China Reform Monitor: No. 1088

February 18:

Chinese soldiers are significantly taller and heavier than they were 20 years ago and are in danger of outgrowing their equipment. The average soldier’s height is now 2 centimeters more than it was two decades ago and waistlines are 5 centimeters larger, making tank hatches and aircraft cockpits a tight fit. In response, a recent People’s Liberation Army (PLA) study recommended developing a new generation of roomier battlefield equipment, beginning with tanks. Even rifle stocks will be lengthened so as not to affect firing accuracy, the Financial Times reports.

A United Nations Human Rights Council report on North Korean human rights abuses has criticized China for not admitting investigators access to areas in northeast China populated by North Koreans. It also charged that Beijing is failing to meet its responsibility to refugees under international law, the New York Times reports. The report stated: “China pursues a rigorous policy of forcibly repatriating [North Korean] citizens who cross the border illegally. Many such nationals should be recognized as refugees fleeing persecution. They are thereby entitled to international protection. In forcibly returning nationals, China also violates its obligation to respect the principle of non-refoulement under international refugee and human rights law.”

February 19:

Yang Minqing, a military analyst at the World Affairs Research Center of the state-run Xinhua News Agency, has said the PLA intends to confront the U.S. military in space. Yang said that America’s “fatal weakness” is its overreliance on “protection and support from its infrastructure in space” to operate advanced weaponry. As a result, China can take advantage of this weakness using “localized attacks” to “crush” America’s space systems, communications links, and ground facilities. China has already developed several space weapons, including anti-satellite missiles, lasers and directed energy guns, and maneuvering satellites, the Washington Times reports. U.S. officials have said its military would have trouble operating over long distances if its communications, intelligence and navigation satellites were damaged.

February 21:

Last month the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection took Liang Ke, the director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of State Security, into custody for official misconduct. The allegations against Liang involve corruption relating to his dealings with Zhou Yongkang, the former security chief who is now under investigation. Using the bureau’s network of agents, phone taps, and informants in the Chinese capital, Liang allegedly passed information illicitly to Zhou, who “sought to turn sections of the domestic security apparatus, including state security officials, into tools for advancing his own interests, undermining the authority of the central leadership,” the New York Times reports. Zhou’s support for Bo Xilai, the former Politburo member sentenced to life in prison for corruption and abuse of power, unsettled senior officials. Ji Wenlin, vice governor of Hainan and Zhou’s aide for a decade, is also under investigation.

[Editor’s Note: Before retiring in 2012, Zhou was the Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of China’s courts, police and domestic security. Liang’s detention takes Zhou’s investigation into uncertain terrain; The Ministry of State Security controls China’s overseas espionage and domestic intelligence gathering on officials, foreign diplomats, and journalists.]

February 23:

As many as 6,000 Hong Kong residents have rallied against China’s encroachment on the city’s press freedom. Protesters cited violent incidents against the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the politically-motivated ousting of a senior editor at the Ming Pao newspaper, and rising self-censorship among journalists. One cable-television reporter said the future of press freedom in Hong Kong “depends on what kind of fight we put up. If we don’t speak up, of course it will only get worse.” Another reporter told the Wall Street Journal that editors had pressured him to ensure that references to “Occupy Central” – a plan to occupy the financial district to demand full universal suffrage – also stressed the movement’s potentially destructive impact. “I definitely see more censorship,” he said. This year, Reporters Without Borders ranked Hong Kong No. 61 in press-freedom worldwide – a fall of three places over last year’s survey.