China millionaire exodus to continue this year: report

Emigration forecast to reach 13,500 as Xi clamps down, economy slows

Wealthy Chinese tourists on a cruise in Singapore: China is expected to see a net outflow of 13,500 high net worth individuals this year.   © Getty Images

PAK YIU, Nikkei staff writerJune 13, 2023 17:00 JST

 

HONG KONG -- An exodus of Chinese millionaires is expected to continue this year, according to a new report by investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners, as the economy slows and the government tightens political controls.

China is expected to see a net outflow of 13,500 high net worth individuals this year, extending the loss of millionaires in the past decade, according to the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report.

While the country is estimated to have 823,800 millionaires, the emigration trend could see millions of dollars brought with those leaving, which could worsen China's sharp economic slowdown. Henley defines high net worth individuals as people with more than $1 million in investable wealth.

"General wealth growth in China has been slowing over the past few years, which means that the recent outflows could be more damaging than usual," said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth. "China's economy grew strongly from 2000 to 2017, but wealth and millionaire growth in the country has been negligible since then."

Globally, 122,000 rich individuals are forecast to migrate this year, topping the record high in 2019, according to Henley -- which derived its forecasts from inquiries and data for the first six months of the year.

Emigration enquiries from East Asian clients skyrocketed after pandemic restrictions were abolished at the beginning of this year, exceeding the 2019 peak figure by 15%.

"There are those who wish to improve their mobility with greater visa-free access to key regions, or secure better access to health care, or enjoy greater political stability," said Denise Ng, director of Henley & Partners Hong Kong.

Chinese President Xi Jinping cemented a third term and has recently cracked down on private businesses with a series of raids on consulting companies, while tightening the government's leash on the tech and financial industries. Bao Fan, founder of investment bank China Renaissance Holdings, mysteriously disappeared in February before his company announced he was assisting in an official investigation.

Singapore has emerged as a hot spot for Chinese money since the government in Beijing imposed draconian coronavirus measures that isolated the country for nearly three years and accelerated emigration of the super rich last year. The inflow of wealth into the city-state has fueled increases in house prices and other costs of living. Around 10,800 millionaires emigrated in 2022, Henley & Partners said.

Hong Kong is also expected to see 1,000 millionaires emigrating this year, which could hamper efforts by the city's government to lure the wealthy and turn the financial center into a wealth management and family office hub.

Ng said more high net worth individuals from northern Asia are seeking to move to Europe, while fewer are looking to move elsewhere in Asia, with applications for Asian migration programs dropping 20%.

Overall demand has soared with a record number of investment migration program enquiries in the first quarter, the investment migration consultancy said.

Although wealthy individuals have historically tended not to move to countries where they acquire residence rights or citizenship, there has been a shift to relocating their families amid "recent and persistent turmoil," the report notes.

The number of millionaires expected to exit India, which overtook China to become the world's most populous nation earlier this year, came second globally. But the predicted net outflow for 2023 was lower, at 6,500, compared with last year, due to growing numbers of new rich.

Australia is expected to attract the biggest net inflow of high net worth individuals this year at 5,200, while Singapore is forecast to receive a record-high net inflow of 3,200 wealthy individuals, according to the report.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-millionaire-exodus-to-continue-this-year-report

Wealthy Chinese ramp up efforts to shift fortunes overseas

Singapore the big winner from Beijing's inequality and COVID policies

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Wealthy-Chinese-ramp-up-efforts-to-shift-fortunes-overseas2 

Canada freezes ties with China development bank

Communication chief accuses Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank of being run by Communist Party ‘hacks’.

By Chris Taylor for RFA

2023.06.16 

The headquarters of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is pictured in Beijing, China on July 27, 2020

Canada has frozen ties with China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank after the bank’s Canadian communications head resigned, explosively accusing the organization of having “one of the most toxic cultures imaginable” on his personal Twitter account.

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, told reporters on Wednesday, the Canadian government would “immediately halt all government-led activity at the bank,” while it reviewed the allegations and Canada’s “involvement” with the AIIB.

Bob Pickard, the Canadian director-general for communications of the Beijing-headquartered AIIB, said he flew to Tokyo on Wednesday, two days after formally resigning, out of concern for his personal security.

“I’ve been advised not to set foot in China anytime soon. From a country where the two Michaels were kidnapped by the government, we’re maybe a little more sensitive or concerned about such things,” he said in a phone call to Reuters, referring to two Canadians arbitrarily detained in China for nearly three years from 2018 to 2021.

The Party holds the cards

“The Communist Party hacks hold the cards at the Bank. They deal with some board members as useful idiots. I believe that my Government should not be a member of this PRC instrument. The reality of power in the bank is that it’s CCP from start to finish,” Pickard wrote in a tweet.

He added, “I saw with my own eyes the extent to which Communist Party hacks occupy key positions in the bank, like an in-house KGB or Gestapo or Stazi.”

The AIIB said in a statement, “Mr. Pickard’s recent public comments and characterization of the Bank are baseless and disappointing.”

The Wall Street Journal reported having seen an email by Jin Liqun, the bank’s president and a former Chinese deputy finance minister, which said to staff on Wednesday, “We acknowledge the uncertainty these comments can cause for all of us that work at AIIB. We hope that you will join us in wishing Bob well for the future.”

Jin has been busy burnishing the AIIB’s reputation, distancing the bank from the likes of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is seen by many critics as simply an extension or a tool of China’s foreign policy.

“We are proud of our multilateral mission and have a diverse international team representing 65 different nationalities and members at AIIB, serving our 106 members worldwide, many of whom have been with us since our formation in 2016,” the AIIB’s official statement on Pickard’s resignation said.  

The allegations and the reaction by the Canadian government are likely to be an embarrassment to the AIIB, which has been representing itself as a transparent alternative to multilateral organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

It also underscores tensions between the West and China over international development lending, with China frequently being forced to deny accusations of “debt diplomacy” involving its Belt and Road initiative.

But Austin Strange, a specialist in China’s international-development finance at the University of Hong Kong, told the Wall Street Journal in a separate report that unless further member-states raise similar concerns it is unlikely there will be any major consequences for the bank.

‘Nothing but a lie’

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa told Reuters in an email: "The claim that 'AIIB is controlled by the Communist Party of China' is nothing but a lie".

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement that Pickard’s comments were purely “a sensational publicity stunt.” 

Meanwhile, Pickard told the Financial Times from Tokyo, “These people are like an invisible government inside the bank and this is what I can’t be part of.”

Although the response from the AIIB has been measured, Pickard claims that China’s wumao bots – state-sponsored internet commentators – have been accusing him online of variously being an “Imperialist” and a “spy,” but nobody has suggested that such messages are coming from the AIIB itself.

Zichen Wang, a senior Beijing-based reporter for Xinhua, in his widely read Pekingnology blog on Friday noted inconsistencies in Pickard’s statements about the inner workings of the AIIB, and also noted that some AIIB employees said in media reports that Pickard’s claims “came as a surprise.”

Wang further cited the fact that India is AIIB’s biggest beneficiary despite the fact that “China-India ties have dived after the unfortunate 2020 border clash, which killed 20 Indians and 4 Chinese soldiers,” as evidence of the bank’s independence from China’s foreign policy.

Edited by Mike Firn.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/aiib-resignation-06162023013735.html

Please don't give any penny for dictatorship countries !!!

Canada freezes ties with AIIB, probes claim of Communist Party domination

Chinese alternative to World Bank accused of harboring 'toxic culture'

The AIIB was established in 2016 as a Chinese alternative to the World Bank and other Western-led multilateral lenders.   © Reuters

June 15, 2023 00:07 JSTUpdated on June 15, 2023 03:14 JST

 

OTTAWA (Reuters) -- Canada is freezing ties with the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) while it probes allegations it is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday.

Freeland said she did not rule out any outcome of the investigation, a clear hint that Ottawa could pull out of a bank it officially joined in March 2018.

The bank's global communications director, a Canadian, said on Wednesday he had resigned and criticized the bank as "dominated by the Communist Party," allegations which the AIIB said were baseless.

"The Government of Canada will immediately halt all government led activity at the bank. And I have instructed the Department of Finance to lead an immediate review of the allegations raised and of Canada's involvement in the AIIB," Freeland told reporters.

She said as the world's democracies worked to limit their strategic vulnerabilities to authoritarian regimes, they must be clear about the ways such governments exercised their influence.

"The review I am announcing today is to be undertaken expeditiously. And I am not ruling out any outcome following its completion," she said.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in power when Canada joined the AIIB. The opposition Conservatives have long demanded Ottawa pull out of the bank, saying it is a tool for Beijing to export authoritarianism throughout the Pacific.

Freeland's remarks mark a new dip in bilateral relations with China, which have been frosty for the last five years.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Tuesday it was investigating allegations China tried to intimidate a federal Conservative legislator.

Canada has accused China of trying to interfere in its affairs through various schemes, including illegal police stations and the targeting of lawmakers. Beijing denies all such allegations.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Finance/Canada-freezes-ties-with-AIIB-probes-claim-of-Communist-Party-domination

Opinion:   You are right Canada ! 

Italy urges China to scrap ‘any kind of support’ for Russia

by Joel Gehrke, Foreign Affairs Reporter | 

 June 12, 2023 06:55 PM

 

Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping should cut all aid to Russia’s war in Ukraine, a senior Italian official urged in the latest sign that China’s influence in Rome has eroded.

“As far as China is concerned, I believe that a country that submitted a number of points to build peace cannot and should not provide any kind of support to a country such as Russia that violated international law,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Monday.

Tajani delivered that rebuke alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken in response to findings from a British research team that identified brand new Chinese components in Iran-made drones used to attack Ukraine. The statement is the latest indication that populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni intends to anchor Italy within the transatlantic consensus, just three years after a previous Italian government joined China’s vaunted overseas infrastructure program.

“China’s commitment should be aimed not at strengthening Russia but, on the other hand, to favor peace,” Tajani said. "Therefore, I hope that it will go in that direction.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the campaign to overthrow the Ukrainian government last year with the apparent expectation of rapid success, but the resilient Ukrainian defense has strained Russia’s reserves of military equipment and personnel. Iran answered Putin’s call for reinforcements with a steady stream of attack drones for the winter bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Ukrainian officials have protested the discovery of Chinese components in Russian weaponry, although Chinese officials reportedly have stopped short of providing weapons directly to Russian forces.

“To date, we’ve not seen that line crossed,” Blinken said. “At the same time, we have concerns about private companies engaged in the provision of technologies, including dual-use technologies.”

United States and European officials have launched a multi-pronged effort to dissuade Xi from opening his arsenals to Putin, amid a wider corrosion of China’s relationship with the U.S. and its democratic allies across Europe and the Indo-Pacific. Tajani’s visit to Washington comes on the heels of reports that Meloni intends to withdraw from the Belt and Road Initiative, which would reverse that diplomatic coup that Xi enjoyed when Italy became the only G-7 country to sign up for the Chinese project.

“It is possible to have good relations with Beijing, also in important domains, without them necessarily being part of an overall strategic plan,” Meloni said late last month.

Tajani emphasized that Italy is "a loyal country, serious, credible, and reliable” for the United States and its other allies.

“We found agreement on the actions to be taken in the Middle East and North Africa, in the Indo-Pacific area,” he said. “This transatlantic relationship, based on a common vision of NATO and trade exchanges that are very solid, will allow us to solve any issue that might happen, and we will do so as friends. And under an economic point of view, we are in total agreement.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/italy-china-support-russia 

US Senate panel approves measure to strip China of 'developing' status

By Patricia Zengerle

June 9, 20233:55 AM GMT+7Updated 3 hours ago

U.S. and Chinese flags are seen through broken glass in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - Legislation to strip China of its status as a "developing nation" at some international organizations was passed by a U.S. Senate committee on Thursday, as members of the U.S. focus on competing with the Asian power.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the "Ending China's Developing Nation Status Act" without dissent. The bill would require the Secretary of State to pursue changing China's status as a developing nation in international organizations.

Proponents of the bill say that status can allow special privileges in some organizations or treaties.

The committee's approval paves the way for the measure to be considered by the full Senate, although there was no immediate indication of when that might take place.

A similar measure passed the House of Representatives in March by 415-0.

The desire for a hard line on China is one of the few truly bipartisan sentiments in the perennially divided U.S. Congress, and members of Congress have introduced dozens of bills seeking to address competition with China's communist government.

The Foreign Relations panel also approved the "Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act," which would require reports from government agencies on U.S. options to prepare for and respond to a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims.

Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Daniel Wallis

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-panel-approves-measure-strip-china-developing-status-2023-06-08/ 

China seeking to spy on the U.S. from a base in Cuba

The move would allow Beijing to surveil the southeastern United States, home to many military facilities and sensitive industries.

The Biden administration is not confirming China’s interest in securing access to a military facility in Cuba. | Thibault Camus/AP Photo

By ALEXANDER WARD and JOE GOULD

06/08/2023 09:55 AM EDT

Updated: 06/08/2023 05:55 PM EDT

 

China is in talks with Cuba to establish a foothold there to spy on the United States, two senior U.S. officials said, a provocative move that already has lawmakers warning about parallels to the Cold War.

The officials, granted anonymity to discuss an extremely sensitive intelligence matter, said that China was in direct conversations with Cuba to set up a base on the island nation just 100 miles from the United States. It would allow Beijing to collect signals intelligence on southeastern portions of America, home to many military facilities and major industries. Evidence of the negotiations came to light in recent weeks, the officials said.

Such a pact between China and Cuba could threaten to derail the Biden administration’s efforts to “thaw” its frosty relations with Beijing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit China in the coming weeks, a trip that was postponed in February after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it traversed North America. Diplomacy with China continues mainly at the economic and trade level, while military-to-military discussions are practically nonexistent.

The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report on the discussions, said Beijing and Havana reached a “secret agreement” whereby China pays Cuba billions of dollars for a facility. The two officials told POLITICO they couldn’t confirm that there was a finalized deal, only that China was in discussions with Cuba about spying on the United States.

On Thursday morning, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby didn’t confirm any negotiations between China and Cuba but said the administration was watching China’s movements in the region closely. After publication, Kirby told POLITICO the reports were “not accurate” without specifying which details were wrong. He added: “We remain confident that we are able to meet all our security commitments at home and in the region.”

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the top two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a Thursday afternoon statement that they were “deeply disturbed” by the reports. “It would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States.”

“We urge the Biden administration to take steps to prevent this serious threat to our national security and sovereignty,” they continued.

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio said in a statement that the WSJ story was full of “totally false and unfounded information” and that Cuba rejects the presence of a foreign military throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The Cuban Embassy did not respond to a question about any talks with China about a deal to spy on the United States.

The report comes as the U.S. is trying to restore more regular military contacts with Beijing. CIA Director William Burns made a secret trip to China last month to keep the lines of communication between Washington and Beijing open. President Joe Biden dispatched the spy chief in hopes of reviving higher-level conversations between the two powers.

A Defense Department official said the Pentagon was aware of China’s attempts to invest in infrastructure around the world, including in the Western hemisphere, that may have military purposes and will continue to monitor the efforts.

The CIA declined a request to comment on the talks. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the issue, saying in a statement “we are not aware of the case.”

The revelation already has members of Congress worried about the echoes of America’s last great power rivalry.

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the House Select China Committee, said in a statement the Biden administration should consider retaliatory actions including “ending Huawei export licenses, restricting outbound investment in crucial sectors of the PRC…and preventing Chinese Communist Party land purchases near military bases.”

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) said Blinken should not travel to China following the revelation and the recent harassment of American ships and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The Chinese Communist Party is executing the Soviet Union’s playbook,” said Waltz, a member of the House Intelligence and Armed Services committees.

The Soviet Union operated its largest signals intelligence site in Lourdes, just outside of Havana, a facility that closed after 2001. “If it’s China’s intent to reopen it, this will be the largest spy base once again,” Waltz said. “If that’s not evidence enough that we’re in a new Cold War, I don’t know what is.”

In 1962, the United States discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba, leading to an infamous crisis that brought the world to the nuclear brink.

Lawmakers from both parties were alarmed at the news on Thursday.

“If true, it just goes to show where the Cuban regime is all along. They are an adversary to the United States, and to allow the Chinese to construct a signals intelligence facility in their country is a direct assault upon the United States,” said Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). “I hope the administration will think about how they will react if it’s true.”

Some Republicans said the development was a sign that Biden’s efforts to cool tensions with China are failing.

“It is a disaster for the Biden administration. It shows that what they’re trying, their policies are not working at all, the aggression of China continues,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). “Here they’re flying over to China, maybe as we speak, to grovel to Beijing. Meanwhile, Beijing is basically giving us the middle finger.”

Hawley said it’s a sign that Congress has misplaced its priorities by supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“I’m sure we’ll soon be voting on yet another supplemental aid package to Ukraine. Meanwhile, China is literally in our backyard now,” Hawley said. “I don’t know when people on the Hill will wake up to this, but maybe it’ll take the fall of Taiwan, which I’m sure will be next.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) demanded swift congressional action against the “grave threats” posed by a potential Chinese spy base in Cuba. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) should “set dates for security briefings and public hearings in the Senate” about those dangers, Scott said in a statement.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, said the news is “staggering.”

“The real threat is now staring us in the face, not just in the Eastern hemisphere, but now in the West. This is a big deal,” he continued, “and the alarm bells are blaring.”

China’s only official foreign military base is in Djibouti. But Beijing has worked for years to establish a stronger presence in the Western hemisphere.

In March, Gen. Laura Richardson, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that China was on a “relentless march” to replace the United States as the preeminent regional power. The country, for example, has a military-run space station in Argentina.

“This is a risk we can’t ignore,” Richardson said at the hearing.

Nahal Toosi, Phelim Kine and Lara Seligman contributed to this report.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/08/china-spy-on-us-cuba-00100990 

Ex-Samsung exec charged with stealing trade secrets to create copycat chip factory in China

 By KIM TONG-HYUNGJune 12, 2023

FILE - The logo of the Samsung Electronics Co. is seen at its office in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 31, 2023. South Korean prosecutors have arrested and indicted a former executive of Samsung Electronics suspected of stealing trade secrets while attempting to establish a copycat computer chip plant in China.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors have arrested and indicted a former executive of Samsung Electronics suspected of stealing trade secrets while attempting to establish a copycat computer chip plant in China.

The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday that the unnamed 65-year-old unlawfully obtained Samsung’s factory blueprints and clean-room designs from 2018 and 2019 while trying, unsuccessfully, to replicate a chip factory in the Chinese city of Xi’an, near where Samsung operates a plant.

The technology allegedly stolen by the man’s China-based company would have been worth at least 300 billion won ($233 million) for Samsung, prosecutors said. They charged six people employed by the man with “active participation” in the tech theft.

South Korea is highly sensitive to breaches of technologies related to semiconductors, which accounted for nearly 17% of its total exports in 2022. Samsung, the world’s largest manufacturer of computer memory chips, didn’t immediately comment on the charges.

In a statement, prosecutors described the arrested man as an “undisputed top domestic expert in semiconductor manufacturing.” After an 18-year career at Samsung he held executive roles for a decade at SK Hynix, another major South Korean chip maker which trails Samsung in the memory chip market.

The man later created chip manufacturing companies in China and Singapore with the backing of Chinese and Taiwanese investors and lured more than 200 chip experts from Samsung and Hynix with higher pay before arranging to smuggle out crucial technologies from Samsung, prosecutors said.

The manufacturing secrets allegedly taken from Samsung included processing blueprints and “basic engineering data” for designing clean-room environments to prevent contamination during semiconductor manufacturing, which prosecutors described as “core national technologies.”

“The suspect … attempted to duplicate an entire (Samsung) factory to manufacture and mass-produce semiconductors in China,” said the prosecutors’ office, who described his crime as incomparable in damage and scale to previous theft cases.

It said South Korea’s semiconductor industry would have been “irreversibly damaged” and the country’s security interests greatly compromised if the factory was actually built and produced chips similar to Samsung’s products.

 

https://apnews.com

Authorities in Lhasa crack down on illegal use of satellite dishes

They are confiscating the equipment of Tibetans who access foreign programs.

By Sangyal Kunchok for RFA Tibetan

2023.06.14 

Police talk to a Tibetan about his satellite dish during a check of households to ensure residents access only state-sanctions programs, in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet autonomous Region, June 13, 2023

Chinese authorities began searching homes in the Tibetan capital Lhasa this month to determine whether Tibetans are accessing foreign radio and TV programs via satellite dishes, city police and two Tibetans with knowledge of the situation said. 

Broadcast offices in the Tibet Autonomous Region, including in Lhasa, along with police investigated every household on June 8-9 for illegal satellite broadcasts, according to an announcement on the website of the Lhasa police. So far, authorities have confiscated about 50 satellite dishes.

In 2009, the Chinese government provided every household in Lhasa with a government-approved satellite dish, which gave residents access to only a limited number of state-controlled programs.

It is illegal for Tibetans who have access to or watch broadcasting other than state-sanctioned programs via satellite. 

“The satellite dishes in these households were installed by the Chinese government, and the satellite has only access to state-controlled programs, which are very limited,” said a Tibetan living in Lhasa who declined to be identified so as to speak freely.

“Tibetans cannot buy other satellite dishes or pay to watch other channels that have access to other news and information,” the source said. “It is deemed illegal.” 

Authorities say they have taken the measure to ensure harmony and stability in Tibet, and that the investigations will continue.  

But Tibetans see the move as another way that the Chinese government is preventing them from accessing outside information and restricting their communication. 

“This operation is part of a government clampdown on satellite equipment used by Tibetans to tune in to foreign news and programs, and the tracking of Tibetans’ cell phones to monitor their communication with the outside world,” said Pema Gyal, a Tibetan researcher at Tibet Watch, a London-based advocacy and monitoring group.

Before checking private households, authorities in Lhasa clamped down on the use of satellite dishes in hotels and guesthouses, said another Tibetan who declined to be identified for the same reason.

Though the satellite dishes installed by the government show only state-run programs, foreign programs can sometimes be picked up, the source said.

“However, it’s up to the person’s maneuvering skills to do that and to not get caught,” the Tibetan added.  

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/satellite-dishes-06142023140534.html

U.S. Sen. Rubio introduces bill to beef up air bases that would defend Taiwan

Bill is latest attempt to counter potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan

By Eugene Whong for RFA
2023.05.11

Washington 

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 19, 2023

U.S. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has introduced a bill that seeks to strengthen American air bases in the Indo-Pacific region to better respond to mainland Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

The Deterring Chinese Preemptive Strikes Act “direct[s] the U.S. Department of Defense to harden U.S. facilities in the Indo-Pacific to help further deter a preemptive strike against U.S. forces and assets in the region by China ahead of an invasion of Taiwan.”

War games conducted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Beijing’s strategy if it were to mount such an invasion would be to attack U.S. bases in the region with missiles, a statement by Rubio’s office said. 

The bill, introduced Thursday, will have to be approved by both houses of Congress and then signed by the Democratic President Joe Biden to become law. 

It calls for a survey of aviation assets in the region to determine if any that would be needed to respond to an invasion of Taiwan lack improvements that would “mitigate damage to aircraft in the event of a missile, aerial drone, or other form of attack by the People’s Republic of China.”

When the survey is complete, the secretary of defense would then deliver the results of the survey to the appropriate congressional committees, which would then enact plans to make the improvements.

“Senator Rubio has been clear on the importance of defending Taiwan,” a representative from Rubio’s office told RFA’s Mandarin Service, citing the Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act, a bill that Rubio and colleagues introduced in March that seeks to create a plan for dealing with a potential invasion. 

When asked if U.S. lawmakers were working with President Biden to prevent threats to U.S. airspace, Rubio’s office was critical of the administration, saying it “appears to be more concerned about not antagonizing China instead of taking the steps needed to protect American servicemembers from future attacks.”

Mainland communist China considers democratic Taiwan to be a rogue province. Beijing insists that its diplomatic partners accept its claim on the island of Taiwan, which it calls the "one China" policy, effectively forcing them to cut ties with the democratic island. 

Beijing last month conducted military exercises in waters around the island of Taiwan, prompting Taipei’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu to say, “They seem to be trying to get ready to launch a war against Taiwan.”

In February, CIA Director William Burns said that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to be able to invade Taiwan within the next four years.

Additional reporting by Bing Xiao for RFA Mandarin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/rubio-05112023174532.html

Video shows China ship’s ‘unsafe’ maneuver with US destroyer in Taiwan Strait

By 

Caitlin Doornbos

June 5, 2023 

A video released by the US Navy shows a Chinese ship cutting across the path of the USS Chung-Hoon in the Taiwan Strait.

Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andre T. Richard/U.S. Navy via AP

WASHINGTON – The US Navy released a damning video Monday of a Chinese warship deliberately cutting across the path of a US guided-missile destroyer in the Taiwan Strait in a move Washington deemed “unsafe.”

In the 30-second clip, a Chinese guided-missile destroyer cuts ahead of the USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal as they were sailing through the 100-mile-wide channel, which separates mainland China from the island of Taiwan.

The Chinese ship then cuts diagonally from the American ship’s port side, roughly 150 yards away from the Chung-Hoon’s bow, US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said in a statement.

The US ship maintained its course, but was forced to slow down to roughly 10 knots “to avoid a collision,” according to the military.

America and its allies consider the contentious Taiwan Strait to be international waters, while China views it – like Taiwan itself – as part of its own territory.

Beijing has made absorption of the democratic, self-governed island its No. 1 priority. While the United States acknowledges that China considers Taiwan its own territory, Washington considers the island’s sovereignty status unsettled.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the maneuver was was done “in accordance with the law.”

via REUTERS

“Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined U.S.-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” INDOPACOM said. “The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows.”

While the US side called the Chinese ship’s maneuver “unsafe,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin defended the action, claiming that it was done “in accordance with the law.”

“China’s military actions are completely justified, lawful, safe and professional,” Wang told reporters during a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday. “It is the U.S. that should deeply reflect upon itself and correct the wrongdoings.”

USS Chung-Hoon sailing alongside the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Montreal during a drill in the South China Sea on May 30, 2023.

U.S. Navy/Naval Air Crewman (Helicopter) 1st Class Dalton Cooper/Handout via REUTERS

But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Monday said the action was “part of a growing aggressiveness” shown by the People’s Liberation Army Navy in both the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

“When you have pieces of metal that are operating that close together, it wouldn’t take much for an error in judgement or a mistake to get made and somebody could get hurt,” said Kirby, a retired admiral. “150 yards – speaking as an old sailor myself, that’s pretty close.”

https://nypost.com/2023/06/05/video-shows-china-ships-unsafe-maneuver-with-us-destroyer/