China Reform Monitor: No. 1111

June 11:

Taiwan’s vice minister of economic affairs, Shen Jong-chin, will lead a group of Taiwanese telecommunication businesses to visit Beijing from June 24-25 to enhance cooperation on 4G and 5G telecoms systems, Taiwan’s China Times reports. The trip will focus on cross-strait negotiations to reduce cross-strait taxes, with the cross-strait trade-in-services pact stuck in the legislature after widespread protests in Taiwan in March and April. Taiwan’s carriers are hoping to take advantage of the fast growing 4G market in China, worth an estimated $25 billion in annual revenue. Woody Duh, deputy minister of economic affairs in charge of political affairs, said the tax negotiations are moving forward slowly and would not be concluded this year. Duh added that no progress will be made on the cross-strait trade-in-goods pact before the cross-strait trade-in-services pact is passed.

June 12:

For the second time in three weeks Japan has accused China of “dangerously” buzzing its fighter jets over the East China Sea, the Straits Times reports. Two Chinese SU-27 jets flew within 100 feet of Japanese aircraft in an area where the two countries’ air defense zones overlap. “It was an action which cannot be tolerated,” said a Japanese government spokesman. Tokyo accused Beijing of playing chicken in the skies near the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands, which Japan controls but which China also claims. China's Defense Ministry denied the incident, but warned of “additional steps.” Meanwhile, at the fifth round of so-called 2+2 talks in Tokyo, the defense and foreign affairs chiefs of Japan and Australia agreed to build a legal framework for joint research and trade in defense equipment. Tokyo has relaxed restrictions on Japan’s arms industry to allow it to sell high-tech weaponry abroad just as time Canberra is in the market for submarines.

June 15:

Four Chinese naval vessels have left port on their way to participate in five-weeks of naval exercises with the U.S. and over twenty other countries off the coast of Hawaii, Kyodo reports. China dispatched a missile destroyer, a missile frigate, a supply ship, and a hospital ship from two ports in Hainan for the country’s inaugural appearance in the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercises. The ships will participate in humanitarian aid, search and rescue exercises, and maritime security drills. Xu Hongmeng, deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army, called the exercises an “important part of the efforts to build a new model of relations between China and the U.S,” the official Global Times reports. Japan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and South Korea are among the Asian countries also taking part in the exercises, which begin off the coast of Guam on June 26.

June 21:

Amid growing tensions with China in the South China Sea the antiquated Philippine army continues to upgrade its Vietnam-era military hardware. The air force announced that eight armed versions of the Agusta Westlands AW-109 would arrive later this year, and twelve Korean-made FA-50 light combat aircraft would be added in 2015. Next month, Manila will take possession of 27,000 new M-4 automatic assault rifles – a shorter and lighter version of the M-16A2 – as part of an order of 63,000 new M-4s worth about $50.7 million, the Straits Times reports.

June 25:

Chinese censors have blocked almost all Google services, the Manila Times reports. According to Google’s Transparency Report the blockade began on May 31 in the run-up to the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown anniversary, but has continued and may be long-term. Beijing gave no explanation for the disruption although earlier this month, the official China Daily warned that U.S. companies like Google pose a threat to Chinese users because of their cooperation with U.S. government surveillance activities. So far, Google has confirmed that “there are no technical problems on our side,” but refused to comment further. In response, GreatFire.org, a website that monitors China’s Internet censorship regime, has launched a new service that allows mainland users to bypass the blockade. Available at SinaApp.co, the so-called mirror site, is integrated with Amazon’s cloud computing services, making it impossible to block without also shutting off access to numerous other pages – including those of top companies – that also rely on Amazon’s cloud. “Google could do this themselves, and very quickly, and much better than we can do it. I’m not sure why they’re not,” said one GreatFire.org founder.