Defense/Military - 21. page

China is considering the development of an economy outside of the Earth’s perimeter and is planning to establish an Earth-Moon economic zone by 2050. Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology, quoted Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), who said that China plans to build an Earth-Moon space economic zone by the middle of this century. Experts predict that China’s annual output in the zone may reach US$10 trillion. Bao said that the development of the space economic zone will not only bring about huge economic benefits, but it will change the current socio-economic model. CASC is the main state-owned contractor for the Chinese space program.

Bao added that China should develop a reliable and low-cost space transportation system between the Earth and the Moon. According to its plan, China will accomplish the basic technology development by 2030 and the manufacture of key transportation technologies by 2040. By the middle of this century, China may successfully establish a space economic zone.

Beijing plans to launch a Mars exploration mission in 2020 and a Mars landing in 2021. Science and Technology Daily quoted Zhang Yulin, former chief of the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO), who said that the plan for the future development of China’s manned space flight is neither a simple moon landing nor a manned Mars exploration. Rather, it is to preempt an opportunity to steadily develop and utilize the Earth-Moon space via continuous technological breakthroughs and accumulation. In recent years, China has made rapid strides in the space industry, including a large number of lunar exploration research projects. China’s annual investment in space projects is as high as US$8 billion, second only to the United States.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 6, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-50320040

Crowdstrike, a U.S. cybersecurity research and consulting firm, recently released a report that examined China’s series of aggressive and frequent hacking operations that occurred during the years when Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (Comac) was developing its C919 commercial aircraft. Officials from China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), underground hacking groups and personnel, cyber security researchers, and employees (moles) of multiple companies in many countries were involved in the operations. The purpose of these hacking operations was to assist Comac’s development of the C919 commercial aircraft, obtain a large number of intellectual property rights from foreign companies, narrow the gap between China’s aviation industry and foreign manufacturers capable of making large passenger aircraft, and eventually to be able to compete with industry giants Boeing and Airbus.

Crowdstrike’s report revealed that MSS designated the Jiangsu provincial State Security division to carry out hacking attacks, while the Jiangsu division appointed two coordinators. One coordinator led the hacking team and the other was responsible for recruiting people from aerospace companies in different countries. Between 2010-2015, the hackers attacked a list of companies including U.S. electronic instruments and electromechanical devices manufacturer Ametek, U.S. multinational conglomerate Honeywell that produces engineering services and aerospace systems, French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component and defense company Safran, U.S. gas turbine manufacturer Capstone, and General Electric.

These hacking operations are different from similar actions in the past. They attempted to recruit and utilize China’s underground hacking gangs whose mission is to gain access to the target company’s network and install malware such as Sakula, PlugX, and Winnti, use these software to find the proprietary intellectual property and trade secrets of the target company, and send the information to the remote servers. If these practices were unsuccessful, another MSS team would try to recruit Chinese employees in the target company and have them install malware on the company’s computer network.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 15, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/nu1-10152019122804.html

BBC Chinese recently published an analysis on the growth of China’s Navy after the Cold War. With the end of the Soviet Union, the post Cold War period gave China a golden period of time to develop its economic power, which made China the only country that has the potential of establishing an aircraft-carrier-centered navy which is only behind the U.S. fleets. China’s media have been widely reporting on a new China-made carrier, which in August did its final trial sail before delivery. International observers observed that China has been speeding up its aircraft carrier shipbuilding. It is highly likely that China is aiming to build the next generation nuclear-powered carriers. The currently under-construction third Chinese carrier is expected to have important technology achievements. Assuming there is no major economic downturn, the Chinese economy can sustain a carrier-based navy. Today, China has the second highest military budget in the world. Russia is only number six. Chinese military officials commented in a number of earlier press interviews saying that China may need a minimum of five or six aircraft carriers to have “enough” in service with rotating maintenance schedules.

Source: BBC Chinese, September 25, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-49829195