Topic: Chinese Military,Political and Social Superthread

[MarkOttawa]

Start of related earlier AvWeek article:

China’s Growing Ability To Drive Away U.S. Forces

If there is a theme to China’s military developments, it is pushing the adversary back. A vast and growing assembly of sensors and weapons is the modern expression of what the former Soviet Union called a reconnaissance-strike complex. The targets are ships, submarines and bases in the Western Pacific, most obviously the U.S. Navy’s ships, its base on Guam and the U.S. Air Force facilities on that Pacific island. The message: Go away.

The same idea of pushing back appears in the field of air combat, in which the PL-XX missile has such obviously long range that commanders may have to pull vulnerable support aircraft away from the enemy.

The Soviet Union could never focus like this. Warding off the seaward threat from the U.S. was only one major military task for Moscow in the Cold War. For China, intent on having a free hand in dealing with Taiwan, driving U.S. forces from the Western Pacific has become the core of strategy.

Focus brings results. Year after year, China introduces new systems to find, track and attack U.S. targets beyond the first chain of islands to its east; year after year, the deployed numbers rise. The resources China spends facing other directions are modest by comparison. The U.S., like the former Soviet Union, has other priorities; it cannot put the bulk of its military effort into dealing with the one problem of maintaining access to East Asia.

“China is developing a dense, overlapping set of strike capabilities, including anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles, strike aircraft, surface combatants, submarines, aircraft carriers, etc., etc.” says analyst Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation in Washington. The overlapping of capabilities is important: China is generally not relying on any one method to deal with any one kind of target.

- The effort is broad and deep, not based on any one system
- Reconnaissance systems and weapons advance together

The strike capabilities are complemented by an equally dense and overlapping intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance network. Cheng says this could allow China to monitor the air, sea, sub-surface and space domains out to the second island chain: Guam, the Marianas and Australia. The ability to do so within the first island chain—Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia—is already in place.

If all this keeps the U.S. at bay, not only will Taiwan’s freedom be imperiled. Other neighbors of China may have to bend to the will of the nationalist, authoritarian government in Beijing. Excluding the U.S. from the Western Pacific would also prevent it from fulfilling treaty obligations to protect Japan...


http://www.thefifthcolumn.xyz/Forum/viewthread.php?tid=32&page=10#pid12727

Mark
Ottawa

[MarkOttawa]

Parts of our government being more forthright than others:

Agencies cite spy threat to crucial networks

Canadian companies should watch out when they use technology supplied by state-owned companies from countries that want to steal corporate secrets, the country's security agencies have warned them.

The RCMP organized two workshops last March — one in Calgary, the other in Toronto — to raise awareness about threats to critical systems, including espionage and foreign interference, cyberattacks, terrorism and sabotage, newly disclosed documents show.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service materials prepared for the workshops advise that "non-likeminded countries," state-owned enterprises and affiliated companies are engaged in a global pursuit of technology and know-how driven by economic and military ambitions.

The materials were released to The Canadian Press in response to an access-to-information request.

The heavily censored records do not go into detail about specific countries. But the presentation does include a passage from a 2017 U.S. government report saying competitors such as China steal American intellectual property valued at hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

In addition, CSIS openly warned in 2016 that Russia and China were targeting Canada's classified information and advanced technology, as well as government officials and systems.

The presentations to industry dissected techniques used by adversaries and offered advice on protecting confidential information and assets.

The intelligence community's concerns emerge as Canada considers allowing Chinese firm Huawei Technologies to take part in developing a 5G telecommunications network.

Former security officials in Canada and two members of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have warned against such a move, saying the company's ties to Beijing could compromise the security of Canada and its closest allies. Huawei has denied engaging in intelligence work on behalf of any government.

The workshops led by the RCMP's critical infrastructure team highlighted the problem of "supply chain vulnerability" — a back-door tactic to infiltrate systems.

The RCMP did not respond to questions about the sessions. CSIS spokesman John Townsend said the concerns stem from cases where equipment and related computerized control systems and services are manufactured and installed by companies controlled by or affiliated with a foreign government.

"These foreign governments may pursue not only profitable commercial objectives but may also try to advance their own broader and potentially adverse strategic and economic interests," he said.

The tactics could include gaining influence and leverage over the host country, espionage, technology theft and malicious cyberactivities, Townsend added.

The security presentations also warned of "spear-phishing" attempts by hostile forces to gain access to computer systems through emails that fool employees into giving up passwords or other sensitive data.

The agencies encouraged companies working on leading-edge research to take stock of protective measures and develop a corporate security plan to manage risks. For instance, scientists should consult corporate security about precautions when outside delegations visit.

"If you detect suspicious activity, contact authorities," the presentation materials say. "All infrastructure sectors should remain engaged with RCMP and CSIS to share security intelligence."

Patrick Smyth, vice-president of performance at the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, said security is "top of mind" for member companies, which share information and help each other ensure they are prepared for emerging hazards and threats.

Cyberattacks are an evolving threat, but not a new one for pipeline operators, he said in an interview.

"They've been looking at it for a number of years and tracking the evolution around the sophistication of bad actors who might wish to find entry points into individual companies, and take over control of certain elements of the infrastructure and cause damage," he said.

If a state-owned enterprise is looking to acquire an asset, "these companies have programs, checks and balances in place to address that."

Pipeline operators receive intelligence from the RCMP, CSIS, the federal natural-resources and public-safety departments and U.S. agencies, Smyth added. However, he sees a place for the awareness workshops, saying any "additional source of information and intelligence is helpful."
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/agencies-cite-spy-threat-to-crucial-networks/ar-BBQ4F15?li=AA521o

Mark
Ottawa

[MarkOttawa]

Where might China be watching (note Canadian angle near end)?

Stop China’s Infiltration of US Railroads

 America shouldn’t be buying Chinese railcars, ceding control of its rail industry, or injecting spyware-laden rolling stock into its transportation network.

A myriad of problems has led to a “surprising level of foreign dependence on competitor nations,” according to the White House’s long-awaited report on the severe challenges facing our manufacturing and defense industrial base. A look at one field — manufacturing the railroad cars that carry America’s commuters and freight — reveals growing dangers that demand urgent action.

Transportation is among the priority sectors under the Made in China 2025 industrial policy, which aims to help Chinese firms in various sectors reach the highest levels of the global manufacturing chain. In the business of railcars, the banner is being carried by China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, a massive state-owned conglomerate with deep ties to the Communist Party of China.

CRRC has set up two U.S. subsidiaries — CRRC MA in Massachusetts and CRRC Sifang Americas in Chicago — and pursues U.S. contracts with predatory zeal. Since 2014, the company has been awarded four contracts totaling $2.5 billion to build metro cars for the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In each case, CRRC used massive subsidies and other resources from the Chinese government to dramatically underbid its competitors —regularly by 20 percent or more. In one case, the Chinese bid was half as much as another competitor. To have any company consistently come in so low is unheard of.

It is clear that these bids aim not for short-term profit, but medium-term market domination. The pattern was set in Australia, where it took less than a decade for China to gain control of the freight-railcar market. A recently deleted tweet by CRRC boasted that the company controls 83 percent of the global rail market and asked followers, “How long will it take for us conquering [sic] the remaining 17 percent?”

But the increasing presence of made-in-China rolling stock on North American rails means more than the loss of manufacturing jobs. Modern railcars are not just boxes on wheels, but full-fledged parts of the Internet of Things that soak up and transmit information.

The commuter trains manufactured by CRRC will contain Wi-Fi systems, automatic train control, automatic passenger counters, surveillance cameras and internet-of-things technology that will be deeply integrated into the information and communication technology infrastructure of transit authorities, all sole-sourced from a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Chinese surveillance cameras could track the movements and routines of passengers, searching for high-value targets from whose devices intelligence officials can vacuum data from using the train’s Wi-Fi systems. This is not an unrealistic prospect. Already, China is openly developing a system of “algorithmic surveillance” that uses advances in artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology to enable the Chinese Communist Party to monitor the movements and patterns of its own citizens, purportedly to fight crime.

The risks are even sharper in freight cars, whose onboard GPS systems and telematics monitor the contents and health of trains carrying sensitive cargo such as toxic chemicals and military equipment. If China is allowed to insert its railcars into U.S. freight networks, it could give Beijing early and reliable warning about U.S. military mobilization and logistical preparations for conflict. It could also give China a destabilizing economic competitive edge, by detecting, say, shortages of critical material such as oil or chlorine gas based on a change in their movements on freight railroads.

As well, Chinese internet-connected products on U.S. rails could be designed to be more susceptible to cyber-attack or hacking by third parties, as has been done with numerous other products.

While CRRC has yet to produce any freight railcars for the U.S. market, it is clearly on their radar. In 2014, CRRC launched a now-defunct joint venture with an American firm in Wilmington, North Carolina to build freight cars, but shuttered the facility before filling any orders following rounds of layoffs and a federal investigation into Vertex’s ties to the Chinese government. They have also already begun making inroads in Canada with the establishment of a freight railcar assembly facility in Moncton, New Brunswick [emphasis added]. Should CRRC shift its focus to freight in the United States, it is likely that CRRC would underbid any American competitors and quickly start to dominate the country’s freight railcar fleet.

U.S. lawmakers have recognized and taken steps to address similar threats to products such as computer chips, drones, and cellular technology, and indeed, both chambers of Congress recently passed a ban on federal funding from going to CRRC. Yet policymakers may not fully understand the scope or impact of China’s incursion into an increasingly digitized rail network. CRRC is likely to continue to win contracts without federal funding and the security of the trains already being built will continue to remain in question. There may not be a silver bullet to this problem, but it’s time for our nation’s leaders to put an end to CRRC’s infiltration of the U.S. rail manufacturing industry by developing comprehensive solutions to ensure the integrity of our nation’s transportation systems. Nothing stands in their way.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/11/stop-chinas-infiltration-us-railroads/153025/

From 2016 on Canadian angle:

Moncton lands new rail car manufacturing plant
ARS Canada Rolling Stock will build rail cars at old Hump Yard, employ up to 700



News of a major influx of jobs for Moncton spilled out not from a government announcement but an exclusive report by Radio-Canada on Thursday, with an American-based company saying it will begin producing rail cars at the city's Hump Yard.

Radio-Canada reports Miami-based ARS Canada Rolling Stock plans to start production of grain hoppers, box cars and TC-117 rail cars in Moncton, saying it will create 200 jobs in the first phase of production.

TC-117 rail cars will replace the DOT-111s which were involved in the 2013 Lac-Mégantic disaster, and are being phased out of use by Nov. 1 because of regulations imposed by Transport Canada...

The company plans to produce 1,500 rail cars to be used in the Canadian and U.S. markets within the first year of production...

The province has not responded to questions about how much, if any, public money is being given to ARS.

Contreras told CBC details of its agreement with the Gallant government to bring ARS to Moncton will be revealed at an announcement in October [2016]...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-rail-car-train-jobs-1.3784247

Mark
Ottawa

[MarkOttawa]

This has been flying pretty much under, er, the aviation business rada--excerpts, note Canadian angle:

ANALYSIS: How China investment changes fortunes of Western firms

What do a pair of seating manufacturers, four light aircraft manufacturers, an aerostructures specialist, and one of Europe's top maintenance, repair and overhaul houses have in common? They are among around a dozen Western aerospace companies that now effectively have the name of a Chinese owner over the door.

China – the biggest emerging market for commercial aviation products and services – has been busily creating its own indigenous industry over the past 20 years, attracting investment from Airbus, Boeing, Embraer and others. However, at the same time, money has been flowing the other way in arguably even greater amounts, creating a mini Chinese aerospace empire in the USA and Europe.

Earlier this decade, Chinese entities bought US GA brands Cirrus Aviation, Enstrom Helicopter, and Mooney. In the past two years, the focus has switched to Europe, with Austria's Diamond Aircraft, Gardner Aerospace of the UK, and Switzerland's SR Technics all coming under Chinese control, together with UK cabin interiors specialists Acro, AIM Altitude, and Thompson Aero Seating.

The background to each of the acquisitions differs. Most of the Western firms have been family-owned or backed by equity holders keen to exit at a profit. The Chinese investors range from private entrepreneurs to state-backed conglomerates making strategic additions to their portfolios.

Their game plans differ too...

Another Chinese name better known in the aviation world has also been expanding its footprint in the cabin interiors market. Two years after buying Bournemouth-based premium cabin monuments specialist AIM Altitude and Northern Ireland's Thompson Aero Seating, AVIC announced at July's Farnborough air show that it is merging them into a new unit called AVIC Cabin Systems.

The division will also include a Chinese seat-maker and cabin fixtures manufacturer FACC of Austria, which AVIC has owned for almost a decade. According to Richard Bower, chief executive of AIM Altitude, the combined entity will allow the companies to merge their capabilities.

Although each business will remain independent, there will be "some co-ordination" in terms of research and development and customer marketing...

Perhaps the most significant Chinese acquisition of the past 12 months has been the sale of a majority stake in Diamond Aircraft of Austria – a business that includes a sister company in Canada [emphasis added] and the Austro engine manufacturer – to Wanfeng Aviation by founder Christian Dries. Dries described Diamond – a small business that he bought in the early 1990s and turned into one of the world's biggest producers of training aircraft – as "my life’s work".

New chief executive Frank Zhang says Wanfeng did not "buy Diamond simply as an investment opportunity" but because it could develop the company into "the leading brand and producer of fixed-wing light aircraft in the general and business aviation market, but also in the fields of special mission".

Interestingly, Diamond’s strategy under Dries had been for the past few years to move steadily into the higher-margin special missions market, and away from the more price-sensitive flying school sector. Israel's Aeronautics, for instance, uses Diamond's DA42 platform as the platform for its Dominator unmanned surveillance air vehicle. At the Farnborough air show, Diamond debuted the latest version of its aerobatic trainer, the Dart 550.

Having a Chinese company owning a manufacturer of aircraft marketed to military customers has not met with any objections from the Austrian or Canadian governments, insists Wanfeng [emphasis added]. "Since the takeover, we have not experienced one single situation reflecting to the new ownership and can say that there is no impact on any business of Diamond," it says. All research and development activities will remain in Austria.

US AMBITIONS...
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-how-china-investment-changes-fortunes-of-w-452097/

Plane made by Diamond Aircraft of London, Ont.:


https://www.diamondaircraft.com/aircraft/special-mission-aircraft/

Mark
Ottawa

[dapaterson]

Canada has arrested the CFO of Huawei, who is the daughter of the founder.  She is facing extradition to the US.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4733360/huawei-cfo-wanzhou-meng-arrest-extradition/?utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=%40globalbc

Wanzhou Meng, who also goes by Sabrina Meng, was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday, Dec. 1, Department of Justice Canada spokesperson Ian McLeod told Global News.

He said Meng faces extradition to the U.S., and that a bail hearing has been set for Friday.


“As there is a publication ban in effect, we cannot provide any further detail at this time,” McLeod said. He added that the publication ban was sought by Meng.

Huawei has not responded to Global News’ request for comment.

EDIT to add: The Guardian reports the arrest is associated with Huawei's alleged violation of US export restrictions to Iran. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/05/meng-wanzhou-huawei-cfo-arrested-vancouver

[MarkOttawa]

CSIS director goes very public on current threats, without naming China or Huawei (note naive universities):

CSIS director warns of state-sponsored espionage threat to 5G networks

Canada’s top spy used his first public speech to warn of increasing state-sponsored espionage through technology such as next-generation 5G mobile networks.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault’s comments come as three of the country’s Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies have barred wireless carriers from installing equipment made by China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. in the 5G infrastructure they are building to provide an even-more-connected network for smartphone users.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand have taken steps to block the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks. Neither Canada nor Britain has done so.

On Monday, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, publicly raised security concerns about Huawei telecommunications being involved in his country’s communications infrastructure.

Both Canada and Britain are conducting security reviews of the Chinese company’s 5G technology.

Speaking Tuesday in Toronto at the Economic Club of Canada, CSIS’s Mr. Vigneault told a business audience that hostile states are targeting large companies and universities to obtain new technologies. He refrained from naming any particular country, company or university.

“Many of these advanced technologies are dual-use in nature in that they could advance a country’s economic, security and military interests,” he told an audience of about 100 people.

Mr. Vigneault said there are five potential growth areas in Canada that are being specifically threatened, including 5G mobile technology where Huawei has been making inroads.

“CSIS has seen a trend of state-sponsored espionage in fields that are crucial to Canada’s ability to build and sustain a prosperous, knowledge-based economy,” he said. “I’m talking about areas such as AI [artificial intelligence], quantum technology, 5G, biopharma and clean tech. In other words, the foundation of Canada’s future growth.”

Mr. Vigneault said large corporations typically hold the most valuable information but they try to put in state-of-the-art cyberdefences, while Canadian universities are largely unaware how they are vulnerable to economic espionage and the threat of infiltration by unnamed state actors who would use their expertise to gain an edge in military technologies. Huawei has developed research and development partnerships with many of Canada’s leading academic institutions [emphasis added]...

Canada and Britain have so far resisted the U.S. lobbying campaign and risk facing restrictions on what sensitive intelligence from allies is shared with them.

Speaking Monday in Scotland, MI6′s Alex Younger said Britain has to make a decision about Huawei after the United States, Australia and New Zealand acted against the Shenzhen-based company.

“We need to decide the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies and these platforms in an environment where some of our allies have taken very definite positions,” Mr. Younger told students at the University of St. Andrews...

Chinese law requires companies in China to “support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work” as requested by Beijing. Huawei Canada vice-president Scott Bradley has told The Globe and Mail that the company is not a national security threat and its “highest priority is – and always has been – the security and privacy of networks that we help to equip here in Canada.”

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told The Globe on Tuesday that officials are weighing “very carefully” the security challenges of safeguarding Canada’s telecommunications network from any potential threat from Huawei’s 5G technology...

A ban would come as a blow to Canada’s biggest telecom companies, including BCE Inc. and Telus, which have given Huawei an important role in their planned 5G networks. BCE and Telus have declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that the United States has asked telecom executives in allied countries to forgo Huawei 5G equipment...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canadas-spy-chief-warns-about-state-sponsored-espionage-through/

Mark
Ottawa

[MarkOttawa]

Getting ready for Weltmacht:

China says 8,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping standby force is ready

AP

BEIJING – China said Thursday it has assembled a standby force of thousands of United Nations peacekeepers, furthering its leading role in the global body’s efforts to tamp down conflicts worldwide.

Defense Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang told reporters at a monthly briefing that the 8,000-member force had passed an assessment last month approved by U.N. Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix. That fulfills a pledge made at the U.N. three years ago by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China provides the most peacekeepers of any permanent U.N. Security Council member and is the second-largest contributor to the operations’ multibillion-dollar budget, at slightly over 10 percent. The United States is the largest contributor to peacekeeping, but deploys only 50 officers to U.N. missions.

China has also trained more than 1,500 peacekeepers from more than a dozen countries, Ren said.

“The Chinese military is fulfilling its responsibility to safeguard world peace and building a community of shared future for mankind with concrete actions,” Ren said. China was ready to both increase the number of peacekeepers it contributes as well as their particular skill sets, Ren said...


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/30/asia-pacific/china-says-8000-strong-u-n-peacekeeping-standby-force-ready/#.XAmR1-J7mM9

Mark
Ottawa

[Retired AF Guy]

From Politico, but originally posted in the South China Morning Post. Looks like Canada could be targeted by China because of he Wanzhou arrest.

Beijing threatens Canada with ‘grave consequences for hurting feelings of Chinese people’

By ZHOU XIN | SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST and KEEGAN ELMER | SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

12/09/2018 11:24 AM EST

This story is being published for POLITICO as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on Dec. 9, 2018.

China has ratcheted up the pressure on Canada to release the detained executive of Huawei Technologies over the weekend by threatening “grave consequences” and accusing Canada of “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people,” escalating the case into one of the worst diplomatic rows between Beijing and Ottawa.

Chinese foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng on Saturday summoned Canadian ambassador John McCallum to lodge a “strong protest” against the arrest of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver and urged Ottawa to release Meng immediately, according to a brief foreign ministry statement.

Meng, the chief financial officer at Huawei and a daughter of the Chinese telecom giant’s founder, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 and faces extradition to the United States, which alleges that she covered up her company’s links to a firm that tried to sell equipment to Iran in defiance of sanctions.

The arrest of Meng in Canada, which took place on the same night that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump dined together in Buenos Aires, has infuriated Beijing.

The official Xinhua news agency published an editorial on Sunday morning condemning the arrest as an “extremely nasty” act that had caused “serious damage to Sino-Canada relations,”

“According to the words of the Canadian leader, he had known of the action in advance,” Xinhua said, referring to the fact that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — whom it did not did name directly — had a few days’ notice of the arrest.

“But he didn’t notify the Chinese side. Instead, he let this kind of nasty thing to happen and assisted the US side’s unilateral hegemonic behavior — this has hurt the feeling of Chinese people,” Xinhua added.

The last time that Beijing accused Canada of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people was more than a decade earlier in 2007, when then-prime minister Stephen Harper hosted the Dalai Lama.

People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, published a similarly strongly worded statement, condemning Canada for arresting Meng and threatening to take action against Ottawa if Meng is not released.

“The Canadian side must realize clearly that there’s no vagueness between justice and arbitrariness,” the People’s Daily editorial reads.

“The Canadian side must correct its wrongs and immediately stop its infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese citizen to give the Chinese people a right answer so that it can avoid paying a dear price.”

The joint condemnation by China’s foreign ministry, Xinhua and the People’s Daily against Ottawa is an unusual step, reflecting how seriously Beijing is taking the case and its determination to set Meng free.

While China did not specify what action it would take to inflict pains on Canada, the harsh wording suggests that it has plans to retaliate.

These could range from the freezing of diplomatic exchanges to the suspension of trade and would be likely to be set in motion if Meng is extradited to the U.S.

David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, told Reuters on Friday that there will probably be “a deep freeze with the Chinese in high-level visits and exchanges.”

“The ability to talk about free trade will be put in the ice box for a while. But we’re going to have to live with that. That’s the price of dealing with a country like China,” Mulroney was quoted as saying.

Shi Yinhong, director of Renmin University’s Center for American Studies and an adviser to the State Council, said that the Meng incident put China in a bind between the need to show it can protect its business people abroad without spooking other advanced industrial nations with a strong response against Canada.

“China is concerned that in the future more of its important people abroad will be seen as a threat, and that their safety will become an issue.”
Media wait outside of the British Columbia Supreme Court to cover the trial of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou.

“On the other hand, especially in the context of the comprehensive tension between Beijing and Washington, China has an interest to maintain and improve relations with other advanced industrial countries.

“If China takes a very strong revenge against Canada, it will hurt these relations. This is a dilemma, and it is difficult to predict what will happen.”

Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, said Saturday there is “nothing to add beyond what the minister said yesterday”.

Freeland told reporters on Friday that the relationship with China was important and valued, and Canada’s ambassador in Beijing has assured the Chinese that consular access will be provided to Meng.

A court hearing over whether Meng should be bailed will continue on Monday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Article Link

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Now that's a serious attack on Canada.

With the Liberal's "social justice" approach to everything, what could possibly be more devastating than being accused of hurting someone's feelings.


 

[Cloud Cover]

Well, they’ve taken into custody one of Trudeau’s former advisors.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-canadian-diplomat-arrested-in-china-reports-1.4213122

They do not understand that at this point our courts and prosecutors are running with this, not the government.

[Retired AF Guy]

Well that didn't take long. China makes good on its threat.

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig detained in China after arrest of Huawei CFO Sabrina Meng Wanzhou in Canada


Move comes after police in Canada arrested the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies on December 1 at the request of US authorities

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 11 December, 2018, 9:52pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 11 December, 2018, 11:46pm

A former Canadian diplomat has been detained in China while a Canadian court weighs whether to grant bail to a top Chinese technology executive who is being held in Vancouver pending a US extradition request.

The International Crisis Group confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that it was “aware of reports that its North East Asia Senior Adviser, Michael Kovrig, has been detained in China”.

“We are doing everything possible to secure additional information on Michael’s whereabouts as well as his prompt and safe release,” the statement said.

The release did not indicate the reasons for Kovrig’s detention.

The news came as a court in Vancouver is set to decide whether to grant bail for Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China’s telecommunications giant, Huawei Technologies.

Meng was arrested in Vancouver on December at the US government’s request, which accused Meng of violating US sanctions against Iran.

The arrest had angered Beijing. Over the weekend, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned Canadian Ambassador John McCallum on Saturday night to lodge a “strong protest” and warned Ottawa of “grave consequences” from Meng’s arrest.
Canada did not inform us of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou’s arrest until asked, China says

Kovrig has been a full-time expert for the ICG since February 2017. He served as senior adviser for North East Asia, conducting research and providing analysis on foreign affairs and global security issues in North East Asia, particularly on China, Japan and the Korean peninsula.

More to come …

Article Link

[garb811]

Well, they’ve taken into custody one of Trudeau’s former advisors.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-canadian-diplomat-arrested-in-china-reports-1.4213122

They do not understand that at this point our courts and prosecutors are running with this, not the government.

Not to be pedantic but calling him "one of Trudeau's former advisers" might be a bit of a stretch. Looks like he was posted to Hong Kong with GAC in 2016 and was simply was one of the many who would have worked to coordinate and support the visit and he was just doing some resume inflation on LinkedIn...

[MarkOttawa]

Vs. Japan in East China Sea--from RAND, US implications too:

China's Military Activities in the East China Sea
Implications for Japan's Air Self-Defense Force

A long-standing rivalry between China and Japan has intensified in recent years, owing in part to growing parity between the two Asian great powers. Although the competition involves many issues and spans political, economic, and security domains, the dispute over the Senkaku Islands remains a focal point. The authors examine how China has stepped up its surface and air activities near Japan, in particular near the Senkaku Islands. They survey the patterns in Chinese vessel and air activity and consider Japan's responses to date. The authors conclude that resource constraints and limited inventories of fighter aircraft pose formidable obstacles to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's ability to match Chinese air activity. Given China's quantitative advantage in fighter aircraft, Japan's current approach may not be sustainable. The authors offer recommendations for the United States and Japan to manage emerging challenges.

Key Findings

China and Japan have experienced a dramatic increase in nonlethal encounters between military aircraft near Japan

    Chinese military aircraft have flown with increasing frequency near the Senkaku Islands and the Miyako Strait, which Chinese strategists regard as a critical passageway through the first island chain.
    The higher rate of activity has spurred Japan to adjust deployments and increase its acquisitions to keep pace with the growing Chinese presence and defend what Japan views as its airspace.

Military improvements are Japan's most significant effort to push back on China's increased air activities

    The Japanese government has prioritized a defense posture more focused on the region and the procurement of assets meant to strengthen the capabilities of the Japanese Self-Defense Force in island defense.
    It has also increased the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) budget and established a JCG patrol unit tasked specifically with patrolling the Senkaku Islands.

The stress of constantly responding to the Chinese air activities has added pressure to an already overstretched Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF)

    The increased operational tempo exacerbates maintenance issues, as the frequency with which aircraft require inspections and maintenance is increasing.
    Although the real-world experience that JASDF pilots are gaining is useful, the increased incursions into Japanese airspace are also negatively impacting pilot training, as pilots are unable to devote this time to the study of other missions.

Recommendations

    U.S. and Japanese officials should exchange views on ways that Japan could respond quickly and effectively to any surge scenarios involving sudden, large numbers of Chinese military aircraft flight operations near Japan.
    The allies should include the issue of Japanese reprioritization of assets to the southwestern region in their discussions of U.S. force realignment.
    U.S. officials can share experiences of how scrambling protocols evolved during the Cold War to meet the changing situation.
    The United States should work with Japan to train in how to rely on existing and planned ground-based air defenses as a suitable and appropriate counter to some Chinese air incursions.
    Japan might also want to consider cross-domain and bilateral responses with other nations in its efforts to counter Chinese intransigence.

Table of Contents
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https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2574.html

Mark
Ottawa

[MarkOttawa]

Terry Glavin hammers China and Trump on Meng Wanzhou/Huawei--and warns Canada to wake up:

Glavin: Squeezed by China and Trump, Canada must rewrite foreign policy – fast

The events of the past few days should serve as a bracing warning to our government to overhaul its operating manual with China.

Donald Trump is not what you would call a paragon of circumspection or tact at the best of times, so it should perhaps come as no surprise, but the American president has now poured buckets of gasoline on what was already a geopolitical bonfire in the case of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei chief financial officer detained in Vancouver earlier this month at the request of the U.S. Justice Department.

It’s bad enough that Beijing’s macabre propaganda machinery has been churning out the most bloodcurdling threats of punishment and consequence-suffering that Canadians should be expected to endure for our impertinence in merely acting in accordance with the law and abiding by a U.S. extradition request to detain Meng on charges of fraud and evading sanctions in laundering money out of Iran by deception, via Skycomm, a Huawei proxy corporation.

Quite apart from the casual contempt for due process, judicial independence and the rule of law implicit in his remarks on Tuesday, Trump gave every impression that Canada merely acted as an American lickspittle when the Mounties apprehended Meng during a Dec. 1 flight stopover at Vancouver International Airport.

“If I think it’s good for the country, if I think it’s good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made – which is a very important thing – what’s good for national security – I would certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary,” Trump said.

With those words, Trump transformed the U.S. Justice Department’s evidence-rich case against Meng and a highly sensitive but otherwise fairly textbook extradition request into something more like a stack of high-stakes poker chips for him to play in his petty trade talks with Beijing...

Sleaziness of this type is America’s business and none of our concern, but Canada did not act on the Justice Department’s extradition request just so that American negotiators could up the ante in quarrels about tariffs, intellectual property and all those other Chinese trade irritants that Trump insists must be removed in order to make America great again.

That’s not what the Canada-U.S. extradition treaty is for.

Never mind that Trump had no idea about the Dec. 1 move to snag Meng. Never mind the State Department’s insistence that there was no connection between the U.S. Justice Department’s extradition request and Trump’s trade feud with Xi. The U.S. Justice Department’s case, which will have to be argued by Canadian government lawyers in extradition proceedings that will play out for months on end, is now tainted.

It was clear from the start that the optics were going to be awkward. Meng was arrested the same day that Trump and Xi were meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina to settle the terms of a 90-day tariff-war truce to allow for trade negotiations.

It was clear, too, that the case in Canada would be burdened by weird legal intricacies. Canada can’t extradite anyone to face charges for a crime that doesn’t have an extremely close parallel in Canadian law. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was already going to have to stickhandle the asymmetry between Canada’s relatively parochial and largely useless sanctions laws and the extraterritorial aspects of American far-reaching sanctions laws.

Now, Wilson-Raybould has been put in the position of having to argue that the grubby ulterior motives Trump has slathered all over Meng’s case are wholly immaterial to the matter.

In the meantime, Beijing is turning the screws on Canada. Michael Kovrig, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group (ICG) and a Canadian diplomat on leave, was nabbed by China’s Ministry of State Security in Beijing on Monday. According to a report in a Beijing newspaper, Kovrig is being investigated by state security officials on charges that he was involved in activities that “harm China’s national security.” China’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that if Kovrig was working for the ICG, he was committing a crime, because the ICG is not registered with the Chinese government.

Kovrig was known to have strong views opposing Huawei’s involvement in the development of fifth-generation internet technologies in western countries. Nobody knew his whereabouts Wednesday. Said Brock University’s Charles Burton, himself a former diplomat in China: “My heart goes out to Mr. Kovrig … I believe that he will be tortured in interrogation.” 

As for Meng, who Chinese authorities say Canada “kidnapped,” she was released on a $10-million bail agreement Tuesday after hearings conducted in open court, where she was ably represented by competent counsel. Her family owns two mansions in Vancouver. Her father, Huawei’s president and founder, is a former People’s Liberation Army member. While she awaits her formal extradition hearings, she will be confined to metro Vancouver. She will wear an electronic ankle bracelet, and will be monitored and escorted around by a blue-chip security company whose services she will pay for herself. All that was missing from her bail arrangement was a wine steward and an aromatherapist. She says she looks forward to spending quality time with relatives and reading novels [emphasis added].

Meng’s case hasn’t just revealed Huawei to be the tool of the Chinese oligarchy and the menace to national security that Justin Trudeau’s government has been warned about, time and time again, by a succession of Canadian and American security and intelligence agencies – warnings the government has ignored.

The whole thing has exposed the charade of Canada’s rotten China policy, with its cavalier inattention to the increasingly savage police-state conduct China exhibits at home and abroad, and its absurd pretensions about strengthening and deepening “win-win” relationships in Canada-China trade and diplomacy.

The events of the past few days cannot be undone. They should serve as a bracing lesson, an opportunity to wholly rewrite Canada’s operating manual with China, a good thing, in the long run.

But for now, Canadians are standing alone at the edge of an abyss, with a Chinese noose around our necks and American shivs sticking out of our backs [emphasis added.]
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-squeezed-by-china-and-trump-canada-needs-to-rewrite-foreign-policy-fast

No minced words from Terrible Terry (disclosure, a good friend)

Mark
Ottawa

[Cloud Cover]

I have every confidence that Justin Trudeau will handle this correctly, and that the situation will balance itself. Wouldn’t it be funny if Kim Jong got involved and had our guy released in return for some below market value oil.

[chanman]

Well, they’ve taken into custody one of Trudeau’s former advisors.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-canadian-diplomat-arrested-in-china-reports-1.4213122

They do not understand that at this point our courts and prosecutors are running with this, not the government.

I'm pretty sure the goal here is not to influence this trial but to intimidate countries that might receive extradition requests from the US in the future into potentially reconsidering their cooperation with Washington.

[Cloud Cover]

Ya.. But then they grabbed a second Canadian person and the state run media said that Canada will pay a heavy price.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-will-pay-chinese-state-media-threaten-repercussions-over-huawei-arrest-1.4216293

They either do not understand that the gov cannot interfere in the court process, or they don't care.

[Dimsum]

They either do not understand that the gov cannot interfere in the court process, or they don't care.

I'll wager option B.

[CBH99]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-us-not-china-is-the-real-threat-to-international-rule-of-law/



Food for thought is all.

[Cloud Cover]

In  global economy 3.0, where the decisions of a corporation to act like untouchable sovereign states occurs, there is inevitably going to be some blow back on the executives of those multi nationals. This not the first time corporate executives have been arrested, detained and extradited to foreign nations for trial (it happened to 2 US C levels in regards to some violations of South Korean law) however this is by far the most high profile.

Extraditions for criminal activity take place all the time, narcotics and drug smuggling has turned into a supply chain narconomics industry complete with accountants, lawyers, purchase orders, contracts etc. When you think about it, El Chapo was a leader of a corporation (and a ruthless one. He may have ordered the murder of many people, but the actions of some "cleaner" corporations certainly exploit or result in injury and deprivation to innocent people as well). As I  said, welcome to Globalization 3.0, where it now gets nasty as empires rise and fall and nation states either assert or wither. The promise of the "rising tide to lift all boats" has become a swirling toilet, and Canada is the bathroom attendant right now.

[chanman]

Ya.. But then they grabbed a second Canadian person and the state run media said that Canada will pay a heavy price.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-will-pay-chinese-state-media-threaten-repercussions-over-huawei-arrest-1.4216293

They either do not understand that the gov cannot interfere in the court process, or they don't care.

They don't care, because this isn't about Canada - this is part playing to their domestic audience that they have weight to throw around and are willing to do so, and it's part warning to other countries.

Maybe next time Belgium will be more reluctant to cooperate compared to just a couple months ago. Or maybe the next country China leans on won't have the same separation between the executive and the judiciary.

It's the same rationale as Saudi Arabia's spat over the LAVs - that was an implied threat to other countries that they buy a lot of arms from to stay in their own lane. In this case, it's that complying with US extradition requests (at least for VIPs) may bring a load of messy diplomatic and/or economic headaches and repercussions.

[ModlrMike]

I have every confidence that Justin Trudeau will handle this correctly, and that the situation will balance itself. Wouldn’t it be funny if Kim Jong got involved and had our guy released in return for some below market value oil.

Yes, in the same way that the budget has balanced itself.

[Cloud Cover]

We need a sarcasm meter.

[CBH99]

It's the same rationale as Saudi Arabia's spat over the LAVs - that was an implied threat to other countries that they buy a lot of arms from to stay in their own lane. In this case, it's that complying with US extradition requests (at least for VIPs) may bring a load of messy diplomatic and/or economic headaches and repercussions.
[/quote]


In this case I think your giving Saudi Arabia too much credit. 

The government in Beijing is incredibly intelligent, with foresight being a primary thought process. 

In the case of Saudi Arabia, I think it was just a crazy @$$ Saudi prince, who has manipulated his way into power, having a hissy fit over some Twitter remarks - Saudi style, ofcourse - and that the rest was an ill-conceived consequence.

[YZT580]

If I were in CSIS I would be running the names of every person who showed up carrying a picket sign saying free her.  It just shows China's reach that they can draft and organise such a gathering in any country they chose at very short notice.