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Siemens Terminates Partnership with Chinese Military Company Amidst International Concerns

Siemens has terminated its partnership with Beijing Transemic Technology (北京天圣华信息技术有限公司), a Chinese company accused of using Siemens technology to upgrade Chinese military equipment. The US placed Transemic on its sanction list on June 12 for its involvement in developing supersonic weapons as well as design and manufacturing of air-to-air missiles. It was also reported that Transemic resold Siemens software to China’s defense research universities linked to the Chinese military. Siemens was initially reluctant to terminate the partnership despite negative media coverage, but the company eventually decided to end all dealings with Transemic.

The European political sphere has become more sensitive to China’s military expansion, with the President of the EU Commission warning future relations with China in sensitive high-tech areas. Germany’s Foreign Minister has also advocated for stricter controls over exports to China,
particularly for “dual-use” products with both civilian and military applications.

Source: Deutsche Welle, July 17, 2023

https://www.dw.com/zh不卖了压力山大-西门子终止与中企合作/a-66253259

Briefings | | |   @CS Defense/Military Economy/Resources

China’s New Cognitive War against Taiwan

Epoch Times reported that Beijing has adopted new cognitive warfare tactics against Taiwan. In the past it used to directly or indirectly buy Taiwan’s major media including newspaper, television, and radios to spread its message. Now, however, it has switched to using Internet media, such as TikTok, YouTube, and influential webcast hosts.

One tactic is to release fake news via its controlled Taiwanese media, causing other Taiwanese media who want to keep up on news reporting but do not verify the validity of news to follow up on the fake topic. China has established a “Public Opinion Control Center” inside its military and has a 2 million strong “Internet army” (people who monitor the Internet posting and post propaganda or fake news on the Internet). This can stir up issues or debates in Taiwan media that can lead to conflicts and divisions among the Taiwanese people.

Beijing also provides scripts to people who have their own (news or other topic) channels on the Internet. Those people will replace those words commonly used in the mainland but which are uncommon in Taiwan with those commonly used in Taiwan, to make it appear to have been “created in Taiwan.”

For webcasts, China’s “Public Opinion Control Center” can arrange a mass Chinese “Internet Army” (say 100,000 people) to listen to a Taiwanese webcaster and each to pay the webcaster a small amount of money to influence the webasterc. Collectively however, the webcaster receives a large amount of money and it is hard to trace the money source.

Source: Epoch Times, June 7, 2023
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/23/6/7/n14011845.htm

Reports | | |   @CS Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

BBC Chinese: Mainland Poll on Taiwan Militarily Reunification

BBC Chinese recently reported that the well-known periodical Journal of Contemporary China published the results of a poll of nearly 1,800 Mainland Chinese citizens regarding the military reunification of Taiwan. According to the poll results, 55 percent of respondents expressed support for Beijing’s military reunification of Taiwan and 33 percent disagreed with the use of force. Only 1 percent expressed their desire to launch a war against Taiwan immediately. Studies of Mainland people’s views on cross-Taiwan-Strait issues, due to the political sensitivity of the topic, have been rare. The most important finding of this latest poll was that people in Mainland China are relatively willing to consider different means to solve the Taiwan issue besides military force.

The results of the study show that the military approach did not enjoy overwhelming support among the respondents. At the moment when the situation across the Taiwan Strait is tense and the relationship between the United States and China is not harmonious, the poll has aroused attention.

Some observers outside of China have raised some concern over the results of the survey. Consider that 55 percent, more than half of the respondents, support military action against Taiwan. Thus, even if China were to suddenly become a democracy, Taiwan might still be under threat. It is surprising that 22 percent of the respondents agreed that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait do not necessarily need to be unified. The poll also found that older, male, and highly educated respondents were more supportive of the use of drastic measures, including the military. This Research poll was conducted via an online opt-in panel. The sample respondents were from all across mainland China, ranging across different ages, incomes and genders. The survey was conducted between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. A total of more than 2,000 questionnaires were collected.

Source: BBC Chinese, May 30, 2023
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-65745337ight

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s War Simulation: 24 Hypersonic Missiles Will Completely Annihilate the Ford Aircraft Carrier Strike Group

Both the South China Morning Post and China Finance Information reported the war simulation result published on the Journal of Testing Technology (测试技术学报). Cao Hongsong’s research team at North Central University conducted 20 rounds of digital war simulation exercises. In each round, China fired 24 hypersonic anti-ship missiles and was able to sink an average of five or six U.S. ships including the USS Ford aircraft carrier, effectively destroying the entire aircraft carrier strike group.

North Central University is a second-class national confidential unit. It is jointly owned by Shanxi Province, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the National Defense Science and Industry Bureau. The Journal of Testing Technology is a journal jointly run by the university and the China Military Industry Association.

The simulation fired two types of hypersonic missiles: Category A with 2,000 km range and Category B with 4,000 km range. China’s attack came in three waves from six launching bases. The first wave had 8 Class A missiles, mainly to deplete U.S. SM-3 interceptors. The second wave, the main attack wave, contained 8 Class B and 2 Class A missiles and sank the U.S. aircraft carrier and cruisers. The third wave consisted of six Class A missiles to sink the remaining U.S. ships.

Source: Sohu, May 26, 2023
https://www.sohu.com/a/679199532_121432636

Briefings | | |   @CS Defense/Military

China Implements New Conscription Regulations

China implemented a revised conscription law as of May 1. It allows for the re-enlistment of retired soldiers and for the conscription of students with high-tech training. According to experts, China’s long-term military preparation is necessary to counter the declining birth rate and prepare for a potential high-tech war. Chen Shih-min, an associate professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Political Science, stated that manpower is one of the essential resources in warfare. China’s previous one-child policy practice and the high cost of raising children put China into a negative population growth. Facing the conscription difficulty, Beijing tried to revise the relevant laws to bring back retired soldiers. Chen added that a high-tech war requires specialized talent in the field of AI, robotics, and other high-tech areas. Also, conscription should prioritize students with such training. Overall, China is in a state of long-term military preparedness, and any military mobilization serves as a reminder for Taiwan. The Nikkei Asia report directly pointed out that the new conscription law is aimed at the Taiwan Strait conflict.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), May 2, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202305020296.aspx

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Forty-Eight Taiwan’s Retired Generals Involved in Beijing Espionage Case

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Kaohsiung city of Southern Taiwan has indicted former retired navy Rear Admiral Xia Fuxiang (夏复翔) and former Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Luo Zhiming (罗志明) for their involvement in introducing retired military generals to visit China and receive United Front ideology, with the aim of developing spy organizations in China. The number of retired officers introduced over the past six years reached 48, with 13 missions and 194 trips.

The retired generals involved in this espionage case came from all military branches, with ranks of lieutenant colonel or higher. Major General Guan Benkun (官本鲲), former senior official of the National Security Council, was invited to China 10 times, while Chen Shengwen (陈盛文), former head of Heng Shan Military Command Center, visited nine times. Even high-ranking naval officers, including the former Vice Commander-in-Chief, former Chief of Operations, former Lieutenant General Commander of the Department of Corrections, and former Vice Admiral of the Naval Command, have been invited to mainland China.

The indictment reveals that these retired generals claimed that China used the visits to promote “one country, two systems,” “armed reunification,” “peaceful reunification,” and other content with the intention of turning them against Taiwan. Moreover, Beijing collected intelligence on Taiwan’s missile defense, military buildup, defense technologies, as well as the personalities of defense officials and military leaders.

The indictment suggests that restrictions on retired military personnel visiting China were relaxed during Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency, following former KMT Chairman Lien Chan’s ice-breaking trip to China, enabling high ranking officers to visit China. This has given the Chinese Communist Party a window of opportunity to engage in United Front work.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 30, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hx1-03302023115918.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China’s People’s War to Be Used against Taiwan

From PLA Daily: China’s People’s War to Be Used against Taiwan:

China’s military newspaper published an article advocating that Mao Zedong’s people’s war should be applied  to and used against Taiwan. The People’s Liberation Army Daily (PLA Daily) ‘s article of March 30, 2023, is viewed as a sign that Beijing has included both military and political considerations in its military reunification efforts against Taiwan.

The article stated that the people’s war is a strategy and it is also the method used in a just war for national independence, for the people’s liberation, and for national prosperity. It also generally adheres to the fundamental principle of defensiveness.

The article said that the integrity of the strategy and tactics of the people’s war emphasizes both military and non-military means leveraging each other as one holistic strategy of politics, economy, diplomacy, public opinion, and military forces.

The article expressed that the people’s war requires the mobilization of the whole country to overcome local deficiencies and disadvantages so as to defeat this “powerful opponent.”

The article also said that active defense is a product of the people’s war and it is also the fundamental requirement to carry out the war of justice effectively.

The article further stated that the people’s war strategy reminds the military of the political aspects that should be taken into account. In addition, it suggested that the protests that occurred in Hong Kong should be avoided in Taiwan.

According to analysts, Beijing has mentioned that the people’s war should be carried forward and based on active defense. China has always regarded the military reunification with Taiwan as a defensive operation because Beijing views Taiwan as China’s territory.

Source: The PLA Daily, March 31, 2023                                                                                                                                                                                                          http://www.81.cn/yw_208727/16213136.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend