October 30:
Afghan crude will be processed at a Tajik refinery owned by the Chinese firm “Heli” and supplied to Belarus, the Tajik Avesta website reports. The firm has signed an agreement with its Afghan partners to supply oil to Tajikistan. “China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has produced oil in Afghanistan since October 2012. Heli and CNPC have agreed to supply oil to Tajikistan. Heli has signed agreements to supply crude oil to the prospective oil refinery,” said an unnamed Tajik official. The output capacity of the prospective refinery’s first facility, which will cost over $160 million, will be up to 500,000 metric tons of oil per year. The second stage, costing over $300 million, will increase the refinery’s capacity to up to 1.2 million metric tons. Heli will also build a plant to produce Euro III standard fuel and lubricants, as well as bitumen, Avesta reported in another article several days later.
November 6:
Using new laser technology, China’s military has conducted two anti-satellite tests, said Konstantin Sivkov of the Moscow-based Academy of Geopolitical Problems, Want China Times reports. Sivkov said to “blind American air, ground and naval forces” it is crucial for China to destroy U.S. satellites at the beginning of a conflict. Beijing has conducted several exercises against tank and unmanned aerial vehicles using laser weapons. The China Academy of Engineering Physics’ low-altitude air defense system designed to intercept aircraft below 500m was used in several drills against drones. The China Academy of Engineering Physics has opened the Shenguang 3 high-energy research center in Sichuan to help the military speed up and promote the development of laser weaponry.
November 8:
China is surprised at Mexico’s decision to revoke a $3.75 billion high-speed rail contract from China Railway Construction Corp Ltd, saying the company had strictly followed the bidding procedure and the decision was “because of domestic factors.” Mexico’s opposition accused the government of favoring the Chinese firm – the sole bidder on the contract inked on November 3. “It had nothing to do with the Chinese enterprise, and the Chinese government hopes that the case could be settled properly as soon as possible,” said China’s spokesperson. “It is surprising to hear Mexico decided to scrap the rail deal as the Chinese enterprise has been strictly following the public bidding procedures and requirements, and the bidding content complies with the requirements of the Mexican government. The Chinese government encourages enterprises to participate in infrastructure construction in Mexico in a mutually beneficial way, and hopes the Mexican government could create a fair competition environment for these enterprises.” Mexico’s Communications and Transport Ministry said it expects to re-open the tender late this month under the same terms, and would keep it open for six months, Reuters reports.
November 11:
Russia will now provide air-launched weapons directly for China’s Russian-made Sukhoi fighters, said Boris Obnosov, director-general of the Tactical Missile Armaments (TMA) corp. “TMA supplies the whole range of air-launched weapons used on China’s Su fighters without Ukraine's participation. Previously, only Ukraine supplied R-27 air-to-air missiles,” Russia’s official ITAR-TASS reports.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. has revealed its new supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, CX-1, for the first time at Airshow China 2014. The full-size model bore a striking resemblance to the Russian-Indian BrahMos (Kh-31) supersonic cruise missile; both have a two-stage structural design and are of similar size. ITAR-TASS reports that Chinese copies did not concern Obnosov: “Let them copy, no problem. But we go forward and evolve. Copied does not mean equivalent. You need to look at what flight radio-electrical system it has, what warhead, guidance system, jamming resistance. We have our Kh-31 missile, the Chinese don’t have an equal.” An English language report was released on the Russia-India report.