Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1313

U.S. hopes Chinese island-building will spur Asian response

By releasing video of Beijing’s island reclamation work and considering more assertive maritime actions, the United States is signaling a tougher stance over the South China Sea and trying to spur Asian partners to more action. Read more

China warns U.S. surveillance plane

The series of man-made islands and the massive Chinese military build-up on them have alarmed the Pentagon, which is carrying out the surveillance flights in order to make clear the U.S. does not recognize China's territorial claims. The militarized islands have also alarmed America's regional allies. Read more

Japan and Malaysia bolster defense ties, with eyes on China

Japan and Malaysia agreed to bolster security ties and start talks on transfers of defense equipment and technology, their leaders said May 25, as both separately wrangle with China over territorial spats. Read more

Peter Hessler - An American Hero in China

Hessler’s work challenges traditional coverage of China. I met him in 1999, when I hired him to be a researcher in the Beijing bureau of The Wall Street Journal. By then he had already spent two years in the small Chinese city of Fuling as an English instructor at a teachers’ college. He was living at home in Columbia, Missouri, having just completed the manuscript for River Town: Two Years on

Beware China's Grand Strategy

Last month 57 nations applied to become founding members of China’s newest creation: the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Some applaud China for assuming greater international responsibility and wielding soft power to aid Asia’s growth. Some oppose the move as undermining the U.S.-led economic order and using aid as a tool to advance China’s strategic agenda. Read

Chinese political enemy given funeral 50 years later

Chu Anping, a former editor of a Communist newspaper, was the first victim of Mao Zedong's Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957, and was again persecuted at the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, disappearing soon afterwards. Read more

China, India likely to be biggest shareholders in AIIB

China is likely to hold a 25-30 percent stake in the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) while India will be the second-biggest shareholder, delegates said on Friday after a three-day meeting of the bank's founding member-nations. Read more

What Are Chinese Submarines Doing in the Indian Ocean?

China, although an outside power, is seeking to carve out a role for itself in the Indian Ocean region through its Maritime Silk Road initiative. The Maritime Silk Road -- along with an overland Silk Road to connect China with Central Asia, the Caspian Sea basin and beyond -- bears the imprint of President Xi Jinping, who has articulated a more expansive role for China than any modern Chinese

6 Chinese citizens charged with stealing Silicon Valley trade secrets

The stolen U.S. trade secrets were used by Tianjin University in China to build a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) fabrication facility that would obtain commercial and military contracts, according to an indictment filed in April in U.S. District Court in San Jose. Read more

Climate Change Could Devastate Many of China's Major Cities

Shanghai, with its current population of more than 20 million, would be completely under water if all the ice melt, and ocean water would reach miles of the Yangtze River. Read more