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China News Agency: China’s Military Expenditures Leaping to “the World’s Second” Is Normal

Many Chinese web sites widely published a China News Agency article defending China’s military spending. The article was based on a Hong Kong Wen Wei Po article. It acknowledged that in 2008 China’s military expenditures had leaped to the world’s second. It then argued, “Internationally, ‘people with their own agenda’ will inevitably create a new wave of ‘China threats.’ However, since China’s GDP will soon surpass Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, wasn’t it normal that its military expenditures correspondingly move to second position, too?” “In fact, right now China’s military expenditures, compared to the China’s national defense and security needs, are far from being adequate.”

Source: China News, June 15, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/hb/news/2009/06-15/1734256.shtml

South Korean Military Networks Attacked 95,000 Times This Year

The Global Times under Xinhua reported that a South Korean Defense Security Command release stated that military computer networks had been attacked over 95,000 times this year, a 20% increase over the same period last year. The attacks fell into the following categories: Hacking 10,450 times, spreading a virus 81,700 times, denial of service attacks 950 times, and web page tampering 1,900 times. The South Korean Defense Security Command indicated that the analysis showed that 89% of the attacks were directed at the servers and homepage of military websites and 11% were attempts to steal military intelligence, thus posing a serious threat. South Korean Yonhap News reported that most attacks originated from China and North Korea. Government defense think tanks believe that South Korea’s "Chinese hacker" speculation is a replica or another version of the "China threat theory," reflecting a "cold war mentality."

Source: Global Times, June 16, 2009
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-06/489959.html

Xinhua: U.S. Interferes with Tibet through Intelligence, Human Rights and Funding

Intelligence, human rights and economic aid are the three tactics that the U.S. uses to interfere with Tibetan affairs, stated the International Herald Leader under Xinhua on June 15, 2009. On June 10, the U.S. Congress passed House Resolution 2410 authorizing the Secretary of State to establish a Tibet Section within the United States Embassy in Beijing to follow political, economic, and social developments in Tibet. In response, Xinhua has since published a series of articles to express opposition.

The June 15 article cites U.S. military support for the Dalai Lama in terms of telecommunications, munitions and training of Tibetan rebels. The article accuses the U.S. Department of State of smearing China in its report, alleging the Chinese government infringes upon Tibet’s democracy and freedom by force. The economic aid that the U.S. provides has included annual direct funding of $2 million to Tibetan exiles since 2002 and another $300,000 from the CIA to the Dalai Lama’s government in exile.

Source: Xinhua, June 15, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-06/15/content_11544122.htm;
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-06/15/content_11544098.htm

China Launches Training Sessions for Prison and Labor Camp Wardens

Following the training session held for the chiefs of local public security bureaus, Beijing recently called for a similar training session for the wardens of prisons and labor camps as well as the party chiefs of the selected law firms.

The training session will be held at the Central Institute of Correctional Police in Baoding, Hebei Province. It will be divided into 8 sessions and will last for 65 days. According to Wu Aiying, Minister of Justice, the training will “target how to improve prison management skills as well as prevent corruption and increase the effectiveness of investigations of illegal cases.”

Source: Xinhua, June 4, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-06/04/content_11484457.htm

The Public Has No Channel to Express its Opinion

Study Times published an article stating that the public is unable to get the government to hear their opinion, which, the author argued, is a major reason for the increase in large scale group events throughout China. “To get their opinions taken care of, some people have tried to escalate the event to get higher level official’s attention.” Another phenomenon is what the author called the “double-track information delivery system.” When the government sets up a research forum or conference, they will get one message (normally that everything is good); but in private settings such as when dining, they will hear different, even completely opposite information.

Source: Study Times, June 8, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2702&nid=9827&bid=5&page=1

Chinese Academy of Sciences Establishes China’s Bio-Resource Strategy

Xinhua reported that on June 10 the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced China’s bio-resource technology development road map to 2050. The road map outlined six strategic paths to transform China from a bio-resource large country to a bio-resource and bio-economy super power.

1. Photosynthesis mechanism research and bio-plants’ light power utilization improvement, to achieve large scale application and commercialization of renewable bio-energy
2. Bio-energy research and energy plant production base establishment, to achieve large scale commercial application of bio-energy, reducing oil imports by 30%
3. Development and utilization of micro-organisms and related industry chains
4. Sustainable development and usage of strategic bio-resources
5. Gene sequence and gene resources research
6. Bionic material and technology research.

Source: Xinhua, June 6, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2009-06/10/content_11521711.htm

Xinhua: The Chinese Academy of Sciences Points Out Strategic Space Technology Targets

On June 10, the Chinese Academy of Sciences published the Chinese Technology Roadmap Towards 2050. The Roadmap includes three strategic targets of Space Science and Technology: (1) Space Science targets major breakthrough in frontier scientific areas such as black holes; (2) Space Application targets earth observation infrastructure; (3) Space Technology targets bottleneck technologies such as high resolution and high precision time space datum, miniaturized and self-guided spacecrafts, and manned space missions.

Source: Xinhua Net, June 10, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2009-06/10/content_11521661.htm

Study Times: Network-Centric Warfare Will Dominate Future Battlegrounds

Study Times, the CCP Central Party School’s newspaper, recently published an article stressing the importance of Network-Centric Warfare (NCW). It claimed that the U.S. DOD is undertaking plans to enhance the NCW capabilities of the U.S. Armed Forces, which includes the plan to establish an NCW Command Headquarters.

The article stated that the fact that NCW changes competition spaces and basic rules is no longer a theoretical argument. It actually was realized under certain conditions and produced encouraging results. Change is unavoidable, and the article suggested applying a new mindset to military reforms.

Source: Study Times, June 8, 2009.
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2704&nid=9819&bid=7&page=1