October 29:
U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz and China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) chairman Ma Xingrui attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Center of Excellence on Nuclear Security, a jointly financed project. When finished in 2015, the center, which is located in Changyang, “will be equipped with environmental labs, response force exercise facilities, test sites for physical protection, and buildings for technology display and training, experiments and scientific research,” the Global Times reports. The idea, first suggested by former President Hu Jintao in 2010 during the Washington Nuclear Security Summit, is intended to improve China’s nuclear security capacity and serve as a platform for joint training and technological exchanges. During Hu’s state visit to Washington in January 2011 an agreement was signed to set up the center.
October 31:
Beijing has published a list of 35 illegal newspapers and magazines “covering a range of areas including literature, comics, political news, military affairs, medicine and academics,” and ordered local agencies to confiscate them and track their production and marketing networks. The National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office has encouraged public tip-offs on illegal publications and vowed “severe punishments for violators and awards for whistleblowers” who inform the agency of “publications [that] are unlicensed or published with forged serial numbers.” The move is part of an ongoing two-month government crackdown, launched in mid-October, on publishing and journalism targeting “unlicensed publications, fake reporters and the re-sale of publishing rights,” the official People’s Daily reports.
November 4:
Japan and Russia have held their first round of bilateral defense talks in Tokyo and “agreed to boost security cooperation in the face of North Korea’s nuclear threats and China’s growing military clout in the region,” South Korea’s Yonhap reports. Liu Jiangyong of Tsinghua University noted that Russia and Japan had “different” intentions for holding the defense talks. “I do not think Russia is countering China by holding the meeting, but I think it is a major aim of Japan to counterbalance China’s influence,” Liu said.
The first telecommunications cable directly linking China and Taiwan has begun operating. Authorities in both Beijing and Taipei have approved the cable, which promises to improve the quality of communications services (currently routed primarily through Japan) and meet surging corporate demand. The 136 mile cable links the coastal town of Tamshui, Taiwan and Fuzhou, Fujian. Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s leading telecom operator, and three other local telecom operators jointly hold a 50 percent stake in the $34 million project, while China Mobile and China Unicom share the remainder. Demand is expected to surge as Chinese operators launch fourth-generation mobile communications and place a greater emphasis on cloud computing, the Agence France Press reports.
November 5:
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “campaign to correct undesirable behaviors and fight corruption has uncovered more than 8,100 apartments and more than 25,000 vehicles kept illicitly by its personnel,” the official China Daily reports. “PLA units have held criticism and self-criticism meetings and submitted reports to echo a Communist Party of China drive to clean up undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.” The effort also includes the strict implementation of rules regarding “secretaries and office attendants for senior military officers,” according to a PLA statement. Some units have vowed to return illegal housing, eliminate illicit secretaries, strictly regulate the use of military vehicles as well as cut administrative expenditures including conferences and documents.