carapace – Not your father's america

Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2011, Office of the Secretary of Defense – A Report to Congress Pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 http://www.defense.gov/pubs/pdfs/2011_CMPR_Final.pdf

"China’s rise as a major international actor is likely to stand out as a defining feature of the strategic landscape of the early 21st century. Sustained economic development has raised the standard of living for China’s citizens and elevated China’s international profile. This development, coupled with an expanding science and technology base, has also facilitated a comprehensive and ongoing military modernization program. The United States welcomes a strong, prosperous, and successful China that reinforces international rules and norms and enhances security and peace both regionally and globally…Over the past decade, China’s military has benefitted from robust investment in modern hardware and technology. Many modern systems have reached maturity and others will become operational in the next few years. Following this period of ambitious acquisition, the decade from 2011 through 2020 will prove critical to the PLA as it attempts to integrate many new and complex platforms, and to adopt modern operational concepts, including joint operations and network-centric warfare."

Possible Use of Electromagnetic and Microwave Radiation against Taiwan or U.S. Fleet Raised

Declassified Documents Are Part of Major New Collection on a Half Century of U.S. Spying on China

Other Highlights of the Collection Include: References to Cyber-Warfare Dangers of Building Nuclear Plants in Japan (Fukushima Plant an Example)

http://www.nsarchive.org Washington, D.C., July 21, 2011 – In 2005, U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring Chinese research into high-power microwave (HPM) and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) radiation speculated that Beijing might be trying to develop a capability to incapacitate Taiwan electronically without triggering a U.S. nuclear retaliation, according to documents published in a major new National Security Archive collection.

In recent years, China’s development of an assortment of conventional and nuclear weapons has regularly attracted the interest and concern of U.S. policy-makers, intelligence officials, and China watchers. So has Beijing’s interest in less conventional means of conflict, including cyber-warfare — with Chinese hackers recently linked to or suspected in a number of incidents, notably breaking into highly sensitive U.S. government computer systems (see CBSNews.com, for example).

But cyber-warfare is only one of a number of unconventional approaches to warfare that China has investigated. A declassified 2005 report from the U.S. National Ground Intelligence Center describing Chinese experiments using HPM and EMP on animals concluded that the real objective was to determine the effects of that radiation on humans. Analysts did not believe the experiments, which produced "high mortality rates" among the animal subjects, were aimed at developing "antipersonnel" weapons, but they did describe a hypothetical "Taiwan Scenario" in which a lower altitude EMP burst would damage electronics on the island without causing enough human casualties, "either Taiwan[ese] or U.S. military," to trigger "a U.S. nuclear response."

Other recently declassified materials describe similar military concerns. A U.S. defense intelligence document from 2001, for example, details Chinese plans for developing radiofrequency weapons (although it stops short of speculating on their possible purpose). Still others reflect on issues of current interest, for example the risks of constructing nuclear power plants — like the Fukushima facility that exploded after the recent tsunami — at questionable sites in Japan.

These and 2,300 other records are part of a new National Security Archive publication, U.S. Intelligence and China: Collection, Analysis and Covert Action, the latest addition to the "Digital National Security Archive" series published through ProQuest Information and Learning. A sampling of materials in this important new collection appears on the Archive’s Web site today.

Read more about the new collection on the Archive’s web site.

http://www.nsarchive.org

Sun Journal [Maine]

http://www.sunjournal.com/guest-columns/story/1022012

By Froma Harrop, Guest Columnist

April 30, 2011

I found this quote, buried in a news story about rising prices in China:

"I hear that many Chinese exporters are rejecting orders from Walmart and other Western retailers," said Dong Tao, an economist for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. "I’ve been covering the Chinese economy for a long time, and I’ve never heard that before."

Seems that inflation and Beijing’s efforts to raise the country’s pitifully low wages are making Chinese goods too expensive for the likes of Walmart. The giant discount chain is now seeking lower-cost suppliers where workers toil for even less….

Walmart’s famous aversion to sharing its vast revenues with the factory and retail hands who make them possible has not exactly turned the discounter into America’s corporate sweetheart. True, the company has improved store worker compensation in recent years. Also true, it has done great environmental good, reducing the use of plastics and energy….

The chain’s defenders argue that by keeping costs low, Walmart helps American workers stretch their paycheck. I’d argue that without Walmart, American workers would have more of a paycheck to stretch.

A new study at the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY concludes that Walmart could set a minimum wage of $12 an hour for its store workers without greatly hiking prices. Poor and low-income employees, many making less than $9 an hour, would greatly benefit, according to Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education. Meanwhile, the average Walmart shopper (who spends $1,187 per year at the chain) would see the annual Walmart bill rise only $12.49….

"Even as China ascends as a major economic player in the global economy, its position in the international landscape of labor costs has not changed dramatically. As measured in U.S. dollars, Chinese hourly labor compensation costs in manufacturing were roughly 4 percent of those in the United States and about 3 percent of those in the Euro Area in 2008. China’s costs were roughly on par with those of some developing countries like the Philippines, but lagged noticeably behind those of other countries like Mexico and Brazil. Average hourly compensation costs in China were $1.36 in 2008. China’s hourly compensation costs remain far below those of many of its East Asian neighbors like Japan ($27.80) and Taiwan ($8.68), but are roughly on par with those of others like the Philippines ($1.68) These data are from the International Labor Comparisons program. To learn more, see China’s employment and compensation costs in manufacturing through 2008 (PDF) http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2011/03/art4full.pdf in the March 2011 edition of the Monthly Labor Review. China’s published statistics on employment and wages in manufacturing do not meet international standards. Direct comparisons should be made with caution."

With President Obama’s recent trip to Latin America highlighting China’s growing role in the region, the book has gotten a lot of attention.

The Dragon in the Room: China and the Future of Latin American Industrialization by Kevin Gallagher

In the eyes of many, China’s unprecedented economic rise has brought nothing but good news to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Indeed, China’s growing appetite for primary products, and the ability of Latin America to supply that demand, has played a role in restoring growth in Latin America, both in the run-up to the global financial crisis and in its aftermath.

The dragon in the room that few are talking about is the fact that China is simultaneously out-competing Latin American manufacturers in world markets—so much so that it may threaten the ability of the region to generate long-term economic growth. One of the authors’ key claims is that China is rapidly building the technological capabilities necessary for industrial development, whereas Latin American tech innovation and sophistication lags considerably. At a deeper level, the findings in this volume imply that China’s road to globalization, one that emphasizes gradualism and coordinated macro-economic and industrial policies, is far superior to the "Washington Consensus" route taken by most Latin American nations, particularly Mexico.

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy in cooperation with Deutsche Welle released a report on "China in the News: A Comparative Analysis of the China Coverage of BBC World Service, CNN International, and Deutsche Welle".

Authors Philip Seib and Shawn Powers present the results of a comparative analysis of the China coverage of three international broadcasters: BBC World Service, CNN International and Deutsche Welle (DW).

To download the report in its entirely, click here. http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/media/China_in_the_News_Report.pdf