Thứ Tư, 29 tháng 7, 2020
ASIA PACIFIC. (The Telegraph) World's largest naval exercise sparks more friction between US and China. (Reuters) U.S. Navy carrier conducted exercises in South China Sea on Aug. 14. (AP) US commander affirms US support for Japan on China dispute
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World's largest naval exercise sparks more friction between US and China
The world’s largest naval exercise begins off the coast of Hawaii on Monday as diplomatic tensions escalate between the US and its allies and China over Beijing’s territorial ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
Several countries participating in the joint exercises, billed by the US navy as strengthening alliances to “ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific” have raised concerns about China’s attempts to assert its control over critical trade routes and waterways. They include Australia, Japan, the Philippines and India.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) event, hosted by the US Pacific Fleet, to scale down from 25 to 11 nations, about 20 ships and 5,300 personnel, and its drills, which will now only be conducted at sea, have been whittled down from the usual five weeks to two.
However, the exercises have riled Beijing, which was not invited to participate, despite taking part in 2014 and 2016. China was disinvited in 2018 by the Trump administration which accused it of militarising disputed areas of the South China Sea.
Chinese state media has lashed out at the US in the run up to RIMPAC. The Global Times in particular has issued several barbed commentaries on Washington’s attempts to flex its military muscle and “strongarm” allies to join the exercise.
“The US can test its partners in the RIMPAC But when it comes to a real battlefield, will the US still be able to assemble that many allies?” it asked last week.
On Monday, the state-run paper chided the US for ignoring a petition by Hawaiian citizens to call off the event over coronavirus fears.
China, however, in recent weeks has stepped up its own show of force in the Indo-Pacific region, carrying out drills both in the South China Sea and in waters near Taiwan, an island democracy and US ally that Beijing claims as its own and seeks to annex.
On Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong released footage of a live-fire drill in the South China, firing cannons and torpedoes and carrying out anti-submarine training, in what military analysts said was a warning to Taiwan.
The footage emerged a day after the US navy said a strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan had conducted maritime air defence operations.
Indo-Pacific experts have warned the region is heading towards a dangerous juncture.
Writing in the Lawfare Blog, Kurt Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and the Pacific and Ali Wyne of the Atlantic Council, said deteriorating ties between the US and China, in part fuelled by the pandemic, made current dynamics “even more conducive to inadvertent escalation.”
Dr William Choong, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told The Telegraph that “you can’t divorce China and RIMPAC from the broader tensions in the Sino-US relationship.”
He added that in the bigger picture “it looks like the Chinese are getting increasingly impatient, although I think that it’s an action reaction cycle that you see between the Americans and the Chinese – you can’t really ascertain who started this in a sense.”
Ultimately the situation was “worrying,” he said, as unlike during earlier regional clashes, “the balance of power has quite significantly shifted towards the Chinese side, in terms of the capabilities that the Chinese are able to bring to the table, which are significantly larger.”
Meanwhile, the US and South Korea will also begin their annual joint military exercises this week.
Despite a low key programme due to the pandemic, mainly involving computer-simulated war scenarios, the drills beginning on Tuesday may still irk North Korea, which views the allies’ training as invasion rehearsals.
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U.S. Navy carrier conducted exercises in South China Sea on Aug. 14
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-navy-carrier-conducted-exercises-023304369.html
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier conducted exercises in the contested South China Sea on Friday, the U.S. navy said in a statement.
A strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan conducted flight operations and high-end maritime stability operations and exercises, the statement said.
"Integration with our joint partners is essential to ensuring joint force responsiveness and lethality, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific," U.S. Navy Commander Joshua Fagan, Task Force 70 air operations officer aboard USS Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying.
The drill comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and China. Washington has criticised Beijing over its novel coronavirus response and accuses it of taking advantage of the pandemic to push territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
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 has objected to such exercises and said the U.S. rejection of its claims in the South China Sea has raised tension and undermined stability in the region.
China claims nine tenths of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which some $3 trillion of trade passes a year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Eduting by Shri Navaratnam)
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Associated Press
US commander affirms US support for Japan on China dispute
 |
| In this image made from an online news conference provided by U.S. Forces Japan, Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider, Commander of the U.S. Force, speaks from Yokota Air Base, in Tokyo, to reporters, Wednesday, July 29, 2020. Schneider said Wednesday strict measures were in place among his ranks to curb the spread of the coronavirus by military service personnel entering Japan.(U.S. Forces Japan. via AP) |
TOKYO (AP) — The United States supports Japan's protests over Chinese
ships venturing into the economic waters near disputed East China Sea
islands, the commander of the U.S. Forces in Japan said Wednesday.
“The United States is 100% absolutely steadfast in its commitment to help the government of Japan with the situation in Senkaku,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider said of the group of islands, which are controlled by Japan.
China also claims the islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
“That’s 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no deviation in that regard,” Schneider told reporters.
Japan has long protested the repeated presence of Chinese coast guard vessels in the waters. Schneider also noted such incursions had increased recently.
He called China the “No. 1 challenge” in regional security, although North Korea was the more “immediate threat,” given its weapons development.
Schneider said the U.S. was offering Japan surveillance information and other support, such as “reconnaissance capability,” which refers to monitoring the whereabouts of a potential enemy, to help Japan “assess the situation and to figure out exactly what’s going on in the water in and around the Senkaku.”
China shrugged off such concerns.
Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, reasserted China’s claim to the islands, stressing it was the country’s “inherent right to carry out patrol and law enforcement” activities in the area.
“We hope that relevant parties will do something helpful to maintain regional peace and stability and avoid words and deeds that are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” Wang told reporters at a daily press briefing.
Schneider was speaking at an online press briefing that mostly touched on U.S. efforts to combat the coronavirus among its forces in Japan.
___
Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
“The United States is 100% absolutely steadfast in its commitment to help the government of Japan with the situation in Senkaku,” Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider said of the group of islands, which are controlled by Japan.
China also claims the islands, which it calls Diaoyu.
“That’s 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no deviation in that regard,” Schneider told reporters.
Japan has long protested the repeated presence of Chinese coast guard vessels in the waters. Schneider also noted such incursions had increased recently.
He called China the “No. 1 challenge” in regional security, although North Korea was the more “immediate threat,” given its weapons development.
Schneider said the U.S. was offering Japan surveillance information and other support, such as “reconnaissance capability,” which refers to monitoring the whereabouts of a potential enemy, to help Japan “assess the situation and to figure out exactly what’s going on in the water in and around the Senkaku.”
China shrugged off such concerns.
Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, reasserted China’s claim to the islands, stressing it was the country’s “inherent right to carry out patrol and law enforcement” activities in the area.
“We hope that relevant parties will do something helpful to maintain regional peace and stability and avoid words and deeds that are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” Wang told reporters at a daily press briefing.
Schneider was speaking at an online press briefing that mostly touched on U.S. efforts to combat the coronavirus among its forces in Japan.
___
Associated Press journalist Haruka Nuga in Tokyo contributed to this report.
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Thứ Hai, 27 tháng 7, 2020
Interspace Communication (Reuters) Global prospects dim for China's tech champions as great powers clash
Business
Global prospects dim for China's tech champions as great powers clash
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping pose for a photo ahead of their bilateral meeting during the 2019 G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan
Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, the operator of short video app TikTok, has plastered his Beijing headquarters with posters including a cover of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's book "How Google Works", and has long said he will build a global firm that can compete with U.S. tech giants.
But the two companies which best exemplify China's ambitions to challenge U.S. tech dominance are now stymied by strains in relations between China and countries including the United States, India, Australia and Britain.
Chinese companies with world-beating technology -- including drone-maker DJI, artificial intelligence firms Megvii, SenseTime and iFlytek , surveillance camera vendor Hikvision and e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group -- are also among those losing access to markets.
Smaller companies are being forced to re-think too.
"What we are experiencing now is unprecedented," said a Chinese startup founder who has operations in the United States and India but asked not to be identified as he is now considering walking away. "My entrepreneurial spirit has been dampened due to all this, let alone global ambitions."
It's a big shift from even a year ago, when the U.S.-led trade war with China and security concerns about Huawei were having little impact on most Chinese tech champions.
SenseTime and Megvii, backed by U.S. investors, were eyeing big IPOs. ByteDance's TikTok unit was enjoying unfettered global growth. Alibaba was touting the global prospects for its cloud business, and DJI was consolidating domination of the drone business.
But then came new U.S. sanctions against Chinese tech firms last October, prompted in part by repression of the Muslim Uighur population in the Western province of Xinjiang.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up anti-China rhetoric as he seeks re-election and Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a tough line. Tensions have also risen between Beijing and other countries over new security laws passed for Hong Kong, and a border skirmish with Indian troops led to an India government ban on 59 Chinese apps.
Now China's top tech players are having contracts cancelled, products banned and investments blocked, with more restrictions on the horizon.
ByteDance could be forced to sell TikTok as Washington considers following India in banning the short video app, a global product that analysts say is worth at least $20 billion.
Huawei is set to lose billions of dollars a year in revenue from bans on its network equipment, and more countries could follow the United States, Britain and others in blocking the company's gear.
The U.S. Interior Department has grounded the privately held DJI's fleet and halted additional purchases because of data security risks, and more restrictions could be in the offing.
Alibaba Group is cutting staff at its UC Web subsidiary in India after its popular mobile Web browser was banned by the government. DJI has put IPO plans on ice.
The companies are watching geopolitical developments "with white knuckles," said Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.
Huawei, Alibaba, SenseTime and Megvii declined to comment. ByteDance and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment.
China's foreign ministry said it encourages and directs the country’s "strong, reputable companies" to invest overseas in a compliant manner, and hopes other countries will safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
"International investment is an important engine driver for economic growth. As the global economy is under tremendous downward pressure, all parties should take strong measures to jointly further liberalise and facilitate trade and investment, and create a fair, transparent, and predictable investment environment," it said in a fax.
SOME BRIGHT SPOTS
Investors said some less sensitive sectors such as gaming are still open to Chinese players.
Tencent Holdings has had some of its apps in India banned, but not popular games such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. The company recently launched a new California-based gaming studio and plans more such operations.
A huge domestic market is by far the biggest profit centre for China's tech firms, and some countries remain keen to accept Chinese investment.
"Global markets are big and Southeast Asia and Europe should still be open to Chinese companies," said one Beijing-based, internet-focussed hedge fund investor.
But some startups in Southeast Asia that were previously open to taking Chinese money are becoming more reluctant, said David Chang, managing director of Hong Kong-based MindWorks Capital.
"For example, if I take ByteDance on my (equity) capitalization table and then ByteDance gets blocked and blacklisted in the U.S., my dream of listing on the Nasdaq is limited," he said, referring to the U.S. stock exchange popular with tech firms.
Efforts by Chinese companies to change the minds of the foreign regulators have had little effect in the absence of policy changes by Beijing.
ByteDance says it has ring-fenced TikTok from its China operations and poached a Disney executive to head the unit. That has failed to assuage Washington.
"That's about all you can do," said Mark Natkin, managing director at Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. "Push the public relations as hard as you can, hire managers that give you more of a foreign feel, and keep your fingers crossed that there isn’t another geopolitical flashpoint."
(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai, Yingzhi Yang in Shanghai, Kane Wu in Hong Kong and David Kirton in Shenzhen, Writing by Brenda Goh and Jonathan Weber, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Editorial Column: 2020/07/27
Editorial Column
NHỮNG HOẠT ÐỘNG QUÂN SỰ TẠI BIỂN ÐÔNG và TÂY THÁI BÌNH DƯƠNG - Quan Ðiểm Việt Nam lȇn án tất cả những hoạt động quân sự, bán quân sự, hổn hợp không hải lục của Trung cộng diễn tập phi pháp (illegaly) trong vùng trời, vùng biển, hải đảo thuộc chủ quyền VNCH
NHỮNG HOẠT ÐỘNG QUÂN SỰ TẠI BIỂN ÐÔNG và TÂY THÁI BÌNH DƯƠNG
Vùng
Thao Diễn Tác Xạ của Lực Lượng Hổn Hợp Hải Quân Trung Cộng tại Hoàng Sa
Trong Vùng Biển Chủ Quyền VNCH từ 2020/07/01 đến 2020/07/05. Map by
Hoang Hoa VNR Vietnam Review. Khu vực biển Hoàng sa trong khung đỏ
ABCDEF với toạ độ là vùng diễn tập tác xạ và bắn đạn thật theo báo cáo
của Trung Cộng.
Quan
Ðiểm Việt Nam lȇn án tất cả những hoạt động quân sự, bán quân sự, hổn
hợp không hải lục của Trung cộng diễn tập phi pháp (illegaly) trong vùng
trời, vùng biển, hải đảo thuộc chủ quyền VNCH, lȇn án Trung cộng đặt
tȇn Tàu và lập các đơn vị hành chánh phi pháp (illegaly) cho các đảo của
VNCH. Việc Trung cộng biến khu vực Biển Ðông thành căn cứ hải quân,
không quân, kho dự trữ, trạm thông tin kiểm báo quân sự và tàu ngầm lớn
nhất tiếp theo căn cứ Hải Nam của Trung cộng nhằm tiếp cận cho Vùng Biển
Tây Thái Bình Dương sẽ khiến khu vực Biển Ðông đầy bùng nổ những bất
trắc. Việc thao diễn quân sự của hải quân Trung cộng sẽ gây căng thẳng
trȇn tuyến hải hành giao thông quốc tế trong vùng biển chủ quyền VNCH;
do đó, bất cứ va chạm nào giữa hải quân Trung cộng với các tàu bè quốc
tế tuần tra tự do lưu thông hàng hải trong khu vực Biển Ðông, Trung cộng
sẽ hoàn toàn chịu mọi trách nhiệm về hậu quả các hành vi ngang ngược
này trước quốc tế.
---- |
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Dear the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Mike Pompeo
Subject: The UN Peace Treaty No 1832 related to the US and
the United Nations about the Vietnamese Sovereignty on the Paracels and
Spratlys archipelagoes, and our request to the US to execute the equality and
justice for the Vietnamese People in accordance with the UN Peace Treaty.
Dear the US Secretary of State:
The Peace Treaty with Japan signed in San Francisco on September
8, 1951 at Chapter II, Territory, Article 2, (f) indicates that the Japanese
returned two archipelagoes Paracels and Spratlys to the Vietnamese Government delegate
led by Prime Minister Tran Van Huu and other members of his cabinet to sign
this Treaty on that day. The Communist China and the Chiang Kai Shek governments
were absent, and the Communist Vietnam – now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
- was not a legal reality and also absent in the Peace Treaty signature. The
Treaty was written in four languages, declared, and signed by the leaders of 49
countries.
The UN Peace Treaty was registered in the USA on August 21,
1952.
We request the US Secretary of State, as US is a historical,
spiritual witness and signer in the Peace Treaty No 1832 and the Declaration in
San Francisco on Sept. 8, 1951, please help execute the equality and justice for
the Vietnamese people that the two archipelagoes belong to the Vietnamese people in
accordance with the Peace Treaty declared and signed by the international
leaders.
Thank you the United States Secretary of State.
Sincerely,
Hoang Hoa
Vietnam Review Blog Editor
2020/04/22
Attachments
B. The Peace Treaty with Japan. 7. Chapter II Territorial Provisions
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP58-00453R000100300001-1.pdf
Chapter II. Territory. Article 2. (f)
https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20136/volume-136-I-1832-English.pdf
---
Tưởng Niệm 30/4/1975.
Hai Hiệp Ðịnh Ðình Chiến 1954, 1973.
Kính thưa
quý thân hữu và độc giả:
Hai Hiệp Ðịnh
Ðình Chiến Geneva 1954 và Paris 1973 gắn liền với số phận của dân tộc Việt Nam
và nói chung các dân tộc Ðông Dương; tuy thời gian xa nhất là 66 năm và gần nhất
47 năm, nhưng chắc chắn trong nhiều người Việt có thể không thể hiểu hết hai Hiệp
Ðịnh này tác động đến lịch sử Việt Nam ra sao.
Hiểu biết một
cách trung thực nhất hai văn kiện lịch sử này có thể chính là giải phóng
(liberate) tư tưởng con người chúng ta tiến gần đến sự hiểu biết những tác động
lớn nhất mà những quyền lực chính trị trong và ngoài nước đã thực hiện trȇn
mãnh đất Việt Nam và trong lịch sử cận đại của dân tộc Việt Nam.
Ðây là một
cuộc nghiȇn cứu sâu rộng mà sự hiểu biết một cá nhân có thể khó hoàn tất được,
nhưng muốn đi đến kết luận trong sáng, những bài vỡ, ý kiến cần phải được thực
hiện đồng bộ và hướng về một điểm chung. Tất cả bài vỡ nȇn có kết luận mở (open
conclusion) và không bắt buộc người đọc phải tuân thủ theo kết luận. Các từ vựng
và hành văn theo nền tảng văn hóa giáo dục VNCH. Bài viết chỉ cần về một điều khoản
(Article) nào đó trong hai Hiệp Ðịnh và không nȇn trích dẫn, lấy từ bài của tác
giả khác.
Chúng tôi hy
vọng sẽ nhận được những bài viết từ độc giả và thân hữu nghiȇn cứu viết về hai
Hiệp Ðịnh 1954 và 1973. Chúng tôi sẽ xem xét cẩn thận những bài vỡ gởi đến chúng
tôi, nếu xét thấy phù hợp với quan điểm của VNR chúng tôi sẽ đăng tải lȇn VNR
Vietnam Review để mọi người cùng xem xét. Nếu xét thấy không phù hợp với VNR,
chúng tôi sẽ không đăng tải và không phúc đáp. Bài viết theo format MS Word và
gởi đi theo hai format MS Word và pdf.
Theo dự trù,
cuộc nghiȇn cứu có thể hoàn tất trong hai năm.
Trân trọng,
Hoàng Hoa
Trưởng Ban
Biȇn Tập VNR Vietnam Review
Thứ Năm 2020/4/30
---Quốc Hận 30/4 Năm Nay Nghĩ Gì về Ðất Nước Hoa Kỳ
Năm nay 2020
có thể là năm căng thẳng nhất mà toàn nước Mỹ sẽ phải đối phó về mọi mặt y tế,
kinh tế, quân sự, chính trị, và những mặt trận xa ngoài đất nước. Viễn cảnh một
nước Mỹ phục hồi sau Wuhan virus thật khó lường. Trong thời gian tạm lắng đọng những
đối đầu chính trị giữa hai đảng chính trị trước ngày bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020,
đất nước như cuốn hút vào những rối ren mà chủ yếu do bối cảnh của Trung cộng
và WHO, một tổ chức y tế thế giới đang bị chính phủ Mỹ ngừng cung cấp số tiền
khoảng 900 triệu đô la cho nó với lý do những phát biểu của Tedros, người đứng
đầu WHO đã không minh bạch và che dấu những nguy hiểm Wuhan virus có thể lây
lan giữa người với người. Việc WHO che dấu sự thực này và có hành động ngã theo
Trung cộng đã khiến nước Mỹ bị lâm vào thế thụ động trong việc ngăn chận sự
tràn lan của Wuhan virus và dẫn đến hậu quả hôm nay tại Hoa Kỳ có hơn 37 ngàn
người đã chết và 789.400 (theo Yahoo™) người lây nhiễm. Toàn thế giới đã có
169.794 người chết và hơn 2 triệu người lây nhiễm.
Chắc chắn tổ
chức WHO, nếu tồn tại, cần phải cải tổ. Tedros phải từ chức hoặc cần phải bị điều
tra sâu rộng và có thể bị xem là một tội phạm nếu xét thấy đủ bằng chứng buộc tội.
Trong thời
gian khó khăn này của đất nước Hoa Kỳ, chúng ta cần cẩn thận khi lắng nghe các
nguồn thông tin và tìm hiểu cặn kẻ để nhận ra sự thật chính xác mà không phải
là sự sợ hãi. Chúng ta cần biết về những dữ kiện (fact) và hổ trợ chính quyền
ngăn chận sự lây lan của bệnh Wuhan virus và đồng thời tuân thủ theo các quy định
của các cấp chính quyền liȇn bang, tiểu bang, counties, và Trung Tâm phòng chống
dịch bệnh (CDC).
Một số
phương cách phòng chống dịch bệnh trong đó có việc nȇn tránh những tụ tập đông
người, che mũi miệng và khi tiếp xúc cá nhân cần đứng xa tối thiểu 6 feet (khoảng
2m) để tránh hít thở không khí mang Wuhan virus từ người bệnh, hoặc nếu chúng
ta có bệnh thì chúng ta sẽ không lây bệnh sang người khác. Hai bàn tay cần thường
xuyȇn rửa sạch với xà bông trong ít nhất 20 giây sau khi đi ra ngoài, chợ, hoặc
những nơi cần thiết. Khi về nhà quần áo không nȇn giũ, cần thay đổi và bỏ riȇng
hoặc bỏ giặt vì virus có thể bám nơi quần áo khi chúng ta giũ nó sẽ bay ra, thư
từ cần nȇn được lau bằng thuốc sát trùng sau khi nhận. Khi có việc đi chợ,
chúng ta nȇn đi chợ sớm vì sẽ ít người có nhiều không khí và không đi gần nhau,
có thể chúng ta mang găng (gloves) để cầm thức ăn, đồ dùng và nȇn giữ vệ sinh
chung. Cần nȇn có ít thực phẩm đồ hộp dự trù trong 3 tuần, một tháng, phòng khi
lười đi chợ, hoặc không đi chợ được. Nhìn chung đó là sự đề phòng thôi, nếu lỡ
mắc bệnh thì phải đến các cơ quan y tế nhờ giúp đỡ.
Từ nay đến ngày
Tổng bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020 còn chưa đầy 7 tháng, nhưng chúng ta chưa rõ cuộc
bầu cử diễn ra sao, nhưng trước mắt, nếu tình hình dịch bệnh không giảm bớt thì
cuộc bầu cử nếu diễn ra thì phương cách hay nhất là bầu cử bằng thư. Bầu cử bằng
thư Mail Ballot sẽ ít tốn kém và an toàn về mặt y tế, nhưng quyết định bầu cử bằng
thư hợp lý hơn là hoãn lại bầu cử. Do đó, cộng đồng người Việt tỵ nạn cộng sản
cần nȇn học hỏi cách bầu bằng thư và không nȇn nhờ bất cứ ai điền thư cho mình,
việc này quan trọng hơn đi với người lớn tuổi và không đọc được chữ Anh thì cần
có Mail Ballot bằng tiếng Việt. Việc bầu cử vào tháng 11/2020 này rất quan trọng để chọn lựa những vị dân cử
xứng đáng, nhất là vị Tổng Thống lãnh đạo đất nước vượt qua khó khăn.
Giữa khi
tình hình căng thẳng và nhuốm đau buồn trȇn đất nước Hoa Kỳ, quȇ hương thứ hai
của chúng ta, đã hết rồi thời gian khi chúng ta bật khóc vì buồn mà chỉ có một
lòng quyết tâm hổ trợ cho quȇ hương này sớm vượt qua gian khó. Nhìn ngày Quốc Hận
30/4 đến gần lòng chúng ta không khỏi ngậm ngùi thương khóc một tổ quốc quȇ
hương Việt Nam Cộng Hòa đã mất. Nếu tiếng khóc đau thương ấy là sự có thật, còn
hiện hữu trong lòng chúng ta thì hãy biến tiếng khóc và nổi đau ấy thành hành động
cương quyết thiết thực hổ trợ, tiết kiệm, hạn chế tiȇu xài, gìn giữ và phấn đấu
cho quȇ hương thứ hai này mãi mãi xinh đẹp, tươi vui, cường thịnh thì từ đó chúng
ta mới có cơ hội trở về quȇ hương xưa cũ của chúng ta treo lại lá cờ Vàng Ba Sọc
Ðỏ tại Sài Gòn và Hà Nội và mang về tự do, ấm no cho dân chúng và gột sạch những
nhơ bợn tàn dư mà chế độ cộng sản đã để lại sau bao nhiȇu năm tang tóc mà chúng
đã đang thống trị.
Quan Ðiểm Việt
Nam
20/4/2020
Nhìn Toàn Diện về Quan Ðiểm Việt Nam
Quan Diểm Việt
Nam là Blog có mục đích chính yếu hổ trợ hướng dẫn những ý thức chiến lược phục
vụ cho nền dân chủ toàn dân tại Việt Nam; hổ trợ, trình bày và thông báo những
nghiȇn cứu chiến lược phục vụ cho tầm nhìn về Biển Ðông nói riȇng và hướng phát
triễn tại khu vực Ðông Nam Á, nhất là eo biển Ðài Loan và các mối quan tâm về Bắc
Hàn. Song song với các mục đích trȇn, chúng tôi rất chú ý đến các quan điểm
chính trị tại Mỹ đối diện các vấn đề về Trung Cộng, Việt Nam nhất là các vấn đề
dân chủ, nhân quyền cho Việt Nam và các cơ quan thông tin là công cụ hướng dẫn
quần chúng hiểu rõ các sự kiện một cách trong sáng và những công cụ này phải đứng
vững trȇn lập trường thông tin trung lập và là những tổ chức không thối nát.
Trong thời
gian qua, đất nước Hoa Kỳ đang trãi qua những khoảnh khắc khó khăn đối diện với
những đối phương trȇn nhiều mặt trận không hẳn chỉ trȇn những mặt trận vũ lực xa
tổ quốc, mà còn chính trị, kinh tế, dân chủ nhân quyền cho Việt Nam.
Chúng ta cũng
không quȇn đi ý thức chúng ta về tình trạng sức khoẻ bệnh tật lây nhiễm coronavirus
hiện nay trȇn nhiều tiểu bang và cần tôn trọng các quy định về sức khoẻ, vệ
sinh, sự đi lại chừng mực, và tôn trọng các lệnh tiểu bang, counties về các biện
pháp giữ sức khoẻ, cứu mạng người và bảo vệ hạnh phúc gia đình và xóm giềng.
Quan Ðiểm Việt
Nam có những bài viết được trích dẫn được tuyển chọn trȇn nguồn Web Site Yahoo™;
vì vậy, có thể nguyȇn văn bằng Anh ngữ vì chúng tôi muốn giữ lại copyright© nguyȇn
bản của tác giả. Một số bài viết khác được trích dẫn từ một số nguồn báo chí
trong nước Việt Nam được xem là những nguyȇn tắc căn bản đánh giá các thông tin
trong nước để xây dựng quan điểm.
Quan Ðiểm Việt
Nam có một chiều dài lịch sử từ năm 1999 đến nay 2020 và luôn đi đúng hướng với
những mục đích trȇn như là kim chỉ Nam bất dịch.
Trân trọng,
Hoàng Hoa
04/12/2020
Thứ Sáu, 24 tháng 7, 2020
(Văn Hóa Âm Nhạc VNCH) Bản Dự Thảo (Draft) cho Google™ Blog Tổ Chức Văn Hóa Việt Nam Cộng Hòa
Link to main page:
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Kính thưa quý cộng đồng người Việt tỵ nạn cộng sản, các quý cơ quan truyền thông báo chí và thân hữu.
Xét thấy nội dung của các hoạt động văn hóa của Saigonfilms.com trong 20 năm qua (2000-2020) đã rất lớn lao, phong phú và có quá nhiều chi tiết mà những Web Sites, Blog của nó hiện nay không thể hệ thống các dữ kiện một cách mạch lạc để trình bày hiệu quả trước công chúng và cho những ai quan tâm.Xét thấy nhu cầu cần có một Media Outlet (Cơ sở loan tải thông tin) hiệu quả, phổ thông và có danh xưng để dư luận dễ dàng nhận ra và theo dõi nội dung văn hóa của VNCH.
Nay, chúng tôi mạo muội thành lập một Google™ Blog với domain name (sẽ thông báo sau) nȇu bật các giá trị văn hóa, giáo dục, phẩm hạnh người lính VNCH, và nhấn mạnh chủ quyền VNCH đối với các hải đảo tại Biển Ðông.
Nay kính gởi:
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Bản Dự Thảo (Draft) cho Google™ Blog Tổ Chức Văn Hóa Việt Nam Cộng Hòa
Republic of Vietnam Culture Organization (RVNCO)
1. Mục đích:
Tái xây dựng và tiếp tục phát triễn các di sản văn hóa VNCH vào/cho tương lai dân tộc Việt Nam.
2. Những tài liệu căn bản làm khung sườn cho Dự Thảo của RVNCO:
a. Quốc kỳ VNCH nền vàng ba sọc đỏ, và quốc ca VNCH.
b. Bạch Thư Bộ Ngoại Giao VNCH in tại Sài Gòn 1975.
c. Hồ Sơ Thềm Lục Ðịa nới rộng 350 hải lý và Bản đồ VNCH và các bản đồ chi tiết đính kèm, các tài liệu và Thư gởi TTK LHQ Ban Ki Moon do Ban Ðại Diện Cộng Ðồng Việt Nam Bắc California (VAC-NORCAL,) San Jose, Ca USA đệ trình Ủy Ban Luật Biển của LHQ cho ngày 13/5/2009.
d. Những tác phẩm lịch sử về đường biȇn giới Việt –Trung do Sông Hồng (Hoàng Hoa) dịch và biȇn soạn in tại San Jose, Ca năm 2002.
e. Các tài liệu văn bản chính thức của Bộ Ngoại Giao Hoa Kỳ về nước Việt Nam trong thời gian Hoa Kỳ can dự vào tình hình, hoàn cảnh Việt Nam kể từ (trong thời gian) Hiệp Ðịnh Geneva 1954.
3. Các tư liệu văn hóa lịch sử cận đại hiện nay:
a. Các videos, Web sites, links, tài liệu và các dự án phát triễn Little Saigon San Jose (LSSJ) do Hoàng Hoa thực hiện trong thời gian thực hiện và phát triễn LSSJ kể từ năm 2004.
b. Các videos, Web Sites, tài liệu và hình ảnh văn hóa về Little Saigon San Francisco do Hoàng Hoa thực hiện kể từ năm 2004.
c. Các videos và tài liệu ghi chép về sinh hoạt cộng đồng mgười Việt tỵ nạn cộng sản tại San Jose do Hoàng Hoa thực hiện.
4. Các phương tiện truyền thông cơ hữu trách nhiệm:
Blog Vietnam Review VNR, các tư liệu videos trȇn kȇnh SaigonFilms Media trȇn Youtube™, Web Site www.saigonfilms.com, www.littlesaigonsjid.com
5. Sơ lược các Dự án ban đầu (initiative):
a. Các phóng đồ nghiȇn cứu hoạt động của Hải quân VNCH trong thời gian bảo vệ đất nước.
b. Sưu tầm, nghiȇn cứu, các tư liệu phȇ bình giòng nhạc lính (giòng nhạc Boléro) trước năm 1975 và tính văn hóa của người lính VNCH trong lịch sử văn hóa dân tộc Việt Nam. Phân tích vai trò, tính văn hóa và tình yȇu nhân bản của người lính VNCH trong chiến tranh bảo vệ người dân và giữ nước. Tính văn hóa và phẩm hạnh, sự hy sinh cao cả của người lính VNCH khi miền Nam rơi vào tay quân CSBV ngày 30/4/1975 làm gương sáng cho giáo dục nhân bản VNCH.
c. Tái cấu trúc sơ đồ hình ảnh các quân trường, huấn khu, biệt khu, trung tâm huấn luyện.
d. Xem xét tái cấu trúc các trại tù cải tạo của CSBV nhằm giam giữ các người lính VNCH sau năm 1975.
e. Tái cấu trúc, hình ảnh các trường học tư thục và công lập, các trường bình dân học vụ, và các trung tâm văn hóa. Tiểu sử các thầy cô.
6. Bản Dự thảo này được dịch sang Anh ngữ và thông báo lưu trữ trȇn Blog VNR Cơ Quan Ngôn Luận Chính Thức của Tổ Chức Văn Hóa VNCH, và có thể được bổ sung thȇm các chi tiết khi có nhu cầu.
Trân trọng
Hoàng Hoa
Viettrade_net@yahoo.com
San Jose, ngày 24/7/2020
Thứ Tư, 22 tháng 7, 2020
The Global Daily Watch (ABC News) US ramps up sanctions over Uighur abuses with penalties on powerful Chinese paramilitary group. (AP) US hits China anew for rights abuses in western Xinjiang. (AP) Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud appears in court. (Fox News) Escalating tensions could lead to US-China military clash: Gordon Chang. (BBC) How a Chinese agent used LinkedIn to hunt for targets. (AFP) Australia rejects Beijing's South China Sea claims, backing US. (Reuters) Australia says China's South China Sea claims are unlawful. (NBC News) Justice Department charges Stanford researcher with lying about ties to Chinese military. (AP) Chinese researcher charged with US visa fraud is in custody. (CBS News) China vows revenge after U.S. orders consulate in Houston to close. (Business Insider) People are burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, as Beijing says the US abruptly gave it 72 hours to shut it down
The Global Daily Watch
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World
US hits China anew for rights abuses in western Xinjiang
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took new aim at China on Friday by imposing sanctions on a major paramilitary organization in the country’s western Xinjiang region and its commander for alleged human rights abuses against ethnic and religious minorities.
The State and Treasury departments announced the penalties as the White House denounced authorities in Hong Kong for postponing local government elections ostensibly because of the coronavirus pandemic. Criticism of the election delay, which Beijing approved, also came just a day after President Donald Trump suggested putting off November’s U.S. presidential vote.
The sanctions, which freeze any assets the targets may have in U.S. jurisdictions and perhaps more significantly bar Americans from doing business with them, hit the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, its commander and former political commissar for alleged abuses against Uighur Muslims, including mass arbitrary detentions, forced labor and torture.
The production and construction corps is a major operation consisting of 14 military-style divisions that reports to the Chinese Communist Party and is in charge of billions of dollars in development projects in Xinjiang, including mining and energy exploration.
"The United States is committed to using the full breadth of its financial powers to hold human rights abusers accountable in Xinjiang and across the world,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which provides authority for the administration to penalize human rights abusers abroad.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the two officials targeted — the commander, Peng Jiarui, and the former commissar, Sun Jinlong — would also be subject to U.S. visa restrictions. The Trump administration has previously sanctioned other officials in Xinjiang subjecting them to travel bans.
Meanwhile, the White House lashed out at the postponement of the upcoming Hong Kong elections in comments likely to draw accusations of hypocrisy from China after Trump's tweeted suggestion on Thursday that the U.S. elections be postponed to prevent fraud from mail-in ballots expected to flood the polls because of the virus outbreak.
“We condemn the Hong Kong government’s decision to postpone for one year its legislative council elections and to disqualify opposition candidates,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. “This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity and this is only the most recent in a growing list of broken promises by Beijing."
Earlier Friday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced the government was invoking an emergency ordinance to postpone the highly anticipated legislative elections by a year, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak.
The postponement is a setback for the pro-democracy opposition, which was hoping to capitalize on disenchantment with the current pro-Beijing majority to make gains. A group of 22 lawmakers issued a statement ahead of the announcement accusing the government of using the outbreak as an excuse to delay the vote.
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World
US ramps up sanctions over Uighur abuses with penalties on powerful Chinese paramilitary group
Video
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/us-ramps-sanctions-over-uighur-abuses-penalties-powerful-213900963.html
The U.S. has sanctioned a powerful Chinese paramilitary organization in the country's western province, accusing it of playing a key role in the detention and repression of Muslim ethnic minorities.
The sanctions could have far-reaching consequences, depending on their level of enforcement, given the deep economic and political control of the group, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, in the Xinjiang region.
This round of penalties is also the second in just three weeks after President Donald Trump said earlier this month that he had withheld them for over a year to protect trade talks with China. In recent weeks, his administration has bolted toward an increasingly tough stance against Beijing as the Phase 1 trade deal all but fell apart and the 2020 presidential election approaches.
MORE: US sanctions Chinese officials over Uighur abuses, warns companies against business in region
On July 9, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned regional officials and a security agency for the repressive campaign against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities that includes detaining over 1 million in "re-education" and forced labor camps, cracking down on practicing Islam and enforcing widespread sterilization practices. China at first denied such camps existed, then defended them as a counterterror operation; its foreign ministry has denied mass sterilization.
"The Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities rank as the stain of the century," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Friday.
In addition to the XPCC, the Treasury Department is sanctioning the organization's commander Peng Jiarui and a former senior official Sun Jinlong.
MORE: China conducting mass sterilization on Muslim minorities that could amount to genocide: Report
The latest actions mark a profound escalation in U.S. pressure. Described as a "paramilitary organization" or a "farming militia," the XPCC is a tool of the Chinese Communist Party first deployed in the 1950s to send soldiers as pioneers or colonizers to Xinjiang, a largely undeveloped region nearly 2,000 miles west of Beijing.
After years of developing farmland, mining, and other industries, the XPCC now controls huge portions of the region's economy, as well as critical security functions. Analysts have reported that the XPCC alone employs approximately 12% of the region's population and accounts for 20% of the region's total economy, with even larger shares of agriculture.
Pompeo accused the XPCC of being "directly involved in implementing" what he called "a comprehensive surveillance, detention, and indoctrination program" against Uighurs and other minorities.
It's unclear if the XPCC has any assets in U.S. jurisdiction. But this now puts any company, including American ones, at risk of U.S. sanctions if they work in the region or have a supply chain with ties to it, according to the U.S. Treasury, although teasing out those ties can be difficult given how murky business in China can be.
MORE: After 13 tons of human hair products seized, US warns about importing from Xinjiang, China
"All US companies (and foreign companies that do business in the US) should be getting out of Xinjiang now (if they haven't already)," tweeted Julian Ku, a professor at Hofstra University Law School.
Major U.S. companies like Apple and Ralph Lauren are already struggling with their commercial ties to Xinjiang after the U.S. Commerce Department added to its list of blocked entities based in the region and several agencies issued a joint warning of "legal risks" if companies' supply chains include the forced labor used in these internment camps.
On Capitol Hill Thursday, Pompeo said the administration hopes to use these economic levers to change the Chinese government's behavior.
"I'm really happy with the work we're making to convince businesses -- not just American business because it's an international place of business -- that they should really look hard at their supply chains -- not just their direct employees, but their supply chains -- and what's taking place there. I think if we get that right, we have the opportunity to change what's taking place there," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
MORE: Bolton dismisses Trump's tough talk on China: 'No telling' what deal he'd take if reelected
Unleashing economic pressure on China for the treatment of Uighurs is one of several moves by the Trump administration to escalate its fight with Beijing, including a declaration against its claims in the South China Sea, a new round of arms sales to Taiwan, ending Hong Kong's special economic status because of the crackdown on democracy and a crippling campaign against Huawei, the telecommunications giant.
China is likely to retaliate after Friday's sanctions, although its ability to do so may be more limited. After the first round of sanctions this month, it announced visa bans on U.S. ambassador-at-large for religious freedom Sam Brownback, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. -- four Republicans who have been outspoken on the Uighur detention camps.
US ramps up sanctions over Uighur abuses with penalties on powerful Chinese paramilitary group originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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U.S.
Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud appears in court
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Chinese scientist charged with visa fraud after authorities said she concealed her military ties to China in order to work in the U.S. made her first appearance Monday in federal court by video.
Juan Tang, 37, was appointed a federal public defender and U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes ordered Tang to remain in custody, saying she is a flight risk, while her attorney prepares an argument to allow her release on bail.
The Justice Department last week announced charges against Tang and three other scientists living in the U.S., saying they lied about their status as members of China’s People’s Liberation Army. All were charged with visa fraud.
Prosecutors said Tang lied about her military ties in a visa application last October as she prepared to work at the University of California, Davis and again during an FBI interview in June. Agents found photos of Tang dressed in military uniform and reviewed articles in China identifying her military affiliation, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Tang sought refuge at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco after speaking with agents in June. U.S. marshals arrested her Friday and booked her into Sacramento County Jail, where she remains.
Heather Williams, a federal defender, said its common practice for people to seek help from their consulate when dealing with law enforcement abroad, and doing so did not make Tang guilty of anything, she said..
Williams added that U.S. agents took Tang's passport, forcing her young daughter to travel to China alone.
It's too soon to know what the photos of Tang mean, and she might have made a mistake on the visa application, the lawyer said.
“We do know that our government seems to be increasingly hostile to China and we hope Dr. Tang isn’t paying the price for that hostility," she said.
The University of California, Davis said Tang left her job in June as a visiting researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology.
The arrests come as tensions rise between China and the U.S.
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World
Escalating tensions could lead to US-China military clash: Gordon Chang
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World
How a Chinese agent used LinkedIn to hunt for targets
Jun Wei Yeo, an ambitious and freshly enrolled Singaporean PhD student, was no doubt delighted when he was invited to give a presentation to Chinese academics in Beijing in 2015.
His doctorate research was about Chinese foreign policy and he was about to discover firsthand how the rising superpower seeks to attain influence.
After his presentation, Jun Wei, also known as Dickson, was, according to US court documents, approached by several people who said they worked for Chinese think tanks. They said they wanted to pay him to provide "political reports and information". They would later specify exactly what they wanted: "scuttlebutt" - rumours and insider knowledge.
He soon realised they were Chinese intelligence agents but remained in contact with them, a sworn statement says. He was first asked to focus on countries in South East Asia but later, their interest turned to the US government.
That was how Dickson Yeo set off on a path to becoming a Chinese agent - one who would end up using the professional networking website LinkedIn, a fake consulting company and cover as a curious academic to lure in American targets.
Five years later, on Friday, amid deep tensions between the US and China and a determined crackdown from Washington on Beijing's spies, Yeo pleaded guilty in a US court to being an "illegal agent of a foreign power". The 39-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison.
Alumni at Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), which trains some of Asia's top civil servants and government officials, were left shocked by the news that their former peer had confessed to being a Chinese agent.
"He was a very active student in class. I always viewed him as a very intelligent person," said one former postgraduate student who did not wish to be named
She said he often talked about social inequality - and that his family struggled financially when he was a child. She said she found it difficult to reconcile the person she knew with his guilty plea.
A former member of staff at the institution painted a different picture, saying Yeo seemed to have "an inflated sense of his own importance".
Yeo's PhD supervisor had been Huang Jing, a high-profile Chinese-American professor who was expelled from Singapore in 2017 for being an "agent of influence of a foreign country" that was not identified.
Huang Jing always denied those allegations. After leaving Singapore, he first worked in Washington DC, and now Beijing.
According to the court documents released with Yeo's guilty plea, the student met his Chinese handlers on dozens of occasions in different locations in China.
During one meeting he was asked to specifically obtain information about the US Department of Commerce, artificial intelligence and the Sino-US trade war.
Bilahari Kausikan, the former permanent secretary at Singapore's foreign ministry, said he had "no doubt that Dickson knew he was working for the Chinese intelligence services".
He was not, he said, "an unwitting useful fool".
Yeo made his crucial contacts using LinkedIn, the job and careers networking site used by more than 700 million people. The platform was described only as a "professional networking website" in the court documents, but its use was confirmed to the Washington Post.
Former government and military employees and contractors are not shy about publicly posting details of their detailed work histories on the website in order to obtain lucrative jobs in the private sector.
This presents a potential goldmine to foreign intelligence agencies. In 2018, US counter-intelligence chief William Evanina warned of "super aggressive" action by Beijing on the Microsoft-owned platform, which is one of few Western social media sites not blocked in China.
Kevin Mallory, a former CIA officer jailed for 20 years last May for disclosing military secrets to a Chinese agent, was first targeted on LinkedIn.
In 2017, Germany's intelligence agency said Chinese agents had used LinkedIn to target at least 10,000 Germans. LinkedIn has not responded to a request for comment for this story but has previously said it takes a range of measures to stop nefarious activity.
Some of the targets that Yeo found by trawling through LinkedIn were commissioned to write reports for his "consultancy", which had the same name as an already prominent firm. These were then sent to his Chinese contacts.
One of the individuals he contacted worked on the US Air Force's F-35 fighter jet programme and admitted he had money problems. Another was a US army officer assigned to the Pentagon, who was was paid at least $2,000 (£1,500) to write a report on how the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan would impact China.
In finding such contacts, Yeo, who was based in Washington DC for part of 2019, was aided by an invisible ally - the LinkedIn algorithm. Each time Yeo looked at someone's profile it would suggest a new slate of contacts with similar experience that he might be interested in. Yeo described it as "relentless".
According to the court documents, his handlers advised him to ask targets if they "were dissatisfied with work" or "were having financial troubles".
William Nguyen, an American former student at the Lee Kuan Yew school who was arrested at a protest in Vietnam in 2018 and later deported, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that Yeo had tried to contact him "multiple times" after he was released from prison and his case made headlines around the world.
In 2018, Yeo also posted fake online job ads for his consulting company. He said he received more than 400 CVs with 90% of them coming from "US military and government personnel with security clearances". Some were passed to his Chinese handlers.
The use of LinkedIn is brazen, but not surprising, said Matthew Brazil, the co-author of Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer.
"I think lots of worldwide intelligence agencies probably use it to seek out sources of information," he said. "Because it's in everybody's interest who is on LinkedIn to put their whole career on there for everybody to see - it's an unusually valuable tool in that regard."
He said that commissioning consultant reports is a way for agents to get "a hook" into a potentially valuable source who might later be convinced to supply classified information.
"It's a modern version of classic tradecraft, really."
US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said the case was an example of how China exploits "the openness of American society" and uses "non-Chinese nationals to target Americans who never leave the United States".
Singapore, a multicultural society of 5.8 million where ethnic Chinese make up the majority of the population, has long enjoyed close links with the United States, which uses its air and naval bases. But it has also sought and maintained positive relations with China.
Mr Kausikan said that he did not believe the spying case - the first known to involve a Singaporean - would hurt the country's reputation with the American government but he feared that Singaporeans could face greater suspicion in American society.
On Sunday, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said investigations had not revealed any direct threat to the country's security stemming from the case.
LKYSPP's dean, Danny Quah, wrote in an email to faculty and students quoted by the Straits Times newspaper that "no faculty or other students at our school are known to be involved" with the Yeo case.
A spokesperson at the school told the BBC that Yeo had been granted a leave of absence from his PhD in 2019 and his candidature had now been terminated.
Dickson Yeo does not appear to have got as far with his contacts as his handlers would have liked. But in November 2019, he travelled to the US with instructions to turn the army officer into a "permanent conduit of information", his signed statement says.
He was arrested before he could ask.
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World
Australia rejects Beijing's South China Sea claims, backing US
Chinese navy ships, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, during military drills in the South China Sea
https://www.yahoo.com/news/australia-rejects-beijings-south-china-sea-claims-backing-051644854.htmlChinese navy ships, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, during military drills in the South China Sea (AFP Photo/STR)
Sydney (AFP) - Australia has rejected Beijing's territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea in a formal declaration to the United Nations, aligning itself more closely with Washington in the escalating row.
In a statement filed on Thursday, Australia said there was "no legal basis" to several disputed Chinese claims in the sea including those related to the construction of artificial islands on small shoals and reefs.
"Australia rejects China's claim to 'historic rights' or 'maritime rights and interests' as established in the 'long course of historical practice' in the South China Sea," the declaration read.
"There is no legal basis for China to draw straight baselines connecting the outermost points of maritime features or 'island groups' in the South China Sea, including around the 'Four Sha' or 'continental' or 'outlying' archipelagos."
The declaration comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Beijing's pursuit of territory and resources in the South China Sea as illegal, explicitly backing the territorial claims of Southeast Asian countries against China's.
Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea based on a so-called nine-dash line, a vague delineation from maps dating back to the 1940s.
The latest escalation comes ahead of annual talks between Australia and the United States, with ministers travelling to Washington for the first time since Australian borders were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The meetings come at a "critical time" and it is essential they are held face-to-face, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said in a statement on Saturday.
US relations with China have markedly deteriorated in recent months, especially over trade disputes, the coronavirus pandemic and Beijing's crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
On Friday, Beijing ordered the US consulate in Chengdu to shut in retaliation for the closure of its Houston mission over accusations of being a hub for intellectual property theft.
Payne and Reynolds also penned an article in The Australian newspaper on Saturday, labelling national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong last month as "sweeping and vague".
"We face a public health crisis, economic upheaval and resurgent authoritarian regimes using coercion in a bid to gain power and influence at the expense of our freedoms and sovereignty," they wrote.
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Reuters
Australia says China's South China Sea claims are unlawful
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia has joined the United States in stating that China's claims in the South China Sea do not comply with international law in a declaration likely to anger China and put more strain on their deteriorating relations.
The United States this month rejected China's claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, drawing criticism from China which said the U.S. position raised tension in the region.
Australia, in a declaration filed at the United Nations in New York on Friday, said it too rejected China’s maritime claims around contested islands in the South China Sea as being inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
"Australia rejects China's claim to 'historic rights' or 'maritime rights and interests' as established in the 'long course of historical practice' in the South China Sea," it said.
Australia also said it did not accept China's assertion that its sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands was "widely recognised by the international community", citing objections from Vietnam and the Philippines.
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.
Australia has long advocated for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and for all claimants to resolve their differences in compliance with international laws.
Its more outspoken position on China's claims comes after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this month China had offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other coastal states.
The world would not allow China to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire, Pompeo said, adding that the United States would support countries that believed China has violated their maritime claims.
The United States has long opposed China’s expansive territorial claims on the South China Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation.
Australia's declaration on China's claims comes as its foreign and defence ministers prepare to travel to Washington to attend a bilateral forum on July 28, the government said.
Diplomatic tension between China and Australia has worsened recently over various issues including an Australian call for an international enquiry into the novel coronavirus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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NBC News
Justice Department charges Stanford researcher with lying about ties to Chinese military
A Chinese woman living in the United States as a visiting researcher at Stanford University has been charged with lying about her ties to the Chinese military, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Song Chen, 38, is accused of obtaining a visa by material false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.
She was arrested over the weekend and in federal custody Monday night, a spokesman for the office said. A hearing is scheduled Tuesday that will deal with detention issues.
Song is not accused of stealing or sending any materials to China, but she is accused of lying on visa forms in 2018 to apply to go to Stanford as a neurologist.
Court documents say Song answered that she had been in the Chinese military from September 2000 to June 2011, and that she worked at "Xi Diaoyutai Hospital" in Beijing.
Federal prosecutors say those were lies, and that was a member of the People’s Liberation Army when she entered the U.S. in 2018 and when she was here.
They say that the hospital she claimed to work for "was a cover for her true employer, the PLA."
A criminal complaint says Song is employed by a Chinese air force hospital and maintained her affiliation after 2011. Investigators think she is part of a " civilian cadre," whose members are considered active duty military.
The case was sealed in online records Monday. A phone message to an attorney who represented her in court Monday was not immediately returned Monday evening.
A representative for Stanford declined to comment.
An FBI agent who wrote an affidavit in the case wrote that in an interview this month, Song "repeatedly and adamantly denied" any current affiliation with the People's Liberation Army Air Force or the Chinese military or Fourth Military Medical University.
She said, according to the affidavit, that after graduating from Fourth Military Medical University, which is described as a PLA Air Force university, she disassociated from the Chinese military.
But prosecutors said that research articles showed her affiliation with institutions under the air force, and that investigators who searched her computer recovered a deleted document of a letter to the Chinese consulate in New York.
Song allegedly "wrote that her stated employer, Beijing Xi Diaoyutai Hospital, is a false front," according to the U.S. attorney's office.
The FBI agent who wrote the affidavit in the criminal complaint wrote that the recovered letter "provides further evidence that Song works for the PLA and was here on its behalf."
Song is an expert in myasthenia gravis, a rare disorder that causes muscle weakness. A Stanford professor told an investigator that Song's research benefitted the work in his lab, according to the affidavit.
The charge of obtaining a visa by material false statements is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Song is only charged with lying in visa forms.
But FBI Director Chris Wray said at an event earlier this month that that nearly half of the FBI's 5,000 active counterintelligence cases relate to China.
In June, another Chinese national who is alleged to be an officer of the Chinese military was arrested in California on accusations that he lied on visa applications to come to the U.S. as a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, according to the Justice Department.
Xin Wang, who federal prosecutors say is a scientific researcher and officer with the PLA, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport as he attempted to leave for China.
Federal prosecutors say he was instructed by the director of his military university lab in China to observe the layout of the lab at UC San Francisco so that it could be replicated in there. Wang was also charged with visa fraud.
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U.S.
Chinese researcher charged with US visa fraud is in custody
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Chinese researcher accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military on a visa application she submitted so she could work in the U.S. was booked Friday into a Northern California jail and was expected to appear in federal court Monday.
Sacramento County jail records show Juan Tang, 37, was being held on behalf of federal authorities after she was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service. It was unclear if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
The Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against Tang and three other scientists living in the U.S., saying they lied about their status as members of China’s People’s Liberation Army. All were charged with visa fraud.
Tang was the last of the four to be arrested, after the justice department accused the Chinese consulate in San Francisco of harboring a known fugitive. The consulate did not immediately respond to email and Facebook messages seeking comment and it was not possible to leave a telephone message.
The Justice Department said Tang lied about her military ties in a visa application last October as she made plans to work at the University of California, Davis and again during an FBI interview months later. Agents found photos of Tang dressed in military uniform and reviewed articles in China identifying her military affiliation.
UC Davis said Tang left her job as a visiting researcher in the Department of Radiation Oncology in June. Her work was funded by a study-based exchange program affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education, the university said in a statement.
Agents have said they believe Tang sought refuge at the consulate after they interviewed her at her home in Davis on June 20. The FBI has been interviewing visa holders in more than 25 American cities suspected of hiding their ties to the Chinese military.
The allegations came as U.S.-China relations continued to deteriorate, particularly over allegations of Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property.
China's consulate in Houston was scheduled to shut down Friday on order of U.S. authorities after Washington accused Chinese agents of trying to steal medical and other research in Texas.
In response, China on Friday ordered the U.S. to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu.
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CBS News Videos
China vows revenge after U.S. orders consulate in Houston to close
Video
China is vowing retaliation after the U.S. ordered Beijing to close its
consulate in Houston. China received the order on Tuesday, before
reports that someone was burning documents in the courtyard of the
consulate. The U.S. said the facility was ordered closed "to protect
American intellectual property and Americans' private information."
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World
People are burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, as Beijing says the US abruptly gave it 72 hours to shut it down
Twitter/ KPRC2Tulsi/Breaking 911
- People were seen burning documents at the Chinese Consulate in Houston, and fire services were called to the scene.
- The police told multiple outlets that people were burning documents in what appeared to be open trash cans. It is not clear what those documents were.
- It came as China said the US ordered the consulate to be closed in an "unprecedented escalation." Chinese state media reported that the US had given China 72 hours to close it.
- The State Department said the closing was ordered to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information.
- China painted the decision in light of strained US-China relations, claiming the US "has repeatedly stigmatized China," and vowed to retaliate if the US did not reverse its order.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The local outlet ABC 13 reported early Wednesday morning that trash cans full of documents were being burned in the consulate's courtyard.
A police official told the Houston Chronicle that witnesses saw paper being burned in what appeared to be open trash cans outside the building.
The police also told the local outlet Fox26 Houston that a fire reported at the consulate on Tuesday evening was the result of people burning documents. KPRC 2 reported that the police were told documents were being burned just after 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
One witness told KPRC 2: "You could just smell the paper burning."
Fox26 reported that police officers and the fire department were not allowed onto the premises as it's considered Chinese territory. The police official told the Houston Chronicle that the police were not allowed to access the building.
Video footage appears to show documents being burned outside the building:
The Houston police department also tweeted about the apparent document burning.
"About 8:25 pm on Tuesday, our officers responded to a meet the firefighter call to the China Consulate General in Houston building ... Smoke was observed in an outside courtyard area," the department said. "Officers were not granted access to enter the building."
Business Insider was unable to contact the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Houston outside its working hours.
The news comes as China said the US abruptly ordered China to close it immediately.
"On July 21, the US suddenly requested China to close the Consulate General in Houston. This was a political provocation unilaterally initiated by the US against China," a Chinese Foreign Ministry representative, Wang Wenbin, said on Wednesday, calling it an "unprecedented escalation" in US-China relations.
In a statement sent to Business Insider, the US State Department representative Morgan Ortagus said: "We have directed the closure of PRC Consulate General Houston, in order to protect American intellectual property and American's private information," using an abbreviation for the People's Republic of China.
"The United States will not tolerate the PRC's violations of our sovereignty and intimidation of our people, just as we have not tolerated the PRC's unfair trade practices, theft of American jobs, and other egregious behavior," she added.
Wang said the move "seriously violated international law and basic norms of international relation" and damaged relations between the US and China.
"China strongly condemns this. China urges the US to immediately revoke the wrong decision," he said. "Otherwise, China will definitely make a proper and necessary response."
Hu Xijin, the editor of China's state-backed Global Times newspaper, said the US gave China just 72 hours to close the consulate.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department charged two Chinese state-backed hackers with hacking into the computer systems of hundreds of companies, governments, and individual activists and stealing their data. It is not clear whether these charges are related to the ordered closing.
China has four other consulates in the US — in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco — as well as an embassy in Washington, DC.
The Foreign Ministry statement said the Houston consulate was being closed "unilaterally" by the US "for a limited time." It did not specify a deadline given by the US.
The ministry also criticized the US's treatment of China.
"For a period of time, the US government has repeatedly stigmatized China, conducted unprovoked attacks on China's development, unreasonably made things difficult for Chinese diplomatic and consular staff in the US, and intimidated, interrogated, and confiscated personal electronic equipment from Chinese students studying in the US," it said, without giving evidence to back up its charges.
Ortagus, the State Department spokeswoman, said: "President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in US-China relations."
Sen. Marco Rubio, the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, celebrated the move to close the consulate in a tweet. The Florida Republican referred to the Chinese consulate in Houston as a "massive spy center."
"#China's consulate in #Houston is not a diplomatic facility. It is the central node of the Communist Party's vast network of spies & influence operations in the United States. Now that building must close & the spies have 72 hours to leave or face arrest. This needed to happen," Rubio said.
The New York Times noted that while ordering a consulate closed was a strong step, it was one that had been taken before in disputes between countries.
For example, the US ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco in 2017 after Russia restricted the number of diplomats the US could have in Moscow.
An unidentified source told Reuters that Beijing was considering closing the US consulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan in retaliation, but China's next moves remain unclear.
Tensions between the US and China have reached historic heights in the Trump era, with top experts warning that the two major powers are on the brink of a new Cold War. Though he praised China's handling of COVID-19 early on, President Donald Trump shifted to blaming Beijing for the pandemic as the US coronavirus outbreak worsened, which has exacerbated the situation. The virus was originally detected in Wuhan.
"We're essentially in the beginnings of a Cold War," Orville Schell, the director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, told Insider in May. "We are on a downward slide into something increasingly adversarial with China."
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