May 21:
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has invited China’s Premier Wen Jiabao to visit the island after he retires later this year under Taipei’s “free independent traveller program for Chinese tourists.” Ma was responding to a statement Wen made after China’s National People’s Congress in March that he would be willing to visit Taiwan after retirement. Ma also called for expanded interaction between the two sides “to consolidate peace, expand prosperity and deepen mutual trust,” The China Post reports.
May 22:
A yearlong U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee probe has found that vast numbers of counterfeit Chinese-made electronic parts are being used in U.S. military equipment. More than 70 percent of an estimated one million suspect counterfeit parts used in the Navy’s SH-60B helicopters, P-8A Poseidon planes, C-130Js, and C-27Js cargo planes, among others, were traced back to China, the BBC reports. Committee staff that attempted to travel to China for the investigation were not granted visas. “Rather than acknowledging the problem and moving aggressively to shut down counterfeiters the Chinese government has tried to avoid scrutiny,” according to the report. The committee also criticized China for failing to shut down counterfeit manufacturers claiming “counterfeit electronic parts are sold openly in public markets in China.” In response, the official China Daily called the accusation an “attempt to distract the U.S. public from the real problems that are plaguing the country” and noted that the U.S. has maintained a military embargo on China for 23 years and called on Washington “to find out who purchased the parts and how they passed muster.”
[Editor’s Note: The report described the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP) designed to log suspected fake parts as “woefully lacking.” Between 2009 and 2010 GIDEP received 217 reports of fake counterfeit components only 13 of which came from U.S. government agencies. The National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law on December 31, aims to stop counterfeit parts from entering the U.S.]
Israel’s Defense Force Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen Benny Gantz, has visited Beijing for talks with Vice President Xi Jinping and People’s Liberation Army chief Gen. Chen Bingde. “Both militaries should make greater efforts to cooperate and learn from each other,” Xi said. He called on “the militaries of both countries to boost cooperation and promote bilateral relations,” the official China Radio International reports. Chen said high-level military visits and exchanges among technical groups have enriched their cooperation, the official People’s Daily reports. Last August Chen became the first Chinese military chief to visit Israel, The Jerusalem Post reports.
May 24:
A survey of Chinese aged 15 to 64 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang by China’s insurance company Ping An reports that the average Chinese is 8.2 years older than his or her chronological age, a sign of poor health. The results showed that 83 percent of Chinese suffer from unbalanced nutrition, 66 percent have irregular blood pressure, and 34 percent are overstressed. The report indicated that women maintained better daily habits, psychological condition and social activities than men, according to the official Beijing Times.
May 25:
On the Chinese government’s official website, Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu has vowed to expand police capacity and maintain social stability using advanced technology. “Whether fighting criminals, maintaining stability or serving the people, we cannot do without advanced technology,” Meng said. Meng made the remark at the 6th China International Exhibition on Police Equipment in Beijing, calling for enhancing the research and use of technology to modernize China police force. In 2009 China had 2.75 million video surveillance cameras, with 265,000 in the capital Beijing alone, Britain’s Daily Mailreported.