Tag Archives: PLA

China’s push for naval parity with US was lost as newest nuclear submarine sank in its dock

Two Chinese Nuclear submarines

Important Takeaways:

  • China’s efforts to achieve maritime military parity with the US have suffered a serious blow after its newest state-of-the-art nuclear submarine sank in a dock, American officials have confirmed.
  • The incident happened last May or June at the Wuchang shipyard near Wuhan and came to light, thanks to satellite imagery, despite efforts by the country’s communist authorities to stage a cover-up.
  • It is not known if there were any casualties – or if the submarine had any nuclear fuel onboard at the time
  • American officials say they have no indication that Chinese authorities have checked the water or nearby environment for radiation.
  • There has been no acknowledgment of the incident from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
  • “Can you imagine a US nuclear submarine sinking in San Diego and the government hushes it up and doesn’t tell anybody about it? I mean, holy cow!” Shugart said.
  • A Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington said they had no information to provide. “We are not familiar with the situation you mentioned and currently have no information to provide”

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The PLA step up air space incursion adding pressure on Taiwan’s newly elected President

Chinese-aircraft-in-Taiwan-space

Important Takeaways:

  • China Sends Most Warplanes Ever Across Key Line With Taiwan
  • Some 56 aircraft crossed the so-called median line as of early Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei said on the X social media site. Taiwanese aircraft, naval vessels and missile systems were used “in response” to the flights by the People’s Liberation Army, the military added, without providing details on what that entailed.
  • The latest warplane flights add to the pressure campaign China has rolled out since the election victory in January of Lai, who Beijing accuses of pursuing independence. That drive has included holding major military drills just after he took office in May, peeling off one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies and expanding a law targeting what it sees as “separatists.”
  • The PLA has stepped up incursions across the demarcation in recent years, effectively shrinking the buffer zone between the two sides and slashing the amount of time that Taiwan’s smaller military has to react to any attack from China.
  • China has vowed to bring the archipelago of 23 million people under its control someday, by force if necessary.
  • President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US would come to Taiwan’s aid in the event of a Chinese invasion. The US has also stepped up military aid to the archipelago that produces the bulk of the world’s advanced semiconductors in recent years in the hopes of deterring any attack.

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Chinese nationals are fastest-growing demographic of illegal border crossers with 300 encounters yesterday alone

Chinese-migrant-chart

Important Takeaways:

  • INVASION: 300 Chinese Entered America Illegally YESTERDAY Alone, With 20K Since October
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is seeing an alarming increase in Chinese nationals attempting to cross the southern border. Last year, illegal immigrants from China were the fastest-growing demographic of border crossers at 37,000 encounters. Since the start of the 2024 fiscal year in October, CBP says they’ve already encountered 20,000 Chinese nationals — that number appears on pace to shatter last year’s record.
  • Nearly 300 illegal immigrants from China crossed into the United States yesterday, with the daily average sitting at 150 illegal immigrants per day having originated from the Asian communist nation. The increase in Chinese nationals crossing the border is raising national security concerns, especially after CBP reduced the number of questions processors are required to ask Chinese asylum seekers from 40 to just five last April
  • “Our Committee has been informed that some of these Chinese nationals are affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), adding: “[A]nd those are just the ones we’ve been able to vet. This is simply unsustainable, and the national security risks are massive.”

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American corporations selling of Americans Genetic Data to China should have steep consequences

BGI-RD-China

Important Takeaways:

  • U.S. members of Congress introduced a proposed law called the BIOSECURE Act that would ban the use of tax dollars for the utilization of genetics companies from China that collaborate with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
  • This is a good bill, but one must ask: How in the world have we allowed such a practice to continue to this day? Why does the executive branch of the U.S. government need a law for such a common-sense rule that it could have made policy long ago?
  • We should have had an all-of-government, if not all-of-society, effort since at least the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 to end reliance on China, especially companies linked to its military. We should most especially have limited the release of genetic data to Beijing.
  • As noted in the House announcement, but not in most of the bill’s mainstream media coverage, the proposed law is in part meant to stop the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from using U.S. genetic data for malign purposes, including genetic targeting of U.S. citizens with bioweapons.
  • “Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) collects genetic data of Americans [and] uses it for research with the Chinese military,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) in the bill’s announcement. Mr. Gallagher chairs the House Select Committee on the CCP. He introduced the House version of the bill, along with his Democratic co-chair.
  • “The CCP will undoubtedly use the genetic data collected by BGI to further its malign aggression, potentially even to develop a bioweapon used to target the American people,” Mr. Gallagher noted.

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PLA ramping up activity near Taiwan

Map-PLA-near-Taiwan

Important Takeaways:

  • Dozens of Chinese planes and ships around Taiwan, ministry reports
  • Dozens of Chinese warplanes and 10 navy ships were detected around Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, after warning that Beijing was conducting air and sea drills in the western Pacific.
  • Ten Chinese naval vessels and 68 aircraft were detected near the nation between 6am on Wednesday and 6am yesterday, the ministry said in a statement.
  • Forty of the aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered the southwest or southeast air defense identification zone (ADIZ), it said.
  • The Shandong, one of two operational aircraft carriers in the Chinese fleet, was detected on Monday about 110km southeast of Taiwan heading into the Pacific, the ministry said.
  • The Japanese Ministry of Defense also said on Wednesday that its navy had detected six ships — including frigates, destroyers, one fast combat support ship and the Shandong — sailing in waters about 650km south of Miyakojima Island.
  • It also confirmed that jets and helicopters had been detected taking off and landing on the Shandong.
  • Taipei this week said that China was stepping up “gray zone” activities around Taiwan, accusing Beijing of seeking to raise regional tensions and pressure the territory while avoiding all-out conflict.

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China prepares for Cyberwarfare, AI weapons systems for warfighting and overthrowing governments

Important Takeaways:

  • The PLA, in recent months, has disclosed work on ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence systems in military writings, according to a report by a U.S. Air Force think tank highlighting China’s push to make its forces the first in the world to bring AI-powered systems to the battlefield.
  • The Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute assessed in the report that the PLA is building AI weapons-related systems in seven main areas, including human-machine ties, rapid decision-making, network warfare, cognitive warfare, wartime logistics, space operations, and military training.
  • The report, published under the title “China’s ChatGPT War,” was made public Monday by the institute, part of the Air University located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
  • The Biden administration recently restricted exports of advanced computer chips to China over concerns that the chips will assist China’s drive for AI-powered weapons.
  • Cyberwarfare is another area of focus for China.
  • According to the China Aerospace Studies Institute report, PLA authors wrote recently that AI will write code and carry out offensive cyberattacks.
  • “Generative AI will be used by hackers to design, write and execute malicious code, build bots and websites to trick users into sharing their information and launch highly targeted social engineering scams and phishing campaigns,” the report said.
  • The technology also aims to produce advanced “polymorphic” malware that can rapidly evade network security software, the report said.
  • For PLA cognitive warfare, it said, PLA researchers believe “ChatGPT will raise the intensity of cognitive warfare to a whole new level.”

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Pentagon warns that the PLA will establish more naval ports in the coming years seeing its increase in number of ships

Important Takeaways:

  • Port call: China’s Navy scouting range of sites for future overseas bases
  • China has fully militarized at least three islands it built in the disputed South China Sea and is now looking around the world to establish a network of naval bases to bolster its ability to project power and match the global reach of the U.S. Navy.
  • Beijing’s first overseas naval base, situated in the small country of Djibouti on the Horn of Africa and operational since 2017, has given it a foothold in the Arabian Sea. National security experts are speculating about the next outpost.
  • The most likely possibilities are Sri Lanka, where Beijing has made its largest overseas commercial port investment in the past decade, and Equatorial Guinea, which is strategically located on West Africa’s Atlantic coast and could put Chinese naval assets squarely in America’s backyard.
  • John C. Aquilino, commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said in March 2022
    • “I think over the past 20 years we’ve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC,” Adm. Aquilino said at the time, using China’s formal name. “They have advanced all their capabilities, and that buildup of weaponization is destabilizing to the region.”

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House Chairman warns large increase in Chinese with ‘known ties to PLA’ exploiting our borders

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • China exploiting border chaos to sneak military operatives into U.S.: House chairman
  • Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, said among the large number of Chinese migrants who have rushed the border since President Biden took office are people with “known ties to the PLA” — the People’s Liberation Army.
  • He said he was told of the tactic by a Border Patrol sector chief, and he said he expects a classified briefing on the subject soon.
  • “We have no idea who these people are, and it’s very likely, using Russia’s template of sending military personnel into Ukraine, China is doing the same into the United States,” Mr. Green said.
  • The number of Chinese illegal immigrants has exploded this year, with Border Patrol agents catching nearly 8,000 since Jan. 1. That includes 3,195 in April alone, which is a 20-fold increase over last April, when agents nabbed just 146 Chinese illegal immigrants.
  • Chinese migrants have always trickled in through the border in California, usually smuggled in through official border crossings while concealed inside vehicles.
  • But they’re now coming in far greater numbers across between the official crossings, and they’re hitting the southern tip of Texas particularly hard. The Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector detained 2,600 of them in April, the vast majority coming in as single adults.

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Didn’t take long: PLA sends 27 fighter jets into Taiwan’s Air space after Pelosi leaves

Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Important Takeaways:

  • 27 Chinese warplanes enter Taiwan’s air defense as Taipei says it ‘won’t shy away from a fight’: President Xi sends forces to surround island ‘as part of his plan to secure his unification legacy’
  • 27 Chinese fighter jets, including 16 Russian-made Su-30s, have flown into Taiwan’s air defense zone today
  • Comes amid huge air-and-sea war games that Beijing has declared in response to Pelosi visiting the island
  • Taiwan’s generals have defied Beijing’s threats, saying they will ‘not shy away from a fight’ with China
  • Expert told MailOnline that Xi’s fury comes ahead of autumn’s Party Congress where he will establish autocracy, with Taiwan ‘reunification’ his hoped-for legacy
  • A leading Russian senator has vowed that Vladimir Putin will come to China’s aid if it goes to war over Taiwan.

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China says troops will defend Hong Kong’s prosperity ahead of planned pro-democracy march

Military vehicles of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) pass Huanggang Port for a routine troop rotation in Hong Kong, August 29, 2019. Xinhua via REUTERS

By Donny Kwok and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China brought fresh troops into Hong Kong on Thursday in what it described as a routine rotation of the garrison, days before protesters planned to hold a march calling for full democracy for the Chinese-ruled city after three months of demonstrations.

Chinese state media stressed the troop movement was routine and Asian and Western diplomats watching the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in the former British colony had been expecting it.

Even so, the timing of the redeployment is likely to hit nerves in Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region and has been hit by a wave of sometimes violent protests since June.

State news agency Xinhua said the military had completed a p rotation of air, land and maritime forces. It released pictures and footage of armored personnel carriers moving in convoy in Hong Kong before dawn, their lights flashing.

The PLA will make even greater contributions to maintaining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability, Xinhua cited its garrison in Hong Kong as saying.

Analysts estimate the garrison numbers between 8,000 and 10,000 troops split between bases in southern China and a network of former British army barracks in Hong Kong.

Trucks full of PLA soldiers rolled into Hong Kong within hours of the 1997 handover which ended British rule, raising questions about their role. They stage frequent drills but have seldom since been seen outside their bases.

Reuters witnesses on Thursday saw significantly more activity in and around the PLA’s Shek Kong military base in the rural New Territories than has been apparent in recent months.

About a dozen military jeeps inside the base could be seen just inside the base from a nearby public road, with several camouflaged soldiers milling about.

Four black civilian SUV’s drove between military buildings on a nearby hill road. Several larger green army trucks could be seen outside some buildings, flanked by guards.

Unrest in Hong Kong escalated in mid-June over a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts.

It has since evolved into calls for greater democracy under the “one country, two systems” formula, which guarantees freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent judiciary.

The protests have posed the biggest challenge for Communist Party rulers in Beijing since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

China has denounced the protests and accused the United States and Britain of interfering in its affairs in Hong Kong. It has sent clear warnings that forceful intervention is possible.

Hundreds of People’s Armed Police this month conducted exercises at a sports stadium in Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong a day after the U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about their movements.

Troops are seen at the Shek Kong military base of People's Liberation Army (PLA) in New Territories, Hong Kong, China August 29, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

Troops are seen at the Shek Kong military base of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in New Territories, Hong Kong, China August 29, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

Chinese defense ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said the timing of the troop rotation was similar to that of previous years to “meet the demands of defending Hong Kong”.

The protests have rattled Hong Kong’s business community, with Cathay Pacific Airways <0293.HK> the biggest corporate casualty after Beijing demanded it suspend staff involved in, or who support, the demonstrations.

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said Hong Kong faced an unprecedented test of the “one country, two systems” formula it has been ruled under since 1997.

“AmCham believes that Hong Kong still stands apart from its rivals in the region due to a combination of competitive advantages, including the rule of law, individual freedoms and its deep pool of talent,” it said in a statement.

“While these remain intact for now, they can no longer be taken for granted.”

‘CONFIDENT AND DETERMINED’

Defense Ministry spokesman Ren said the garrison troops would fulfill their obligation of defending Hong Kong according to the law and would follow the orders of the Communist Party.

They had the confidence, determination and capability to “protect and defend Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability,” he told a briefing in Beijing.

He did not answer a question on whether troop levels in Hong Kong had risen with the new deployment.

Ren said that the People’s Armed Police drills in Shenzhen were routine and that they conduct similar exercises every year.

The Civil Human Rights Front, the organizer of previous mass protests in Hong Kong, plans a rally from Hong Kong’s Central business district to Beijing’s main representative Liaison Office in the city on Saturday.

The group’s leader, Jimmy Sham, was attacked by two men armed with a knife and a baseball bat on Thursday, it said on its Facebook page. He was not hurt but a friend who tried to protect him suffered injuries to his arm.

Protesters targeted the Liaison Office, a symbol of Beijing’s rule, in July, daubing anti-China slogans on its walls and signs.

Police refused permission for the march on Thursday, but the group said it would appeal.

The protest would mark five years since Beijing ruled out universal suffrage for Hong Kong and comes as Hong Kong faces its first recession in a decade, with all its pillars of growth under stress.

Beijing is eager to quell the unrest before the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, when Xi will oversee a military parade in Beijing.

(Reporting by Donny Kwok, Felix Tam, Greg Torode, Farah Master, Twinnie Siu, James Pomfret and Anne Marie Roantree in HONG KONG and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Nick Macfie, Editing by Robert Birsel and Angus MacSwan)