With new operations on opposite sides of the world, Chinese military aircraft are showing off growing reach

Posted: April 29, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 9 Comments

Christopher Woody 6 hours ago (on April 28, 2022)

China’s J-20, a fifth-generation fighter jet. Reuters

China is rapidly developing combat and transport aircraft to support longer-range military operations.

A flight to Europe by China’s Y-20 airlifter and regular patrols by J-20 fighters are milestones for those jets, officials say.

The new capabilities worry China’s neighbors, but China’s troops and hardware are largely untested in combat. (This reblogger’s note: All most advanced weapons are untested new ones as there has not been any war now that requires the use of such weapons in it.)

China’s military has rapidly built one of the world’s largest aviation forces, developing increasingly capable aircraft that the US Defense Department has warned are “gradually eroding” the US military’s advantage in the air.

In recent weeks, China’s premier fighter jets and strategically valuable airlifters have reached milestones that underscore Beijing’s increasing focus on and investment in military aviation.

In early April, six Y-20 cargo planes arrived in Belgrade to deliver what were believed to be Chinese-made HQ-22 surface-to-air missiles to Serbia’s military. The roughly 5,000-mile flight by what Chinese state media called “a record-breaking number” of Y-20s was seen as a demonstration of Beijing’s ambitions for global power projection. (This reblogger’s note: capabilities instead of ambition as China has no ambition for world hegemony. There has absolutely no evidence to prove China has any ambition for global power ambition.)

Days later, a top official with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the state-owned firm developing the J-20 fighter jet, said that J-20s are now conducting regular patrols over the East and South China seas, a sign of the advanced jet’s increasing reliability.

The developments are indications that China’s air force “is growing more confident in its ability to operate farther and farther from Chinese shores with newer and newer aircraft,” Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank, told Insider.

J-20 stealth fighter china

The AVIC official said the J-20s were routinely conducting alert patrols, which are mainly for surveillance, over the South China Sea and combat patrols, which require a higher level of readiness, over the East China Sea. The official said that had been made possible by the switch to a “Chinese heart” for the jets, a reference to domestically developed engines.

The J-20 was originally fitted with less powerful Russian-made engines. Some of the several dozen J-20s in service are now fitted with WS-10C engines, an upgraded version of an older Chinese-made engine, but China has struggled to develop the WS-15 engine specifically designed for fifth-generation aircraft like the J-20. The lack of engine power is expected to prevent the J-20 from adopting advanced weaponry and high-end operations. (This reblogger’s note: There is no evidence for such allegation of China’s lack of ability to develop advanced engines. China has struggled in developing WS10C and succeeded. China can also succeed in its struggle to develop WS-15.)

Chinese military officials have said the WS-15 would be finished by 2023 and would put the jet on par with the US’s F-22, but Heath said the upgrade shouldn’t be overstated, calling the WS-15 “at least a generation behind” the F-22’s engine. (This reblogger’s note: Heath has no data to prove his allegation.)

The WS-15 “has the usual Chinese problems of short maintenance schedules (This reblogger’s note: Common for new weapons. Do not forget both F-22 and F-35 have the problems of even shorter maintenance schedules. Due to maintenance requirements, in actual war, at most only one third of F-22s are combat ready), or just a short lifespan due to maintenance issues, and quality-control issues and general underperformance,” Heath told Insider. (This reblogger’s note: How short? Please provide the data. Heath has no data to support his speculation.)

Despite its shortcomings, the J-20 has left an impression on US commanders, who have noted that Chinese pilots are flying the J-20 “pretty well,” Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the head of US Pacific Air Forces, said in March.

It is “still too early” to tell whether the J-20 will be used as a multi-role fighter like the F-35 or be focused on air-superiority like the F-22, but China is showing it can employ the jet effectively, Wilsbach said, referring to a recent encounter in which “we got relatively close to the J-20s with our F-35s in the East China Sea and were relatively impressed with command-and-control that was associated with the J-20s.”

As with China’s bomber flights around Taiwan, there is a propaganda aspect to the J-20 patrols. They are “a demonstration of Chinese military muscle” that is not just directed at the US, Heath said. “It’s primarily directed at China’s own people, as well as to Chinese neighbors in the South China Sea.” (This reblogger’s note: Judge by Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach’s impression, it’s primarily directed at the US instead of China’s own people or Chinese neighbors as J-10 and J-11 are enough for that purpose.)

Logistics and heavy lift

A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft

A Chinese military Y-20 transport aircraft at Airshow China 2018 in Zhuhai, November 7, 2018. AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Like the J-20, the Y-20 has been operational for about a decade, and China has focused on developing the Y-20 fleet to support longer-range military operations.

Prior to the flight to Serbia, two Y-20s delivered more than 30 tons of supplies to Tonga after that country was devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami. The 6,000-mile flight was the longest known overseas mission for the Y-20, a former Chinese military instructor told the South China Morning Post.

In November, an aerial-refueling variant of the Y-20 took part in a military flight near Taiwan for the first time, demonstrating a capability considered essential to support longer-range and longer-duration flights by China’s fighters and bombers.

The expanding reach of Chinese military aircraft has been noticed across the Pacific, including in Australia, which US and Australian officials say faces a renewed threat of attack from Beijing. (This reblogger’s note: are the US and its ally so timid to feel threatened by Chinese warplances that are described by Heath as inferior to US ones?)

“If you look at those distances and how that’s been transported, it’s really captured the attention of folks in Canberra,” Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific Security chair at Hudson Institute think tank, said of the flight to Serbia.

Chinese Y-20 cargo planes delivering medical supplies to Wuhan

Y-20s delivering medical workers and medical supplies to Wuhan in February 2020. TPG/Getty Images

“This is exactly the kind of logistics and heavy lift that China’s building [and] that could use some of these facilities and access points that they’re putting money into,” Cronin said on a recent podcast, pointing a security deal recently signed by China and the Solomon Islands.

Long-distance flights to unfamiliar areas have training value but Chinese pilots already have experience conducting such operations in the older Russian-made Il-76 and Il-78 cargo planes that China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, has used for decades, Heath said.

“The difference is they’re using the Y-20 more than the Il-76s and 78s, but it’s not a dramatic change,” Heath told Insider, adding that those missions “are really not designed to replicate” combat, with which most of China’s military does not have experience.

“I’m still not sure that the Chinese themselves know if they can deploy combat forces into a hostile country that is armed with the latest equipment, like surface-to-air missiles,” Heath said. “That’s a type of situation I just don’t see the PLA being well prepared to carry out at this point.” (This reblogger’s note: What is the need for China to deploy equipment in a hostile country since it seeks no world hegemony. In fact, China is now friendly to all nations in the world including the US. It is seeking win-win cooperation with the US. The US is hostile to China for fear of being replaced by China as world number 1 though China has no such ambition)

Source: Business Insider “With new operations on opposite sides of the world, Chinese military aircraft are showing off growing reach”

Note: This is Business Insider’s article I reblogged for readers’ information The article is full of misinformation. My comments have pointed out some of them for reader’s knowledge.

The US Has Simply Regarded China as Its Genuine Enemy but Unable to Isolate It

Posted: April 28, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Comments Off on The US Has Simply Regarded China as Its Genuine Enemy but Unable to Isolate It

Washington Free Beacon’s April-26 article “Why It’s Time To Label China a ‘Genuine Adversary’” says, “Congress must move to designate China as a ‘genuine adversary’ by implementing a series of proposals that will isolate the Communist regime and cut it out of the U.S. economy, according to a new policy brief exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.”

However, there is indeed no need for such Congress designation as the US has already regarded China as a genuine enemy and been attacking it with the trade and tech wars it has launched and maintained against China since the middle of Trump administration.

The US is able to cut China out of its economy but it will suffer similar to what China may suffer. Isolate China? Impossible, even US allies want to make profits in China’s vast ever growing market. US allies in Indo-Pacific such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have joined China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) for that purpose. EU has great interests in China too so that it has signed an investment deal with China though not ramified yet.

Moreover, the US and its allies are not the world. China has Russia as its de facto ally, Pakistan as its iron brother, ASEAN and quite a few other countries as free trade area partners and lots of friends in Latin America, Africa and other areas. China has been successfully conducting its Belt & Road projects in lots of countries in the world. The US and its allies have been worried by such projects and wanted to counter it with US “Build Back Better” initiative but such initiative seems to have been neglected now as their focus now is on Russia-Ukraine war.

Even the US cannot cut itself from China now as its citizens may lose the supply of lots of China-made cheap quality products. That perhaps will not be a long-term problem as China are moving its enterprises geared to exports to the US to Silk Road economic belt; therefore, in the future, the products made by Chinese enterprises in those countries will not be banned by the US as Chinese products. Chinese enterprises will keep on making profits from export of such products and Americans will continue to enjoy such products. However, whether the US has cut China out of its economy is another question.

Comment by Chan Kai Yee on Washington Free Beacon’s article, full text of which can be viewed at https://freebeacon.com/national-security/why-its-time-to-label-china-a-genuine-adversary/

Solomon’s Role in China’s Security Strategy

Posted: April 28, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Breaking Defense’ article “Red line or no, secrecy over China-Solomon Islands pact piques US suspicion” on April 26 describes US and Australia’s worries that China’s cooperation agreement with Solomon may be a secret agreement on China’s military presence in Solomon, the de facto establisment of a military base there.

Building a military base in another country is an outdated strategy as it may has great problem as there may be political instability in the hosing country. However, China does need some bases in the Pacific to protect its trade lifelines through the Pacific to America Continents.

Due to US hostility and Canada’s small population, growth of China’s trade with developed countries in North America is limited, but there are lots of developing countries with substantial populations in Latin America that may rise like ASEAN. Their trade with China may grow sharply like ASEAN. In fact, China’s trade with Latin Americal and the Carabeans rose 26-fold from $12 billion in 2000 to $315 billion in 2020.

China does not pursue world hegemony like the US. It does not want to be the only powerful nation that rules the world so that it is not worried by other countries’ rise. On the contrary, it helps other country grow economically with win-win cooperation under its Belt and Road initiative.

Therefore, China shall have the long-term perspective to see potential further substantial increase of the trade; therefore, it shall be prepared for defense of its trade lifelines in the Pacific when the trade grows to the volume vital to its economy and such lifelines may be cut by US powerful navy.

As mentioned above, military bases in other countries are unpopular and may be closed by hosting countries due to political reasons. The closures of US military bases in US long-term ally the Philippines are typical examples. Therefore, I believe China has to build artificial islands, each of which being protected by two conventional aircraft carrier battle groups. Three to four such islands will be enough to protect its trade lifelines through the Pacific. Solomon Islands may provide logistic services and storm shelter for China’s artificial islands. In addition, Solomon may serve as tourist center for Chinese tourists and be greatly benefited. That may be the secret contents of the agreement between China and Solomon. The agreement by no means crosses the red lines of the US and Australia, but it had better to be kept secret until China has built the artificial islands and their protective carrier battle groups and begun to deploy them.

Comment by Chan Kai Yee on Breaking Defense’ report, full text of which can be viewed at https://breakingdefense.com/2022/04/red-line-or-no-secrecy-over-china-solomon-islands-pact-piques-us-suspicion/?.

China to Make Money from Russia-Ukraine War

Posted: April 27, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

Wars usually consume lots of resources. As Ukraine is not a big country, the scale of war between Ukraine and Russia must not be large, but as the US and its allies have taken side with Ukraine and had the desire to provide as much aids as possible to Ukraine to help it win. The war now has become a war between Russia and the West including, the US, EU, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Korea, the scale of war is now much larger than that merely between a small country and a military power Russia.

During Russia-Ukraine war, China as a neutral country is in a position of making quite a lot of money from the war. As China is neutral, it certainly cannot provide the warring countries with weapons like the US and its allies do, but as war needs lots of supply of food and other materials including materials for making or operating weapons such as oil and gas as fuel for aircrafts, vehicles, ships and boats and cloths, metals and plastics, medicines and the raw materials for making them China as the largest trading country in the world will surely make quite a lot of money from the war.

China may even re-export Russian oil, gas, metals, plastics, etc. without being blamed for helping Russia in its war. For example Russian oil and gas. As China produces oil and gas itself, it can export the oil and gas it produced and make up for the shortage caused by the exports by imports of Russian ones. As China has long-term contracts of import with Russia, China cannot be blamed for that.

Moreover, China has large commercial shipping fleets and access to Russian and Central Asian Railways to Europe, it may provide logistic services for shipping of Western aids to Ukraine. It will thus make money from the logistic services it provides.

Anyway, as a modern war is very expensive and needs lots of resources, those taking part in it will have consumed lots of resources. It certainly provide the opportunities for neutral countries to make lots of money through supply of goods and services for the warring countries.

The longer the war, the more money China may make, but China should not be greedy. It should mediate an early end of the war so that both Russian and Ukrainian peoples may suffer less from the war.

Article by Chan Kai Yee

China Enhances Ties with Middle East, Pacific Islands, etc. while Russia Diverts US Focus to Europe

Posted: April 27, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The US regards China as its major competitor and was focusing on Indo-Pacific before Russia-Ukraine war. It wants EU to side with it in dealing with China, but Russia-Ukraine war has now nearly completely divert US and EU’s attention to Europe. That has reduced US pressure on China.

As the war has caused drastic rises in the prices of energy, food, etc., US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen even suggested that the US would remove some Trump’s trade war tariff hikes on Chinese goods to help deal with the high inflation mainly caused by the war.

The war makes China closer to Middle East power Saudi Arabia so that Saudi has been discussing with China on settlement of oil accounts in Chinese currency Renminbi.

The war has also made the US and its allies lack energy and attention to oppose China’s Belt and Road initiative. China takes the opportunity to enhance its relations with Latin America. What has upset the US and its Indo-Pacific allies most is China’s signing of a security cooperation agreement with the Solomons. China has thus set a foothold in the Pacific.

Russia and China have made efforts to attract India to their side while the US has been making great efforts to attract India into its quad to counter China’s rise. India has tried to please the US in joining the quad but has also joined China and Russia’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization to please Russia. The war caused sharp rise in oil price and India has not only refrained from joining the US and its allies’ sanctions on Russian in punishing Russia but increased its purchase of Russian oil in spite of West sanctions.

China is certainly also benefited from its import of Russian oil and gas at lower prices.

US and its allies’s failure to be involved in the war to protect Ukraine makes Vietnam realize that it cannot rely on US support in countering China in the South China Sea. Therefore, according to Voice of Vietnam’s report “Vietnam hopes to further bolster bilateral ties with China” on April 15, in Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son’s telephone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on April 14, he shared with Wang “delight at the sound progress in relations between the two countries, and agreed to continue to increase high-level exchanges and meetings, promoting practical cooperation across all fields, strengthening coordination in facilitating bilateral trade and removing barriers in border trade, and soon recognizing each other’s vaccine passport to facilitate traveling and exchange activities.” (The report can be viewed at https://vovworld.vn/en-US/news/vietnam-hopes-to-further-bolster-bilateral-ties-with-china-1091095.vov.)

Article by Chan Kai Yee

China Shows Off New ‘Carrier-Killer’ Missile; YJ-21 Can Keep U.S. Ships Away From Taiwan

Posted: April 24, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 13 Comments

By Meera Suresh

04/22/22 AT 5:32 AM

KEY POINTS

  • Footage shows the missile being “cold-launched” from a PLA destroyer
  • The weapon is dubbed “aircraft carrier killer” due to its massive hitting power
  • This makes the Type 055 the most heavily armed surface combatant ever

China has released a video showing the test-fire of a mysterious missile, thought to be hypersonic YJ-21, from one of its huge Type 055 destroyers. And, military analysts believe the rare and daring show of power is a warning to the U.S. and its allies to keep away from Taiwan.

The footage, which went viral on Chinese social media, showed the weapon being “cold-launched” and then boosted into the air. The payload has a long conical-like shape with small fins at its base, reported The Drive.

While there is no official confirmation about the weapon used, defense analysts like H I Sutton believe the missile is a YJ-21, or Eagle Strike-21 hypersonic missile, which can be carried by ships or warplanes. According to Sutton, the missile is dubbed “aircraft carrier killer” due to its massive hitting power. The report by the U.S. Department of Defense mentioned that China may put anti-ship ballistic missiles on its new cruisers.

The YJ-21s is estimated to have a range between 1,000 to 1,500km (600 to 930 miles) and its deployment on the Type 055 destroyer makes the PLA Navy cruiser arguably the most heavily armed surface combatants in the world.

However, the missile seems to have used a “thinner, more elongated, conical-shaped maneuvering reentry vehicle compared to the one found on the YJ-21,” and experts believe the design is modified to fit inside the tight confines of the ship’s Vertical Launch System cells. The Type 055 has 112 vertical launch cells and is a multipole warship with air-defense, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons.

This is the first time China has released such footage. According to Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jie, arming Type 055s with YJ-21 missiles was intended to deter foreign ships from getting involved in the event of an attack on Taiwan. “The matching of Type -55 and YJ-21 missile was designed for anti-access and area-denial to counter America’s maritime hegemony in the region,” Li told South China Morning Post.

Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank in Beijing, agrees. He thinks the unprecedented demonstration is aimed at warning both Washington and Taipei that the PLA has many options for anti-access and area-denial strategy.

“Beijing is worrying that the unlimited U.S. military assistance to Ukraine and a recent American congressional group tour to Taiwan might make Taipei believe Washington may provide the same help in the event of a conflict between the mainland and Taiwan,” Zhou said.

Source: ibtimes.com “China Shows Off New ‘Carrier-Killer’ Missile; YJ-21 Can Keep U.S. Ships Away From Taiwan”

Note: This is ibtimes.com’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.

US, Its Allies Too Late to Give Weapons to Ukrainian People

Posted: April 24, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 6 Comments

Russia gave priority to occupation of territories in Ukraine at the first stage of its invasion of Ukraine but failed. However, it realized its mistake and focuses now on wiping out Ukrainian troops at the second stage of the war.

Though it has not taken entire Ukrainian territories, it has succeeded in obtaining control of Ukrainian air space and encircling all Ukrainian troops within a limited number of cities.

The US and its allies committed the mistake of giving priority to sanctions but failed to subdue Russia with sanctions. They now have also realized Ukrainian people’s strength and begun to provide aids for them to resist Russia. However, that has been too little, too late. The most important is air dominance. Ukrainian President Zelinskyy asked for the establishment of a no-fly zone or provision of warplanes to fight for air dominance but the US has rejected the request for fear of direct involvement in the war that may extend the war into a world war.

Without air dominance, Russia is able to concentrate its forces to take Ukrainian cities one by one and wipe out Ukrainian troops there while Ukraine cannot send troops as reinforcements to support the city surrounded and attacked by Russian concentrated forces. The US sees the danger of Ukrainian troops being wiped out city by city so that according to The Hill’s report “News Alert: US races clock to ship weapons to Ukraine” at The Hill <thehill@email.thehill.com 9 hours ago, “The United States and its allies are racing the clock to ship weapons and other military equipment to Ukraine amid a brutal and renewed Russian attack on the country’s east.”

However, without air dominance, the weapons sent to Ukraine may well be destroyed by Russian air force on their way to the Ukrainian cities encircled by Russia. If Ukraine sends convoy to protect the weapons, they may be wiped out by Russian force and thus fall into Russia’s trap of ambushing reinforcement by encircling the enemy.

Attack is the best way of defense. The US and its allies should have provided Ukraine with offensive weapons, first of all, advanced warplanes to control the sky and tanks, armored vehicles and artillery for ground offensives before the war as they know well beforehand that Russia would invade Ukraine.

Ukraine should have concentrated its forces to attack and wipe out Russian troops that had at first spread in Ukraine’s vast areas in its initial attempt to occupy Ukraine’s entire territories. It should not have spread its troops in various cities to be encircled by Russian troops.

Though Russia’s attempt to take entire Ukraine has failed, it has achieved air dominance and cut and encircled Ukrainian troops in a limited number of cities. It can take time to concentrate superior forces to take Ukrainian cities one by one and wipe out Ukrainian troops there so that time is now on Russia’s side.

The US and its allies have to race clock to provide Ukraine with weapons to break Russian encirclement and enable it to send reinforcement for the regions where Russia is attacking with superior forces. However, that is very difficult now as Ukraine has no air force to resist Russian air raids.

Poor Ukraine, it has failed to make sufficient preparations to counter Russian invasion as it, at first, believed that West sanctions were enough to stop Russian invasion. Now, it lacks adequate weapons to counter Russian offensives and have to rely on limited supply of Western weapons. The best choice for it now is to negotiate for a cease fire. For that China may help as it is both sides’ friend and has kept neutral ever since the beginning of the war.

Comment by Chan Kai Yee on The Hill’s report, full text of which may be viewed at thehill@email.thehill.com.

Chinese-born maths genius leaves Harvard to help China become a powerhouse on subject

Posted: April 24, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • Yau Shing-Tung, the first Chinese winner of the prestigious Fields Medal, will be chair professor in mathematics at Tsinghua University
  • 73-year-old aims to ‘take over the torch’ passed down by late teacher and modern geometry pioneer Chern Shiing-shen

Ling Xin in Beijing

Published: 9:00pm, 21 Apr, 2022

Photo prof. yau

Yau Shing-tung aims to help China cultivate young, top mathematicians at home. Photo: Jonathan Wong

World-renowned Chinese mathematician Yau Shing-Tung has announced his retirement from his position at Harvard University to teach full-time at Tsinghua University in Beijing, aiming to help China become a maths powerhouse within a decade.

“This is a major decision in his life,” said a colleague of Yau’s from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

Although Yau, 73, had spent a lot of time teaching for free in China in recent years, the new move means “he’s ready to leave five decades of life in the US behind, and devote all his time and energy to promoting the development of maths in China,” said the colleague, who did not wish to be named.

Source: SCMP “Chinese-born maths genius leaves Harvard to help China become a powerhouse on subject”

Note: This is SCMP’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.

Israel adds Chinese RMB to Central Bank reserves for first time, cuts USD holdings

Posted: April 23, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Israel, whose foreign currency reserves have traditionally been made up of Dollars, Euros and British Pounds, will add four new currencies – including the Chinese Yuan (RMB).

By BEN ZION GAD Published: APRIL 22, 2022 00:21

Updated: APRIL 22, 2022 06:16Email Twitter Facebook fb-messenger

Israel has added four new currencies – including the Chinese Yuan (RMB) – to its central bank holdings for the first time in the country’s history, Bloomberg reports. Israel’s Central Bank will also trim US Dollar (USD) and Euro holdings in a bid to diversify their foreign reserves.

Israel’s foreign currency reserves, which last year exceeded $200 billion for the first time, have traditionally been made up of USD, Euro and British Pound (GBP) holdings. Israel will now include Canadian dollars and Australian dollars in their foreign currency reserves, as well as the Japanese Yen and the Chinese Renminbi.

Deputy Governor Andrew Abir called the reshuffle a change in Israel’s “whole investment guidelines and philosophy,” adding that the rise in Israel’s foreign exchange reserves forced the Central Bank to consider “the need to earn a return on the reserves that will cover the costs of liability.”

The Central Bank, which as recently as 2020 held 67.4% of its foreign exchange in USD, 30.1% in Euros and 2.5% in British Pounds, now plans to have the British Pound and Japanese Yen account for 5% each. The Chinese Yuan will account for 2% of their holdings, while the currencies of Canada and Australia will weigh at 3.5% each.

A reduction in USD and Euro holdings is planned in order to make room for the new reserves being held. USD holdings will go from 66.5% in 2021 to 61% – a roughly 8.3% reduction – while Israel’s Euro holdings will be reduced from 30.8% to 20% – a staggering 35% decline in investment.

Chinese Yuan and “De-Dollarization”

China has pushed for a larger role in the foreign exchange sphere for their currency, the Chinese Yuan Renminbi – with limited success. International Monetary Fund data shows that the RMB’s share of global currency reserves rose to a record 2.79% by the end of 2021 – though efforts to expand RMB holdings have been met with criticism of the Chinese government’s tight regulation, limits on exchange and accusations of currency devaluation.

Amid a barrage of sanctions placed on Russia to cripple their economy as they invade neighboring Ukraine, numerous countries have grown weary of the risks involved with a USD-based global economy in what is being called a potential “de-dollarization” – potentially forging a path for the Yuan to grow in international importance.

While Japan, South Korea and Singapore imposed sanctions on Russia, the Philippines, a US treaty ally, has decided to proceed with its purchase of 17 Russian military transport helicopters worth $249 million in March. While China has faced criticism for not formally condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nor imposing sanctions, prominent countries such as India – a major US ally – have declined to formally condemn the invasion or impose sanctions on Russia.

India, Russia’s largest military trading partner, said they would set up a rupee-ruble exchange mechanism to settle Russian arms sales to India to avoid sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in a March interview with CNBC.

China, which developed its own alternative to the SWIFT banking system in 2015, was exploring a joint alternative to SWIFT with Russia and India as early as 2019, according to The Economic Times. Russian banks were disconnected from SWIFT shortly after Russia’s invasion in late February.

Source: Jpost.com “Israel adds Chinese RMB to Central Bank reserves for first time, cuts USD holdings”

Note: This is jpost.com’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the report’s views.

China Claims ‘World Record’ In Quantum Communications (QSDC); Says Securely Transmitted Data Over 100 Km

Posted: April 23, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

By Ashish Dangwal- April 16, 2022

Beijing’s ambition to revolutionize quantum communication looks to be succeeding, as Chinese scientists claim to have set a world record for the longest quantum secure direct communication (QSDC), transferring information securely over 100 Km (62 miles)

Long Guilu, the developer of quantum-based secure direct communication technology, and his team announced that they have achieved a new distance record by safely transmitting data over 100 Km (62 miles), reported SCMP.

The observations were published in the journal Light: Science & Applications in early April in an article titled “Realization of quantum secure direct communication over 100 Km fiber with time-bin and phase quantum states.”

Despite transmission speeds being slow (0.54 bits per second), the paper noted that it was a major improvement over Long’s previous record of 18.5 Km set in 2020, two decades after he devised the device that can identify and prevent eavesdropping threats.

Long, a Tsinghua University physics professor and vice-president of the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences, noted the transmission speeds, saying they were good enough for phone calls and text messaging at roughly 30 Km.

He claimed that the technology was ready to be integrated with standard encryption techniques to create a secure network with classical relay points.

“If we replace parts of the internet today, where more eavesdropping attacks happen, with quantum channels, those parts will have the added ability to sense and prevent eavesdropping, making communication even safer,” Long added.

A bank account password, for example, could be securely communicated between two devices 90 Km away using three 30 Km quantum channels connected by two relay points and protected by encryption, according to Long.

The most notable aspect is that any eavesdropping attempt during quantum transmission would be spotted, whereas information at the relay points would be safeguarded by classical encryption.

“The experiment shows that intercity quantum secure direct communication through the fiber is feasible with present-day technology,” the team noted, adding that the technique also has “great potential” to secure the 6G technology.

The longest QSDC distance published before this breakthrough was 18.5 Km. “The rapid progress of quantum computing causes anxiety over the security of those traditional communications,” the Chinese quantum team wrote.

China’s Quantum Communication Advances

China has made strides in quantum technology’s industrial utilization. In recent years, it has made several quantum technological advances, such as the world’s first quantum satellite, a 2,000 Km quantum communication line between Beijing and Shanghai, and the world’s first optical quantum computing machine prototype.

Additionally, one of Beijing’s aims for its 14th five-year plan, which ends in 2025, is to establish an intercity quantum demonstration network based on secure relays. In November of last year, the goal was also incorporated into the city’s international science and technology innovation center team the construction plans.

Although it’s unknown how much further Chinese researchers have progressed in quantum computing, the Pentagon’s 2021 report to Congress on China states that China “continues its pursuit of leadership in key technologies with significant military potential.”

According to the science journal Nature, the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei conducted the first “definitive demonstration” of using quantum mechanics for computations that would be “prohibitively slow on classical computers” in 2020.

While there have been no reports of it being used for military purposes, experts believe the technology could be used in the future by China’s armed forces. Quantum could help detect submarines and stealth aircraft among other “military vehicles,” said Heather West, a senior research analyst with market research firm IDC in the US state of Massachusetts. Quantum computing can break “classical algorithms” to check on another country’s military, she told VOA.

China has already concerned other countries by combining civilian and military assets as part of a Military-Civil Fusion Development Strategy, making it difficult for the rest of the world to predict when academic research will become a valuable resource for the People’s Liberation Army.

atellite-based quantum key distribution – DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation, Germany

Meanwhile, other countries are working on this arena as well. Quantum computing is included in the AUKUS military technology sharing agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which was unveiled in September last year.

According to the National Defense Industrial Association, the White House, National Science Foundation, and Department of Energy stated in August 2020 that they would grant $625 million over five years for quantum R&D.

Quantum computing and quantum communication are still in their early stages of development. For many years to come, none of this research will be of practical application. However, quantum technology has significant geopolitical implications: fully functional quantum networks might offer unhackable communication routes, and a potent quantum computer might theoretically overcome most of the encryption used to safeguard emails and Internet operations.

Source: EurAsian Times “China Claims ‘World Record’ In Quantum Communications (QSDC); Says Securely Transmitted Data Over 100 Km”

Note: This is EurAsian Times’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean whether I agree or disagree with the article’s views.

← Older Entries