01/11/2019
- Kremlin says project highlights the growing closeness between the two countries
- Military observers argue cooperation between the two sides helps provide counterbalance to American military might
Vladimir Putin disclosed the project at a forum in Sochi. Photo: Sputnik/AFP
Russia is helping China to build an early warning system to counter missile attacks, Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
Speaking at an international affairs conference in the resort town of Sochi, he said Moscow was helping China increase its missile defence capability, Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik reported.
“This is a very serious endeavour that will fundamentally and radically increase the defence capability of the People’s Republic of China because only the United States and Russia have such a system at present,” the Russian leader said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say when the system would be operational, but told reporters on a conference call that the move highlighted Russia’s close ties with China.
“Russia has special relations with China of advanced partnership … including the most sensitive [areas] linked to military-technical cooperation and security and defence capabilities,” Peskov said.
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said Putin’s remarks indicated that military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow may have evolved from the previous “model alliance” to a “real alliance” with the US as their common target.
“Such changes will likely further fuel the strategic arms race, which is already evident from the missile tests [that we have witnessed] and the recent military parade,” said Wong in a reference to the grand parade held in Beijing on Tuesday when China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes China’s defence minister Wei Fenghe (right) to a base in Orenburg at the start of a joint exercise. Photo: Handout
Hong Kong-based military analyst Song Zhongping said the system would help Beijing and Moscow set up a joint early ballistic missile network to counter “American global hegemony”.
“If the US wants to attack China [with its ICBMs], their missiles are likely to be launched from the Arctic, and that will be covered by Russia’s early warning system, and that means Moscow will have the capability to alert Beijing,” said Song who added that the Chinese military could provide reciprocal help to Russia.
Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said Putin’s remarks served as a veiled warning to US President Donald Trump who has taken the unilateral step of withdrawing from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a cold war-era pact signed between the US and Russia in 1987.
“Joint cooperation will help both Russia and China to save costs because early warning ballistic missile systems are very expensive,” Zhou said,
However, he said Moscow was unlikely to share its most advanced technologies with China.
“For example, Russia’s missile defence system just covers Moscow and St Petersburg, so China’s network will properly just cover Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei province, the Yangtze River Delta area, the Greater Bay Area in South China, as well as a number of key cities in the centre.”
Putin also told the forum that the two countries would continue to work together on space exploration.
Last month, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation announced that Moscow and Beijing have developed a plan for cooperation between military departments for next year and 2021.
Last month 1,600 members of the Chinese military arrived at a Russian training base in the Orenburg oblast for a large-scale joint training exercise.
Source: SCMP
Posted in 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Arctic, Beijing, build, China alert, China’s defence minister, cold war-era pact, early warning system, General Wei Fenghe, Greater Bay Area, Hebei province, helping, ICBMs, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Kremlin, Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Missile, Moscow, Orenburg, People’s Republic of China, Russia, Sochi, Sputnik, St Petersburg, Tianjin, Uncategorized, United States, US, US President Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Yangtze River Delta |
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12/06/2019
- Observers will be watching to see if General Wei Fenghe holds talks with his American counterpart
- Forum comes as Beijing and Washington are at odds over issues ranging from security to trade
General Wei Fenghe will be the first Chinese defence minister to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue in eight years. Photo: Reuters
China is sending its defence minister to a leading Asian security forum next week, the first time in eight years that a high-ranking Chinese general will represent the country at the conference.
General Wei Fenghe, a State Councillor and China’s defence minister, will speak at the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a gathering that comes as Beijing and Washington are at odds over issues ranging from security to trade.
“In a highly anticipated speech, General Wei Fenghe will speak on China’s role in the Indo-Pacific at a pivotal time for the region,” the International Institute for Strategic Studies, an organiser of the conference, said on Monday night.
Chinese military sources said that Wei would lead a “relatively big” delegation to the gathering, which starts on May 31 and is co-organised by the Singaporean government.
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The last time Beijing sent a high-ranking officer to the event was in 2011 when General Liang Guanglie, then the defence minister, attended.
Acting US secretary of defence Patrick Shanahan will also attend the conference and deliver a speech.
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Beijing-based military specialist Zhou Chenming said observers would be watching to see whether the two senior defence officials held talks.
“The whole world will keep a close eye on any possible encounters between the Chinese and the Americans … At least now China has shown its sincerity in sending Wei to attend the conference, who is of equal standing as Shanahan, if the latter is willing to hold talks with him in good faith,” Zhou said.
But he said a meeting between Wei and Shanahan would be difficult because of the current distance between Beijing and Washington on major issues.
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“It’s not realistic to expect they will make a breakthrough because both sides will just sound their own bugles. The … mistrust between China and the US is actually growing every day,” Zhou said.
Just on Sunday, the USS Preble, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Scarborough Shoal, an area in the South China Sea claimed by both China and the Philippines.
The
by strongly urging “the US to stop such provocative actions” and saying it would “take all necessary measures” to protect its “national sovereignty”.
Military analysts said the size of the Chinese delegation at the conference would underscore the importance of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attached to the event this year.
One military insider said the delegation would also include Lieutenant General He Lei, former vice-president of the Academy of Military Science, who headed China’s delegation in 2017 and 2018; and Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, director of the defence ministry’s Centre for Security Cooperation. In addition, the PLA would send a number of Chinese academics to speak at various sessions of the forum.
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Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver a keynote speech on the opening day of the annual dialogue.
Japan and South Korea are also sending their defence ministers, according to a report by The Korean Times on Tuesday. The report also said South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo was keen to hold one-on-one meetings with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the conference.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China alert, defence minister, defence ministry’s Centre for Security Cooperation, General Wei Fenghe, guided missile destroyer, Japan, Jeong Kyeong-doo, Lee Hsien Loong, Lieutenant General He Lei, Malaysia, Patrick Shanahan, People's Liberation Army (PLA), Philippines, Scarborough Shoal, Security Conference, Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore, Singaporean Prime Minister, South China Sea, South Korea, South Korean Defence Minister, State Councillor, tensions, The Korean Times, Uncategorized, US, US secretary of defence, USS Preble, Washington |
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10/06/2019
- Beijing has to reconcile the competing needs to appear tough to the Chinese public and conciliatory to an international audience
- China feels US has long had the advantage in shaping global opinion but it now needs to make itself heard
China must appear tough for an increasingly nationalistic audience at home and be conciliatory to an international audience wary of China’s assertive foreign and defence policy. Photo: Xinhua
In just the last week, a Chinese official posed a question that would resonate among his fellow cadres: as China rises, why are we not making more friends and why are our voices not heard?
The question has gained weight as the trade war with the United States has deepened, and Chinese officials have scrambled to win the battle of public opinion at home and abroad.
It also came to the fore at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on the weekend, when Chinese officials were faced with balancing the need to appear tough for an increasingly nationalistic audience at home and being conciliatory to an international audience wary of China’s assertive foreign and defence policy.
Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo, a senior fellow at the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Sciences and a public diplomacy veteran for the military, said the expectations clashed in Singapore.
“Currently there are two parallel worlds in the public opinion landscape, one domestic and another international, and the two of them are basically split and in two extremes,” Zhao said.
“[The Shangri-La Dialogue] is a place where the two worlds clash. As the Chinese delegation [at the forum] we need to show our position, but it is becoming more difficult to balance [the expectations of the two sides].
“If you are tough, the domestic audience will be satisfied, but it won’t bode well with the international audience. But if we appear to be soft, we will be the target of overwhelming criticism at home.”
China asks state media to pick battles carefully with long US trade war looming, sources say
Zhao said this was an unprecedented challenge for Chinese cadres, who must also satisfy the expectations of the leadership.
“Our task was about diplomacy and making friends. But [with the tough position] you may not be able to make friends, and might even exacerbate the tension,” he said.
The pressure was immense when Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe took to the stage on Sunday in a rare appearance at the forum. Concerned about how Wei’s performance would be received at home, Beijing ordered Chinese media to minimise their coverage of acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan’s address in case it made China appear weak, according to a source familiar with the arrangements for Chinese media.
In his speech, Wei struck a defiant tone, vowing that the PLA would “fight at all costs” for “reunification” with Taiwan and that China was ready to fight the US to the end on the trade front.
Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe makes a rare appearance at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. Photo: Reuters
Major General Jin Yinan, from the PLA’s National Defence University, a member of the Chinese delegation to the Singapore summit, said Wei’s speech defied expectations that China would show restraint with the US, and demonstrated China’s confidence on the world stage.
The public response at home was immediate and positive. Tens of thousands of Chinese internet users flooded social media platforms such as the Twitter-like Weibo service to express their approval for Wei’s hard line.
“This is the attitude that the Chinese military should show to the world,” one commenter said.
“I am proud of my country for being so strong and powerful,” another said.
Over the past year, Beijing’s propaganda apparatus has tightly controlled the domestic media narrative on the trade war, barring independent reporting on the tensions. But since the breakdown of trade talks in early May, the authorities have gone one step further by escalating nationalistic rhetoric in newspapers and on television.
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China has also tried to make its case to the world with an official statement. On the same day that Wei addressed the gathering in Singapore, the State Council, China’s cabinet, put China’s side of the dispute in a white paper, saying the US should bear responsibility for the breakdown of the trade talks.
A Chinese delegate at the forum said Beijing felt Washington had long had the advantage in shaping global opinion and there was an urgent need for China to make itself heard.
“We should get more used to voicing our position through Western platforms. The US has been criticising us on many issues. But why should the Americans dominate all the platforms and have the final say over everything?” the delegate said.
Before Wei’s appearance at the dialogue, China had not sent such a high-ranking official for eight years. It had long sought to play down the importance of the forum, seeing it as a platform wielded by the US and its Western allies to attack China.
In 2002, China set up the Beijing Xiangshan Forum to rival the Singapore gathering and amplify its voice on security issues.
But Chinese officials are well aware that Xiangshan does not have the same impact and profile as the Shangri-La Dialogue, according to Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“[At the same time, the long absence of high-level Chinese representation to the Shangri-La Dialogue also] raises the question of whether it might be sustainable in the long run for [the dialogue] if they continue to not have such ministerial representation [from China],” Koh said.
Zhao, who is also the director of the Xiangshan forum’s secretariat office, agreed that China lagged the US in promoting the image of the military and in winning public opinion.
“China has not fought a war in 30 years. We have only built some islands in the South China Sea and yet have received so much criticism from the international media. The US has engaged in many wars but they are seldom criticised. This reflects that China is in a disadvantaged position in international discourse,” he said.
Expectations collided at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this month. Photo: AFP
In a rare conciliatory gesture – and just days before the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square – Wei took questions from a room of international delegates on a range of sensitive issues, including the crackdown and China’s mass internment camps in Xinjiang. While he largely toed the official line in his reply, his presence at the forum and willingness to address the questions raised hopes that China would become a more responsible partner in global affairs despite its continuing disputes with the US.
Andrea Thompson, US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said Wei’s attendance at the Singapore gathering was a “positive sign” and she hoped that China would be more open and transparent in addressing issues such as arms control and cybersecurity.
“I appreciate that he is here. I think it’s important to have a dialogue … There will be areas where we will agree, and some areas where we disagree, but you still have to have dialogue,” Thompson said.
Source: SCMP
Posted in Academy of Military Sciences, Andrea Thompson, Beijing, Beijing Xiangshan Forum, China alert, Chinese Defence Minister, General Wei Fenghe, make itself heard, National Defence University, Patrick Shanahan, People’s Liberation Army, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Shangri-La Dialogue, Singapore, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, struggles, Uncategorized, US defence secretary, US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Washington, win friends, Xiangshan forum, Yinan |
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