US spy ship conducts extensive activities in S.China Sea, ‘aims to collect data to support submarine warfare against China’ by Liu Xuanzun Oct 11 2021
The guided-missile destroyers Hohhot (Hull 161) and Wuhan (Hull 169), together with the guided-missile frigate Hengyang (Hull 568), steam in formation in an undisclosed sea area during a 4-day maritime real-combat training exercise on September 2, 2020. All the warships are attached to a naval destroyer flotilla under the PLA Southern Theater Command. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Li Wei)
A US Navy oceanographic survey ship has been conducting extensive activities in a large area of the South China Sea since late September, which Chinese military experts said aims to collect underwater geographical and hydrological data to support its submarine warfare in the region against China.
This situation also drew attention from some military observers after a US nuclear-powered attack submarine struck an unidentified underwater object in the South China Sea earlier this month, which again highlighted the US Navy’s need to learn more about the region.
The USNS Mary Sears (T-AGS 65), a Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship, entered the South China Sea on September 26 and started extensive surveys, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a Beijing-based think tank, revealed on Sunday.
From October 1 to 4, the ship operated in waters south of China’s Hainan Island, from October 5 to 9, it approached the coastline of Vietnam, and by Sunday it had arrived in waters near the Nansha Islands, according to the monitoring of the SCSPI.
Having operated in the South China Sea many times in the past, the Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship is specialized in the detection and surveying of underwater terrain, meteorology and hydrology, the SCSPI said, noting that this time, the ship covered a very large area in a short time, which is rare.
While the ship seems to be conducting scientific research, its true mission is to support submarine and anti-submarine warfare, as it can draw underwater maps that can help navigate friendly submarines, or place detection devices to help locate hostile submarines, a Beijing-based military expert told the Global Times on Monday on condition of anonymity.
The US Navy wants to always have updated, accurate maps of the South China Sea so its submarines can safely navigate without using their active sonar devices, making themselves stealthier, or they can find good locations for an ambush, the expert said.
While the USNS Mary Sears was operating in the South China Sea, the USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, struck an underwater object in the region on October 2, CNN reported on Friday.
While the object the submarine struck remains unknown, experts said the likely candidates include terrain, a whale, floating debris or another underwater vessel.
If the submarine indeed hit terrain, it means the sea map the submarine was using was outdated, and new terrain has formed without the US Navy’s knowledge, analysts said, noting that the work of oceanographic survey ships could have avoided the accident.
Both the USNS Mary Sears’ recent activities and the USS Connecticut’s accident showed that the US’ intensive submarine activities in the South China Sea, on China’s doorstep, are a threat not only to the Chinese Navy if a conflict breaks out, but also to normal, civilian activities in peacetime, the expert said.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, said at Monday’s regular press conference that the US should explain where exactly the submarine accident took place, whether it caused a nuclear leak or polluted the environment, and whether it would affect navigation and fishing safety.
“I want to stress that the root cause of the incident, which also poses a serious threat and significant risk to regional peace and stability, is the US’ constant stirring up of trouble in the South China Sea over a long period of time,” Zhao noted at Friday’s press briefing.
Video: FASCIST WATCH: Appeal to People with low IQ with their twisted views, propaganda and fake news to hate China 法西斯觀察：用扭曲的觀點、宣傳和假新聞呼籲低智商的人憎恨中國SerpentZA wants to start killing Chinese people because they have access to the news. Let’s explore how this English teacher lied to the Chinese people, and now wants them dead. His juvenile, hateful rhetoric is fueled by a craving to enforce inequality (fascism). https://vimeo.com/628769361 https://youtu.be/vrwjVEj40GI https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/582916499598346/?d=n
New plan to bolster China’s standard-setting ability in crucial technologies by Global Times Oct 10 2021
Photo taken on Sept. 10, 2021 shows a musical robot displayed at the World Robot Conference held in Beijing, capital of China. The 2021 World Robot Conference is held in Beijing from Sept. 10 to 13. More than 110 enterprises and scientific research institutions brought over 500 products to the exhibition.
China aims to boost standard-setting in many crucial technological sectors, including high-speed rail, new-energy and smart vehicles and robots, as part of efforts to bolster innovation, opening-up and high-quality growth, according to a development plan jointly issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the cabinet, released on Sunday.
Analysts said the plan is conducive to China’s strategy of high-quality development, and it will make China’s standardization work more internationalized. It will also pave the way for a greater role for Chinese companies in the global markets once the issue of differences among standards is ironed out, they said.
By 2035, China’s standardization work will be an open and integrated system driven by market forces and guided by the government, with full participation by companies and the public.
The development plan calls for scientific and research fruits in 50 percent of all projects concerned with shared key technologies and applied science and technology, and for the time required for setting national standards to be reduced to under 18 months from currently two years.
The blueprint envisions greater transparency for standardization work, and hugely improved convergence in key technical indicators between national and international standards, and it calls for 85 percent of national standards to be converted into international standards.
An industry analyst surnamed Cong told the Global Times on Sunday that more concerted efforts by the Chinese government will result in improved governance in standardization work. When the gap of differing standards is bridged, Chinese products will become more compatible in the global markets, he said.
“In aspects where China has a technological lead, better standardization work will give Chinese companies first-mover advantage in international competition,�?Cong said, noting that 5G and some information technologies belong in this category.
Under the plan, more than 50 national technical standards innovation centers will be established by 2025 to serve as standardization infrastructure to certify standards, together with a number of national labs and internationally acclaimed research institutions.
The blueprint calls for intensified efforts on studying standardization work in key areas with focused research in the fields of artificial intelligence, quantum information, biotechnology and other fields.
Synchronized development of technology research, standard-setting and technology commercialization is to be achieved in the fields of the integration of industrialization and informatization, next-generation information technology, big data, blockchain, healthcare, new energy, new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and other fields.
The plan also calls for researching and formulating key standards for intelligent vessels, high-speed rail systems, NEVs, internet-connected automobiles, and robots to promote industrial transformation.
Standardization work will be carried out in biological research and molecular breeding, and autonomous driving will be formulated and perfected in a timely fashion.
The plan also called for faster standardization work to facilitate carbon neutrality, revising and tightening standards on energy-saving and carbon emissions, and perfecting those governing renewable energy sources.
Chinese CDC Director: COVID-19 still expanding its host range; necessary for multi-point screening globally by Huang Lanlan Oct 09 2021
Species that have been reported to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 in nature
The potential for the SARS-CoV-2 to expand into more animal hosts is not over, warned Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), calling for large-scale SARS-CoV-2 screening for global wildlife, especially the most susceptible ones.
This once again proves the complexity of COVID-19 origins and transmissions and the absurdity of the “COVID-19 came from China” notion, said Chinese virologists and epidemiologists reached by the Global Times on Sunday. They noted the necessity of conducting origins-tracing work in multiple places across the world.
Several types of mammals could be a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 apart from humans which could lead to spillback to humans, according to the article published on English-language website China CDC Weekly on Friday, of which Gao was one of the authors.
It said that natural infection of SARS-CoV-2 has been found in several species of mammals via contact with COVID-19 patients, such as cats and dogs, or lions and tigers in zoos, minks and ferrets.
In nature, snow leopards, pumas and gorillas also have been found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, it added.
The article cites serosurveillance by the US Department of Agriculture in early 2021, with results published in July, that showed that antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were found in 40 percent of 600 samples of wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from the US in 2021.
By contrast, antibodies were detected in only one and three white-tailed deer samples from 2019 and 2020, respectively.
“Due to the wide geographic distribution and large population (approximately 30 million) of wild white-tailed deer in North America, it increased the risk that SARS-CoV-2 from wildlife would spillback to humans,” the article said.
The expansion of SARS-CoV-2 in the wild would lead to other animals being infected with SARS-CoV-2 via direct or indirect contact with wild white-tailed deer or even infected patients, according to the article.
Experimental studies have demonstrated several animals could be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, such as Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) and North American deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), it said.
“However, these are just the tip of the iceberg,” it said, noting susceptibility of most terrestrial wild animals to SARS-CoV-2 “has not been tested.”
So far, the mysteries of the route through which SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses were transmitted from bats to humans and if bats were the original reservoir “still remain unsolved,” it said.
Various studies conducted by scientists worldwide have shown that COVID-19, though firstly reported in Central China’s Wuhan city at the end of 2019, had earlier shown up in places across the world, virologists pointed out.
It is impossible that in the early stages COVID-19 appeared only in China, said Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist from Wuhan University. “The virus was highly likely to have emerged in other places, but was not tested,” Yang told the Global Times.
Global scientists have proved that COVID-19 was unlikely leaked from a Chinese lab, refuting the lab-leak conspiracy theory that some US politicians utilize to politicalize the pandemic and smear China.
In an article included by SienceDirect, a bibliographic database of scientific and medical publications, French researchers proved the irrelevance between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13, a virus that was collected in a mine in Mojiang, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
“SARS-CoV-2 does not originate from the Mojiang mine,” the article said, refuting an argument put forward by two Indian scientists that the virus came from Mojiang. “The Mojiang mine theory is not valid.”
COVID-19 may have been silently spreading in the US as early as September 2019, suggested a research paper released last month on ChinaXiv, a preprint platform developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), authored by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The multi-point outbreaks of COVID-19 prove that carrying out origins-tracing work globally is essential and scientific, Yang noted, appealing to the WHO to conduct related investigations in areas with early transmissions including the US and Europe.
Gao also mentioned in his report the current shortage of the research on susceptibility of marine wildlife, especially marine mammals to SARS-CoV-2.
“Worse, SARS-CoV-2 might spread in the marine ecosystem, which may lead to the generation of some novel SARS-CoV-2 variants with unknown threats to humans,” it warned.
Taking the continuing expansion of SARS-CoV-2 into account, the article emphasized it is necessary to carry out large-scale screening of terrestrial and marine wildlife, to monitor the status of infection and mutation of virus in wild animals, “so as to formulate further prevention and control strategies.”
Tsai’s Double Ten speech a political farce by Deng Xiaoci and Liu Xuanzun Oct 10 2021
One day after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Taiwan secessionists and stressed that the Taiwan question will be resolved along with national rejuvenation in his speech on Saturday marking the 110th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen continued to deceive the international community and Taiwanese people by hiding the truth that secessionist authorities on the island are the root cause of cross-Straits tensions.
Held under the theme “Forming a democratic alliance and collecting friends from all over the world,” this year’s Double Ten Day, a public holiday in the island of Taiwan originally meant to commemorate the Chinese Revolution of October 10, 1911, has been seen by observers across the Straits as yet another farce staged by the ruling secessionist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its leader Tsai that serves to promote their desinization agenda and daydream of a “two-state theory.”
In an obvious betrayal of 1911 Revolution leader Sun Yat-sen’s idea and unfulfilled mission of Chinese national rejuvenation and reunification, the DPP leaders including Tsai herself and Taiwan’s “Legislative Yuan” leader Yu Shyi-kun did not mention Sun’s name or spirit even once on Thursday morning, and Tsai referred to the region with the awkward term “Republic of China Taiwan.”
Sun is the founding father of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Republic of China (1912-1949), and after Sun’s death, his successor Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution and Sun’s policy of working with the Communist Party of China (CPC), and launched massacres and a civil war against the CPC. Eventually, the KMT was defeated by the CPC and fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949.
On Saturday, at a high-profile gathering marking the 110th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Chinese President Xi said the Taiwan question will be resolved along with national rejuvenation and warned that secessionists are a serious threat to that mission, and that those who betray the country will face the trial of history.
Xi emphasized that the Taiwan question is a Chinese internal matter that no external forces can interfere with. Nobody should underestimate the Chinese people’s determination, will and capability in safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said.
In Sunday’s speech, Tsai didn’t state the fact that this year’s Double Ten Day mark the 110th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution during her speech on Sunday morning, but only stressed how the “country” had advanced from poverty to prosperity in the past “72 years” (since the Republic of China regime fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949), and it was the faith in “ensuring the sovereignty and guarding the homeland” that was the key to supporting the island of Taiwan’s survival and fostering of democracy.
Chang Ya-chung, the president of the Sun Yat-sen School in Taiwan and a member of the KMT, Taiwan’s major opposition party, viewed Sunday’s farce by Tsai and the DPP as an extension of their long time agenda of cutting off the history of Taiwan from the Republic of China’s, in denial of the “one-China principle,” in order to promote the idea of “two nations.”
Tsai also stated Sunday that it is imperative to conduct so-called equal conversation to resolve cross-Straits differences, which is an apparent change of her wording from last year when she called for the Chinese mainland to have “peaceful dialogue” with the island in 2020.
Observers said such changes indicate nothing more than another step further into Tsai and the DPP’s secessionist path, which is a dead end. As Tsai refused to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, jeopardizing the political ground on which the two sides can conduct any talks, the Chinese mainland authority would never accept such proposal of “equal conversation”, Chang told the Global Times on Sunday.
Tsai said she hoped for eased ties between the two sides across the Straits, and claimed the island would not make any rash advance, while emphasizing that it would not surrender to pressure either.
She vowed to continue to hone the island’s defense capability, display self-defense determination, and make sure no one can force them onto a path laid out by the Chinese mainland.
The DPP leader also outlined plans to make an amendment to the “constitution” that would serve to protect so-called freedom and democracy on the island.
What Tsai and the DPP are trying to achieve here is to destroy the essence of the “constitution”, Chang said, noting that Tsai would only follow the steps of previous secessionist leaders such as Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian to accumulate small changes toward an eventual qualitative change.
Although Tsai has not disclosed details of these “constitutional reforms” on the island, the act itself would open a Pandora’s box and lead to steps toward making Taiwan secessionism legitimate, allowing the ruling party to make adjustments at will, Zhang Wensheng, a deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Sunday. “She is rashly advancing secessionism despite claiming a willingness to maintain the status quo with unwavering kindness.”
Zhang criticized Tsai’s Sunday speech as being filled with resentment against the Chinese mainland and for suggesting the latter was an enemy state, which fully shows the DPP leader’s secessionist nature and its agenda of promoting the “two-state theory.”
Picturing Taiwan as the front of the Western democratic and free world against the expansion of authoritarian in order to win the support and sympathy of the international community is a complete provocation, Zhang said.
If the DPP authority continues such provocative acts, the mainland will have no choice but take it to the battlefield, he warned.
China’s internal affair
Tsai’s speech advocates “Taiwan secessionism” and incite confrontation between the two sides of Taiwan Straits, distorting facts and holding the Taiwan public hostage in the name of “consensus and solidarity”, while colluding with foreign forces to provoke the mainland and seek secessionism, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said in a statement on Sunday night.
“Our crackdown against Taiwan secessionists is targeting the DPP and secessionist forces, rather than Taiwan compatriots. The DPP cannot fool the Taiwan public or the international community by creating bad blood and obscuring the facts,” the spokesperson said.
Ma slammed the DPP authority, saying that ever since taking power, it has shown no political ability other than creating conflicts between people and dividing Taiwan society. Trying to package secessionist populism as so-called democracy and freedom, and claiming Taiwan is becoming better and better, the DPP has greatly underestimated the intelligence of the Taiwan public.
The future of Taiwan should be decided by all Chinese people including the 23 million Taiwan compatriots. The DPP cannot abduct the will of 23 million Taiwan people, let alone stop the major trend of historical development, Ma concluded.
The self-deceiving Tsai and other DPP leaders repeatedly hailed the so-called support from the “great democratic allies” and lauded the “helping hands” from countries including the US, Japan, Australia, Czech and Lithuania.
Tsai’s failure to handle cross-Straits relations properly is the root cause of the current tense situation and labeling the island as the frontline of the so-called democratic world is self-deceiving and a desperate attempt to fool the 23 million compatriots living on the island so she can extend her political life and benefit the DPP, Chang noted.
How many of the 23 million people living on the island would blindly follow Tsai to fight a war with the Chinese mainland, on what grounds, and how many of its so-called allies could Taiwan really rely on if a cross-Straits war breaks out, said Yang Lixian, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Research Center of cross-Straits Relations.
Two Su-35 fighter jets and a H-6K bomber fly in formation on May 11, 2018. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) air force conducted patrol training over China’s island of Taiwan.
Strength matters
As part of the Sunday event, the armed forces on the island of Taiwan showcased some of its weapons in a parade, including Apache helicopters, F-16V fighter jets and Hsiung Feng III missiles.
Also on Sunday, aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) approached the island of Taiwan again, media outlets on the island reported, citing open radio broadcasts and flight path records.
Three PLA aircraft – two J-16 fighter jets and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft – entered Taiwan’s self-proclaimed southwest air defense identification zone on Sunday, the island’s defense authorities said later in the day.
The defense authorities on the island have reported 150 PLA aircraft flying into the island’s self-proclaimed air defense identification zone between October 1 and Thursday, the National Day holiday in the Chinese mainland, breaking the record in terms of scale three times in the process.
Also on Sunday, the mainland’s China Central Television published a report introducing a recent PLA amphibious landing exercise. The drill, organized by the PLA 73rd Group Army in a sea area south of East China’s Fujian Province, which is close to the Taiwan Straits, featured troops conducting beach assaults with charge boats, drones and laser engagement systems, with the aim of comprehensively honing the forces’ skills in carrying out such tasks.
The PLA activities again demonstrated the overwhelming advantages the PLA has over the armed forces on the island of Taiwan, which is now also being acknowledged by many on the island, a Chinese mainland military expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.
The island’s display of its warplanes, armored vehicles and missiles in the Sunday event, on the other hand, exposed the fact that its best weapons are no match for the Chinese mainland’s, when people compare them to what the PLA has displayed in events such as the Airshow China 2021 and the National Day military parade in 2019, the expert said.
Resisting reunification by force will only bring doom more quickly to Taiwan secessionists, the expert said.
Video: China vs Taiwan? Australia’s Dangerous War Propaganda with fake news China vs Taiwan? Australia’s Dangerous War Propaganda with fake news 中國 與 台灣？澳大利亞用假新聞進行危險的反華戰爭宣傳 In this Sky News Australia “Mcgregor Angle” segment, every single point made in the introduction is a blatant lie contradicting both Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense and the Australian government’s own official statements and policies. https://vimeo.com/628485047 https://youtu.be/ltSFehk8TPA https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/582766982946631/?d=n
US systemic discrimination, discrimination and anti-discrimination. Chinatown isolation to protect discrimination made the list. US efforts to stop China rise, Chinese and Asian Americans become collateral damages. 美國系統性歧視、歧視和反歧視。唐人街隔離保護歧視名列榜首。美國阻止中國崛起的努力，華裔和亞裔美國人成為附帶損害犧牲品. World Journal Newspaper San Francisco 美國加州舊金山世界日報 Oct 10 2021
Ted Sioeng is an Indonesian businessman with interests in the United States, China, Vietnam and other parts of Asia, worth around US$500 million. Sioeng grew up in Indonesia. Adopted and raised ethnically Chinese family, he has a strong affinity for China, which is now the focus of his business interests, while he also admires the United States – he and his family have been based in Los Angeles since 1987.
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