China Reform Monitor: No. 1164

April 28:

“The authorities have allowed couples who are single children to have a second child. But still the birth rate of second children has not seen any significant increase. It is time to further ease the family planning policy and allow more families to have a second child so that more youths can come forward to join the military,” the official PLA Dailyreports. Despite its huge population, China has a shortage of military personnel, but the one child policy is only part of the problem. More than 60 percent of Beijing youths applying to join the army have failed to pass the health test since 2006. A March, 2014 report on Beijing's primary and secondary school students’ health “showed 21.6 percent of them were overweight, of which 50.2 percent had high blood sugar levels, 46 percent had abnormal blood fat, 45.1 percent had fatty liver and 30.7 percent had high blood pressure. As if those were not enough, 49.77 percent of the primary school students and 81.19 percent of those in middle schools were near-sighted.” In response last year, the PLA “changed the weight, height and eyesight requirements in order to recruit enough youths in the military.”

May 6:

China will protect its economic interests in Turkmenistan’s gas deposits against Taliban forces gathering in Afghanistan’sFariab Province, 150 kilometers from the border. “When there is a direct threat to the project that costs several billion dollars and that feeds economies of China's western provinces, the Chinese government will not deny Afghanistan large-scale military and economic assistance,” the Gundogar news website reports. “Fariab Province, which borders Turkmenistan and has been under Taleban's control since January this year, raises concerns about the possibility of Taleban's intrusion into Turkmenistan.”

May 10:

While in Russia to celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin “confirmed the strategic character of Russian-Chinese interstate relations.” RIA Novosti reports that at their meeting Xi Jinping said: “the Russian and Chinese peoples will defend world peace shoulder to shoulder.” Russia’s Defense Minister Army Gen Sergey Shoygu told vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, Fan Changlong: “We fully support China’s President Xi Jinping statement. Moscow is satisfied with joint naval and antiterrorist exercises with China and calls for further expansion of practical collaboration in this area.” The joint training “demonstrated a high level of practical collaboration,” and the Russian ministry favors “further expansion,” he said. “The heads of our states pay special attention to military-technical cooperation. We intend to expand it consistently.”

May 14:

Three Chinese citizens have been detained by Burmese authorities for spying for the Chinese military in the border region of Kokang, Radio Free Asia reports. Li Nan, Mu Tengfei and a driver identified as Wang were detained by Myanmar government troops close to the Yunnan border. Authorities became suspicious because the men were wearing army-issue vests and shorts, and their mobile phones contained photos of other people in military garb.

May 15:

Shelling from Myanmar’s armed forces wounded five people – one Chinese and four Burmese nationals – and damaged four houses and three vehicles near Lincang, Yunnan. As fighting has intensified in Myanmar's northeastern Kokang region over the past several months, China has repeatedly demanded that Myanmar prevent fighting from spilling over the border. Government soldiers have been battling rebels who were dug in as close as 500 meters from the Chinese border, Channel News Asia reports. Tens of thousands of people, many ethnic Chinese, have fled to China to escape the fighting. In March, stray bombs from fighting between ethnic Chinese rebels and Myanmar government forces resulted in five deaths in Yunnan.