Wandering China

AN 'OVERSEAS CHINESE' STUDENT'S JOURNEY INTO DISCOVERING THE IMAGINATION OF CHINA.

May 11, 2011 • 7:25 am 0

Stealth Race: China test flies Chengdu J-20 ‘Black Eagle’ [Russia Today/Youtube]

A Russia Today news report on Youtube explores how China’s fifth-generation fighter J-20, though built in China is also reliant on parts from the U.S. and Russia. This is unlike the U.S. and Russia where the F-22 and Sukhoi T-50 are largely indigenous fighters.

The interview also reveals because of this, China may not necessarily have the critical production capability to go beyond prototypes and build an entire fleet. From China’s track record of deconstructing technology (legal or otherwise, see China: Intellectual Property Infringement, Indigenous Innovation Policies, and Frameworks for Measuring the Effects on the U.S. Economy by the United States International Trade Commission), I would disagree. It seems only a matter of time before they figure out how to do it on their own.

China’s confirmed it’s conducted a successful test flight of its new stealth fighter. Following on the heels of the U.S. and Russia, it is now the third country to put a stealth prototype into the air. (Russia Today, in Youtube, Jan 11, 2011)

Filed under: Aviation, Beijing Consensus, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Influence, International Relations, J-20, military, Russia, Strategy, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, U.S., Youtube

April 16, 2011 • 7:21 am 0

Chinese carrier ‘a symbolic threat’ [The Age]

Is this ‘threat’ symbolic enough to be a catalyst for another form of Cold-War era game theory standoff with the U.S.? China has been ceaselessly accumulating soft power; it looks like hard power is equally important to them – an aircraft carrier projects a larger operating theatre and military influence, and for once the Chinese can project their strike ability beyond just regionally with what they deem ‘aircraft mother ships’. That says a lot.

- – -

Chinese carrier ‘a symbolic threat’
Viola Gienger and Tony Capaccio
Source – The Age, published April 13, 2011

Former Soviet-era aircraft carrier Varyag being refurbished by China. Photo – The Age

China’s reconstruction of a Soviet-era aircraft carrier, while not a concern to the US, is raising alarms in the region as a symbol of the Asian nation’s military expansion, US Navy Admiral Robert Willard says.

China’s state news agency, Xinhua, posted photos of the carrier, the Varyag, on a website last week. In a photo caption, Xinhua cited the military analysis magazine Kanwa Asian Defense Review in Canada as saying the ship will set sail this year. The timeline tracks with an estimate made two years ago by the US Office of Naval Intelligence.

Willard, the top US military commander in the Asia-Pacific region, said he was “not concerned” by the project. The carrier sat pier-side for years as China considered making it a tourist attraction before the reconstruction began, Admiral Willard said.

“We do expect that they will achieve what they are asserting, which is that perhaps this year it may go to sea,” Admiral Willard, who heads the US Pacific Command, said. “That’s a long way from developing an aircraft carrier capability.” Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Aviation, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Communications, Domestic Growth, Influence, International Relations, Mapping Feelings, Media, military, Nationalism, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, Strategy, Technology, The Age, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, U.S., Varyag

April 9, 2011 • 11:15 pm 1

China to build 56 more airports in five years [China Daily]

China continues to expand its reach. ‘China’s investment in building airports has accelerated since the turn of the century. From 2005 to 2010, 33 new airports were constructed while another 33 were renovated or expanded, bringing the total number of airports to 175 in 2010.’

To find out more about the CAAC, go here.

- – -

China to build 56 more airports in five years
Xinhua
Source – China Daily, published April 7, 2011

GUIYANG – A senior Chinese civil aviation official said here Thursday that China, the world’s most populous nation, would build 56 more airports during the next five years to expand transport capacity.

Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said the total number of airports in the country would likely top 230 in five years with an aircraft fleet expected to exceed 4,500 units, enough to carry 450 million passengers annually.

“Investment in China’s aviation industry is likely to reach 1.5 trillion yuan (about $230 billion) in the next five years,” Li said at a national civil-aviation work conference held in Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China’s Guizhou province.

China’s investment in building airports has accelerated since the turn of the century. From 2005 to 2010, 33 new airports were constructed while another 33 were renovated or expanded, bringing the total number of airports to 175 in 2010.

Investment in building civil aviation infrastructure during this period hit 250 billion yuan, nearly the equivalent of total spent during the previous 25 years.

Filed under: Aviation, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Environment, Greater China, Influence, International Relations, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Transport

January 15, 2011 • 11:28 am 2

Chinese fighter ‘has changed power balance’ [The Age]

Chinese fighter ‘has changed power balance’
Dan Oakes
Source – The Age, published January 15, 2011

The world has been shocked by the unveiling of the J-20, a new Chinese stealth fighter aircraft. Photo: Reuters

THE shock unveiling of a new Chinese stealth fighter aircraft has changed Asia’s power balance and means Australia must dramatically rethink its regional strategy, according to an Australian analyst.

Peter Goon, a vehement critic of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Australia has committed to buying from the United States, says the Chinese J-20 is far superior to the American fighter and Australia must immediately adapt to the new status quo.

The Chinese tested the J-20 for the first time last week, on the day that US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates arrived in Beijing for talks. Although the Chinese claimed the timing was coincidental, Mr Gates expressed concerns about the military’s motives. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Australia, Aviation, Beijing Consensus, Domestic Growth, Economics, Influence, International Relations, J-20, military, Nationalism, Public Diplomacy, The Age, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities

January 6, 2011 • 12:08 am 0

China’s Push to Modernize Military Is Beginning to Show Fruit [New York Times]

Muscles on show as a form of deterrence – the prototype of China’s Chengdu ‘Black Eagle’ J-20 Stealth Fighter - A decade of aggressive modernization of China’s once-creaky military is beginning to bear fruit, and both the Pentagon and China’s Asian neighbors are increasingly taking notice.

Here is a photo – looks remarkably similar to the F22!

Chinese prototype stealth fighter the J-20. Photo - china-defense.blogspot.com

Also covered elsewhere in Australia’s ABC news – Chinese Stealth Fighter spotted (Jan 05, 2011)

- – -

China’s Push to Modernize Military Is Beginning to Show Fruit
By MICHAEL WINES and EDWARD WONG
Source – New York Times, published January 05, 2011

BEIJING — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, on a mission to resuscitate moribund military relations with China, will not arrive in Beijing for talks with the nation’s top military leaders until Sunday. But at an airfield in Chengdu, a metropolis in the nation’s center, China’s military leaders have already rolled out a welcome for him.

It is the J-20, a radar-evading jet fighter that has the same two angled tailfins that are the trademark of the Pentagon’s own stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor. After years of top-secret development, the jet — China’s first stealth plane — was put through what appear to be preliminary, but also very public tests this week on the runway of the Aviation Design Institute in Chengdu, a site so open that aircraft enthusiasts often gather there to snap photos of their favorites.

Some analysts say the timing is no coincidence. “This is their new policy of deterrence,” Andrei Chang, the Hong Kong editor in chief of the Canadian journal Kanwa Defense Weekly, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “They want to show the U. S., show Mr. Gates, their muscle.” Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Aviation, Beijing Consensus, Charm Offensive, Domestic Growth, Economics, Influence, International Relations, J-20, Media, military, Nationalism, New York Times, Politics, Public Diplomacy, Strategy, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities

August 1, 2010 • 11:47 am 0

SIA plane scrapes Air China jet at Beijing airport [AsiaOne]

SIA plane scrapes Air China jet at Beijing airport
AFP
Source – AsiaOne, published Aug 1, 2010

Pilot error was likely to be behind the incident, Chinese reports said.

Photo: AsiaOne, Boeing File Photo

BEIJING – Two aircraft collided at Beijing’s international airport on Saturday, China’s state media reported.

The wing of a taxiing Singapore Airlines (SIA) Boeing 777 hit the tail of a stationary Air China Boeing 737-800, Xinhua said.

Pilot error was likely to be behind the incident, in which no one was hurt, said the report, citing an official from China’s Civil Aviation Administration. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: AsiaOne, Aviation, International Relations, Singapore

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Good Reads

A History of Hong Kong (Welsh, rev. 1997)

Behind the Open Door: Foreign Enterprises in the Chinese Marketplace (Rosen, 1999)

Beyond the Chinese Face: Insights from Psychology (Bond, 1991)

Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World (Kurlantzick, 2007)

China and the Chinese Overseas (Wang, 2003)

China Off Center - Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom (Blum & Jensen, 2002)

China Wakes (Kristof & Wudunn, 1995)

China's Transformations(Jensen & Weston, 2007)

Chinas Unlimited (Lee, 2003)

China’s Security Interests in the 21st Century (Ong, 2007)

Chinese among others - Emigration in Modern Times (Kuhn, 2008)

Chinese Kinship (Chao, 1983)

Chinese Nationalism (Unger, ed. 1996)

Chinese Strategic Culture and Foreign Policy Decision-Making (Feng, 2007)

Dialetic of the Chinese Revolution (Ci, 1994)

Don't Leave Home - Migration and Chinese (Wang, 2001)

Integrating China into the Global Economy (Lardy, 2002)

Interpreting China’s Grand Strategy - Past, Present and Future (Swaine & Tellis, 2000)

Kinship, Contract, Community & State (Cohen, 2005)

Re Orient - Change in Asian Societies (Vervoorn, 2006)

The Gare of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and their Revolution, 1895-1980 (Spence, 1986)

The Great Chinese Revolution: 1800-1985 (Fairbank, 1987)

The Overseas Chinese of South East Asia (Witzel and Rae, 2008)

The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms (Goldman and Macfarquhar, ed. 1999)

The Real Chinese Question (Holcombe, 1901) **

Understanding China: A guide to China's Economy, History, and Political Structure (Starr, 1997)

Understanding China and India - Security Implications for the United States and the World (Lal, 2006)

Weaving the Net: Conditional Engagement with China (Shinn, ed., 1996)

Where Underpants Come From: From Checkout to Cotton Field - Travels through the New China. (Bennett, 2008)

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