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Is the U.S. letting its nuclear arsenal collapse?
To repeat, as the Financial Times does, that “world’s nine nuclear-armed powers” will spend $1 trillion over ten years on the “procurement and modernization” of nuclear weapons only befogs the nuclear disarmament debate (Nuclear-armed countries to spend $1,000bn this decade, June 19).
More helpful would have been some FT reference to the fact that, while the U.S. is dismantling its own nuclear arsenal, China is the world’s busiest builder of nuclear weapons.
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Chinese People's Volunteers in the Korean War: Lessons Learned
WHAT THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY LEARNED
FROM THE KOREAN WAR — A HALF-CENTURY LATER
Army’s (PLA) first real taste of “positional warfare” — is held out
by the PLA’s historians and tactical instructors as proof of Mao
Where’s Venezuela’s Oil Going?
The Wall Street Journal says Venezuela will find it hard to sell 1 million barrels a day of crude oil to China – half its production – in exchange for $20 billion in Chinese development financing. Venezuelan crude is heavy and difficult to refine, and a Wikileaks cable from last year suggests China could be getting it for as little as $5 a barrel. Last year, the NYTimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/world/americas/19venez.html) reported that China was buying 460,000 bbd from Venezuela, but only 132,000 bbd were actually refined in China.
Chinese G-20 host wants to replace dollar as reserve currency
Clearly the Chinese want to have their non-convertable RMB cake and eat it too. But how can they reap the riches of seigniorage for the yuan without opening it to international trading and - ahem - speculation? A Chinese state-run think tank (which is now hosting a G-20 seminar in Nanjing to study international exchange rates) published a paper Thursday blaming the global financial crisis mostly on the U.S.
Australian writer disappears in China
As China’s unprecedented crackdown on dissent continues unabated, an Australian-Chinese, Yang Hengjun, considered to be “the most influential blogger in Chinese,” has disappeared in Guangzhou after telling friends by phone that he was “having tea with old friends” – a prearranged signal that he had been arrested by Chinese secret police. The Australian Embassy is seeking information, but a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman only says “I have not heard of that person.”
Zimbabwe to nationalize all foreign miners – except Chinese
Further evidence of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe’s special relationship with China came Monday as he announced that all foreign miners must sell out to Zimbabwe owners – except China. China, it is said, is carrying out special “national projects.” Do we all recall the mysterious Chinese container ship that tried to deliver several tons of heavy weapons and small arms to Mugabe's secret police via South Africa - and, then that didn't work, via Angola - in 2008 just as Mugabe needed them to suppress his political opposition.
China Spies in Taiwan undermine Island’s relations with U.S.
http://jir.janes.com/public/jir/chinawatch.shtml
Tsunami speeds up key Japan lithium battery plant’s move to China
A Japanese factory that produces polyvinylidene fluoride substrate for 70% of the lithium-ion batteries on earth – and all the batteries for Apple’s iPad – was destroyed in the March 11 Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami. Kureha Corp. says it was “already thinking about shifting some of our production to the States and China. We will now accelerate these plans." A move will be a loss to Japan -- and ideally, the plant should remain there -- but if it must move, let's hope most of the operations come to the U.S. -- not to China.
HSBC move makes Chinese Yuan “more tradable”
HSBC move makes Chinese Yuan “more tradable”: Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp has launched an offshore currency index for the Chinese renminbi yuan which, while only a microfraction of current global foreign exchange trade volume, certainly makes the yuan “more tradeable.” It also is a step that strengthens confidence in the yuan as an international trading medium. http://blogs.wsj.com/exchange/2011/03/30/hsbc-launches-offshore-yuan-index/
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