Ordos, a major subdivision of Inner Mongolia in China, is known for its coal production and lavish government projects. One is the new City of Ordos, a large city with abundant infrastructure that residents seldom use and which has frequently been described as a "ghost town."
Jin Canrong: The United States Will Still Attack Syria in Order to Curb the Shiite Alliance
Jin Canrong, China’s U.S. expert and Associate Dean at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, discussed how he reads Obama’s speeches regarding U.S. plans on the Syria crisis. Jin said, “If Syria’s proposal to give up chemical weapons for peace progresses, then in the short term I think it greatly reduces the possibility of the use of force. … But in the long run, he [Obama] will still launch the attack because the real target when he attacks Syria is Iran. Syria, Iraq’s Shiite population, the Syrian government, and Hezbollah together have formed a Shiite Union from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. This is not acceptable to the United States and Saudi Arabia. They must get rid of it. The key to getting rid of it is through its weak point, namely Syria. As long as the goal of curbing the Shiite alliance is maintained, [the U.S.] is not going to give up; the war to attack the Bashar regime will happen sooner or later.”
People’s Daily: Tens of Thousands of Troops in Large-scale Maneuvers
Recently, the Chinese military launched the "Mission Action 2013" cross region battle drills, with tens of thousands of troops mobilized on a large-scale and covering remote distances.
The maneuver is divided into A, B, and C, three exercises echelons. The focus is on multidimensional delivery, the use of firepower based on information technology, the coordination capabilities of different army units, and cooperation between military and civilian forces. The Donghai Fleet, the Nanhai Fleet, and the Air Force in the Nanjing Military Region dispatched their ships, planes, and gunships to participate in the exercise, along with civilian assistance forces like the civil airliners and railways. The Chinese media said it had "rarely been seen around the world in the past ten years."
Over 40,000 troops from the Nanjing and Guanzhou Military regions are expected to maneuver over 30,000 km. by vehicle, railway, sea, and air. At the same time, they will conduct anti-reconnaissance, air defense, and anti-interference drills, as well as red-blue air attack and defense drills.
‘Mission Action 2013’ is part of the annual military training plan and has been approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC) chaired by Xi, who is also General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee.
Source: People’s Daily, September 12, 2013
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/0912/c1011-22897974.html
New Guideline: Social Media Users May Face Jail Time
On September 9, China’s Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, issued a joint guideline defining the criteria for convicting and sentencing persons who use the Internet to defame, provoke and instigate, blackmail, or engage in illegal business. Under the guideline, these activities are defined as criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment.