Czech Senate president meets Taiwan leader; Beijing protests
HUIZHONG WU
TAIPEI,
Taiwan (AP) — The Czech Senate president met with Taiwanese leader Tsai
Ing-wen and other top government officials Thursday during a rare trip
by a foreign dignitary to the self-ruled democratic island that rival
China called an “open provocation.”
Tsai presented a medal for Jaroslav Kubera, the late predecessor of Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil.
Kubera
died in January before making the trip, and Vystrcil said China’s
pressure, including a warning from the Chinese Embassy against
congratulating Tsai on her reelection, contributed to his decision to
travel to the island.
Tsai called Kubera a “great friend" and gave
a nod to Vystrcil's speech Tuesday, saying his words “I'm a Taiwanese”
had touched many hearts.
“Our
actions are telling friends in Europe and all over the world, whether
Taiwanese or Czechs, we will not succumb to oppression, will bravely
speak up, actively participate in international affairs, and contribute
our capabilities,” she said.
Beijing is furious about the Czech
delegation’s visit, with the foreign ministry summoning the Czech
Republic’s ambassador to lodge stern representations and saying the trip
amounted to “flagrant support of Taiwan independence.” China claims
Taiwan as its own territory and strongly objects to any official contact
between other countries and the self-governing island.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday that Vystrcil's visit is an “open provocation.”
“China must tell the Czech Senate leader: You've crossed the line!” Wang said.
Vystrcil and Taiwan's foreign minister also refuted China's warnings.
“I
do not feel I have crossed any red line whatsoever,” Vystrcil said in
response to reporters' questions on Thursday. “We did not do anything
that would be an infringement of the One China policy.”
He added, “every country has the right to interpret the One China principle in their own way."
“We
are here to stay and Taiwan is not going anywhere," Taiwan's Foreign
Minister Joseph Wu said. ”Taiwan is trying to maintain the status quo
and the status quo is that Taiwan does not belong to China. Taiwan is
governed by its own people."
Vystrcil and Wu announced further cooperation in business, scientific research and democratic exchange.
Vystrcil
announced the formation of a working group from the Czech side
dedicated to cooperation on the economy and cybersecurity.
Tensions
between the Czech Republic and China have simmered since a dispute
between their capitals last year. They ended a sister-cities agreement
because Beijing had wanted Prague to agree to the “One China” principle,
which says Taiwan is part of China.
In his address Tuesday,
Vystrcil directly referenced former President John F. Kennedy’s famed
1963 anti-communist speech in then-divided Berlin, and emphasized
democratic freedoms embraced since the Czech Republic threw off
communist rule at the end of the Cold War and Taiwan emerged from
martial law at the end of the 1980s.
“In 1963, the American
president JFK, in his famous speech ‘I’m a Berliner,’ clearly opposed
communism and political oppression and supported the people of West
Berlin,” Vystrcil said. “He said ‘Freedom is indivisible, and when one
man is enslaved, all are not free.’”
“Please let me use the same
manner to express my support to the people of Taiwan: ‘I’m a
Taiwanese,’” he said, speaking the last phrase in Mandarin Chinese.
----
Japan, U.S. defence chiefs oppose bid to alter status of Asian waters
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Japan's Defence Minister Taro Kono said on Saturday he had
agreed with his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper that both countries opposed
any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the key waterways of
the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
Kono shared his view
with the U.S. defense secretary at a time when the United States and
China are at loggerheads over issues ranging from technology and human
rights to Chinese military activities in the disputed South China Sea.
A thorny issue in China's ties with Japan is Beijing's claim to a group of tiny East China Sea islets controlled by Tokyo.
"We
agreed that the international community will respond firmly to any
unilateral change to the status quo in the South China Sea as well as
the East China Sea," Kono said.
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He was speaking online from Guam to reporters in the Japanese capital following his meeting with Esper.
Kono
said Esper had confirmed that the U.S.-Japan security treaty covered
the East China Sea islets, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the
Diaoyu islands in China.
Turning to Japan's domestic politics,
Kono said he would think hard about running in a ruling party election
to choose a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who abruptly
announced his resignation for health reasons on Friday.
The United
States has long opposed China's expansive territorial claims in the
South China Sea and has sent warships regularly through the strategic
waterway.
China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich waters
but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim
to parts of it.
About $3 trillion worth of trade passes through
the waterway each year. China has built bases atop atolls in the region
but says its intentions are peaceful.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by William Mallard and Clarence Fernandez)
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine told lawmakers
Wednesday it was crucial for the US to maintain a presence in Earth's
orbit after the International Space Station is decommissioned so that
China does not gain a strategic advantage.
The first parts of the ISS were launched in 1998 and it has been continuously lived in since 2000.
The
station, which serves as a space science lab and is a partnership
between the US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada, is currently expected
to be operated until 2030.
"I'll tell you one thing that has me
very concerned -- and that is that a day is coming when the
International Space Station comes to the end of its useful life," said
Bridenstine.
"In order to be able to have the United States of
America have a presence in low Earth orbit, we have to be prepared for
what comes next," he added.
To that end, NASA has requested $150
million for the 2021 fiscal year to help develop the commercialization
of low Earth orbit, defined as 2,000 km (1,200 miles) or less from the
planet's surface.
"We want to see a public-private partnership
where NASA can deal with commercial space station providers, so that we
can keep a permanent uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit,"
said Bridenstine.
"I don't think it's in the interest of the
nation to build another International Space Station -- I do think it's
in the interest of the nation to support commercial industry, where NASA
is a customer."
Bridenstine warned the lawmakers this was
critical to maintain US space supremacy in the face of a planned Chinese
space station that Beijing hopes will be operational by 2022.
The
station is named Tiangong, meaning Heavenly Palace, and in June Chinese
state media announced it was partnering with 23 entities from 17
countries to carry out scientific experiments on board.
These
countries included both developed and developing countries, such as
France, Germany and Japan, as well as Kenya and Peru, according to
Xinhua news agency.
"China is rapidly building what they call the
'Chinese International Space Station,' and they're rapidly marketing
that space station to all of our international partners," said
Bridenstine.
"It would be a tragedy, if, after all of his time,
and all of this effort, we were to abandon low Earth orbit and cede that
territory."
He explained that the microgravity of ISS offered
great potential for scientific advances, from innovations in
pharmaceuticals to printing 3D human organs to the creation of
artificial retinas to treat people with macular degeneration.
Bridenstine
said that it was therefore necessary to fund NASA to pay companies to
set up a space station, where it would be one of several customers in
order to drive down its own costs.
This, he added, was vital to "ultimately not cede that territory to another country that doesn't have our interests at heart."
ia/ch
----
China has 'comprehensive plan' to steal US technology, secrets: Gen. Jack Keane
Gen. Jack Keane on an NYPD officer being accused of acting as a Chinese Communist Party agent and new sanctions on Iran.
----
World
An NYPD officer and US Army reservist has been arrested and accused of spying on Tibetan New Yorkers for China
acollman@businessinsider.com (Ashley Collman)
Baimadajie Angwang, a
33-year-old NYPD officer and US Army reservist, was arrested on Monday
and accused of spying for China, multiple reports say.
Federal prosecutors said in their complaint
that Angwang spied on Tibetans living in New York and offered Chinese
officials access to NYPD officials and information about the
department.
He started working with a handler in the
Chinese consulate in New York in 2018, but had been in contact with
consulate officials as early as 2014, the complaint said.
Angwang
became a naturalized US citizen after seeking asylum under the claim
that he had been arrested and tortured in China "due partly to his
Tibetan ethnicity," the complaint said.
In reality, both
of his parents are Chinese Communist Party members and his brother is a
reservist in the People's Liberation Army, the complaint said.
Baimadajie
Angwang, a 33-year-old NYPD officer and US Army reservist, was arrested
on Monday and accused of spying for China, multiple reports say.
Federal prosecutors said in their complaint
that Angwang spied on Tibetans living in New York and offered Chinese
officials access to NYPD officials and information about the
department.
He started working with a handler in the
Chinese consulate in New York in 2018, but had been in contact with
consulate officials as early as 2014, the complaint said.
Angwang
became a naturalized US citizen after seeking asylum under the claim
that he had been arrested and tortured in China "due partly to his
Tibetan ethnicity," the complaint said.
In reality, both
of his parents are Chinese Communist Party members and his brother is a
reservist in the People's Liberation Army, the complaint said.
A
New York Police Department officer and US Army reservist with a
"secret" security clearance has been arrested and accused of spying for
China, according to multiple reports.
Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old married father of one, was arrested at his home on Long Island on Monday, the New York Daily News reported.
He
later appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court where he was charged with
acting as an agent of a foreign government, wire fraud, and making false
statements â€" charges that could see him face up to 55 years in
prison, the outlet said.
Federal prosecutors have accused Angwang
of working with a handler in the Chinese consulate and passing on
intelligence about Tibetans living in New York, according to a criminal complaint obtained by CBS New York.
The
complaint also said that Angwang provided "information from NYPD
systems" to Chinese officials and and gave them "access to senior NYPD
officials through invitations to official NYPD events."
Angwang works as a community officer in the 111th precinct in Queens.
China
has occupied Tibet, a region in the Himalayan mountains, since the
1950s. However, many Tibetans view the Buddhist Dalai Lama, who fled
Tibet in 1959, as their leader and want independence from China.
According
to the complaint, Angwang is said to have come to the country initially
on a cultural exchange visa, overstayed a second visa, and then sought
asylum in the US "on the basis that he had allegedly been arrested and
tortured" in China "due partly to [his] Tibetan ethnicity."
But US
officials threw that claim into question in the complaint, pointing out
that both of his parents are Chinese Communist Party members, his
mother used to work for the Chinese government, and his brother is a
reservist in the People's Liberation Army.
All three still live in
China, and Angwang has "traveled back to the PRC [People's Republic of
China] on numerous occasions since his asylum application was granted,"
the New York Post reported, citing court filings.
The
complaint added that Angwang started corresponding with Chinese
consular officials as far back as 2014, became an NYPD officer in 2016,
and started working with a handler at the consulate in 2018.
According to the complaint, Angwang told his handler in a recorded conversation in 2019: "Must bring glory to the Chinese."
The
handler, whom Angwang called "Boss," is believed to work for the China
Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture division
of the Chinese government's United Front Work Department, the complaint
said.
The United Front Work Department is an agency that collects intelligence from around the world for the Chinese government.
According
to the complaint, it is also responsible for "neutralizing sources of
potential opposition to the policies and authority of the PRC" and for
maintaining "control over potentially problematic groups, such as
religious and ethnic minorities."
It appears that Angwang was paid handsomely for this work.
According
to CBS New York, which cited the complaint, Angwang has received nearly
$120,000 by wire transfer from the Chinese government since 2016.
Meanwhile,
during fiscal year 2019, the city of New York paid Angwang a salary of
about $53,500, according to online records viewed by the Post.
Business
Insider was unable to contact the Consulate General of the People's
Republic of China in New York outside its working hours on Tuesday.
In a Tuesday statement to Reuters,
the consulate did not comment directly on Angwang's case but said its
staff had been "fulfilling duties in accordance with international law
and the law of the United States," and called their work "above board
and beyond reproach."
'Violated every oath he took in this country'
Following
Angwang's arrest, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a statement
cited by CBS New York: "As alleged in this federal complaint, Baimadajie
Angwang violated every oath he took in this country. One to the United
States, another to the U.S. Army, and a third to this Police
Department."
Shea added that the NYPD's intelligence and internal affairs bureaus have been working with the FBI.
In
a separate statement, FBI Assistant Director of New York William
Sweeney Jr. also called Angwang "the definition of an insider threat."
"As
alleged, Mr. Angwang operated on behalf of a foreign government; lied
to gain his clearance, and used his position as an NYPD police officer
to aid the Chinese government's subversive and illegal attempts to
recruit intelligence sources," Sweeney said.
"The FBI is
committed to stopping hostile foreign governments from infiltrating our
institutions, and we will not tolerate the behavior of those who
willingly violate their oath to the United States, and covertly work
against their fellow citizens. We want to thank the NYPD for its
extraordinary partnership on this investigation."
US charges 5 Chinese citizens in global hacking campaign
ERIC TUCKER
Chinese Hackers Charged
Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Rosen
speaks, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020 at the Justice Department in
Washington. The Justice Department has charged five Chinese citizens
with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the
United States and abroad, including social media and video game
companies as well as universities and telecommunications providers.
Officials announced the prosecution on Wednesday. (Tasos Katopodis/Pool
via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has
charged five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting more than 100
companies and institutions in the United States and abroad, including
social media and video game companies as well as universities and
telecommunications providers, officials said Wednesday.
The five
defendants remain fugitives, but prosecutors say two Malaysian
businessmen charged with conspiring with the alleged hackers to profit
off the attacks on the billion-dollar video game industry were arrested
in Malaysia this week and now face extradition proceedings.
The indictments are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to call out cybercrimes by China. In July, prosecutors accused hackers of working with the Chinese government
to target companies developing vaccines for the coronavirus and of
stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property
and trade secrets from companies across the world.
Though those
allegations were tailored to the pandemic, the charges announced
Wednesday — and the range of victims identified — were significantly
broader and involved attacks done both for monetary gain but also more
conventional espionage purposes.
In
unsealing three related indictments, officials laid out a wide-ranging
hacking scheme targeting a variety of business sectors and academia and
carried out by a China-based group known as APT41. That group has been
tracked by the cybersecurity firm Mandiant Threat Intelligence, which
described the hackers as prolific and successful at blending criminal
and espionage operations.
The hackers relied on a series of
tactics, including attacks in which they managed to compromise the
networks of software providers, modify the source code and conduct
further attacks on the companies' customers.
The Justice
Department did not directly link the hackers to the Chinese government.
But officials said the hackers were probably serving as proxies for
Beijing because some of the targets, including pro-democracy activists
and students at a Taiwan university, were in line with government
interests and didn't appear to be about scoring a profit.
“A
hacker for profit is not going to hack a pro-democracy group,” said
acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin of the District of Columbia, where
the cases were filed. Those targets, including some that bear the
“hallmark” of conventional espionage, point to the conclusion that the
hackers had at least an indirect connection with the government, Sherwin
said.
In addition, one of the five defendants told a colleague
that he was very close to the Chinese Ministry of State Security and
would be protected “unless something very big happens,” and also agreed
not to go after domestic targets in China, said Deputy Attorney General
Jeffrey Rosen.
But some of the conduct was clearly profit driven,
officials said. Two of the Chinese defendants, for instance, were
charged with breaking into video game companies and obtaining digital
currency that was then sold for profit on the black market, officials
said.
Rosen, the Justice Department's No. 2 official, criticized
the Chinese government for what he said was a failure to disrupt hacking
crimes and to hold hackers accountable.
“Ideally, I would be
thanking Chinese law enforcement authorities for their cooperation in
the matter and the five Chinese hackers would now be in custody awaiting
trial,” Rosen said. “Unfortunately, the record of recent years tells us
that the Chinese Communist Party has a demonstrated history of choosing
a different path, that of making China safe for their own cyber
criminals, so long as they help with its goals of stealing intellectual
property and stifling freedom.”
There was no immediate response Wednesday to an email seeking comment from the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
The
Justice Department also announced that it had seized hundreds of
accounts, servers and domain names used by the defendants and that it
had worked with Microsoft and other private sector companies to deny the
hackers continued access to tools, accounts and hacking infrastructure.
Also
Wednesday, the department announced charges against two Iranian
nationals accused of stealing hundreds of terabytes of data in a hacking
campaign targeting institutions — and perceived enemies of Iran — in
the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
Pompeo hopeful China's Confucius Institutes will be gone from U.S. by year-end
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday he was
hopeful that Chinese Confucius Institute cultural centers on U.S.
university campuses would all be shut down by the end of the year.
"I
think everyone's coming to see the risk associated with them," Pompeo
told Lou Dobbs on the Fox Business Network, accusing the
Chinese-government funded institutes of working to recruit "spies and
collaborators" at U.S. colleges.
"I think these institutions can see that, and I'm hopeful we will get them all closed out before the end of this year."
Last
month, Pompeo labeled the center that manages the Confucius Institutes
in the United States "an entity advancing Beijing's global propaganda
and malign influence" and required it to register as a foreign mission.
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David
Stilwell, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said at the time that
the dozens of Confucius Institutes on U.S. campuses were not being
kicked out, but U.S. universities should take a "hard look" at what they
were doing on campus.
Pompeo was asked about a warning last month
by the Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, about the need to
avoid a new Cold War, an apparent reference to escalating tensions
between China and the United States.
Pompeo said "the Cold War analogy has some relevance," but the challenges with China were different.
"This is different from the Cold War in that we are challenged by a country with 1.4 billion people," he said.
"The challenges are different, they are economic challenges."
Pompeo
referred to actions the Trump administration has taken to restrict the
activities of Chinese firms like Huawei Technologies Co and said further
moves could be expected.
"And now you'll see a broader effort,
they'll be announcements, I think, in the coming days and weeks we will
see the United States confront this in a very serious way, all for the
benefit of the American economy," he said.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Brown)
Chinese national arrested in U.S. probe of possible transfer of software to China
WASHINGTON,
Aug 28 (Reuters) - A Chinese national who is a researcher at a
California university was arrested and charged with destroying a
computer hard drive during an FBI investigation into the possible
transfer of sensitive software to China, the U.S. Justice Department
said on Friday.
Guan Lei, 29, of Alhambra, California, a
researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, was arrested
after he was seen throwing a damaged hard drive into a dumpster outside
his apartment in July, the department said in a statement.
"Guan
is being investigated for possibly transferring sensitive U.S. software
or technical data to China’s National University of Defense Technology"
and falsely denying his association with the Chinese military on his
visa application and in interviews with federal agents, the Justice
Department said.
The statement did not say when the investigation started.
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Guan
made an initial court appearance on Friday and an arraignment was
scheduled for Sept. 17, the statement said. The felony offense of
destruction of evidence carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in
federal prison. (Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Trump administration taps Vietnam refugee as new ICE chief
Tim O'Donnell
The Trump administration is tapping Tony Pham, the top attorney for
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as the new head of the agency,
The Washington Examiner and BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday.
Pham was born
in what was then Saigon, South Vietnam (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
and came to the United States as a refugee in 1975 and became a U.S.
citizen 10 years later. BuzzFeed notes
the Trump administration has dramatically cut the U.S. refugee program.
Prior to joining ICE, Pham was a prosecutor in Richmond, Virginia, and
later oversaw the Virginia Peninsula Regional jail.
"As a seasoned
leader with [the Department of Homeland Security], Tony will ensure ICE
continues to safeguard our country's borders from crime and illegal
immigration," an ICE spokesperson told BuzzFeed.
Khi thu thập các ảnh về Trường VBQGVN (TVBQGVN) để làm video clip tái xây dựng hình ảnh kiến trúc của TVBQGVN, chúng tôi đã nhận ra rằng chưa bao giờ có được bức ảnh nào toàn vẹn về TVBQGVN. Lý do dễ hiểu TVBQGVN được xem như một quần thể (archipelago) tập hợp những vật thể nhỏ mà mỗi vật thể nhỏ này lại rất lớn so với khoảng cách chụp ảnh và sự phóng đại mà một máy ảnh thường có tiȇu cự phù hợp cho nhu cầu này. Vì thế, các vật thể hay các building doanh trại (batiment,) Phạn Xá, BCH, Thư Viện, … chỉ có những bức ảnh từng phần (partial). Thứ hai, có thể phần đông các CSVSQ không mấy chú trọng về ảnh của TVBQGVN, và thứ ba, có thể việc chụp hình phạm quy định, hay hiểu biết về an ninh nȇn hầu hết các ảnh là về cá nhân với phần background rất nhỏ.của chi tiết TVBQGVN. Ngày nay khi chúng ta quay nhìn lại lịch sử Trường Mẹ, chúng ta hiểu rằng đã quȇn tìm học về kiến trúc TVBQGVN ngay những năm tháng còn học dưới mái trường nȇn giờ đây vì khi đi xây dựng lại kiến trúc Trường Mẹ, chúng ta không thể tìm đâu ra bản thiết kế kiến trúc khi ấy. Thực tế, 60 năm qua mà 45 năm dưới chế độ cộng sản Việt Nam, một tài liệu liȇn quan với TVBQGVN như thế không thể tồn tại bởi vì người cộng sản bản thân không có một lịch sử chân chính nȇn họ không chấp nhận một lịch sử chân chính của kẻ thù. Vì thế, khi quân Bắc Việt chiếm đóng TVBQGVN. họ cố gắng xóa bỏ tất cả những gì có hơi hớm của TVBQGVN và cho rằng đó một thứ tài sản tự nhiȇn họ được Thượng đé ban thưởng cho một kẻ ác. Vì thế, sự tái xây dựng kiến trúc TVBQGVN là một mô phỏng hết sức đơn giản của kiến trúc ngày xưa của TVBQGVN. Nếu chúng ta nhận xét kỷ, các phòng của SVSQ từng mỗi batiment có tính đối xứng qua một trục chính của batiment, và hai phòng SVSQ đối xứng nhau qua một trục phụ và từng dãy phòng của SVSQ đối xứng qua đường hàng lang. Trục chính của mỗi batiment là mặt phẳng chứa cột trụ thẳng đứng chạy từ nền batiment đến nóc và chia đôi cửa chính ở tầng dưới Nóc trần của các batiment phẳng và phần sàn trȇn đất tựa trȇn nền đất mặt đồi 1515 một diện tích ít nhất 3/4 diện tích mặt sàn nhằm mục đích giúp nới rộng diện tích sân cỏ Trung Ðoàn SVSQ càng lớn khi có thể. Mặt sau của Nhà C, D (Ðại đội EFGH) có cửa sau khác với mặt sau Nhà F. G (Ðại đội ABCD) không có cửa sau. Các doanh trại chính đã chiếm hầu hết mặt bằng ngọn đồi nȇn BCH phải được xây dựng trȇn đất thấp và cửa sau BCH nhìn bao quát ra Vũ Ðình Trường. Những suy nghĩ đầu tiȇn khi khởi công thiết kế và xây dựng TVBQGVN: 1. Vì TVBQGVN sẽ đạo tào 4 khóa SVSQ trong thời gian 4 năm, cần nȇn có 4 doanh trại với ý tưởng đầu tiȇn mỗi doanh trại dành cho mỗi khóa với đủ phòng cho khoảng 300 SVSQ ngủ nghỉ và học tập, Sau khi đo đạc và phân chia vị trí theo diện tích của đồi 1515, lựa chọn nơi bằng phẳng, các nhân viȇn đo đạc thấy có đủ chỗ cho 4 batiment cân đối và một nhà ăn cho khoảng 1200 SVSQ. Với 300 SVSQ cho một batiment thì cần có khoảng 150 phòng cho mỗi batiment, nếu cứ mỗi phòng có 2 SVSQ và các phòng tiện ích. Sự cân đối tốt nhất và thẩm mỹ nhất là các batiment nȇn tương đương nhau và có số phòng giống nhau. Ðó là lý thuyết; thật tế, mỗi batiment có khoảng 120 – 8 (bỏ trống vì cầu thang (4) và hall (4) = 112. Số phòng vệ sinh (6) cho 3 tầng lầu vì vậy số phòng hiệu quả là 112 - 6 = 106. Hai (2) phòng Hệ Thống Tự Chỉ Huy, 2 phòng Kho, 2 hòng SQCB, 2 Văn Khang nȇn sau cùng còn 106-8= 98 phòng. 2. Ðo đạc, san lấp và chuẫn bị đào móng cho các batiments theo bản vẽ kiến trúc. Tuyển chọn, huy động nhân viȇn cho công việc làm lưới thép, trộn xi măng. Chuẩn bị gạch cát, xi măng, gỗ, vận chuyển nước trộn xi măng. Việc đổ xi măng cho trụ cột móng và mặt sàn dưới đất thì dễ, nhưng vận chuyển xi măng lȇn các tầng lầu rất khó khăn. Mặt sàn của các doanh trại và Nhà ăn có cùng cao độ như nhau. 3. Nhân công, thợ hồ, thợ sắt, thợ lắp đặt đường ống, lắp đặt máy nước nóng, bồn cầu, lavabo, vòi nước, lót gạch bông cho đẹp, thợ làm đá mài, thợ xếp đá, thơ trồng cỏ sân Trung Ðòan, các bếp nấu ăn,… ; nhìn chung, tất cả khoảng 200-300 người và phải làm việc liȇn tục từ sau ngày TT Ngô Ðình Diệm ký Sắc lệnh năm 1959 đến tháng 3/1962 là khoảng 2 năm 9 tháng tức là khoảng 1.000 ngày trong thời tiết lạnh, gió, mưa, nóng. 4. Khu vực tập trung cho nhân công làm việc cần gần với nơi lắp ráp và xây dựng càng tốt, nȇn nhà thầu đã tập trung nhân công tại khu vực phía sau Trường phía sau lưng Phạn Xá đi qua một nơi trủng. Khu vực này thường được gọi là Khu Tôn Thất Lễ.
5. Phạn Xá có hình dáng khác thường gồm ba dãy nhà thẳng nối nhau thành hình chữ V chóp cắt ngang. Nếu Phạn Xá hình cong vòng cung thì các SVSQ ngồi hai đầu của vòng cung sẽ không nhìn thấy nhau, hơn nữa kiến trúc hình cung rất khó về kích thước vỉ sắt, vị trí trụ cột, mặt tiền cũng phải cong. 6. Kích thước gạch thẻ 20cmX10cmX5cm, gạch bông sàn nhà 20cmX20cmX2cm. Chi tiết kích thước này áp dụng cho phép tính kích thước base của Viȇn Ðá Ðầu Tiȇn nơi TT Ngô Ðình Diệm đặt xuống. 7. Hướng doanh trại từ Phạn Xá ra Cổng Nam Quan là Nam Bắc. 8. Có những việc chúng ta không biết mà không kể ra bȇn trȇn. Nhìn chung khi xây dựng công trình TVBQGVN thật cam go gian lao và tốn kém. Trȇn đây chỉ là khái quát, nhớ biết được gì thì ghi lại cho mai sau, nếu quý NT, NÐ, và các bạn biết điều gì thm xin vui lòng bổ túc. Khi chúng ta nói TVBQGVN là tài sản của người Việt Nam và của Thể Chế Việt Nam Cộng Hòa thì không thể sai được vì bản chất của Việt Cộng không có xây dựng mà là phá hoại mà thôi. Hoàng Hoa 2020/08/22
Chúng tôi vừa hoàn tất version 2 đầy đủ hơn của video tài liệu hình ảnh về Kiến Trúc của TVBQGVN. Version 2 có chứa đựng những bức ảnh lịch sử và vị trí của Viȇn Ðá Ðầu Tiȇn mà TT Ngô Ðình Diệm đã đặt vào ngày 5/6/1960. Tất cả hình ảnh trong video version 2 đều có chi tiết về kiến trúc của Trường, hoặc có thể những vị trí địa hình như đỉnh Trinh Nữ Lâm Viȇn, Lapbé Nord,
Version 2 được xem là quan trọng được lưu trữ làm tài liệu lịch sử để tham khảo, đó là hình ảnh của một Ngôi Trường đơn giản mà uy nghiȇm, một vị trí cheo leo mà hùng vĩ, một khung cảnh trữ tình thơ mộng nhưng đào tạo những người con Việt Nam kiȇu hùng gan thép cho lý tưởng dân tộc và nhân bản VNCH.
Năm tháng đã trôi qua nhanh, nhưng ký ức của người CSVSQ tốt nghiệp nơi TVBQGVN vẫn không thay đổi. Cách đây không lâu, anh em chúng tôi có ý định thiết lập một mô hình giống như một sa bàn cho TVBQGVN, nhưng ý nghĩ đó thay đổi dần khi chúng tôi nhận thấy nhu cầu cần thiết có một video clip chuyȇn tập trung vào Trường các khía cạnh, góc nhìn, không gian vào thời gian để phổ biến rộng rãi hơn trȇn thế giới về mối quan tâm của người CSVSQ về TVBQGVN
Việc quan sát , xem xét và phổ biến các góc cạnh và chi tiết của Trường để từ đó cho thấy sự quan tâm về thực thể vật chất của Trường là sự minh chứng sự tồn một quan điểm là TVBQGVN là một Tài Sản của người dân Miền Nam Việt Nam và giờ đây là tài sản của toàn dân Việt Nam, và là tài sản của Thể Chế Việt Nam Cộng Hòa. Một hệ thống hành chánh (Administrative System) hay là một Chính Quyền, Chính Phủ theo Thể Chế VNCH khác với Thể Chế VNCH. Một Chính Quyền (Chính Phủ) TT Ngô Ðình Diệm, TT Nguyễn Văn Thiệu theo Thể Chế VNCH giống như Chính Quyền của Tổng Thống Trump theo Thể Chế Tự Do Dân Chủ Hoa Kỳ, một Chính Quyền có thể thay đổi, nhưng Thể Chế đó vẫn tồn tại. Người dân có quyền lựa chọn Chính Quyền và Thể Chế, nhưng thực tế, trong Thể Chế Cộng sản người dân không có quyền tự do chọn lựa Thể Chế nȇn Thể Chế VNCH vẫn tồn tại và là một thực tế hiện hữu song song với Thế Chế Cộng Sản.
Sau khi ký Hiệp Ðịnh Geneva 1954, hằng triệu người miền Bắc di cư vào Nam, không phải họ di cư để đi theo Chính Phủ của QT Bảo Ðại và chẳng ai biết sau này TT Ngô Ðình Diệm sẽ thay thế QT Bảo Ðại để khai sinh Thể Chế Cộng Hòa, nhưng họ di cư vì họ muốn sống dưới Thể Chế Tự Do, Dân Chủ và Pháp Trị. Sau 30/4/1975, cũng gần triệu người Việt bỏ nước ra đi không phải vì đi theo Chính Quyền của TT Bush, TT Carter, TT Clinton mà vì họ muốn sống dưới Thể Chế Dân Chủ Tự Do.
Ðó là tại sao chúng ta khẳng định Thể Chế VNCH vẫn tồn tại trong khi chưa có một Chính Quyền điều hành nó, và chưa đúng thời điểm cần sự ra đời của một Chính Quyền điều hành Thể Chế VNCH; do đó, TVBQGVN là tài sản của người dân Việt Nam và cũng là tài sản của Thể Chế VNCH.
Biết ơn những người đã đóng góp công sức và tài năng trí tuệ xây dựng TVBQGVN thành hiện thực.
1. Người đầu tiȇn chúng ta biết ơn là Tổng Thống Ngô Ðình Diệm, người có công chuẫn bị cho việc xây nền tảng TVBQGVN bằng Sắc lệnh đổi tȇn Trường Võ Bị Ðà Lạt thành Trường Võ Bị Quốc Gia Việt Nam vào năm 1959. Sau Sắc lệnh này là sự chuẫn bị nhân vật lực tài lực cho việc khởi công xây dựng TVBQGVN. Trong lúc vừa khai sáng nền Ðệ Nhất Cộng Hòa và vừa tóm thâu quyền hành từ 1956 chắc chắn người dân miền Nam không có đủ tiền và vật chất cho xây dựng TVBQGVN mà có thể có sự trợ giúp của Chính phủ Mỹ.
2. Những người kế tiếp có công là những người đề nghị và quyết định ngọn đồi 1515 cho vị trí xây dựng TVBQGVN là những người thầu khoán Tôn Thất Lễ và Nguyễn Toản, và nhóm Kiến Trúc Sư vẽ thiết kế TVBQGVN. Hằng ngàn tấn sắt, hàng chục ngàn bao xi măng, hàng ngàn thước khối cát, hằng trăm ngàn viȇn gạch thẻ, các trang thiết bị nhà tắm, nhà vệ sinh, phòng ngủ SVSQ được nhập cảng và được vận chuyển qua cổng sau TVBQGVN nơi có khu nhà dành cho nhân viȇn xây dựng TVBQGVN mà chúng ta thường gọi là khu Tôn Thất Lễ đã tạo sự náo động cả một vùng.
3. Vào năm 1970 đến năm 1971 có một hãng thầu Mỹ xây dựng Thư Viện (1970) rồi đến Nhà Thí Nghiệm Nặng (trước mùa Văn Hóa 1971). Thời gian này chắc chắn có sự trợ giúp của Chính phủ Mỹ. Chúng ta cũng tỏ lòng biết ơn họ.
TVBQGVN đã đào tạo nhiều nhân tài cho nước Việt và những anh hùng trong trận mạc ngăn chận tiȇu diệt kẻ thù. TVBQGVN là nơi chôn dấu những linh thiȇng, hồn thiȇng sông núi và vĩnh viễn thuộc về toàn dân Việt Nam và Thể Chế VNCH.
(Bloomberg)
-- An investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department found that Vietnam
deliberately undervalued its currency by about 4.7% against the dollar
in 2019, according to a letter sent to the U.S. Commerce Department.
The
State Bank of Vietnam, the nation’s central bank, facilitated net
purchases of about $22 billion worth of foreign exchange last year,
which had the effect of undervaluing the dong in a range of 4.2% to
5.2%, according to the letter. The purchases were estimated to have
pushed down Vietnam’s real effective exchange rate by 3.5% to 4.8%.
The
Treasury’s assessment is part of an investigation by the Commerce
Department into alleged subsidies on passenger vehicle and light truck
tires from Vietnam. A new federal rule published this year in the U.S.
allows the Commerce Department to treat currency undervaluation as a
factor in determining countervailing duties on a trading partner.
Vietnam’s
Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond to an email
request for comment, while a representative for the central bank wasn’t
immediately available to comment.
The
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index fluctuated on Wednesday and was up 0.2% as of
1:50 p.m. in Hanoi. The dong was little changed at 23,175 per dollar.
The
Treasury’s move is a sign that the U.S. could cite Vietnam for a second
violation in a semi-annual report on foreign exchange policies of major
trading partners.
In the January release of that report, Vietnam
was judged to have violated just one of three criteria that the Treasury
uses to assess a currency manipulator -- namely, it had a bilateral
goods surplus of $47 billion, the sixth-highest among the U.S.’s major
trading partners. Economies with at least two violations are added to a
monitoring list.
(Updates with currency in fifth paragraph.)
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
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A
former CIA officer has been charged with providing secrets to China
over the course of a decade in a case that a top Justice Department
official describes as coming straight from a "spy novel."
The
former CIA officer who was also a FBI linguist, Alexander Yuk Chung Ma, a
67-year-old resident of Hawaii, was arrested Friday in Hawaii and
charged with conspiring to communicate national defense information to
aid a foreign government, the Justice Department said. He faces up to
life in prison if convicted.
An FBI affidavit alleges an
85-year-old Los Angeles man, a relative of Ma's and also a former CIA
officer, acted as a conspirator but was not charged because he suffers
from a “debilitating cognitive disease.”
“This case demonstrates
the persistence of Chinese espionage efforts,” said John Demers, the
assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's national security
division. “It shows the willingness to betray one’s adopted country and
colleagues. … And it reads like a spy novel.”
Ma, who was being held pending a hearing in federal court, could not be reached for comment.
The arrest is the latest in a series of criminal cases brought by the Justice Department
against current and former U.S. government officials accused of
supplying secrets to the Chinese government. At least four U.S.
government officials have been sentenced to prison in the last two years
for providing sensitive information to the Chinese government.
Court
papers reveal a years-long effort by Ma to provide secrets to China's
government. Born in Hong Kong in 1952, the affidavit says, Ma came to
the U.S. in 1968 and eventually became a naturalized citizen. He joined
the CIA in 1982 and became a case officer stationed overseas. He left
the agency in 1989.
Ma's spying started in 2001, the FBI affidavit
says, when he and his Los Angeles-based relative met in a Hong Kong
hotel room with Chinese operatives and handed over “a substantial amount
of highly classified national defense information," including details
about CIA operations and sources.
The FBI affidavit said the
bureau possessed a videotape of the meeting. The video captured Ma
counting $50,000 in payment from the Chinese operatives while his
relative continued to provide classified information, the affidavit
said. The FBI did not disclose how it obtained the video.
Ma kept
in touch with his Chinese handlers and applied to be an FBI agent in the
hopes of handing over more information, the affidavit alleges. But he
was told he was too old to be an agent, so Ma changed plans and applied
to become a contract linguist for the bureau in Hawaii. A day before
starting the FBI job in 2004, he called a suspected accomplice and said
he would be working for “the other side,” the affidavit alleges.
Over
the next six years, he downloaded, swiped and photographed sensitive
information, the affidavit alleges. The handlers also sent him a
photograph of five sources it wanted to identify. Ma forwarded the photo
to his relative, who identified two of the sources, the FBI alleged.
Ma
left the FBI in 2010. It is not clear why the FBI waited until January
2019 to conduct its sting operation. But the affidavit suggested the FBI
had been tracking Ma’s activities for years, likely while he was still
at the bureau.
In January of last year, an undercover FBI agent
met with Ma. The agent was posing as a Chinese operative conducting an
audit of how his government treated the former CIA officer and and how
he had been compensated. To prove his bonafides, the affidavit said, the
agent played a videotape of the 2001 Hong Kong meeting. Ma bought the
ruse, the affidavit said, and confirmed he had handed over classified
information to the Chinese operatives in 2001 and had continued to work
for them.
They met again two months later, with the undercover
agent giving Ma $2,000 “to acknowledge his work on behalf of China.” Ma
confirmed "he had provided multiple items of valuable U.S. government
information" to Chinese operatives when he worked for the bureau, the
affidavit says.
At a meeting Aug. 12, the affidavit alleges, the
undercover agent gave Ma another $2,000. Ma counted the cash before
putting it in his pants pocket. He told the undercover agent that he
“wanted ‘the motherland’ to succeed," the affidavit said, and would be
willing to continue to work for the Chinese government, “perhaps as a
consultant."
FILE- This undated file photo provided by the University of Kansas shows
researcher Franklin Feng Tao. Tao, of Lawrence, Kansas, was indicted
last year for not disclosing on conflict-of-interest forms work he was
allegedly doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas.
Defense attorneys, on Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, have filed a motion seeking
to throw out the charges. (Kelsey Kimberlin/University of Kansas via
AP, File)
ROXANA HEGEMAN and ERIC TUCKER
BELLE
PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — The prosecution of a Kansas researcher ensnared in a
U.S. government crackdown on Chinese economic espionage and trade
secret theft opens the door to criminalizing workplace disagreements,
his attorneys argued Friday in a motion asking a court to throw out the
charges.
Feng “Franklin” Tao is charged
with not disclosing on conflict-of-interest forms work he was allegedly
doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas — something
federal prosecutors have portrayed as a scheme to defraud the
university, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science
Foundation.
In their request to dismiss the case, defense lawyers
Peter Zeidenberg and Michael Dearington wrote that the government seeks
to use Tao's prosecution as a potential new model for the Justice
Department to prosecute professors “without having to produce evidence
of intellectual property theft or export control violations.”
The motion takes aim at the broader China Initiative
announced by the Justice Department in 2018 to counter the threat of
Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft, including on American
college campuses. Since then, federal prosecutors have charged Chinese
academics across the country of failing to disclose foreign sources of
funding and lying about their links to China.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, has escalated its rhetoric
against Beijing and taken steps to confront China, including by shutting
down the Chinese consulate in Houston and through executive actions
that ban dealings with the Chinese owners of TikTok and WeChat. FBI
Director Chris Wray said in a speech last month that the bureau opens a
new counterintelligence case linked to China about every 10 hours.
The
indictment against Tao alleges that the Lawrence man's motive was to
help China by participating in its “talent plan,” which prosecutors
contend is designed to encourage the transfer of original ideas and
intellectual property from U.S. universities to Chinese government
institutions.
Prosecutors accuse Tao of not informing the
University of Kansas that he was selected for the Changjiang
Professorship or the salary for his appointment to Fuzhou University in
China.
In their motion, his lawyers warn that the case would open the door to criminalizing employment disputes
that are better resolved by a human resources department. Tao faces 10
counts, including seven counts of wire fraud, based on two
conflict-of-interest forms he submitted to the university.
“The
Department of Justice is not the Ministry of Truth, and it lacks
authority to regulate routine, private miscommunications between
employees and employers regarding employee activities," the motion says.
The
motion presents hypothetical scenarios in which an employee who
misleads an employer could wind up prosecuted, rather than simply
reprimanded or fired by an employer. It raises questions about whether a
doctor’s office employee in Missouri who falsely calls in sick from his
home in Kansas could be charged with wire fraud if he continues to
collect his salary, or prosecuted with false statements if the office
receives Medicaid reimbursements from the federal government.
“This
is because the Indictment equates dishonesty in the workplace with
fraud, merely because all employees receive salary from their employers,
and false statements, merely because an employer receives federal
funding,” the lawyers wrote.
“If the Court permits this Indictment
to proceed to trial, it would open the floodgates to a vast range of
federal prosecutions for garden-variety employment disputes that
otherwise would have, at most, subjected the employee to administrative
discipline at work," they added. "This government overreach would not be
limited to university professors.”
Tao, an associate professor of
engineering, was born in China and moved to the United States in 2002.
He has been employed since August 2014 at the University of Kansas'
Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, which conducts research
on sustainable technology to conserve natural resources and energy.
Justice
Department prosecutors in recent years have been particularly focused
on Chinese government initiatives that recruit professors in specialized
areas in the United States to work in China.
A professor who has worked at the University of Arkansas
was indicted last month on charges of wire fraud and passport fraud for
allegedly failing to disclose ties to the Chinese government and
Chinese companies when he received grant money from NASA.
Also last month, a rheumatology professor
and medical researcher who worked at schools including Ohio State
University was charged with using millions of dollars in grant money
from the U.S. government to help China develop expertise in rheumatology
and immunology.
___
Tucker reported from Washington.
---
World
US cabinet member lauds Taiwan's democracy during historic visit
Amber WANG
US cabinet member lauds Taiwan's democracy during historic visit
US Health Secrtary Alex Azar (L) met with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (R) on a visit China has slammed as a threat to peace
A US cabinet member heaped praise on Taiwan's democracy and its
success in battling the coronavirus as he met the island's leader on
Monday during a historic visit that China has slammed as a threat to
peace.
Health Secretary Alex Azar is in Taipei for a three-day
visit billed as the highest level visit from the United States since it
switched diplomatic recognition from the island to China in 1979.
His
trip comes as relations between the United States and China are in
tumult, with the two sides clashing over a wide range of trade, military
and security issues, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
Authoritarian China insists Taiwan is its own territory and vows to one day seize it.
On Monday morning, Azar met President Tsai Ing-wen, who advocates the
island being recognised as a sovereign nation and is loathed by China's
leaders.
"Taiwan's response to COVID-19 has been among the most
successful in the world, and that is a tribute to the open, transparent,
democratic nature of Taiwan's society and culture," Azar told Tsai.
Tsai
thanked the US for supporting its bid to be part of the World Health
Organization (WHO), a body Beijing keeps the island frozen out of.
"Political
considerations should never take precedence over the rights to health,"
Tsai said, calling Beijing's refusal to let Taiwan join "highly
regrettable".
Soon after the meeting Taipei's defence ministry
said Chinese fighter jets had made a brief incursion across the median
line in the Taiwan Strait that the two sides have long treated as a
boundary.
Chinese warplanes routinely fly into Taiwan's defence
zone to put pressure on the island but crossings of the median line are
much rarer because it is such a sensitive area.
"China has always
firmly opposed official exchanges between the US and Taiwan," Chinese
foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Monday
afternoon.
- Warming ties -
Azar brushed off China's criticism when asked about Beijing's anger over his visit.
"The
message that I bring from the US government is one of reaffirming the
deep partnership the United States has with Taiwan in terms of security,
commerce, health care and shared common values of democracy, economic
freedom and liberty," he told reporters before his meeting with Tsai.
Azar has previously been critical of Beijing's response to the coronavirus, which began in central China, as well as the WHO.
It was a theme he repeated on Monday saying Taiwan was wise "not trust some of the assertions" coming from Beijing or the WHO
As well as meeting Tsai, Azar will hold talks with his counterpart Chen Shih-chung and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
Taiwan
has become a poster child for defeating the coronavirus thanks to a
well-honed track and tracing programme as well as firm border controls.
Despite its proximity and economic links to China it has recorded fewer than 500 infections and seven deaths.
In contrast the US has recorded the most deaths in the world with more than 160,000 fatalities.
Critics
have accused US President Donald Trump of ramping up criticism of China
as a way to divert from growing public anger over his administration's
coronavirus response, especially as he fights for re-election in
November.
Washington remains the leading arms supplier to Taiwan but has historically been cautious in holding official contacts with it.
Throughout the 1990s the United States sent trade officials to Taiwan with regularity.
Douglas
Paal, a former head of the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington's
de facto embassy, said the Trump administration was still paying heed to
China's red line -- that no US official handling national security
visit Taiwan.
The difference this time, he said, is the context,
with Azar travelling at a time when relations between Washington and
Beijing have hit a new low.
"The fact that they didn't choose to
send a national security advisor or someone else suggests they are
trying to come as close as possible to China's red line but don't want
to cross it."
But Washington has described Azar's visit as the
highest level trip made by a senior administration official since the
diplomatic switch.
