Thứ Bảy, 29 tháng 8, 2020

The Global Daily Watch and National Security (AFP) NASA chief warns Congress about Chinese space station. (FOX NEWS) China has 'comprehensive plan' to steal US technology, secrets: Gen. Jack Keane. (Business Insider) An NYPD officer and US Army reservist has been arrested and accused of spying on Tibetan New Yorkers for China. (Reuters) Pompeo hopeful China's Confucius Institutes will be gone from U.S. by year-end. (Reuters) Chinese national arrested in U.S. probe of possible transfer of software to China. (Washington Examiner) Trump administration taps Vietnam refugee as new ICE chief.

 The Global Daily Watch and National Security

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NASA chief warns Congress about Chinese space station

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-chief-warns-congress-chinese-212233505.html

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

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China has 'comprehensive plan' to steal US technology, secrets: Gen. Jack Keane

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-comprehensive-plan-steal-us-145326898.html

 Gen. Jack Keane on an NYPD officer being accused of acting as a Chinese Communist Party agent and new sanctions on Iran.

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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.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

  • 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.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

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.

The man in this photo has been identified by CBS New York as Officer Baimadajie Angwang. <p class="copyright"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NYPD111pct/photos/a.198814657435031/618089632174196" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Facebook" class="link rapid-noclick-resp">Facebook</a></p>

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."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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World

US charges 5 Chinese citizens in global hacking campaign

ERIC TUCKER
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)

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.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

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.

Pham is replacing Matt Albence and will serve in an acting role. Read more at The Washington Examiner and BuzzFeed News.

Chủ Nhật, 16 tháng 8, 2020

Âm Nhạc Văn Hóa, Giáo Dục Việt Nam Cộng Hòa: Tái Xây Dựng Kiến Trúc Trường Võ Bị Quốc Gia Việt Nam 1, 2.

https://quandiemvietnam.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-rvn-cultural-educational-musics.html

Tái Xây Dựng Kiến Trúc Trường Võ Bị Quốc Gia Việt Nam  

Link2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0okEoRXVM

 
 
 
Tái Xây Dựng Kiến Trúc TVBQGVN
 

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

 

 

Link 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Iv4jwp2tA

 

 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.

Thứ Sáu, 7 tháng 8, 2020

Global Daily Watch (Bloomberg) U.S. Treasury Says Vietnam Deliberately Weakened Currency. (LA Times) Former CIA officer charged with providing secrets to China in case out of 'spy novel'. (AP) Filing: Kansas prof's prosecution criminalizes job disputes. (Reuters) U.S. imposes sanctions on Hong Kong officials, (AFP) US cabinet member lauds Taiwan's democracy during historic visit

Global Daily Watch Aug. 8, 2020 -

Main Page: https://quandiemvietnam.blogspot.com/2020/06/us-china-politics-chinh-tri-hoa-ky_18.html

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U.S. Treasury Says Vietnam Deliberately Weakened Currency

 
Michelle Jamrisko

(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

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Former CIA officer charged with providing secrets to China in case out of 'spy novel'

Del Quentin Wilber

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."

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Filing: Kansas prof's prosecution criminalizes job disputes

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/filing-kansas-profs-prosecution-criminalizes-135835017.html
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)
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.

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 World

US cabinet member lauds Taiwan's democracy during historic visit

Amber WANG
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

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.

aw-jta/mtp

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Politics

U.S. imposes sanctions on Hong Kong officials

Thứ Hai, 3 tháng 8, 2020

MIlitary Activities in East Sea and Western Pacific (DefenseNews) Japan secures first-ever major defense export with Philippine radar order. (08/02/2020) (AP) China criticizes US sanctions over South China Sea buildup. (Bloomberg) China Fires Missiles Into Disputed Sea; U.S. Sanctions. (DefenseNews) US imposes sanctions on Chinese defense firms over maritime dispute. (AFP) Taiwan finalizes $62bn purchase of F-16 jets from Lockheed Martin. (Reuters) U.S. Navy carrier conducted exercises in South China Sea on Aug. 14. (The Telegraph) China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

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Main Page: Military Activities in East Sea and Western Pacific

https://quandiemvietnam.blogspot.com/2020/05/nhung-hoat-ong-quan-su-tai-bien-ong-va.html
 
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Japan secures first-ever major defense export with Philippine radar order

 

MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan has concluded its first export sale of major defense equipment, with the Philippines signing a contract for fixed and mobile air surveillance radars to cover potential flashpoints around the country, including the South China Sea.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana signed the contract agreement Aug. 28 in the capital Manila, which will see Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. supply three fixed, long-range air surveillance radars and a mobile air surveillance radar to the Philippines.

An announcement made earlier that day by the Philippine Department of National Defense did not specify the radar type, but it had previously been reported that an improved version of the Mitsubishi Electric J/FPS-3 active electronically scanned array radar would be supplied for the fixed sites, along with the J/TPS-P14 mobile radar.

The department added that the radars, which are being acquired under the Horizon 2 Air Surveillance Radar System acquisition project, are expected to be delivered to the Philippines starting 2022.

Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — Japan has concluded its first export sale of major defense equipment, with the Philippines signing a contract for fixed and mobile air surveillance radars to cover potential flashpoints around the country, including the South China Sea.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana signed the contract agreement Aug. 28 in the capital Manila, which will see Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. supply three fixed, long-range air surveillance radars and a mobile air surveillance radar to the Philippines.

An announcement made earlier that day by the Philippine Department of National Defense did not specify the radar type, but it had previously been reported that an improved version of the Mitsubishi Electric J/FPS-3 active electronically scanned array radar would be supplied for the fixed sites, along with the J/TPS-P14 mobile radar.

The department added that the radars, which are being acquired under the Horizon 2 Air Surveillance Radar System acquisition project, are expected to be delivered to the Philippines starting 2022.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The deal between the two U.S. allies is significant, as it marks the first time Japan will export complete defense articles after it relaxed self-imposed restrictions on such sales in 2014. Since that time Japan has bid for a number of projects globally without success, with previous Japanese defense-related exports limited to spare parts.

The easing of restrictions on arms sales was part of a push by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to reform Japan’s defense posture and boost Japan’s domestic defense industry, driven in part by China’s rapidly modernizing military and increasing assertiveness. Abe announced Aug. 28 that he is resigning from his post due to health reasons.

Mitsubishi Electric was declared the winner for the Horizon 2 Air Surveillance Radar System acquisition project in March following an evaluation conducted by the Department of National Defense. The radars were purchased under a government-to-government deal, with a total contract value of $103.5 million.

The radars will be used for surveillance of airspace over the southern portion of the South China Sea, the southern islands of the Philippine archipelago as well as the strategic Benham Rise. The latter is an underwater plateau, 150 nautical miles east of the main Philippine island of Luzon, that is potentially rich in natural resources.

The Philippines is one of six southeast Asian countries that claim parts of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where China has carried out massive land reclamation and military construction projects on some of the islands and features it has occupied, dwarfing the smaller scale projects undertaken by some of the other claimants.

 
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China criticizes US sanctions over South China Sea buildup

FILE - In this July 6, 2020, file photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76, front) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68, rear) Carrier Strike Groups sail together in formation, in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy says the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and its strike group entered the South China Sea earlier in August, 2020, and have been carrying out air operations. China routinely objects to U.S. naval activity in the sea, especially when more than one strike group is present, as happened earlier this year, and when they involve operations with navies from other countries. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy via AP, File)
FILE - In this July 6, 2020, file photo provided by U.S. Navy, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76, front) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68, rear) Carrier Strike Groups sail together in formation, in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy says the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan and its strike group entered the South China Sea earlier in August, 2020, and have been carrying out air operations. China routinely objects to U.S. naval activity in the sea, especially when more than one strike group is present, as happened earlier this year, and when they involve operations with navies from other countries. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy via AP, File)

BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday accused the United States of violating international law by imposing sanctions on officials and companies involved in Beijing’s military buildup in the disputed South China Sea, but gave no indication of how it might retaliate.

The sanctions add to conflict over control of the sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The U.S. rejects China's claim to virtually the entire waterway, portions of which are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and other governments.

“The relevant U.S. acts grossly interfere in China’s internal affairs, violate international law and relevant international norms, which are totally out of hegemonic logic and power politics,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday announced penalties against an unspecified number of Chinese officials and 24 companies for their role in building artificial islands to enforce Beijing’s territorial claims. The companies were added to an “entity list” that limits access to U.S. exports without government permission.

“China will take firm measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises and individuals,” Zhao said.

Chinese officials frequently make such vows, although specific responses are rare.

The Commerce Department said the companies were targeted for their role in building the artificial islands through dredging and other activities that cause environmental damage and infringe on other nations’ claims.

“The relevant construction China carried out on its own territory is entirely within the scope of sovereignty and has nothing to do with militarization,” Zhao said. “There is no reason for the U.S. side to impose illegal sanctions on Chinese enterprises and individuals because of their participation in relevant domestic construction.”

Tensions in the South China Sea have been building as the U.S. and others push back against Beijing's moves to cement its control over the area.

U.S.-China relations have declined to their lowest level in years amid disputes over trade, technology, Taiwan, Hong Kong and human rights.

China is currently holding live-fire military exercises in both the South and East China Seas and a Hong Kong newspaper reported Thursday that the military test-fired two missiles into the South China Sea, including one seen as specifically designed to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier.

The DF-26B and DF-21D missiles fired Wednesday targeted an area between the southern island province of Hainan and the Paracel Islands, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified sources close to the Chinese military.

The Ministry of Defense said the People’s Liberation Army conducted military exercises in the area but gave no confirmation of missiles being fired or other details.


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China Fires Missiles Into Disputed Sea; U.S. Sanctions

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is seen during its visit to Hong Kong
U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is seen during its visit to Hong Kong

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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World

China seeks to increase influence in South China Sea by reclassifying international shipping lanes

Sophia Yan

China has quietly changed how it identifies a vast stretch of international waters in a shipping regulation, indicating it as a “coastal” region, rather than “offshore,” as authorities seek to exert even greater control over the South China Sea.

The amended regulation, first drafted in the 1970s, went into effect on Saturday, and establishes a “navigation area” from China’s Hainan island in the south, all the way down to the disputed Paracel Islands, which sit east of Vietnam’s coastline.

The revision, however small, allows Beijing yet another avenue to justify its claims in the region.

“The move is pretty consistent with the broader, general patterns of China seeking ‘creeping jurisdiction’ using domestic laws to assert its claims and extend control in the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh,a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“With those domestic laws and regulations being implemented quietly without fanfare, the less likely it’ll attract undue external attention, so that over time a fair accompli is created - in other words, for Beijing to change facts on the ground.”

The risk, in the long run, is that this area of ocean already flanked by Chinese military interests and installations, could turn a navigational zone to a “future security alert zone,” he said.

The change comes as China has displayed increasing swagger in the South China Sea, where Beijing and a number of Southeast Asian countries all lay claim to the rocks, reefs and waters.

China has been accused of stepping up its maritime push in these resource-rich waters while the rest of the world remains busy battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The US and Australia conducted joint naval exercises this summer in the region, angering Beijing.

In response, the Chinese military in July engaged in drills in the region, deploying bombers and simulating nighttime takeoffs, long-range raids and attacks on sea targets, according to state media.

Both Washington and Canberra have since officially rejected Chinese claims to the South China Sea. In the past, both countries had stressed the importance of all countries maintaining access to these waters, stopping short of classifying Chinese activity as illegal.

The concern has long been that an increasingly assertive Beijing could use access to the South China Sea – along key international shipping routes – as a tool for economic coercion to squeeze nations during diplomatic rows.

Beijing’s recent maritime push has extended beyond the South China Sea to the East China Sea, angering Japan.

The Indian military has also stepped up operations in the Indian Ocean over concerns that China will next look to assert itself at sea against Delhi, after a land border skirmish in June led to a number of Indian casualties.