HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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Jiang bans PLA mobile
phones
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| China, which has the world's
fastest growing mobile phone market, has banned the PLA from using
mobiles and pagers.
New regulations covering the mainland's 2.5 million-strong
military personnel have been enforced to protect military secrets
from electronic espionage, official media reported yesterday.
Even
soldiers granted exemptions from the new rules will be barred from
taking mobile phones and pagers into sensitive military facilities,
the PLA Daily reported.
The regulations also forbid soldiers from visiting "unhealthy
venues", an apparent reference to nightclubs.
They were signed by President Jiang Zemin, who is also chairman
of the Central Military Commission, last Saturday.
The report said the crackdown was drafted after taking into
consideration social and technological changes in the country. The
mainland has more than 145 million mobile phone users.
All military personnel are banned from using mobiles, pagers and
other communication tools unless required on duty or approved by the
division commander or a more senior officer, the report said.
"Those who require the use of mobile phones and are approved by
their superiors, are prohibited from bringing the phones into battle
planning rooms, intelligence rooms, confidential meeting rooms,
communication centres, military aircraft and naval warships, weapons
warehouses, missile silos, and other relevant areas," the report
said.
The incident in April last year in which a US spy plane was
forced to land on Hainan after a collision with a PLA jet fighter,
highlighted the sensitivity regarding telecommunications.
Reports told how regular US reconnaissance flights along the
Chinese coast use sophisticated equipment that can decode radar
transmissions, faxes, e-mails and mobile phone conversations.
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Former bogeyman Patten
gets red carpet
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;) |
Honoured guest:
Chris Patten speaks at Fudan University during his visit to
Shanghai. Reuters
photo
| Chris Patten,
Beijing's bogeyman when he was governor of Hong Kong, was shown the
welcome mat in Shanghai yesterday as he tried to put past disputes
behind him.
"It is true they [Beijing's leaders] saw me in a less than
favourable light, but that is in the past," said Mr Patten, now
European Commissioner for External Relations.
In contrast to the name-calling by
Beijing - who said his crimes would be etched in history - and the
angry rows ahead of the handover, Mr Patten is being treated as an
honoured guest on this visit.
He met Shanghai Mayor Chen Liangyu and he will confer with
President Jiang Zemin and Vice-Premier Qian Qichen, among other
senior officials, during a stop in Beijing.
It is Mr Patten's first official visit to China in his current
European Union post, although he made a working visit to Beijing
last year.
Speaking to European businessmen, he praised Shanghai for its
"buzz", saying it reminded him of the energetic atmosphere in Hong
Kong.
Asked whether he thought Shanghai would leave Hong Kong behind,
he said he believed both could find ways to prosper, extolling both
as the "best face of globalisation".
He noted dire predictions were made for Hong Kong ahead of the
territory's return to China, and he said those forecasts turned out
to be wrong.
But he did remind Hong Kong not to tinker with the free market
formula that has worked well so far. Asked if there might be a day
when Hong Kong faltered, he said: "If those in government in Hong
Kong ever thought they could outsmart the market, then it might be
time to ask the question."
Mr Patten was also given the chance to address 500 students at
Fudan University.
One student asked about the European Parliament's welcome to the
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Mr Patten repeated remarks of former US president Bill Clinton,
who suggested a meeting between President Jiang and the Tibetan
leader - a meeting that so far has proved elusive.
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US, Taiwan secretly
test listening station
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| The
United States and Taiwan are secretly testing a listening post in
Taipei to monitor the mainland, reports said yesterday.
Citing an article in Jane's Defence Weekly magazine, Taiwan's
United Daily News said the facility, located at a military base in
Yangmingshan, north of Taipei, was staffed by intelligence personnel
from Taiwan's National Security Bureau and the US National Security
Agency.
The
facility was said to have been built with the help of a
Maryland-based firm that functioned as an arm of the American
agency, the report said.
While the US and Taiwan have long been known to exchange
intelligence on mainland forces, the new facility was said to
possess advanced equipment enabling both sides to decipher data in
minutes that had previously taken days or even weeks, the paper
said. Dubbed a "data processing centre", the facility was said to be
capable of monitoring and deciphering electronic communications and
transfers of data on the mainland.
While the project is a joint effort between the US and Taiwan,
the US personnel stationed at the facility are either "recently
retired" or "on leave" from government service, in accordance with
US policy forbidding official exchanges with the island.
The information obtained at the facility was shared with Taiwan's
National Security Bureau in addition to being forwarded to the US
National Security Agency, the report said.
Jane's also apparently revealed a US decision to sell Taiwan
"Rapid Runway Repair" equipment and technology, a deal reported to
be worth more than US$40 million (HK$311 million) that would enable
Taiwan's air force to quickly repair damaged runways in a
cross-strait conflict.
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KOREA
Analyst tips US troop cuts as threat from North
lessens
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The American military presence in South
Korea will be reduced in coming years as the threat posed by North Korea
diminishes, a leading analyst has predicted.
Kim Chang-su's comments came as the United States and South Korean
governments announced yesterday the further consolidation of American
military facilities in the South.
There are
37,000 US military personnel scattered among 41 bases and smaller
facilities. Of these, 22,000 are soldiers and 8,000 are with the US Air
Force. Although the plans, to be finalised in May, call for the closure of
more than a dozen facilities by 2012 so that land can be handed back to
the South Korean people, there are indications of a scaling back of the
number of troops.
Dr Kim, the director of US military studies at the independent Korea
Institute of Defence Analysis, said there was little doubt that US
military cuts and the lessening North Korean threat would mean the
reduction of the American military force.
"By 2010, North Korean threats will have declined a lot and improved
technology will mean the US will definitely reduce its military presence,"
he said.
The North's military is believed to number one million, but Dr Kim said
it was no longer a match for the 700,000-strong South Korean army combined
with the superior weaponry of the US forces. It was also assumed that
relations between the two Koreas would dramatically improve by the end of
the decade.
The US has denied it intends to cut back troop numbers in South Korea.
The US consolidation plan is in response to protests for public land
resumptions and cost-cutting. The accord signed in Seoul yesterday reduces
the land used by US facilities from 244 square km to 105 square km. The
number of US camps will be reduced from 41 to 23 by the end of 2011.
Although 10 per cent of the 10,000 American soldiers stationed in Seoul
will be relocated, the main base in the city, Yongsan, will be little
affected. It sits on valuable land in the heart of the city and is the
scene of frequent anti-American protests.
Dr Kim said the American forces cost about US$4 billion (HK$31.2
billion) a year to maintain and Seoul paid 10 per cent. The consolidation
plan would cost up to US$2.3 billion, which would be borne by Seoul and
Washington.
At present, though, the US forces are highly welcome militarily.
Seoul, with 12 million people and a quarter of the South's population,
is just 25km from the Demilitarised Zone, which separates the Koreas.
North Korea has hundreds of thousands of soldiers positioned along its
side of the border. In the back of Korean and American minds was also the
threat of China.
"Nobody can deny that the US has a dual purpose of also keeping watch
on China, but the prime reason for it basing troops in South Korea is a
deterrence against North Korea," Dr Kim said.
"The North Korean military threat is far worse than the Chinese
potential military threat. China currently does not pose any direct threat
to South Korea."
Dr Kim said that more liberal elements of South Korean society saw the
US military presence as harmful. Economic difficulties and anti-American
sentiment compounded their argument. |
KOREA
Diplomats step up efforts to engage Pyongyang
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was at
the centre of a new diplomatic offensive yesterday to persuade Pyongyang
to renew dialogue with South Korea and the United States.
Mr Kim met Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Pyongyang
while South Korea stepped up efforts to ensure the success of a visit to
the North next week by a top envoy.
South
Korea's Foreign Minister, Choi Sung-hong, held talks in China, the North's
last major ally, while the envoy, Lim Don-wong, a top adviser to President
Kim Dae-jung, met the US ambassador in Seoul.
Ms Megawati arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday for a three-day stay,
carrying a message from the South Korean leader.
The Indonesian President is the first foreign leader to meet the
reclusive Pyongyang leader since the US said in January that North Korea
was part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq.
Ms Megawati and Kim Jong-il met for an hour at the Paekhwawon state
guest house in Pyongyang, according to Indonesia's state news agency,
Antara.
At a dinner on Thursday night, Ms Megawati called on North Korea to
open new talks with South Korea, saying peace would benefit the two Koreas
and the whole Asia-Pacific region.
North Korea broke off contacts with the South last year in protest at
Washington's policy.
Mr Lim is to go to Pyongyang on Wednesday and is expected to meet its
supreme leader to urge him to reopen dialogue with South Korea and the
United States.
US Ambassador to Seoul Thomas Hubbard met Mr Lim yesterday and
reaffirmed a US offer for dialogue with North Korea without conditions, a
US official said. |
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