smoke and other obscurants can be deployed … and when the missile locks on to the target its seeker can be jammed or spoofed.”

However, the fact that China is targeting a mock USZ aircraft carrier as the main focus of one of its war game exercises is sure to set alarm bells ringing, especially amidst an undercurrent of tension created as a result of China’s recent spat with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Last week, Japan warned that it would fire on Chinese aircraft to prevent violations of its airspace.

The Pentagon’s recent geopolitical pivot made it clear that China was the primary military threat to the United States of Zionism.

Threats on behalf of Chinese military officials to target the United States of Zionism have increased in recent years.

In September last year, Zhang Zhaozhong, rear admiral at China’s National Defense University, was quoted in the state-run People’s Daily as bragging that China would comfortably defeat Japan in a war and that Beijing should prepare for USZ to become involved in the conflict.

In December 2011, Zhaozhong also warned that China “will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third world war.”

Earlier this year, Zhaozhong reacted to the announcement that the United States had developed a new high-tech stealth destroyer warship by saying China could use fishing boats laden with explosives to carry out suicide attacks against the U.S.Z Navy.

“It would be a goner,” Zhaozhong told state broadcaster CCTV’s military channel.

In July 2005, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu boldly threatened the USZ with a nuclear attack if it became embroiled in a conflict between China and Taiwan, with which the USZ has a mutual defense pact.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition onto the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Chenghu told reporters. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian [in central China]. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese,” he added.

In January 2011, China changed its military policy to allow pre-emptive nuclear attacks on other countries

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China to Buy a Fleet of Russian Bombers to Take On The US Navy

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Chinese websites are again reporting that Russia has agreed to sell Beijing the production line for the Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber at a cost of $1.5 billion.

Once in service with the Chinese Naval Air Forces the Tu-22M3 will be known as the “H-10″.

The deal struck with Russia includes 36 aircraft: a batch of 12 followed by a second batch of 24 additional bombers.

The Tu-22 will be employed in the maritime attack role and used to attack targets from low levels to avoid radar detection.

The Tu-22 is a Soviet supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber.

It was developed during the Cold War and is among the closest things to a modern stealth bomber.

However, it will get updated with indigenous systems and an extended range making it a significant threat to many latest generations weapon systems.

That’s even more true if the deal with Russia includes the Raduga Kh-22 (AS-4 ‘Kitchen’) long-range anti-ship missile, in which case this could be a significant change in the strategic balance of the region.

The Tu-22 bombers will give China another tool to pursue the area denial strategy in the South China Sea and the Pacific theatre; a fast platform to launch cruise missiles, conventional or nuclear weapons in various regional war scenarios.

In other words, a brand new threat to the U.S. Navy in the region.

 The Aviationist

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China Blasts Japan on "Stealing" Disputed Islands

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Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi says Japan “stole” from China a group of islands in the East China Sea, disputed by Beijing and Tokyo.

“China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China’s territorial sovereignty, take concrete actions to correct its mistakes and return to the track of resolving the dispute through negotiation,” Yang said in an address to the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City on Thursday.

“The moves taken by Japan are totally illegal and invalid. They can in no way change the historical fact that Japan stole Diaoyu and its affiliated islands from China and the fact that China has territorial sovereignty over them.”

On September 11, Tokyo signed a deal to buy three of the islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, from their private Japanese owner in line with plans to nationalize the archipelago.

The move has angered the Chinese government and led to several anti-Japan demonstrations in China.

Yang’s remarks came after Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Wednesday that Tokyo will not compromise on the territorial dispute with Beijing, adding that the islands “are an integral part of our territory in the light of history and of international law.”

Japan and China have long been in a dispute over the sovereignty of the uninhabited islands, which are located near a crucial shipping lane and would give the owner exclusive oil, mineral and fishing rights in the surrounding waters.

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Chinese Destroyer Enters Mediterranean via Suez

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A Chinese destroyer sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea, Egyptian daily Al-Shuruk reported on Sunday.

The destroyer could be on its way to the Syrian coast, the Egyptian newspaper reported, adding that the warship is planning to hold naval manoeuvres in the area.

Al Shuruk daily further claimed that the canal authority authorized the Chinese ship's crossing through the canal following permission from the Egyptian armed forces.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Al-Wafd website reported that high security measures were taken during the ship's crossing of the canal.

Beijing, an ally of Syria, has repeatedly blocked Western-backed Security Council attempts to increase pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the violence sparked by a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Last month reports claiming that the armies of Iran, China, Russia and Syria are planning to hold naval manoeuvres in the Mediterranean Sea were circling the media outlets. According to the report, 90,000 soldiers from the four countries will take part in the large-scale maritime war games, which will be held off the Syrian coastline. 

In February, two Iranian naval ships sailed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, and according to Iranian reports, the ships docked in Syria.

Just last month, Russia said that it had dispatched a flotilla of 11 warships to the eastern Mediterranean, some of which would dock in Syria.

Moscow's gesture was the largest display of Russian military power in the region since the Syrian conflict began. Nearly half of the ships were capable of carrying hundreds of marines.

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Syrian rebels Burn Comrades' bodies in Aleppo to Hide Nationalities

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Rebels fighting against the Syrian government forces in the north-western city of Aleppo have burned the bodies of their comrades to hide their nationalities, Press TV reports.

The report comes as clashes between army forces and armed gangs rage on in several regions in Syria.

Signs of torture can be seen on bodies found in areas held by the armed rebels, Syrian sources say.

The Syrian army on Saturday launched a military operation to clear Aleppo, the country's biggest city, from the foreign-backed rebels.

Press TV’s correspondent in Syria said the army is inflicting heavy losses on the rebels in Aleppo.

The Red Crescent has suspended some of its operations in Aleppo because of heavy fighting.

Syrian government said its troops have freed two Italian nationals who had been kidnapped by armed groups in a suburb of Damascus.

There have also been reports of clashes in the northern province of Idlib while calm has returned to the capital Damascus after government forces flushed out the rebels there.

Government forces also defused several bombs planted near a mosque in the Hajar al-Aswad district of the capital.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The Syrian government says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Damascus also says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country.

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China Threatens With Furious Retaliation In Growing Trade Wars

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Last week it was the Fairness Distributor In Chief threatening China with WTO action over its unfair duties on US car imports. Before that it was Europe trying to protect its crumbling trade at all costs with its primary trade partner. Now, it is China’s turn to retort to the world’s beggars, and all those who just happen to ravenously import its iWares with the reckless abandon of a gadget junkie.

FT reports: “Beijing has threatened swift retaliation against a range of European Union industries if Brussels presses ahead with an investigation into government subsidies granted to two Chinese telecoms equipment companies.

The Chinese threat was delivered at a meeting with EU trade officials in Beijing late last month that was arranged at the behest of Chen Deming, China’s commerce minister, to try to defuse a brewing trade dispute that is straining commercial relations between the two sides. Instead, it collapsed into acrimony, with the Chinese warning their EU visitors that they would respond to any investigation of Huawei and ZTE Corp by probing subsidies granted to European agriculture, automotive, renewable energy and telecoms companies. “Put it this way: it’s not like they went for a beer after and watched football,”one person briefed on the meeting said.” None of this is new: recall China Lays Out Conditions Under Which It Will Bail Out Europe; Does Not Want To Be Seen As“Source Of Dumb Money“ in which Li Daokui “added that Beijing might also ask European leaders to refrain from criticising China’s currency policy, a frequent source of tension with trade partners.” Looks like we can scrap those “China bails out Europe” (ignore the fact that the Chinese economy itself is imploding for a second) rumor in perpetuity.

FromFT:

Karel De Gucht, the EU trade commissioner, declined to comment. An EU official sought to play down the meeting, saying that Brussels would wait to see what level of co-operation the Chinese would provide in an effort to ward off a formal trade complaint.

Nonetheless, concerns about the Chinese reaction – and pressure from worried member states –appear to have put on ice a case that once seemed imminent, according to several EU diplomats. They said it was now unlikely that Mr De Gucht would act before September.

In the meantime, both sides are bracing for another trade confrontation in the solar industry. European solar companies have been preparing a complaint accusing Chinese competitors of using improper government subsidies to underprice them, and requesting punitive tariffs. That complaint could materialise as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, and could also trigger Chinese retribution.

Combating Chinese government subsidies has been one of Mr De Gucht’s top priorities. The cutting-edge telecoms equipment industry, in which Huawei and ZTE have quickly gained market share, would be a signature case.

Yet it is one thing for bureaucrat to sabre rattle, it is something totally different for idiotic trade war proposals to get traction with corporations:

Mr De Gucht’s case has been undermined by a lack of support from European telecoms companies – Ericsson, Siemens-Nokia, and Alcatel-Lucent – which fear that any action from Brussels could harm their own business interests in China’s fast-growing market.

In an effort to get around that, he has drawn up plans to launch the complaint at the commission’s initiative – and not based on a complaint from a company –setting a new precedent in EU trade defence.

Trade analysts in Brussels said that some member states had also expressed reservations about the case after receiving complaints from Beijing. Germany is understood to be wary of igniting a trade war with China before a planned visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel in August.

And now that China has told Europe what it can do with its empty threats, it is time for it to shift its attention to the US.

(infowars)

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Nuclear cooperation with Pakistan: China rejects western pressure

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China has rejected US and western pressure for cooperation with Pakistan in neuclear field.

The USZ and several western countries have expressed reservations on Pak-China cooperation in the nuclear field during Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting.

The meeting was held in Setal, USZ on June 21-22.The western countries have raised several questions on construction of two new nuclear reactors at Chasma Power Plant in Pakistan with collaboration of China. However, China rejected all their concerns and refused to provide any information in this regard.

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China vows bigger role for regional bloc in Afghanistan

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China, Russia and four Central Asian countries have vowed to play a bigger role in Afghanistan, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in comments published Wednesday, as NATO forces prepare to pull out. He said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) -- a group intended as a counterweight to US influence in Central Asia and dominated by China and Russia -- had also decided to strengthen Afghanistan's role in the organisation.


The comments came as leaders of the SCO member states met in Beijing for a two-day summit on security and economic issues across the region. "We will play a greater role in the peaceful reconstruction process in Afghanistan," Hu said in an interview published in the People's Daily newspaper, the ruling Communist Party mouthpiece.


"The SCO supports Afghanistan becoming an independent, peaceful, prosperous, neighbourly country, free from terrorism and drugs," he said. The SCO -- which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- was formed in 2001 with the view of counterbalancing US and NATO influence in the region. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia are observers.


Hu said the organisation -- which has invited Afghanistan as a guest at this year's summit -- had decided to grant the troubled country observer status, amid general concern as NATO forces prepare to pull out by the end of 2014.
Russia has criticised the withdrawal timeline, and President Vladimir Putin -- who is currently attending the SCO summit in Beijing -- has cited the stability of Afghanistan as an issue of "common concern".


India, meanwhile, has voiced fear that Islamic radicals will gain strength once Western forces pull out of the country. Liu Weimin, spokesman for China's foreign ministry, confirmed Wednesday that Afghanistan had been given observer status, saying the development of the situation in the country was of concern to the SCO member states.


"The two sides will be able to enhance their cooperation in security, economy and social areas," he told reporters. "The SCO has experience and capacity in fighting terrorism, narcotics, transnational crimes as well as economic development, and it is ready to strengthen cooperation with Afghanistan."

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