May 27:
Moscow-based RIA (Russian Information Agency) Novosti has published an editorial expressing concern about the rapid decline in Sino-Russian military ties. The news agency reports that Russian companies are not working on a single major contract for China, supplying only spare parts and components. The China-Russia bilateral commission on military technical cooperation has not met for two years, and Russia's defense minister has repeatedly postponed his visit to Beijing. One reason for the decline was Russia's failure to deliver on a $1.5 billion order for 34 Il-76MD Candid transport aircraft and four Il-78 Midas flying tankers. Another is that China no longer wants to buy what Russia is offering, preferring to import weapons of its choice, together with licenses and technology for their production, which Moscow is not willing to provide. Several years ago Beijing purchased a license to assemble 200 Su-27SK fighters at the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, but suspended the contract after producing only 105 aircraft. China is now building the planes without Russian assistance. Novosti’s editorial poses the question, “Is Russia supplying weapons to an army that may turn against it tomorrow?”
[Editor's Note: Not long ago, Russian arms and equipment supplies to China made up 40% of Russia's military exports, and earned the country between $1.8 billion and $2.5 billion a year. The Chinese Air Force, for instance, currently has over 280 Russian Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 Flanker fighters. Russian military deliveries to China over the past 15 years, mostly of aircraft, naval and air defense equipment, have exceeded $25 billion.]
May 30:
Seven “cadres” from Sichuan province – recent site of a massive and destructive earthquake -- have been sacked for incompetence. China’s central government has warned that those who neglected their duties or wasted quake relief funds and materials would be “severely punished by the Communist Party and the government.” The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the Communist Party's discipline watchdog – along with the Ministry of Supervision issued the rare joint regulation, which was followed by a statement from the mainland's top anti-graft official, He Guoqiang, who said 35 billion yuan in donations and government relief funds would be audited and any irregularities would be made public on a regular basis. According to the South China Morning Post, corporations found to have abused relief funds and materials will face prosecution under a new law passed just two weeks before the quake.
May 31:
Japan scrapped plans to use ASDF C-130 military transport planes in favor of charter aircraft to deliver aid to earthquake victims in China after Beijing expressed concerns about what would have been the first Japanese military deployment to China since World War II. A huge number of messages opposing the planned dispatch appeared on Chinese internet message boards before the Japanese government abandoned the idea. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported several comments posted on nationalistic forums: "We don't need Japanese tents, even if people in the stricken regions are suffering," "It is like allowing a wolf into your room," and "We absolutely oppose it! Down with Japanese imperialism!"
In what would be rare and major reversal on longstanding Chinese policy, a leading academic has suggested that China may be willing to consider Taiwan’s entry into the World Health Organization – an option it has vociferously opposed in the past. In comments carried by Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po, Xu Bodong, director of Beijing’s Union University's Institute of Taiwan Studies, said that on the premise of acknowledging the 1992 consensus framework, the mainland could first agree to Taiwan's participation in the WHO as an observer next May and later permit Taiwan’s full participation under the designation "Chinese Taipei."
